jedimaster1227

I really do need to get out to the Mall of America at some point. Nickelodeon Universe looks like an incredible park and it always makes me smile to think that I can at some point visit the park that the Mighty Ducks went to in D2: The Mighty Ducks. Thanks for sharing these great photos with us!

If you dressed up Duffy like Olaf at Epcot, there probably would be a significantly longer line. Or just replace Duffy with Olaf.

More likely redesigned Vekoma trains like the ones that run on The Great Nor'easter. You don't often see this many smiles on an SLC, but the new trains really did make a difference!

While it is certainly a pipe dream that would require a great deal of up front infrastructural investment, I'd love to see a company like Herschend Family Entertainment come in and take over the park. With the right investment, I feel like this park could grow into their portfolio quite nicely.

They appeal to a large portion of the park-going populace and in recent years the increased effort to add embedded water rides (and water parks) within existing dry parks speaks to the demand. While I doubt we'd ever see anything at Knoebels on the scale of what Hersheypark did with the Boardwalk overhaul, I wouldn't be surprised to see a new water coaster or something like it added to the park at some point. While most of us here wouldn't choose a water attraction as our first choice (myself included), we don't represent the majority of the guests who visit these parks, so our point of view has a far more limited influence on things.

Glad to see this park back on track!

Quote for truth.

http://www.associationnews.com/loews-portofino-bay-hotel-at-universal-orlando-resort-completes-22-million-renovation/

Yesterday Busch Gardens Tampa Bay welcomed the media on a hard hat construction tour of Pantopia complete with an up-close view of the stunning new Intamin drop tower Falcon's Fury. Touring with Mark Rose, Busch Gardens Tampa’s vice president of design and engineering, Jeff Hornick, Busch Gardens Tampa’s director of design and engineering and Brian Morrow, SeaWorld Park & Entertainment’s® corporate director of theming, we learned a great deal about the story behind Pantopia (which you can also read about at length below) as well as the creative process that has gone into bringing this new realm to life. Pantopia is a total reimagining of the park's Timbuktu area and while many of the structures will feel familiar to returning guests, the revamped realm's new prop package coupled with a vibrant new color palate will make this land stand out as brand new! Paint work on the gateway to Pantopia has already begun! Seeing as this is a hard hat tour, we were wearing these stylish hard hats. Are you the Gatekeeper? Brian Morrow, SeaWorld Park & Entertainment’s® corporate director of theming gave us great insight into the concepts behind Pantopia and all of the incredible story details that have been brought into this melting pot of a realm. When it comes to new projects for any of the SeaWorld and Busch Gardens parks, Brian and his team like to draw from real life props to create their unique prop packages for the parks. Did you know that SeaWorld's creative team often paints watercolors of different designs instead of using computer animation to further the artistic interpretation? Each of the new shops, kiosks and dining options in Pantopia will have an associated backstory. Lynx Frozen Treats is one of many locations with an awesome story behind it! This will be the other gateway to Pantopia located near the Timbuktu Theater (by Jungala). Pantopia will be home to a series of storied doors belonging to the many permanent residents of the realm, and this is one of those sets of doors. So much detail to take in! And more... And more!!! But this is what you're really wanting to see, right? You've got fins to the left. Fins to the right. And you're the only bait in town. For those of you familiar with the plot that Falcon's Fury now occupies, this queue structure once belonged to the Sandstorm flat ride which will be relocating to Sesame Place in Pennsylvania very soon! Fun fact: The crane is sitting atop a temporary platform that covers the bases for the smaller kiddie flat rides that occupied Timbuktu previously. But don't worry! Those rides will be returning once the crane is removed from the construction site! Work on transforming many of Timbuktu is happening at a rapid pace! This will be a much brighter land when Pantopia is complete! Soon to be serving snow cones and slushies! No matter which way you look at it, this beauty is intimidating! Painting has begun on the carousel cover to match the new theme it'll be receiving... The new cover will look something like this! eff Hornick, Busch Gardens Tampa’s director of design and engineering was the next to lead our tour, sharing with us details on the ride's many mechanisms and most importantly... A first look at the brand new test seat! Geeky stuff. Looks comfy right? The same clip mechanism you'll find on Cheetah Hunt's seats. Again, nerdy stuff. Thinking that Kelly looks much better in the Falcon's Fury test seat than either Robb or I! Mark Rose, Busch Gardens Tampa’s vice president of design and engineering pointed out the fact that several structures from Timbuktu had already been demolished to make way for a more clear view of Falcon's Fury when entering Pantopia through the main gateway. The Desert Grill will be getting a major facelift too... All of the colors are inspired by spices and foods of the region. Also notable is the addition of a quick service stand to the left of the main entrance to the venue. The former Sultan's Arcade will be getting a totally new purpose too... Welcome to what will become Twisted Tails Pretzels, a new pretzel and craft brew venue similar to the Pretzel World venue at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. And this is what Twisted Tails Pretzels will look like when it is complete. More details throughout Pantopia including The Painted Camel, a bazaar set up by a familiar face from Busch Gardens Tampa Bay's past... Akbar, host of the former Akbar's Adventure Tours experience is the proprietor of this revived storefront, setting up shop in Pantopia after his startup bazaar failed to gain a toehold in Egypt. Previously unannounced was the inclusion of the Timbuktu Theater in the development of Pantopia. The theater was once home to a live dolphin show but was remodeled in 2003 to become a 4-D theater playing host to R.L. Stine's The Haunted Lighthouse, Pirates 4-D and Sesame Street Lights Camera Imagination 4-D! over the last 11 years. Officially announced today is the news of the theater's newest purpose, hosting a new variation of the park's extremely popular Critter Castaways show formerly featured on the aviary side of the park. This new construction on the backside of the theater is for a brand new, air conditioned facility for the animals to rest in between shows. When replacing the former 4-D theater, it was realized that in order to optimize viewing potential for the new stage show the seating needed to be raised. I'm almost as excited about this new theater development as I am for Falcon's Fury! No, seriously. I was THRILLED to hear news about this venue! This former game booth will actually be repurposed to become a brand new Kettle Corn stand. Mark Rose pointed out that Sahara Snacks will be retired in the coming weeks to make for a more open view of Falcon's Fury from this side of Pantopia. Seriously, this thing looks amazing! We can't wait to come back and ride it this Spring! And always a nice little bonus when walking the park is the chance to get to play with these's plastic mold machines! Thanks again to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay for hosting us for another incredible event! We can't wait to experience Pantopia and Falcon's Fury later this year!

