Theme Park Nut News Update - 11th August 2015

Another week of world Theme Park news has happened, so let's get down to it!

There have been a couple of coaster stories making news this week. It appears that Cedar Point may have accidentally released the logo and layout of their upcoming coaster for 2016. It appears a new version of their Android App was accidentally pushed live this weekend, before being removed. However, CoasterFeed was able to get a few images of the ride before it was removed.

Over at Dollywood, we have been given more details for Lightning Rod, their new coaster for 2016. It is going to be the world's first Launched Wooden coaster, and just quietly, it sounds pretty amazing. It's going to be built by Rocky Mountain Construction, who have been making some of the most interesting coasters in the last 5 years.

We are definitely getting into the pre-Halloween spirit with announcements this from Knott's Berry Farm  and Universal Studios over there upcoming events.

At Knott's Scary Farm, we are going to see a huge roster of attractions this year with 11 mazes, 3 scare zones and 2 live shows. One of the new mazes for this year is called "The Dead of Winter" which is based on a Snow Queen who has resurrected a team Viking warriors to avenge her family's murder. So it's Frozen. Well it might be a touch scarier than Frozen, but you can see what they are trying to do there. Well played Knott's!

Over at Universal, the big news is that Michael Myers is back. The iconic Halloween film villain will return in a new and horrifying maze based around his family home in Haddonfield, Illinois.

One place that is not giving us any Halloween news is Disney, but as always there is plenty of Disney buzz to go around.

Last week we mentioned the land that Disneyland had bought close to the Disneyland resort. Theme Park Insider followed up the many new reports on this purchase by putting a little bit of cold water on the fire. Rightly so too, as the article points out Disneyland Resort already had control of these properties before the purchase, and that we are a long way away from these properties being used to alleviate the current space stress imposed on the Disneyland Resort.

Disneyland has brought back fastpasses for Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaster, and interestingly enough for the moment these are "off-the-grid" fastpasses. I don't know what the idea of bring them back is, but when all else fails blame it on the coming of MyMagic+.

Here is not the biggest surprise of the week Disney Keeps Making Money. Not just some Money, but lots of money. $2.5 Billion in profit for the Quarter. At this rate, they could be earning a Billion dollars a month in a few years time. Extraordinary.

The biggest news for next week in the Disney universe is the annual D23 convention in  Anaheim. At this event last year Disney teased us about the possibility of  a Star Wars land at WDW, with their Orange Harvest display. This time, what do fans expect from Disney? The big hope is SOMETHING about the future of Disney’s Hollywood Studios. We know that things are happening there, but it would be good to get a sense of the grand plan from Disney's perspective.

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