News Update - 16th February 2017

It's been a short week since my last news update, so let's jump into a short theme park nut news update!

Firstly, ticket prices are going up at Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World. This seems to happn 3 or 4 times a year at the moment, so no one is really surprised.

At Disneyland Resort we had an announcement this week of the opening date for the new Guardians of the Galaxy ride at Disney California Adventure. Mission - Breakout, the re-theming of the Tower of Terror, will open on May 27th. This is the same day that Walt Disney World is opening Pandora at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

Staying on the West Coast, Disneyland also announced this week that the Village Haus restaurant is getting a temporary Beauty and the Beast overlay for the opening of the live action Beauty and the Beast movie. While it's definitely not a clone of Be Our Guest, it has been reported they will be serving the grey stuff. If you are in the area, try the grey stuff; it's delicious (or so I've been told).

Up the road at Knott's Berry Farm various park icons are turning pink for a cure for Breast Cancer. Supreme Scream and the Calico Mine Ride will be lit pink up until March 5th to support  Susan G. Komen Orange County. Check out the Knott's website for ways that you can support this worthy cause!

This week there was a Fire in the park structure at Disneyland Resort. Thankfully no one was injured and the blaze was quickly put out. This made it totally okay for @disneylandcats to post the tweet:

We didn't start the fire. It was always burning, since the world's been turning! https://t.co/z8aWuGeiIh

— Cats of Disneyland (@disneylandcats) February 14, 2017

In Australia, protest this week interrupted the Dolphin show at Sea World on the Gold Coast. While I can understand the point that they were making, that no animals should be in captivity, I think that they are a bit misguided targeting our Sea World park, which has reasonably large facilities (by international standards) for their Dolphins, and has a record of assisting and rehabilitation local marine life. Personally I think that Zoos and Marine parks that do a good job of looking after their animals have a positive effect on the environment by increasing public awareness and empathy for these animals. That is my personal opinion only, and I understand not all will agree.

That's it for this week's News Update . For more Theme Park coverage, follow me on Twitter @themeparknut. Until next time, Cheers!

News Update - 11th February 2017

Well it's a little late, but better late than never. Here is another Theme Park Nut News Update.

The big news this week is all about opening dates! We have had two massive pieces of news out of WDW this week, where we go an official opening date for Pandora: The World of Avatar, and (perhaps more excitingly) we have finally got at timeline for Star Wars land at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Pandora will open to the public on May 26th (the day after Volcano Bay!) but it is expected it might soft open in the weeks leading up to that date. For me, Star Wars land is the more exciting project, and we found out this week that is due to be opened in 2019, which for Disney is actually pretty rapid. Disney traditionally moves at a snails pace with new development, while this isn't exactly rapid, it's probably a year sooner than a lot of theme park enthusiasts were predicting. 

And to add to the opening date news, Disney announced that Rivers of Light at Disney's Animal Kingdom will finally open on February 17th, of this year! This was scheduled to open April last year, but has been delayed multiple time for production reasons. This week we were treated to a preview, which you can watch online, of the new show which looks really impressive.

At the Magic Kingdom the long running Wishes firework show will be ending on May 11. A new night time show Happily Ever After will start on the next night May 12th. Wishes had been running at the Magic Kingdom since 2003, when it replaced the original fireworks show Fantasy in the Sky which started in 1971. WDW released a teaser for the new show on YouTube this week.

This week the Madri Gras celebrations started for this year at Universal Orlando, with it's usual bluster and fun. The event runs through to March 23rd.

Universal Orlando announced this week a deal up until the end of May, which gives 2 free days (within a week) when booking a 2 day pass. This gives an added incentive to visit the parks right up until the opening of the new water park Volcano Bay on May 25th. Entry to Volcano Bay is not included for this deal, but the fact that it overlaps with the opening period suggests that crowds at the resort that week are going to be very large! We also saw a little bit more detail this week on the Tapu Tapu devices, which will be used for queuing inside the brand new water park. Theme Park Insider did an article comparing the Tapu Tapu device and their capabilities with the Magic Bands used an competitor WDW. There is a little doubt that the new devices will be great in the water park, but so far they don't have the wide reaching capabilities of the Magic Bands. It will be interesting to see how these devices go when the park opens in May.

Over in Universal Studios Japan, planning and construction is starting on the Super Nintendo World, which will open in the park in 2019. This week Theme Park Insider, had a chat to the Creative Director of USJ Steve Tatham about everything Nintendo. While he couldn't leak anything about the project that hadn't already been a approved by PR, it is a great little interview that shows just how serious Universal are about this Nintendo world, which is awesome news!

