Theme Park News in a Minute

Theme Park News for February 2025 from Disney, Universal, Merlin, and many more.

This Month's Theme Park News: - California's devastating wildfires have caused the closures of Universal Studios Hollywood and the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood. They were closed for January 8th and 9th while the fires were brought under control. The Walt Disney Company is committing $15 million to recovery efforts in the Los Angeles. - Disneyland Paris debuted it's new nighttime spectacular "Disney Tales of Magic" which features projections covering Main Street U.S.A. and Sleeping Beauty Castle as well as fireworks, lasers, and drones. - Universal Orlando opened the first hotel at the South Campus of the resort, with Universal Stella Nova Resort opening this month. It is the ninth at the Universal Orlando Resort, and has really embraced the space theming with a beautiful almost science fiction interior. - Walt Disney World have announced the closing dates of 3 Hollywood Studios locations closing to make way for Monstropolis. Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano will close first, on May 10th. Muppet*Vision 3D show and PizzeRizzo will close on June 7th. - Walt Disney world also shared concept are for Magic Kingdom's new nighttime parade Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away, which opens this summer. T - Walt Disney World has announced this year's Food Studios menus for the 2025 EPCOT International Festival of the Arts, which starts January 17 and continues through February 24. There are two new food stands called Opening Bites and Fictional Victuals. - Similarly, Disneyland Resort have brought out their menus for their Lunar New Year celebration which starts on January 17 at Disney California Adventure. - Los Angeles County has approved a construction permit for the next roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain, the project name 90011, which is rumoured to be a Vekoma Thrill Glider. - Universal Orlando announced 12 artists that will headline their Mardi Gras concerts starting February 1st, with T-Pain and finishing March 29th with TLC. - Universal Orlando have announced their event plans for this year, with dates for Halloween Horror Nights (which runs August 29 through November 2), and the Holidays at Universal Orlando (running November 21 continuing through New Year's Eve, December 31), as well as a new event called Universal Volcano Bay Nights, starting in April. The new after-hours event will run April 19, 26 and May 3, 10, 17 - Walt Disney World has added 4 more runDisney event weekends in late 2025 and 2026. October 23-26, 2025: Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend January 7-11, 2026: Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend February 26-March 2, 2026: Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend April 16-19, 2026: runDisney Springtime Surprise Weekend - Six Flags Over Georgia have renamed their upcoming Surf Coaster, to Georgia Gold Rusher, after a fan vote had previously picked Georgia Surfer as the name. - Six Flags Great America released a concept POV of their upcoming dive coaster Wrath of Rakshasa. - Thomas Mazloum will be the new President of the Disneyland Resort, coming from the Disney Cruise Line segment of Disney Experiences.

- The biggest news this month was the opening of the Donkey Kong Country expansion of Super Nintendo World and Universal Studios Japan. This long awaited expansion opened on December 10th, and has had rave reviews from visitors. While POVs of the Mine Cart Madness coaster, look fun, but not super thrilling, the feedback on the ride has been very positive. Similar to the Mario Kart ride that anchors Super Nintendo World. This is not a thrill attraction, it is a family attraction. The best thing from what I can see from this expansion, is just adding space to Super Nintendo World. - Here in Australia we have had two massive openings in the last month, with both Movie World and Dreamworld adding their new lands, the Wizard of Oz Precicnt and Rivertown. - Starting with Movie World's new precinct dedicated to the Wizard of Oz, it opened on the 20th of December, without a soft opening period, with it's two new coasters: - Kansas Twister: A Vekoma Family Boomerang Racer, twin tracks with a top speed of 58km/h and a 95 cm (37-inch) height requirement - Flight of the Wicked Witch: A Vekoma Suspended Family Coaster, with a top speed of nearly 67km/h and 105 cm (41-inch) height requirement I've seen really mixed reviews of the lands so far. People have been damning for the lack of shade in the outside portion of the land, which is a danger for any Summer opening of a Theme Park land in Australia. They have routinely praised the indoor queue elements of the two rides. The rides themselves haven't been big hits, but I'm going to hold my judgement on them for now. - Over at Dreamworld, we have seen on the 23rd the opening of Rivertown. This new land takes the place of ABC Kids World, that kind of half merged into Kenny and Belinda's Dreamland when Dreamworks IP licencing deal was finished. Amusing that are of the park was originally known as Rivertown, so it's kind of return. Not really though. I'll get to that in a second. The new land brings one new, and one completely refurbished attraction. The new attraction Jungle Rush Vekoma switchback coaster with a low 95 cm (37-inch) height requirement, and high top speed of 80 Kmph. This is the first of it's kind of coaster in the world. The second attraction Murrissippi Motors, is a significant revamping of the Vintage Cars, that were previously on the other side of the park. - Elsewhere in theme Parks, Disney has announced that beloved Australian cartoon dog Bluey is coming to Disneyland and Walt Disney World, as well as being added as a meet and greet to the Australian sailings of the Disney Cruise Line from next month. This comes on the back of Bluey's World, opening here in Brisbane at the start of November. Exactly what is going to happen at Disneyland and Walt Disney World, remains to be seen. I would expect to see meet and greets happening fairly quickly. - Universal Orlando has filed permits for Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit to be removed, and replaced with a proposed new attraction. They have stated the existing ride will close in September 2025. The submitted plans, showed that the entire ride footprint plus some backstage area's near the New York area of the park, have been marked for the removal and replacement permit. The plans are obviously silent on what will replace the ride, but it is possible that this new area, might mean that the ride replacing it could be entered to from the New York area, rather than the current entrance near Minions Land at the front of the park. The wild speculation at this point, is that it could be a long awaited Ghostbusters attraction, running out of the New York section. - Disneyland have opened a new Haunted Mansion themed gift show, Madame Leota's Somewhere Beyond, which went in the space of the former Splash Mountain Fastpass distribution area. - Six Flags has submitted plans this week to "ALTER" rather than "Demolish" their "KINGDA KA/ ZUMANJARO" rides, which have been announced as being removed.

This week's Theme Park News: - Halloween Horror nights in both Hollywood and Orlando kicked off this week, with a highlight being the Mini Puft S'more which is a S'more shaped like the Stay Puft Marshmallow man for Ghostbusters. - Disney announced today that it will debut a new Disney Villains-themed show at Disney's Hollywood Studios next summer, which will take the place of Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy which closed on October 7. The new show themed to the Magic Mirror, the new production "will feature appearances by dozens of the most infamous evildoers, with fiendish foes Cruella de Vil, Captain Hook and Maleficent each breaking through the glass to take the stage in live production numbers," according to Walt Disney World's announcement. - Walt Disney World has revealed that today will be the final day for the virtual queue on its TRON roller coaster at the Magic Kingdom. Tiana's Bayou Adventure and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind are now going to be the only attractions at Walt Disney World with Virtual Queues. - Disney has also confirmed that the construction of the new Avengers attractions will result in "the removal of the backstage Red Car Trolley barn and, as such, we will discontinue operation of the attraction in early 2025" - At Disneyland, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh has re-opened on Thursday as the park's Critter Country land prepares to be transformed into Bayou Country, when Tiana's Bayou Adventure opens in November. - November 15, the date that Tiana's will open will also mark the start of the holiday festivities across Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. This year's festivities inclue the It's a Small World Holiday and Haunted Mansion Holiday overlays, as well as the Christmas Fantasy Parade, as well as the Believe... in Holiday Magic fireworks show. - Universal Orlando have given us more details this week on the Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry ride coming to the Universal Epic Universe park, including our first look at the "Metro-Floo" hallway which is the entry for the ride. - Universal Orlando has announced that Death Eaters will return to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Diagon Alley at Universal Studios Florida for select nights starting August 29 and continuing through November 3, as an unofficial part of Halloween Horror Nights. - The Hello Kitty and Friends Cafe and Sanrio Smile Shop opened on Friday at Universal Studios Hollywood's CityWalk. - Warner Bros. Discovery has combined their current Global Themed Entertainment licensing group and the Studio Tours & Retail division into a single unit called the Warner Bros. Discovery Global Experiences division. It will be overseen by Simon Robinson, Chief Operating Officer of WBD Studio. - Efteling in the Netherlands has announced that a new Aquanura show, which will debut this winter, will feature a new score as well as four new eight-meter "Beacons of Light" around the park's central lagoon.

This week's Theme Park News: - Australia's first and last tourist monorail has now been closed at SeaWorld on the Gold Coast. The monorail has been standing but not operating 2019. It opened in 1986, and closes after 330, 000 laps of the park. - Disney Parks confirmed that the new Cars attractions announced at D23, will be located in Magic Kingdom will be replacing Tom Sawyer Island and the Rivers of America. - At Walt Disney World the Peter Pan's Flight ride has re-opened early from it's maintenance, and it has replaced the scene featuring the Never Land Tribe to use less racist stereotypes. - At Disney California Adventure, a new show called "The Storytellers of Plaza de la Familia Celebrate The Musical World of Coco!" will debut August 30. - The 2023 Theme Index Report was released with the top 3 parks being Magic Kingdom, Disneyland and Universal Studios Japan. - Six Flags announced two new coasters for the 2025 season. Six Flags Great America, north of Chicago, will introduce Wrath of Rakshasa, a Bolliger & Mabillard Custom Narrow Dive Coaster. At Six Flags New England, the Massachusetts park will welcome Quantum Accelerator, an Intamin family launch coaster will feature two launches, sending riders to a top speed of 45 mph on its 2,604 feet of track. - They also delayed The Flash: Vertical Velocity at Six Flags Great Adventure and Georgia Surfer at Six Flags Over Georgia. - Six flags has released concept art of their Halloween Fright Fest event for the Conjuring Universe house. It will feature a tour of the Warren's family Occult Museum. -The menus have been released for the 2024 EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival, which starts August 29 and continues through November 23. You can see the line-up of returning menu items as well on Disney's website.

This week's Theme Park News: - The D23 Parks Panel, named Horizons, has just been completed. Here are there "Non-blue sky" announcements: - Avatar experience based on the sequel films to DCA. - Coco ride coming to Disney California Adventure. - Disney Starlight nighttime Spectacular for Magic Kingdom in 2025 - Frozen land to open in Paris 2026 - Lion King land also coming to Disney Adventure World - Walt Disney A magic life coming to Main Street Opera House - All new Indiana Jones and Encanto Rides coming to Tropical Americas. - Tiana's Bayou Adventure to open November 15th at Disneyland. - New lounges for Epcot and Magic Kingdom - Monster's Inc land for Hollywood Studios including Door coaster. - Cars replacing part of frontier land at Magic Kingdom with two new rides. - Two new attractions for Avengers Campus at DCA. - Villains land with two major attractions coming to Magic Kingdom. - Disney also did some financial reporting ahead of D23 this week, with reporting that it's theme parks division brought in $5.82 billion at its U.S. theme parks during the period, plus another $1.6 billion from its international parks. Due to Higher coast though, the US parks had a decline in operating income, which was down 6%, to $1.347 billion for the quarter. - Universal Studios Hollywood have finished their house line-up for this year's Halloween Horror Night, with a featuring musician The Weeknd, called The Weeknd: Nightmare Trilogy. They also confirmed this week that the Terror Tram will return this year with the theme Enter the Blumhouse, featuring characters from M3GAN, The Black Phone, Freaky, The Purge, and Happy Death Day. They will also be bring back The Purge: Dangerous Waters show in the WaterWorld theater. - Universal Studios Hollywood also announced this week that it has added Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge to the list of attractions eligible for its Universal Express pass - Canada's Wonderland will open the longest, tallest, and fastest launch coaster in Canada next year, called AlpenFury. The Premier Rides coaster will feature 9 inversions, the most of any launch coaster in North America, and will be 115 km/h along 1 KM of track, with a 50 metres tall. - Carowinds is planning a Camp Snoopy Expansion in 2025. They plan to add an ART Engineering family launch coaster call Snoopy's Racing Railway, similar to the one that opened at Canada's Wonderland last year. They will also b adding a Splash Battle ride call Charlie Brown's River Raft Blast. - Reuters reports that a private equity firm behind Parques Reunidos, EQT, has enlisted JP Morgan to conduct a review of the Spanish theme park operator that could result in a sale of its US assets. Parques Reunidos's US assets are held by Palace Entertainment and include Kennywood, Lake Compounce, Iowa's Adventureland, Southern California's Castle Park and Raging Waters and the Noah's Ark Water Park in the Wisconsin Dells. Reuters cited a source that the Palace Entertainment properties could be valued at 1 billion Euro.

