A.J.

I mean, it's a single piece of concept art for an area that's targeted to open by the summer of 2020. Yippee. It looks like they're going to stuff as many properties as they reasonably can in the space. You can see what appears to be an ornate bridge leading to some sort of castle on the right underneath the graphics of Mario and Luigi, that's presumably Hyrule Castle because Peach and Bowser's castles are already very visible in the key art. But, as expected, it looks fun, happy and colorful. My kind of place!

Universal's been filing for some new patents, and two of them may be recognizable to Nintendo fans: Source: Orlando Business Journal What do we think? I'm loving the interactivity in the drift racers patent. The boom coaster is a little bit more passive but if they're really looking to recreate the mine cart sections from the Donkey Kong Country games (which are so much fun, especially the one in Tropical Freeze where the cart turns into a boat that goes through a sawmill), that system would be the way to do it. Sidenote: Anyone remember the "Cantilevered Coaster" concept from like, a million years ago?

For the record, and you all know my background by now, I couldn't freaking care less about it.

^ Weren't we speculating that they would be getting a Chance Hyper GT-X based on that artwork of the expansion?

Was about to add a post with the YouTube video, but I saw Robb was lurking in the thread. Glad I waited. Welp, that tears it. If I get a full-time job in Orlando I'm getting a season pass to the Fun Spot parks. Who needs Pandora when you have what looks like it could end up being one of the best wooden roller coasters in the United States?

Oh, I have to disagree. When Pokemon Go was at its peak and Nintendo stocks went up, they released a statement saying that they only owned 32% of the company, or just shy of a majority, and that they get -some- licensing fees. The whole point of the company is to market and license the Pokemon franchise. It's not like there's a "Zelda Company" or something like that.

Before everyone gets all "but Universal has the Nintendo license" in our faces, The Pokemon Company is about as close to an independent company as they can get, and they are the ones that control the Pokemon license. Nintendo doesn't even own a third of the Pokemon Company. That being said, the IMG expansion is pretty bold. I suppose they've gotten enough people through the doors to justify it but didn't it just open a little while ago?

Nah, you're good. Whether this thing actually gets built the way they want is obviously still a huge question mark, but I think that this is probably the last "design" iteration that they'll go through.

I wouldn't discount that flyover rendering completely. I do these sort of things, and it looks like something I'd do at the very end of the concept phase. It also matches up with this model from ProSlide's booth at the Expo this year... [twitter] [/twitter]

It's difficult for "normal people" to calculate Helix's acceleration, as all of its launches are rolling as opposed to from a complete stop. The second launch is uphill too, which makes it a little more difficult than just a speed over time calculation. You'd have to stick a speedometer on the train AND know how steep the launches are pitched upward.

They still use it on all of their launched coasters. Powder Keg, plus the three big S&S launched coasters in the Happy Valley parks, plus one more being built in China for next year. The big ones are still the fastest-accelerating coasters in the world right now.

^ It appears to be structure for a couple of elevator shafts.

Yeah, that's a Shibolai boomerang. The cobra roll is absolutely wonky, just like that new one they built at Lewa.

I mean, Nintendo has likely had the Switch in the pipeline since before we even heard of the theme park licensing deal, and it will have likely been on the market for at least a year before any of these theme park lands are completed. If anything, the upcoming Super Mario Run mobile game will help to bolster the brand more than these theme park lands. I don't think people don't go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter to learn about Harry Potter - in my opinion, they go there because the stories, films and other media have already had such a positive impact on their lives. I would honestly base the Wizarding World's, and the Harry Potter film franchise's success, on the ABCFamily / Freeform television network, and their constant replays of all of the films - at least partially.

Universal's approach to their new developments has been really interesting. They seem to be building a rapport of people who want to visit the parks for one specific land or experience, and are willing to pay full price to do so. I hear tourists all the time talk about going to "Harry Potter World" instead of Universal, and I expect that a lot of people will want to go to "Nintendo Land" or whatever it ends up being called exclusively. I feel that, to those people, every other land and attraction becomes a "bonus" after that. There's nothing inherently bad about going that way, and as always I'm happy to be proven wrong. But the game then becomes - how do we make the land awesome enough for people to want to come to the park exclusively for it, but not so time-consuming that they ignore the other areas? I have always thought that Universal has always had the two- to three-day crowd locked down. If Universal with its "only" two parks (soon to be three with Volcano Bay) becomes so densely packed with awesome stuff that people end up staying four or even five days to truly experience it all, which parks in the area will step up to cater to the weekend crowd? Legoland? SeaWorld?

I like it. Nice mix of "old-school" and "new school" Intamin. Vekoma, you'll have your day. I believe in you.

Considering that the normal price of an all-day pass is $41 USD, $25 USD is a heck of a bargain. That's cheaper than three rides on the coasters priced individually. You'll only see that price on Monday though, "cyber monday" is the last day of the US post-Thanksgiving shopping weekend.

So, if I recall correctly, one of the original Euro-Fighter layouts was the 320, which was, in essence, Rage, Untamed, etc without the spiral at the end (sold alongside the Vild-Svinet and Typhoon layouts at the time). Interestingly, everyone who bit on the 320 ended up going with the 320 Plus instead, so we never saw a regular 320. EDIT: I can't find anything about it but I thought that layout was there at the time (2006-2007). The Wayback Machine has failed me. Regardless, this new coaster would still effectively be a 320 without the plus.

I've been both a little indifferent to Disney AND part of the riff-raff all my life, so... My bias I am showing you it. You're not wrong though! The price increases for theme parks across the board have really become a problem, and the constant dangling of potential upgrades in front of your face has always been a problem. I certainly don't think it's inherently malicious, it's just the unfortunate reality of this business.

The class war continues.

Do you not read? http://themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=72112

Frozen Marvel Frozen Marvel Frozen Marvel. I realize Hong Kong got original attractions recently with Big Grizzly Mountain and Mystic Manor, but still. The areas and castle all look very nice though.

No offense, but I'm not believing what the A.C.E. say is true until either A) Lake Compounce sends out an official press blast or B) we start seeing supports come down at that triple up section. I don't care how many ins they apparently have - this reconstruction / re-profiling / re-tracking / whatever is obviously not enough of a deal that it will affect how the public experiences either of the coasters. I'm ready and willing to be proven wrong, but I'll pass on the Kool-Aid this time, thanks.

I'm having trouble believing this. Considering M&V are re-tracking both of Lake Compounce's wooden coasters, a complete reconstruction of one of Boulder Dash's elements into something new seems like a waste of resources.

False clickbait. This should have given it away: www.snopes.com/dubai-water-slide-photo/# Anything that explicitly asks you to like and share should be taken with a dose of skepticism.