John Jakobsen, manager for the German Legoland park, said Wednesday in a statement that the planning and design for the park are ``going so well that we'll have the park completed by 2002'' rather than the original plan of 2003.

Construction of the amusement park in Guenzburg, 60 miles west of Munich, is to start in the next few weeks, the owner said. Lego selected the rural Bavarian town last year for its fourth park from more than 300 other cities worldwide, including Tokyo.

The toymaker, whose colored plastic building blocks have been a favorite children's toy for decades, plans to invest some about $138 million in the park, which is expected to draw some 1.5 million visitors annually.

Legoland parks currently exist at the family firm's headquarters in Billund, Denmark, in Windsor near London and Carlsbad, Calif. They feature rides plus millions of plastic blocks arranged as everything from a miniature Manhattan skyline to life-sized giraffes.

[Posted 8/09/2000]