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Industry News:
---- THE LATEST INDUSTRY NEWS ----
(5/20/2025) NEON Confirms Next Harry Potter Attraction Is Opening in Mexico City
(5/14/2025) National Roller Coaster Museum Confirms That They Have Saved All Four Coaster Cars
(5/10/2025) Greenloop Online Conference Is Coming This Week
(4/30/2025) National Roller Coaster Museum Needs Help To Secure Four New Car Donations
(4/26/2025) Who's Ready To Go Below the Surface For an Underwater Museum and Escape Rooms?
(4/26/2025) "greenloop" 2025 Sustainability Online Conference Set For Next Month
Theme Park Attendance Reports - (10/30/2024) Blooloop has posted a breakdown of the Top 25 most attended theme parks across the world based on their overall 2023 year attendance records, along with a growth comparison as to how they performed in 2022.
(8/19/2024) TEA/AECOM have released the 2023 Theme Index Report, collecting valuable attendance data from theme parks, museums and other attractions around the world. Follow the link to find the latest data from last year (2023) as well as links to reports going back as far as 2006. The nice thing about the 2023 report data is that finally the direct impact from the pandemic is “firmly in the past”, resulting in numbers across the globe that are more reflective of the way things were in 2019 and before. As a result, the reports from 2020 through 2022 froze the “ranking” of parks by attendance due to the pandemic, but the 2023 report also brings back the ranking process.
With that in mind, Disney is clearly ranked once again as the top theme park operator in the world, with over 142 million guests passing through their gates in 2023. China’s Fantawild Group comes in second with 85.6 million, followed by Merlin in 3rd (62.1million) and Universal in 4th with 60.8 million. China’s Chimelong Group and Happy Valley Group take the #5 and 6 spots, but are trailing far behind Universal with 36 million and 35.7 million, before we come back to the US for Cedar Fair at #7 with 26.7 million and Six Flags at #8 with 22.2 million, followed closely by United Parks (formerly SeaWorld) in #9 with 21.6 million then Parques Reunidos at $10 with 19.3 million. It’s worth mentioning that going forward, Six Flags and Cedar Fair reporting will eventually be merged, so if you merge the data from 2023 the combined pair would have an attendance of 48.9 million, putting them in the #5 spot right behind Universal.
Some of the biggest attendance gainers in 2023 would go to park’s in China that were slower to recover from the pandemic, such as Chimelong Ocean Kingdom (up 184.5%), Zigong Fantawild Dino Kingdom (up 177.9%) or Shanghai Disneyland (up 164.2%). In fact, most parks saw gains in 2023, with the two Universal parks in Orlando both seeing losses of about 9.3% each. I would expect to see that trend continue in 2024 as well, as many are likely delaying visits until 2025 when the Universal Orlando resort opens their new Epic Universe theme park.
There is so much information in the report, broken down between the various attraction types and location in the world, that these reports are an invaluable resource that you can spend hours pouring over the data as needed.
  General News - (5/14/2025) Great news from the National Roller Coaster Museum today… they have now successfully raised the needed funds in order to preserve and save the coaster cars from Kingda Ka, Nighthawk, La Vibora and Time Warp.
Coaster fans are invited to attend the “Back To The Museum” event on July 26th where they can get up close and personal with all four of them.
(5/10/2025) Just a reminder that the Greenloop online conference from Blooloop will be taking place this week on May 13 and 14th. This is the fifth year of the conference that features presentations from a number of industry experts from around the world. The complete list of speakers and schedule of presentations can be found here and includes a number of speakers from Walt Disney Imagineering and the SSA Group as well as staff from WhiteWater West, the Shedd Aquarium, a number of Zoos and Natural History museums groups, as well as numerous industry design and sustainability groups.
Tickets to attend the online conference start out at just £10 so follow the link and check it out!
