CARLSBAD, Calif. — LEGOLAND California Resort has revealed that LEGO Pokémon will be joining this year’s LEGO Festival as the headliner for the Play Zone levelling up the game for this year’s family summer event in California. Guests can expect hands-on activities and creative interactive play, including the newly announced LEGO Pokémon SMART Play sets as part of the ultimate summer celebration of family fun.
The Play Zone will offer kids and adults alike the chance to bring their Pokémon Trainer dreams to life, in the real world. Pokémon fans can level up their skills through a hands-on training journey – bonding with, nurturing, and training a selection of five Pokémon, to take on the most epic brick-built battles.
Guests will step into a LEGO® Pokémon™- inspired world, joining in hands-on activities and build moments that bring play to life and Pokémon into the physical realm through the LEGO® SMART Play™ system. Entering the Nurture area, Trainers can build their Pokémon a tasty snack, then head to the snack table to add a SMART tag and see how their Pokémon reacts. They can also build and display a LEGO Poké Ball, plus snap a photo with a giant LEGO® Pikachu model making its way to LEGO Festival this summer at the family theme park in Carlsbad.
Not only that, but families joining the festival fun will also be among the first in the world to see the LEGO® Pokémon™ SMART Play™ system in action, and learn how to nurture, train and battle with their Pokémon in the LEGO® Pokémon™: Trainer Center, while interacting with favorite LEGO® Pokémon™ as they come alive in guests’ hands before they hit shelves in August.
“LEGO® Pokémon™ is the perfect partner to bring families together this summer in San Diego for play without limits,” said Kurt Stocks, President of LEGOLAND California Resort. “Pokémon has inspired generations of fans, and LEGO® Festival gives families the chance to build, explore and bring that adventure to life together through hands-on play.”
The new LEGO® SMART Play™ system is designed to help play last longer and feel more dynamic, active, social and interactive, and it is screen free fun. For Pokémon Trainers, this means more catching, more bonding, more training, more battling, and new ways to play – all available to be experienced at LEGO® Festival.
Running from July 20 to August 30, 2026, LEGO® Festival will turn LEGOLAND California Resort into a full-on festival of imagination across five interactive zones: Music, Creative, Chill-Out alongside the brand-new Thrill and Play Zone.
