LEGOLAND's 2013 Expansion: Back to Pirates?

LEGOLAND Florida is not denying the fact that a new themed area will open later this year. After all, the current park maps all feature a quite big note that states: "NEW LAND OPENING 2013." In addition to that, the park's official Twitter page has been giving out hints regarding a possible announcement that should be coming very, very soon. That being said, the theme of this new area is still unknown, or at least until now.

Many sites speculated about the possibility of a new Splash Battle-type ride that was to be themed after pirates, but then things changed. LEGOLAND Florida's General Manager denied the fact that a pirates-themed land was considered for the park (he said that he knew nothing about that, even though permits for this expansion had been filed a few weeks before...). At this point, other fan sites thought that the new area might be themed after one of the newest LEGO themes, "Legends of Chima." That sounds very credible, especially since the park's new 4D movie (also centered around the new "Legends of Chima" series) has not been announced yet, so we personally thought they were just waiting to make an announcement that would encompass both additions (the new movie and the new area), since they would share the same theme.

Today, while visiting the park for the first time after a couple of months, we saw something that almost confirms the fact that LEGOLAND Florida's new themed area will actually be themed after... pirates. This means that the original speculation may have been the correct answer to our questions. Why? Let's take a look:

While riding The Dragon Coaster, we noticed this themed flag attached outside the modular building located right next to the expansion plot (probably a temporary office space to supervise the work being done):

As you can see, it is clearly a pirates' flag (sorry for the blurriness of some photos, but we were riding a coaster):

While we are talking about this expansion project, here you are some aerial views of this section of the park:

A few more, from the Island in the Sky:

Finally, this photo shows how the park is referring the new themed area on the current park map:

After having seen these photos, what do you think? Is LEGOLAND obviously hinting at what's coming, or is the park just trying to lead us in the wrong direction? Share your comments with us! Oh, one more thing: we will post a complete LEGOLAND Florida photo-report in the next few days, so remember to stay tuned!