BrickCon 2026 - Level 25 Unlocked - Virtual Attendee Review

Brickcon returned for its 25th convention this year back on September 10-13. If you’ve followed this blog at all, you’ll know that starting in 2020, Brickcon added a virtual component and I have participate for all but one of those years. While the main convention takes place in Bellevue, WA at the Meydenbauer Center, a bunch of us still meet virtually as we did starting in 2020. We get to attend the main sessions, we have access to the presentations, we get a virtual tour of the main floor, and we have our own games and chances to interact with other virtual attendees. If you’re thinking about attending a LEGO Convention in person, but you’re not sure if you’ll like it or you don’t have one nearby or you just don’t want to spend a lot of money, check out Brickcon. You can attend virtually for $35 and experience a convention from the comfort of your home to see if you really like it.

This year was another great experience. The keynote speaker was Jamie Berard from the LEGO Group (maybe you’ve heard of him?). We had some amazing presentations and we had fun playing some build games as a group.

Another benefit is the opportunity to pick up swag. I purchased a swag bag and a Con Model (I’ll review the Con Model separately). For this year, my swag bag included a program and a small bag to carry everything around in.

It also came with a mug that apparently changes color when you put a warm beverage in it. I haven’t tried it yet, but the mug is cool regardless of the neat trick.

This year as something new, they offered a challenge coin. As a former military member, I’m very familiar with challenge coins or RMOs (round metal objects). If you’re not familiar, do a search to learn how they work.

As always, you get LEGO too. This year, I purchased the black and white 1x8 bricks that said “I <3 BrickCon” on them for an extra fee. My swag bag came with the option to add text to two bricks (the blue and red ones) and then two BrickCon 2026 bricks (yellow and white). It also came with a chromed minifigure and a printed brick with the Con Logo.

Like past years, there was a small build included. This year is a frame to hold your convention badge and a small retro arcade machine where you use the printed brick and can place the chrome minifigure.

Something new for this year was a few sheets of stickers that you can place on bricks/MOCs. Many of them are oriented to Washington State, but a bunch are just related to LEGO and the building hobby. To help you out, they included a few bricks that you can place the stickers on.

Similar to previous years, the swag included parts that you could trade with other convention attendees. As a virtual attendee, I don’t have anyone to trade with, but it’s cool to get a bunch of neat parts. It also came with some stickers from a few vendors, Brick Nerd, and a BrickCon sticker.

Last up is the convention model which had the option to purchase a lighting kit separately. I ended up getting the lighting kit and will build and display this for a future post.

Happy building!

Set Review - #21366-1: Floating Sea Otters - Idea

The Ideas line is great for producing some different sets. This one is #21366-1: Floating Sea Otters. It was released on 1 March 2026 and retails for $119.99. It contains 1,234 pieces which works out to $0.097 per piece. The price is just under the $0.10 per piece point, but it’s kind of high considering this is not a licensed set and there are no unique prints. I was able to grab this one on sale at Macy’s of all places for 30% off so I can’t complain.

The front of the box shows the full set with the title on the upper right along with the Idea’s logo stating that this is Ideas set number 74. The bottom has the 18+ greebling. The back shows another view of the set and how you can remove the baby otter and show the adult eating the clam/oyster. The bottom shows that you can put the baby on and then a picture of the baby on a real otter. It also gives the dimensions.

The set contains 11 numbered parts bags and an instruction booklet. There are no stickers. YAY!

The first bag builds the base of the set with a frame made of plates and bricks. The second bag fills in the base, adds in the spots where the head and front paws will go, and adds the base of the otter.

Bag three adds in the water around the otter with plates. Bag four adds trans-blue tiles over the plates.

Bag five adds the body of the otter with a lot of curved slopes and tiles. Bag six adds the head. It swivels from side to side and you can open and close the mouth. I like the use of the Wolverine claws as the whiskers.

Bag seven adds the front and back paws. They all move at the base of the body as well as the paws. It also adds an oyster/clam that the otter can be eating.

