Here is a quick update from the last week in theme parks.
Walt Disney World announced two anticipated expansions this week. Soarin' at Epcot is officially adding a 3rd theatre, although that was kind of obvious since they had already started building it. The long rumoured 3rd track is being added to Toy Story Midway Mania at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Both of these expansions will add much needed capacity to headline attractions at these two parks. It is funny that both of these rides have a greater demand on the east coast than the west coast where they both originated, but DCA is a very different park these days to compared to any of the WDW parks.
Speaking of DCA, Disney has announced that the remodelled Condor Flats will reopen as Grizzly Peak Airfield on the 20th of March. The retheme includes replacing Taste Pilots Grill with Smokejumpers Grill. Whether there will be any difference other than the name, no one is sure. However, we don't have long to wait!
Earlier in the week, LEGOLAND California opened their latest addition - The Lego Death Star. There is nothing that I don't like about that sentence. Nothing.
On the west coast, we have a construction update from LEGOLAND Florida from Orlando Park News. There is a lot of little work going on over there, but I'm most interested in the LEGOLAND Hotel being constructed.
Orlando Park News also gave us an update from Epcot where the Frozen makeover of Norway is underway. WDW also announce the closure of Pirates of the Caribbean for an extended maintence this week. This could mean a number of things for the ride, but a maintenance that long must be good news.
There was also a video on YouTube this week of Fury325 at Carowinds in North Carolina going through it's first test runs.
In Australia it has been pretty quite. At Dreamworld Zombie Evilution has closed, to be re-opened as a pure scare maze on the 2nd of April. There is continual rumbling about the Eureka Mount Mine Ride, but we still have nothing official on this.
In an update to last week's story about Aussie World on the Sunshine Coast, there have been further updates to the Pub building this week, now showing a sign on the front "PUB OPEN EVERY DAY!" That certainly clears up people who wouldn't have known what that building was for, but it's a touch tacky in my book. However, it is clearly only a temporary measure. I'll keep my eye on this for you.
Finally this week, the Big Banana at Coffs Harbour has announced as part of it's 50th anniversary that it will be spending $1.6 Million on a new Water Park for the complex. While it's not going to be as huge as the Gold Coast water parks, it will be a great addition to one of our Australian Big things! And if you want to know more about Australia's big things, you should check out my friend Fee's blog the Big Things of Oz! Actually, you should check that blog out anyway because it is super cool.
For more Theme Park coverage, follow me on Twitter @themeparknut. Until next week, Cheers!
Tuesday, 10 March 2015
Tuesday, 3 March 2015
Theme Park Nut News Update - 3rd March 2015
What a massive week of Theme Park news!!
Firstly, at Universal Orlando, there was some good news, some odd news and some bad news. The good news is that the world's worst secret, that King Kong was being added to Islands of Adventure, has been (accidentally) officially confirmed! The odd news is that the Harry Potter and the escape from Gringotts closed suddenly this week for 3 days, and we aren't sure why. The bad news is that ticket prices are going up to US$102 for both of the Universal Orlando parks. This was widely expected, and yet again puts UOR in the middle of the WDW day ticket prices (cheaper than Magic Kingdom, but more expensive that Epcot, Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom).
Speaking of their cross-town rivals, there were some great photos this week of where the hat has been removed from Disney's Hollywood Studios. We also got a peak at the new improvements to the hub at Magic Kingdom, and a video of some of the work going into Pandora at Animal Kingdom.
Disney had a little more grief on the West Coast this week, where a fire broke out very close to iconic attraction It's a Small World. Thankfully no damage was done, and no one was injured in the incident.
In the UK, the proposed Paramount London park has added the I.P. of Aardman Animation to the there stocks after signing a memorandum of understanding this week. This along with the BBC rights deal earlier announced, should give this park a good collection of properties to use, especially for the younger generation.
In Italy, a video has been posted on Youtube showing test ride of the new coaster Oblivion: The Black Hole. Worth a look!
