A Lincoln couple transformed a bus into a Lego builder’s paradise
By NEAL FRANKLIN – Lincoln Journal Star, Neb. (TNS)
Lego Party Bus, 12.19
Abel Handly, 13 (right), and Ezra Tanner, 12, inspect the Lego castle they built together during a competition inside the Brick Bus on Dec. 19.
For an experienced Lego builder, entering the Brick Bus starts with a challenge.
On this day, six builders had an hour to build a castle that was at least six inches tall.
Timer at the ready, Rebekah Handly pressed start.
The Brick Bus is a mobile playroom in a redesigned bus featuring Legos and building stations. The bus debuted in early November after Handly and her husband, Scott, bought and renovated an old shuttle bus. It has traveled around the Lincoln area to parties and events.
When the Handlys bought the bus, it looked like an airport shuttle, Rebekah Handly said. To redesign it, the couple stripped out chairs and the interior lining of the truck.
Lego Party Bus, 12.19
Scott and Rebekah Handly bought an old shuttle bus and turned it into the Brick Bus, a mobile playroom featuring Legos and building stations.
“So then it just kind of came down to what did we want it to look like?” Rebekah Handly said. “We just wanted it to look like a nice playroom.”
The bus has tables and chairs along the sides of the wood interior, which serve as building stations as people grab Lego bricks out of tubs near the back of the bus.
The Handlys got the idea for the Brick Bus after watching the TV show “Lego Masters” where teams of expert Lego builders compete in challenges.
Their family has loved watching the show and also was inspired by video game-themed trucks they’ve seen at parties, Rebekah Handly said. The Brick Bus replaces video games and TV monitors with the classic toy bricks.
After its debut this fall, reservations have come in from Lincoln and surrounding communities such as Syracuse, Raymond and Roca, Rebekah Handly said.
“We’ve found that a lot of the surrounding communities — it’s been a good thing for them — that maybe don’t have a specialty birthday place, like an Urban Air or something in their area,” Rebekah Handly said. “They like that we can come to them.”
Lego Party Bus, 12.19
Ezra Tanner, 12 (from bottom left), Abel Handly, 13, 9-year-olds Griffin Van Leeuwen and Seth Tanner, Rebekah Handly, and Wilson Handly, 12, build Lego castles inside the Brick Bus on Dec. 19.
The bus offers different programs like building prompts, set building, timed challenges and other activities. Just having time to build is also an option.
“If you just are like, ‘Yeah, we don’t really need, like, instruction or party favors, kind of want to hang out in the bus,’ we have pricing for that as well,” Scott Handly said.
An hourlong birthday party is $150 and there is also a “free-build” option for $90 for the same amount of time, according to the bus’ website. Longer times are priced differently.
For the castle challenge, two of Rebekah and Scott Handly’s children participated along with other kids they knew from church and the neighborhood.
Winston Van Leeuwen built an underwater castle with divers searching above in a boat.
Abel Handly and Ezra Tanner collaborated on a castle complete with banners and turrets.
Griffin Van Leeuwen and Seth Tanner built a castle with a central tower and a guard standing watch.
Lego Party Bus, 12.19
Ezra Tanner, 12, picks out Lego bricks for the castle he’s building inside the Brick Bus.
Finally, Wilson Handly built a castle featuring a power struggle between a king and his subjects.
Rebekah Handly said running the bus is something fun for her and her husband beyond their other jobs.
“It’s something that we can offer that I feel like is a really happy thing,” she said. “If that grew I would love that.”
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Photos: Take a look inside a Lincoln couple’s Lego party bus
Rebekah and Scott Handly bought an old shuttle bus and transformed it in a Lego builder’s paradise.
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