World’s biggest LEGOLAND resort officially opens in Shanghai

China

World’s biggest LEGOLAND resort officially opens in Shanghai

2025-07-05 17:09 Last Updated At：18:07

LEGOLAND Shanghai Resort, the largest LEGOLAND in the world, officially opened its gates on Saturday, drawing excited visitors from all around to have fun here, with some of the most popular attractions seeing wait times of over 90 minutes.

The scorching summer heat failed to hold back the enthusiastic visitors who are eager to be among the first to experience the long-awaited theme park.

"We're so excited! Ever since we heard from TV news that the LEGOLAND was about to open, my son has been saying we need to come. We managed to get tickets for the first batch", said a visitor.

"We've been looking forward to this for a long time. My children have finished their exams, and it's the weekend, so we took the first train this morning from Jiaxing," said another visitor from east China's Zhejiang Province.

Spanning 318,000 square meters, LEGOLAND Shanghai Resort is the 11th LEGOLAND Resort globally and the first one in China.

Designed specifically for children aged 2 to 12 and their families, the resort features eight themed areas, including "LEGOLAND Imagination Zone" and "LEGO Monkey King," offering over 75 interactive rides, shows and attractions as well as thousands of LEGO models built from more than 85 million LEGO bricks. Several of the attractions are global debuts, designed specifically for Chinese visitors.

Inside DADA, the world's biggest LEGO Minifigure at a height of 26 meters and weighing 136 tons, is a colorful land featuring over 22 million LEGO bricks. Visitors can observe the LEGO recreations of iconic Chinese landmarks, including the skyscrapers of Lujiazui in Shanghai, the majestic Hall of Supreme Harmony in Beijing's Forbidden City, the picturesque villages of southern Anhui, and the ancient city wall of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) in east China's Nanjing.

Visitors can also get hands-on and build their own LEGO scenes.

"At first, I thought there were just displays. Then I saw people actually building with LEGO bricks, and I joined in too. It's really fun!" said a tourist.

John Jakobsen, the chief strategic portfolio development officer at Merlin Entertainments, the resort's operator, expressed strong confidence in the Chinese market.

"Hundreds, literally, of model designers from around the world have put all these fantastic LEGO models together. We have high confidence in the Chinese market. It's the second biggest theme park market in the world. It's a very big market also for LEGO," he said.

To provide a well-rounded visitor experience, a LEGOLAND-themed hotel was built next to the park, offering 250 uniquely designed rooms. There is also a commercial complex with 122 shops outside the park, combining dining, lodging, retail, and entertainment services for visitors.

China's Hainan FTP sees early gains from island-wide special customs operations

South China's Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP), the world's largest FTP by area, is in smooth and orderly operations one month into the launch of its special customs operations.

The island has seen an increase in both the value of imports of zero-tariff goods and the number of foreign trade entities since Dec 18.

According to the Haikou Customs, from Dec. 18, 2025 to Jan. 17, 2026, the value of "first line" imported zero-tariff goods was 750 million yuan (about 107 million U.S. dollars); the value of processed and value-added goods sold domestically through the "second line" was about 85.9 million yuan.

Meanwhile, a total of 5,132 new foreign trade entities were registered in this period.

In addition, the duty-free sales supervised by customs reached 4.86 billion yuan, up 46.8 percent year on year, and the number of shoppers rose 30.2 percent year on year to 745,000, showing sustained strong consumption vitality.

To better meet the diverse needs of tourists, Hainan's duty-free policy ushered in a new round of adjustments on Nov. 1, 2025. The categories of duty-free goods increased from 45 to 47, and the beneficiary range was expanded to include outbound travelers, attracting more international tourists to duty-free shopping.

On Dec. 18 last year, China launched island-wide special customs operations in the Hainan FTP, allowing freer entry of overseas goods, expanding zero-tariff coverage, and introducing more business-friendly measures.

One notable special customs policy is offering "freer access at the first line," referring to freer trade between Hainan and areas outside China's customs borders, and "regulated access at the second line," which involves applying standard customs controls for goods moving from Hainan to the mainland.