ANAHIEM, CA
Long before tiki was a resounding trend, Disneyland’s Enchanted Tiki Room gathered popularity back in 1963 with its Polynesian-themed animatronic show in the wildly popular theme park. Amazingly, KCET has now uncovered the unbelievable early machinations behind the Tiki Room’s most important showpieces: the room’s singing parrots, dancing flowers and other robot performers. According to their research, the marvelous movements were developed with secure technology from the 1950s U.S. nuclear weapons program. Before the theme park opened in 1955, Walt Disney read a series of Wernher von Braun’s articles detailing the challenges and benefits of a space program. After suggesting a collaboration with the father of rocket technology, Disney signed on Von Braun as a technical advisor to help oversee some of the mechanics of the park. Von Braun would later go on to expand his role with Disney, even hosting three episodes for ABC of a show called “Walt Disney’s Disneyland.” The TV special was a deft PR move at the time, as the ABC special helped finance the future theme park. The partnership also allowed Von Braun to familiarize the public with space travel, while working with the U.S. military to create ballistic missiles. FULL STORY
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MASON, OH
Visitors to Kings Island will see more than the new Kings Mills Antique Autos ride when the park opens for spring. The park is doing its first complete makeover of the entry since the park opened in 1972. Crews are spending the rest of winter installing more than 130,000 new pavers, working on the building facades and changing the landscaping. Visitors will also be able to get closer to the fountain. Once the renovations are complete, there will be new choreographed water shows at the Royal Fountain. Technology upgrades will give the park the ability to control the fountain's 112 new nozzles and 176 LED lights. Water will shoot 50% higher into the air. FULL STORY KANSAS CITY, MS
Worlds of Fun is a Kansas City mainstay, and if you’ve lived there within the past 40 years you’re likely familiar with the name. On Tuesday, Worlds of Fun announced on social media that they’d be temporarily renaming one of their most notable attractions, a roller coaster called The Patriot, in support of the Chiefs during their AFC championship game against New England. So what is the new name for the ride? The Patrick, after Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes. The ride is one of the most advanced inverted roller coasters in the Midwest. Check out this description of the ride, per Worlds of Fun’s website... FULL STORY BUENA PARK, CA
Knott's Berry Farm is best known as a theme park, but the 100th anniversary of its humble beginning as an actual berry farm is coming up next year. "Nobody knows," Knott's historian Eric Lynxwiler said. "It didn't start with roller coasters — it wasn't even planned." The Knott's Berry Farm story started when a relative invited Walter and Cordelia Knott to come to Buena Park, according to Lynxwiler. They set up a roadside stand to sell those berries. FULL STORY Cedar Fair Entertainment Company (NYSE: FUN), a leader in regional amusement parks, water parks and immersive entertainment, today announced it will issue its 2018 fourth quarter and full year earnings release, which will include an update on its long-term business outlook and guidance, before market hours on Wednesday, February 13, 2019. The Company will then host a conference call with investors beginning at 10:00 a.m. EST, to further discuss 2018 results and provide additional detail on its long-term outlook and guidance.
Participants on the call will include Richard Zimmerman, president and CEO, Brian Witherow, executive vice president and CFO, and Stacy Frole, vice president of investor relations. The call will be broadcast live to all interested persons as a listen-only webcast at http://ir.cedarfair.com. FULL STORY SAN ANTONIO, TX
After years of slowly updating the parks, SeaWorld has now confirmed that the final Shamu themed ride, the Shamu Express at SeaWorld San Antonio will be re-themed ahead of the 2019 season. Both the Shamu Express coasters in Orlando and San Antonio will become updated with new ride vehicles and be renamed Super Grover's Box Car Derby. In Orlando, the Shamu Express is part of the area where the new Sesame Street land is currently being built. This new land will see several current kiddie rides being rethemed along with the addition of new kiddie rides. FULL STORY Theme parks have an interesting legacy. Before Disneyland set the standard for a permanent entertainment venue that is open year-round, traveling carnivals gave people a temporary respite from their ordinary lives. These small festivals for endearingly sketchy but they provided a lot of the same attractions that amusement parks provide today (food, games, rides).
Disneyland changed the game, and every amusement park since has been trying to catch up to the mouse in his giant blue castle. A lot of parks have come close, and I don’t think that it is unfair to call this the golden era of amusement parks. But with all things, not every amusement park is created equal. In fact, some parks should thank their marketing teams for the fact that anyone still visits them. This article will discuss the 11 most disappointing theme parks we can't believe are still open, plus 14 worth every dollar. One thing that I found most surprising when I was compiling this list is that there doesn’t seem to be any geographical patterns. That is, there are not any countries or regions that are immune from having disappointing theme parks. FULL STORY One of the joyous aspects of a Disney theme park visit has always been that it’s egalitarian. Everyone is treated the same at the Happiest Place on Earth. The Walt Disney Company is a business, though. In recent years, they’ve walked that tightrope between maximizing profit and satisfying all customers. A pair of recent changes may have tipped that scale forever. Let’s examine a crucial Turning Point, the instances when Disney sneakily introduced paid FastPasses at their theme parks.
Several years ago, I wrote a Theme Park Tourist article about Disney’s ongoing attempts to improve theme park wait-times. FastPass+ was still a relatively new technology at the time, one that Disney spent more than a billion dollars creating and implementing. When Magic Bands first arrived, the company had grand ambitions about the way that they would improve the theme park experience. During the years that followed, Disney became even more powerful thanks to the ascension of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, clever expansion of the Star Wars brand, and increased profit at the parks. Those theme park revenues partially come from Disney’s recent emphasis on upsells. The company’s stated goal is to employ price hikes as a method of maintaining a steady flow of traffic throughout the year. FULL STORY ORLANDO, FL
Has Universal Orlando been building the wrong type of theme park ride? Attendance has been rising each year for the past three years at Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure, though that rate of growth has been slowing. Obviously, the resort is in no danger of failing anytime soon. So this is really a question about potential — namely, is Universal taking full advantage of its Orlando parks' potential with its recent attraction decisions? FULL STORY MASON, OH
Cincinnati's first-ever esports tournament and video game conference has selected a site for its inaugural event this year. Bill Donabedian's ESK Presents, which has founded and co-founded festivals like MidPoint, Bunbury, Buckle Up, Bellwether and Brandemonium, is hosting the inaugural PiviP tournament and gaming conference at Kings Island. The 2019 event will be a previews. It will be free to attend for anyone who purchases admission to the park on that day but will feature all of the trappings of a gaming conference. FULL STORY |
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