Earlier this year, master microscale builder (and an amazing BrickNerd patron) Wayne Tyler was lucky enough to attend the first LEGO Inside Tour after their pandemic hiatus in Billund, Denmark along with his spouse. The guided tour is a “once-in-a-lifetime experience” for the biggest LEGO fans that includes a factory tour, chats with designers, special access through normally restricted areas, and lots of amazing swag. With the September Inside Tours set to begin soon, join us in this mini-series as Wayne shares his first-hand experiences.

Getting Back Into the Swing of Things

We were waiting for this tour for a while and made our way to Billund in May 2022. This was the first LEGO Inside Tour (LIT) since the beginning of the worldwide Coronavirus pandemic outbreak in February of 2020. Our tour group had 35 participants who, for the most part, had all originally been accepted for the first LIT in 2020 only to have it postponed for the next two years. LEGO, to its credit, gave us the choice each year of canceling our participation and getting a full refund or carrying over our spot to the following year's LIT.

But over those two years, many things changed for the participants. Our group probably had the youngest tour member to ever attend a LIT! One couple had a baby three months prior to the tour and the organizers allowed all three of them to be part of the tour. (Side note: The baby was never disruptive and had little impact on the tour... except for the occasional adorable cooing from tour members.)

There were also changes to the LIT staff over the two years. The original lead, Astrid Müller, had moved to a new position within The LEGO Group (TLG) and Marie-Laure Carnet took over to run her first LIT. But the heart of the Inside Tour—Stuart Harris (Master Builder @ LEGO House)—was still there in his trademark yellow shoes to greet us at the opening, travel with us to every venue over the next two and a half days, and lead a tour of the actual LEGO House for half of the participants.

The LEGO Inside Tour typically starts on Wednesday morning and ends Friday at noon. As part of the LIT, you get a hotel room at the LEGOLAND Hotel Wednesday and Thursday nights. If you wish to stay any additional nights, let's say the Tuesday night prior to the start of the tour, you need to arrange that separately. Communications booking the hotel and with the LIT organizers were admittedly a little rocky ahead of time which led to some confusion checking in—probably due to the fact that it had been two years since the program had been run and had changed hands a few times.

The door we used to get into LEGO House is just behind the lowered platform of the cherry-picker. Photo courtesy of Wouter van Rij and Jan van Kampenhont.

We had booked a separate hotel the night before the tour began which made us unaware of all the registration materials and badges needed for the LIT which were being held at the front desk of the LEGOLAND Hotel. Luckily when we were wandering around LEGO House at the time we were told the tour was to begin, one of the LIT staffers saw us, poked her head out a door, and asked if we were part of the Inside Tour. After showing us in and clearing up the confusion, things got much better. The LIT staff kicked into gear and had someone head over to the LEGOLAND hotel to pick up our packets and had extra forms on hand we could fill out so we could participate. The first LEGO Inside Tour of 2022 had officially begun!

Sigfigs and Swag

Stuart Harris’ yellow shoes. Photo courtesy of Wouter van Rij and Jan van Kampenhont.

As we walked into the LEGO Forum, the name of the room where each day’s events would start, we were greeted by a yellow-shoed and very enthusiastic Stuart Harris. He commented that he really missed not having Inside Tours over the past two years and was very excited to get it all started again. He then gave us a minifig torso printed with "LIT 2022" on the front and pointed us to a table at the back of the room which had BaM (Build-a-Minifig) parts. He explained we should create a minifig that showed who we were.

With the morning sun shining brightly through a floor-to-ceiling glass wall to our right and a projector displaying an aerial picture of LEGO House on a large screen at the front of the room, we grabbed some tea and went to build our "sig-figs". Also in the room were 35 chairs, each holding a mysterious yellow LEGO bag. Ah, sweet... the first swag of the tour!

LEGO Forum room at LEGO House at the beginning of the opening session.

