Act 1: Don’t Let Your Stomach Dictate Purchases
It was a quiet Monday night in our small unit. Skærbæk Fan Weekend was not far away and though we couldn’t go, my partner in life and LEGO, Kate, and I thought as we watched some late-night TV… “wouldn’t it be magic to be over in the heartland of LEGO?” I had been to Denmark back in 2018 just after I met Kate, and so much of our first year together was filled with stories of my adventure and our now-shared longing to visit once more.
I refreshed my newsfeed for the final time that night and happened upon a post about tickets to the annual LEGO House AFOL Christmas Dinner being available. I showed the tab to Kate and we chatted for a brief moment. I remember how sought after these events usually are so I went through a few steps of the ticket-buying process, if only to see what the night would entail. Traditional Danish spreads, LEGO designer talks, exclusive night-time LEGO House access, and a few other sweeteners—that sounds pretty magic!
It may be most apt to say that sometimes spontaneity hits us like a brick. As was reading these hypothetical experiences out to my partner, she had taken the liberty of checking out what some equally hypothetical plane fares from Brisbane in Queensland, Australia, to Copenhagen, Denmark might cost. We chuckled for a bit, before staring at each other for an uncomfortably brief moment and resuming our ridiculous what-if scenarios.
Of course I don’t quite remember the moments between that point and booking two tickets for the dinner, but after another brief stare at each other and the now obviously rhetorical question to ourselves of “Are we going to do this?”, the flights were locked in also. I fired off a few not-so-subtle messages to some international friends familiar with Billund asking where one might stay there in the middle of winter, and before you know it we’d also locked in accommodations.
Over the next few days, the rest of the trip pieced itself together based on where I’d been previously, where Kate would like to visit and what we’d both hoped to get out of this excruciatingly impromptu dinner date. Now all that was left to do was to wait…
IMage via CNN
About two weeks out from the trip, we got an email from the airlines telling us that one leg of our trip had been cancelled. Alarm bells started ringing in our minds! We had no idea what this might mean for our trip. We got in contact with the airlines and the service representative was extremely helpful in rebooking an alternate flight a day earlier. It took all of 20 seconds after the new flight confirmation came through for the second cancellation email to hit our inbox. The darn FIFA World Cup in Qatar had meant that our connecting flight through Doha would be a no-go. The best we could do was have our whole flight itinerary cancelled and find another path with an alternate airline.
After much deliberation and shaking of pockets, we managed to scrounge together the funds to book equal flights for 40% higher prices, on top of not seeing our first bookings’ funds for several months. A good rule of thumb for asking yourself if you can afford a silly endeavour like this is to make sure you can pay for your trip twice over. With a week to go, we put that behind us and got to packing.
Act 2: Serendipity and Pastries
Straight to the wall, just in case!
Now for the good stuff! After a very long flight, we arrived in Europe. Copenhagen was stunning, and for north-eastern Aussies, watching as the rain turned to sleet and then to snow right before our eyes was unforgettable. There were lights twinkling across the streets as far as the eye could see, hot chocolate and mulled wine stalls dotted down alley-ways, and another first for us, real fir trees decorated to the nines. Our first stop was the LEGO store in Copenhagen, a visit I missed by five minutes after its closing time on my first trip here. But with our brick passports in hand, we made sure to get them stamped. I tried out my Duolingo skills with a rather well-attempted “Snakker du engelsk?” but I now realise that asking if the LEGO staff spoke English in Danish rather than English was an ill-fated plan.
No better feeling than a pastry in the morning.
Just before 6 AM on day two, we set off into the wintery darkness to find the oldest bakery in town. I had read some time ago that there was a place that for the last 400 years, had specialised in what most outside the country refer to as a Danish—the glorious cinnamon scroll. Ice underfoot and steam billowing from our mouths, the ‘Wednesday snail (Onsdagssnegle)’ satisfied us two-fold. It was the best pastry we’d ever set our faces on, and was so packed with sugar and bread that I don’t think we actually ate lunch that day.
We had another LEGO store stop at the Tivoli amusement park for some custom-printed minifigs, after a few more magical days, we were ready to head to Billund via bus. I’d told Kate about a few key locations along the way like Middelfart, so we knew we were getting closer.
Billund signs were spotted from our bus window, and the excitement was building, and upon looking at the bus schedule, I realised we were about to be treated to a tour of what’s what in town! We swept past the airport, Legoland, saw the new campus in the distance, and were dropped off at the Billundcentret which had just celebrated its 50th year, having been brought about by none other than Godtfred Kirk Christiansen. We were deep in the heartland we dreamed of mere months ago and couldn’t contain ourselves.
Our first employee bike spotted. Apparently they’re nothing special to ride but it’s another interesting branded object.
Act 3: The Land of LEGO
We lugged our luggage across the cobbled streets to our hotel, and the concierge informed us that due to some staff Christmas parties that might get rowdy in the rooms below us, they upsized our accommodation and happened to give us a room with a view straight across the road to the LEGO House—how lucky! They also told us that Billund generally only snows a handful of days in the year, and it just so happened that we were smack bang in the middle of that handful! Everything was truly awesome.