Over in Paris, Disney has made a play for complete ownership of the Disneyland Paris Resort, by buying a share of the parent company back from a Saudi prince, taking their ownership up to 87.5% of the entity. They also offered a reasonable share offer for the remaining shares, in the hopes of getting full control of the resort. The last movement like this by a major chain occurred in Japan, where Universal's owners Comcast, bought out the remaining shares of the USJ resort to take full ownership. They then followed this up by investing pretty heavily in the resort, which has shown very high attendance over the last few years. Let's hope that the Walt Disney Company wants to re-invest in Disneyland Paris Resort.

In the strangest news this week, there was a major drug bust on the grounds of the Legoland Windsor resort in the UK. The plants and equipment where found in a derelict shack, outside the boundary of the park (but still on land that is owned by Merlin, which owners), by maintenance staff and then reported to the police. To make things even more confusing the Legoland park is very close to Windsor Castle, which is the royal residence of the Queen and her family. It was stated in the article that this derelict shack was not accessible from the Legoland park, and could only be accessed from Crown land (meaning land owned by the Royal family/State). Who knows what that really means, but funny news none the less!

In Australian news, Parkz.com.au has had a brutal shut down of the Gold Coast Bulletin, for it's reporting of badly researched and incorrect information about the upcoming Hypercoaster at Movie World on the Gold Coast. In a week where fake news, and real journalism was a focus of mainstream news, with the suggestion that "real" news can only be reported by journalist, it's nice to see a the enthusiast community calling out professional journalist for failing to report true and accurate information. Let's be clear, the Hypercoaster is going to be massive, but it will NOT be taller than Dreamworld's Tower of Terror.

That's it for this week's News Update . For more Theme Park coverage, follow me on Twitter @themeparknut. Until next time, Cheers!

News Update - 2nd February 2017

It's time for another week's News Update!

Last Friday, at Dreamworld on the Gold Coast we saw yet another ride incident make the headlines with an E-Stop on Giant Drop hours after it's reopening  Riders were stuck at the top for a period of about 5 minutes, as a safety sensor was tripped. No riders were in any danger at any point during the incident.

We are now at a stage that no matter the what the nature of the ride incident at an Australian park, it is going to make the news. This is somewhat understandable for the general public given last years tragedy, but can be frustrating to theme park enthusiasts who understand a safe Emergency Stop is actually a good thing. This is the ride operating as desired, with safety sensors functioning as you would want; detecting an anomaly and shutting down the ride. An emergency stop is designed to stop an accident from occurring, so each time on of those happens, and the riders are safely and easily removed from a ride, this should be good news! Parkz.com.au followed up this week's incident with on an article about how safe Theme Park Rides are, and of course the answer is they are very safe. You are far more likely to be killed by being struck by lightning, than you are being INJURED on ride (let alone killed).

Just to show a different perspective on the issue, this week Theme Park Insider showcased some memorable breakdowns. It's true that a lot of Theme Park fans treasure the unique experience of a ride evacuation, and (as long as no one is hurt) they often make for great stories.

In Orlando, Walt Disney World has finally announced that July 2nd would be the closing day of DisneyQuest. It was announce, almost two years ago, that the "indoor Theme Park" was going to be replaced with a basketball themed restaurant and bar called the NBA Experience. There is no word yet on when the NBA Experience might open.

Across town this week at Universal Orlando, thousand of Harry Potter fans gathered to take part in the annual Harry Potter Celebration. This years celebration was made all the more poignant, with the passing of John Hurt, who played wand-maker Ollivander in the Harry Potter film series, only a few days before the event. There was a touching moment when a number of fans raised their wand's outside the Ollivander's in tribute to the late actor.

In slight more off beat news this week, a patent application has been uncovered this week from the Disney company of a trackless ride where the ride itself responds to emotional queues from riders. What Theme Park Insider have dubbed, the emotional roller coaster, responds to bio-metric sensors and cameras tracking the rider, and the ride or entertainment responds using "emotion/attention determination software" to give an enhanced ride experience. This really is a fascinating idea, where a ride could respond to you, or change the ride experience depending on what you think or feel. Imagine being able to alter a ride like the Tower of Terror, which has random drop sequences, so that the way the drop sequence play out responds to how the occupants of the ride are feeling.

