Travel alerts straight to your inbox:

Tag: Theme Parks View All Tags

Universal Studios Is Already Prepping For A Horror Show Halloween

June 30, 2009 at 12:37 PM | 0 Comments

Although summer has just begun, the theme park-loving people are already looking forward to the next major holiday. To get the blood racing, Universal Studios has announced a few new details about this year’s Halloween festivities, and like usual, it looks to put other park’s offerings to shame.

The theme this year, Halloween Horror Nights, will be based on slasher films, horror flicks, and other scary movies. The parks on each coast will have similar offerings, but the park in Orlando has announced a few more details than its sibling out west.

more ›

Magic Mountain's 'Terminator' Roller Coaster Open For Business, Epic Lines

June 19, 2009 at 4:21 PM | 0 Comments

We were a little worried when Six Flags announced bankruptcy, if only because we hadn't had the chance to try the new Terminator Salvation ride at Magic Mountain. The roller coaster, which is the Los Angeles park's 16th, finally opened to the public in late May. If you got in line back then, you should be getting on the ride... oh, right about now.

A product of Great Coasters International, Terminater lasts three minutes, moving across 2,850 feet of wooden tracks at speeds over 50mph. The peaks of the ride are as high as 95 feet, and at one point the train takes riders on an 87ft drop. We particularly appreciate wooden roller coasters because nothing adds genuine thrills as much as that "wow, this might really be falling apart" feeling.

more ›

Disney Imagineers Welcome Obama Robot Into Presidential Roll Call

June 19, 2009 at 9:32 AM | 0 Comments

Of must-see things to visit at Walt Disney World, the Hall of Presidents is certainly not as exciting as Space Mountain, but it continues to draw visitors in for a little history with a side of air conditioning. However, starting Independence Day weekend, the show becomes a little more interesting. You see, it'll reopen for the first time since the 2008 election, as President Obama takes the stage in audio-animatronic form.

To craft the figure, Disney folks traveled to the White House in March to make sure every little part of the Obama robot was correct, right down to his braided wedding ring. The President shared his busy schedule with park designers to lend his voice and measurements, so that the new figurine could be practically perfect in every way.

more ›

Six Flags Doing Great, Declares Bankruptcy

June 13, 2009 at 12:11 PM | 0 Comments

As we discussed back in March, the Six Flags amusement park chain has been in dire financial straits for a while, straining under more than $2 billion in debt. Efforts to restructure that debt proved fruitless, so the company is now seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. As the AP points out, operations at the company's 20 parks in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico won't be affected by the filing, but one has to wonder what kind of entity will emerge on the other side.

more ›

Water Parks And Baseball Fields Await The Former NOLA Six Flags

June 9, 2009 at 12:32 PM | 0 Comments

Last week we filled you in on the current situation at Six Flags New Orleans, and now we have a little bit of news that may brighten the situation. Even though there’s all kinds of legal battles between the city and the suits at Six Flags, things may soon begin to move forward with a new project.

A member of city government recently flew out to Texas to check out a company called Big League Dreams. This developer is looking to transform the graveyard of roller coasters into an area filled with water rides and facilities for youth sports. We’re just hoping that the water park will be a good one, because the city’s residents definitely need a place to cool off in the summer.

more ›

Immerse Yourself In Weirdness at Tama's Hello Kitty Museum

June 2, 2009 at 4:12 PM | 0 Comments

Navigating Tokyo itself - a dizzying maze of twenty-three wards, each technically a city unto itself - is difficult enough. Now throw in the twenty-six additional cities that comprise Western Tokyo, the combination of rail and metro lines that service them, and the Japanese penchant for hiding all kinds of singular attractions in the most unlikely places. It's just unfair to expect tourists to know where to go or what to see.

The western Tama District contains one of the most quintessentially Japanese - which is to say, one of the most off-beat - attractions in all of Tokyo. At the back of the Tama Center, a sprawling shopping plaza plus hotel plus park, sits Sanrio Puroland. Otherwise known as the Hello Kitty Museum, this is a gigantic indoor theme park turned over to the characters from what might loosely be called the Hello Kitty universe.

It's like a Willy Wonka Factory of weirdness, filled with gigantic dolls and puppets all addressing you in high-pitched Japanese.

more ›

Six Flags New Orleans Just Another Reminder of Katrina

June 2, 2009 at 9:17 AM | 0 Comments

Following Hurricane Katrina, there were much bigger crawdads to boil than worrying about the fate of roller coasters and Ferris wheels. However, years after the storm, Six Flags New Orleans continues to sit vacant, serving as a reminder of the devastation of the area.

