Theme Park Nut News Update - 3rd November 2015

The big news in Australian Theme Parks this week is the potential re-opening of the Green Lantern Coaster at Movie World. The coaster was closed in March after 13 passengers were left stranded on ride, some with minor injuries, when their train dislodged from the coaster track. Investigations have shown that a design flaw caused a bolted joint to fail, causing the almost tragic accident. The offending bolt has been redesigned by the ride manufacturer S&S Worldwide, and stress tested over the last couple of months.

The other Australian news this week was the success of the various Halloween events at the Australian parks over the last weekend. It certainly sounds like Fright Nights and the Halloween FestEvil were very popular again this year. Hopefully these events keep running, and we are able to avoid some of the darker aspects that have been seen at the U.S. events in the last year. Just this week a scareactor has pressed charges after being kicked in the face by a guest at one of the Universal Horror Nights events.

In overseas news, Universal has recorded it's highest ever summer attendance this year. It has been reported that their profits for that time were up an astonishing 23%. This has been a big year for Universal, so I guess we'll see what the next 12 months bring, with the addition of the slightly confusing Race Through New York feature Jimmy Fallon.

Over at WDW, we have got the first real details about the Rivers of Light show at Disney's Animal Kingdom. The details from an Audition call for dancers, that is specifically looking for Bollywood style performers. The show promises to have beautiful floating lanterns and laser water effects.

At Disneyland Resort, is has been suggest that Jungle Cruise is going to close for much of 2016, adding to the general closure of most of the west side of Disneyland for the Star Wars land construction.

In Dubai, the multi-studio theme park Motiongate Dubai has announced that Sony will be adding attractions based around Zombieland and Underworld. I think the Zombieland drop tower could actually be well done, if they show a little respect to how it is used in the movie. It would be sad to see this as just another plonked Drop Tower with little theming. Only time will tell!

There was also a court ruling this week that slightly opens the door to the prospect of the Lord of the Rings franchise appearing in theme parks in the future. The case is between heirs of J.R.R. Tolkien and Warner Bros. Studios over what the exact rights that Warner Bros. purchased was. The battle still has a long way to go, however if the Warner Bros. Studios are found to be in control of the rights for theme parks, then you can bet that it will follow it's mega-franchise brothers (Harry Potter and Star Wars) into U.S. theme parks sooner rather than later. The smart money would be on Universal trying to get control of this property. While it certainly doesn't have the same pull as Harry Potter, it is a richly details environment that could easily give a handful of entertaining experiences to fans.

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