How (not) to get your dose of bricks

I do not intend to restart this blog, in the sense that there will not be any regular new posts. But every if I find something interesting then I may publish it for the benefit of other builders.

If you are like me and like to put your next idea into the form of tangible bricks, then you need to get those bricks from somewhere. Unfortunately the LEGO company considers the sets their primary product, and while they do sell bricks online, it is not always the best option. Bricklink (and BrickOwl) is usually the way to go, but if you intend to buy a lot of bricks, even that is going to be expensive.

Just recently I have been to Legoland California and I was curious to see how its pick-a-brick wall compares to other options. Before I get there, let me show the other options I knew from before:

1. LEGO Stores typically have a pick-a-brick wall:

• On the pro side, this can be quite a good deal. In the US, you can fill a large cup (about a pint) for $15.99 + sales tax. My unscientific guess is that it holds at least 400g worth of bricks. There is also a small cup for $7.99 + tax but it holds less than the half of the large one.
• On the con side, the selection of bricks is still quite limited. Typically you have 6 rows and around 26 columns which gives you around 150 color-part combinations. What is available is usually a good deal, but you can clearly not expect everything.

This is how the Pick-a-Brick wall looks like in the LEGO Store Disneyland in Anaheim, CA.

There is even a website dedicated to keeping you up to date with the latest selection. A word of warning: this may or may not be updated regularly.

http://wallofbricks.com/

2. Legoland Germany. This is clearly only an option if you live near the city of Ulm or you have a chance to go there. Legoland Germany has by far the best pick-a-brick selection from any store officially affiliated by LEGO. I have to admit that I have not been to Legoland Windsor or Billund recently - if you have info on that, that is appreciated. Pricing is different, last time I checked it was by weight and it was EUR 8.99 per 100g.

• Pro: The best selection amongst offline shops. Probably around 1000 part-color combinations if not more. You still cannot expect all.
• Con: slightly more pricey than the LEGO store walls.

So my question during my California visit today was - how does the brick selection of Legoland California hold up? Since this is a big trip for me I did some online research before. There were some indications that it will not meet my expectations, but still was curious about the truth.

Well, to summarize: it does not hold up at all. The park itself is pretty similar to Legoland Germany, with one minor difference: the pick-a-brick wall is basically unusable. You can find some bricks and buy them by the weight, but if your goal is to buy bricks, go to the closest LEGO store. You may be able to find some bricks, that are not in a Lego store, but the selection is the same or worse. 

Here is a shot to prove my point:

Lesson learned: if you have seen other Legoland parks, this will be the same. And definitely do not go there for bricks.

Legoland Deutschland 2012

Recently I had a chance to visit my one of my favorite places again, the Legoland in Germany. This was not my first visit to the park (see older here) and it was interesting to see what changed in two years.

First of all, there are new themes. Star Wars has been a popular theme for LEGO sets, but two years ago this was not visible in the park at all. By now this has changed completely: next to the Miniland of European cities there is an extensive Star Wars Miniland covering the older and newer movies. Another sign of the increased interest is the extra tent selling Star Wars sets only.

Friends got quite visible too. In the big store there is a separate corner for Friends fans. There is also a specialized store selling accessories and... khm.... sets. At least in theory. The store personnel said that as soon as they have a new shipment it is sold within days. This is of course not official, but every signs points to Friends being very popular.

Ninjago did not exist 2 years ago either and become quite apparent in Legoland. It has its own mini-world now and something quite special, the Flying Ninjago. As I have quite apparent and strong limits when trying extra dimensions, I did not get try it myself. But the concept seems interesting: by controlling two wings one can do a full turn or even rotate continuously.

One of my favorites is the brick store. The selection was excellent as usual: more limited than Bricklink, but better than anything else. The price has increased though: 100g of bricks costs 9 Euros now, compared to 8 Euros two years ago.

Regardless of this, it's still an excellent buy, as the spreadsheet shows:

Part	Weight (Bricklink)	BL best offer Euro/piece	BL 6 month avg Euro/piece	Legoland Euro/piece
1x1 plate (black)	0.20g	0.0264	0.0583	0.0180
1x1 plate (medium blue)	0.20g	0.0269	0.0750	0.0180
1x4 plate (black)	0.71g	0.0126	0.0500	0.0639
1x2 tile (dark tan)	0.26g	0.0240	0.0583	0.0234
1x2 jumper (light bluish gray)	0.30g	0.0320	0.0583	0.0270
Technic gear, 20 tooth (tan)	1.40g	0.1421	0.2417	0.1260

Keep it in good condition

Over the weekend I have visited the German Legoland with my family. Their brick store was as good as usual (I think it is the second best after Bricklink). 100 grams cost 8 Euros and they have many special parts too.

Since a good owner cares about his vehicles I used the opportunity to get some new parts for the set that deserves it most. I have already replaced many parts on my 8422 racing bike but the yellowish wheels were still original.

Fortunately the Lego brick store had just the part I needed so it looks as good as new now:

More photos in the album.

Google Street View in Legoland, CA

With Google Street View we can easily get to places around the world in seconds. Since a few days they have also added Legoland California, so if you have never been there here is your chance. Push the button and drag the mouse to look around and follow the paths.


View Larger Map

Click here for a larger view.

Legoland visit

Legoland is a big theme park where almost everything is made of Lego. The first one was opened in 1968 in Billund, Denmark and since then there is only three more worldwide: California, Windsor (UK) and Günzburg (Germany). We visited the latter one with the family.


The facts:

• It has a shop where you can buy bricks by the pound. 100 grams for 8 Euro. I swear, I only wanted to buy a couple of bricks... :)
• You can buy every set, like these. But there are no bargains.
• In the mini-world you can see Hamburg, Frankfurt, Munich, Venice, Amsterdam and Switzerland too. Last year Berlin showed the Love Parade but this year Mr. Obama took over the place in front of the Reichstag with Frau Merkel.
  

But let's finish talking, take a look at the gallery!