In Australian park news, something interesting has been happening at Aussie World over the last few weeks. Late last year the operators of the park gave up the rights to use the Ettamogah Pub as theming for the oversized pub at the front of the park. It's a sad thing, as the Pub itself was the icon that started the roadside attraction in the first place. The interesting this is that Aussie World have had to go extreme lengths to remove theming from the building. Initially they just removed the car from the roof, and painted over the sign, but after a further challenge from the holder's of the I.P. rights they have been forced to paint over large parts of the exterior of the building. Just this week I saw them painting over the poem on the side of the pub. Soon there will just be a large generic building at the front of the park. As I said, strange!
Staying on the Sunshine Coast, but only JUST related to theme parks, Jeff the largest dinosaur of the Palmersaurus attration at Coolum caught fire last night. Tragic for all dinosaur lovers, but funny because it happened to Clive Palmer. If you don't know who Clive Palmer is, look him up because you wouldn't believe me if I told you about him.
Anyway, here is Jeff:
RIP JEFF: Clive Palmer's 20m dinosaur 'Jeff' was destroyed by fire. Police are investigating. @WINNews_SCoast pic.twitter.com/ohJJ3eOUKq
— Corinne May (@CorinneEMay) March 2, 2015
Nothing major is going on at the Australian major parks at the moment. We've been teased a little by Dreamworld about the Mine Ride, but nothing official appears to be happening.
For more Theme Park coverage, follow me on Twitter @themeparknut. Until next week, Cheers!
Tuesday, 24 February 2015
Theme Park Nut New Update - 24th February 2015
Welcome to the last Theme Park Nut News update for February 2015.
The big news this week was that the (expected) annual Disney ticket price rises occurred. Now what makes this years most significant, is that is the first time that the day ticket price at any Disney theme park has exceeded US$100. A one day ticket to Magic Kingdom at WDW is now US$105. There are rises across the board for the US Disney parks, and it is expected that Universal will follow suit in the next few weeks.
Screamscape had some photos this week of construction of Avatar the land of Pandora (name may not be correct). On the west coast, at Disney California Adventure Luigi's Flying Tyres has official closed for good, to be replaced with some kind of trackless Cars ride.
Staying with Disney, they named a new Disney Parks Chairman Bob Chapek. No pressure dude, but we are watching you.
In Universal Orlando this week, something strange happened. Water bottles were banned from being taken into the parks and City Walk, for two days and then allowed again. They stated that it was a temporary measure, and it was not related to a specific threat against the parks. Very strange. Just as strange, it has been announced that Sharknado 3 is going to be filmed and set at Universal Orlando. I must admit that the first thought was, 'Wow, they made a Sharknado 2?' I know it was a cult-hit, but I saw the first one and I'm not going to watch the second one. I'll wait to see how much the third one is about Universal. I may watch it.
Speaking of trashy movies, I watched Escape from Tomorrow. That movie is really weird. I didn't really enjoy it, but I did like seeing a lot of Magic Kingdom in a movie!!
Dark ride manufacturer Sally Corp has posted an interesting video peaking inside their operation. Interesting!!
Going to Europe, Efteling has put up another video of the construction of Baron 1898. This is perhaps the best one yet. I think this is going to be a great attraction!
Once again the Australia park news this week revolves around Dreamworld. There has been continuing noise about the issue with Buzzsaw. Although it sounds like no riders were ever in danger on the ride, the unexpected maintenance has now been extended one month longer than originally planned. So, something is getting fixed for sure.
The other news this week was found on the Parkz Forums were a keen-eyed fan spotted that the Ardent half yearly results stated that Dreamworld will be opening a V8 themed attraction at some point this year. We have no idea what this will be, but it is interesting to hear. They do already have two attractions themed to motorsport at the park, and there is speculation that it could be a revamp of either of those attractions (as they are anecdotally unpopular attractions. We will wait and see!
For more Theme Park coverage, follow me on Twitter @themeparknut. Until next week, Cheers!
Tuesday, 17 February 2015
Theme Park Nut News Update - 17th February 2015
- 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.
Tuesday, 10 February 2015
Theme Park Nut News Update - 10th February 2015
Welcome to the Theme Park Nut New Update for the 10th of February 2015.
