Three Days in LEGO Heaven – Blind Adventures at The Home of the Brick
Hello, dear readers. If you are here, it means that you are curious to read about my experience in Billund, the Home of the Brick we all love so much. So, settle in, grab a cup of tea, coffee, or whatever suits you, and let’s get started!
I will write this article as a travel log, talking about how it all began, what we did each day, and ending with a tip that will save you a lot of money if you travel to Billund as well.
As always, everything will be from my point of view, one of a LEGO fan who is totally blind, but who luckily has a wonderful partner, his wife, that is always there and shares in the same hobbies as me.
Both Alina and I are quite new at being AFoLs, Adult Fans of LEGO, as we fell in love with The Brick at the beginning of August 2024. We were both going through some hard times, Alina with the stress of the industry she was working in, and me trying to navigate a world in which I lost my mom, just a few months before.
LEGO allowed us to disconnect from everything and to make a universe of our own, free of screens, stress, or pain.
Fast forward one year, 130 sets later, and we decided that we needed to visit Billund, the place where everything started almost 100 years ago. We live in Oslo, so it is quite close.
Around two weeks ago, I remembered that I had made a promise to Alina that we would take this trip in 2025, so in order to take advantage of the relatively good weather, we got plane tickets and booked accommodations for the extended weekend of 20-22 September.
Day 1 – The Arrival, LEGO Masters Academy, and The LEGOLAND Castle Hotel
After we did a little light packing the night before, we set the alarm for 6 a.m., but excited as I was, I jumped out of bed at 5 and waited for Alina to wake up as well. We made sure we didn’t forget our tuxedo cat, Sploshy, on the balcony and headed to the train station for the 30-minute trip to Oslo Airport.
After we grabbed a second coffee of the day, we departed Oslo in time with Norwegian Airlines, and we landed safely in Billund 10 minutes ahead of schedule.
As always, the crew on board the plane were super nice, and even though I had Alina with me as the companion, they came and explained everything we needed to know. That’s why we always travel with them if possible.
As soon as we entered Billund Airport, Alina noticed a lot of modern art created with LEGO, which in turn managed to bring even more of a good vibe to our day.
After a less than 10-minute bus ride, we stepped down in front of our humble abode for the next three days, the LEGOLAND Castle Hotel. This is the newest accommodation that LEGO has built in Billund, and I can confirm that it surpassed our expectations by far.
The rooms are nice, and there is a separate one for kids. As soon as we entered the small apartment, I wanted to familiarize myself with the space. The layout is very good, with clear indications of universal design taken into consideration.
There is a long hallway with the kids’ room and bathroom opening on the right side and with the main room exactly in front of the entrance. The kids’ room has two bunk beds on the right, facing a shelf with a small TV and with a LEGO box below, so that everyone can build.
The bathroom is spacious, with a sink to the left, a shower opposite the door, and a toilet to the right of the shower. Again, well designed for ease of access.
The adults’ room has a big bed on the right, with two bed shelves and a desk with a tv mounted on the wall. There was also free Wi-Fi, some courtesy items such as coffee, tea bags, and cups.
We left Oslo at 9:30, and by the time we checked in, it was almost 12.
As we had tickets to the LEGO House from 12:30, we decided it was time to head that way. Billund is charming and quiet, so we felt right at home while we took the 15-minute walk from the hotel to the LEGO House.
Alina told me that everyone on the street was smiling politely at us, and thanks to a sunny day, we really enjoyed the walk.
We purchased tickets for LEGO House for Saturday and for LEGOLAND for Sunday, but one day after we did that, LEGO announced that they would start the LEGO Masters Academy events, so we really wanted to get in on that as well.
Once we arrived at the LEGO House, we were greeted by a super nice and friendly Play Agent from the Guest Service who helped us reschedule the tickets after we told her that we would really, really love to see what LEGO Masters Academy is all about.
Her name is Marie, she is from Germany, and she has been absolutely a joy to interact with for our stay. Thus, we got a ticket for LEGO Masters Academy for me, Alina has joined for free as my companion, and we moved the LEGO House visit to Monday.
Before heading into LEGO Masters Academy, we just got a few minutes to run to the LEGO Store to take advantage of a Make and Take promotion running there. The model is a LEGO Masters Logo which we have built after we arrived back at home.
With our business at the store completed, we joined the line for LMA, and soon we were greeted by Milli, one of the Play Agents who invited us into the studio.
