Funny Mom Blog Contributor Heather and her adorable son and friends got to check out the brand new LEGO brick model ship at The Queen Mary! This is the world’s biggest LEGO brick model ship weighting in at over 600 pounds with over 250,000 LEGO bricks! Read all about it!
Thanks to The Funny Mom, Desiree Eaglin, we got to see the World’s Biggest LEGO Brick Model Ship is at The Queen Mary…a replica of the Queen Mary…ON the Queen Mary at the Shipyard preview in Long Beach, CA!!! To Lego fans of all ages, this has the extreme coolness factor! The Queen Mary, well, she is an ahhhhhhhmazing expansive ship with so much to explore that my entire family just loves to pieces. However, her rich history and beauty that I find intriguing and divinely elegant is so very under appreciated by my 6 year old. Bringing Lego into the mix means that his patience with my stopping to read every snippet I could get my eyes on was greatly rewarded.
In the Shipyard on the 4th floor Promenade, sits the replica of the Queen Mary with such fine detail that frankly, it is difficult not to touch! We seriously had to impose the “we look with our eyes, not our hands” rule since even my fingers were itching to pick up those mini-figures and guide them through the massive ship like I was a passenger back in the day – one of those elegant ladies being courted by a fine gentleman.
We were star-struck as the Master Builders were there…they were actually THERE…in the same room! They posed for pictures, gave interviews, told silly cat stories (A quick shout out to Thelma and Louise- master builder cats!) and were 110% approachable. Which is, of course, why we watched mutely with our mouths wagging open listening with baited breath to every other person’s questions not wanting to miss a word and then asking only 1 question for ourselves. My son dreams of becoming a Master Builder when he grows up. These guys are living the dream!
The Queen Mary replica, along with a super cool Winston Churchill bust and a mosaic of a classic travel poster was created by Lego Certified Professional Duncan Titmarsh (He’s one of only 16 in the WORLD with that title!) and his business partner, Ed Diment from a company called Bright Bricks based in the UK. Lego Queen Mary contains approximately 250-300,000 Lego pieces and is so detailed, even Churchill himself was represented in mini figure form in his top hat on the upper deck! It took 4 builders about 4 months to build. In the first month alone, they guesstimate 60-70,000 pieces were used. The first month was less detailed work as they were creating the base of the ship. One of that most difficult details to get just right? The angled red stacks on the top of the ship.
After viewing Lego Queen Mary, a fabulously knowledgeable Commodore that is obviously in love with the grand ship gave us a tour pointing out her opulence and her history. The hotel is still lively and the on board gym is a severe contrast in old and new. The contraptions that were used to keep in shape 50 years ago vaguely resemble the modern equipment used by the hotel’s guests today. There are shops, fine eateries, self and guided tours options. There is a lot to see! We also toured the swimming pool which, in my book, was just creepy! The pool room is better saved for the ghosts tour.
Before we left, we made long good use of the kid sized Lego tables in the Shipyard alongside the Lego Queen Mary that were filled with Lego of all sorts letting our imaginations get the best of us. As a mom that likes to play alongside the kids, I was so thankful to the soft flooring that ensured after kneeling next to my son for about 90 minutes, I could still move. It’s the little things folks…the little things. I’m sure our Lego beach scene, Port of Long Beach cranes, invincible fort and mechanical thingamajig have long since been deconstructed and re-imagined, but, for a time there, we were Master Builders in our own right attempting to create the next extreme model. Maybe even one that would go down in history! That, friends, is the perfect way to wrap up a day at The Queen Mary!
Designed by Bright Bricks, Inc., the Queen Mary LEGO brick model ship will be displayed in its own gallery, The Shipyard where visitors are encouraged to check it out and even build their own model ship with LEGO bricks! For more information log on to Shipyard Exhibit at The Queen Mary.
