For consistency, I titled this blog “Billund, Denmark,” but Little Billy SO wanted to just call it what it was: LEGO HOUSE!!!!

*I, like my whole entire family, LOOOOOVE LEGO. This was my candy store day!*

So here’s the thing. This wasn’t planned. This was all a surprise carefully orchestrated by none other than the awesome, amazing, wonderful, can’t say enough incredible things about her, Else Johnson. She picked me up at the BLL airport and took me directly to #LEGOHouse. It wasn’t until I landed in the actual airport that I realized the REASON for the BLL (Billund) airport is because of LEGO Headquarters. Duh. This is the “anchor” business that people fly in to see.

*Bill & Else grab a selfie in front of the big ‘ole LEGO bricks before going inside*

DISCLAIMER: I’m a fanboy of LEGO and make no apologies here. I took more pictures this day than mere mortals might care to see and yet I will share them in gallery mode in support of my fellow LEGO super fans. What’s more, I had a full 30 minute deep dive conversation with my son Will the morning after my visit as he couldn’t get enough of what I experienced, so I know if you’re truly a fan of LEGO you want to hear EVERYTHING I’ll be sharing here. If not, that’s cool, and feel free to skip to the next post so I can geek out with my fellow LEGO fans.

Let’s set the seen with the outside entrance so you can drop in with me:

Next, allow me to take you inside the building where we’ll get set up to show you around what LEGO House has to offer those who choose to enter and play here. First, the information desk to get checked in issues you your all important QR code wrist band so you can capture all your pictures and videos (which I’ve included in this post). Next, find the large rubber LEGO bricks to build forts like the one assembled here in the lobby.

And then you’ll see your first of many photo stations which I used for the opening shot of this blog post. Oh, and if you need to use the toilet, just look for the full-sized LEGO do peeing on the sign and look up. I loved all the small touches you see literally everywhere you look.

Another example that was so fun was the cafeteria. We arrived a bit early so we had time for lunch before beginning our journey “officially” so we had a ton of fun just eating in the cafe. Why? Because LEGO robots made our meal and we used a LEGO instruction booklet to order our meal AND the tastiest part was the caramel LEGO brick I ate and the best looking were the bouquet of LEGO flowers that adorned our table.

Last thing before starting, we were advised to check out the gift store as it gets crowded towards the end, so we walked around and checked out all the sets that you can’t get anywhere else. Like the LEGO Duck. The significance being that this was the ORIGINAL LEGO wooden toy (not what we think of when we think of LEGO today). You can also get a LEGO House Set and many other sets only available here. Plus, if you’re a tourist like me, you can save on VAT when you exit the country (so it’s like shopping DUTY FREE).

I realize I need to speed this up as I haven’t event officially “started” here. This is all the preamble before you “officially” enter the LEGO House. It would be like I’m showing you the Disney parking lots, trams and themed hotels before you enter the theme parks. Sure, staying “on property” is cool, but let’s get into the amusement park where the good people at LEGO House have put so much effort I want to share the real experience. So here we go.

*This is my 6-piece set. There are 915,103,765 like it, but THIS ONE is mine.*

The first opportunity to customize your experience is you are asked to pick up 6 red bricks and put them in any order you like. Then, you take them to the kiosk and the computer randomly generates a combination for you for the day. Do they match? Unlikely. The odds are 1: 915,103,765. But it’s a cool way to learn a bit of math factorials.

With 6 red LEGO bricks, see how you can get to 915,103, 765 unique combinations

Then, the journey begins with the LEGO “Tree of Creativity.” Now even as I say that what do you conjure up in your mind. Bigger. I know, “How big could it be?” Think indoor Redwood Forest tree base that’s strong enough to hold entire LEGO projects on individual tree limbs and a wrap-around stairs that could legally be used as a fire escape for the masses of people enjoying this facility. I’m talking THAT BIG. These pictures will now attempt to show you that level of scale.

This tree alone is almost cool enough to go in and see by itself. Almost. It’s huge. It covers something like 6 stories from the main floor to the top floor. What I know is that it’s 15 meters high and packed with more than six million LEGO bricks and weighs over 20 tons. Yes, it’s that big and impressive. Damn!

Let’s keep going. We’re just getting started. We’ve moved from the lobby and up the stairs. Let’s see what surprises LEGO has in store for the 5-year old version of me who just can’t wait to play here.

*No freaking way. A LEGO portrait of me using only LEGO pieces. What?*

*Snap a picture at the kiosk and you’re famous for a few minutes!*

Here’s the thing, I know my kids (and maybe even my wife) would be willing to take the time to assemble a huge portrait of me using actual LEGO parts. The issue is knowing what pieces to use. With this kiosk, we now have a blueprint. With enough patients, my family could purchase the parts to actually recreate this sized frame in our home. Don’t have to, but now we know how to do it. I’m sure in another few years, LEGO will make it even easier and say, “Hey, you know for an insane amount of money, we’ll gladly ship this fully completed set (or better yet, step-by-step directions and a 6,600 piece Millenium Falcon-sized LEGO box for you to assemble) to your house. Thanks for visiting LEGO House!)

*Challenge: Make a LEGO figure that you want to see animated to dance*

Next up, take any LEGO pieces you want and be sure to include eyes and a mouth as well as arms and legs so that LEGO can make your character dance for about 20 seconds. Here we go:

Here’s what I love about that. I made a character from my imagination and LEGO animated it. I could make anything that fit on that grey backboard and LEGO would make it dance. It might be a Frankenstein monster, but even — I mean ESPECIALLY monsters — need to dance it out, right? Go for it. Make anything. We’ll have it dance away, be happy and free. Love it.

