History
From 1969 to 1992, the site of today´s Legoland Windsor belonged Windsor Safari Park, which had been founded by the Billy Smart´s Circus.
The Lego Group began research for the development of a second Legoland park after Legoland Billund in 1987, with over 1000 sites considered. In January 1992, Windsor Safari Park went into receivership and the 150-acre (0.61 km2) site was chosen. Throughout 1992 and 1993, planning, design, site preparation and the design and construction of models began, and new homes were secured for all the safari animals. 1994 saw the installation of services, foundations and infrastructures, and in 1995, one year prior to opening, Big Ben was installed in Miniland. By this time, buildings and attractions were becoming established and in September, advance bookings were opened for entrance tickets. Final installations were completed by the beginning of 1996 and at this point, the Legoland Windsor staff-base was recruited. The grand opening of Legoland Windsor occurred in March 1996. During its first season, the park attracted over 1.4 million guests.
In April 2005, Lego made the decision to sell the Legoland parks, due to rising losses across the whole company. On July 13, 2005, Legoland was acquired by the Blackstone Group and control of the parks passed to Merlin Entertainments.
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