LEGO advertises LEGO Masters Academy as a separate ticketed experience where kids and adults can step into a dynamic studio environment where they can learn to build with LEGO elements and unleash their creativity. While doing this, they will discover real techniques used by LEGO Designers and LEGO Masters champions from around the world to create masterpieces.
Currently, guests like us can choose from two levels of LEGO Masters Academy sessions, and we were just in time for Level 3. Here are both levels:
- Level 2 – A family-friendly creative session that encourages collaboration, design thinking, and playful storytelling. Suitable for kids aged 5+ and their families.
- Level 3 – A more advanced hands-on challenge focused on techniques, structure, and detail. Recommended for guests aged 10+ looking to take their skills to the next level.
The nice people at the LEGO House will launch levels 1 and 4 next year.
But let’s get back to our visit.
After a funny introduction video, we were ushered into the LEGO Masters Academy studio where we were welcomed by LEGO Master Viktor and some epic music.
The atmosphere was exactly like the one in the LEGO Masters TV shows, and I can honestly say that all the participants were nice and friendly.
There were a few triangular tables scattered around the huge space, with bricks waiting for us and with another area from where more of them can be retrieved.
At our table, we were five builders: me, a father with his teenage daughter, and another guy. Alina was right to my right 🙂 and she helped me to complete all the challenges with clear and fast instructions.
Milli was hovering close to our table and helped us understand the techniques that were somewhat difficult.
I’m sure other content creators have already spoiled the entire activity all over the web and social media, but I will not be one of them.
All that I’m willing to say here is that over the 90 minutes spent in the LMA studio, we had a lot of fun building models that became gradually more complicated. At the end, we all got together, took some nice pics with the group, and since we were there in the opening week, we also left with a nice gift, aside from the models that we created, which you can take as part of this paid experience.
After saying our goodbyes to our fellow builders and to the friendly Milli, we explored the LEGO Store in more detail, looking for those exclusive sets that can be found only at the LEGO House.
We also took a look at the Make-your-own minifig terminals, at the Pick-a-brick selection, and everything else there. I would love it if LEGO stores could offer an area where visually impaired visitors can get hands-on with LEGO models. For me and many others like me, LEGO is not about colors but about shapes. Also, where others can see and can decide if they want a set by sight, we need to do it by touch, by exploring the model with our fingers. I am quite aware of how fragile some builds are, but most LEGO models are quite sturdy and can be safely displayed.
What I suggest is to have a dedicated area where we can explore alongside a Play Agent how amazing LEGO is, and that area can be advertised with a nice banner so that the companions of visually impaired people can see it easily and can tell us about it.
But that’s a longer talk, for a different article. October is International Blindness Awareness Month, so I thought that maybe having this type of information publicly available will help the LEGO Group better understand our needs. From what I saw while visiting them, they really want to do what’s best for us because they really care and want us to be happy.
Happy we were with our visit at the LEGO Store in the LEGO House as we left with two exclusive sets in our bags. The Pirate Mini-fig Tribute and a model of the LEGO House itself.
A short stop at the excellent Brickaccino café scored us some of the best coffee and sandwiches we ever had, and after a short walk through the quiet streets, we returned to our hotel, where we rested a little before going to dinner.
The dinner was served in the Knights Tavern, and the food was simply delicious! Alina and I have been on a Keto lifestyle for more than 7 years now, but from time to time, we treat ourselves to some carbs. This was a perfect opportunity to do just that because, aside from the super healthy foods like salads, meats, and veggies, we tried some pizza, potatoes shaped in LEGO brick form, and the best chicken nuggets that we have ever had!
Add to those sugar-free drinks, as we don’t drink alcohol, and in the end, some delicious pastries, these with sugar, and our dinner was a complete success!
Next time when we visit, we can stick to Keto easily as there is enough of a selection to satisfy us with no problem.
With our bellies full, we returned to the room and after that promptly went out again to search for a nearby store in order to get some more carb sustenance.
By this time, the rain was reigning supreme in the skies of the town, but with our trusty Helly Hansen gear on, we had no problem. Here in the Nordic countries, we say that there is no bad weather, but only bad clothes, so with that in mind, we faced the almost storm with bravery.
We got sidetracked by Apple Maps, which led us to a parking lot instead of the store, but by taking this detour, we had to jump and avoid a large number of frogs and baby frogs, which we are almost sure were hurrying up to a frog convention or something special. It was Saturday night, so frogs need to party, right?
Backtracking our steps, we realized that we had passed the store some time ago, but once we found it again, we went in and got some goodies.