And the big news, coming from Australia first, is that the rumour posted last week about the potential resurrection of Eureka Mountain Mine Ride at Dreamworld is looking more and more likely! Parkz is even reporting that they have heard that upper management has ridden the ride in the last few weeks, and given the thumbs up for the project to proceed. This is huge news, this attraction has been sitting dormant for 8 years and before last week, there was no sign that it would ever return. We will be keeping a close eye on this. Dreamworld has stated that there will be two new attractions this year, will this be one of them? Time will tell.
In international news, this week saw the confirmation of two expected pieces of news from Disney. Firstly, Disneyland Resort has confirmed the permanent closure of Luigi's Flying at DCA, to be replaced by a new trackless attraction. Secondly, Disney officially announced that Tom Staggs as the COO and heir apparent to the Iger throne. As I've previously mentioned, I think he is a good choice, and I'm happy that he is progressing up the food chain at Disney.
Disney has also been making news in Shanghai, where they have released construction photos from Pirates of the Carribean to soften the blow for the opening date being delayed to 2016. This attraction looks amazing, I think this really could be the best version of Pirates yet, although this attraction is going to be so different it's not going to be fair to compare them. There was also some great photos of Shanghai from Stefan Zwanzger: The Theme Park Guy.
In Tokyo Disney, the OLC has announced that they are opening a Junior Woodchucks Restaurant and Meet and Greet. Although that doesn't sound like much, they are dropping a serious amount of money on this, so this might be an interesting one to keep an eye on!
I know that I write a lot about Disney, but they are so dominant that it is a little hard to argue with. This week they announced that the theme park division operating income increased by 20% over the last quarter, on the back of a 7% rise in attendance at Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World. Both had their best operating quarters ever in terms of attendance.
For the sake of balance, here is an article from Theme Park Insider about the differences in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter that opened in Universal Studios Japan last year.
In other Australian news, Parkz has a great trip report from Sea World, while it isn't reopening a classic attraction there is plenty going on in this little park. The new dolphin show does look great!
And my tweet of the week this week was from a Japanese artist called Takumi, who has designed in amazing detail a Studio Ghibli Theme Park. I've always thought that Miyazaki movies would make an amazing theme park, they are so fantastic! And Takumi has certainly done them justice. Thanks to my great friend Fee for the tip-off on this one!
もっと拡大したいという声が多いので４分割してみました
どうですか？ #ジブリーランド pic.twitter.com/1J7vxOQIBT
— TAKUMI™ (@takumitoxin) February 1, 2015
For more Theme Park coverage, follow me on Twitter @themeparknut. Until next week, Cheers!
Tuesday, 3 February 2015
Theme Park Nut News Update - 3rd February 2015
Welcome to another Theme Park Nut News Update for the start of February 2015.
There is no escaping this week's big news, and that was the announcement of the 60th Anniversary celebration details of the Disneyland resort. There is plenty of news out there to read for this, but the tall and short of it is that May 22nd everything in Disneyland and Disney California Adventure is going to be blue and diamond. Adding a nighttime parade and ramping up the night time fireworks.
With all the excitement about Disneyland, there isn't any stop to the debate about who is going to take over the Disney leadership at the end of Bob Iger's reign. This article is an interesting read, but I'm not sure I agree with much about it. It's quite critical of Iger and very complimentary about his predecessor Eisner, which is actually a rarely heard view point. Always nice to hear a different point of view. It isn't as crazy as it sounds for Disney to outside hire the next CEO, but it seems a waste when it's been grooming two people for the role for the past 5 years.
Staying with Disney, because who am I kidding, I love Disney, iconic Imagineer Joe Rohde has popped up a couple of times in the need this week. Firstly, The Disney Blog posted a collection of really interesting instagram posts from Rohde about various aspects of the Animal Kingdom. Secondly there is a seriously cute video of Joe being interviewed by 5 year old Zoey. I really love that she asked about his earrings, because I've always wondered about that myself!
On the Disney rumor side, the big story this week is that something is happening in Disneyland's Haunted Mansion. Everyone is saying that the Hatbox Ghost is returning, but no one really knows.
Also, everyone watch out for the Tomorrowland movie. It could be awesome!
Just today, there has been rumors on twitter that Shanghai Disneyland's opening has been delayed. We'll keep an eye on it, and let you know when we hear something official from Disney.
Enough Disney!