Bag eight begins to add the details around the side with some plants and a small rock formation.

Bags nine adds some plants to the other side of the otter.

Bag 10 begins to build the baby otter. Inside the build is a small 1x1 round tile printed as a compass. Not sure why this Easter Egg was included.

Bag 11 finishes the baby otter which can be placed on the chest of the adult otter. You can set the clam/oyster to the side so they can cuddle.

Here’s the final build. I think it looks great and it’s a nice addition to the various animal sets that LEGO has been producing lately. I like that it can be posed in multiple ways. I’m glad I caught it for 30% off. It’s not retiring this year so continue to watch for more sales. I think $120 is too high for this one considering there are no prints and no licenses.

Happy building!

Set Review - #71053: Shrek Series - Collectible Minifigures

More collectible minifigures! This set of 12 is #71053: Shrek and it was released on 1 September 2026. They still retail for $4.99 each. Oddly enough, the boxes of six were all released on sale at Target, Walmart, and Amazon so I was able to get them at a discount which was a nice change.

Like always, I’ll give a few comments on the minifigures, but the review won’t be in great detail. If you’re a collectible minifigure fan or like Shrek, these are for you. If not, find other LEGO products.

Happy building!

Fairy Godmother: This minifigure is pretty accurate to the movie and includes her wand, calling card (1x2 tile), and then wings.

Prince Charming: His sword is huge, but I think it’s the usual version from other sets. His hair is very wavey so that fits well as compared to the movie.

Thelonious: This minifigure is great! I like the microphone from the sing along and he has the cue card from the wedding with his hand written instructions.

Lord Farquaad: This character is short, but minifigure size-wise could be smaller as compared to the movie. Also, the face seems a bit too happy as compared to the character. The magic mirror as a minifigure head is fun.

Pinocchio: I would think this one should have had the smaller legs since he was a boy and not a man. I do like that they found a way to include the three blind mice with one of them with this minifigure.

Gingy: We’ve seen this gingerbread man minifigure before, but this one has the printing to match the movie character. I don’t remember which movie the lollipop is from.

Shrek: He has the book that he reads where he rips out the page to use as toilet paper which is the 1x2 tile in his hand in the picture. I think the green color is a bit too bright, but we’ll take it.

Fiona: She is in ogre form instead of human which is okay. I like that she comes with Donkey. Donkey is actually two pieces and his head can spin as needed.

Big Bad Wolf: The big bad wolf looks accurate as compared to the movie. They also snuck another blind mouse in too.

Dragon: Dragon is too small as a minifigure. Dragon would have been better as a brick built set or potentially a larger mould.

Puss in Boots: Puss seems to be a bit big, but I understand they need the size to get the detail. I wish he would have come with his sword (rapier?), but we’ll take the bag of loot. Also, the last blind mouse is included here.

Merlin: I forgot about this character. I think he was from the third movie.

Set Review - #40955-1: Maersk Dual-Fuel Container Vessel

We haven’t had a Maersk ship in a while. The last one that I’m aware was #10241-1: Maersk Line Triple E which was from 2014. 12 years later we have #40955-1: Maersk Dual-Fuel Container Vessel. This one released on 1 March 2026 and contains 1,516 pieces. It retails for $149.99 which puts it at $0.099 per piece. Right below that ten cents per piece point that someone came up with and we all stick to for some reason.

The box shows the build on the front and then some extra details on the back. The set has the Maersk logos and is not an 18+ set. It’s listed as 12+ which is interesting.

The box is different from what we’re used to. The top comes off and the bottom holds all the bags. The parts bags were all paper except for the one that wasn’t numbered which was still plastic. The stickers and instructions were in a paper bag too.

The instruction book starts with some information about the ship and then throughout there are a few pictures showing how the build compares to the actual ship.

The stickers aren’t too bad, but as you’ll see, a few get applied to curved slopes and the large sticker for the display stand is not fun to attach.

