Theme Park Nut News Update - 17th February 2015

 

It's a construction/refurbishment heavy update this week!

 

We all know that there is a lot going on at Disneyland Resort this year for the 60th anniversary kicking off in May, but with so much closed in the parks at the moment it had Theme Park Insider asking is it worth visiting theme parks during refurb season?  They also had a good round up of the little projects currently going on in Orlando with the Central Florida Construction update. And the biggest WDW news this week is that the Richard Petty Driving experience is closing to make way for transportation improvements.

 

Flying around the world a little, Alton Towers has announced that they are adding an Octonauts themed coaster to their park lineup. Let's hope that they use some water effects, otherwise this might be a little confusing for the little ones.

 

Most people have read that the master plans for Hong Kong Disneyland (and Shanghai for that matter) always planned to expand into a second park. However Screamscape reports that this might be sooner than expected, with height balloons seen over the empty lot next to Hong Kong Disneyland.

 

Let's hear more about construction:

• Drone photos of construction at Shanghai Disneyland.
• More Kongstruction from Orlando Theme Park News.
• Work is continuing at Six Flags Magic Mountain on Twisted Colossus, and I must admit it is looking great!

 

In Australia, we've had some "unexpected" downtime for the Buzzsaw loop coaster at Dreamworld. It's a little bit unclear what the cause of the downtime is, there is a rumour that it was caused by a harness failure, but I can't say that for sure. There is also a little talk about the new Tailspin ride having a few unexpected closes in the last few weeks. There are still plenty of discussion about Eureka Mountain Mine Ride reopening, so it is not all bad news at Dreamworld.

 

 In the worst news for Australian parks in some time, there was a fairly major accident at the Hollywood Stunt Driver show at WB Movie World. One motor bike rider was injured but is reportedly in a stable condition in hospital. If you aren't squeamish, here is the link to a video of the accident. I feel really sorry for this guy, it looks like it would have hurt. Reportedly, Movie World has taken motorbikes out of the show, but it is unclear whether this is a permanent change. 

 

 

For more Theme Park coverage, follow me on Twitter @themeparknut. Until next week, Cheers!