Situated on the eastern side of the city, the park remains the biggest eyesore to locals who are trying their best to get things back to normal in this area. There may be other damaged buildings that also still wait for the bulldozer or the renovators, but clearly a deserted theme park is one of the largest and most tragic-looking.

more ›

Summer Concerts An Added Bonus At Universal Orlando

May 28, 2009 at 3:32 PM | 0 Comments

If waiting in a long line for your shot to ride the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit is not your idea of a good time at Universal Studios Orlando, then you might want to consider some of their summertime entertainment. The Summer Concert Series kicks off on June 13 with a concert by Jordin Sparks, and admission is included in your daily park pass—no need to shell out any additional cash.

Things continue with performances by LL Cool J on June 20 and Natasha Bedingfield on June 27. Even The O’Jays cruise into town over the Independence Day holiday weekend to help celebrate and kickoff the fireworks displays.

Apparently park officials aren’t too familiar with a calendar, as the concert series ends without anything else planned for July and nothing at all for August. Well, we guess it’s better than nothing.

Related Stories:
·Universal Orlando Summer Concert Series [Official Site]
·Theme Parks Are Cookin' Up Some Goods For Summer '09 [Jaunted]
·Theme Parks coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo of another Universal Orlando concert: divemasterking2000]

Rumors Confirmed! Star Tours 2 In The Works At Disneyland

May 14, 2009 at 5:31 PM | 0 Comments

It's apparently going to be a good summer for theme park rides and theme park ride rumors. After half a decade of teasing, it looks like the Star Tours attraction at Disneyland might finally get an face lift.

The simulator ride debuted at the Anaheim park's Tomorrowland all the way back on January 9, 1987. For the next decade and a half it was one of one of Disneyland's most popular attractions, with long lines that stretched well beyond the physical building.

Once visitors got inside they stood in line some more, albeit within the shinier and more entertaining environment of the mock spaceport. Finally they got to tour the galaxy with a lovable - if frustratingly incompetent - little android.

more ›

Keep Nemo Company in Disney's Epcot Aquarium

May 14, 2009 at 1:01 PM | 0 Comments

With the economy in the toilet, you might not have the funds to head out on once in a lifetime diving trip, and with that Swine Flu constantly lurking around every corner the only safe place is under the sea. That’s why we’ve compiled some strange SCUBA spots right here at home. If you’ve got a better one (or a worse one), please let us know!

Although Walt Disney World seems like a never-ending sea of tourists, there is at least one awesome way to escape from all the strollers and crowds.

Go where it's quiet and cool by strapping on that air tank and those fins for DiveQuest, an experience within The Seas with Nemo and Friends at Epcot. As long as you are open water scuba certified, promise not to touch the fishies and stay on your best behavior, you’ll be free to dive around inside of their 5.7-million-gallon saltwater tank.

more ›

Microchip Wristbands Prevent Wet Benjamins At Theme Parks

May 11, 2009 at 12:21 PM | 0 Comments

Lugging around cash at your favorite theme park is a constant headache, not to mention plain unsafe. If you haven't spent it all on a super slurpie in a "collectible cup" or it wasn't sucked out of your pocket while upside down on a roller coaster, your cash is going to end up soggy from sweat or water rides, or both.

This is just one side effect of a summer visit to the water park, and Precision Dynamics is slowly working to solve our whining and complaining by perfecting the theme park wristband with embedded microchips.

Now when you go to the park you can pay for your churros and t-shirts just by waving your wristband at the kiosk. The embedded chip acts like a cashless payment system, hotel room key, and can even help moms and dads find little Timmy when he’s gone missing. Over 50 theme parks are currently using the device, including Schlitterbahn Water Park and the Great Wolf Lodge chain.

Unfortunately, all this new technology means that you can’t just use the same wristband for the whole week—they’ll be wise to your sneaking in. Of course, these chips will freak out those who are still wary of "big brother," but we're game if it eliminates sweaty dollar bills. Honestly though, we are a tad worried about one thing with these wristbands: that they'd cut off us after the third corn dog.

Related Stories:
· Microchip Wristband Becomes a Theme Park Essential [LAT]
· Disney To (Kinda) Offer Big-Brother Tracking Device [Jaunted]
· Amusement Parks coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: fmckinlay]

SeaWorld Orlando Launches Manta, Its New World-Class Roller Coaster

May 5, 2009 at 3:46 PM | 0 Comments

It's tough to overstate the awesome awesomeness of SeaWorld Orlando's new Manta roller-coaster. The ride, which soft-launched last weekend and will soon be open to the public, has already been declared by the LA Times Travel blog to be the #1 new ride of the year.

There's 3,359 feet of tracks, a top speed of 56 mph, four inversions, and a max drop of 113 feet that all add up to two minutes and 35 seconds of face-down flying adrenaline:

Sometimes zoos and aquariums build less-than-electrifying rides to keep teenagers amused while parents and younger siblings wander around. Ferris wheels, slow-moving trains, bumper cars - these are standard fare. But that's not what's happening here.

more ›