There isn’t a lot of excitement in the build at the start. Bags one and two build the hull. You can see the spots where the stand connects to the hull later on.

Bag three starts to build up the aft section of the ship and you can see the propeller is attached.

Bag four adds in the engine.

Bags five and six continue to build up the hull. Bag six adds the curve to the front of the ship.

Bag seven starts to add the sections that will support all of the containers. It was built earlier, but in this picture you can see how the build includes some clear window pieces on the hull so you can see the engine.

Bag eight finalizes where the containers will go and splits them up with fence pieces.

Bag 10 starts to build the containers. This section of the build starts to get repetitive as you build similar stacks of containers and place them at different points on the ship. Thankfully, the containers are not stickers and instead you have printed tiles on the side of each stack showing the different containers.

Bag 11 adds in the smokestack in the rear of the ship.

Bags 12 and 13 are combined to build more stacks of containers. Again, it’s very repetitive to make these so get ready.

Bag 14 builds the front of the ship where the crew quarters are located. Interestingly, you build a small kitchen area and a navigation area, but those sections are massively out of scale considering the size of the ship. Thankfully, the set comes with a large printed wall piece for the front part which is great. However, the windows on the top mast are stickers. I wasn’t a fan as they are not as big as the pieces they go on so you have to try and space them evenly. Also, you can see there is a curve which does not make it easy to handle with a sticker.

Bags 15 and 16 are combined to finish up all the containers.

Bag 17 builds the display stand where you get to try and place the large sticker. Why couldn’t they have printed this piece like they do for some other sets now?

Here’s the final build. I think the only reason I got it was because I have the #10155-1: Maersk Line Container Ship from 2010 and the Triple-E set mentioned earlier so now I’ll have three from across 16 years. I have the Maersk Cargo Train as well, but that’s not a ship and is minifigure scale. Would I recommend this one? Hard to say. The build was not very exciting, but it is cool to see how the model compares to the actual ship. The pricing isn’t the greatest, but it is also out for less than a year so I suspect there won’t much a high chance of grabbing it on sale. Get it with a GWP or maybe double insider points if you are looking to pick it up before it retires.

Happy building!

Set Review - #40921-1: Up-Scaled Blue Astronaut Minifigure

It’s yet another Up-Scaled minifigure. This one is #40921-1: Up-Scaled Blue Astronaut Minifigure. It was released on 1 March 2026 and retails for $59.99. With 793 pieces it works out to $0.076 per piece. I assume LEGO is doing well selling these which is why they continue to produce more up-scaled minifigures. The builds are all pretty similar, but they all come in different themes. Classic space is a popular theme so why not make classic space minifigures larger?

The box shows the figure on the front in a space landscape with a space logo. The front also shows the droid that comes with the set at the bottom left. The back shows the figure in another pose, the place where the droid can sit in the head, and then dimensions and movement of the figure.

The set contains eight numbered parts bags and an instruction booklet.

The first bag starts with the torso and uses the same build technique as others have.

Bag two finishes the torso and adds in where the legs will hook in. The space logo on the front of the torso is printed which is great. Glad it is not a sticker!

Bags three and four add in the legs. Lots of blue pieces here.

Bag five adds the arms and hands. The design is the same as the other up-scaled minifigures.

Bag six builds the oxygen tanks. This is obviously a different section from other up-scaled minifigures and is a fun addition outside of the usual construction.

Bag seven starts the head. You can see where the droid will sit.

Bag eight finishes the head, but I only took a picture midway so you can see the final command center for the droid to sit in. It’s always fun to see what they include in the head and this one is no different. In order for the droid to fit with the top of the head installed, it needs to fold down the antenna some. Nothing major, but something to consider.

Here’s the final up-scaled minifigure. It’s a great re-creation of the minifigure. The head does not spin due to the oxygen tank, but that isn’t a major issue in my opinion.

