Welcome to the Theme Park Nut New Update for the 10th of February 2015.
And the big news, coming from Australia first, is that the rumour posted last week about the potential resurrection of Eureka Mountain Mine Ride at Dreamworld is looking more and more likely! Parkz is even reporting that they have heard that upper management has ridden the ride in the last few weeks, and given the thumbs up for the project to proceed. This is huge news, this attraction has been sitting dormant for 8 years and before last week, there was no sign that it would ever return. We will be keeping a close eye on this. Dreamworld has stated that there will be two new attractions this year, will this be one of them? Time will tell.
In international news, this week saw the confirmation of two expected pieces of news from Disney. Firstly, Disneyland Resort has confirmed the permanent closure of Luigi's Flying at DCA, to be replaced by a new trackless attraction. Secondly, Disney officially announced that Tom Staggs as the COO and heir apparent to the Iger throne. As I've previously mentioned, I think he is a good choice, and I'm happy that he is progressing up the food chain at Disney.
Disney has also been making news in Shanghai, where they have released construction photos from Pirates of the Carribean to soften the blow for the opening date being delayed to 2016. This attraction looks amazing, I think this really could be the best version of Pirates yet, although this attraction is going to be so different it's not going to be fair to compare them. There was also some great photos of Shanghai from Stefan Zwanzger: The Theme Park Guy.
In Tokyo Disney, the OLC has announced that they are opening a Junior Woodchucks Restaurant and Meet and Greet. Although that doesn't sound like much, they are dropping a serious amount of money on this, so this might be an interesting one to keep an eye on!
I know that I write a lot about Disney, but they are so dominant that it is a little hard to argue with. This week they announced that the theme park division operating income increased by 20% over the last quarter, on the back of a 7% rise in attendance at Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World. Both had their best operating quarters ever in terms of attendance.
For the sake of balance, here is an article from Theme Park Insider about the differences in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter that opened in Universal Studios Japan last year.
In other Australian news, Parkz has a great trip report from Sea World, while it isn't reopening a classic attraction there is plenty going on in this little park. The new dolphin show does look great!
And my tweet of the week this week was from a Japanese artist called Takumi, who has designed in amazing detail a Studio Ghibli Theme Park. I've always thought that Miyazaki movies would make an amazing theme park, they are so fantastic! And Takumi has certainly done them justice. Thanks to my great friend Fee for the tip-off on this one!
もっと拡大したいという声が多いので４分割してみました
どうですか？ #ジブリーランド pic.twitter.com/1J7vxOQIBT
— TAKUMI™ (@takumitoxin) February 1, 2015
For more Theme Park coverage, follow me on Twitter @themeparknut. Until next week, Cheers!
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