There is a really interesting story today on Blooloop about The Theme Park Guy - Stefan Zwanzger. He has had an amazing life already, and he's looking for bigger and better things. Good on him!
In London, we have heard that the original Hogwarts Express from the Harry Potter movies is set to join the attractions at the Warner Brothers Studio Tour. We also saw this week some construction photos from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Hollywood (also some Springfield updates in there).
In Europe, we heard from Screamscape this week about the upcoming 2015 enhancements to Europa Park. Those guys are always busy!! Screamscape also reported that Russian park Divo Ostov is adding a clone of Europa Park's Blue Fire Mega Coaster, which is pretty awesome, because that is an amazing roller coaster.
In cute Australian news, Aussie World on the Sunshine Coast has launched Tiny Tots Tuesday. This is where children under 5, and their parents, can visit on a Tuesday morning for $10 each. I think it's a funny idea, but anything that helps this little park I will support.
Finally in the biggest craziest strangest news of the week, it sounds like Dreamworld is at the very least attempting to find out what it would cost to bring back the Eureka Mountain Mine Train. This would be an extraordinary turn around for the park, as this ride has been SBNO since November 2006. I'm really interested in this prospect, and I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for any official news on this subject.
For more Theme Park coverage, follow me on Twitter @themeparknut. Until next week, Cheers!
Tuesday, 27 January 2015
Theme Park News Update - 27th January 2015
Sad news to start off this weeks Theme Park News update. One of the most interesting Theme Park writers from the team at Theme Park Insider Daniel Etcheberry passed away last week. Daniel was an inspirational writer who wrote about his personal theme park experiences as a wheelchair user. I found his writing very informative. Here is one of his best articles. I'm sure I am not the only one in the Theme Park community that was touched by Daniel. I will always consider the accessibility of theme parks and theme park attractions because of him, and that is a wonderful legacy.
On to other news this week. Almost everything this week is about construction, so let's take a quick tour around the world for the theme park construction.
In Asia, The Theme Park Guy has a new construction update from Shanghai Disneyland, including an amazing photo of the central Storybook Castle. There is also a great post on his construction board ThemeParX about the new 20th Century Fox World in Malaysia.
From Europe, Screamscape tracked down some great construction photos from Efteling's Baron 1898 from Pretparken ParkPlanet. Airtimers posted a construction update from Europa Park, one of my favourite parks. Always interesting to see what they are up to.
In California, Construction has begun for Disneyland's 60th anniversary. This is a huge milestone for the park, and no doubt there will be a little bit of cash splashed to make the park look nice. I think that is one of the nice things about Disney, the thought that they'll get a little extra cash and they spend it cleaning up the park. There was also a height balloon allegedly spotted over Disneyland Resort.
There is a little bit of construction going on in Orlando too. There is some Orlando Eye Construction which got a little press this week. The big projects as always are Avatar and Kong, and this week we got a great Kongstruction update from Orlando Parks News. Over at WDW, Theme Park Tourist reports on the latest news out of Disney Springs (the new version of Downtown Disney at WDW) which is currently under construction. And on twitter Pluchiot had a number of Construction Photos of Animal Kingdom.
An interesting comparison was made on twitter by Carousel of Progress (@CarouslOProgrss). I'll leave it for you to be the judge:
The MK #HubTrees in 1990. They made the castle taller by making it appear farther away. Trees were removed in 2003. pic.twitter.com/F37lszuiPw
— Carousel of Progress (@CarouslOProgrss) January 24, 2015
The MK in 2014....a vast concrete jungle. #HubTrees pic.twitter.com/MN9AwcE8NM
— Carousel of Progress (@CarouslOProgrss) January 24, 2015
There has been a lot of discussion about the rumoured third gate at Universal Orlando in the last few weeks. Theme Park Tourist has given a summary of some of the rumoured aspects of "Volanco Bay" as it's rumoured to be called. Screamscape also reports on what is called Universal Project N
And to end on a bizarre/disturbing note, here is story from Texas Thrill Seekers: Woman abandons infant child to break into amusement park because God and aliens told her so. To be honest, I don't know what to say about this story.
For more Theme Park coverage, follow me on Twitter @themeparknut. Until next week, Cheers!
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