Welcome to this week's Theme Park Nut News Update!
Starting in the US this week, Knott's Berry Farm has announced plans for their 75th Anniversary, including that wooden coaster specialists GCI will be revamping the Ghostrider coaster, and that Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant will also be having a refurbishment.
The IAAPA Attractions Expo opens next week, and the first little bits of information about displays are starting to come out. This week we saw a sneak peak of the attraction showcased at the Sally Corps stand, a Walking Dead themed dark ride. Who knows where it will end up, but it sounds cool.
At WDW, we got the announcement of the name for the upcoming boat ride as part of the Avatar expansion at Disney's Animal Kingdom. The Na'vi River Journey will open alongside the Flight of Passage when Pandora - The World of Avatar opens in 2017. Disney has also announced this week that Star Wars Weekends will no longer run in May, with the Season of the Force event replacing it starting this December. This is not really a surprise, but it is a shame to not have the event near Star Wars Day anymore.
There is an interesting pair of articles on Theme Park Insider about Sea World, one questioning what is going wrong with the theme park chain, and a follow announcing the changes coming to the parks over the next couple of years. Who knows what the future holds for this chain but it I clear that new CEO Joel Man by has his work cut out for him.
From the Dubai this week, we got more details on the Motiongate theme park project. There further details on the Hunger Games and How to train your Dragon sections of the park. This project is certainly ambitious, it will be great to see what actually gets built here. Staying in Dubai, there was confirmation this week that the second 20th Century Fox World is being built there for a 2018 opening. Interestingly this park is not being made by the same company behind 20th century FoxWorld in Malaysia, so these two Parks may end up having very little in common.
In Sweden, theme park High Chaparral has offered to take in 400 Syrian Refugees during their off season. They have also offered to teach the refugees how to ride horses. Very impressive work from this little Swedish parks.
At home, Movie World has started an extensive refurbishment of their Carousel. There has also been a ridiculous storm on the Movie World Facebook page where a bunch of nutbags have been complaining about Movie World having a prayer room. Most Theme Parks, Shopping Centres, Hospitals and Universities in Australia have prayer rooms, and just like Movie Worlds they are open to people of all faiths. I am for being inclusive of all cultures and religions, and if something as simple as Prayer Room can help someone feel comfortable, then I support it whole heartedly. If you don't like it, then don't go. Don't go anywhere where people feel tolerance for other people. I'm sure you'll be missed.
For more Theme Park coverage, follow me on Twitter @themeparknut. Until next time, Cheers!
That's awesome about opening their doors to the Syrian Refugees and gosh, some people are so silly - getting upset over a prayer room *rolls eyes* and I read Sea World is stopping their Orca show - hurrah!
ReplyDeleteIt's a pretty political post this week. So controversial! The orca show at Sea World is definitely closing but they are still going to have an Orca "attraction". Some people have said while this won't be a show, it might be a show-like experience, so don't hold your breath.
DeleteThe biggest irony is that SeaWorld planned a huge new enclosure for the Orcas, but when it was submitted for planning approvals, it was approved on the basis of essentially Sea World phasing out Orcas from the park due to pressure from green groups. Which means multi-million dollar enclosure would be empty in 10 years. So SeaWorld are building a much smaller enclosure which doesn't require planning approval, and continuing to have Orcas at the parks.
Ah gosh, I thought the show was gone for good, should of read that article better! The small tank/enclosures are what really get me at zoos or anywhere animals are in captivity, I honestly think their should be universal sticker guidelines but yeah - the irony for sure!
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