^Of 2015? Yes.

^Well that airtime hill escalated quickly.

This can't be quoted enough!!! Make it so!

I really can't get over how well this ride intertwines with Lisebergbanan, Atmosfear and Flumeride so beautifully. Short of Grona Lund, it looks like Liseberg takes the cake when it comes to weave rides in and out of one another!

Fixed! Seriously though, it is interesting to see a park like Kennywood bringing in a chain like Johnny Rockets... Seems like too much of a home park to host such a widespread brand. A very Six Flags thing to do.

With the very specific park opening date they've set, I'd imagine it will have to be in order for the ride to open with the park. I have a good deal of faith that they'll certainly try to meet the deadline. Just remember, the physical redevelopment of this park has been going on for quite some time now. CAI/Zamperla rebuilt Coney Island in 100 days. This park project has had far more lead time than that, so I'd say it is certainly possible that they'll meet their schedule with some time to spare.

This is one of those few times when I think most people here would be okay with the ride being replaced with a planter like Windseeker at Knott's or Maliboomer at DCA.

That concept art looks gorgeous! This park continues to look better and better with each update. Thanks for keeping us in the loop!

http://thediplomat.com/2014/01/south-koreas-660-million-robot-theme-park-to-open-in-2016/

Today Theme Park Review had the chance to check out this year's Bands, Brew, & BBQ event at SeaWorld Orlando. A personal favorite of mine thanks to the quality food and entertainment brought in, this six-week long event adds significant value to this already incredible park! This weekend's lineup includes Alan Jackson and Kid Rock with upcoming acts still to be announced. It should be noted that, despite the significant negative publicity over Blackfish and a good number of bands dropping out of their commitment to the event, you'd NEVER know it by walking through the park. The park was busy throughout our visit, filled with people enjoying the great food, the delicious beer, the warmup entertainment and of course, the headliner act. And while we couldn't stay to see Alan Jackson himself, the Atlantis Bayside Stadium where he was performing was nearly filled to capacity over an hour and a half before the show was supposed to start! SeaWorld is continuing to add a "Sea of Surprises" to its parks as a part of its 50th Anniversary Celebration, but in the meantime, you can always count on the parks' seasonal events like Bands, Brew, & BBQ to give you even more reason to go visit! Work walls have sprung up in the park in preparation for the upcoming 50th Anniversary Celebration in the SeaWorld Parks and the "Sea of Surprises" that will come with it! But this is why we were here today! Each year, the event gets additional sponsors and gets a little bigger and a little better! SeaWorld Orlando's special events section gets redressed between Shamu's Halloween Spooktacular, the Christmas Celebration, Bands, Brew, & BBQ, Viva La Musica and Summer Nights throughout the year. This fire pit was a new addition to the waterfront stage area. There is a lot of amazing food here, but we'll get back to that soon enough... This is after all known as Bands, Brew, & BBQ! For those interested in the Brew side of things, there's this fantastic option to sample ten craft brews from along the waterfront. You get this awesome little badge that gives you the chance to enjoy some fine beer! And perhaps some cider too... Yes. We do like bands. We do like BBQ. But we especially like Brew! Some of the great breweries in Florida have brought their beers to Bands, Brew & BBQ! And without question, the food here is very popular too! And with food this good, why wouldn't it be? If there's one thing we learned from Delgrosso's, it is just how important THE SAUCE can be for a theme park. Here I am eating a bacon wrapped jalapeño. Moments later my face turned raspberry red and steam blew out of my ears and nose. We love Shamu! This weekend's lineup is sure to be extremely popular! This was almost an hour and a half before the concert was set to start. It wouldn't be a SeaWorld event without some live animal ambassadors present! And how could you have a BBQ event at SeaWorld without some of SeaWorld's own fabulous ribs? More great brew too! It goes without saying, we really, really love Bands, Brew, & BBQ! And we'll definitely be coming back for this year's event is over!

https://www.universalorlando.com/Events/Mardi-Gras/Live-Concerts.aspx

http://www.miamitodaynews.com/2014/01/15/can-zoo-theme-park-dinosaur-attraction-wed/

http://kiwaradio.com/local-news/arnolds-park-amusement-park-working-on-two-major-renovation-projects/

http://www.meadvilletribune.com/local/x1724067702/State-asks-county-court-for-more-time-to-review-Conneaut-Lake-Park-records/print

http://www.constructionweekonline.com/article-26212-ski-dubai-to-snowball-into-other-countries/#.Uuwa6nn5Eas