- Universal Hollywood have announced they will open a new Hello Kitty and Friends Cafe and Sanrio Smile Shop at Universal CityWalk. - Hollywood also announced another house for this year's Halloween Horror Nights, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Legacy of Leatherface, and one more scare zone called Luchadores Monstruosos. - Universal Orlando this week confirmed details about the last land at its Epic Universe theme park: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic. The main attraction in the land will be Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry. Epic Universe's land will be set in 1920s Paris from the "Fantastic Beasts" films, while it's major attraction will be in the British Ministry in London in the modern day, for the trial of Dolores Umbridge. The land will also host Epic Universe's largest live show, the Le Cirque Arcanus, which is inspired by the Fantastic Beasts movies. The land will host a couple of French eating spots, and American Bar as well as a Butterbeer cart. - Universal Singapore have reported the first details of it's upcoming Minion Land which will debut in 2025. It will include a minion's theme Super Silly Fun Land, as well as Gru's Neighbourhood, which will feature another installation of the Despicable Me Minion Mayhem attraction. This land is replacing the Madagascar themed land and dark ride. - Disneyland's union workers have ratified the contract that had tentative agreement last week. - Britain's Drayton Manor has opened its new Intamin family coaster, Gold Rush. - The newly merged Six Flags parks, are reporting that from next year you will be able to by an All Park Passport add-on to their annual pass, which will over all parks from the former Cedar Fair and Six Flags theme park chains. - Cedar Point announced it will close its Snake River Falls log flume on September 3rd. The Arrow Dynamics shoot-the-chutes ride opened as the world's tallest, steepest, and fastest water flume ride in 1993. It takes riders 82 feet in the air for a 50-degree plunge at 40 mph. - Kings Dominion announced its new roller coaster for 2025 - Rapterra, a 145 feet tall and 3,086 feet long wing coaster.

This week's Theme Park News: - Halloween Horror Nights at both Universal Studios Florida and Hollywood will feature an all-female house called Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines this year. It will feature The Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula's Daughter - Countess Marya, She-Wolf of London, and the mummified Egyptian princess Anck-Su-Namun, as well as a new foe - Saskia Van Helsing, the daughter of Dracula-killer Abraham Van Helsing. - We also saw two more scare zones announced for Orlando with Duality of Fear and Demon Queens. Duality of Fear will offer fans a choice, with universal saying "As soon as you enter the gates of Halloween Horror Nights, you must choose a path: follow SINIST3R, the manifestation of visceral horror. Or follow SURR3AL, the incarnation of unearthly terror." Demon Queens sits in the same universe as Duality of Fear: "Get caught in an otherworldly hellscape ripped from the darkest corners of your mind. Four merciless queens loyal to SURR3AL rule, surrounded by hordes of fanatical followers." - Revenue dropped more than 10% at Universal's theme parks during the second quarter of 2024, compared with the same period last year. Its theme parks brought in a measly $1.975 billion in revenue for the three months to June 30, 2024. That's down just over 10% from the same period in 2023, when the parks brought in $2.209 billion. - - Disneyland and it's labor unions have reached attentive agreement this week. The Master Services Council with represents the four unions said that the deal includes "a three-year contract that contains significant wage increases for all cast members, seniority increases and additional premiums as well as the retention of premiums". - Disneyland is also re-opening it's Haunted Manion ride on Monday, after being closed since the start of the year. It is returning as it's Haunted Manion Holiday variety July 28th. - Deadpool has started appearing for a limited time at Avengers Campus Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris and Disney California Adventure at Disneyland Resort this week. This is obviously to promote the new Deadpool and Wolverine movie. - Our first change from the merge of Six Flags and Cedar Fair happened this week, with Six Flags Entertainment Corporation eliminating a guest surcharge fee on in-park food, beverage, and retail purchases at the legacy Six Flags theme parks. Cedar Fair did not charge these fees.

- 99% of Disneyland union members this week have authorized strike action if necessary as negotiations between Disney and the 4 Unions involved commence this week - Disneyland have announced that the Hungry Bear restaurant will be returning as Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree, the first barbeque restaurant in the park since the construction of Galaxy's edge. - Universal Orlando have announced that Nightmare Fuel: Nocturnal Circus is going to play on the Fear Factor Stage during this year's Halloween Horror Nights. This is the fourth Nightmare Fuel since their first in 2021. They've also announced scare zones called the Swamp of the Undead and Torture Faire, a ren fair based scare zone. For Swamp of the Undead, Universal said: "In backwaters Louisiana, you unwittingly wander onto private property, where you're swamped by zombies borne from the bodies of other trespassers who were killed and dumped in a nearby bog." Orlando's Halloween Horror Nights, which starts August 30 and runs select nights through November 3 - Busch Gardens Tampa's new family coaster Phoenix Rising officially opens July 21 - The board of directors of Sweden's Liseberg theme park has voted to rebuild its Oceana waterpark, which was nearly destroyed in a fire while under construction earlier in February. The 3.5 acre indoor water park has been set to open this summer, for the tragic accident which claimed the life of one of Liseberg's construction managers. - Disneyland Paris celebrated Bastille Day this week with a record-breaking nighttime spectacular with 1,571 drones forming a tri-color Mickey Mouse head for the show's finale, which was a Guinness World Records-setting display of the "largest aerial display of a fictional character formed by multirotors/drones." - In Canada 17-year old girl fell from the park's Swing of the Century ride at Canada's Wonderland late last week. The girl was reportedly in a critical condition following the incident. - Europa-Park announced that its characters Ed Euromaus and Edda Euromausi will star in a new animated feature film, to be distributed by Warner Bros. next summer. The film should be hitting theaters in Germany in time for the park's 50th anniversary next summer.

This week's Theme Park News: - Disney has announced the program line-up for its D23 event in Anaheim. Formerly known as D23 Expo and now called D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, the three-day gathering will feature presentations and show floor exhibits from across The Walt Disney Company, including a strong presence from Disney Experiences and the theme parks. The big event for Disney Parks fans will be Horizons: Disney Experiences Showcase on Saturday evening, August 10 hosted by Josh D'Amaro. Other panels of interest include Bringing the Worlds of Disney Animation to Life in Disney Parks, Dream Chasing: Four Decades with Walt Disney Imagineering, Magic After Dark—The Story of Disney's Nighttime Spectaculars and Disneyland Foods – Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow. - Insidious: The Further is joining the line-up for this year's Halloween Horror Nights at both Universal Studios Florida in Orlando and Universal Studios Hollywood. This was briefly leaked by the Universal website ahead of the office announcement this week. There is one more house announcement to go for Orlando and three more for Hollywood. - Efteling in the Netherlands have announced that their new haunted house attraction Danse Macabre attraction will open at Efteling on October 31, Halloween. Danse Macabre will be a first of its kind Intamin Dynamic Motion Stage ride which replaces the old Spookslot haunted house. - Walt Disney World has started previews for it's updated Country Bear Musical Jamboree show at Magic Kingdom. The official opening for this is July 17th. - Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Hollywood has added a new interactive element under the Frosted Glacier. There are four different game play modes for this interactive all, that each correspond to a Power Up icon released from the Question block. The Power ups are: Fire Flower, Ice Flower, Super Mushroom, or Super Star. If you play with a power up band you will collect coins and stamps. - Disney cruises will be coming to Japan, starting in 2029. Disney announced an agreement with Oriental Land Co. - the owner and operator of the Tokyo Disney Resort - to develop and operate a Disney-branded cruise business in Japan. They are going to start construction on a ship the same model as the Disney Wish vessel very soon.

This week's Theme Park News: - Universal Orlando previewed its new Universal Mega Movie Parade at Universal Studios Florida. The 20-minute show currently offers nine units featuring popular Universal movie franchises: Back to the Future Sing Despicable Me/Minions Kung Fu Panda Trolls Ghostbusters E.T. Jaws (Amity Fourth of July Celebration) Jurassic World - The Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith has reopened at Disney's Hollywood Studios following a 6-month long refurbishment. This opened nearly 4 weeks earlier than expected. - B&M family coaster Penguin Trek opens at SeaWorld Orlando tomorrow. The coaster has a dark ride introduction section based out of the former Antarctica trackless dark ride building, and guests exist through the Penguin habitat. - It was confirmed this week that Danny Elfman would be composing music for the new Dark Universe land at Universal's Epic Universe Theme Park. The former New wave singer/song writer is known for working often. with directors Tim Burton, Sam Raimi, and Gus Van Sant, contributing music to nearly 20 Burton projects. He's also well known for the score for Men in Black, The Nightmare Before Christmas, as well as writing the theme song for the Simpsons.

This week's News: - Disney World is rebranding and changing it's Genie+ service, moving to Lightning Lane Multi Pass from July 24th. Individual Lightning Lane will also become Lightning Lane Single Pass with this change. The change will also allow the prebooking of these lightning lane passes up to a week before visiting for the entirety of the stay up to 14 days. It will be 7 days for Disney Resort guests, and 3 days for all other theme park visitors, which is a major perk for staying onsite. - Disney World has also opened Tiana's Bayou Adventure this weekend, after a few weeks of previews. Disney also released the Tiana's Bayou Adventure soundtrack across all major streaming platforms. Just search for "Music From Tiana's Bayou Adventure." - The movie Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is coming to Universal's Halloween Horror Nights this year in both Orlando and Hollywood. In their press release Universal said that visitors "will find themselves in the sinister world of the supernatural, from Ray's Occult Books shop to the Ghostbuster's new high-tech lab and containment facility to the dank New York City sewer system." - Hollywood has also announced another original IP house Monstruos 2: The Nightmares of Latin America. - Knott's Berry Farm reopened its Camp Snoopy land following the latest refurbishment of this 41-year-old children's land. - The Blue Man Group is coming back to Orlando, to perform as a new theatre at ICON Park on I-Drive. The act had been performing at Universal Orlando Resort up until the pandemic. - Universal have given details of a third party report into the economic impact of the Universal Great Britain theme Park development, stating that "a new Universal theme park resort on the site could generate £35.1 billion in net economic contribution for the UK during the construction period and first 20 years of operation. The project could generate £14.1 billion in net additional tax returns during that period" - Dutch theme park Efteling will add a 31st scene to its Fairytale Forest attraction - The Princess and the Pea. Based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale and inspired by a sketch created by park founder Anton Pieck, this installation will be placed between the Troll King and Mother Holle's well, on the forest's edge and behind the new Efteling Grand Hotel. - Six Flags Magic Mountain and Great Adventure have announced a series of IPs for their Halloween event Fright Fest Extreme, with The Conjuring Universe (The Conjuring, Annabelle and The Nun), Saw, Trick ‘r Treat, Stranger Things and Army of the Dead. Magic Mountain are also getting Texas Chainsaw Massacre exclusively. - Finally, The U.S. Department of Justice has approved the merger of Cedar Fair and Six Flags ahead of the planned start of joint operations on July 1st.

This Week's Theme Park News: - Universal Orlando has revealed official details this week of the Universal monsters themed land at their upcoming Epic Universe theme park, called Dark Universe. They've also given us names for the lands two rides. Monsters Unchained - The Frankenstein Experiment will be Kuka-arm dark ride in Frankenstein Manor, where Dr. Victoria Frankenstein's plan to control Dracula fails, unleashing The Wolf Man, The Mummy, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, and the Brides of Dracula. Curse of the Werewolf will be a Mack Rides family spinning roller coaster themed to "The Wolf Man." They will also have meet and greets and a Monster Makekup Experience. Food wise, Dark Universe will offer Das Stakehaus, a vampire-themed table service restaurant serving kebabs, burgers, sandwiches and more. The Burning Blade Tavern will serve burgers, wings, bratwurst, pretzels and specialty beverages in a hangout for Darkmoor's monster hunters. Finally, De Lacey's Cottage will be a food stand with twisted taters, ice cream, and cinnamon bread. - At Disneyland Resort, Haunted Mansion Holiday will use a virtual queue when it returns for Halloween Time, which begins August 23 this year. Haunted Mansion has been down all year as the park builds a new queue for the ride, which will no doubt build up some extra demand when it opens in August. - Disneyland resorts version of Din Tai Fung will soft-open at Disneyland's Downtown Disney on Monday June 24th. - SeaWorld Orlando announced the official opening date for its new family roller coaster, Penguin Trek, will be July 7 with park pass members able to have exclusive ride times from July 2nd. - Universal Studios Hollywood have revealed their 2nd house for this years Halloween Horror Nights event, it is an original IP called Dead Exposure: Death Valley. This is following the announcement of A Quiet Place coming to both coasts Halloween Horror Nights. Hollywood's Horror Nights run from September 5 at Universal Studios Hollywood through November 3. - Holiday World in Santa Claus Indiana, are going to add an interactive element to their Holiday in the Sky Drone show this summer. Guests will be able to vote for one of 4 characters to appear in the drone show, via QR codes displayed through out the park. - Cedar Fair and Six Flags have set a date for the closing of their proposed merger, they plan to combine operations and begin operating as one starting July 1. The merger is still subject to a number of conditions in the merger agreement and the meeting of regulatory conditions from the Department of Justice. - In Ohio, A 38-year-old man suffered critical injuries after being hit by a roller coaster at Kings Island Wednesday night. The man allegedly climbed over a fence and entered a restricted area around the Banshee roller coaster around 8pm local time on Wednesday. Some reports said that the man was trying to retrieve keys that he had lost when riding the coaster. The park described his injuries as traumatic, and he was transported to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, and remains in a critical condition.

This week's Theme Park News: - Universal Studios Florida officially opened it's new DreamWorks land this week, which took over the space of the former Woody Woodpecker's Kidzone. The land features play areas and meet and greets themed to Shrek, Kung Fu Panda and Trolls. The former Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster has become Trolls Trollercoaster. - Universal Orlando also debuted its newest nighttime spectacular, CineSational: A Symphony Spectacular. This is the first show at Universal Orlando to heavily feature drones. - Finally, at Islands of Adventure Universal has opened a new castle projection show, Hogwarts Always. Hogwarts Always traces a young wizard's or witch's first year at Hogwarts, from receiving their admission letter to buying supplies at Diagon Alley and arriving on the Hogwarts Express all the way through to the awarding of the House Cup at the end of the year. - Universal Orlando also previewed their new Epic Universe Preview Centre this week, mostly because all of the worlds Theme Park media was in Orlando. - Walt Disney World Resort has gotten final legal approval to go ahead with $17 billion in expansion plans over the next two decades. The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District has approved a development deal with Disney that will guide additions and expansions at the resort over the next 20 years. It's been widely reported that the now-approved development deal allows Disney to build a fifth major theme park and two minor parks at the resort, in addition to expanding hotel and retail space. Disney also must contract at least 50% of construction work to Florida-based companies and spend at least $10 million on affordable housing projects. - Also at WDW, the all-new Country Bear Musical Jamboree will open in Frontierland's Grizzly Hall in Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom on July 17. - Epcot has opened their new Communicore Plaza which features a new live show called ¡Celebración Encanto!. The new area, which replaces the long-gone Communicore West building, also includes the Commincore Hall events space plus an indoor Mickey & Friends character greeting area. There's also a "Festival Favorites" food stand that will be serving popular items from EPCOT's various food festivals. - In Italy, Gardaland has opened its new drop tower ride. Wolf Legend is a 82-foot Drop & Twist Tower, themed to a curse that turned a giant wolf to stone. - In the UK, Thorpe Park has re-opened Hyperia, it's new Mack rides Hypercoaster, which had to close just days after opening. Thorpe Park said, "Once again we want to thank everyone for their understanding and patience. Now it's time to forge your wings of steel, conquer the seemingly impossible and embrace your inner fearlessness onboard the UK's tallest, fastest and most weightless rollercoaster.

- Tokyo Disney opened Fantasy Springs this week. the largest park expansion in the resorts history, which features minilands based on the movies Peter Pan, Frozen and Tangled. As part of the opening Tokyo Disney Resort presented a video tour of its Fantasy Springs expansion, "The Fantasy Begins," including views of the "port" at night with character and cast performances, accompanied by drones. - The Tokyo Disney Resort has also announced that their upcoming nighttime spectacular will be called "Reach for the Stars." In addition to the traditional collection of Disney and Pixar characters, the new show will be the first at Tokyo Disney to feature characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. - Legoland New York has set the opening date for The Minifigure Skyflyer gondola ride, which will open on June 24. To celebrate the grand opening, Legoland New York is planning a record-setting disco dance party. The park is offering the first 2,500 guests who register online free same-day admission to the park for the party. In addition to registering online, you must arrive 8:30am on June 24, wearing "glitter/sequin apparel, sparkly tutus, disco ball themed accessories, [or] other disco-themed duds" to get in. - Knott's Berry farm have announced that the newly redesigned Camp Snoopy officially will open to guests on June 27. New rides in the land will include Snoopy's Tenderpaw Twister Coaster, a Zamperla family coaster that takes the place of the old Timberline Twister, Sally's Swing Along, a Zamperla Super Happy Swing, Camp Snoopy's Off-Road Rally, a Zamperla Convoy Dino Jeeps ride that replaces Rocky Mountain Trucking Company, and a newly themed Beagle Express train ride. - Disneyland Resort has closed the Club Pixar dance show at Disney's California Adventure, and is also preparing to close the Doctor Strange: Mysteries of the Mystic Arts show, which will close June 30th. It's worth pointing out that this isn't related to the Disneyland parade and character performers voting to joing the Actor's Equity Union, and that the Club Pixar dancers are in fact represented already by a different union. - Universal have announced they are bring A Quiet Place to this year's Halloween Horror Nights on both coasts. This represents a fasicinating Sound Design challenge for Universal, as the contrast of the ultra quiet and suspenseful movie with a very rowdy and loud event could be difficult to overcome. I look forward to seeing how Universal stages this.

 This week's Theme Park News: - Walt Disney World have shared a POV from Tiana's Bayou Adventure this week, which shows Tiana and Naveen planning a party, but needing to find a band. Luckily we come across Lewis and his friends. - Disneyland debuted a new pre-show for its World of Color - One nighttime spectacular at Disney California Adventure, called Emotional Rollercoaster" "which promotes the upcoming "Inside Out 2," which opens June 14. - Universal Epic Universe Preview Center will open at Universal CityWalk in Orlando. The preview center will include "a massive model offering a bird's-eye view of the entire park" that will come to life via augmented reality on guests' mobile devices. Epic Universe merchandise and backdrop photo ops will be available in the preview center, which takes over the former Universal Legacy Store location.  - One of Epic Universe's biggest rides has been given a new name. Universal Orlando's website now lists the Mack Rides racing coasters formerly known as Starfall Racers as Stardust Racers. The change comes after a lawsuit was filed in US federal court earlier this month over the name. In 2023, Universal filed a trademark application for "Starfall Racers," however an opposition was filed to that application. Earlier this month, Starfall Education Foundation filed a lawsuit against Universal City Studios in US District Court for the District of Colorado over the roller coaster's name. - Universal Orlando is holding a special event for the start of Halloween Horror Nights. One night before it opens officially on August 30 at Universal Studios Florida, the park will welcome a limited number of fans for its first-ever Premium Scream Night - Disneyland Shanghai will open The Adventure of Rhythm will debut June 3 on Adventure Isle's Storyhouse Stage. This musical will feature "a team of archeologists who specialize in researching music" as the excuse for the line-up of staged performances of tunes from a variety of Disney's animated movies. However the show will actually change from performance to performance, as they move through 5 musical styles, with 2 different multiple adventures possible for each of the shows.

- Fantasmic! nighttime spectacular returns at Disneyland in California, which sees the return of Maleficent, but this time she will stay as the evil queen rather than transforming into a dragon. - Legoland California has debuted their Lego World Parade. - Disney Dreams That Soar drone show debuted this week at Walt Disney World's Disney Springs. - Thorpe Park is debuting Hyperia, the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the UK. It is a Mack Rides Hypercoaster that tops out at 236 feet and 80 mph. -  Paramount Location-Based Entertainment & Experiences has announced a new Nickelodeon Hotel & Resort in Orlando opening in 2026. It is to be located within the 220-acre Everest Place development on west 192 in Kissimmee, this Nickelodeon Hotels & Resorts Orlando will offer more than 400 hotel rooms and condo units. This is a completely new resort, and not connected to the former I-drive Nickelodean Hotel, which is now the Holiday Inn Resort Orlando Suites - Kings Island today officially opens its Camp Snoopy expansion, including Snoopy's Soap Box Racers. - Because it's the start of the summer season in the US, there is a bunch of new shows and experiences also debuting in the states including:  - SeaWorld San Diego is opening its new Shamu & Crew Together Again stage show, BMX Blast! stunt show, and Pirates Ahoy! The Battle for Mermaid Cove show, as well as its So Much More to SEA 60th anniversary parade.  - The Dolly Parton Experience exhibit opened this weekend at Dollywood.  - the Rhythm of Nature ice skating show debuts at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.  - SeaWorld Orlando is premiering its Xceleration show and So Much More to SEA parade.  - Potato Smash bumper cars debuted yesterday at Kennywood - Universal Orlando has revealed a number of it's original IP houses and experiences for this year's Halloween Horror nights inlcuding: - Triplets of Terror  - Monstruos: The Monsters of Latin America - The Museum: Deadly Exhibit  - Major Sweets Candy Factory - Slaughter Sinema 2 - Goblin's Feast - Disneyland cast members who perform as characters and in parades at the resort have voted to organize under the Actors' Equity Association union. Yes votes received more than 78% of votes cast. It's the first time that parade performers and characters at the Disneyland Resort have been represented by a union. - Finally, The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Disney has tapped a screenwriter and production team to develop a movie inspired by the famed Club 33 in Disney's theme parks.

- At Tokyo Disneyland Resort we've seen the first media previews of Fantasy Springs at DisneySea. Check out coverage from many people but especially TDRExplorer to see glimpses of the new land and new attractions: Anna and Elsa's Frozen Journey, Rapunzel's Lantern Festival, Peter Pan's Never Land Adventure, and Fairy Tinker Bell's Busy Buggies. - In the US Pixar Fest marketplaces (food booths) at Disney California Adventure as part of Pixar Fest. The food stands offer a variety of bites and drinks inspired by Pixar films "Inside Out," "Elemental," "Luca," "Turning Red," "Soul," and "Ratatouille." - WDW has announced the opening of their next DVC villa the Island Tower at Disney's Polynesian Villas & Bungalows will begin welcoming guests this December. - The DisneylandForward proposal won final approval from the Anaheim City Council this week, clearing the way for expansion at the Disneyland resort. - Disney has announced its Halloween plans. Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party returns to Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom starting Friday, August 9 this year. One the west coast, Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Party will return to Disney California Adventure for 27 nights, starting Sunday, August 25. around the world, Hong Kong Disneyland will bring back its Halloween celebrations, including House of De Vil-lains, the "Let's Get Wicked" show, and Nightmare Before Dinner experience, on September 12 and continuing through October 31. At Disneyland Paris, the Disney Halloween Festival will run October 1 to November 3. And the Tokyo Disney Resort will stage Disney Halloween from October 1 through November 7, with new theming and entertainment at Tokyo Disneyland. - First quarter financial reporting in the us this week. At Six Flags, attendance for the three months ending March 31 was up 6% over the comparable period one year ago, to 1.7 million visitors. Total guest spending per capita was down 8%, however, to $74.35. That led to a 6% drop in revenue, to $133 million. The result was an 18% increase in net loss, to $83 million. - At Cedar Fair, attendance jumped 27%, to 1.35 million, over the same period in 2023, despite the company's parks being open for just 117 total days in the quarter compared with 161 operating days during the same time in 2023. However, average guest in-park spending dropped 6%, to $60.53 and costs were up 10% for the quarter, leading to a net loss of $133 million. Both companies confirmed in their statements that their merger of equals will conclude in the next quarter. - Attendance rose 2.1% at United Parks & Resorts (which is the new name for SeaWorld parks and resorts) for the first three months of the year, compared to the same period on year ago, the company reported this week. - Disney's Experiences segment, which includes the theme parks and Disney Cruise Line, reported revenue of $8.39 billion for the three months ending March 30, 2024. That's up 10% from the same period in 2023. Operating income was up 12% for the quarter, to $2.286 billion. The International parks in Paris, Hong Kong and Shanghai led the segment, with 29% growth in revenue and 87% growth in income for the quarter. Disney also noted strong results at Walt Disney World in Florida, though it also noted lower results at Disneyland in California. Disney said that attendance was up at Disneyland, but lower occupied room nights and inflation offset those gains.

This week's Theme Park News: - Universal Orlando's new DreamWorks Land will open June 14.  June 14 will see the debut of a premiere its new nighttime lagoon show, CineSational: A Symphonic Spectacular, and a new castle projection show with Hogwarts Always. - Universal Orlando also revealed details about the third land at its upcoming Epic Universe theme park - Super Nintendo World. which will be a clone of the USJ land including the soon to open Donkey Kong Country land. - Legoland California has announced that new Lego World Parade will debut on May 24th. - Universal Hollywood have announced that a new terrain coaster Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift will open in 2026. The Intamin coaster will feature trains modeled after cars featured in the "Fast & Furious" movies. The ride vehicles also will feature 360 degrees of rotation along the coaster's track to create "a seamless sensation of drifting cars as guests spin in motion at furiously fast speeds," according to Universal's press release. - The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions [IAAPA] said today that it expects to see an overall 2% increase in attendance at the theme parks and attractions it represents in the United States this summer. Wahl said that IAAPA members expect to see a cumulative 7% increase in consumer spending this year, as well. That would put projected total spending on U.S. attractions at more than $32 billion in 2024. - Disneyland Paris is adding a scene from the Pixar movie Up to their version of the Storybook Land ride, Le Pays des Contes de Fées. Carl and Russell will join the miniature scenes on the ride, accompanied by Carl's balloon-lofted home.

- Oriental Land Co. - which owns and operates the Tokyo Disney Resort - announced this week that it will close its Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters ride in October to make way for a new ride based on Wreck it Ralph to open in 2026. - The Tokyo Disney Resort announced that "Vacation Jamboree" will run at the Country Bear Playhouse from May 17 through November 7. It's the first time in five years that the show has run at the resort. - A government filing in Shanghai has revealed Disney's plans for its first-ever Spider-Man-themed roller coaster. The new coaster will be the previously announced new attraction to be built next to Shanghai's Zootopia land, which opened last December. The plans also state that an official announcement of the project is set to be May 2nd. - Universal's theme parks reported a modest increase in income, coupled with a decline in earnings, for the first three months of 2024. Comcast reported that its theme parks segment saw a 1.5% increase in revenue for the quarter, to $1.979 billion. Higher operating costs drove Adjusted EBITDA down 3.9% for the parks during the first quarter of 2024, to $632 million. - Lots of Pixar is happening at Disneyland resort with the return of Together Forever – A Pixar Nighttime Spectacular, new parade, Better Together: A Pixar Pals Celebration! and an interactive Dug meet and Greet forming part of the Pixar Fest running through to August 4th. - Fifteen people had minor injuries from a tram crash at Universal Studios Hollywood last week. A Universal spokesperson released the following statement to local media: "There was a tram incident at the theme park tonight that resulted in multiple minor injuries, confirmed by the LA County Fire Dept. We are working to support our guests and understand the circumstances that led to the accident." - Ryan Gosling has turned out for the preview of Universal Hollywood's The Fall Guy Stuntacular Preshow. The special version of the pre-show also featured "The Fall Guy" film director David Leitch, and two of Gosling's stunt doubles from the movie, Ben Jenkin and Logan Holladay. - Cedar Point will enforce a strict "no loose items" policy on its Top Thrill 2 roller coaster when it opens for the season on May 4th. But the park will not be providing free lockers or bins for riders to store the items they cannot take on the ride. The park said on its website. "Due to the later revision, the integration of lockers into the queue, similar to those at Steel Vengeance, was not possible. We encourage riders to leave any loose articles with a non-rider. If you wish to rent a locker, they will be near the entrance for a nominal fee." - Europa Park has opened it's new Voltron Nevera roller coaser this week. Anchoring the park's Croatia land and themed to Croatian inventor Nikola Tesla, Voltron's theme is that you are being transformed into electrical energy. The coaster features a recreation of Tesla's Wardenclyffe Tower, which the inventor built to test his plans for wireless transmission of electricity. - Legoland California have announced the stars of their Lego World Parade Fire Chief Freya, who will lead the parade on a Lego City firetruck float, Scuba Diver, who will ride aboard her Lego City Deep Sea Adventure-inspired float, Scallywag Pirate, who will be seeking treasure aboard his pirate ship float, Lloyd, a ninja who will appear on the Lego Ninjago Dragon float, Hopsy, who is a bright red Lego Duplo who will ride on the float at the "tail end" of the parade. - Efteling in the Netherlands has announced it's create electric powered fake steam trains for the next trains for it's historic Steam Train attraction. Efteling has set goals of becoming climate-neutral by 2030 and climate-positive by 2032, neither of which would be possible with an authentic coal-burning steam train ride in the park.

- Disney Experiences announced that Walt Disney Studios Park at Disneyland Paris will be renamed Disney Adventure World when its World of Frozen land opens. The new World of Frozen, whose opening date has not been announced, will sit next to Adventure Bay, a 56.75-acre-foot body of water that will be equipped as a future home for entertainment spectaculars in the park, with fountains, music, lights and special effects capabilities. The promenade to Adventure Bay, Adventure Way, will include a new attraction, Raiponce Tangled Spin - a Tangled-themed spinner ride, and The Regal View Restaurant and Lounge, which will offer Disney Princess meets as well as views of the Bay and its entertainment. - Universal Destinations and Experiences has entered a public feedback period for its proposed theme park in the United Kingdom. As part of they have release an indicative master plan of how the 476 acre plot could be used. The land is located in Bedford, which is about an hour North of London. You can see more and give feedback at universalukproject.co.uk. Let's hope that they are going to be branding this park Universal Studios UK and not the first rumoured name Universal Studios Great Britain. - The Disneyland and Walt Disney World theme parks are about to revamp their procedures for accommodating guests with accessibility needs. The changes come after use of Disney's DAS [Disability Access Service] pass among guests has more than tripled at the Disneyland Resort over the past five years, according to park officials. - Universal Stella Nova Resort will open January 21, 2025, while Universal Terra Luna Resort will open February 25, 2025 on Universal's new south campus, located near the Orange County Convention Center. In a new concept video, we saw lots of details about these two moderate resorts. - Disney has given us more creatures for their new Princess and the Frog ride, with a team of frogs joining the musical shenanigans. - Universal Studios Hollywood is bring in a temporary stunt show called "The Fall Guy Stuntacular Pre-Show" will open April 27 and run through May 19, in conjunction with the opening of the Fall Guy movie, which opens May 3rd. This new pre-show will play in front of the WaterWorld stunt show. - The new Real Madrid World theme park officially now is open at Dubai Parks and Resorts. It is a retheme of the former Bollywood Parks Dubai park. - Holiday World has sent passengers out on the first test runs of its new coaster for 2024. Good Gravy! is a Vekoma family boomerang coaster that is set in the park's Thanksgiving themed land, and it's first passengers were dressed in turkey costumes. - Dorney Park in Pennsylvania is opening it's new Dive Coaster Iron Menace to a series of special events over the next few weeks, before the parks opening for the season on May 10th. - Meanwhile Kennywood also in PA has announced that The Steel Curtain will remain closed for the 2024 season. - Busch Gardens Williamsburg announced the opening date for its revamped Loch Ness Monster, Loch Ness Monster: The Legend Lives On will open officially May 10 at the Virginia theme park. Busch Gardens has replaced 900 feet of steel track on the 1978 Arrow Dynamics Custom Looping Coaster, as well as added new show elements to the ride and its queue. - Intamin release a video of the newly installed trains for Europe's first installation of its single-rail coaster model. Mahuka will open later this month at Walibi Rhône-Alpes in France. The Intamin Hot Racer is the second installation of the model, following Big Dipper at Sydney's Luna Park. - Victoria & Albert's at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort has become the first theme park restaurant in the US to be awarded a Michelin star.

 This Week's Theme Park News: - This week saw the start of the Season of the Force event at Disneyland resort, which also meant the debut of new Star Tours scenes featuring Din Djarin, Grogu, Andor and Ahsoka. The event also introduce Sabine Wren as a walk around character, and also the return of the adorable BD-X droids in Galaxy's edge. - Bob Iger shared a new "creative inspiration" image of what a potential avatar experience at Disneyland Resort could look like, as he hyped up the DisneylandForward proposal at the annual Disney Shareholder meeting. - At Epcot, it's been announced that Test Track will close June 17 for its extended refurbishment. This week we also saw concept art for the new facade for the attraction. - Walt Disney Imagineering has re-announced two major projects for Walt Disney World this week, with reporters getting a glimpse at the Beyond Big Thunder Mountain expansion at Magic Kingdom, and the Tropical Americas rethemeing of Dinoland USA at Disney's Animal Kingdom. The only actually new information in these announcements was that Disney will be filing permits for construction in Magic Kingdom, west of Frontierland very soon, and new clearer concept art for the Tropical Americas land. Speculation around the new animal kingdom land, is that it will feature the Dinosaur ride themed to it's brother attraction Indiana Jones, as well as and Encanto area and potentially a Coco themed carousel. - WDI also launched a new  YouTube Series, called We Call It Imagineering, which featured new animatronics from the Tiana's Bayou Adventure ride, including Louis the trumpet playing crocodile, and several of the human characters from the movie. This week they also gave us the next round of new creature characters featured in the ride, who are: - Octavia the Bobcat – a fearless kitten who plays the vaksin, a single-note horn instrument - Pawpaw the Bobcat – Octavia's grandfather, who taught her to play the vaksin - Claude the Louisiana Black Bear – a horn-playing bear who loves to create with things found in the forest - Bernadette the Louisiana Black Bear – Claude's mate and another horn player - Sebastián the Louisiana Black Bear – Bernadette's cub Sebastián is a drummer - Phina the Gray Fox – also a drummer - Disneyland After Dark: Pride Nite returns to Disneyland June 18 and 20 this year, celebrating the LGBTQIA+ community and featuring themed entertainment and photo ops for event guests, as well as specialty food, drinks, and merchandise for sale. Tickets will be $159 per person and tickets will go on sale from April 9th. - Finally, Universal Studios Hollywood has announced that they are being back the red and white striped "Glamour Trams" this summer as part of a celebration of the parks 60th Anniversary. The new version will also include a tram stop, for the first time in many years, where guests will be able to see an original tram, a King Kong backdrop, the original hanging Jaws shark, and a scale replica of the Hollywood sign.

This week's Theme Park News: - Universal Orlando Resort has revealed the details for the next land at its upcoming Universal Epic Universe theme park - How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk. They have confirmed they are bringing the "Untrainable" show that premiered at Universal Studios Beijing, which will be called The Untrainable Dragon. Other attractions in the new land will include: Hiccup's Wing Gliders, an Intamin multi-launch roller coaster with a top speed of 45 mph. Fyre Drill, a Splash Battle-style interactive boat ride, where "Ruffnut and Tuffnut invite teams of Vikings to compete to outscore and out-soak each other on this wet-and-wild boat battle." Dragon Racer's Rally, a Gerstlauer Sky Fly with a maximum height of 67 feet. Viking Training Camp, a play area. Haddock Paddock, a character meet with Hiccup and Toothless. - Tokyo Disneyland is adding Marvel Characters to their version of It's a Small World, for a limited time. The attraction will be renamed It's a Small World with Groot. In a Press release, disney stated: "Groot from the 'Guardians of the Galaxy' film trilogy and his friends from Marvel Studios films are visiting Earth for vacation. Groot encounters his friends in various locations on Earth and experiences their regional cultures and music with them as well as with children from all over the world." - Disney has given us a a sneak peak at the animal characters that will feature on Tiana's Bayou Adventure, the replacement for Splash Mountain. Tiana's musical critters will be: Byhalia the Beaver: A percussionist who builds musical instruments from natural materials in the bayou. Gritty the Rabbit: Gritty plays a found-license-plate washboard. Beau the Opossum: Plays an upright bass made from a gourd, using her tail to play some of the notes. Apollo the Raccoon: Plays a squeezebox made from found objects in the bayou. Rufus the Turtle: Apollo's companion in adventures, Rufus plays the harmonica in this band. Timoléon the Otter: This fiddle player is the oldest member of the band and likes to share stories about the past. - Orlando's giant observation wheel on International Drive, is now called the Orlando Eye, again, after the attraction was acquired by Merlin Entertainments this week. It was originally named the Orlando Eye, then subsequently ICON Orlando in 2018, then it changed again to be The Wheel at ICON Park in 2019. - California's Great America is open for the season this week, and made good on it's symbolic Super Bowl bet with its Cedar Fair sibling Worlds of Fun, from Kansas City, by temporarily renaming coaster Flight Deck to be the Soaring Chiefs. - Gardaland in Italy have this week took delivery of and installed the ride's 82-foot-tall purple octagonal tower for their new 2024 Attraction, revealing that the new attraction will be a "Drop & Twist Tower." A name has not yet been released for this ride, although the park has state that is have a theme based on indigenous Americans .

- Walt Disney World has announced the that the final pieces of the Epcot's transformation - CommuniCore Hall and the CommuniCore Plaza stage - will open June 10. CommuniCore Hall will house the Mickey & Friends character greeting as well as being used as flex space for EPCOT's various festivals and celebrations. The CommuniCore Plaza stage will first feature ¡Celebración Encanto!, a new sing-along stage show featuring the characters from Disney Animation's "Encanto," including Mirabel and Bruno. - Also at WDW, a new drone show Disney Dreams That Soar will run nightly from May 24 through September 2 in the skies above Disney Springs. - Legoland California have opened their new Dino Valley land. Featuring very colourful Lego Dinosaur models that now feature in the two re-themed rides Explorer River Quest and Duplo Little Dino Trail. - Europa Park have announced that Voltron Nevera powered by Rimac will open officially on April 26. The Mack Rides Stryker coaster features 7 inversions, 4 launches, and what the park is calling the steepest launch in the world, at 105 degrees. Themed to the experiments of Nikola Tesla, the coaster will anchor the park's new Croatia-themed land. - Universal Orlando's new Epic Universe theme park has started testing it's Starfall Racers trains testing on the coaster's track this week, as shown on local Orlando television. Epic Universe opens in 2025. - Disneyland have given more details about their "all-new experience" of fireworks from inside Galaxy's Edge as part of their Season of the Force event from April 5 through June 2. Disneyland will recast its fireworks experience as "Fire of the Rising Moons." Guests will hear the fireworks accompanied by music from John Williams' Star Wars film scores. - The resort also announced that Critter Country will close at Disneyland on May 1, as the park prepares the land for the opening of Tiana's Bayou Adventure. This work will include re-themeing two of the retail locations to Princess and the Frog, and also widening and improving pathways in that section of the park. - Mattel and its partners have announced a second Mattel Adventure Park, coming to the Kansas City area in 2026, even before the first park in Arizona has opened. The Kansas city park is due to break ground later this year. The Arizona park is set to open Late this year. - The Mall of America is opening a new Avatar ride. Avatar: The Last Airbender that is. The new aerial carousel ride is called, Fly with Appa, where you ride on the Sky Bison from the Nickelodeon animated series. It is part of Mall of America's Nickelodeon Universe. - Qiddiya Investment Company has signed a deal with Toei Animation to license the Dragon Ball franchise for a new theme park at the Qiddiya City development in Saudi Arabia.

- The DisneylandForward proposal has cleared it's first major hurdle this week, with The Anaheim Planning Commission voting 5-1 to recommend the proposal to the Anaheim City Council. The Council is expected to vote on this later this spring. - Universal confirmed this week that Florean Fortescue soft-serve ice cream shop, originally found in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Diagon Alley at Universal Studios Florida, will be opening another location at Universal Hollywood later this month. Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream counter will open March 29 in former Zonko's joke shop space within Honeydukes. The counter will serve 10 flavors of ice cream in cups or waffle cones: Banana, Chocolate, Mint, Orange, Vanilla, Toffee Nut, Granny Smith Apple, Pistachio, Toffee Apple, as well as Butterbeer ice cream. To celebrate that iconic flavor, Universal is declaring March 15 through April 30 as "Butterbeer season" at its U.S. theme parks. The parks will feature new Butterbeer-flavored items during the event, including a Butterbeer popsicle as well as Butterbeer caramels, which will be available in Orlando only. - Shanghai Disneyland this week states that it had "began initial preparation work for construction of a separately themed attraction to be located within Shanghai Disneyland, adjacent to Zootopia." They also announced that they had completed piling work on its as-yet unamed third hotel. - The Disneyland Resort is previewing new entry gates that will be installed at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, starting later this year. They have opened a test gate this week, which will bel used for a limited time and will assist with traning staff. The project is going to be finished in 2025. - Disneyland resort dropped a whole bunch of details on Pixar fest, which returns to the resort April 26 and continues through August 4. This year it will feature a food festival, a part called Pixar Pals Playtime Party, and new parade at DCA called Better Together: A Pixar Pals Celebration! - In the U.S. SC Holdings has acquired Santa Monica Amusements LLC, the operator of Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier. - Fuji-Q Highland has announced that its iconic roller coaster, Do-Dodonpa, has closed permanently. The S&S Thrust Air Coaster has been closed since August 2021, after a number of injuries. - Aquatica Orlando officially opens its newest water slide, Tassie's Underwater Twist. This 129-foot long enclosed Super Bowl water slide from WhiteWater West features an orchestral score and synchronized video display that recreates the underwater world of Australia's Shark Bay for guests to explore as they slide through on two-person innertubes. - Kennywood has announced the winner in its contest to name the park's bumper cars ride. In a fan vote, Potato Smash beat candidates Deep Fried Derby and Speedy Spuds to become the name for the ride, which has been getting a rebuild as Kennywood themes the cars to its Potato Patch fries.

This week's Theme Park News: - Disneyland Resort has it's clearest yet communication on the construction of an Avatar based experience, with Bob Iger saying "We have one Avatar-based land, Pandora, in Florida. We're going to put a second one in California." - Disneyland also had another attempt this week at opening up sales for their Magic Key annual pass program, which seemingly went better than last time. - Disney Parks announced the opening date for the latest version of Star Tours, featuring Ahsoka Tano, Cassian Andor, Din Djarin (aka The Mandalorian) and Grogu, will debut April 5 at Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, and Disney's Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort. - SeaWorld San Antonio has opened Catapult Falls, which it calls the "world's first launched flume coaster." - Thorpe Park in the UK has completed track work on Hyperia, its new Mack Rides Hypercoaster for 2024. - Legoland California has announced that Dino Valley will open officially to Legoland guests on March 22. - Kentucky Kingdom will extend its 2024 season by staying open for the Christmas holiday season, the park announced this week. - Gardaland in Italy has been teasing it's upcoming new thrill ride with claims this week of the arrival of a very large WOLF in the park.

- Universal Studios Florida will open its new DreamWorks Land this summer, and this week they also confirmed details of their attractions including that the former Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster is being transformed into Trolls Trollercoaster. - Still at Universal Orlando, Islands of Adventure has removed the 3D projection on Skull Island: Reign of Kong, as part of a trial of 2D projection for the ride. - Reporting season for theme park chains in the US this week told us that Six Flags has had higher attendance for lower income, and that United Parks (formerly SeaWorld Parks) had a decline on attenance. - Hersheypark announced today that it has replaced the seats and restraints on its Intamin wing coaster, Skyrush - Knott's Berry Farm has announced that work is "re-zooming" on the rebuild of its former Montezooma's Revenge roller coaster, renamed MonteZOOMa: The Forbidden Fortress. - Carowinds and Kings Dominion have changed the name of their former Intimidator and Intimidator 305 roller coasters, they will now be known as Thunder Striker and Project 305 respectively. - March 30th will be the opening date of Silver Dollar City's new version of Fire in the Hole, a complete rebuild of one of their classic attractions, by Rocky Mountain Construction.

- In Germany, The owners of Europa-Park have taken their first test ride on the park's new Voltron Nevera roller coaster - In WDW, Soarin' Over California will end its limited-time run at Walt Disney World's EPCOT on February 27, with its replacement, Soarin' Around the World, returning the next day. - At Disney Springs, a new permit for general construction/demo" has been filed for the closed NBA Experience building. - Swedish theme park Liseberg has announced they have found the remains of a person who is believed to be the missing person from the incident. - SeaWorld Orlando has added several artists to its Seven Seas Food Festival concert series line-up, including Hanson and The Goo Goo Dolls. - An interesting photo taken of the new Dreamworks Animation area at Universal Studios Florida shows off what appears to possibly be a new kiddie sized flat ride. Its hard to tell for sure, but it does look sort of like a kid sized Family Swing ride. - SpongeBob's Crazy Carnival Ride will open officially on March 1 at Circus Circus Las Vegas, the resort announced this week.

- Universal Destinations & Experiences has announced that Everbloom Games has created a Universal Studios Experience DLC for Minecraft. - Tiana's Bayou Adventure will open this summer at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom. Disney Parks also shared a sneak peak at one of the new Tiana animatronics that will be featured on the ride. - Movie world here in Australia gave us more detail on their upcoming Land of Oz which, releasing more concept art and also the official names for the rides: Flight of the Wicked Witch and Kansas Twister. - Legoland New York this summer will introduce Legoland's first gondola ride, with The Minifigure Skyflyer - Theme park chain Cedar Fair reported a slight dip in revenue and attendance for financial year 2023 compared to 2022, it reported this week. - SeaWorld San Antonio that is new ride, the world's launched flume coaster, Catapult Falls will open officially to guests on Saturday, March 2 - In Spain a freak accident has seen strong winds cause a tree to fall onto the family wooden coaster Tomahawk at PortAventura, with 5 people hospitialized, and 2 of those having serious injuries. - At Sweden's Liseberg theme park a major fire has broken out in an indoor water park that was under construction. One person is reported missing, and 16 people were treated for minor injuries then released.

This week's Theme Park News: - Tokyo Disneyland has announced a "Donald's Quacky Duck City" festival, to run at April 9 through June 30 at the park. - Legoland Florida has set March 8 as the official opening date for its newest attraction - Lego Ferrari Build & Race. - Jurassic World VelociCoaster had a couple of periods of Unexpected downtime this week. It has re-opened, but it's still unclear what caused this normally reliable coaster to be down. - Disney has reported last quater 2023 earnings, with a 7% increase in revenue across it's theme park and resort segment of the company. - Dreamworld has released more concept art for it's up coming family coaster, Jungle Rush. - Legoland California will attempt to host “the largest dinosaur costume party” in the world on March 3rd, as they prepare to open the park's new Dino Valley this Spring. Participants in full head-to-toe dino attire will receive complimentary Park admission for the day!

This week's Theme Park News: - Massive announcements for Universal Orlando's upcoming theme park Epic Universe this week. We had confirmation of the lands, with Celestial Park, Dark Universe, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - The Ministry of Magic, and How to Train Your Dragon - Isle of Berk joining the already announced Super Nintendo World. - The Pixar Place Hotel has official opened at Disneyland resort, this week. It is the re-theming of the former Paradise Pier Hotel. - Universal Studios Hollywood has opened the Power Up Cafe which serves Mushroom Kingdom-themed calzones and drinks. The restaurant is located on the Upper Lot, across from Universal Plaza tower. - SeaWorld Entertainment has announced that it is changing its corporate name to United Parks & Resorts. - Tokyo Disneyland have announced that a new Castle Projection show on Cinderella Castle, which will debut on September 20th, will be the first use of characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. You can watch our News in a Nutshell videos on YouTube or TikTok, and catch up with us on X, Instagram or Threads. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThemeParkNut TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@themeparknut Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themeparknutinsta Threads: https://www.threads.net/@themeparknutinsta X: https://twitter.com/ThemeParkNut

This week's Theme Park News: - Disneyland Paris reopens its Disneyland Hotel following a three-year refurbishment. The hotel features a new lobby (with it's centerpiece is a new Bohemian crystal chandelier, representing the park's Sleeping Beauty Castle) and refurbished rooms and new suites. - Snow has blanketed continental Europe this week which resulted in some beautiful images from Disneyland Paris, Efteling and Germany's Phantasialand, which capture amazing footage of one of the coasters TARON clearing the snow with it's morning test runs. - Lunar New Year celebrations returned to Disney California this week, with the opening of several food booths, as well as the debuts of meet and greet characters Meilin Lee and her mother Ming Lee from Disney/Pixar's "Turning Red" . - The Disneyland Resort will commit to spending more than $2 billion in Anaheim over the next decade, under a new development agreement proposed today with the City of Anaheim as part of its DisneylandForward plan. Disney would spend a minimum of $1.9 billion on new attractions, entertainment, and lodging within the first 10 years after approval, and Disney would commit $45 million for street improvements in Anaheim and $40 million to acquire Magic Way, Hotel Way, and part of Clementine Street that runs through the Toy Story Parking Area. - NBCUniversal's Theme Parks segment reported $2.371 billion in revenue for the final three months of 2023, up 12.2% over the same period in 2022. Comcast reported revenue gains at both its domestic and international parks, though the domestic increases were driven by Universal Studios Hollywood, which continues to enjoy an attendance and guest spending boosts from the early 2023 opening of Super Nintendo World. That increase was partially offset by lower revenue at Universal Orlando in the quarter. - Europa-Park is showing off a completed train for its upcoming 2024 roller coaster - Voltron Nevera. - Disneyland Resorts Downtown Disney has given us more details on their upcoming restaurants, including adding a new quick service to the bill. Tiendita ("little shop") will offer Mexican street food staples to complement the full-service dining at Paseo and the bar service at Céntrico. There was also concept art of the new Earl of Sandwich, the Din Tai Fung restaurant as well as the Parkside market, which will house Seoul Sister, GG's Chicken Shop, and the coffee shop Sip & Sonder. - The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man has closed at Universal Studios Japan, after a two-decade run at the Osaka theme park. The termination of Universal's Marvel license in Japan now clears the way for Disney to introduce Spider-Man and other Marvel characters at Tokyo Disneyland or Tokyo DisneySea.

- World of Frozen is opening to the public on Monday at Hong Kong Disneyland, after soft openings last week. - Universal Studios Florida have installed a new sign for their upcoming DreamWorks land, that will debut sometime in 2024. - High winds in Southern California appear to have contributed to an incident where a light post collapsed in Town Square on Main Street USA at Disneyland that left three people injured. One woman with an apparent head injury was taken to a local hospital, while two others were treated at the scene. - Universal Orlando brought back its annual holiday celebrations on Friday, including Grinchmas, Christmas in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and its Macy's holiday parade balloons. - Dinosaurs are taking over at Legoland California. The Carlsbad theme park announced that Dino Valley will be taking over the current Explorer Island land next year. This will replace the two recently closed rides Safari Trek and Fairy Tale Brook. They will be replaced by two newly Dino themed rides in Duplo Little Dino Trail and Explorer River Quest. The land also will include the current Coastersaurus roller coaster as well as the Dino Dig. - The annual TEA Thea award winners were announced this week, with SeaWorld Yas Island, Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind at Epcot and experimental restaurant Eatrenalin at Europa-Park being among the honourees.

This week's Theme Park News: - Hong Kong Disneyland hosted a media preview for its world of Frozen land. It also open the land for soft opening on Friday - Iaapa expo kicked off in Orlando this week an as rumoured Intamin and Six Flags Qiddiya unveiled the new themed coaster train for the record breaking Falcons Flight roller coaster. - Also Zamperla and Cedar Point revealed the Top Thrill 2 train - Chance rides showed of its trains for the Hot Wheels Twin Mill Racer coaster coming to the Mattel Adventure park currently under construction in Arizona - Intamin also showed off some new ride concepts including a hub less observation wheel and a dome theatre ride which has motion based vehicles under a 360 dome theatre - They also had a hype video showing 12 seater rotating coaster trains called “MDC 12 Seater” which is rumoured to be being used for Universal Studios Hollywood's upcoming Fast and the Furious coaster. - They also so showed a sneak peak of them working with Sally Corp on some dark ride coaster hybrids - Sally dark rides also showed off animatronics for SpongeBob's Crazy Carnival Ride a new dark they are building for CircusCircus Adventuredome in Las Vegas -In a quarterly earnings report from Genting the company they mention that the new Minion Land coming to Universal Studios Singapore, as well as the new Singapore Oceanarium just outside the park won't be ready to soft open until early 2025. There's also been some alleged leaked plans about how A Super Nintendo World could be added to the park, but take that with a grain of salt

This week's Theme Park News: • Universal Orlando's hotel partner - Loews Hotels - accidentally posted the website for the one of resort's new South Campus hotels. The Stella Nova and Terra Luna Resorts will stand alongside the entrance to Universal Orlando's new Epic Universe theme park. Universal Stella Nova Resort, opening January 21, 2025. • SeaWorld San Diego has announced the name for its new emperor penguin chick, Pearl. • Disneyland has put in a ban on large pin boards inside the parks in an effort to stop professional pin traders from working in the parks. • Disneyland has also announced that Fantasmic will return to the Rivers of America at on May 24, 2024. • Legoland owner Merlin Entertainments is showing off the first new attraction in its upcoming Legoland Shanghai theme park, which is a 36,000-brick miniland model of the town where the park is being built. • Legoland Florida has announced an installation of Lego Ferrari Build and Race in spring 2024. And next fall, Legoland Florida will open a Sea Life aquarium attraction at the resort.

This Week's Theme Park News: • Two of America's biggest amusement park companies are coming together, Cedar Fair and Six Flags announced this week. The combined company, worth more than $3.5 billion, will boast 27 amusement parks, 15 water parks and nine resort properties in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Cedar Fair CEO Richard Zimmerman will be president and CEO of the combined company with Selim Bassoul, the current president and CEO of Six Flags, will become executive chairman. A merger of equals, they have self dubbed this. • Six Flags Magic Mountain announced the official ground breaking for its new solar carport. When complete, the 12.37-megawatt solar array and energy storage system will offset 100% of the park's energy usage • Six Flags Fiesta Texas and Six Flags Over Georgia each are opening Kid Flash Cosmic Coaster - the first installations of the "P'Sghetti Bowl" single-rail racing coaster from Skyline Attractions. • SeaWorld San Diego will be breaking ground for its new 2024 attraction, Jewels of the Sea: A Jellyfish Experience • WDW shared a promo video this week of Epcot's upcoming nighttime show luminous the symphony of us which feature a new original song called Heartbeat Symphony. • According to a Disney Executive in charge of Disney's live entertainment, parades and nighttime spectaculars, “Drones are the next thing” we should expect to see coming to the Disney park's after dark shows. During a panel discussion about the new season of “Behind the Attractions” coming to Disney+ next week, Steven Davidson mentioned Drones, saying “They're kind of a new thing. We're doing a lot of work in that. So all I'm going to say is, ‘There's more to come.'” • The Tokyo Disney Resort has reported increased attendance at their properties thus far for the first six months of the Oriental Land Company's fiscal year. This represents a nearly 40% increase over the same term from the previous year for a total of 12.5 million visitors, with 1.63 million of them being international guests visiting from countries outside of Japan • New pictures taken on site at the future Six Flags Qiddiya construction site can be found over at ThemeparX this week. This includes current shots of the massive Falcon's Flight roller coaster. And we might be about to see roller coaster trains for this coaster at the upcoming Iaapa expo, if rumours are to be revealed

This week's Theme Park News: • Tokyo Disney resort announced that Fantasy Springs at Tokyo DisneySea will open June 6, 2024. Peter Pan, tangled and frozen. • Disneyland Resort has announced the newly themed “Adventureland Treehouse inspired by Walt Disney's Swiss Family Robinson" will reopen officially on November 10. The treehouse had been Tarzan themed since 1999, and closed since shortly after the pandemic closures in 2021. • Shanghai Disneyland has announced their Zootopia land will open December 20 of this year. • WDW has given more details about it's Christmas celebrations with Frozen Holiday Surprise castle projection show coming to Magic Kingdom, and lots of new entertainment coming to Hollywood Studios for the Jollywood Nights event. This includes a What's this, nightmare before Christmas singalong show at the Frozen theatre. • They also announced that EPCOT International Festival of the Arts will return on January 12, 2024 and run through February 19. • Lots of Disney Cruise News this week but the most theme park related is that Disney Treasure vessel is going have a bar called the Haunted Mansion Parlor when it sets sail in December 2024. • Japan's new Ghibli Park is teasing the opening of the upcoming Princess Mononoke themed area that will premiere on November 1st. According to the update the land will feature a sculpture of a Tatarigami spiriti monster, a slide themed to the boar god Lord Okkoto and an area where guests can make their own “gohei-mochi rice cakes”. • In the us, Several Cedar Fair theme parks Carowinds, Kings Dominion, and California's Great America are returning to their traditional calendars, closing for the winter and reopening for the 2024 season in the spring. • Universal's theme parks took in more than $2.4 billion in revenue in the third quarter of 2023, parent company Comcast reported this week. Above comparable 2019 data. Despite this Comcast's stock 8% post the report • the Bullet Coaster at Happy Valley Shenzhen suffered some kind of incident. It sounds as if the two trains may have collided, causing the rear car to de-rail from the look of things. The unofficial reports say 8 riders may have been potentially injured from the incident. The Bullet Coaster is a modern S&S Thrust Air style launch coaster that first opened back in 2012.

This week's theme park news: • the Disney company turned 100 this week, and to celebrate Hong Kong Disneyland unveiled a brand new Walt Disney statue. It featured Walt and Mickey sitting on a park bench looking at the park's Carousel. • Epcot celebrated the birthday as well with the official opening of Journey of Water, Inspired by Moana. • At WDW it was announced that Blizzard Beach water park will reopen for guests on November 6. As they only open one water park at a time at the moment this means that Typhoon Lagoon will close November 5. • More Christmas events have breen announced this week 2023 Holidays at Universal Orlando Resort events will start November 17 and continue through December 31. The usuals return including Mannheim Steamroller. • Universal have announced the name for their new Las Vegas standalone horror attraction, it will be called Universal Horror Unleashed. • Italy's Gardaland is teasing its new attraction for 2024, which will be based on legends of indigenous Americans.

This week's Theme Park News: • Disney imagineers have this week play test 3 walk around BD-1 droids at Disneyland's version of Galaxies edge. And they are beautiful. • Disneyland resort released details of their upcoming enhancement of Downtown Disney, including a new park and stage. They also Ann 3 new restaurants : GG's Chicken Shop, Seoul Sister, and Sip & Sonder. • Disneyland resort has also raised ticket prices across the board with single day tickets up 8.9%. • • All-day Park Hopping returns to the Walt Disney World Resort starting January 9, the date when park reservations will no longer be required. And it also raised prices of its annual passes, but did not raise day ticket prices. • Disneyland Paris will swap two scenes in Le Pays des Contes de Fées ("The Land of Fairy Tales") as part of a "complete refurbishment" of the Fantasyland ride over the next year. The new new scenes will feature Frozen and Winnie the Pooh. The resort also showed teaser images of Disney Symphony of Colors which will play on and above Sleeping Beauty Castle, starting January 8, 2024. • Hong Kong Disneyland has revealed the menus it will be serving at its new World of Frozen when that land opens November 20. And there are lots of desserts. • The Whos of Whoville will take the Universal Plaza stage for a new show during this year's Grinchmas celebrations at Universal Studios Hollywood. They are also bringing back their Harry Potter Magic of Christmas projection show. • Six Flags Over Georgia are holding a fan vote to pick the name of their up coming Ultra Surf coaster. The three choices are: Aquaphobia, Georgia Surfer, and Iron Splash: The Surf Coaster. • Over at Legoland California, The City of Carlsbad has posted notice of a planning application by the park. The application calls for the removal of two existing attractions, which the park has announced are Safari Trek and Fairy Tale Brook. In their place will be three new attractions: - A single-story, 32,200-square-foot, 43-foot-tall building with an interior ride - A 33-foot tall, 4,120-square-foot outdoor ride - A new children's play area with a 30-foot tall structure

This week's Theme Park News: • Legoland California is closing yet another opening attraction with Safari trek's neighbour Fairy Tale Brook to close at the end of October to make way for “future awesomeness!” • Disney revealed the full roster of celebrity narrators for the Candlelight Processional at this year's EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays. New celebrities include Brendan Fraser, if he can get his cup of coffee. • Both Walt Disney World and the Disneyland Resort have announced upcoming discounts for families visiting with children, ages 3-9, Starting October 24. • Disney+ has announced that a second season of "Behind the Attraction" will drop on November 1. The six-episode second season will highlight Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Indiana Jones Adventure, EPCOT, Food, and Nighttime Spectaculars. • In the uk Thorpe Park have announced their 2024 coaster will be named Hyperia, stand 236 feet tall and hit speeds of over 80mph • In Denmark Djurs Sommerland has announced that the park will build their tallest attraction ever for the 2024 season, a 60 meter tall new drop tower to be located inside the park's Mexicoland. • Merlin Entertainments has announced the impending retirement of its Chief Financial Officer, Alistair Windybank. He joined Merlin in 2008 and have served as the company's CFO since 2020 • Iaapa have announced that”Universal Beijing Resort – The Untold Story of Triumph over Trying Times; COVID, Lockdowns, Quarantines, And More" will be the topic for this year's Legends panel at this years expo in November. It will be hosted by Bob Rogers, and feature: • Tom Mehrmann, President and Chief Operating Officer of Universal Destinations and Experiences, Pacific Rim. Former President and General Manager for Universal Beijing Resort • Mike Hightower, retired President at Universal Creative. • Sylvia Hase, President of Hasbas Entertainment who were responsible for the Untrainable show. • SeaWorld San Antonio is the latest theme park to go solar in its parking lot, beginning construction of a solar canopy that will shade approximately 1,200 spots in the VIP section of its parking lot. The canopy's solar panels will have a capacity of 4.3 megawatts and generate 16% of the park's electricity consumption, according to SeaWorld. • An American water park guest has filed a suit against Walt Disney World after a visit to Typhoon Lagoon caused an “injurious wedgie” from the Humunga Kowabunga slide in 2019. the incident was serious enough for her to be hospitalised, and she's asking for $50000 in damages.

This week's Theme Park News: • SeaWorld Orlando announced a new ride for 2024 - Penguin Trek. It will be the park's eighth roller coaster, a "snowmobile styled ride car” built by Bolliger & Mabillard. • Sea World San Diego is getting a new jellyfish exhibit Jewels of the Sea: The Jellyfish Experience which will feature three galleries in which visitors can see various species, including Moon Jellyfish, Pacific Sea Nettles, Upside-Down Jellyfish, and Comb Jellies. • SeaWorld San Antonio has confirmed its new Catapult Falls ride will not open this year as originally planned. The park yesterday announced that the launched flume coaster will open next spring. • SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment this week filed a U.S. Trademark application for "Phoenix Rising” for “Entertainment in the nature of an amusement park ride.” Busch Gardens in Tampa used to have a Starship looper called Phoenix. • Utah's Lagoon them park has opened a new interactive dark ride roller coaster hybrid called Primordial this week. • In Japan government officials have announced plans for a new theme park on a former U.S. military base in Yokohama. Yokohama city government has selected Mitsubishi Estate to develop the project, with a goal to open in 2031. City planning documents project that the 127-acre theme park, tentatively called Kamiseya Park, will attract 12 million visitors a year when it debuts. • IAAPA Expo Europe started this week in Vienna. At the expo, Zamperla revealed two new products. Magic Bikes XL and GoGo Bounze 8.4. • Walt Disney world has announced hotel discounts for the first few months of 2024 up to 30% • Disney also filed a number patent applications this week including one titled Systems and Methods for Transferring a Passenger Compartment Between Ride Systems Using Robotic Tool Changers and another one for a Procedural Animation Engine and Editor for Sample-Based Design of Stylized Walking Gaits for Bipedal Robots.

This week's Theme Park News! • The Walt Disney Company announced that it would nearly double its capital expenditures in its Disney Parks, Experiences and Products segment over the next 10 years compared with the previous 10. This would be 60 billion dollars based on their current 30 billion spend. • Disney parks president Josh D'Amaro theorised that Frozen could have a presence at Disneyland resort when referencing all the ips the have to spare. • Magic Kingdom cast members discovered a black bear next to the Rivers of America one morning this week, prompting Disney to keep the west side of the park closed past its scheduled opening time that day. • At Disneyland the recently opened CenTOONial Park remains closed through October 22, after which Goofy's How-to-Play Yard will go down, with an expected return in early November. Apparently the soft artificial turf has not lived up to guest use and is being replaced. • Legoland California is closing The Safari Trek ride one of its opening day attractions at the end of the month • The owners of Spain's PortAventura World are looking to sell reportedly at an estimated price of 1 billion euros • Universal has filed a patent application for an ambitious crowd control system that would give Universal the ability to direct individual visitors around their theme parks through the use of wireless devices through direct instructions. • Georgia's Wild Adventures theme park has announced a new holiday event - Wild Adventures Christmas Wild & Bright. The event starts November 18 and continues on select dates through December 31

This week's Theme Park News: • At Destination D23: EPCOT's new nighttime spectacular will be called "Luminous: The Symphony of Us" and will debut December 5. • Journey of Water Inspired by Moana got an official opening date of October 16 • the Hatbox Ghost got an ETA of late November at the Magic Kingdom's Haunted Mansion. • Star Tours will add Ahsoka in California, Florida, and France next year, • also next year, a new Country Bears show - County Bear Musical Jamboree - will open at the Magic Kingdom. • • Soarin' Over California will return to EPCOT later this month for a limited run • They released a concept image of the ride vehicle for the new Avengers Campus ride at Disney California Adventure, but no details • Disney also discussed there are plans in the works to replace Dinoland USA in Animal Kingdom. They proposed it could be possible that maybe they might be considering A land devoted to Central and South America, which could house IP properties like Indiana Jones and Encanto. They also showed a Bluesky image about how that may possibly work. • 2024 D23 Expo will run August 9 to 11 at the Anaheim Convention Center, following a kick-off event on August 8 at the Disneyland Resort. The event will also expand to the Honda Center for special shows during the event. • This week Disneyland Resort has started alcohol sales inside Disneyland this week at 3 table service restaurants: River Belle Terrace, Carnation Cafe and Cafe Orleans. • City of Anaheim released a Draft Subsequent Environmental Impact Report on the proposed DisneylandForward proposal, with the short of it being that less than significant effects on the local environment once constructed. Also called out existing restrictions for above ground outdoor roller coasters on the property. It now goes into a 45 day public consultation before being finalised. • The refurbished Disneyland Hotel at the Disneyland Paris Resort will reopen January 25, 2024, with some pretty fancy themed suites. The royal suite themed to frozen is particularly impressive. • Dollywood announced that Lightning Rod, will close for the season October 30. Over the winter, the park will replace the coaster's troubled launch with a high-speed chain lift. • Merlin Entertainments has announced a long-term partnership with Chinese tech giant Tencent. It has 3 parks in development in China. • Disney has settled a lawsuit with former Magic Key holders over the use bill f the phrase “no block out dates” on their annual passes. Disneyland will pay a total of $9.5 million to plaintiffs and their attorneys. That will work out to a payment of $67.41 to each of the estimated 103,000-plus former Dream Key passholders represented in the case.

• At Disneyland resort Tiana's Palace is now open for business in New Orleans Square. • They have also kicked off their Halloween event Oogie Boogie Bash this week. Their Halloween celebrations includes several rude overlays including Haunted Mansion Holiday. • Tokyo Disney Resort has this week announced it's Christmas celebrations for this year, with an event called Disney Christmas running from the 8th of November up until the 25th of December this year. This includes special Christmas merchandise , decorations and their own ride overlays including their version of Haunted Mansion Holiday. • Shanghai Disneyland has revealed details about its upcoming Zootopia land which will feature an all-new trackless dark ride called Zootopia: Hot Pursuit. This land will open at some point later this year. • At Hong Kong Disneyland, we do have an official opening date for Arendelle: The world of Frozen. This new land will open on November 20th. • The City of San Diego today filed a lawsuit against SeaWorld, seeking more than $12 million in what the city claims is rent owed by the Mission Bay theme park. • At WDW, Give Kids the World Village, which hosts critically ill children and their families on Orlando vacations, is raffling off a Walt Disney World Magical Celebration Vacation Package for four, including a stay in the Cinderella Castle Suite inside Magic Kingdom. Tickets are available on their website.

We talk about all the Theme Park News for the last week.

Mentions this Month Lauren's Travels YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuqMmzPv1z08RY8KTb5MbfQ Velocicoaster Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLNr05kdN30 Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurens_travels Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurens__travels/ This Month's news: • The big news this month was California theme parks reopening first Six flags Magic Mountain, then Legoland California, then universal studios Hollywood and finally Disneyland on April 30th. • With these openings we’ve seen a couple of new ride revamps launched, including Jurassic World the ride with its new indominous Rex animatronics day Disneyland’s Snow Whites Encuanted Wish. • Disneyland have also announced that their new land in California Adventure Avengers Campus will open on Friday, June 4. • Disney have officially announced their fifth key in theme park operations of Inclusion. As part of this change they have updated the cast member guideline called the DisneyLook to include gender-inclusive hairstyles, beards, jewelry, nail styles, and costume choices; and allowing appropriate visible tattoos. • Universal Orlando has extended their Mardi Gras celebrations again, now into May. • Universal Orlando announced an official opening date for their new coaster. The Jurassic World VelociCoaster will open officially on June 10. But team member previews have already started. Check out Lauren’s Travels on Twitter and Instagram for her reaction. Links in the section below. • Walt Disney World has recalled the company for Festival of the Lion King and the popular musical show at Disney's Animal Kingdom is now in rehearsals for a mid-May return. • Epcot have announced a new shop called Creations, and have love excitingly announced the return of club cool. • Cedar Point have appointed a new General Manager in Carrie Boldman a 16 year Disney Parks veteran. • Tokyo Disney announced detail for their toy story hotel which will open in the next 12 months and be called the Tokyo Disney Resort Toy Story Hotel. • Universal Orlando is reopening another of its on-site hotels. The Loews Sapphire Falls Resort will begin welcoming guests again starting May 18

Mentions this Month TDR Explorer and the TDRNow Podcast: Website: https://tdrexplorer.com/ Podcast: https://tdrexplorer.com/podcast/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMthB6k6LRN5Qwz8WybfXvA Twitter: https://twitter.com/tdrexplorer Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tdrexplorer/ Orlando ParkStop: Website: https://orlandoparkstop.com/ Podcast: https://orlandoparkstop.com/category/news/podcast/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy9i4O3Bvdc5fHG6LgtnP5g Twitter: https://twitter.com/OrlandoParkStop and https://twitter.com/AliciaStella Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/orlandoparkstop/ March 2021 Theme Park News: • Super Nintendo World at universal studios japan officially opened on March 18th. • universal Orlando officially resumed work in their up coming Epic Universe theme park • They also have extended their current Mardi Gras festival by two weeks through April 11. • They also announced that Halloween Horror Nights will return this year for 42 nights, and announced the return of Beetlejuice as their first house. • WDW have allowed for mobile phones to be used in the same way as magic bands with their new MagicMobile system. It essentially streamlines the use of phones by allowing them to be tapped rather than requiring a code be scanned. • Epcot started the flower and garden festival and also announced they are opens Remy's Ratatouille Adventure ride in the expanded France pavilion on October 1st. • Walt Disney Imagineering have shared more details of the upcoming retheming of the Jungle Cruise, with news being that we it will be tied to the Society of Explorers and Adventures through Alberta Falls, the current owner of the Jungle navigation Co. which was founded by her grandfather. It also has been rumoured that a Disney+ show is in the works based on SEA. • Disneyland's 'A Touch of Disney' Event Sold out within hours at the start of the month, and then kicked off on March 18th. • Universal Hollywood opened for its own food festival Taste of Universal • Disneyland Resort also started a campaign to remove its current zoning restrictions with its press release about the Disneyland Forward plan. The plan had hypothetical concept art with it that showed ways it may be able to expand if the rules changed. • Tokyo Disney is bringing back live theatre, which means it can also finally open its pandemic-delayed Fantasyland Forest Theatre with the premiere of Mickey’s Magical Music World. The theatre is the last part of their recent Tokyo Disneyland Expansion. • The theme parks of the Disneyland Paris Resort will not reopen on April 2 as planned having moved their reopening date for the 3rd time. • Alton Towers in the UK have announced a new attraction, Gangsta Granny: The Ride. The dark ride will bring to life the children's book by David Walliams and is planned to open May 17th depending on Covid Restrictions. • Merlin Entertainments has announced they are going to be building their 4th Park in Europe, with a site selected in Belgium.

• The Walt Disney World Resort's 50th anniversary will kick off October 1 as "The World’s Most Magical Celebration." The celebration will feature a physical overlay on the castle, and new projection shows on each of the park icons, and will run for 18 months. • The rivers of America are back at magic kingdom after being drained last October. The Liberty Belle riverboat has also returned. And there was a great article by Dewayne Bevil in the Orlando sentinel about the liberty belle was removed in the first place. Quite amazing! • Epcot opened its exhibit The Soul of Jazz in the American pavilion and also its new home for the Leave a Legacy photos. • Universal Orlando has had two permanent closures this month with the closure of the Blue Man Group and A Day in the Park with Barney. • But they did reopen their water theme park volcano bay on February 27. They also kicked off their Taste of Mardi Gras food festival. And Islands of adventure’s Velocicoaster is getting closer to opening with construction walls coming down in the last week. • In California, Disney California Adventure is opening for a hard ticket event next month. A Touch of Disney will run Thursdays through Mondays from noon to 8 pm, starting March 18. Tickets will be $75 per person and go on sale March 4th. • Legoland Florida will add another gate in 2022 with the opening of the world's first standalone Peppa Pig theme park, which will take over 5acres of what is currently the resorts car park. • Hong Kong Disneyland has reopened for the third time during this pandemic, having been shut since November last year. • Motiongate Dubai opened a new live theatre show based on original ip in its Hollywood theatre called Into the Deadlands: Ice Storm • Theme parks in England may be able to open as soon as April 12, under orders issued by the British government earlier in the month. • The former Fox World theme park planned for Resorts World Genting in Malaysia is now called "Genting SkyWorlds," and is likely to open at some point this year.

Disney - Walt Disney Imagineering announced this month that it will be rewriting the Jungle Cruise attractions at Disneyland and Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom. The changes will see the addition of an animatronic Jungle skipper to the popular Adventureland attractions but will not include the stars of the upcoming "Jungle Cruise" feature film. Disneyland - The Annual Pass Program at Disneyland Resort has been ended, with all passes cancelled immediately with refund offered for all. Disney World - Park Hopping returned at Walt Disney World, as the resort also is introducing a new ticket discount offer for Florida residents. - Disney announced that it will end its complementary Disney's Magical Express bus service to and from the Orlando International Airport for its Disney hotel guests at the end of 2021. - They also annouced that starting later in the year, Disney's hotel guests will get 30 minutes of Early Theme Park Entry to all four theme parks, every day, in a replacement of the Extra Magic Hours Program. - Epcot will get a new exhibit in February, as the new "The Soul of Jazz: An American Adventure." was announced. It will be based on the Disney-Pixar movie Soul. - Also at Epcot, after the breakdown and removal of the Donald Duck animatronic in the Gran Fiesta Tour starring the 3 Caballeros late last year, fans have noticed that all 3 of the animatronics were removed this week and replaced with Cardboard cutouts. I would expect this to be only temporary for maintenance of these animatronics, who predate this attraction by more than 40 years. - Walt Disney World President Jeff Vahle shared two of the first live photos from inside the Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser hotel, now under construction at the resort. - Disney announced that Festival of the Lion King will return to Disney's Animal Kingdom this summer. - Plans are moving ahead for Evermore Orlando Resort on the 1,100-acre site which was former the Villas at Grand Cypress, near Walt Disney world. The completed resort is estimated to have 10,000 rooms. US - Legoland Florida has announced it's building a roof over it's Miniland walk-through attraction. - SeaWorld San Diego has debuted "Sesame Street Parade of Lights Drive-Thru" on Friday through Sunday evenings in mid January. And from February 6th it will re-open to day guests as a zoo, with select animal exhibits and shows but no rides in operation. - ICON Park, on International Drive in Orlando, hosted a groundbreaking ceremony earlier in the month for the ICON Park Slingshot and the 430 feet tall ICON Park Drop Tower. Japan - Universal Studios Japan has postponed the grand opening of its Super Nintendo World land indefinitely, due to the proliferation of Covid cases around Osaka. It was due to open on the 4th of February, and continues to be in soft opening. International - Specifcations for Falcon's Flight, the flagship attraction for the new Six Flags Qiddiya park that is now scheduled to open in 2023. The Falcon’s Flight "will travel across approximately 4km, feature a vertical cliff dive maneuver into a 160m-deep valley using magnetic motor acceleration (LSM technology), and achieve unprecedented speeds of 250+ km/h," -Universal Studios Beijing has announced it's major construction is complete, and is on track to open this year. - Disneyland Paris has postponed its planned reopening due to the persistence of new Covid cases in Europe. It's now targetting an April 2 reopening. - Bollywood Parks Dubai will reopen to guests on January 21 and the park has added nine new rides, led by the world's tallest swing ride.

This month's news: • In American theme parks it’s really been a story of two coasts. California has accepted the worsening Covid situation over the last month while Florida has continued to ignore the fact that anything is happening. • In southern California, a new Regional Stay Home came into effect, as ICU capacity in the 11-county region has dropped below the prescribed 15 percent. This spelled the end of numerous planned Christmas events including the Taste of Knotts Merry Farm and the Holidays at Legoland event at Legoland California. • Disney has respond to the stay at home order by moving one of its famous food offerings. The iconic Disneyland hand-dipped corn dog is now on the menu at the Magic Kingdom's Sleepy Hollow. • Disneyland did share a preview of its newly redesigned Snow White ride in Fantasyland, which will be renamed Snow White’s Enchanted Wish. • In Florida, all the resorts have increased capacity again, with universal Orlando having 4 days over the Christmas break where they reached full capacity. • They also did a vehicle reveal for their up coming Velocicoaster. • They also opened Universal's Endless Summer Resort - Dockside Inn and Suites, adding 2,050 budget-priced guest rooms for visitors to the resort. • At Epcot they’ve opened the new fountain and entrance plaza. • They installed the massive new platforms that will help stage the upcoming Harmonious nighttime show on World Showcase Lagoon. • The woman who started the Ratatouille musical on TikTok was flown from New York to get a sneak peek at the new Ratatouille ride. • And they announced the "Taste of Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival" will run from March 3, 2021 through July 5. • In general WDW news, Disney's Blizzard Beach water park will reopen to guests for the 2021 season on March 7. • Outside the US is also a mixed bag, with Europe largely closed as the second wave hits hard over there. Efteling was the biggest park to close in December as most of the others had already closed. • In Japan, Tokyo Disney has announced its pricing will increase on weekends and holidays from March 20th. • Probably the most exciting theme park news for this month was from Universal Studios Japan, where we got our first official glimpse inside Super Nintendo World with a video hosted by the creator of Mario Shigeru Miyamoto. The video was packed with insane details of this much anticipated land, and is very much worth watching. • The land is also in a soft opening phase, where annual pass holders can preview the land, with strict rules around the distribution of media from the land. The official opening date of the land is February 4th, 2021.