If you’re a space fan or you’ve been collecting the up-scaled minifigures, this is one to grab. Look for opportunities to get double insider points and/or GWPs. It could potentially go on sale near retirement, but it’s not quite there yet.

Happy building!

Set Review - #40860-1: Toy Story - Brickheadz

Disney Pixar’s Toy Story has had numerous sets over the years, but now we get some of the characters in Brickheadz form. #40860-1: Toy Story was released on 1 June 2026. It retails for $39.99 and contains 528 pieces. This works out to $0.076 per piece which isn’t too bad, but it is creeping higher considering it’s a Brickheadz set. There are five characters in this set which isn’t bad, but two of them are the smaller aliens so it’s hard to say that you really get five.

The box is similar to others. The front has the Brickheadz logo, the Disney Pixar Toy Story logo, and the figure names. They are numbered as 310 - Alien 1, 311 - Alien 2, 312 - Jessie, 313 - Woody, and 314 - Buzz Lightyear. The back shows the figures in some different positions and shows that you can put the figures on the plate stands.

The set contains six numbered parts bags and the instructions are in a paper bag.

There are four instruction booklets. Woody is bags one and two. Buzz is bag three. Jessie is bags four and five. The two aliens are in bag six.

The first bag starts to build Woody. Inside, you add a few ice cream pieces that I believe are supposed to be the stuffing inside Woody. You also add his belt buckle, Sherriff’s badge, and his arms.

The second bag finishes Woody. On the back, he’s got a hoop to look like the voice string. You also add the hat.

The third bag builds Buzz Lightyear. He has a 2x4 printed plate for his chest which is cool, but there’s a lot that’s missing. He could have his helmet or the wings, but he is wing-less and helmet-less. I’m sure this was a pricing decision as more parts would make it even more expensive.

Bag four starts to build Jessie. She doesn’t have anything special at this point, but she also has the pieces inside for “stuffing” like Woody does.

Bag five finishes up Jessie. The most detail is with her hat and hair. The ponytail in the back is a cool design and is different from most Brickheadz.

The sixth bag builds the two aliens. They are both follow the same set of instructions with the same pieces. The three eyes and the printed logo on the front are fun. However, I feel like the aliens could be a little squattier and fatter to match what is in Toy Story. You can tell what they are supposed to be, but they could be a little more accurate.

Here are the final Brickheadz. I’ll give my standard Brickheads set closing. If you’re a Brickheadz fan or a Toy Story fan, then grab this set. If not, there probably isn’t a good reason to get this unless it goes on a very steep discount at Lego someday.

Happy building!

I Could Have Sold This LEGO Set For Over $500

This is actually a set review for #910027-1: Mountain View Observatory which is part of the Bricklink Designer Program. It was originally released in 2023 and I hadn’t built it since then, but also didn’t put it in the store. It contains 3,876 pieces and originally retailed for $249.99. This worked out to $0.064 per piece, but now good luck getting it for under $500 in new in sealed box condition. I had it new and my kiddo said “hey, let’s build this one.” So I caved and we built it.

The front of the box shows the full built set while the back shows the different levels of the observatory.

The set contains 25 numbered parts bags with some having more than one bag per number. There are three bags without numbers containing larger pieces. There is a sticker sheet, but no printed instructions. To be honest, that’s why it takes me a while to get to the Bricklink Designer Program sets. I have a few that I’ve been holding for a bit, but I don’t enjoy building with a screen. I like the opportunity to be off of a screen when I’m building.

Here is the sticker sheet. There are quite a few. They look okay and help with the design, but it would have been better to assemble without stickers (as always).

The first bag assembles the base using plates instead of a baseplate and then the start to the walls of the first floor. The structure of the build is not that exciting. Lots of stacking bricks and building walls at 90 degree angles. It’s the details on the inside that make the build exciting. Bag one has two minifigues. One is a female worker and one is a male worker.

Bag two adds some of the interior details. The office items are fun and the giant screen system for controlling the telescope looks cool.