Out of the store, through the rain for 5 minutes, and back to the room, where we took showers and after that took advantage of the nice carpet in the kids’ room to lay down and build LEGO the proper way.
Around 23:00 we got tired and retired to our own bed, and promptly fell asleep, thinking that the next two days would be as exciting as this one. We may end up having one of the best vacations ever.
Day 2 – LEGOLAND, more rain, and a walk through the woods
Sunday morning came, and we were up early, wide-eyed, and bushy-tailed, or something to that effect. Showers again and back to the Knights Tavern for our breakfast. This was as good as our dinner the night before. Excellent coffee, freshly squeezed orange, apple, and rhubarb juice, omelets, cheeses, and everything else a hungry human can want were widely available for consumption.
With our appetites satiated again, we transitioned from the LEGO Castle Hotel to the LEGO Hotel in order to enter LEGOLAND 30 minutes before everyone else, as this is a perk of staying in these lodgings.
LEGOLAND is insanely fun and absolutely breathtaking! From entire LEGO cities that are alive with moving parts, such as trains, planes, boats, and people, to fast roller coasters, a monorail, boat rides, restaurants, another LEGO Store, and a lot of places to find food, drinks, and coffee. In short, everything anyone could want and need to have a great day.
The weather was mostly sunny. We visited the store, went on some of the rides, until we almost got sick, so we decided to let the kids have all the fun. We also got something to eat, refueled on coffee, and did a full tour of the park.
We believe that families with kids will have even more fun than we did, as this is clearly the main audience for the LEGOLAND.
After staying from 9:30 to around 15:30 in the park, we went back to the hotel to recharge with a power nap. With our energy level back to normal, we headed out to explore more of the idyllic town. On the main street, that takes visitors from the hotels to LEGOLAND and all the way to LEGO Campus and finally to the LEGO House, on the sidewalk they have something called a Play Line, which encourages us to take part in different activities, such as running, jumping, stepping on colors, and many other similar things.
We think this line is also a great universal design feature and quite smart to have for people with cognitive impairments as it is a nice way to remember which way to go and never get lost.
While around the town, Alina told me that a lot of the cars doing maintenance have LEGO markings. From the garbage truck to food delivery to street sweeping cars, all have LEGOLAND written on them.
Before returning to the hotel, we took a nice walk through the forest where we found some sculptures and also visited the LEGO Campus, where LEGO has its headquarters. It seems like a nice place to work in. I believe that it is a space that allows creativity and that surely reflects in the magical products LEGO manages to put out every year.
With 19:00 fast approaching, we headed back to the restaurant/tavern for our last dinner at LEGO. Where Saturday the place was very full, with families, kids, and a lot of activity, Sunday was quite chill and relaxed. A nice staff member led us to a table and took care of our soda needs. We chatted with them about how amazing LEGO is, and they said that everyone is happy to work for them.
After finishing with the dinner, we retraced our steps to the nearby store to get some ice cream and soda. Luckily, the weather was quite friendly, and we didn’t need to run around like wet chickens.
Back in the hotel room, we took the showers and again built LEGO on the floor.
With the second successful day in our rearview mirrors, we retired to bed with thoughts of how cool it will be at the LEGO House on our last day in Denmark.
Day 3 – An unexpected meeting – The Lego House – Special People
After two days filled with activities and unforgettable moments, the time came for our last day at Lego. As always, we woke up early, took showers, packed our bags, and went to breakfast. After eating enough to keep us satiated until mid-day, we returned to the hotel to begin preparations to check out and, after that, to visit our last objective and the one we were most excited about, the LEGO House.
As a journalist and accessibility advocate, I usually reach out to PR people to see if they want to meet and have a talk with me. I did the exact same thing when we got the tickets to LEGO, but due to very short notice, the PR representative couldn’t set anything up for us. There was no problem because both Alina and I really understand how busy things can be in such jobs, and we have also been there as the LEGO Group was inviting media and influencers for the LEGO Fan Media Days.
We decided that next time when we are coming, we will be in contact with more time in advance so that the nice people in PR can set something up for us, if possible. So during my time in Billund, I posted on LinkedIn about our trip and how happy we are with the experience, so imagine my surprise and delight when Kathrine Kirk Muff, the CEO of the LEGO House and board member of the LEGO Group, sent me a message to see if we can make time to meet with her for a few minutes, just to say hello.
I told her that we will make time, we checked out, good thing we packed earlier, and that we travel light. After checking out, we left the bags at the hotel and did a power walk to the LEGO House. There we met Kathrine in the square, we talked quite fast about what Alina and I are doing with LEGO, at work, in private life, and as journalists, but also about how much joy the brick has brought to our life since we started building last year.