(4/30/2025) The National Roller Coaster Museum and Archives is looking for a little help. This sort of goes hand-in-hand with the fact that we’ve lost a large number of roller coasters this year, but hey’ve been able to make agreements to preserve four different roller coaster cars this year.
Kingda Ka from Six Flags Great Adventure
Nighthawk (formerly Stealth) from Carowinds (formerly California’s Great America)
La Vibora - Six Flags over Texas
And Time Warp - Canada’s Wonderland
The problem is that they need a little financial assistance to get each of these cars from their respective parks to the museum. The cost of shipping each car is said to be up to $5,000, but if you are willing to donate, you can choose which of these vehicles you which to find a forever-home in the museum. If you donate over $100, you’ll get your name or company name put on display at the exhibit.
(4/26/2025) The annual “greenloop” event from blooloop, about sustainability and green initiatives within the attractions community is set to take place online on May 13 and May 14, 2025. You can find out more about who will be presenting at the online event and how you can virtually attend by visiting the official event page here.
(4/25/2025) Last month we reported how the Gaylord Texan resort had teamed up with Warner Bros. Discovery Global Experiences to launch the first DC Comics themed “Universe of Light” walk-through attraction this summer.
Now Blooloop reports that not only will you be able to see the new Universe of Light attraction in Texas, but also at three more of the Gaylord Resorts around the USA this summer. Look for it to open at the Gaylord Palms in Orlando, FL and Gaylord Opryland in Nashville, TN, starting on May 23rd through Sept. 1st. It will also open at the Gaylord Rockies (Colorado) on May 24th.
(4/16/2025) Blooloop has posted a great article going over all the winners of the 31st Annual Thea Awards which were celebrated at the TEA INSPIRE event that took place last month. Some interesting awards of note include the Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man at Universal’s Islands of Adventure being given the Thea Classic Award.
We all know just how amazing the Spider-Man attraction is, so why is this interesting? Simply because the Thea Classic Award goes to the attractions “that have stood the test of time”. I don’t know about you, but suddenly I feel a little older, because at first it just doesn’t seem that long ago that Spider-Man came along and just blew the entire world away with a genuinely cutting edge attraction concept unlike anything we had ever seen before. And that was back in 1999… 26 years ago. Even today, Spider-Man still sets the bar for what an amazing dark ride experience can be like, though having seen Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiement and Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry in a preview of Universal’s new Epic Universe theme park, I’d say that Spider-Man is likely to be unseated as champ next year.
Other awesome winners include the new Aquascope waterpark in France at Futuroscope, the cute Star Wars themed BDX Droids from Walt Disney Imagineering, the Chimelong Spaceship attraction in China, The Sphere in Las Vegas, Voltron Nevera at Europa Park, Fantasy Springs at Tokyo DisneySea and many others, so make the jump over to check them all out.
(4/3/2025) With the 2025 theme park season upon us, it isn’t just all about roller coasters. Sure, I do love roller coasters quite a bit, but another thing I think we all enjoy are really well themed attractions. Not just dark rides, but themed roller coasters count too, and even well done walk-through attractions… there is nothing quite like feeling like you’ve been transported to another world for a new adventure.
With that in mind, I broke down what I think will be the Top 25 Best New Themed Attractions that should open in 2025 with our friends at Blooloop. Follow the link to check it out and see if your most anticipated new attraction made the cut!
(3/30/2025) Have you heard about Beat The Bomb? I know I had not until today, but a fantastic article about a new interactive experience that is slowly growing within the US market was posted to Blooloop this past week that reveals all the secrets.
In short, Beat the Bomb is described as a sort of real-world video game style experience where you are put into a team to solve a variety of puzzles and challenges, against a clock, in order to get to the final room where your team races to disarm a ‘bomb’ before it explodes all over you. Now, it’s not a real bomb in terms of fire and concussive force, but instead this bomb will go off and cover you all with paint, foam or slime.