Bag three adds to some of the outer structure to make it seem like the observatory is built into a mountain. Bag four finishes up the walls for the ground level. I like the mechanical room with some of the different controls and storage.

To complain more about the build, there is a lot of stacking of bricks. In bag three, you create the item on the right three separate times. Then I grabbed a gray one from my collection (on the left) and realized you are just recreating a BURP! What!?!?!? Really???? It seems as though this was built using a digital design program and the builder just did a copy and paste to add the detail. Maybe I’m wrong, but if you were free building this, I don’t see you repeating that design three times. That’s my opinion anyways…

Bags five and six add to the exterior details with lots of cheese slopes and then a water feature. There’s also a walkway into the building built as stairs over the water.

Bag seven finishes up the ground level section while bag eight constructs a separate section to connect to the base.

Bag nine adds a tree to the outside with some frogs in it. You also get two more minifigures.

Bag ten starts the second level. The floor is made of plates and then the walls start with bricks being stacked.

Bag 11 continues to build the wall while bag 12 adds details on the inside. There are some great items in here to include a display shelf with various space items, a soda machine, a space suit, a model rocket, and a worker’s desk.

Bag 13 adds more details with a small rover and spaceship model. There’s also another space suit on display.

Bag 14 finishes up the floor with walls and three minifigures (to include a baby). You can see one of the large stickers on the outside of the wall.

Bag 15 adds a colorful tree out the exterior which adds some nice color to the set. There are more frogs in this tree.

Bag 16 begins the next level.

Bags 17 and 18 build up the section where the telescope will be located. Again, lots of stacking of bricks and repeat patterns. Not super interesting here, but thankfully, not a lengthy part of the build.

Bag 19 finishes up this level. It’s pretty much just a walkway to the stairs to the telescope. You also get two more minifigures and a display stand with a sticker for the workers to explain the solar system.

Bag 20 begins to build the section where the telescope is located. The base is made of plates and then bricks are used to make the rounded dome. There is also a light brick here to light up the telescope area.

Bags 21 and 22 continue with the dome build and add some details inside. The telescope is built on a Technic system to angle it up and down which is a fun play feature.

Bags 23 and 24 continue with the use of bricks, plates, and cheese slopes to get the rounded shape of the dome.

Bag 25 finishes up the dome. The outer pieces can be moved to close the dome up if it’s raining in your LEGO city. Also, the dome rotates freely 360 degrees so you have two fun play features to add to the telescope movement in the building.

The set comes with six adult minifigures, two kid minifigures, and a baby. Additionally, there is a blue spaceman and a white astronaut on the second level, but they do not come with faces, just solid colored head pieces. Nothing rare or original, but a decent amount to set up around the building and on the outside areas.

Here’s the final build. The exterior walls weren’t fun and I didn’t enjoy the landscaping builds on the outside. The interior details were fun to assemble with a lot of great details. Overall, it wasn’t my most favorite build, but I’m not complaining. Should I have sold it? Too late now. It doesn’t fit with the modular buildings, but with enough BURPs and other pieces, you could really get this looking like it was on a mountain.

Which Bricklink Designer Program set should I build next? And how long should I wait to build it?

Happy building!

Set Review - #40820-1: Up-Scaled Santa Minifigure

The up-scaled minifigures continue! This one is #40820-1: Up-Scaled Santa Minifigure. It contains 761 pieces and retails for $59.99. This works out to $0.079 per piece which is okay, but could be better considering this is not a licensed theme. This set was released on 2 October 2025. This set is similar to the other up-scaled minifigures, but of course is of Santa.

The box is similar sized as the other up-scaled minifigure sets and shows the full minifigure on the front. On the back is the minifigure sitting and then a picture showing the dimensions and that the arms move like a regular minifigure.

The set contains seven numbered parts bags and an instruction booklet. The bags were the new paper kind that you can recycle. The instructions don’t have the QR code you can scan for insider points which stinks.