We really appreciated this meeting because we saw someone who loves her job, who is dedicated to making LEGO even better, and she also told us about the History Collection, which has been recently updated and upgraded with Braille panels, sign language videos, audio experiences, and tactile models.
After receiving the coolest visit card ever from Kathrine, a mini-fig of herself with her name, email, and phone number printed on it, we said our goodbyes and, promising to stay in touch, left her to return to a meeting in progress that she had put on hold to meet with us.
This is how we know LEGO is about people. When everyone working there is happy, when they fix any problems with a simple smile, and when the CEO takes time from her busy schedule to meet with a blind guy and his wife, just because they love LEGO and they want to raise awareness about how accessible building LEGO is and how it can change our lives, then you know these people do what they love, every day, and that’s what all of us should be lucky to do as well.
After scanning our tickets, we met again with Marie, and she suggested that we take the elevator up to the last floor and then go down from there, through all the areas. She explained to us that throughout the LEGO House, there are stations where we can scan our wristbands in order to take pictures, and that after that, we can scan the QR code on the wall with our phone so that we can download all the pics.
That’s quite a nice and accessible way to take and get access to pictures, which we always appreciate.
We actually took the stairs, as they are winding around a huge LEGO tree on which there are a lot of LEGO builds.
The LEGO House is split into areas. From top to bottom, we have the Masterpiece Gallery on the third floor and on the second, the Activity Zones. The first floor is taken by the square with the check-in counters, a huge machine that makes LEGO in real time, the LEGO Store, the Mini Chef restaurant, the LEGO Masters Academy Studio, and the Brickaccino Café.
In the basement, there is the above-mentioned History Collection, which is nothing short of inspiring.
In the Masterpiece Gallery, we were greeted by the bubbly Play Agent Inka, a funny, smart, and direct German woman who stuck with us for some time and showed us some of the creations. There we also met Mads, who was very interested in our Ray Ban Meta smart glasses, so Alina and I did demos for both of them, showing how we take pics and how I use AI to have everything around me described in detail. I also told them that I can use the glasses when I build LEGO, as they can tell me what colors the bricks have. They seem very impressed, and as far as I know, Mads has them on his birthday wishlist. It is always nice to have these interactions and to inform those around us about cool things.
As we made our way down, with Alina taking pics, stopping here and there to build a little and to interact with other Play Agents, and from time to time to retire to the brilliantly thought-out quiet rooms, the time flew by, and we were ready for lunch.
Before I tell you about the food and the experience of being served by robots, I want to say a few words about the above-mentioned quiet rooms, which are so needed, especially for people like Alina and me who usually get tired easily when in such busy environments. I think that most of us are struggling these days with large crowds, busy areas, noisy people, or too much visual information to process.
These quiet rooms will give you the time to wind down, to relax, to build some LEGO creations with the patented brick, the 2 by 4, or even to go out on the terrace to get some fresh air. We really want to say thank you to those who thought about all of this, and let’s hope that more and more venues will include such rooms.
Another thing that I want to mention is that in the bathrooms, which are plenty, clean, and accessible, the LEGO Group is providing sanitary pads and tampons, which Alina thinks is quite a nice thing to do. Giving people access to basic items is another thing that everyone else should do.
While we are here, I think that I should also mention that the entire LEGO House is fully accessible. Yes, there are stairs, which we took, but they’re also elevators, ramps, and in the Historical Collection, there is Braille, sign language, tactile models, and audio recordings that tell the history of the Lego Group. I think this is a company that truly cares about being inclusive, and with such excellent universal design and universal access, I believe that everyone should visit if they have the opportunity.
Lunch at the Mini Chef Restaurant was great and also a unique experience. We had booked a table in advance, as there is a lot of demand, and while waiting in line, we even got to say hello to one of our favorite LEGO content creators, Tiago Catarino, who was a LEGO designer for a few years. He is quite taller than we were expecting, but also a super nice guy who stopped and chatted a few minutes with us. We really recommend that you check him out if you don’t know about him yet.
Back in the queue, we were promptly taken to our table and given the instructions on how to order food. This is quite a nice thing as you get a small bag of bricks with which you build your order by placing them in a specific pattern. After that, you put the tray with the order in a terminal, and when the food is ready, you go and pick it up at the counter, where it is delivered by robots :). Alina is very happy with the experience, and both of us were quite impressed with how good the food was. The restaurant has a lot of LEGO displayed on shelves, which is always a nice thing.