After everyone had built their minifig, the LIT started with the tour staff introducing themselves. Then, we had to stand, introduce ourselves and explain our minifig. Stuart Harris started by showing his sigfig "business card" which included a bowler hat (he's from England he explained) and said that he was the Master Builder at LEGO House, which, he joked, meant he got to take credit for everyone else's work that gets displayed. He also mentioned, as he was handing out his business card to all the participants, that he’d like a special sigfig with yellow shoes, though unfortunately, that's not the version we received from him. (Side note: On a LEGO figure, wouldn’t yellow shoes make it look like the fig was barefoot instead!?)

Collection of “business cards” and minifigs from the LEGO Inside Tour 2022.

Next up, Julie Goldin, Chief Product & Marketing Officer for TLG, welcomed us and gave a short overview of the LEGO Group and Billund which was followed by a video message from CEO Niels B. Christiansen who also welcomed us. He said he wanted to be at the Inside Tour in person for the restart, but he was unable to attend. To make up for not being able to meet him in person, all participants were given a Niels B. Christiansen minifig business card.

By this time, everyone had peeked into the swag bag to find the LEGO House Tree of Creativity exclusive set (#4000026). The last speaker that morning was Amer Mahmutovic, Senior Team Manager of Guest Experience for TLG. He challenged us with a 10-question multiple-choice quiz about the LEGO Group. Questions included things like when LEGO was founded (easy with this year being the 90th anniversary!), how many kids Ole Kirk Christiansen had, and what the core values of LEGO are.

Out of the group of 35 participants, only six people got five of the answers correct! Everyone else had four or fewer correct. Those who scored best received a Creator Trophy set (#40385). But then Amer admitted when he took the quiz, he had only gotten eight answers correct! He then gave a short presentation on LEGO’s Core Values: Imagination, Learning, Creativity, Fun, Quality and Caring.

From there, we were all taken out to the LEGO House foyer for a group picture. Little did we know the importance of the photo. (Fastforward to Friday: at the farewell session of the tour, we were given our LIT 2022 exclusive set. That photo was on the back of the box sleeve! In two days, a one-of-a-kind sleeve had been assembled, printed and added to the exclusive set box. THAT was pretty amazing. More on that in an upcoming article about Day 2 of the LEGO Inside Tour!)

LEGO Idea House

Marie-Laure tried to keep things on time (though with 35 giddy participants it was like herding cats), but we were then escorted to the LEGO Idea House (not to be confused with the LEGO Ideas product line or LEGO House, the massive, colorful building where the tour began). The Idea House is the combination of Ole Kirk Christiansen's original family home and the original factory/workshop where LEGO started. It holds a museum that is only open to employees and VIPs and…The Vault! (It is an underground archive called Memory Lane with a near but not-so-complete collection of LEGO sets going back to the 1960s.)

This part of the LIT was handed over to three LEGO Corporate Historians. Yes, TLG has a history department with 12 corporate historians. They keep track of sets, legal documents, production processes, and anything to do with LEGO and the LEGO brand’s history. They also oversee The Vault, which is actually one of five locations holding LEGO sets. One of the locations, an environmentally controlled storage facility where almost nobody can go and certainly no one can touch or hold set boxes has the most complete collection of LEGO sets. In order for a set to show up in The Vault, there have to be four additional versions, each kept in one of the other storage facilities.

Our LIT was divided up into three groups because The Vault is very cramped. One group headed off to get lunch, the second group went to the Idea House Museum, and our group made its way to The Vault with our guide, historian Signe (pronounced seen-ah) Wiese.

Left: LEGO historian Signe Wiese opens the door leading down to The Vault. Right: The LEGO Vault, also named “Memory Lane”. Photos courtesy of Arlett Michael and Michael Kűhberger.

A confession here. I don’t have a deep, long background with LEGO throughout my childhood like many of the other tour participants did. I was introduced to these addictive plastic bricks in late 2016, and my interest in LEGO is currently limited to architecture—which only began as a theme in 2008. So being in The Vault didn’t really hold anything that excited me on a nostalgia level. But the others in our group were reliving their childhoods—you could watch grown men and women being reduced to boys and girls ages 7 through 13 holding their first sets… or the one that got away. It was quite fun for me to just be an observer.

