News Merlin Sells LEGO Discovery Centers to LEGO

[Zachary]

The LEGO Group to acquire LEGO® Discovery Centres and LEGOLAND® Discovery Centres from Merlin Entertainments

BILLUND, DENMARK, 24 September 2025: The LEGO Group today announced it has agreed to acquire LEGO® Discovery Centres and LEGOLAND® Discovery Centres from Merlin Entertainments. The acquisition will include 29 Centres in nine countries which attract around five million visitors each year.

LEGO Group CEO, Niels B Christiansen said: “We are excited to welcome the Discovery Centres to the LEGO Group and appreciate all that Merlin Entertainments has done to bring the LEGO brand to life through these attractions. They will be an important addition to our global network of retail stores and allow us to offer fans of all ages even more memorable hands-on brand and shopping experiences. We are looking forward to welcoming the dedicated Discovery Centre teams who inspire visitors bring to life their imagination and creativity through the power of LEGO Play.”

CEO Merlin Entertainments, Fiona Eastwood said: “For 20 years, Merlin has partnered with the LEGO Group to bring its beloved brand to life through experiential play, including in the Discovery Centres. It is now a natural next step for the Centres to become part of the LEGO Group, allowing Merlin to strengthen its focus on driving the growth and success of LEGOLAND Resorts alongside our other attractions worldwide. Together with the LEGO Group, we look forward to the opportunities ahead as we build on our shared commitment to delivering exceptional experiences for families across the globe.”

Located in high traffic areas in major cities, the Discovery Centres offer visitors exciting hands-on LEGO play experiences, eye-catching builds and a variety of entertainment activities. Each Centre also includes a retail outlet. The first LEGOLAND Discovery Centre opened in Berlin in 2007.

The acquisition is expected to close around the end of the year with an estimated cash consideration of £0.2 billion (subject to customary closing adjustments).

Merlin and the LEGO Group will continue their long-standing brand partnership. Merlin will continue to operate eleven LEGOLAND Resorts around the world under licence from the LEGO Group, including the recently opened resort in Shanghai.

Interesting development. The press release doesn't say anything about Merlin retaining management contracts, so maybe LEGO really intends to manage and run the Discovery Centers directly?

 

[Great Adventurer]

Another thing I'm curious about, with an example from the LEGOLAND NY website:

Access to Local Merlin Attractions
Our Bronze, Gold, & Elite Passes grant access to LEGOLAND® New York Resort, LEGOLAND Discovery Center New Jersey, LEGOLAND Discovery Center Westchester, and SEA LIFE New Jersey. Blackout dates apply to Bronze and Gold Passes.

I wonder how stuff like this will be handled going forward with the change in ownership.

 

[paintervision]

This is interesting. Lego already runs the Lego Stores (over a 1000 locations worldwide), and they soft-competed with the Discovery Centers, at least for retail.

For example in Philly, there's a Lego store at King of Prussia Mall, and a Discovery Center 9 miles away in the Plymouth Meeting Mall. I know NY metro has a few overlapping Lego stores/discovery centers too. Maybe with this move, they consolidate locations to shrink overlapping retail?

Edit: This site also speculates that the Lego Insiders program is coming to Discovery Centers.

Edit 2: I didn't realize there was a Legoland Discovery Center nearly next door to a Lego store in Ohio: