LEGOLAND Florida Goes Green On Earth Day

LEGOLAND Florida becomes first theme park

in U.S. to run completely

on renewable energy on Earth Day

LEGOLAND Florida

The initiative marks the beginning of a new partnership with Tampa Electric

LEGOLAND  Florida and Tampa Electric kicked off a groundbreaking partnership today in a celebratory moment by making the 150-acre theme park run completely on renewable solar energy for the day in celebration of Earth Day – the first theme park to do so in the U.S. The celebration is part of existing and new conservation initiatives, including installations that will educate park guests about solar energy. As part of the partnership, LEGOLAND Florida will also permanently power a section of the park, Imagination Zone, on renewable energy.

“This is a historic day for LEGOLAND Florida,” said LEGOLAND Florida General Manager Adrian Jones. “With our new partnership with Tampa Electric, we will give guests a whole new way to learn about renewable energy while also doing something that no other theme park in the U.S. has done before.”

LEGOLAND Florida

A celebratory moment was held just prior to park opening Tuesday, at approximately 9:45 a.m., with both Jones and Bruce Narzissenfeld, vice president of Marketing, Customer Service, Business Development and Fuel Operations for Tampa Electric, proclaiming the partnership and special green initiative. Even the confetti was eco-friendly. The focal point centered around LEGOLAND Florida running on renewable energy for an entire day, with environmental savings equal to removing three cars from the road for one year or planting six acres of trees.

The partnership also resulted in the installation of a 30-kilowatt solar panel array mounted atop the Imagination Zone attraction venue. Funded by Tampa Electric, the system supports Tampa Electric’s Renewable Energy program that lets the company’s customers purchase a portion of their electricity from renewable sources.

“This is a partnership built on doing the right thing for the environment,” said Narzissenfeld. “Together, we’ll teach the next generation about the benefits of investing in renewable fuels like the sun to produce electricity.

LEGOLAND Florida

As part of the partnership, a new display will be placed inside the park starting in June, featuring an interactive 6-foot LEGO ® Earth model that educates guests on solar technologies. Located outside Imagination Zone, visitors will be able to affect the rate of LEGO Earth’s rotation with tactile solar panels. Guests will also enjoy an interactive zone that features LEGO mini model communities running on renewable energy inside the Imagination Zone.

The new areas add to the multiple educational aspects already within LEGOLAND Florida. The park gives kids a chance to learn and play with STEM-based activities such as LEGO MINDSTORMS robots, Build & Test and Power Towers.

LEGOLAND Florida has made a consistent effort for conservation since the park opened in 2011, including:

  • The park recycled nearly 60 tons of bottles and cans in 2013, along with 176 tons of cardboard
  • Throughout the park, guests can find over 180 recycled-made benches, with each made out of 800 recycled milk jugs
  • Each of the park’s 310 trash cans (consisting of both waste and recycle only at a 1-to-1 rate) are made out of 330 recycled milk jugs
  • LEGOLAND Florida has map recycling stations to avoid the waste of park maps that guests can acquire at the beginning sections of the park
  • The LEGOLAND Water Park holds 26 benches and 88 trashcans made entirely out of recyclable materials
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Girls day at The Barn Antiques, Lake Alfred

antique Rooster Table

 

Last week for girls day we decided to go visit The Barn Antiques, which is located in Lake Alfred toward Lakeland, and was established back in 1969. Not only is there a huge antique showroom, but also a large showroom of new gifts, some from local artists, but there is also a garden center and cafe!

 

The Stable

 

My friend told me about this place a while back, and how a lot of their antique items are from England, she has some great items from here around her home. So we thought we would make a day out of it and go for lunch and a shop around their antique showrooms.

cafe

We decided to meet early for lunch at 11:30am as she had mentioned it can get quite busy around the midday time. The cafe is called “The Back Porch” and has a lot of seating both indoors and outside in their porch area facing their gardens. Upon entering you pick up a paper menu with a post it note at the top, then take your seat where you would like to sit. There are pencils in jars on the tables, so you jot down your table number on the post it note at the top, then check the items you would like to order. The menu has so many options, and you are able to mix and match between these. We all chose “the Country Picnic”, which included a soup, sandwich, salad and dessert for only $7.84! There were even a couple of vegetarian options, and the soups were also vegetarian friendly.

 

order

For the drinks you could chose from their different freshly brewed ice teas, hot teas, coffees and lemonade. I decided to go for the spiced raspberry iced tea, which included free refills so that worked for me. When they bring the food out, they bring it in little picnic boxes, which I thought was such a lovely presentation style, so different! The food was delicious, and the little desserts were very cute and tasty, I opted for an English trifle, which didn’t include jello so was great for this vegetarian!

 

Picnic

After lunch we headed into the antique showrooms. The gift part was a lot of fun as they had such an array of items to purchase! From candles, to jewelry, clothes, light fixtures and kitchen ware, they had it all! Some parts were presented in themes which made it easy to show around and look at your favorite things.

Decorbunny

 

Next we headed into the antiques part, and It looked smaller inside, until i realized it just kept going and going! A lot of their pieces are from England and Europe dating from the 19th and 20th century! They get shipments quite regularly, so no one visit is the same, so it’s good to keep coming back and seeing what else they get in.

Mirror

They even have a stained glass window section toward the back, which made me wish I had somewhere to put one as I saw some beautiful pieces!

 

Stained glass

We then made our way out to the “Backyard Shop” located in the garden. Here you could find so many whimsical garden ornaments and decor, from solar powered fairies to gnome homes and mailbox covers! Some parts of the store are designed around the oak trees themselves so you almost feel like you are shopping in the forest or inside a huge tree house!

GardenFlowerbust

We pretty much stayed the whole day at The Barn as there was so much to do. It was so relaxing and fun that I am already planning my next trip there! It’s only about a 45 minute drive from the Orlando area, so well worth the trip for some fun and unique antique finds! Their opening times are always seasonal, but this season they are open Tuesday through Saturday from 10-4pm, be sure to check them out soon for some great antiques!

 

Sun

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