Adult fans of Lego have threatened to lodge human rights complaints over age limits at Australia’s first Legoland Discovery Centre.
Adults are unable to enter the center unless accompanied by a child aged 17 or under, except on adults-only nights once a month.
Several unaccompanied adults have said they were turned away at the door of the playground, which opened in Melbourne’s Chadstone shopping center on Tuesday, and still more complained they had bought annual passes to the center without knowing about the age limit.
Children are also required to be accompanied by an adult in the center, which is aimed at children aged three to 10.
News of the rule sparked discussion on social media about where childless Lego fans could acquire a child for the day to check out the center.
One Lego fan, Mark Robinson, said he would complain to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal and the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission about the rule, which he claimed was a form of age-based discrimination.
“Absolutely disgusted to hear that you will discriminate on grounds of age,” he wrote in a one-star review on the center’s Facebook page. “Lego is something that is enjoyed across all the ages — I personally have thousands of dollars worth of the creator and architecture series, and it’s clear that many adults without children will want to experience the attractions.”
Another disappointed adult, Stephen Roberts, accused the toy company of “alienating a group of adults who paid lots of money to buy and play with Lego.”
Under Victorian law it is an offense to discriminate against someone on the basis of their age or parental status, with reasonable exceptions.
Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner Kristen Hilton would not say whether being refused entry to “an indoor playground for children,” as Legoland describes itself, would count as discrimination.
The age ban does not extend to the shop, only the center, which includes a Duplo playground and a Lego recreation of Melbourne.
The same restrictions apply in 17 other Legoland Discovery Centres worldwide, a fact that some self-described adult fans of Lego (AFOL) said any true fan would know before splashing out A$77 (US$58) on an annual pass.
“It’s not discrimination — it’s common sense,” Ryan Evans wrote. “As a member of the AFOL community, I apologize wholeheartedly for their lack of understanding of this policy and indeed the intentions of the centre. Please be reassured we are not all like this. Most of us ‘get it.’”
The reviews from those who did accompany a child are much more favorable and confused about why an adult would want to visit a children’s playground.
“Would you go to a children’s playcentre without a child?” Tania Snell wrote. “The play equipment has a maximum height requirement so adults can’t go on it.”
In a statement, Lego said the center was a “small, indoor attraction designed to provide safe and fun environments for families with children” aged three to 10 and is “not suitable for grown adults.”
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is constructing a new counter-stealth radar system on a disputed reef in the South China Sea that would significantly expand its surveillance capabilities in the region, satellite imagery suggests. Analysis by London-based think tank Chatham House suggests China is upgrading its outpost on Triton Island (Jhongjian Island, 中建島) on the southwest corner of the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), building what might be a launching point for an anti-ship missile battery and sophisticated radar system. “By constraining the US ability to operate stealth aircraft, and threaten stealth aircraft, these capabilities in the South China Sea send
HAVANA: Repeated blackouts have left residents of the Cuban capital concerned about food, water supply and the nation’s future, but so far, there have been few protests Maria Elena Cardenas, 76, lives in a municipal shelter on Amargura Street in Havana’s colonial old town. The building has an elegant past, but for the last few days Maria has been cooking with sticks she had found on the street. “You know, we Cubans manage the best we can,” she said. She lives in the shelter because her home collapsed, a regular occurrence in the poorest, oldest parts of the beautiful city. Cuba’s government has spent the last days attempting to get the island’s national grid functioning after repeated island-wide blackouts. Without power, sleep becomes difficult in the heat, food
Botswana is this week holding a presidential election energized by a campaign by one previous head-of-state to unseat his handpicked successor whose first term has seen rising discontent amid a downturn in the diamond-dependent economy. The charismatic Ian Khama dramatically returned from self-exile six weeks ago determined to undo what he has called a “mistake” in handing over in 2018 to Botswanan President Mokgweetsi Masisi, who seeks re-election tomorrow. While he cannot run as president again having served two terms, Khama has worked his influence and standing to support the opposition in the southern African country of 2.6 million people. “The return of
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has rejected a plan for the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to visit Kyiv due to Guterres’ attendance at this week’s BRICS summit in Russia, a Ukrainian official said on Friday. Kyiv was enraged by Guterres’ appearance at the event in the city of Kazan on Thursday and his handshake with its host, Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose forces invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Guterres, who called for a “just peace” in Ukraine at the BRICS event and has repeatedly condemned the invasion, discussed a visit to Ukraine with Zelenskiy when they met in New York