Legoland Discovery Centre Coming to Istanbul

Following Merlin Entertainments’ acquisition of Istanbul’s Turkuazoo Aquarium last September (we reported on this in the EAP news from Sept 27, 2013), the visitor attraction operator recently announced that it had reached an agreement with Multi Turkey, an owner, manager and (re)developer of shopping centres across Europe and Turkey, to build and open a Legoland Discovery Centre (LDC) in the near vicinity of the aquarium. Accordingly, the attraction is scheduled to open in late spring 2015 at Forum Istanbul, a shopping and leisure centre opened in November 2009 in Istanbul’s Bayrampaşa district. This is where the aquarium is also located. The new 3,100-square meter indoor attraction catering for families with children aged three to ten will feature (amongst others): exciting Lego rides, a 4D cinema, an interactive ‘Lego Factory Tour’ and the popular Lego Miniland exhibit. The latter will include iconic buildings and landmarks of Istanbul such as the Topkapi Palace, Blue Mosque and Bosphorus Bridge. (eap)