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During my time training to be an electrician, I developed my interest in LEDs and electrical/electronic solutions. In my early development I built controllers out of Arduinos including lighting control setups.
Over the past decade, my interest in Halloween has developed into a full Halloween event that I plan construct and run on the 31st. A lot of work goes into these events where I have designed various haunted house walk-throughs and raised funds for a local charity. All the lighting, sounds and effects within the maze together, with the props and decorations were made in-house on a shoestring budget yet aiming to provide top quality events.
When I started at LEGOLAND Windsor, I found lots of older effects (Animated Effects/Animatronics) that had been left to disrepair. An example of one of my early fixes was the ride Pirate Falls, it had an animated fuse in the canopy scene that was looking a little worse for wear. I upgraded this using WS2811 Neopixels and an Arduino to take a trigger from the PLC to create an animated fuse that ran alongside the boat.
Further into my career at LEGOLAND I focused on my PLC skills, specifically OMRON but also Siemens and other brands used around the park. This has allowed me to build up the knowledge and experience to spec all the new Miniland control system as part of our project in 2020 and specialising with UDP and advanced networking on the same system in 2024 and onwards.
In 2024 I was given the opportunity to lead Tech on a refurb of our train ride's show experience. This involved me making cable lists, working with CAD software so create drawings for animatronics along with personally designing and building 6 PLC control cabinets for the whole animatronic system. I spent a lot of time liaising with contractors and my team to ensure the 100s of meters of ducting and over 14KM of cabling was installed to regulations, on time and under budget.
My Career Experience
March 2016 - March 2019
Apprentice Electrician - Smarthomes
I worked at Smarthomes since I starting my apprenticeship. They specialise in high end home automation and lighting solutions. I have learnt and developed a large amount of my electrical skills during this period, including working as part of a team to achieve a goal and working to BS7671:2018
April 2019 - August 2024
Animator (SFX and Animatronics) - LEGOLAND Windsor
I started at LEGOLAND soon after finishing my apprenticeship. At LEGOLAND I oversaw the daily running of animations and special effects around the entire resort. In the time I worked at the park I have assisted and even personally led several large projects Including,
- Refurbishing lighting in the Dragon Coaster
- Installing trigger sensors on Fairy Tale Brook
- Upgrading the Pirate Falls infrastructure to add sensors to the ride and upgrade the ducting infrastructure
- Rebuilding and upgrading the Miniland NASA Cabinet
- Build Miniland cable lists and lead the technical refurbishment of the London, Scotland, Harbour, Racers, France, NASA and Holland clusters.
August 2024 – Feb 2025
Animations Department Co-ordinator/Team Lead - Legoland Windsor
Continuing my LEGOLAND journey I was promoted to lead our Animations team. Whilst keeping my boots firmly on the ground, have supported and led our team to complete planned preventative maintenance and reactive work keeping the effects/animations in our Miniland cluster alongside all of the rides and attractions. I also lead the technical side of a large refurbishment on the LEGOLAND Express with a team of 5 engineers and near 20 direct reporting contractors
Feb 2025 – Present
Rides Maintenance Electrical Engineer - Legoland Windsor
Eager to branch out into the world of ride systems and safety controls I moved departments within LEGOLAND Windsor to the Rides Engineering team. During this time, I have learnt the ways of manufacturers and control systems for safety critical rides and attractions. I provide daily inspections of mechanical and electrical systems on these rides to ensure they are in top condition for our guests alongside electrical and PLC fault finding during downtime. Working on ride systems from Vekoma, ART Engineering, MACK, Zierer and WGH.
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