And finally in some good news from Dreamworld this week, Saturday saw them open their brand new Lego Store. The first official Lego brand store opened on the edge of the park, with access from both inside and outside the park. The store is anchored by 10 life-size LEGO models including several 'Dreamworld-inspired' models including a tiger, koala and didgeridoo. Dreamworld CEO Craig Davidson said it was hard not to be happy with the turnout to the opening day, with a queues "out the door and into the carpark".

That's it for this week's News Update . For more Theme Park coverage, follow me on Twitter @themeparknut. Until next time, Cheers!

News Update - 26th January 2017

Time for another week's News Update.

First of the Main Street Electrical Parade is back at Disneyland. The parade returned from WDW back to it's original route that it ran from 1972 to 1996. The stay is only temporary though, while it's successor, the Paint the Night parade undergoes a rehabilitation.

Last week we reported on the Lunar New Year celebrations in California, this week we saw an amazing video of rope drop on the first day of celebrations in the new Shanghai Disneyland. The scenes were almost at stampede level when the park opened and the line for Soarin' FastPasses looks massive.

Staying in Asia, Universal Studios Singapore welcomed it's 25 millionth visitor this week. The park, which opened in 2010, is the smallest of the 5 Universal parks had a slow start attendance wise, but has grown in the last few years.

It's been a quiet theme park news week in the US but Universal Orlando did give us a video with 5 tips for rookies on the Men in Black Alien Attack ride. More importantly they announced the opening date for the Volcano Bay water park as May 25th. I still refuse to call this the third theme park at the resort.

The Legoland parks, and their owners Merlin, are continuing to add theming outside their parks, with two themed hotels in the spotlight for 2018 this week. Legoland California is adding a Castle themed hotel, which broke ground this week, while Legoland Germany is adding a Pirate themed hotel.

At home, Dreamworld is turning 35 this month, and has a sale on to celebrate. They've added a 35 day pass (up until March 5th) for $35. They've also discounted the season pass which is up until December 24th by $35, which puts adults at $64. Just to contrast a single day pass is $65, so you are saving a dollar but getting 11 months more of visits. Plus this week the park has reopened Shockwave and The Giant Drop. And don't forget their brand new Lego shop opens this coming Saturday.

So, apart from the heat it's a great time to go back to Dreamworld. Hurry up though as the ticket sale only runs until the 29th of January.

At Movie World this week they are celebrating Chinese New Year, as they have the last few years. The construction of their new hyper continues slowly. You can check coaster out the post on Parkz.com.au to see progress towards this September opening.

At Sea World last week we saw the final night of their first Carnivale event, which moved from sister park Movie World this year. Parkz.com.au did a review of this final night and sadly found it a little lacking this year. The obvious comparison to the last 3 years at Movie World, and in short the event was less about food and rides, and more about the musical guests. All in all the street entertainment was good, but the lack of parade was noticeable. There is potential in the new venue, so let's see if next years event is enhanced.

Village Roadshow Theme Parks (owners of Movie World, Sea World and Wet'n'Wild) announced this week that attendance at their parks of locals has dropped 12% since the tragedy at rival park Dreamworld in October last year. The financial impact of this drop in attendance has not been reported on yet, VRTP shares fell almost 10% in expectation. Financial results for the second half of 2016 will be announced on February 23.

That's it for this week's News Update . For more Theme Park coverage, follow me on Twitter @themeparknut. Until next time, Cheers!

News Update 19th January 2017

It's been a fairly quiet week for theme parks this week, so let's get started on a quick Theme Park News Update!

Starting in Universal Orlando, the Jimmy Fallon Race Through New York ride, that we mentioned last week, has been announced as opening April 6th. More interestingly though, it was also announced it was going to utilize a virtual queue. However, they aren't going to be the first ride to use this Virtual Queuing system, as Universal quietly debuted this system for the Minion Mayhem ride this week.

At Epcot, the Festival of the Arts opened this week, the latest in an increasingly long list of festivals at WDW (particularly at Epcot). This event combines the Performing Arts, Visual Arts and Culinary Arts together, with displays and showcases of each around world showcase it. It did give us a chance to see some Art themed food, and who wouldn't like a bit more of that in their lives.

Disneyland resort announced the MaxPass which is a paid version of FastPass+ with a photopass thrown in. Interesting priced at $10 a day, the pass, is $29 cheaper than just getting a photopass, and gives great option to reserve ride times. It was always going to be interesting how FP+ translated to Disneyland, that has a much higher proportion of local visitors that WDW, however to charge for the privilege is a new one for Disney. Not surprising though, since there is money to be made!