As all the others were regressing into their past, I got to spend time talking with Signe, and I must say it was an incredibly worthwhile time for me in The Vault. I found learning about the breadth and depth of a company that a corporate historian covers was fascinating. While in school, I detested history, almost flunking one class… but I could see wanting to become a historian for LEGO. After The Vault, our group went to get lunch. We were offered traditional Danish Smørrebrød, open-faced sandwiches with a variety of toppings in a conference room area of the LEGO Idea House

Traditional Danish Smørrebrød for lunch at the LEGO Idea House. Photo courtesy of Alex Kulvelis.

After lunch, our guide, Signe, took us through the Idea House Museum where we got to see LEGO history up close and in person including many of the original wooden toys Ole Kirk Christiansen first produced in 1932. (Fun fact, it wasn’t until 1934 that he called the company LEGO) And did you know that yoyos were the first wooden toy he produced? And when the sales of yoyos dropped off, those that hadn’t been sold were cut in half and used as wheels on other toys.

Yoyos, the first wooden toy produced by Ole Kirk Christiansen in 1932. Photo courtesy of Alex Kulvelis.

The collection of wooden toys was fascinating. We saw everything from pull-toy animals like the wooden duck to vehicles large and small to the first licensed LEGO product, Disney’s Pluto. But the main attraction was one of the first plastic injection molding machines purchased by LEGO in 1946.

Left: One of the original LEGO plastic injection mold machines. Right: Closeup of mold block. Photos courtesy of Alex Kulvelis, Arlett Michael & Michael Kűhberger.

It was thrilling to see the start of LEGO history as we know it today. From there, we progressed through a more modern part of the museum, walking through a series of alcoves that show the timeline and evolution of LEGO products.

The LEGO Idea House Museum. Photo courtesy of Wouter van Rij and Jan van Kampenhont.

After everyone had finished their lunch and tour of the museum, we regrouped and headed to the LEGO Innovation House. *This* is what I had been waiting for and the reason we signed up for the Inside Tour in the first place. This is where Inside Tour guests get to meet some of the LEGO designers as they talk about what they do—and maybe show off a little of what they are working on. This is also where you give up any picture-taking devices to the Inside Tour guides. No smart watches, no smartphones, no cameras—nothing that might be able to take a picture. Security was tight—the building even has windows that can be covered up if someone is snooping outside!

All the LIT participants were given special passes to allow them into the Innovation House, and we were led to a long narrow room where the presentations were to be given. As we were getting our passes (and trying to peek around every corner), Marie-Laure stated that this might be the last year that the Inside Tour is allowed into the Innovation House with the new LEGO Campus, so we all felt very lucky to have the opportunity.

Leading the design group presentation and other events involving the designers were Mike Psiaki and Carl Merriam. Other presenters included Niels Milan Pedersen (longtime element designer), Carsten Lind (element designer) and Lauren Cullen King (graphic artist). As interesting as this was for all of us, because of the LEGO NDA and the lack of photos, there isn’t a lot we can tell you, but we would highly recommend searching for any articles about Niels Milan Pederson. Start with the Blocks Magazine interview with him in the 90th-anniversary edition of the magazine.

After the designer presentation, we all trooped out of the Innovation House, retrieved our smart devices and cameras, and, amid complaints from us, returned our special access badges that we wanted to keep to Stuart Harris. The group then had a two-hour break to do whatever they wished. Some went back to LEGO House and explored the displays; some enjoyed a couple of hours of nice weather wandering around Billund. We, unfortunately, had to go grab our luggage from our original hotel at which we stayed the previous night and move everything to the LEGOLAND Hotel. We only had about a half hour left after that, so we just stayed in our new room relaxing and looking at our “welcome package”.

View of LEGOLAND from our room at the LEGOLAND Hotel.

