 SAN DIEGO, CA
Police say more than a dozen people trapped on a ride at SeaWorld in San Diego have been rescued. San Diego police tell FOX5 News that around six gondolas stopped functioning Monday night after a big gust of wind tripped a circuit breaker on "Bayside Skyride." Authorities had estimated that between 15 and 30 people were trapped, some of them in gondolas suspended above water. Sixteen were actually rescued. The riders were lowered by harnesses and rescued by lifeguard boats. They were then evaluated by medical crews. SeaWorld said in a statement that it will conduct a thorough inspection of the ride prior to reopening. FULL STORY Busch Gardens will celebrate 60th anniversary with free beer, pin trading and coaster news2/18/2019  TAMPA BAY, FL
Disney World's 50th Anniversary in 2021 is getting plenty of attention, but there’s another Florida theme park readying for an even bigger anniversary. Busch Gardens Tampa will be celebrating its 60th anniversary next month. The diamond anniversary will be celebrated all year long at the African-themed Tampa park. March 1 will kick off the celebration with a special Florida Orchestra concert celebrating the women who forever changed rock-n-roll. After the concert, there will be a celebratory firework display. A brand-new Pin Trading Program, similar to the one SeaWorld Orlando launched last year, will also debut on March 1. Merchandise locations throughout the park will have the pins for sale, and park ambassadors will have unique pins not available for sale that can be traded for. SeaWorld's pin trading program was launched last year to mixed reviews, but the pin designs have received nearly universal praise. Expect many of the same great designs to make their way to Busch Gardens as part of the over 150 unique pins that will begin the Pin Trading program. More pins will be added in the coming months. FULL STORY  SAN DIEGO, CA
Legoland debuted its new exhibit Friday, a tie-in to the recent premiere of "The Lego Movie 2: The Second One." The new Lego Movie 2 Experience allows theme park attendees to meet characters from the franchise such as Emmet and Lucy in person as well as behind-the-scenes looks at sets from the movies, such as a scale model of the town of Apocalypseburg. "They'll get to feel like they're inside the movie and also notice all the detail work that the set designers, prop designers and everybody else put in," said Chris Miller, the movie's co-writer and co-producer. FULL STORY  SANDUSKY, OH
Cedar Point is finally lifting the veil of secrecy over its new attraction set to open this summer. Instead of a record-breaking coaster or a spinning contraption, the amusement park is dabbling in some old-fashioned fun for visitors to explore. Forbidden Frontier on Adventure Island is taking up residence where the park's animatronic dinosaurs and former Shoot the Rapids water ride once called home near Frontier Town. Crossing over a bridge, park spokesman Tony Clark said, visitors will discover a living, breathing town with real residents and some real problems. "It's a live-action, as-it's-happening story," he explained. "Only instead of just sitting back and watching [which you can], you can be in the story. And it doesn't matter what time of day you visit — something is always happening, and you're always welcome to see it." FULL STORY  VALENCIA, CA
Ever since Six Flags Magic Mountain announced its next roller coaster last year, fans have been awaiting the arrival of the first pieces of West Coast Racers. Well, they're finally here. Six Flags is promoting the Premier Rides coaster as the world's first dual racing launch coaster, though that's sparked a bit of debate over that claim. But West Coast Racers clearly will be the first single track dual racing launch coaster, as it will feature the same Mobius-strip concept as Magic Mountain's Twisted Colossus, in which riders race both sides of the circuit in a single trip. FULL STORY  ORLANDO, FL
Universal Orlando’s Terminator 2 3D attraction closed back in 2017 “to make way for an all-new live action experience based on a high-energy Universal franchise.” Rumors swirled for months that it might be replaced by a Jason Bournestunt show, and now those rumors have a bit of new life thanks to Jim Hill, a prominent theme park blogger who recently revealed a bit more information about Universal’s one-time plan for the new stunt show. We’ve known about this Bourne rumor for quite some time – we actually mentioned it briefly last August – but after hearing this pop up again, we realized we’ve never devoted the proper amount of real estate to it here on the site. Here’s what we know so far. On a recent podcast episode, Jim Hill (an expert who often has good theme park scoops) explained how Comcast, Universal’s parent company, wants more of the studio’s own intellectual property to be incorporated into Universal resorts. FULL STORY  WEST MIFFLIN, PA
A tiny piece of Kennywood Park may soon blast its way into space. A token from the West Mifflin amusement park is the voters’ choice to represent Pittsburgh culture in the first commercial moon landing in 2021. More than 20,000 votes from Western Pennsylvania (and beyond) were cast as part of the Senator John Heinz History Center’s #MoonBox campaign to make the selection. The museum is partnering with Pittsburgh-based space robotics company Astrobotic on the campaign, which is celebrating the “Destination Moon: The Apollo 11 Mission”exhibition’s final weekend. The token received more than 51 percent of the public vote. It will be launched 240,000 miles to the lunar surface through Astrobotic’s MoonBox program in two years. “We’re over the moon about the opportunity to represent Pittsburgh in outer space, and we thank the History Center and Astrobotic for making this happen,” Kennywood general manager Jerome Gibas says. “This Kennywood token doesn’t have an expiration date, so if it ever makes its way back to Earth, it can be used to buy some of our world-famous Potato Patch fries.” Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander that will deliver the first commercial payload to the moon is on display in the history center’s current exhibit, which closes following Presidents Day (Feb. 18) weekend. FULL STORY Old Florida law says Disney can build a nuclear power plant. Legislators could change that.2/15/2019  ORLANDO, FL
The Mouse has always been powerful, but who knew it had the right to split atoms?A 52-year-old state law says Disney World’s government can build a nuclear power plant on its property in Orlando — an example of the resort’s political leverage it had in creating the Magic Kingdom in 1971. Disney has no plans to capitalize on that power, though. Its focus is on two solar farms on Disney land to generate power, said John Classe, administrator of Reedy Creek Improvement District. Even so, Disney and nuclear power have been a hot topic of discussion recently among some state legislators from Central Florida, some who want to strip the company of that right. FULL STORY  Six Flags Entertainment Corp. SIX, -16.36% reported Thursday a fourth-quarter profit that was well above expectations, but revenue that was well below. The theme park operator's stock was still inactive in premarket trade. Net income fell to $79.4 million, or 93 cents a share, from $98.0 million, or $1.14 a share, in the same period a year ago, which included a tax-reform benefit. That beat the average analyst estimate for earnings per share estimate of 27 cents, according to FactSet. Total revenue rose to $269.5 million, from $256.8 million, but missed the FactSet consensus of $284.5 million. The company said guest spending per capita increased 6% and attendance rose 3%, but there was a negative adjustment of $15 million related to delays in opening of some parks in China.
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