CARLSBAD —— Like a good Danish boy, John Jakobsen grew up with a fascination for all things Lego.

"Every single child in Denmark has Lego," Jakobsen said, with a distinctly Scandinavian sound. "You're practically born with it."

But his interests were more profound than playing with brightly colored bricks.

"At best, I could claim to be average on my ability to build Lego models," he said. "It was always my dream to work for the Lego company."

Jakobsen, 42, is president and general manager of the Legoland California theme park in Carlsbad, one of four in the world. When he was a 5-year-old, the first park opened in a tiny town called Billund, just 20 miles from the farm where he spent his childhood. Working at the park was the ultimate high school summer job, he said.

"Every year, I couldn't get in," he said. "I was declined, I think, four or five years in a row. Every year: 'Nope, no openings, we are full.' "

But Michael Jordan didn't make the varsity basketball team, after all.

It is fierce motivation and competitiveness that drove Jakobsen from farm boy to top dog at a park that attracted 1.4 million visitors last year and employs up to 1,110 people annually. Even though he never got a job at the Billund park, Jakobsen went on to get the equivalent of an MBA so he could apply to Lego as a well-qualified trainee in purchasing.

That was 20 years ago, and he never left.

Jakobsen is excited about the park's future, noting a "significant" (but top-secret) project happening next year. And a 700-room resort hotel, the Grand Pacific Palisades, will be built across the street starting in 2007.

"I've never been able to envision anything more interesting to do in this world than the job I'm currently doing," he said, seeming to care more about the company than himself. "To be heading up a Legoland park is an absolute gift that you are allowed to have."

Jakobsen's competitiveness in business translates well to running, his beloved pastime, although his knees are asking him to stop nowadays. "I always see if I can squeeze out the last seconds and place as good as I can," he said.

He finished fourth in the old San Diego Marathon in 1995 and third in '96.

"I couldn't beat the Kenyans."

At work, Jakobsen has fun —— a company value aligned with the company's products, he says.

At well over six-feet, Jakobsen is certainly the tallest man in Miniland, which is the heart of the park's elaborate re-creations of world cities and landmarks. But he is dwarfed by the newest model, a replica of the forthcoming Freedom Tower at Ground Zero, which stands nearly 30 feet high. Yes, Jakobsen insists, all models in the park are made exclusively with Legos that people can buy in stores. There are 10,000 "elements" in the Lego kingdom —— connectors, body parts and bricks of all sizes.

On a stroll through the park last week, he talked excitedly about the highly interactive rides that make the park unusual —— all of which he has thoroughly tested. Somewhere in between the Kennedy Space Center and Miniland New Orleans, Jakobsen said the park plants him back into his childhood.

His three children, at ages 10, 13 and 15, keep him in that place, as well as his wife, Gerda, a former model designer for Lego. He spends countless outings with his youngest at the park. The teenagers are starting to outgrow it, but in a few years, they will be able to apply for summer jobs there.

The job that foreshadowed his reign as "king of Legoland California," as he calls himself, was his role in selecting Carlsbad from 1,000 site plans in North America in the early '90s.

Jakobsen's first visit to California, after living in Denmark his whole life, was eye-opening.

"I mean, growing up on a farm in the middle of nowhere in Denmark is very different from Southern California. I've never seen freeways like this," he said.

It was not a turn-off; it was inspiration. "It's fantastic, really. This is the country of option and opportunities."

"You go to the grocery store, and you look at the shelf at breakfast —— which used to be a shelf maybe a couple of feet, a selection of 20 different (boxes) of cereal —— you come here and see a row 40-foot long."

His eyes lit up with the mention of cereal, for which he has a particular fondness. Jakobsen's current preference, which is ever-changing, is a custom mixture of granola, oats and Kashi products.

"I'm always looking for new stuff," he said. "I consider myself creative in finding solutions, turning something upside down and exploring our options. Maybe that comes out in my food selections."

Contact freelance writer Andrew Phelps at ap@andrewphelps.com.