It’s time for Dollywood part deux, as Dolly Parton is ready to get to work—maybe even 9 to 5—on her second theme park. This time she’s got her sights on the greater Nashville area, and if all goes as planned the tourists and travelers will be filling up the parking lots starting in 2014.

The new place doesn’t sound to be another exact version of the original theme park, as this new establishment is going to only cost $50 million to build. Officials are billing it as some sort of water and snow park, and it’ll be located across from the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center. Apparently it’s just the first piece in a number of new entertainment offerings coming to the area as the city looks to get families and other visitors to stick around and spend a little cash. ]]> kjb 2012-01-26T13:06:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2012/1/2/103615/5492

Not only have we entered 2012 this week, but it's also the last few days of winter break for schoolchildren. If we're talking about college-age kids, then they've got a little longer. Regardless, this is the last dash time for family vacations at the theme parks in Orlando, FL...specifically at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

We've been a few times now since it opened 1.5 years ago, and each time we return with photo galleries and tips aplenty. If you're about to jet down to hit the park or are contemplating a last-minute mini-vacay, here's everything you need to know:

· Changes to ticket prices & ride seating
· Our complete, first-hand survival guide to the Potter park
· Photos from November 2011
· Photos of the all the FOOD
· Inside the Forbidden Journey castle & ride
· The souvenirs! Oh man, the souvenirs.
· Photos & video of the Hippogriff and Dragons roller coasters
· Even more photos (from the night before opening)

[Photo: Jaunted] ]]> JetSetCD 2012-01-02T16:22:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/12/21/63622/867

Those ubiquitous Angry Birds are at again, and this time they’re on the move in their homeland of Finland. Making the jump from mobile app to stuffed animal and even apparel was easy, but now they’re entering the real world with their very own theme park—kind of.

Rovio—they make the game—along with Lappset have an agreement to build two new parks focused on those birds, the pigs, and their world in two Finnish cities. To us, the spots sound more like fancy playgrounds than true theme parks, but developers do promise to integrate both the virtual and physical worlds into something new and fun. ]]> kjb 2011-12-21T08:40:02-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/12/6/63236/2365

Legoland in Florida still has its new theme park smell, but it’s already time to upgrade. The Lego bricks aren’t looking forward to the hot and humid summers, so they’re adding a brand new water park. Officials had mentioned this during the park’s October debut, but now we know that’s it’s all on scheduled and ready to arrive in time for the 2012 summer season.

Obviously there will plenty of spots to splish and splash for the kiddos, and as with the rest of the park it’s going to be tailored to the likes of loves of little ones. Some of the attractions planned for the new waterpark include a Lego Wave Pool, along with something they’re calling Twin Chasers—where you and a buddy twist and turn through intertwined tube tracks. ]]> kjb 2011-12-06T08:44:26-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/12/1/1212/20120

Not gonna lie—our June 2010 visit to the opening of Universal Studios Orlando's Wizarding World of Harry Potter is definitely a highlight of our travels from the last few years. To some that might sound perfectly stupid since we're adults and can just as easily jet off to Phuket as to Orlando, but to those who've been and also found themselves similarly taken in, the sentiment is shared.

That's why today's news that Universal Studios Hollywood will get a Wizarding World of its own in 2014 or 2015 is so thrilling. That means, if all goes according to plan, that in a span of five years the United States will have become home to two Harry Potterlands selling chocolate frogs, running roller coasters and otherwise thumbing their nose at the UK, which doesn't even have one to call its own.

]]> JetSetCD 2011-12-01T15:32:31-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/11/30/6257/9439

To us it seems like just yesterday we were first talking about the status of the creepy ghost town that is Six Flags New Orleans, but it was actually like two years ago. Since then there really hasn’t been too much going on, and all the tentative plans to revitalize, revamp, and return the park to its former glory have come and gone. Things are looking up again, as the city is now looking at eight different options to bring back another part of the city following Hurricane Katrina.

City officials were presented with the new options and bids for redevelopment earlier this month, and now they’re getting ready to think them all over. Of course there are a couple new theme park options—including a green theme park to be called "Crescent City Amusement Park."

It’s hot in NOLA, so a couple of the other options also include water parks, and one of them even proposed a Hollywood-style backlot for movie production. ]]> kjb 2011-11-30T09:43:08-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/11/22/5449/4115

For those looking for something a little more intense and riveting than Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, there’s a new option at Walt Disney World to fulfill the need for speed.

The "Exotic Driving Experience" is set to debut at the Walt Disney World Speedway in January 2012, and it looks to connect tourists with the machines of their dreams. Leave the minivan back at home, because it’s all about exotic super cars here. In total there are six different automobiles from which to choose, including options from Audi, Porsche, and a few different beasts from Ferrari and Lamborghini. ]]> kjb 2011-11-22T09:36:52-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/