Legoland employee who’s worked at the park ‘more or less from day one’ creates Lego cake to celebrate its 30th birthday

A woman who has been building models at Legoland Windsor for almost three decades is celebrating the theme park’s 30th anniversary this year by helping to create a giant birthday cake out of Lego.

Paula Laughton, 54, is Legoland Windsor’s creative manager and has been working at Legoland “more or less from day one”, since she started her “dream job” as a Model Maker in 1997, aged 25.

Paula said she had a Lego set as a child and remembered building houses and cars, but her mum used to tell her off for “making a mess” so she tended to stick to painting and drawing as her main creative outlets.

As a result, she said she studied 3D design, before freelancing as a prop maker in her early 20s. During this time, a friend of hers worked at Legoland Windsor and knew of a seasonal job opening as a Model Maker, which Paula said was her opportunity to live her “childhood dream”.

For the interview, Paula said she did a “whole park walk” and remembered thinking the grounds were “absolutely massive”, before a formal sit-down interview and a special task where she had to build something out of Lego.

Paula wasn’t expecting the latter and told PA Real Life: “I was a bit shocked. I thought I’d build a crab, so I could just do the dome, the shape, and then make some of the legs.

“It was the worst thing I’ve ever made in my entire life, but obviously he must have seen something in me,” Paula said.

Paula got the job as a Model Builder, which she said was maintenance-based in the early days, including “looking after everything in the park” and copying, building and replacing existing models.

Paula remembered one of her earliest creations was rebuilding and upscaling jugs and treasures in Aladdin’s Cave, as well as working with a more experienced colleague to build a big “Fairy Tale Brook” sign, complete with plates to hold everything in place.

Over the years, Paula said she was promoted to supervisor and eventually to creative manager, meaning she’s in charge of a team of builders who use a workshop to create and execute their designs.

Since Paula started, the process has “massively” changed, from using traditional methods of drawing on chequered graph paper and prototyping from those designs, to now using digital software which can instantly share concepts to other Legoland workshops across the world.

As for her proudest achievement, Paula said she loved working on the Eiffel Tower in the park’s Miniland, or last year’s Legoland Express project, which is a colourful train that starts in Heartlake City and snakes through the park.

“The fact that we worked on it from concept right through to delivery was really unique,” Paula said. “It was nice to see how the team stepped up. For me, the proudest thing is working as a team.”

Paula said she has never been more appreciative of her team than for the effort they put into marking Legoland Windsor’s 30th birthday celebrations this month. From July 2025, Paula said her team set out by deciding what to make – a four-tiered birthday cake showcasing mini versions of the theme park’s attractions, including “iconic” rides and lands – and using digital software to design it, with Paula managing the whole operation.

According to Paula, a team of six people spent around 1,000 hours using 274,000 bricks to build the multi-tiered cake, which was completed on February 10, ahead of the park’s reopening on Valentine’s Day.

“I’m really proud of what we’ve done,” she said. “I think that the team has done exceptionally. And I think the guests will absolutely love it.”

Reflecting on 30 years of Legoland Windsor, Paula said: “I’m not surprised it’s stood the test of time. Lego brings a smile to everyone’s face.”

Asked what the next 30 years might hold for the Windsor theme park, she said it will depend on what happens in an increasingly digital age, but she imagined there could be “massive new models” and more interactive elements, like animations while people are waiting in queue lines.

Paula said she’ll never get tired of Lego, even if she’s “got a few scars” over the years from standing and kneeling on loose bricks, which the team counteracts by having a “safety shoes” policy in the workshop.

She’s particularly “obsessed” with BrickHeadz – a selection of Lego figures of animals and characters from TV shows and films – but she tries to separate her work from her personal life as much as possible, meaning she does more drawing and painting at home than brick-building.

“If you worked in a chocolate factory, you wouldn’t want to just be constantly eating chocolate,” she said.

According to Paula, she still wakes up every day and pinches herself that she has her “dream job”. On her almost three decades in the job, Paula said: “It’s surpassed everything that I thought it was going to be, if I’m being totally honest. I wouldn’t have been here for this length of time if I didn’t think it wasn’t my dream job.

“It’s really nice passing on your knowledge to the team. I get a lot out of that and hopefully they do as well. I’m very lucky for what I do,” she said.

Paula said she still walks through the park with a sense of “pride” at seeing all of the creations she had a hand in making.

“It’s really nice to see children running in and having that excitement of what you’ve achieved,” she said. “I’m just really proud to work here.”