*This is my fish friend, Fredrica. I made her and then she swam in the LEGO tank.*

Here again. You make anything with LEGO and the kiosk will put it digitally into the fish tank and have it swim around. You can spend all sorts of time building your digital fish tank and playing with your digital fish. What a brilliant way to create a hybrid digital and analog integration system. But I’ll get off the digital for those who would prefer to get back to the old school LEGO sets and bricks as you grew up with. There’s plenty of that to go around. Entire cities, in fact.

*Bill Carmody as a self-made LEGO character.*

Given any face, any body, any hair / hat / helmet, holding anything and standing on anything, who are you in a LEGO character? This was a lot harder than I thought it would be. It was a sort of LEGO personality test. I selected the wizard hat for the magic I bring into the world. I give my heart to everyone I meet so that seemed right to have that in my hand. I also hold a key to unlocking financial freedom for myself and others. I can’t control the wind or the waves of life, but I’ve learned to be a powerful surfer believing that all life is happening FOR me, not to me. I seek adventure, so I picked a blue flame on my shirt and I wear the beard of the Ninjago master Woo (which also represents my being a 5th degree Black Belt in Soo Bahk Do, Moo Duk Kwon). Phew, that’s a lot to put into a single LEGO character, but when done, I felt complete.

In the build areas, it’s almost overwhelming in that there is everything you could ever want to play with. That’s awesome. And it’s a lot. You pick out the things you need to build whatever your heart desires and your imagination dreams up. Ultimately, LEGO puts it this way:

*I think LEGO Is right. Ultimately, it is our ability to PLAY that allows us to create.*

Just a few more things to point out until I take you downstairs to the history portion of this place; perhaps the coolest for those who really love the deep, rich history of LEGO. When you get to the top floor, you notice some larger than life characters; dinosaurs. The first is made out of Duplo (kids LEGO). Take a good look. It’s really amazing to look closely at:

The paradox is that it’s a dinosaur (i.e. “scary”) made out of Duplo (i.e. “not scary”) and when you zoom in, the specific elements are bunny rabbits, deer, and all things super cute. The next one my son Will pointed out to me, “Hey dad, isn’t that next dinosaur made out of technic? If you don’t know, technic is the stuff usually not seen because it' holds the LEGO sets together structurally. In a multi-thousand piece LEGO set like a Millennium Falcon or AT-AT, there is a TON of technic, but it’s on the INSIDE and usually not seen by anyone. That’s why this dinosaur is extra special:

*Wait. Not this one, I think it was THIS one:*

*Yeah, that’s right. This is technic. See how “non-LEGO” it appears to be?*

And before we migrate further to the history of LEGO, I must take you to the full cities built because they are HUGE and spectacular.

Okay, so now for the final chapter as we head downstairs to the basement where LEGO House tells the story of how it all began. By the way, no detail is left to chance. Notice the colors of the walls as Else and I walk downstairs:

*Else and I descend to the basement floor of LEGO House admiring the walls*

Upon entering the first historic artifact is the dug up molds from the 1950s to mass produce the plastic LEGO bricks. They used to burry them so that they would not be stolen and copied by competitors until they later found more environmentally friendly ways to recycle these moldings.

*Image in the floor as you “step into” the history of the LEGO House.*

Feel free to dig in here as much or as little as you like. I found the history of LEGO fascinating. If I were to sum up my understanding, Ole Kirk Kristiansen started out as a carpenter, turned toy maker initially focused on wooden toys. The wooden duck with wheels was the first toy created and the best seller at the time (hence the commemorative plastic LEGO model in the gift store).

Like any entrepreneur, Ole faced many setbacks including a fire that burned down his building and The Great Depression. He almost gave up more than once. The plastic version of LEGO that we all know and love was originally made my hand and came with sizable stability issues until the concept of “clutch power” was introduced (and patented) on October 24, 1961. A sizable investment was made to create manufacturing equipment to mass produce LEGO and it was a big risk for the company that paid off. Eventually, the plastic toys rivaled the wooden ones and the company decided to discontinue the wood in favor of the plastic and went all in.

LEGO go excited by LEGO Land and other possibilities and began to lose its way. The company over-extended itself and nearly went bankrupt. It hired an outside consultant to help reground itself in its core vision, mission and values, made some important strategic decisions and turned the company around. Today, LEGO is thriving and focused on its core strengths and likely to succeed for the foreseeable future. Below includes key excerpts along with “The Valut” which rotates samples of every LEGO set every produced (a copy of which is stored securely in LEGO House as part of its history).

So, let’s recap. I didn’t know LEGO House was here in Denmark. Totally should have, but fully admit that I didn’t. I further was unaware that the airport I flew into, BLL, was more or less created to support the international travel in and out of Billund, Denmark for those business people who specifically want to meet with LEGO. And, despite my complete lapse of awareness, my good friend Else Johnson gave me an incredible day that included:

Lunch created by LEGO robots including LEGO caramel bricks
A life size LEGO dog peeing on a pole directing me to the bathrooms
Deep Self-reflection via a LEGO character builder personality test
A LEGO-based unique identification 6 Brick PIN Code Card
Two unique real-time animations from LEGO creations I built (MOCs)
Opportunity to purchase collector sets from LEGO House
Deep learning of LEGO History from foundation to present day
Instructions on how to build a life size portrait using LEGO parts

Yes, I’m an AFOL (Adult Fan of LEGO) and this day most certainly scratched that itch and gave me a deeper appreciation of just how deep the creative rabbit hole goes with LEGO. If you haven’t been, I highly recommend booking your adventure to the LEGO House (this time, on purpose).

Billund, Denmark (July 27, 2025)

Djurgården, Sweden (July 26, 2025)