Not to disappoint you, but the build is very similar to the other up-scaled minifigures. If you are looking for an exciting or different build, this isn’t the set for you. Bag one starts the torso with the Technic internals so the arms move. Bag two adds a printed panel on the front with Santa’s belt and belly.

Bag three adds the legs which move in the same way that a regular minifigure moves. Bag four adds the arms and hands.

Bag five starts the head. There is a small build in the head like the other up-scaled minifigure sets. I won’t spoil it, but emphasis on small. The face part is printed and not a sticker so that’s good.

Bag six adds the beard which is a difference between this set and some of the others.

And bag seven wraps it up with Santa’s hat.

There you have it. Another up-scaled minifigure. If you’re a fan of these sets, then definitely pick it up. If not, then this one is an avoid. We’ll see if this one goes on sale before retirement or not. Could be a good set to get a GWP if you are looking to get an order above a certain limit.

Happy building!

LEGOLAND NEW YORK - Summer 2026

I had never been to a LEGOLAND anywhere and a recent family trip took us by Goshen, NY so we figured, why not plan to visit LEGOLAND New York for a day. I had a lot of Insider Points so I used them for the tickets (despite tickets in the US being double the number of points over tickets at other LEGOLANDs not in the US). Tickets are listed as $49 each if you get them online in advance. We opted not to stay at the hotel attached to the park as that was more than we wanted to spend. We found a hotel that was about 20 minutes away and the price was reasonable.

Traveling to the park was easy. It’s not in a busy area of the state and the traffic was not bad. We arrived before the park opened and there was no line for parking. Of note, we went while schools in NY were still in session, but PA schools had already been out for a few weeks. That may have helped with the crowds. There are two large parking lots. The closest lot to the park is $55 a day before tax and the further lot is $38 a day before tax. We opted to walk a couple extra minutes to save $17.

Entry was easy. I had the tickets on my phone and we were scanned in and ready to go. The park entrance pictures are below.

LEGOLAND New York is on a hill, but it does have a gondola that will take you from close to the entrance to near the Pirate section of the park. We took the gondola right away thinking everyone else would start at the front and work back and we’d do the opposite. Each gondola car has a different minifigure theme and it was fun to watch the different minifigures on each one as they went by.

We started in the CITY area with the large minifigure of the Statue of Liberty to welcome you (as seen below). We started with some cars kids could drive around a road system. There was no wait and most of the cars were empty so my kids had only a handful of other drivers to deal with. My kids had fun, but my older one was almost too tall to fit in the car.

Next was a LEGO fire truck ride where you had to pump a handle to get the truck to move from one end of the lot to the other. Then you had to get out and use another pump to spray water at a building facade. The windows had screens with smoke and fire on them. You had to put out the fire and then get back into the truck and drive back. It was a short experience, but fun and no line.

There were other activities and some additional things you could pay for, but we decided to move on.

Throughout the park, there are some great decorations made of brick or just painted/printed on walls. This wall had numerous minifigures on it. Some of them were set up so you could stand in front and have wings like the fairy wings on the right. I didn’t take pictures of every display, but between the builds or random large scale LEGO flowers, and decorations, it still made you feel you were in LEGOLAND and not some random amusement park.

We hit the pirate section next. My kids and Non-LEGO Spouse (NLS) road the ride pictured below. You’re on a boat with water cannons that you can pump to shoot at the various targets or at people not on the ride. The fun part is that if you’re not on the ride, you can also shoot water at the people on the ride. Unfortunately, most of the water cannons not on the ride were broken which was a trend seen through a lot of the park with items not kept up for whatever reason.

Mini Land is a fun section of the park with lots of great builds. The builds are placed in with real and fake plants so it’s not 100% brick. Some of the builds have movement, sound, or lights. While I get that the builds are out in the elements, there were a lot of sections with parts missing or broken functions. I was surprised that they didn’t replace things or at least find something to cover up areas where a display had broken.

The first section we stopped in was LEGOWOOD with a action scene built in that you could trigger while a movie producer watched.

