News in a Minute - 18th May 2018

This week's theme park news:

- The TEA/AECOM Theme Index for 2017 came out yesterday, and the big winners this year are Disney's Animal Kingdom, Shanghai Disneyland, Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, and Universal Studios Japan. Magic Kingdom stays atop the leader board globally with just over 20 Million vistors last year.
- At Magic Kingdom this week the fire-breathing Maleficent dragon float malfunctioned and caught fire during the Festival of Fantasy parade. No one was injured, and the fire while dangerous was put out extremely quickly but WDW staff.
- Legoland Florida is adding a new land called Lego Movie World in 2019, themed to Emmet, Princess Unikitty and their friends from the Lego Movie.
- IMG Worlds of Adventure in Dubai has announced it will close to guest for nearly 3 weeks starting later this month, during the Holy month of Ramadan, to enhance the facilities and overall guest experience.
- Disney have announced a hard ticket event to open the new Pixar Pier, the night before it opens, for a staggering $299 per person. While you'll get a lot for that, food, exclusive rides and a swag bag, that's still pretty steep for a few hours at a theme park.
- Dreamworld on the Gold Coast has announced they will soon open a new temporary Trolls Village attraction area, in the Dreamworks Experience section of the park.
- Warner Brothers Movie World is going to close their Scooby Doo Scooby coaster for 12 weeks starting in July, to put back some of the theming that was stripped from the ride early last year.
- Universal studios Japan this week debuted their new Harry Potter parade!
- At Disney's California Advenutre, Flo's V8 cafe has had it's menu dumbed down again to become another Disneyland burder joint.
- Universal have announced that cult Halloween movie Trick 'r Treat will be getting a house of it's own at the Halloween Horror Nights events in Orlando and Hollywood this year.