LEGOLAND® California Immortalizes
Park View Little League Team
in Miniland U.S.A.!
Little League World Series Champions recreated out of LEGO® bricks at family theme park in Carlsbad
CARLSBAD, Calif. – Model Builders at LEGOLAND® California have recreated the victorious scene of Chula Vista’s Park View Little League team winning the World Series for guests of the family theme park to enjoy beginning Friday, Sept. 18 in the Southern California section of Miniland U.S.A.
“LEGOLAND California is designed to inspire children to be heroes and that is exactly what the Park View team has done. They have inspired the hero in us all,” said General Manager of LEGOLAND California Resort Peter Ronchetti. Ronchetti announced the Miniland scene and presented the team with a 5-foot-long World Series banner made of more than 8,000 LEGO® bricks at the Chula Vista City Council Meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 15. At that time, each member of the team, plus Coach Ric Ramirez and Manager Oscar Castro, were given LEGO baseballs made exclusively for them as well as a LEGO baseball cap to sign and present to President Barack Obama during their upcoming visit to the White House.
To construct the Miniland scene, each player as well as Coach Ramirez and Manager Castro have been rendered as “Minilanders.” Minilanders are generally four-inches-high and inhabit Miniland U.S.A., the heart of LEGOLAND California where more than 22 million LEGO bricks are used to recreate famous cities including Washington, D.C., New York, Las Vegas, New Orleans, San Francisco, Daytona, New England and the Southern California coastline. The scene took about two weeks to complete and includes the baseball diamond, umpires, stands with fans and, of course, both teams who played in the final game of the Little League World Series.
“One of the challenges in building this scene is that the team uniforms require special colors such as light blue and teal which are not commonly used and don’t come in a huge selection of pieces,” said Master Model Designer Gary McIntire.“ Another challenge was recreating the emotions felt on the field. It’s difficult to create an expression on a blank face so it’s all about body language.”
The scene depicts an excited Park View team dressed in light blue uniforms jumping up and giving high-fives and dog-piling each other to express their happiness while the Taiwan team is displayed in a disappointed nature – heads in their hands, arms-crossed and defeated. “It was actually quite depressing creating the team from Taiwan because their expressions had to be so sad,” McIntire continued.
“While many popular icons and celebrities can be spotted throughout LEGOLAND California, this is the first time we’ve ever immortalized local heroes,” said LEGOLAND Spokesperson Julie Estrada.
LEGOLAND® California is a 128-acre interactive theme park dedicated to families with children between the ages of 2 and 12. With more than 60 rides, shows and attractions, LEGOLAND is geared towards family fun! There are three other LEGOLAND Parks in the world – LEGOLAND Billund in Denmark, LEGOLAND Deutschland near Günzburg, Germany and LEGOLAND Windsor outside of London. The LEGOLAND theme parks are a part of Merlin Entertainments Group, the second largest attractions operator in the world. Merlin Entertainments is the leading name in location based, branded, family entertainment and currently owns nearly 60 attractions worldwide serving 35 million visitors worldwide. For the most current information, log on to www.LEGOLAND.com or call (760) 918-LEGO.
