By Mark Albright, Times Staff Writer
The British Merlin Entertainments Group plans to convert recently acquired Cypress Gardens in Winter Haven into Legoland Florida, says the Lakeland Ledger, quoting a briefing e-mail relayed from a Polk County tourist promotion official to a county commissioner. Merlin isn’t talking until a news conference Thursday about plans for the shuttered theme park it acquired last week for $22.3 million. It would be the fifth Legoland park and second in the United States. It has been widely reported since fall that Merlin has been scouting Central Florida for a Legoland, which is a mixture of rides, shows and familiar objects, people and places built from plastic Lego blocks.