View fullsize
The first day in Billund got better and better. I am privileged enough to know a couple people in the community who have made Billund their home and LEGO their profession, and we were treated to a quick excursion through the Lion House. Before all of this I surprised Kate with a minifig matching the clothes she brought for the trip as close as possible, and then went out to buy a sandy blue sweater to match what was underneath the yellow jacket I thought matched my bomber! We got the chance to recreate this small vignette I’d put together, and it now makes really nice memories looking up at it on the shelf. We were there!
View fullsize
The next day started with a trip to a thrift shop by bus in the next town over as the fabled Loplet in Billund had closed in the time since I’d visited; probably for the best as I stopped there seven times in one day once.
As soon as we made it back to Billund, Kate and I were back on our feet again with a small tour of the visitable areas of the new LEGO Campus, graciously led by Community Manager Jan Beyer. It was a busy day for him as the dinner we came so far for was that evening, so we wholeheartedly appreciated the time we had with him. We followed the walking track the long way around the building and headed back to the hotel to get ready for the big night.
Act 4: Fun Without A Trace
The LEGO House drew a small gathering of AFOLs from all directions of town like a lantern for big LEGO-loving moths and everyone shook off the cold once inside. We collected our drink tokens and a random LEGO element for which we didn’t yet have any context. Looking around to see if there was anyone we knew, and my friend Francesco Spreafico who’s a regular here at BrickNerd hailed us over to the spare seats at his table. This is also where I met LEGO designer and a wonderful person in his own right Markus Rollbühler, also known around these parts. It was actually his and my meeting that has me writing these articles you see before you!
Are Heiseldal (also a BrickNerd) and Boone Langston singing carols to us all was not listed on the ticket page but we were glad we were there to hear it. Those voices! There were talks from various notables in attendance, including a brilliant peak behind the iron-like ABS plastic curtain into the making of the Voltron set—thank you Samuel!
Through the night it became apparent what that random element we were given was for. It was a raffle token, and if your part was chosen from an identical pile of elements, you could claim a special Christmas gift. While we didn’t walk away with any major sets, the fact that the raffle was put on at all was a really kind gesture, especially when we were simply over the moon to be present.
It was time. Bellies were rumbling, necks wringing around to the commotion—the food had arrived. It was time for Kate and I to finally have our dinner date. Some amazingly colourful salads were placed in between seafood platters, a mountain of meatballs, boiled red cabbage, and a formless, non-descript in colour, probably meat-ish paste down the end of the table (which we thought we’d generously let others have). It was certainly traditional, but it was certainly delicious—the subtle spices, the good hearty food to warm up our chilled interiors, everything we wanted it to be.
View fullsize
The night-time LEGO House access was a blast, meeting some new people and hearing the different expressions and expletives when we told them how far we’d come for dinner. Apparently it’s not reasonable for us to have planned this trip solely for this evening, but if you’ve read this far, you’d know this ended up being so much more than dinner. Speaking of food (a recurring theme here), dessert was ready—a Danish version of pofertjes or profiteroles with icing sugar and jam, and some warm drinks capped off the night.
Mission accomplished. We just spent three months, several thousands of dollary-doos and half a small villages supply of churros, hot dogs and ice cream to have this dinner date complete with unplanned live music, an adventure through one of our now-favourite places, and a romantic stroll through a snow-blanketed village in the middle of the Danish country-side.
I call this part of the story “Without a Trace” because we were having so much fun that night that neither of us thought to take our phones out and take a photo to capture the magic. It’s of course in our heads and I won’t be forgetting it for a long time, but one of the only other photos I have for proof to anyone else that we even went in the first place is this shot I got of Kate out the front of the LEGO house as it started to snow again just as we were leaving. The timing was just perfect!
Epilogue: Spontaneity Serves
This having been my second time over to Billund, I am still new to this sort of endeavour, but I can say with almost certainty that spontaneity serves most of the experiences up on a silver platter. Go to that odd restaurant down the road from your hotel—you never know who you might bump into. Take that bus to a surrounding town—there’s bound to be some enjoyment found in another country town of Denmark, not just the one you’re familiar with.
Where LEGO is concerned, be the big kid and soak up every attraction at the LEGO House or Legoland. You’ll be getting your money’s worth and who knows when you’ll be back. The only other certainty is that you will indeed be back.
Have you ever been to the LEGO House Christmas Dinner? Let us know in the comments below.
Do you want to help BrickNerd continue publishing articles like this one? Become a top patron like Charlie Stephens, Marc & Liz Puleo, Paige Mueller, Rob Klingberg from Brickstuff, John & Joshua Hanlon from Beyond the Brick, Megan Lum, Andy Price, John A., Lukas Kurth from StoneWars, and Wayne Tyler to show your support, get early access, exclusive swag and more.