Dining and Building With Designers

Next up was a buffet dinner with several designers at the LEGO House MINI CHEF restaurant. The LIT reassembled around the Tree of Creativity at LEGO House along with the five designers that had given presentations earlier and a small contingent of other additional designers (Antonio Ricardo Silva, Janko Grujic, George Gilliatt, Henrik Andersen, Lee Magpili, Nancy Tsai, Pablo González and Aaron Newman).

The designers introduced themselves with some of them showing sets they had worked on. Two of them immediately caught my attention, Henrik Andersen, because he was the lead designer for the UCS AT-AT and had worked on many other Star Wars sets, and Aaron Newman because he was one of the contestants on Season One of the US version of LEGO Masters who had just started working for TLG. Then we LIT participants introduced ourselves to the designers saying who we were, where we were from, and what was our favorite set or theme.

From there everyone made their way over to the restaurant for one-on-one time with the designers over a buffet dinner.

Buffet dinner with the designers at the LEGO House MINI CHEF restaurant. Photo courtesy of LEGO Inside Tour staff.

We sat with Aaron Newman and had a great discussion about what he did before being hired by LEGO, his LEGO Master’s experience, and what it was like to start working as a designer for LEGO. I’m not sure *any* of the designers actually got to finish their dinner because they were talking to and answering questions from the three to five LIT participants sitting with them, each being incredibly gracious with their time.

What came next was the highlight of the day for me. We entered the room where we started the tour to see hundreds of trays of well-organized LEGO and began a two-hour building session where:

You could build anything you wanted.
You had thirteen LEGO designers to help you if needed.
You had access to a normal LEGO design room parts inventory!

Getting ready to for a two-hour build session with LEGO designers, four tables with a normal design room parts inventory. Photo courtesy of LEGO Inside Tour staff.

At the start of the building session, everyone wandered a bit aimlessly around all the tables trying to figure out where parts were located. It turned out that the designers, though they don’t usually use this laid-out approach to access parts, were pretty good at guiding people to the elements they were looking for. The designers also circulated between the tables where LIT participants were building their MOCs to offer help and suggestions. A few of them even built their own small MOCs (which are sometimes donated to Creations for Charity to sell, raising funds for kids in need). In amongst all this, there were opportunities to just chat with them.

As we looked for pieces to build our MOCs, I was struck by what parts *weren’t* part of the everyday design room inventory. Though the selection was vast, it didn’t include everything… nor did it include any new elements never seen before. Parts 61252 (Plate 1x1 w/ Holder Vertical) and 26047 (Round Plate 1x1 w/ 3.2 Shaft) were both available in Light Bluish Gray but not Dark Bluish Gray… and only 26047 (but not 61252) was available in Green. And much to my dismay, part 65578 (Handle, No. 1) wasn’t available in Trans-Clear. I really could have used that piece in my build!

My MOC, a microscale architecture builder’s first try at an organic form, titled “Flash and Thunder”.

As the two-hour period was coming to an end (with the designers shouting out a dramatic LEGO Masters-like countdown), several LIT participants said they hadn’t finished and asked if they could have more time. It was determined that, yes people building MOCs could have more time, but they would have to finish back at the hotel… LEGO House was closing and everyone needed to leave. We were told that we could fill a small bag with parts from the tables to take with us. And, NO, we couldn’t stockpile parts that we actually just wanted to take home.

As the clock showed 9 pm, everyone was ushered out of LEGO House and we all made our way back to the hotel. Traveling in small groups, we enjoyed the last of the day’s sunshine in the company of newfound friends for the fifteen-minute walk to the hotel. And that was the official end to the first day of the first LEGO Inside Tour 2022. (The unofficial end of that first day was, for some of the participants, staying up until two in the morning, enjoying a couple of bottles of wine and finishing up their MOCs!)

Overall, the first day of the LEGO Inside Tour was a whirlwind. Looking back, it feels like we did more than was possible in the hours we had. But by the evening, our group of LEGO fans from all over the world—who had only been strangers not 12 hours before—were a close-knit community soaking in everything that the Inside Tour could showcase. Little did we know that the fun had only just begun—and that our Day 2 would be even more incredible.

What do you want to know about the LEGO Inside Tour? Let us know in the comments!

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