Last Piece In Place: Legoland New York Opens Resort Hotel

GOSHEN, NY — With real Lego bricks scattered across the color-filled, Lego-themed carpet in the lobby, and crowds of kids climbing in the pirate-ship-and-castle, Merlin Entertainments celebrated the grand opening of its hotel, the last piece of the Legoland New York Resort.

"This is it!" Public Relations Manager Matt Besterman told Patch, looking back at the 14-month process. “Now here we are. As of Aug. 6, we can officially call ourselves Legoland New York Resort.”

The 250-room Legoland Hotel opened for bookings for overnight stays as of Friday — though, Besterman said, it did welcome some early guests who had booked stays in 2020 before the coronavirus shut everything down.

The amusement park resorted to phased openings after the pandemic began. At the end of May 2020, Legoland began offering the public the opportunity to visit six of the resort's seven themed lands: Brick Street, Bricktopia, Lego City, Lego Castle, Lego Ninjago World and Miniland. Then in July, Lego Pirates land opened.

"It has been an unusual year," Besterman said. One of the things resort officials did was to gradually increase capacity at the park itself. "Operating a reservation system allows social distancing and makes sure we can tailor our guests’ experience," he said. "As we continue to accept reservations they keep filling up. People are longing for a safe place to play."

Indeed. Since Legoland New York opened, the 90th District has become the most popular in the state, NY Assemblyman Colin Schmitt joked in his remarks at the opening ceremony Friday morning, where kids and characters and cannons filled with confetti and streamers joined the celebrating adults.

"Reservations have been coming in. August is pretty well booked," Besterman said.

The hotel offers families a truly immersive experience right next to the amusement park. There are places to build and Lego sculptures throughout, strolling characters, the Brick restaurant, creative workshops and nightly children's entertainment. The rooms are themed, with a sleeping area just for kids — with bunk bed, trundle bed, an in-room treasure hunt with a prize and, of course, a bin of Lego bricks.

Hotel-and-2-day-ticket packages start at $98 per person. Single-day tickets are $79.99 for adults. Reserve a visit via the online Booking Portal.