Legoland California

Are you a knight, a pirate or an adventurer? Those are the room themes offered at the new Legoland California Hotel in Carlsbad, Calif., that's set to open ahead of schedule on April 5. Pick your favorite theme and reserve a room starting at $149 a night and a kid-friendly package starting at $209 a night. The deal: The three-story, 250-room hotel will feature more than 3,400 models made from 3 million Lego bricks, a company statement says. Smoke-breathing dragons, a Castle Play area and a pool are some of the amenities that come with a stay at this amusement park hotel.

Work has begun on many of the Lego models coming to a new " Star Wars " themed area at Legoland California – including Han Solo's Millennium Falcon, Luke Skywalker's landspeeder and X-Wing starfighters as well as miniature versions of stormtroopers, droids and creatures from the epic film saga. Photo gallery : View "Star Wars" Lego models at Legoland California Crews have cleared land for the new "Star Wars" miniland and begun pouring foundations for the animated scenes to be depicted from the six movies in the series and the "Clone Wars" television cartoon.

A new " Star Wars " themed area at Legoland California with 2,000 Lego models will take visitors chronologically through scenes from the epic film saga. Photo gallery : View "Star Wars" Lego models at Legoland California Scheduled to make its debut March 31, the new "Star Wars" area will be part of the Carlsbad kiddie park's Miniland, park officials said Thursday. It will feature animated scenes from the six movies in the series and the "Clone Wars" television cartoon -- complete with special effects and sound effects.

Prominent Los Angeles real estate developer Rick Caruso is expected to build a large-scale retail and entertainment center in north San Diego County after acquiring a plot of land along Interstate 5 from a local utility. Caruso said Thursday that he has agreed to buy a 48-acre parcel on Cannon Road in Carlsbad from San Diego Gas & Electric to be used for a future real estate development. Terms of the sale were not revealed and Caruso did not say exactly what he hopes to build, but he is best known for his Grove shopping center in the Fairfax district of Los Angeles and his Americana at Brand retail and residential development in Glendale.

The $800-million Adventure World Warsaw theme park set to break ground July 21 will feature lands dedicated to mythical creatures, ancient legends, fantasy worlds and Polish history. PHOTOS: Adventure World Warsaw theme park in Poland Located about a half-hour southwest of Warsaw, the 240-acre resort is expected to debut in 2015 with a theme park, indoor water park, retail center and two hotels. About a third of Adventure World will operate year-round with the remainder of the theme park open from March until October.

The red team was having a panic attack. Gov. Pete Wilson had long been obsessed with making sure that Legoland, a proposed $130-million venture, be built on a mesa in the San Diego suburb of Carlsbad. And for good reason. Not only would the theme park boost the regional economy, it would send a signal that the recession-beset Golden State, knocked to its knees by military-base closures and the dismantling of the aerospace industry, was back in business.

Knott's Berry Farm has quietly begun offering a fee-based, line-cutting pass for some of its most popular roller coasters and thrill rides. The $40 Hate to Wait front-of-line pass made its debut in early December after a test run during the Buena Park theme park's Halloween Haunt event in October, officials said. Sold at a kiosk just inside the main entrance, the optional line-cutting pass more doubles the $35 cost of admission to Knott's (for advance tickets purchased online)

Legoland fans may pick among three different room themes -- kingdom, adventure or pirate -- when the hotel at Legoland California Resort in Carlsbad opens in May. For those who want to be first in line, packages on sale now feature stays that come with four park-hopper passes and breakfast too. The deal: The Legoland Hotel sounds modest by mega-resort standards; it has just 250 rooms, according to the website. (By comparison, the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim has more than 950 rooms.)

The Legoland California theme park in Carlsbad, north of San Diego, plans to debut a third roller coaster Saturday as part of its biggest expansion since it opened two years ago. The Lego Technic Coaster is the fastest (up to 28 mph) and has the biggest drop (42 feet) of any coaster in the 128-acre park, which was opened by the Danish toy manufacturer in 1999. (There also are Legolands in Denmark and Britain.