Rocket Racers

Rocket Racers is a former attraction in area of LEGOLAND Windsor, first opened in 2000. It was an arcade style game based on LEGO Racers, with the software for it developed by Attention to Detail, who also developed LEGO Racers 2 (which released the following year in 2001).
When the attraction first opened, it was simply named LEGO Racers. It was later renamed to Rocket Racers in 2003, when LEGO Racers 4D launched in LEGOLAND Windsor.https://www.rockraidersunited.com/gallery/image/11106-rocket-racers-exterior-2003-2004/
Internally, it was named LEGO Racers LBE, or simply LEGO LBE, with LBE standing for Location Based Entertainment.
The attraction was initially open from Christmas 2000 to the end of the 2004 park season, when it was closed due to issues with reliability and availability of spare parts. After years of sitting unused for anything but storage space, it was revived for the 2009 season, with updated software and hardware. It was eventually closed again on October 9, 2011, this time permanently, for largely the same reasons.
== Description ==
The attraction first led guests through a richly themed queue line, with most of the decoration based on the game's Space track. The queue line also featured portraits of the original game's bosses on the walls, and a lengthy video playing on TV screens, similar to the animated intros from other LEGO video games of the era. The video showed a race between various characters, commentated by Barry Baloney (who would later re-appear in Soccer Mania).
After proceeding through the queue line, guests were shown a video tutorial for building their drivers and cars, narrated again by Barry Baloney, with a minifigure named Larry going through the process as an example. Guests were then guided into a room with 8 touchscreens to do it themselves. There were six of each minifigure parts to choose from - heads, facial expressions, hats, bodies, and legs. Guests were then presented with a choice of 3 car chassis, each of which had 3 bodies to choose from. Finally, they would enter their name. Time was limited on each stage, with selections made randomly once the timer expired.
Guests would then proceed to the racing room, where there were 8 racing pods. Each driver had to try to complete at least three laps in three minutes. There were two tracks, the first based on Magma Moon Marathon from the original LEGO Racers game (featuring Exploriens as in the original track, with the addition of Space Port), and the second being an Adventurers Egyptian track.
Brick-built statues of Rocket Racer and Captain Redbeard could be found on a winner's podium, with the #1 spot available for guests to take pictures.https://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=50119 Some brick-built Rock Raiders figures could also be seen around the queue line, such as Jet climbing one of the crystals.https://twitter.com/BTPArchive/status/1241735791036059650
== Official website descriptions ==
== Notes ==
* Rocket Racer appeared in the queue line video, with a few brief speaking roles, the first time he's had full voice acting besides his original voice clips while driving in LEGO Racers.
* Several car models in the queue line video are recycled from the animated intros/cutscenes in LEGO Stunt Rally and LEGO Island 2. Rocket Racer drove a version of Brad Speedo's car recolored to look similar to his original car in LEGO Racers.
* Veronica Voltage was playable, with her parts available while building a character.
* When the attraction was relaunched in 2009, an Easter egg was added where naming yourself "LAQ" (as Larry mistakenly does in the tutorial video) changed your camera view to first person.
* Some changes were also made to the building segment during the 2009-11 run, with tutorial text being added for both the "LAQ" Easter egg and a change that had been made to the physical controls of the racing pods, where the powerup firing button was moved from the center of the steering wheel to a button beside the wheel. Some of the cars had new/changed decals in their building screen appearances, but the in-game textures were not changed to match.
* Some of the vehicles in the game are loosely based on real sets, but modified to fit on common chassis: 6437 Beach Buggy, 6431 Road Rescue, 6436 Go-Kart, 6463 Lunar Rover, and the buggy from 6456 Mission Control.
== Gallery ==
LEGO Racers LBE screenshot from ATD website.jpeg|A screenshot from an archive of ATD's official website
LBE Image12.jpg|One of many screenshots shared by a developer
LBE sky1.png|An unused sky texture also shared by the developer
LAM1928.jpg|A behind the scenes article in LEGO Adventures! Magazine Issue 19
LAM1929.jpg|A behind the scenes article in LEGO Adventures! Magazine Issue 19
LEGO Adventures issue 28 Racers 1.jpeg|A behind the scenes article in LEGO Adventures! Magazine Issue 28
LEGO Adventures issue 28 Racers 2.jpeg|A behind the scenes article in LEGO Adventures! Magazine Issue 28
Rex studios lego1.jpg
Rex studios lego2.jpg
Rex studios lego3.jpg
Rex studios lego4.jpg
Rex studios lego5.jpg
Rex studios lego6.jpg
LEGO Racers mural.jpg|A seemingly older version of the race room mural by John West
3395578488 9abdd00d3b o.jpg|The brick-built statue of Rocket Racer
Eye Design Lego2.jpg
Eye Design Lego3.jpg
Eye Design Legot.jpg|A work-in-progress render of the queue line video
Eye Design Racer.gif|The original logo
Eye Design Stopwatch.jpg
Full racers.jpg|The exterior, around 2003-04
Rocket Racers Redbeard.jpeg|Captain Redbeard's portrait in the queue line
Rocket Racers Kahuka.jpeg|King Kahuka's portrait in the queue line
Rocket Racers Basil.jpeg|Basil the Bat Lord's portrait in the queue line
Rocket Racers Johnny.jpeg|Johnny Thunder's portrait in the queue line
Rocket Racers Baron.jpeg|Baron von Barron's portrait in the queue line
Rocket Racers Gypsy Moth.jpeg|Gypsy Moth's portrait in the queue line
Rocket Racers Rocket.jpeg|Rocket Racer's portrait in the queue line
Rocket Racers queueline Walkthrough|The queue line
LEGOLAND Windsor Rocket Racers Gameplay|Magma Moon Marathon
Rocket Racers (2000-2011)|Magma Moon Marathon
Rocket racers Ride Walktrough|Magma Moon Marathon in first person mode
Rocket Racers Final Day - Full Ride|Magma Moon Marathon in first person mode
LEGO RACERS LEGOLAND WINDSOR|The Adventurers track
LEGO Rocket Racers gameplay on Windows (Legoland Windsor Game)|The Adventurers track
== External links ==
* Rocket Racers at LEGOLAND Windsor
* An in-depth article on the attraction on Completely LEGOLAND Windsor
* A history of the park on Completely LEGOLAND Windsor
* Interview with one of Rocket Racers' programmers
* The attraction's page on ATD's website while it was still being developed
* The attraction's page on ATD's website post-launch
* The attraction's page on the website of Rex Studios, who created many of its decorations
* The attraction's pages on Eye Design International's website, with behind the scenes images
* Pictures of the large helicopter model by Cubic Design
* Photos of the attraction
* A page for the attraction on an unofficial LEGOLAND guide
* The original entryway before the attraction's name change
== References ==
Category:LEGOLAND Windsor attractions
Category:The Beginning (Windsor)