Both Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood have announced their plans for the Lunar New Year celebrations (which in Australia we still call Chinese New Year). They are celebrating with Kung Fu and Chinese food, so I'm not sure who is kidding who at this point. Looking forward to wishing you all a Happy Year of the Rooster!

Quick question, what do ZZ Top, Lynard Skynard and the Village People have in common? They are all headlining the new Seven Seas Food Festival at SeaWorld Orlando, running from February through to May. This is very likely to be the only post ever on this blog that ever mentions ZZ Top, so you enjoy that!

At home, Dreamworld reopened one of their icon rides, the Tower of Terror, last Thursday, and Hot Wheels Sidewinder just a few days ago. They are on track to have everything back open in the next month.

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

News Update - 12th January 2017

Its been another big week, so let's get into another theme park news update!

Earlier this week, SeaWorld Orlando announced the death of its largest and most infamous Orca Tillikum at the age of 36. Tillikum became well known after the death of trainer Dawn Brancheau in 2010 and the subsequent movie Blackfish about the tragedy in 2013. Since SeaWorld is no longer breeding or capturing Orcas, this generation of these marine mammals will be their last.

Following Tillikum's passing, SeaWorld San Diego announced it was going to end Orca shows this weekend. The Orca enclosure is getting a revamp, and trainers will still have demonstrations of behaviors however they won't be part of a show.

Staying in the U.S., Panasonic named projection partner for the two U.S. Disney resorts. While traditionally Disney has used less screens than competitor Universal, projection is a bIig deal for parks these days. In other news, Theme Park Insider pointed out that for the first time in 2 years Disneyland is just Disneyland. It's a funny state of affairs when nothing happening is news.

More details have surfaced about the new Jimmy Fallon ride at Universal Studios in Orlando. While flying around New York, you'll be able to enjoy the smell of pizza and get wet from a plunge in the East River.  Sounds vaguely interesting in what is shaping to be the year of the flying theatre attraction.

Screamscape has done a rough estimate of the throughput of Flight of Passage in Avatarland at Disney's Animal Kingdom, which is Disney's next flying theatre. It is estimate to take 1800 guests per hour (around what Star Tours can support) which a huge boost for park capacity.

At Movie World, 20 guests were inconvenienced yesterday when they were forced to evacuate the Arkham Asylum ride which stopped due to a mechanical fault. While it's news here, there was really nothing dangerous or unusual about this incident. It was only big news because of the recent tragedy at Dreamworld.

Speaking of Dreamworld, the park has reported that their revenue since reopening on December 10th until the end of December was down 63% compared to the same period in 2015. It is worth noting that a number of the key rides were closed for this period and the iconic Tower of Terror and Giant Drop rides still remain closed. This means that the park has lost around $15 million in expected earnings in November and December of 2016.

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

News Update - 5th January 2017

It's a new year! In a effort to increase my chances of getting blogs completed I'm moving the weekly news updates to Thursdays! Let's hope this year will give me more time. I'm also hoping to turn these weekly posts into vlogs. You'll hear more on that in the coming weeks.

Let's start by looking at theme park news in the last few weeks.

At Knott's Berry Farm this week we saw the family ride Sky Cabin get stuck with 21 people on board for 8 hours. Apparently after 3 hours attempting to lower the ride using normal evacuation procedures, the fire department was called in. After detailed investigation the riders were individual lowered by rope from the ride.

This week saw the last running of the Hollywood Tower of Terror at Disney California Adventure at Disneyland Resort. A hard ticket event was run on January 1st to celebrate the ride that opened in DCA in 2004. The ride building has already started it's conversion to a Guardians of the Galaxy ride using the same ride system. Thankfully the original version of this ride at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Orlando is not being changed at this stage. And it better not!

A new coaster has been announced this week for SeaWorld San Diego; the Electric Eel. This third coaster for the struggling west coast park is due to open in 2018.

It's been a busy few weeks at the major parks on the west coast with record attendance at Universal Studios Hollywood and Disneyland reaching capacity yesterday.

In Australia, at Movie World on the Gold Coast we saw the Scooby Doo Spooky Coaster reopen after scheduled maintenance in a rather bizarre state on Boxing Day. The dark ride section of the ride had been completely gutted and temporary fences put around the track path. After a few days operating like this, temporary signs were added to explain that it was in the middle of a make over. It's been suggested that the down time of the new Doomsday Destroyer had severely impacted capacity in the park, so Scooby was rushed into operation half baked just for the school holidays peak.

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