San Francisco was next with a Golden Gate Bridge. I won’t spoil them, but there are a lot of Easter Eggs hidden in the builds so really pay attention if you ever go to see what things they mix into the builds. My favorite here was the Sea Lion that was a Lion.

Las Vegas was next with the Strip and Downtown mixed in. Next to it was a southwestern scene which I assume was meant to be Arizona.

A replica of the Bellagio hotel (minus the branding). Sadly the fountains didn’t function.

The next picture is of Mount Rushmore which was a mix of LEGO bricks and some sort of sculpting material. The heads sang a bad rendition of “Yankee Doodle” when you hit a button. Also, you can see a soccer ball with the World Cup approaching, you had to count the number of soccer balls hidden throughout Miniland. I didn’t get any pictures of them, but there were a few activities you could do related to the world cup and a few builds. My kids tried to kick a soccer ball into a net being blocked by a large minifigure. The minifigure was on a rotating stand that I was allowed to control. I didn’t do so well.

The Washington DC area was detailed with some impressive builds of the structures there.

The New York City area was also very detailed and it had a lot of fun Easter Eggs. Here are just a few pictures of what we saw.

The Knicks had recently won the NBA Championships and they included the celebration parade which was a fun way to add in some relevant current events into Miniland.

Also, yet another Statue of Liberty, but this one is of the actual statue instead of a minifigure.

I skipped over our visits to the Castle area with a few rides and a build area as I didn’t get any pictures there. I decided to enjoy my time there instead of taking loads of pictures to add to a blog post later.

One thing I will point out is that food there is expensive and from what I’ve read, not that good. A bonus for the park is that you can get a stamp, leave the park, and come back in the same day. We had a cooler in the car, bought some sandwiches and snacks at a grocery store that morning, and ate lunch in our car. It was much cheaper and we ate what we wanted.

After lunch, we stopped at one of the build areas. One of the buildings has spaces to build with large rubber bricks, Duplo, and LEGO. My family stuck to the LEGO and built cars to race down tall ramps or a ramp where you could compete with others. You could get a set of wheels and a minifigure, but you had to sign them out from a worker at the front desk. I thought that was kind of lame, but I’m sure people try and take minifigures. We enjoyed building cars, but it was tough to use the racing ramp as kids were going wild while their parents doom scrolled on their phones at nearby benches.

In another area of the building were some of the master builders who create the builds for the park. They had some of their builds on display in a window which was cool to see. You could go watch them build and talk with them if you wanted.

The area with the master builders also had a LEGO Masters build on display. The picture isn’t the greatest as it has the reflection from the case around it, but you get the idea.

Also in this room was a large bin with red, yellow, and blue 2x4 bricks. You could build whatever you wanted and then put them on a table next to it for display. We all did this and then displayed our builds. A worker was there to grab random items and take them apart to replenish the bin of bricks.

One thing I will note is that the bricks were sticky. I assume it’s from whatever solution is used to clean the bricks. Also many of them were well worn from either heavy use or too many cleanings. My hands were pretty gross after anytime we built, but thankfully there were plenty of restrooms around to go and wash your hands off. This was different from the LEGO House in Billund where the bricks seemed to be in great condition and definitely were not sticky.

Here’s a shot of some of the master builders at work.

Another area we want to was the Ferrari experience which was a temporary event at the park. When you walked in, you were greeted by a large LEGO brick built Ferrari that you could sit in. We didn’t sit in it, but I did get a picture.

The rest of the area was a build experience. You got a wheel base from a worker and then there were numerous pits of parts in Ferrari colors to build your own car. Then you could test it on various ramps, race it against others, try to get it over a jump, or enter it into a digital race. My kids both tried the digital race. You scanned a car you built and then could race it using some preset buttons for speed around a track. It didn’t always work as advertised, but they still had fun. You could also pick a pre-made design from one of the Speed Champions sets to race. Once you were done, you could enter your physical build onto a conveyer belt where a LEGO brick built crowd cheered as the car went by. At the end, you car falls into a bucket for the workers to take apart. We saw a few kids who were sad they couldn’t get their car back and didn’t realize what would happen. Overall it was a fun experience and one of the better build areas at the park in my opinion.

