Legoland Execs Reveal Details For Hudson Valley Theme Park

A $500 million theme park is being proposed for Orange County and some of the exciting details about the project were presented to a packed house last night in Goshen.

The Daily Freeman reports that executives from Merlin Entertainment laid out details for the Legoland theme park that they're hoping will be built on 523 acres near Route 17 in Goshen.

As previously reported, the park is planned to open in 2019 with construction to begin sometime this year. Besides thrill rides and other theme park attractions, a 250 room hotel is also in the works that would accommodate some of the nearly 2 million visitors expected to visit each year.

Unlike the other Legoland parks in California or Florida, the Hudson Valley theme park will open seasonally. Winter conditions will close down the park from November through March.

Those who have shown concern over route 17 traffic were told that plans are in the works for changes to Route 17 that would ease access. That project would be paid for by the state.

The park plans on attracting a third of their visitors from tourists. The other two thirds of visitors are expected to come from day-trippers and local residents. In addition, Legoland will be offering what they call a "strong School program," reaching out to local educators in the community.

The Lego executives say that they want to make sure that state incentives are available to make the project possible and then they will seek approval of the Goshen Town Board.

For those who are unfamiliar with Legoland, iThemePark has posted a walkthrough of the Florida site: