Theme Park News Updates: Recent Episodes

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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.

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• 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.

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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.

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• 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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• 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.

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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.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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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.

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- 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.

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• 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.

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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.

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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 .

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• 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.

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• 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.

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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.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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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!

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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.

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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.

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• 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.

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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

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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%.

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•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

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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•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.

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•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.

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

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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

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Mentions this Month

TDR Explorer and the TDRNow Podcast:

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Podcast: https://tdrexplorer.com/podcast/

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Twitter: https://twitter.com/tdrexplorer

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Orlando ParkStop:

Website: https://orlandoparkstop.com/

Podcast: https://orlandoparkstop.com/category/news/podcast/

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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.

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• 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.

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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.

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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.

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• Early in the month, theme parks in the UK joined their European neighbours in closing down as another wave of Coronavirus hit. Some have simply closed early for their winter off season, while others hope to reopen for modified Christmas events. In Europe, Disneyland Paris resort has officially closed until after Christmas.

• In California, 8 mayors including the mayor of Anaheim have joined forces to push Governor Neeson to reopen theme parks. Unfortunately during the month Conditions in the state have gotten worse, with several counties moving back a tier in the states threat system. In a rare bit of good news, Buena Vista street has reopened as a shopping and dining district. Although Disney did reintroduce parking fees at Disneyland resort to coincide with the opening.

• Knowing that their parks won’t reopen this year both Disney and Universal have beefed up their out of park offerings. Disneyland has started selling Spiderbots from the New Avengers Campus ride that they have been unable to open. They are also bringing out their famous Corndog to Downtown Disney, while Universal Studios Hollywood has wheeled out their biggest and most profitable gun, Butterbeer.

• D23 Fantastic Worlds Celebration online event was this month and along with that we got more of a look at some future projects for WDW. We saw more details on Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and saw yet mor footage of the ride vehicles for the up coming Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind coaster.

• WDW has also announced that park hoping is coming back in January. But not as we know it. Guests will still have to make a reservation at their first park, and will only be able to hop after 2 pm.

• WDW also announced an agreement with train company Brightline to have a train line connect Orlando International Airport with Disney Springs. There are many steps before this plan is put into action, so it will be years away but still a positive step.

• The Walt Disney Company has also announced that it will be laying off another 4000 workers.

• In Hong Kong, the new revamped central castle has opened this month for its 15th anniversary. The new castle has been dubbed the Castle of magical dreams.

• Several Holiday events have started this month, with Sea World Orlando bring out the Rudolph characters, and Knotts Berry Farm starting their taste of Merry Farm food festival. The most innovative is definitely Six Flags Magic Mountain who reopened their doors for the first time since March with a Holiday in the Park Drive-thru Experience. Guest drive through the park witness various lights and projection mapping displays.

• We saw POV videos for Iron Gwazi at Busch Gardens Tampa, and a virtual POV for Seaworlds up coming Ice Breaker.

• Possibly the most surprising news for the month was the announcement from Joe Rohde that he is retiring. Rohde is one of the most prominent of the modern batch of Imagineers having been lead designer on Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Pandora the world of avatar during his 40 years with Imagineering. He stated that he didn’t want to stay to retire in the middle of another huge project, and if he took on completing another by the end he would be truely old.

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• Walt Disney World is making it easier to get into the virtual queue. From Next week the virtual queue will open at 7am, and you won’t have to be in the park for this initial release. However you’ll still need to physically inside the park for the second release at 2pm. They also increased the rides capacity by adding a plexiglass divider On the ride vehicles.

• The majority of large theme parks across Europe have been ordered to close in the next week. Parks in Belgium, Italy, France and Germany. This includes Disneyland Paris resort and Europa Park.

• The Disneyland Resort announced that it will reopen the Buena Vista Street land in Disney California Adventure, starting next month, as a shopping and dining district.

• Knott’s Berry Farm will continue their partial operations with Knott's Taste of Merry Farm, running select dates from November 20 through January 3rd.

• Universal Orlando has run its lagoon show Universal's Cinematic Celebration for the first time since the pandemic closed the parks last March.

• They have also announced their first maze for Halloween Horror Nights 2021, Puppet Theater: Captive Audience, which was due to appear in this years cancelled event.

• Walt Disney World Resort has announced it is refreshing its entrance archways around the resort.

• Comcast have announced that they expect Universal parks to return to profit next year, regardless of an 80% drop in quarterly profits year on year. This is an improvement from the 94% drop in the previous quarter.

• Disney World’s Disney Springs is adding a new donut shop called Everglazed Donuts & Cold Brew

• Efteling’s Director Coen Bertens has announced he will step down from his role on February 1, 2021.

• Tokyo Disney announced it had also had an 83% drop in profits, but had seen a 14% increase in spending per guest.

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Theme Park News goes here, normally.

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• Hong Kong Disneyland has reopened today, but news from the resort is a little mixed. Apparently the company who runs the resort had an option to buy the land which is adjacent to the park, which expired yesterday and the Hong Kong government has declined to extend the option. So at this stage now second park for Hong Kong.

• The Tokyo Disney Resort announced it will open its new Tokyo Disneyland attractions on September 28th. The expansion — which includes the Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast trackless dark ride, The Happy Ride with Baymax spinner ride, and the Minnie's Style Studio meet and greet location is the largest on Tokyo Disneyland history.

• Legoland in California has announced another new hard ticket event called Halloween in Miniland, which will run Friday’s through Sundays for October.

• Busch Gardens Williamsburg is hosting its own Halloween event, Busch Gardens Halloween Harvest in October.

• Universal Orlando is expanding its Halloween offering, continuing to offer day guests the ability to tour the two HHN houses they were testing last week, and adding Trick or Treating for younger guests at Islands of Adventure.

• Toothsome Chocolate Emporium at Universal Orlando has added a new Robot Dog called Latte to their family of characters.

• A maintenance worker has fallen to his death from about half way up the Orlando Star Flyer. The giant swing ride has closed pending an investigation by the Sheriff’s Office and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

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• Walt Disney World’s Water parks will not reopen this year. Disney World posted to its website that it plans to open either Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon on March 7, 2021.

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• Idaho's Silverwood Theme Park announced its new-for-2021 coaster, Stunt Pilot, RMC Raptor single rail coaster.

• Disney has released concept art of the new entrance for the Polynesian Village resort which will reopen next summer

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Follow Courtney on all the things because she is literally the best! Thank you so much for guest hosting this week's Theme Park News in a Minute!

This week's Theme Park News:

• Walt Disney World Resort confirmed the cancellation of this year's Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at the Magic Kingdom and the Candlelight Processional at Epcot, this week. The resort will still be celebrating the holidays with Santa Claus and Christmas character cavalcades appearing in all 4 parks from November 6th.

• Walt Disney World has announced that the Build your own lightsaber experience at Savi's Workshop will return September 20 inside Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge at Disney's Hollywood Studios

• America’s largest Amusement industry Expo, IAAPA Expo, was officially cancelled this week. It was scheduled to be in Orlando this November.

• Universal Orlando had both theme parks and Volcano Bay hit capacity over the labour day weekend for the first time since reopening. • Tokyo Disney Resort has announced that it will start charging ¥20 (about 20 cents US) for plastic bags at its parks.

• Cedar Point kicked off a new family friendly Halloween event Tricks and Treats Fall Fest this week, which runs weekends through to November 1st.

• The State of California lowered Orange County’s pandemic restrictions, which allows for the likes of Downtown Disney and Knotts Berry Farm to reopen indoor dining at 25% capacity.

• At Wuxi Sunac Land in China last weekend, the Mack Rides “Blue Fire” coaster Steam Racers had a misfired launch which exactly matched the force required to reach the top of the initial hill, without going over or rolling back. It was reported that riders were stuck on the banked turn at the top of the hill for approximately an hour before the coaster train was brought back down and the riders were able to disembark.

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• Walt Disney World has delayed the return of Disney's Polynesian Village Resort Until 2021. Disney said that it will renovate guest rooms with Moana as an inspiration.

• More table service restaurants are opening again at Walt Disney World, with Cinderella’s Royal Table at the Magic Kingdom, which returns on September 24.

• Construction has gone vertical on Disney's second installation of the Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway, which will go into Disneyland's Toontown, scheduled to open in 2023.

• Walt Disney World is offering new 3 new hotel-stay deals for their fall season.

• Movie Park in Germany have teased new details of their upcoming 2021 Indoor coaster, stating it will be “Europe’s first double launch indoor coaster” and “Germany’s first multi-directional roller coaster”.

• Busch Gardens Tampa and Sea World San Antonio is going to host an Oktoberfest style Bier festival this month.

• Busch Gardens Williamsburg launched a new limited-capacity special event called the 'Taste's of Busch Gardens' on Thursday this week.

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All the Theme Park News that I can fit in a minute.   • Universal Orlando has had Velociraptor statue arrive for it’s still-unannounced Jurassic World roller coaster this week. • Disney has announced that it will allow all guests to wear costumes to the Magic Kingdom during regular operating hours from September 15 through Halloween, October 31. • Disneyland has removed Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah from their music loop. • The Florida government is trying to increase public confidence in its theme parks by suggesting the might soon be increasing capacity limits for the major parks. • Imagineers this week installed the Quinjet that will be part of the Avengers campus at Disney California Adventure. • Sea World San Diego is partly re opening with hard ticket event Zoo Days: Bayside BBQ & Brews which will run Fridays through Sundays, plus Labor Day, from 11am to 7pm. • Legoland New York shared a first look at animated on-ride video and images from its centerpiece attraction, Lego Factory Adventure.  • SeaWorld San Antonio announced that it will switch to year-round operation for 2021, doing away with the short off season that it has had in January and February for the past decade. • Six Flags Discovery Kingdom President Don McCoy is moving south to become the new park president at Six Flags Magic Mountain

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• Epcot has brought back it’s iconic entrance foundation sculpture. The new sculpture is modeled on the original from 1982.
• Officials with the culture and tourism management commission of Beijing's Tongzhou District have said that Universal Studios Beijing will open for trial operations in the spring of 2021.
• WDW is cutting park hours for their fall schedule, in The expectation that it will be even quieter than normal in coming months.
• WDW is also discounting day tickets for Florida residents with a new ticket called the Disney Magic Flex pass.
• Busch Gardens Tampa has confirmed its hard-ticket Halloween scare event, Howl-O-Scream. The event will be modified with no houses, and a focus on open air scare zones and live performances.
• Genting Singapore, who own Universal Studios Singapore, have stated that their Super Nintendo World and Minion Park developments are on hold.
• The Actors’ Equity Association said that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Walt Disney World Resort after Disney agreed to provide Covid-19 testing for cast members at the resort. This should mean the return of several live performances to WDW
• A new theme park related show is coming to Disney + in September. Magic of Disney’s Animal Kingdom is produced by National Geographic.

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This week's news:

• An accidental leak from a web designer has given further details on Universal Studios Japan’s Super Nintendo World. It included photos of the Mario Kart ride vehicle, and involvement from Toad who is the owner of the restaurant and the leader of the Yoshi ride, as Captain Toad

• Splash Mountain in Magic Kingdom sufferer a log sinking this week, which guests shared on Twitter.

• The Walt Disney Company today reported that it took an approximately $3.5 billion hit on operating income in its theme park segment from Covid-19 in the three months ending June 30

• Cedar Fair posted their financials for the last quarter this week, with revenue down 98% compared to the same quarter last year. They also announced that Carowinds, Kings Dominion, California's Great America and Valleyfair will not reopen for the 2020 season

• Knott's Berry Farm has canceled its Knott's Scary Farm after-hours Halloween event for the 2020

• At Walt Disney World, Disney has replaced the Beauty and the Beast - Live on Stage production with The Disney Society Orchestra and Friends, a musical show with some character dancing

• Universal Orlando is aggressively targeting the local market by introducing a buy a day get a year promotion for Florida residents.

• The Nickelodeon Universe theme park which is inside the mall of America will reopen to guests starting next week.

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This week's news:

• Universal Orlando has cancelled this year’s Halloween Horror nights. They have opened a tribute store to the event in the park this week, but it’s just a tribute.

• Disneyland have cancelled their Halloween party , the oggie boogie bash, as well.

• Other California theme parks are getting creative with their inability to open, with Legoland California opening part of their mini land and knotts berry farm extending their food festivals.

• Germany's Europa Park today opened its new Pirates in Batavia ride, replacing the former version that was destroyed in a 2018 fire

• In financial reporting this week both Six Flags and Universal reported dismal numbers for the second quarter of 2020, with the chains down 96% and 94% compared to the same quarter last year.

• Universal has stated that due to this the Development of Universal Orlando’s new Epic Universe theme park remains paused

• The Walt Disney World Resort is delaying the reopening of a few of its on-site hotels. Including Art of Animation, beach club and the boardwalk.

• Busch Gardens Williamsburg is returning August 5th with a Hard-Ticket Event called Coasters and Craft Brews

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• The 2019 Theme Park attendance was announced this week, with most parks staying stable, except for Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in China and Islands of Adventure who had solid increases.

• universal studios Beijing is on track with construction, which means a likely opening in the first half of 2021, according to China Daily.

• Rumour has it that a Disney cast memo has stated that at Stitch's Great Escape at Magic Kingdom, Primeval Whirl and Rivers of Light at Animal Kingdom are permanently closed.

• Cedar point has introduced a new ride reservation system this week. Cedar Point is now using an "Access Pass" system for Millennium Force, Maverick, Steel Vengeance, and - when it reopens - Top Thrill Dragster

• Legoland florida is now requiring the use of masks inside any indoor facility.

• Hong Kong Disneyland has reclosed this week, although it’s expected to be a short closer due to specific outbreak detected.

• Fuji-Q highlands in Japan has asked for guests to refrain from screaming with the super cute Japanese slogan “scream inside your heart”.

• Water coaster Cheetah Chase has opened at Holiday World & Splashin' Safari

• Another wAter ride, Mystic River Falls has Soft-Opened at Silver Dollar City

• Knotts berry farm are opening without rides and shows for the Knott's Taste of Calico food festival for the next two weekends

• Dollywood has stopped requiring guests have advanced reservations for the park.

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• Tokyo Disney has reopened this week, with one noticeable difference. The Haunted Mansion has lost it’s pre-show. That means no stretching room.

• Japanese newspaper Nikkei is reporting that Universal Studios Japan has decided to postpone the opening of Super Nintendo World indefinitely. 

• Disney has suspended the Disney college program for the remainder of the year.

• The Bourne Stuntacular Debuted at Universal Studios Florida this week, and universal shared a sneak peek video of the attraction.

• Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey, is delaying the opening of their Single rail coaster Jersey Devil until 2021.

• Kings island released a POV video of their upcoming giga coaster Orion.

• Hersheypark gave opened their new coaster Candymonium yesterday after media previews this week.

• Annual passholders at Walt Disney World snapped up all available spots for the resort's preview days on June 9th and 10th within minutes of them becoming available this week.

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• Splash Mountain is officially being rethemed to Princess and the Frog at both Disneyland and WDW. Disney announced the change, which has been in development for a year, early due to Controversy around the incredibly racist movie Song of the South which the original ride is based upon. As it’s still with Imagineering, there is no date for when work will start on this re-imagining.

• Disneyland has indefinitely postponed their reopening plans. The Californian government has said that it won’t decide on any theme park in openings until July 4th. Disney said this didn’t leave sufficient time for their planned July 17 opening.

• Tokyo Disney has announced July 1st as its opening date. Disneyland Paris has announced they will reopen July 15th

• The UK government has stated that their parks are allowed to reopen from July 4th.

• Australia’s first theme park to reopen, Sea World reopened today!

• WDWs new Park Pass Reservation system opened this week, with heavy access and technical glitches.

• Disney has also stated they have "paused” the planned rewrite and refurbishment of Epcot's iconic Spaceship Earth attraction.

• In the Netherlands, Efteling Opens Its New Family Coaster, Max & Moritz.

• The US state of Virginia has cleared the way for it’s theme parks, Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens Williamsburg to reopen, but have capped parks to 1000 people.

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• The Bourne Stuntacular Has started technical rehearsals at Universal Orlando.

• Walt Disney World have cancelled the Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party in its entirety. They have confirmed a modified version of Epcot’s Food and wine festival will still run.

• Hong Kong Disneyland Reopened yesterday

• Australia’s big theme parks are reopening. First Sea World on June 26, Movie World on July 15th and Dreamworld sometime before September. The parks will be opening at half capacity.

• Hersheypark is going to reOpen with their brand new B &M hyper coaster Candymonium on July 3.

• California has had a state wide mandatory mask order, which trumps the local Orange County weakening of restrictions that were effecting Disneyland and it’s surrounding areas.

• The original Wizarding World of Harry Potter land in Universal Orlando is celebrating it’s 10th anniversary this week.

• Tivoli in Denmark reopened this week.

• Power Park in Finland has started testing their new Gerstlauer coaster.

• Se World SAN Antonio appears to be planning at least 2 new rides, with one likely to be a Mack Power Splash.

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• Disneyland theme park is reopening on it’s 65th anniversary, July 17th. The resort is using a staged approach to reopening with the Downtown Disney opening on July 9th and two of the 3 reiterated hotels opening July 23rd

• Universal Hollywood and Knotts Berry farm both opened their external shopping districts this week

• Lotte World in South Korea closed for a day of disinfecting after a visitor tested positive for Coronavirus

• Universal Studios Japan re opened this week, which has given us some great new images of the upcoming Super Nintendo World.

• Shanghai Disneyland has started vertical construction of its upcoming Zootopia-themed land this week

• The two owning companies for Australia’s biggest theme parks have teamed up to submit Reopening plans to the Queensland government. Current restrictions allow them to reopen, but limit them to only 100 in the park which would not be financially viable.

• Cedar Fair have announced opening dates for some of their parks: Kansas City’s Worlds of Fun will reopen to its pass holders on June 22. Kings Island will reopen on July 2, followed by Cedar Point one week later - on July 9.

• Movie land park in Italy is set to reopen today.

• Sea world Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa Bay have reopened yesterday.

• Holiday World in the US has added a new policy where guests can get a pass to return on an additional day if weather causes the closer of an attraction for more than 2 hours.

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• Black Lives Matter.

• Universal Studios Orlando's theme parks have re-opened this week.

• Other Reopenings this week include Europa Park and Efteling

• Efteling have also announced their new Max & Moritz will debut on June 20.

• Parks that have announce their opening this week include Universal Studios Japan Busch Gardens Tampa, Hersheypark, Kentucky Kingdom, Silver Dollar City, Sea World San Diego and Legoland California.

• The NBA is going to implement a long speculated plan to finish it's season at the Walt Disney World resort.

• Univesal Studios Beijing has revealed the lineup for their CityWalk Shopping and entertainment district.

• Sea World and Busch Gardens have announced details of their advanced reservation system

• King's Island is suing the state of ohio for the right to re-open

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This week's news:

• Walt Disney World is reopening it’s theme parks. Magic Kingdom and Disney's Animal Kingdom will reopen on Saturday, July 11, while Epcot and Disney's Hollywood Studios will reopen on Wednesday July 15, with soft opening events for select audiences before theN.

• Sea World Orlando has put forward its reopening plan as well, with a plan to reopen on June 11th.

• There was an amazing photo taken this week of the state of Super Nintendo World Japan! Looks amazing!!

• Six Flags today announced that the first of its parks Frontier City park in Oklahoma City will reopen on June 5. It’ll be first to utilise the new chain wide safety protocols including IR Temperature checks and contactless bag searches.

• Cedar Fair announced an update of its parks' mobile apps to support new admission procedures. This includes the ability to reserve entry times and complete the health survey required to enter the parks.

• Former Fox World Park At resorts world Genting in Malaysia has been Delayed to Late 2021.

• The Themed Entertainment Association today canceled its rescheduled 26th annual Thea Awards ceremony and TEA Summit for 2020 and announced that its Thea Case Studies sessions from the summit would move online.

• Legoland Florida has gotten approval from the state of Florida for its reopening plan, so the resort will resume welcoming guests on June 1

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This week's news:

• Disney Springs has partially re-opened in Florida, with mixed success. A lot of talk this week about how signage for queue has been done, as Disney appear to be using a "Don't Stand Here" approach, as opposed to universal using a "Stand here" approach.

• Universal Orlando has put forward a plan to their county, to re-open their theme parks to the public on June 5th. The Orange County Economic Recovery Task Force has requested plans from all major theme park chains in the region. They uniamously approved the plan, which includes a testing periods on June 1st for cast members, and June 3rd and 4th for invited guests and annual pass holders.

• In Europe, Efteling has re-opened, with firm rules around distancing, but no requirement for wearing masks.

• This years IAAPA Expo Asia has been announced as a virtual event , which will run on July 28th to the 30th.

• Current WDW President Josh D'Amaro has been named as Bob Chapek's replacement as the hea d of the park, experiences and products division of the Walt Disney company.

• Village Roadshow, who owns and operates Movie World and Sea World in Australia, has entered into exclusive takeover talks with a private Equity company BGH Capital. Interestingly though, there specific terms in the offer relating to raising the price if the theme parks run by the chain are able to re-open before the deal is finalized.

• Europa Park gave a video of the making of their new Piraten in Batavia ride.

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• Shanghai Disneyland successfully opened this week to many face masks and much social distancing.

• Universal Orlando’s Citywalk also opened selected restaurant and shops yesterday.

• Holiday World have announced that they will have all rides with virtual queues when the park reopens on June 14

• Knott's Berry Farm and Cedar Point have Postponed their Anniversary Celebrations until next year.

• Some of Europe’s biggest theme parks have announced their reopening with Europa Park opening on May 29th and Efteling opening in May 20th

• It’s rumoured the wdw might open reservations for their hotels in the coming weeks, with July 1st being the suggested date.

• Six Flags has introduced its new system for visitors to make reservations to visit the company's amusement parks. They said that pass holders will get first option to book and that people will able to add themselves to a wait list for booked out days. No announcement yet on when parks will reopen 

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• Shanghai Disneyland is set to re-open on Monday May 11th! The first Disney park to survive the Coronavirus. The park closed in January along side Hong Kong Disneyland. They've been requested to allow no more than 30% of their normal capacity, but Disney has stated the initial days will be even lower. All guests and cast members will be required to wear masks, excluding Face characters, however they will only be accessible "from a distance".

• Disney Springs at Walt Disney World is going to start a phased re-opening starting May 20th. Select retail and dining locations will be opened, and there will be new safety measures in place for capacity as well as the use of face coverings.

• Universal Orlando's CityWalk may also be in the process of re-opening with reports of staff being told there are potential re-openings as early as next week.

• Hersheypark has had it's first test run of it's new coaster Candymonium this week. The new B&M Hypercoster is the anchor for their new entrance plaza, planned to open this year.

• The Cedar Fair park reported their first quarter earnings, which showed that Knott's Berry Farm had a 19 percent increase in attendance, prior to the coronovirus closures.

• It's been stated that when Six Flags theme parks re-open from this current shutdown, they will require guests to make advanced reservations to visit the park, so that they can limit visitation numbers.

• A rumoured new 100 million dollar theme park in Iowa called Lost Island theme park has continued construction during this pandemic, with site owners day it wouldn't be wise to stop things now for the planned 2022 project.

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This week's Theme Park News is very very different

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• The avengers will assemble at Disney’s California Adventure on July 18th which was announced as the opening day for their new Avengers Campus and the new dark ride named Web Slingers: a Spider-Man Adventure.

• Disneyland resort is closing from tomorrow 14th March through to the end of the month due to the Coronavirus, following instructions from the California Governor.

• Walt Disney World and Disneyland Paris will close their parks at the end of Sunday. Disney has also suspended their Cruise Line.

• Universal Hollywood is closing from the 14th through to the 28th of March. This come after they postponed their Peacock Live Hard Ticket event which was meant to occur on 28th and 29th of March.

• Universal Orlando is closing at the close of business of Sunday as well.

• Tokyo Disney and Universal Japan have extended their closures from the Coronavirus until at least early April.

• In contrast, Disneyland Shanghai Resort has started a phased reopening, with the hotel and select shopping and dining venues opening this week.

• Busch Gardens much anticipated retracted coaster Iron Gwazi has had its new track completed this week.

• Sea World San Diego’s Emperor coaster has had its first test run this week.

• Movie producer Jason Blum of Blumhouse has raised the possibility of a future Halloween Horror Nights Movie being developed.

• Universal Orlando Announced a limited time 2 night for the price of one deal for this years HHN.

• Knott's Berry Farm hosted a media event for their up coming Boysenberry Festival, which was scheduled to start March 20th, but will likely be postponed.

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• Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway has been a Runaway success. With rave reviews and up to 300 minute estimated queues.

• The Coronavirus continues to impact the global theme park industry with Legoland and Universal Studios in Japan closing for the recommended 2 week period. In the US, no parks have closed but attendance has declined, which has resulted in increasing availability of boarding groups for Rise of the Resistance.

• Disney California Adventure opened their Food and wine festival this week.

• Magic Kingdom has continued its run with break downs on the Haunted Mansion and the People Mover this week.

• There were previews of Universal’s secret life of pets ride and Disney’s new Cirque du Soleil show Drawn to Life this week.

• Europe’s largest indoor theme park opened in Russia this week. Dream Island is no longer Dreamworks themed but features attractions from Hotel Transylvania, TMNT and Garfield - although many of these are yet to open.

• Europa Park have Announced more pirates for the upcoming season with The Departure to Batavia 4D Movie to open along with the Pirates in Batavia dark ride.

• Movie Park in Germany has announced its adding 3 new rides for its upcoming season. Two rethemed kids rides and a laser tag replacement of their Walking Dead attraction.

• Dollywood has reportedly bought land surrounding the Tennessee theme park.

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• Disney has a new CEO, with Bob Chapek filling the role vacated by Bob Iger. No word yet on whether a 3rd Bob will fills Bob's role, now that Bob is replacing Bob.

• The Tokyo Disney resort is closing because of Coronavirus fears. It's announced it will be closed from February 29 through March 15.

• It was reported that there has been an incident on Magic Kingdom's Jungle Cruise, where a ride boat sank. It sank about a foot, as the water in this ride isn't actually very deep.

• Legoland California has a new General Manager, with Australian Kurt Stocks taking the role. Kurt was previously the General Manager of Legoland Malaysia.

• Disney's Hollywood Studios is going to start hosting Mickey Mouse cartoons in the reimagined Mickey Shorts Theater, from March 4th.

• Walt Disney World have added a new variation of the Dining Plan, with the Disney Dining Plan Plus, which has two table or quick service meals a day.

• The Magic Happens parade has opened at Disneyland Resort.'/.

• DisneyWorld have announce the dates for their Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween part, running on 36 date from August 13th.

• Attendance and revenue up at SeaWorld Theme Parks for 2019, up 0.2 percent.

• Universal Orlando released images of their new Dockside Inn and Suites, which open next month.

• Sea World San Diego gave a media preview of their upcoming B&M floorless dive coaster, Emperor.

• King's Island have released footage of their first test run of Orion, their new B&M Gigacoaster.

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• Universal Studios Hollywood has confirmed the closure of its Walking Dead attraction on March 4th.they also released the theme for its first Halloween Horror Nights maze of 2020 as the Walking Dead.

• Magic Kingdom’s Cinderella castle getting a slight touch up later this year, with concept art for a new slightly darker colour scheme released this week.

• Universal launched a new ‘Let Yourself Woah" campaign staring "Saturday Night Live" cast member Kenan Thompson.

• Cedar Fair reported record attendance at its theme parks in 2019 up over last year by 5 percent.

• Screamscape have reported that Universal is working on a secret project that will be connected to Epic Universe in Orlando. Think along the lines of Star Wars Galactic Star Cruiser... but for Harry Potter.

• The Apex Parks group has closed 4 of their properties including 2 amusement parks Indiana Beach and Fantasy Island

• Turkey’s Wonderland Eurasia (formerly called Ankapark) is now closed for good after failing to attract enough business

• The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash! at Universal Hollywood will open to the public on March 27.

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• Disney is coming for even more of your money, with price increases for day tickets at Disneyland resort and annual passes at Walt Disney World.

• Six Flags has announced that all 26 of their parks and attractions have been designated "Certified Autism Centers" by the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards.

• Universal is giving away 8 trips to Japan in a promotional stunt for Super Nintendo World at Grand central station in New York on February 19th.

• Universal Hollywood have dropped a hint on the opening of their new Secret Life of Pets Ride, saying it will be open for their Peacock Live after hours event on March 28th.

• They also announced more details for their Top chef event this week and

• It’s been reported that the next maintenance closure of their Jurassic World Ride will see the inclusion of the Indominous Rex.

• Dreamworld Australia is retiring the Rocky Hollow Log Ride.

• Disneyland had a backstage media preview of the Magic Happens parade.

• New restaurant called Asian Street treats has opened at Disneyland resorts downtown Disney.

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• Something fishy is coming to Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Hollywood, with the previously exclusive Fishy Green Ale arriving from Orlando.

• WDW has added a new paid PhotoPass option, where you can book a photographer for a private session. Sessions are booked at 20 minute increments at a cost of $50.

• Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway in Hollywood Studios has been turn over to the park operations team to start training, a month our from its official opening date. They also installed a new marquee for the ride this week, and they have opened up FastPasses for March 4th onwards.

• Tokyo Disney had a bad news week, where it was announced revenue was down, ticket prices are going up and the Tokyo DisneySea expansion, original planned for 2022, has been pushed back a year until 2023. This won't effect the expansion of Tokyo Disneyland, which is still on track to open April 15th.

• The American Disney parks have had a good quarter with attendance up 2 percent, it was revealed in Disney's Earnings Report. The report also mentioned that Disney expects the two Chinese parks to be closed for 2 months with an estimated net loss $280 million in operating income.

• Reportedly Warner Bros Entertainment is teaming up with Seibu Holdings to build a Harry Potter themed attraction in Tokyo by Spring 2023, on the side of the Toshimaen amusement park. Plans have not been finalized, but the rumours are is that it's going to be similar to the Warner Bros Studio Tour in London.

• Soarin' Over California is coming back to Disney California Adventure, for another limited run.

• The track has been completed and the first train run on California's first floorless dive coaster - Emperor at SeaWorld San Diego.

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• Tokyo Disney have announced a new vacation package where children between 7 and 12 get to work a shift as a Gondalier at DisneySea's Mediterranean Harbor.

• Galaxy's Edge became the first theme park land to win a Grammy this week, with John Williams picking up the Best Instrumental Composition gong for "Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge Symphonic Suite".

• Shanghai and Hong Kong Disneyland both closed this week over fears around the novel Coronavirus outbreak. It is unclear when the resorts will re-open. Other theme parks have closed around China as well, including Ocean Park.

• Universal Orlando kick's off their Mardi Gras celebrations this Saturday. It's the 25th year of the event, and this year they have opened a Tribute Store.

• We've seen a sneak peak at The Happy Ride with Baymax, which is opening as part of the Tokyo Disneyland expansion on April 15th. The new attraction is the same ride system as Alien Swirling Saucers at WDW.

• Disneyland has announced a new Star Wars Nite for its Disneyland After Dark series for August 27, the first ngith of Star Wars Celebration.

• They have also teased a flying Spiderman ahead of their Avengers Campus coming to California Adventure.

• Knott's Berry Farm have kicked off their annual Peanuts Celebration this week. The event runs weekends and selected days through til March 1st.

• Sea World San Antonio have released a POV of their upcoming new Coaster, the Texas Stingray.

• Disney is bring a Preview for the Disney Pixar movie Onward to the US Parks in February.

• Rumours are swirling about Walt Disney World considering adding a Paid FastPass option, similar to the MaxPass at Disneyland, in the coming months.

• Another Rumour is that Epcot's Space 220 restaurant will open on March 30th.

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• Disneyland gave a sneak Peek of their Magic Happens parade which features 9 new floats including one themed to the Sword and the Stone. It has not been confirmed whether it will feature the burly guest 'Sam' who allegedly pulled Excalibur from Disneyland's stone earlier this month.

• Disney World has added the Millennium Falcon to FastPass+. It’s open for visits on and after February 19, subject to the normal 30 and 60 limitations.

• Universal Hollywood officially announced that The Secret life of pets - off the leash! Will open in spring.

• Comcast’s CEO has confirmed in an Earnings Call that Epic Universe will be contain Orlando’s version of Super Nintendo World 

• Ferrari World Abu Dhabi has finally announced the Mission Ferrari roller coaster, as well as a new family zone, a walking experience and zip line.

• An official update from Virgin Trains stated that talks with Disney had reached a rather advanced state now”, to put a station on or near the Walt Disney World property. 

• Sea World Orlando has media preview of their 2020 quadruple launch coaster Ice Breaker. They also gave a food and concert details of the Seven Seas food festival running from February to May.

• Efteling has completed the track on their upcoming Max and Moritz family coaster

• The imagineers behind Galaxy’s Edge have won a Lumiere award for Best Location Based Entertainment.

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• Universal Studios Japan have release a hype video for Super Nintendo World, as if we weren’t hyped enough already. The music video featured Galantis and Charlie XCX. We also saw potential 4 people ride vehicles for the Mario Kart ride and got our first look at Power-up wristbands.

• Disneyland’s version of Rise of the Resistance opens today, using the same boarding group system that has been used at Hollywood Studios.

• Epcot has started previews for a couple attractions coming in the next few weeks,Canada Far and Wide and Beauty and the beast singalong with the latter having its opening schedule released. It will Run 11am-7pm with Impressions de France running 7:30pm-9pm.

• Legoland California unveiled an 8.5 foot tall space raptor from the Lego Movie 2, at what will be the entrance of Lego Movie World, which will open in spring.

• The share price of Six Flags had a dramatic dive this week after they filed a report with the US Securities and Exchange Commission declaring that the company has filed a formal notice of default with Chinese development partner, Riverside.

• Chessington World of Adventure has announced that they will open a new Rainforest area in 2020 that will include three kids rides.

• Disney has shown off the huge Gusteaus Sign which will be outside the upcoming Ratatouille dark ride in Epcot’s World Showcase.

• Ocean Park in Hong Kong has announced its spending 10.6 million yuan to open 7 new scenic spots between 2023 and 2027.

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This week's news:

• It was revealed this week that the Reagle Eagle Smokehouse coming to The American Pavilion of Epcot will be themed to the Muppet Sam Eagle. Keeping alive the dream that World Showcase is a tribute to all nations but mostly America.

• the Theme Park Insider awards wrapped up this week with Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure being named best Park. With Star Wars Rise of the Resistance being another major winner.

• Cast Member Previews have started at Disneyland's version of Star Wars Rise of the Resistance this week.

• Universal Orlando have named their music acts for this years Mardi Gras, which include TLC, the Roots and Diana Ross.

• Six Flags Magic Mountain has finally publicly opened West Coast Racers.

• Southern California residents can visit Disneyland or Disney California Adventure for three days for $199.

• Disney World have Announced their Summer Free Dining Promotions this week, however there is only a 10 day booking window, so you'll have to move fast.  

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• Sea World Australia suffered the loss of beloved 19 year old Polar Bear Liya this week. Liya was the first polar bear to give birth in Australia, giving birth to Henry, who now lives in Canada and more recently Mishka who remains at Sea World.

• at Disneyland’s version of Galaxy’s Edge, play tests of R2D2 have started. However the OCregister have confirmed these are tests only, not a permanent addition.

• Six Flags Chinese development partner appears to be in financial difficulty as a trading halt has been called on the Riverside Investment Group.

• The annual Theme Park Insider awards have started being announced this week, with the first winners being Universal Orlando hotels Cabana Bay and Loews Portofino Bay.

• Knott's Berry Farm is adding a Build-a-Bear shop later this month to be located behind Mrs Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant.

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• Disney theme parks around the world debuted a new “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” overlay to their Star Tours rides. The overlay hits two locations from the movie, the ocean moon of Ensor and Exegol.

• Sea World San Antonio has started running test runs of their 2020 coaster Texas Stingray.

• WDW has quietly purchased an additional 235 acres on the south side of reedy lake.

• Orlando’s M&M World is moving from the Florida Mall to Disney Springs 

• Disneyland Resort announced a summer 2020 opening for its Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure.

• Universal Orlando added an extra night for Halloween Horror Nights on November 1st next year.

• Six Flags Magic Mountain ‘s West Coast Racers opened this week.

• Plopsaland De Panne has released a preview animation of their new Mack Rides Extreme Spinning Coaster coming to the park for the 2021 season.

• Galaxyland indoor theme park in Canada is getting a full park retheme to the toys of Hasbro.

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• Florida’s Orange County has pledged upto 125 million dollars for the extension of Kirkman road for Universals Epic Universe.

• Walt Disney World have opened their newest resort Disney’s Riviera Resort

• Disney released a video previewing Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway.

• SeaWorld San Diego today topped off its upcoming Bolliger & Mabillard dive coaster, Emperor.

• WDW has added brand new bathrooms on the queue for Flight of Passage.

• “The Muppets Present... Great Moments in History” show which recently closed at the Magic Kingdom will return for a seasonal run from December 23 through December 31.

• Universal Hollywood has announced another hard ticket for March next year with the Peacock Live event, for the launch of the Peacock streaming service on March 28th and 29th.

• Efteling released images this week of construction progress of the Max and Moritz dual coaster, which has had it’s foundation laid. They are also producing a making of YouTube series of the ride.

• Two Bus lines that run services from LAX to Disneyland will be discontinuing their lines in 2020, making it even more difficult to get to the resort.

• There’s been a change in procedure for the allocation of boarding groups for Rise of the Resistance. Not only must you be in the park, but also the park must have officially opened to access the virtual queue.

• NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke will retire on August 14, to be replaced by Jeff Shell.

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All the Theme Park News that I can fit in a minute. 

• Disney Springs upcoming Cirque du Soleil show has got an official name Drawn to Life. 

• Universal HOLLYWOOD is having its first food festival. The top chef food and wine festival will be an after hours hard ticket event on the 19th and 20th March next year. 

• Popular Walt Disney world restaurant Beaches and Cream Soda shop is reopening in its new expanded space on Boxing Day. 

• Six Flags Magic Mountain is holding previews for it’s delayed coaster West Coast Racers from December 21st. 

• Cedar Point Announced a new boat ride for its 150th anniversary in 2020. The snake river expedition will be a smuggling adventure where it’s not always smooth sailing. • Efteling has just opened a new 4D movie called Fabula which has been produced by Aardman Animation.

• Disneyland’s new parade Magic Happens has had its first day set as February 28th next year. • Disneyland have also added an Indiana Jones translator into the Play Disney Parks app. 

• Drury Hotels have Announced they are taking over and expanding they Best Western Lake Buena vista bear Disney Springs at Walt Disney World.

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• Rise of the Resistance has opened at Disney’s Hollywood Studios to rave reviews and massive queues. And the opening ceremony did have X-Wings!

• While all the media was at Disney World, we got sneak peeks at a number of up coming attractions including Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, ratatouille, The Beauty and the beast Sinai along and the riveria Resort.

• Opening dates were announced Runaway Railway on 4th of March next year, and that the Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser will open in 2021.

• Also a brand new Duck Tales World Showcase Adventure was Announced!

• Outside WDW, Universal Hollywood is getting its own Toothsome Chocolate emporium.

• Europa Park in Germany opened its rutlantica indoor water park.

• Tokyo Disney Announced the new show Mickey’s Magical Music World will open as part of their Fantasyland expansion on April 15th next year.

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• Disneyland has confirmed the upgrade to Snow White's Scary Adventures, including adding new scenes and effects to the classic attraction.

• Disneyland announced four more night events under the Disneyland After Dark banner, 80s Nite, Sweetheart's Nite, Pixar Nite, and Villains Nite.

• They also announce a brand new entrance to Tomorrowland, as well as a new DVC tower at the Disneyland Hotel.

• Tivoli Gardens new powered coaster Maelkevejen has completed testing, ahead of the scheduled grand opening on December 6.

• Starting today, Jock Lindsey’s Hangar Bar in Disney Springs will be having a Holiday Overlay, until January, featuring Holiday theme food and drinks.

• It appears that WDW has created car-sized drone vehicles which look like x-wings, for the opening night of the Rise of the Resistance ride.

• Disney have completed the track for Magic Kingdom's "TRON Lightcycle / Run" which is set to open late next year or early 2021.

• Disney Fan Club D23 announced it's event for 2020 called Destination D Fantastic Worlds, stealing on of the names Universal Orlando considered for their new park Epic Universe.

• Univestal Orlando announced the character lineup for the Epic Character Rage next February will inlcude Minions, Shrek, Transformers and Blue from Jurassic World.

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• The annual IAAPA Expo kicked off this week in Orlando. Showcasing some of the best new products coming in Themed Entertainment.

• Busch Gardens and SeaWorld have used the event to reveal the coaster cars for their up coming rides, including Iron Gwazi and Texas Stingray

• Legoland New York used the expor to announce a new ride the Lego Factory Adventure Ride which will allow riders to view themselves as Lego Minifigures.

• The Thea Awards were also presented at the IAAPA expo, with winners including Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi, Hagrid's Magical Creatures motorbike adventure, and Popcorn's Revenge.

• Star Wars Galaxy's Edge won two awards at the Thea Awards, and also picked up a Grammy Nomination for the theme song of the new land, composed by John Williams.

• Disney has shown off rehearsals for the new Cirque Du Soleil show coming to Disney Springs.

• The menu's have been release for Epcot's International Festival of the Holidays, which starts next week including a Sushi Tree in Japan.

• Knott's Berry Farm have announced that Triotech have been working with former Imagineer Rolly Crump on the re-invention of Knott's Bear-y Tales, who was instrumental in the building of the original version of the ride.

• The Christmas events have started at Universal Orlando, the celebrations include special treats, the Macy's day parade, and the Magic of Christmas at Hogwarts Castle. Events run until January 5th.

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• Disney+ debuted in the US this week, with one of the highlights being the documentary "The Imagineering Story"

• Legoland California is closing it's Star Wars Miniland on January 6th of next year.

• The second half of Universal's Endless Summer Resort, the Dockside Inn and Suites, will open on March 17th next year.

• A video from Coaster Studios gave us a look at a new kind of coaster from S&S, called an Axis coaster. The coaster has seats floating above the track, attached to arm which allows the seats rotate 360 degrees.

• Apparently Sea World San Diego has filed paperwork to allow for a night time Drone show, starting next Februrary, which could used up to 500 drones.

• Disneyland has filed permits for an upgrade to the  Snow White Scary Adventures dark ride, some time in 2020.

• Disneyland Resort has started it's Christmas celebrations this week, including the new Mickey's Happy Holiday character cavalcade and the World of Color - Season of Light show.

• Walt Disney World has kicked off it's Christmas celebrations this week, with the first Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.

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• Merlin Entertainments have announced they will open their eleventh Legoland theme park in Shanghai sometime after 2023.

• Knott’s berry farm have announced the return of Knott’s Beary Tales as a new 4d interactive dark ride for their 100th Anniversary next year.

• Hersheypark tops out its 2020 coaster, Candymonium, this week.

• Disney’s 4th quarter results showed an increase in spending across the board, but mixed attendance results across the Resorts.

• Walt Disney World has given us a Sneak Peek at the new Minnie’s Wonderful Christmastime Fireworks which will debut tonight at the first Mickey’s very merry Christmas party.

• Epcot has released the menu for the Regal Eagle Smokehouse: Craft Drafts & Barbecue coming to the America pavilion, which includes bbq treats from around the states including North Carolina chopped smoked pork butt. 

• Epcot also announced that Mickey’s meet and greet is moving to the imagination pavilion next year as the Character spot makes way for construction.

• Universal Orlando have announced they dates for next years Halloween Horror Nights this week, just days after this years event finished.

• SeaWorld Orlando is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Sesame Street this week with a two day party of the weekend.

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• Disney has changed the food names in Galaxy’s Edge again, this time compromising between Earth and Batuuan names.

• Americas largest indoor theme park called Nickelodeon Universe has opened in New Jersey.

• Halloween Horror Nights guests in Hollywood had a surprise week With Star of the movie Us, Lupita Nyong'o reprising her character for the events Us maze.

• Tokyo Disney Resort has seen an increase in attendance but a drop in spending for the first 6 months of the year, year on year.

• Disney California Adventure has announced dates their Lunar new year and food and wine festivals

• Liseberg is Sweden is closing one of its venues to be converted in a new ABBA themed dinner show Mama Mia The Party.

• Legoland Florida has announced 2020 to be Year of the Pirate with their Pirate themed hotel opening and a new Pirate theme water show on the way.

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• Comcast have announced that Universal Orlando’s upcoming Park Epic Universe will open in 2023.

• Dreamworld here in Australia is closing and removing it’s former world record holding Rollercoaster the Tower of Terror. Last operating day will be November 3rd.

• Star Wars not only dropped a new trailer this week, the also announced that a new sequence in Star Tours for the upcoming movie The rise of Skywalker.

• Europa Park have soft opened there Snorri Touren dark ride.

• SeaWorld San Diego has announced that it will convert its Aquatica water park in to a Sesame Place theme park.

• Knott's Berry Farm will announce a new attraction celebrating the park's 100th anniversary at the the Iaapa conference next month. The attraction will be made by Triotech.

• Six Flags have announced that PepsiCo Executive Mike Spanos will take over as President and CEO of the chain at the end of the year

• Atlanta Motor Speedway is pitching a major redevelopment plan that includes a casino and an "adventure park," which is proposed to include multiple Rollercoasters.

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• Universal Studios Beijing have announced the seven lands that the park will open with: Hollywood Boulevard, Minion Land, Jurassic World Isla Nublar, Transformers: Metrobase, Kung Fu Panda Land of Awesomeness, WaterWorld and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Hogsmeade

• The Disney Skyliner has reopened, running a limited schedule for the next week.

• Universal Orlando officially confirmed that Jason Bourne mixed-media stunt show the Bourne Stuntacular is replacing Terminator 2: 3D at Universal Studios Florida.

• Universal announced that NBC Sports Grill & Brew will open on Hollywood's CityWalk next year.

• Galaxy’s Edge has lost the Star Wars food names with unique names like Smoked Kaadu Ribs and Fried Endorian Tip-Yip replaced with the generic names like Fried Chicken and Beef Pot Roast.

• Disney+ have shared a trailer for a new show called the imagineering story which included a sneak peak at the "Beast" Animatronic to be used within "Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast"

• Hong Kong Disneyland have cancelled the 3K race in their 10K race weekend due to expected traffic disruptions.

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• The Disney Skyliner had it’s first unexpected malfunction on Saturday night. The incident left some guests stranded for up two 3 hours. The gondolas have been closed since so Disney can investigate the cause of the issue.

• Disney have shared a preview of Animal Kingdom’s new, holiday-inspired version of its nightly Tree of Life projection show which will debut November 8.

• Cedar Fair has rejected Six Flags buy out offer that was issued last week.

• Universal Studios Hollywood released a video of Ghostbusters star Dan Aykroyd and director Ivan Reitman walking through the franchise's Halloween Horror Nights maze.

• The mayor of Houston announced this week that he expects an announcement in 6-8 weeks about a new major Theme Park coming to the area. This should be taken with a grain of salt as mayoral elections are occurring in the city in coming weeks.

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• Legoland New York has announced it will open on the Fourth of July next year.

• Six flags reportedly put in a cash and stock offer for Cedar Fair this week. The offer made Cedar Fairs stock price jump by 10%

• Epcot this week had the final showing of Illuminations, the first showing of Epcot forever and the opening of the Epcot preview centre.

• Tokyo Disney Resort has reported record attendance for the first half of their fiscal year, up 1.4 percent.

• The Disney Skyliner was officially dedicated this week.

• Efteling has opened their Six Swans attraction this week which is the 30th fairytale to be represented in their fairytale forest Sprookjesbos

• Legoland California’s Brick or treat event starts this weekend.

• The Magic bees are back at Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, causing another closure this week.

• Hersheypark has announced several food options at their new chocolatetown entrance, including a new flagship restaurant The Chocolatier as well as Milton's Ice Cream Parlor and the Sweeterie chocolate shop.

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• 178-year-old UK tour operating company Thomas Cook declared bankruptcy and ceased operations this week, stranding travellers all over the world, including many in Disney World.

• Good morning America released a video sneak peak inside Rise of the Resistance, as part of a Disney media blitz on Galaxy’s Edge.

• Hong Kong Disneyland is feeling the pressure from local unrest, with year on year attendance for August down 40%, and worse expected for the final quarter of this year.

• A mixed week for transport at WDW with another Monorail breakdown, as well as cast member previews of the Disney Skyliner.

• Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure had to closed briefly this week to relocate a swarm of protected native bees.

• Disney has announced its bring hundreds of new Vegan options from October 1st, and introducing new signage to indicate these options. Disneyland resort will follow suit in Spring next year.

• At Hollywood Studios, the Mickey Shorts Theater will replace the Star Wars: Path of the Jedi movie in the ABC Sound Studio theater, opening next spring.

• Dates for next years Flower and Garden festival at WDW has been announced. It’ll run from March 4 and through June 1st.

• Popular Former Disneyland Paris ceo Catherine Powell has left the Disney company to do something else. Her role as President of the Disney Parks Western Region, has been eliminated as part of the corporate restructuring, which has also elevated the president of WDW and moved the president of DLR into that role.

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• Universal released new detail on the 2 on-site hotels coming to Universal Studios Beijing. They’ll be called the Universal Studios Grand Hotel And and the NUO Resort Hotel.

• Tokyo Disneyland have announced their latest expansion will open April 15th of next year. This will include 4 attractions including New fantasyland dark ride Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast.

• A new entry sign has been installed for Magic Kingdom’s Tomorrowland.

• Sea World entertainment announced this week that they’re CEO had stepped down just over 6 months into the role.

• Disneyland opened their new pedestrian bridge over Magic Way this week.

• A California State University Fullerton study has found that Disneyland is worth more than $8 billion a year to Southern California’s economy.

• Walt Disney World has revealed the ride vehicles for Epcot’s upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind roller coaster.

• Knott's Scary Farm opened for its 47th Halloween season last night.

• Legoland Florida has announced that their new Pirate Island Hotel will open to guests on April 17 next year.

• It’s rumoured that Magic Kingdom show The Muppets Present… Great Moments in History will close September 30th.

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• Universal has narrowed opening windows for a couple of big projects, with the Universal Studios Beijing opening in early 2021 and first phase of Super Nintendo World in Japan opening next spring. The also announced details about Super Nintendo World, including interactive based on wristbands with a big Mario M on them.

• Iron Gwazi and Ice Breaker will the names for the two new coasters at Busch Gardens Tampa and Sea World Orlando opening in 2020.

• Halloween Horror Nights opened at Universal Orlando last Friday.

• Disneyland Paris have announced their event schedule for 2020, including the return of Marvel and frozen events. They also shared concept art for the Frozen land coming to Walt Disney Studios.

• Legoland Windsor in the UK is adding a new kids coaster called the Duplo Dream coaster in 2020.

• Hansa Park in Germany is adding a new themed area in 2020 to be called Awilda’s World.

• Halloween has kicked off at DisneylandResort including the nightmare before Christmas overlay of haunted mansion.

• Universal Orlando has announced its first Running Universal weekend as February 1st and 2nd next year.

• Disney have filed a patent for a method to propel a stationary boat forward dubbed the capturepult.

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• Hurricane Dorian forced the early closure of some Florida parks on Tuesday. All parks opened as normal on Wednesday as the storm threat lessened.

• Universal Orlando have announced that the projection show Dark Arts at Hogwarts Castle, will debut at islands of adventure on September 14

• Efteling have released images of the first of the six swans that will make up there new ride in their fairy tale forest, Sprookjesbos

• It’s been reported that Universal Hollywood have started testing Electric trams for use in their Backlot Studio tours.

• Knott’s have announced more details for their Halloween event Knott’s Scary Farm including 2 new original iP houses and a bawdy puppet show.

• WB movie world announced two mazes for its Halloween event Fright Nights based on IT and zombieland double tap

• Epcot announced the dates for the next International Festival of the Arts, which will return in January and February next year.

• Disneyland’s Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is celebrating its 40th Birthday this week.

• Universal Studios Hollywood have a media preview this week of thei Ghostbusters Halloween Horror Nights maze.

• Paris' version of the Rock'n Roller Coaster closed this week ahead of it's conversion into a new Marvel attraction.

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D23 news super fast

• Disneyland new parade Magic Happens

• California Adventure- Avengers campus - Spider-Man ride and Pym Test Kitchen phase one. Phase two Quinjet ride to wakanda.

• Hong Kong frozen land, frozen ever after clone plus Wandering Oaken's Sliding Sleighs roller coaster

• Disney Springs New Cirque du Soleil show based on daughter of a Disney animator.

• Epcot splitting future world into world discovery, world celebration, world nature.

• Spaceship Earth to get refurbed

• Cosmic Rewind name of GotG ride.

• Space 220 name of space restaurant

• Dreamers point to be added

• Statue of Walt

• Harmonius permanent replacement for Illuminations

• Uk pavilion to add Cherry Tree lane and Mary Poppins Attraction.

• At Hollywood Studios Galaxy’s Edge hotel named Galatia’s Starcruiser experience - ship called the Halycon.

• New app for Disney World, Disney Genie.

• Outside D23, Galaxy’s Edge officially opened at WDW. Press given first look inside Rise of the Resistance.

• New six flags park for Saudi Arabia announced to feature worlds tallest and fastest roller coaster Falcons Flight.

• Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey is getting Jersey Devil Coaster in 2020 which will be the worlds fastest, tallest, longest single-rail coaster.

• Hurricane Dorian looks set to hit Central Florida this weekend.

• Movie land park in Italy had a track collapse on their mini monorail “Back to the Backstage”. 7 people were reported injured in the incident

And that's it for this week's Theme Park news in a minute. If you have any comments of questions please leave them in the section down below. On Sunday ... As always you can check us out our on twitter @themeparknut or our blog themeparknut.com. Don't forget to subscribe. Until next time,

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• the D23 expo kicked off last night in Anaheim! And we got our first news, Epcot is getting a new Moana themed attraction called the Journey of Water. We also know that at least two more reveals will happen for Epcot in Sunday’s Parks and Resorts Panel. So look out!

• Dreamworld Australia have finally opened Sky Voyager, the Southern Hemisphere’s first flying theatre attraction, only 8 months after it’s planned opening!

• It’s also been reported that they are adding a clone of Europa Parks Blue Fire Megacoaster.

• Kings Island in Cincinnati lead the national Rollercoaster day announcements last Friday with the Announcement of their upcoming 2020 Giga-coaster Orion.

• Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween party started last weekend.

• German Theme Park Tatzmania has voluntarily closed a brand new ride when it was discovered that when In The air the ride vehicles look like Swastikas, which are a prohibited symbol under German law.

• Universal Hollywood has announced its final house for Halloween Horror Nights as the Curse has f Pandora’s Box.

• Sea World SAN Diego broke ground on their 2020 Dive Coaster this week , and Bush Gardens Tampa shared the first images of the new RMC track for the former Gwazi coaster.

• There was a minor coaster collision at the Jolly Roger Theme Park in Maryland. Two trains on the Wildcat coaster collided and 5 people were sent for precautionary medical treatment.

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This week's news:

• It’s national Rollercoaster day in the US, so prepare for announcements particularly from Cedar Fair in the next 24 hours!

• Wdw’s Annual Pass previews for Galaxy’s Edge start today!

• Universal Orlando have revealed the 5 Scarezones for this week’s Halloween Horror Nights, which include a Zombieland Double Tap zone and a Rob Zombie Hillbilly scarezone. They also announced a brand new lagoon show Halloween Marathon of Mayhem for the event.

• the nba experience has opened at Disney Springs at WDW this week.

• The new Lego Movie World Land is coming to Legoland California in spring of 2020.

• Lego have released a new Disney Parks set, this time featuring the train and Main Street station.

• Silver Dollar City have announced a new land anchored by a new Rapid ride for the parks 60th Anniversary next year.

• Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion celebrated its 50th Birthday last Friday.

• WDW have previewed their new nighttime show for Mickey’s not so scary Halloween party. It’ll be called Disney's Not So Spooky Spectacular and hosted by Jack Skellington.

• Living with the land at Epcot has had an update to its projection technology, which was spotted this week.

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This week's theme park news:

• Disney have added a new session to d23 this year with      the title ”Secret Walt Disney Company Project”. This could obviously be      non park related, however they have said project would be Announced August      22nd.
• Universal Orlando has announced two more houses for      Halloween Horror Nights. A new original house Graveyard Games and one      based around the Jordan Peele movie Us.
• WDW have opened reservations for Galaxy’s Edge for      Savis workshop, Ogas Cantina and Droid depot.
• Disney have announced that last quarters attendance at      their US Parks was down 3% while spending was up 10%.
• Disneyland resort are holding their annual cast canoe      races this week.
• Holiday World have announced that they’ll be adding      another water coaster in 2020 this week, with the new ride to be a flat      launch racing water coaster.

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This week's Theme Park News:

• Universal Orlando resort have officially named their upcoming Theme Park Universal's Epic Universe. No opening date nor lands have been confirmed for the new park, which is to be built as rumoured on the giant block of land that Comcast purchased south of the main resort.

• In other news, Disneyland hosted a Media Preview for it's Halloween Party this week, and showed a rehearsal of the Halloween-theme Villainous! World of Color show.

• Universal filed a trademark application for the name Velocicoaster, which seems like an obvious name for the Velociraptor themed Coaster being built in Island's of Adventure.

• Busch Gardens Williamsburg have announced their new rollercoaster for 2020 will be named Pantheon and themed to 5 Roman gods.

• There has been a settlement between Resort World Genting and Fox/Disney. The park will be able to open without Fox branding, but they have been allowed to keep certain Fox intellectual properties in the park.

• Hong Kong Disneyland closed this week due to an impeding Typhoon.

• Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris also had to briefly close this week due to a power outage.

• In Indonesia, the Trans Studio Action Zone park has announced it will open a dark ride theatre attraction based on the Pacific Rim film.

• A young girl was caught on film getting hit by a bird on the DC Rivals Hypercoast at Warner Brothers Movie world on the Gold Coast.

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This week's news:

• Soaring: Fantastic Flight opened at Tokyo DisneySea this week.

• Hersheypark have announced the name and details for their 2020 Hypercoaster. The 210 feet tall coaster will be called Candymonium.

• Jurassic World - The Ride had it's official Grand opening this week.

• Killer Klowns from Outer Space is getting it's own house at Orlando's Halloween Horror Nights this year.

• Pop Up Disney!, Disneyland Resorts temporary Photo op exhibit will close September 2nd.

• The Magic Kingdom is revamping it's Mickey's Boo To You Halloween Parade, with new costumes and a new Tomorrowland float.

• Tomorrowland is also getting new ride overlays this Christmas, with overlays coming to Autopia, Space Mountain and Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor.3

• Europa Park has re-opened their Scandinavia land, just over 13 months since it was consumed by a massive fire. While the new land hasn't got any major rides, the are opening a dark ride Snorri Touren this autumn, and next year will brind the return of Piraten in Batavia.

• Disneyland is extending the window in which people can book reservations for Oga's Cantina and Savi's Workshop. These can now be booked, for some slots, 14 days before the day of visit.

• Knott's Berry Farm has reopened the Calico Railroad this week.

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This week's news:

• Ghostbusters has been confirmed for HHN at Universal      Orlando and Hollywood to mark the 35th anniversary of the film.
• The Walt Disney World skyliner has had its opening day      set as September 29th.
• Disneyland’s Smugglers Run tide has its 1 millionth      rider this week, despite being open for only 48 days. This gives a rough      average of 1300 riders per hour since it opened.
• The monorail at WDW had another embarrassing breakdown      this week.
• Another round of Free dining has been announced for      Walt Disney World.
• Universal Orlando have removed 3D from there Despicable      Me minion Mayhem attraction, to match the earlier 2D conversion in      Hollywood.

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This week's news:

• The Jurrasic World ride soft opened at Universal Orlando friday last week, just after I recorded my updated.

• Opening dates for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance have been announced. An suprisingly the ride will open first at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios on December 5 (Walt's birthday) and then at Disneyland on January 17, 2020.

• Epcot opened it's new Full-service Japanese restuarant Takumi-Tei this week.

• Walt Disney World buses are getting updates, with new exterior designs, and some buses adding USB Chargers.

• Gardaland Resort in Italy, which is owned by Merlin Entertainments, is going open a Legoland Water Park next to the existing park.

• The Gran Destino Tower has opened at Walt Disney World's Coronado Springs Resort.

• Some unconfirmed by authentic looking leaked photos appeared this week of the Super Nintendo World portion of the Universal Orlando Third Park.

• Hagrid's Magic Creatures Motorbike adventure has changed operating hours, it will now open with the park, but due to demand may close early to allow for maintenance at the end of the day.

• Disneyland Resort have announced that Halloween Screams Fireworks show will return to Disneyland this September, even though their Hard ticket Halloween event has moved over to California Adventure.

• Disneyland is closing the Red Car Trolley News Boys show at Disney California Adventure.

• Six Flags New Orleans may finally be being demolished.

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This week's Theme Park News:

• Disney California Adventure have opened Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind ride, which is a re-themeing of Flik's Flyers from the former A Bug's Land.

• Knott's Berry Farm is added two new animatronics to it's famous Log Ride, to celebrate the rides 50th Birthday on July 11th.

• Merlin entertainments, who own the Legoland brand, have reportedly accepted a buy out offer from collection of investors led by Kirkbi, a private investment company owned by the Danish family that own the Lego company itself.

• A 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit Southern California yesterday, on Independence day. No parks have reported damage, however serveral rides were closed at Disneyland and Six Flags Magic Mountain as a precaution.

• The Main Street Electrical Parade is returning for a 2 month run at Disneyland Resort, starting August 2nd.

• Legoland Billund has announced it is set to open their version of Lego Movie World in 2020.

• Details for Epcot's food and wine festival have been announced this week, running for 87 days this year will feature two new marketplaces this year.

• Lionsgate Entertainment World is set to open on July 31st in Zhuhai Chine, however 3 planned Lionsgate Entertainment City projects (including 2 in New York and Spain) have been cancelled.

• Disneyland's Grand Californian hotel is rebranding one of it's restaurants, and opening a Bar to go with it, to be called the GCH Craftsman Grill and GCH Craftsman Bar.

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This week's Theme Park News:

• Disneyland Resort's Galaxy's Edge opened to the public this week, after a period of reservation only. The land used boarding groups for spread out the crowd throughout the day, and it appeared to work very well.

• New restaurant Big Fire has opened at CityWalk at Universal Orlando resort.

• Universal Orlando has announced another original IP house for Halloween Horror Nights "Yeti: Terror of the Yukon". They were also able to take a quick swipe at WDW on twitter by joking about how theres Yeti will even move.

• Disneyland resort has extended the run of the original Soarin' Over California for another 2 months, after positive guest feedback.

• Universal's Endless Summer Resort - Surfside Inn and Suites has opened yesterday

• At Cedar Point, There was a collision between two trains on the Valravn coaster this week. No riders were injured in the colision, but there was significant damage to the two coaster trains involved.

• WDW have announced the closure of Liberty Inn, in the American section of Epcot's World showcase, to make way for a new restaurant - the Regal Eagle Smokehouse: Craft Drafts and Barbecue.

• Busch Gardens have teased an announcment for this weekend for it's 2020 attraction, with a teaser this week written in Roman Numerals mentioning Pluto the Greek god.

• Universal Hollywood is adding a Fan Preview Night for Halloween Horror nights on Thursday the 12th of September.

• The London Resort has reached a new agreement with Paramount, and decided not to persue a deal with Aardman. Paramount was previously attached to the Resort before pulling out of the resort in 2017.

• Tivoli Gardens is adding an 18 story hotel in the middle of the park, designed by world famous Danish architect Bjarke Ingels.

• Green Lantern has now been confirmed as closed for good at Six Flags Magic Mountain, after false rumours last week about it's re-opening.

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This week's theme park news:

• Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure has moved to delayed opening this week to help with daily maintenance and fine tuning of the new ride. The ride will open at midday until further notice.

• Disneyland is adding a reservation system for Savi’s Workshop and Ogas cantina for when Galaxy’s Edge opens to the public on June 24th

• Disneyland have reversed a decision to add merchandise stands into the Main Street Cinema after online outrage at the move. 

• Walt Disney World have announced that they are going to Galaxy’s Edge previews for Premium Annual pass members, and then backed that up with increasing the price for all annual passes. The non resident Florida Annual pass increased by 25 percent.

• Universal Hollywood have announced a new bar next to the upcoming Jurassic World a revamped Jurassic Cafe. The bar will be called Isla Nubar and feature tropical cocktails. The Jurassic Cafe is reopening with a Costa Rican themed menu. 

• Six Flags Magic Mountain is rumoured to be retracking their closed Green Lantern coaster for reopening later this year.

• This week the 60th birthday of three iconic Disneyland attractions: Matterhorn Bobsleds, the Disneyland Monorail and the Disneyland submarine ride.

• Finland’s Linnanmaki have opened Taiga, their new Intamin multi-launched coaster.

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This week's Theme Park News:

• Disneyland previewed their "Get Your Ears On - A Mickey and Minnie Celebration" event this week, include two perfomances of the EDM style Projection show "Mickey's Mix Magic."

• Construction walls have have gone up on part of the Jurassic Park land at Island's of Adventure, further adding the speculation that a Dinosaur themed coaster is on it's way.

• Movie Park Germany is building a new area themed to the popular kid's cartoon PAW Patrol.

• Epcot's International Festival of the Arts kicks off today, and earlier this week Disney released the menus for this event. New foods include Beef Wellington and a Sushi Donut.

• WDW has announced this years dates for Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, which runs from August 16th through to November 1st.

• Sea World Orlando will add a Sesame Stree Parade in 2019.

• Universal Orlando have started taking reservations for the Endless Summer Resort's Dockside Inn and Suites, which will open in May 2020.

• Tivoli Gardens in Denmark is set to spend 13.5 million Euros for the 2019 season to replace some of their smaller rides, including the Odinexpressen and the Camel Trail coaster.

• Dubai Parks and Resorts have announced a 22 percent increase in attendance in calender year 2018.

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This week's Theme Park News:

• Google has treated conventioners at the Consumer Electronic Shot in Las Vegas to a disney-esque Dark Ride about the Google Virtual Assistant.

• Hersheypark has broken ground on their new expansion and entrance.

• Disneyland Paris has started work this week on the transformation of the Hotel New York, into a Marvel-themed Hotel New York.

• Disneyland in California is getting a new roof for their castle.

• Sea World San Diego announced it would be adding a new coaster, Mako in 2020. This version of Mako will be a B&M floorless Dive coaster.

• Hong Kong Disney announced that their upcoming Ant-man ride will open on March 31.

• Universal Orlando closed original counter-service restaurant The Beverloy Hills Boulangerie this week.

• Universal Studios Hollywood and Disney California adventure announced their Lunar New Year events.

• Universal Orlando announced the 2019 Mardi Gras concert lineup.

• Disneyland brought back its SoCal pass, but raised tickets for everyone else.

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This week's Theme Park News:

• WDW live streamed the Magic Kingdom fireworks for New Year's Eve, while the park itself hit capacity. 

• Disney announced discounts for service personnel for 2019 of up to 53% off standard ticket prices. 

• They also announced the ticket deals for Florida residents

• WDW have announced late summer hotel package deals, which is unusual for that time of year. It appears to be hoping to push guests to take holidays before Star Wars Galaxy's Edge opens in Fall.  

• Silver Dollar City in Missouri announced record attendance for calendar year 2018. 

• Rumour has it Herseypark will be using a temporary entrance for the 2019 season, with the current entrance just closing and the new one not due til 2020. 

• Theme park site Screamscape has just celebrated their 20th anniversary! 

• New logo for DHS's 30th anniversary has been released, and twitter have loved photoshopping it to include almost anyone you can imagine. 

• We also got the logo for Disney's Riviera Resort