There were a lot of big builds at the park and I didn’t get pictures of each of them. Here are just two. While rides are great and all, if you go, try to spend some time looking at some of the big builds as they are impressive at such a big size.

Before I get to the store, there is a ride where you go through a fictional process of how sets are made. At the end of this ride is where you can visit the pick-a-brick wall. We didn’t pick-a-brick at the park, but know that it’s an option and it’s not at the store.

In front of one of the store entrances were two minifigures holding boxes with retired modular building sets. If only they still sold those. The store itself is pretty big. It had the majority of the sets in LEGO’s catalog at the time and the prices were mostly the same. Collectible minifigures were $2 more then retail which was a notable exception. The store also sells some of the exclusive LEGOLAND sets that you can only get at LEGOLAND (or the LEGOLAND online store). On a positive note, you can make your purchases at the start of the day and pick them up at the store before you leave.

The store had some fun brick-built mosaics inside which was fun to see. We went at the end of the day so it was pretty crowded. They had plenty of workers so no line at check out which was nice. You can also use Insider Points or earn additional points with purchases.

Overall, we had fun. The rides were decent although some had more time with safety checks than actual time on the ride, but whatever. We went on a good day where it wasn’t super busy and the weather was nice. The mix of building, rides, and looking at builds was fun. At no time did anyone say they were bored so that was good.

I was disappointed in the upkeep of the park with broken sections of Miniland and various rides. The park is only five years old and it’s already showing its age. Come on LEGO! Step up and follow the motto of only the best is good enough.

Would I go back? I’m not sure I would anytime soon. We did it once and we’re good for a while. Maybe in a few years or if they put in a lot of new things?

Have you ever been to LEGOLAND NY? What were your thoughts?

Happy building!

Set Review - #40878-1: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Figures - Brickheadz

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are back in LEGO form. This time however they are in Brickheadz form. Set #40878-1: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Figures includes all four of the pizza eating characters. This set was released on 1 April 2026 and contains 567 pieces. At $39.99 it works out to $0.071 per piece. This isn’t bad, but considering there are lots of small pieces and only a few small printed pieces, it could be better.

The box shows the four characters on the front and the back. Both show the Brickheadz logo and the TMNT logo. The front identifies these figures as numbers 301 to 304.

The set contains four parts bags numbered one through four and then an unnumbered bag with the plates for the base of each character. The instructions are included in a paper bag.

There are four instruction booklets with one for each character.

The first bag includes a brick separator and builds Leonardo. I only included the final build of each character, but each one has a 2x2 round tile in the stomach area because it is a pizza print. This was a fun Easter Egg for the set. All four figures are mostly the same, but with some slight variation on the mask around the head, weapons holders, the shade of the color green used, and a 1x1 round printed tile with their first initial on the belt. Leonardo is built in the first bag. He has the two katana swords and his belt holds a sword holder (that doesn’t actually hold swords).

The second bag builds Raphael. He is a lighter shade of green and is holding his sai weapons. You’ll notice a few slight differences in his belt and mask, but otherwise, the build is similar.

The third bag builds Michelangelo in a teal green color. I don’t recall there being that much variation in color of the four, but I guess it helps to mix things up for the set. He has his two nunchucks and they have a small chain so they swing like one would expect.

Last is Donatello with his bo staff and a pizza tile in his other hand. Donatello is built with a much lighter green color, but is still mostly the same as the others.

Here are the four. I think the proportions of their faces are off. I would have put a stud of space between the eyes and the mouth area. It looks like they have very large foreheads.

Other than that, if you are a Brickheadz collector, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan, or you like pizza tiles, then grab this set. For those not into any of those things, I’d pass.

Happy building!