With lunch done, we returned to exploring the LEGO House, so we went downstairs to the History Collection. Here, I was able to practice my rusty Braille skills, to get descriptions with my glasses, to listen to audio recordings about the history of the LEGO Group, and even to touch models of the earlier LEGO creations.
If you love LEGO and want to learn more about its history, this is the place to do it.
I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the Braille information is relayed both in English and Danish, the audio recordings the same, and I guess that this is the case for sign language as well. The tactile models are nice and exactly half of the real thing, with the other half outlined so that we get an idea about how the entire model looks like.
My recommendation for the LEGO Group is to set aside a place where blind people can touch the original model, in its exact form, if possible. Also, I think it would be awesome if, for example, an area would be dedicated to the modular collection. Alina and I are super fans; we built a few of them together, but I have never seen how all of them look like and feel. I think that the History Collection would be the perfect place to do this and also a great opportunity to showcase these unique models.
Sincere thanks and congrats from me to the LEGO Group for making the LEGO House such an accessible and welcoming place! If Alina and I didn’t already have our dream jobs, of working with disabled people and trying to make their lives better, we would have gladly given our time to work at the LEGO House, if they wanted us.
Towards the end of our visit, we took some time to chat with Play Agent Alice, who was nice enough to take a picture of us while free building some stuff. With the closing time message of the PA, we headed out and skipped the queue waiting to get their bricks, as we got them before lunch.
Everyone visiting the LEGO House can pick up six bricks, freshly baked in the machine I told you about, plus a card with a unique model combination. It seems that you can have 915,103,765 models when you combine six 2 by 4 bricks.
We said goodbye to all the wonderful people we met at the LEGO House, we got a last coffee from Brickaccino, and after going back to the hotel, picking up our bags, and taking the bus back to the airport, we were ready to return home to Oslo.
After clearing security, where the nice agent swabbed me for a random control, all the time telling me with a smile in her voice that they are looking for drugs and explosives, we discovered that the airport has a huge LEGO Store where everything is discounted 20%! Can you imagine that? LEGO exclusive sets with 20% off? Well, we had purchased an extra carry-on for this flight back, so we had just enough space to buy the LEGO Harry Potter Gringotts Bank for a great price.
Next time when we visit, we will get two bags just to get more exclusive sets, and this is how you can also get some great deals when visiting. I don’t think that enough people know about this opportunity, so I thought that it would be nice to share.
At the gate, the people at Norwegian were looking funny at us, and we thought they would measure the box, but as the plane was half full, they didn’t take the LEGO away from this blind builder :).
After a quick 45-minute flight, we were back in Oslo. We took the train back to our place, and our cat Sploshy was very happy to see us.
I have written this article over a span of two weeks. I have poured my soul and love for LEGO into it, and although I believe it’s quite long, I wouldn’t change a thing about it or about our time in Billund.
It has been our best vacation ever, surrounded by LEGO, by amazing people, and unforgettable moments. We loved every second of it, yes, even the rain and the wind, and we can’t wait to return next year.
Now, that we have reached the end, we want to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts to everyone we met at LEGO. Thank you, Marie, Maria aka Milli, Viktor, Inka, Mads, Alice, and everyone else whose names we didn’t get for being such special, funny, friendly, nice, helpful, and smiling all the time.
Although I didn’t see you, I have felt all of you, and you will be our friends forever. Don’t change anything about you; you are perfect exactly the way you are!
Last, but definitely not least, thank you, Kathrine, for wanting to meet us. We were blown away by your openness, warmth, and professionalism. We hope to meet again, and this invitation is for all of our friends that we made in Billund: if you visit Oslo, a thing which you should definitely do as it is an awesome city, please reach out to us. We will show you around and be as friendly as you’ve been :).
As a side note at the end, after our adventures in Billund, Joakim, the LEGO Master of Norway, asked us if we would like to have a talk at KlossExpo, the largest LEGO convention in Norway, to show how we build LEGO together, even though I’m blind.
Of course, the answer was yes, so if you love LEGO as much as we do and are around Oslo in the weekend of 11-12 October, please drop by KlossExpo.
If you made it this far, you are cool! I know for a fact that this is the longest article that I’ve written, and I really hope that you liked it!
Thank you dear reader for your time and remember, LEGO is life and life is fun! I said this to a very dear friend in a time of uncertainty and she told me that it helped. So, here we go: may you build your life like LEGO and make whatever you want out of it!
Victor Dima