Beat the Bomb started off their first small location in Brooklyn in 2017 but starting in 2022 they began to expand and have since grown to have seven locations, with more said to be on the way. Currently locations include Atlanta, Charlotte, DC, Houston, Philly and the newest one opening in Devenber on April 4th.
As I’m currently located just outside the Charlotte area, I’ll definitely have to look into this one… now to find a team willing to be blown up…
(3/22/2025) If you’re a fan of animal exhibits at Aquariums and Zoos, then Blooloop has posted a great list of 15 new major exhibits opening at attractions around the world in 2025 and a peek at some major projects already in the pipeline, set to open in 2026 and beyond.
Some major projects included on the list include the 3 acre Tropical Forests exhibit at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, the 2-acre Congo Falls habitat at the San Antonio Zoo, the 13-hectare Rainforest Wild Asia in Singapore and Elephant Valley at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.
(3/1/2025) Looking ahead to 2025… I’ve made a list of the 12 most exciting new roller coasters that should open in 2025… and a list of 12 more that may or may not open in 2025 to rival them. Check out the list to see if you most anticipated rides made the list, or if you might want to wait another year.
(2/24/2025) Cinemark, a US based movie-theater chain that currently features nearly 500 different locations across the US and Latin America is now expanding their entertainment efforts into an entire new venture called GAMESCAPE.
The very first GAMESCAPE location has just opened in the El Paso, TX area and will serve as the prototype for them to learn and experiment with this new entertainment complex concept. The site is 67,000 sqft and offers an 18-lane bowling alley, a full restaurant and bar, climbing walls, a ropes course, an arcade, laser tag, and keeping things close to what they know, it is also home to seven theater auditoriums, some of which feature D-BOX motion seats.
Right now GAMESCAPE sort of sounds like a fusion between a modern FEC center and a MultiPlex theater, which perhaps may be the most telling point here. It has been no secret that business for the theater chains has been soft since the pandemic, and perhaps one the biggest things Cinemark may be trying to learn is how they might be able to convert some under-performing locations into something new that may be more profitable.
(2/7/2025) For years now, if you wanted a taste of Butterbeer, a fictional beverage from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, you typically had to journey to one of the Universal Studios theme parks to try the original creation, and I believe an alternate version was also being offered at the WB Studio Tour / Making of Harry Potter attractions in the UK and Japan, and I believe they also offer a version at the Harry Potter New York store location.
According to SlashFilm, a whole slew of official Harry Potter branded “Butterbeer” flavored snacks will soon arrive on store shelves near you. This will include Butterbeer flavored Hershey Kisses, Butterbeer Keebler Fudge Stripes cookies, Butterbeer Goldfish crackers and Butterbeer flavored bags of Skinny Pop popcorn, and if you visit China you might also spot Butterbeer flavored Pocky.
This is all part of a promotion from Warner Bros. studio who has derailed March 1 to May 31st to be “Butterbeer Season”. I don’t know about the rest, but I’ll be keeping my eyes open for the Kisses and Fudge Stripe versions in March.
(1/31/2025) After a lot of thought, it finally hit me that Universal Orlando has really been doing one major thing right since 1999 when they opened Islands of Adventure. As a way to keep the lines moving quickly, as well as secure all loose objects, they wisely decided to put a free locker system in place at most of their major thrill rides. The nature of the system has changed over the years, and new versions added and upgraded as new rides were added and time has gone on, but the concept is still the same.
So on this I had to ask, shouldn’t all ride lockers be free to use at all theme parks by now?
Follow the link to read more about this concept, who else has started using it, and who really needs to join in.
(1/28/2025) Just a public service message, but over the last 20 years you may have heard something about having a “REAL ID” in the United States. Yes, this one goes back to the fallout from 9/11 and the rise Homeland Security affecting your ability to enjoy air travel. The idea was that the 50 various states had created something of a mess when it comes to having a truly valid form of idea that the federal government felt was secure enough in various ways.
To be honest, this is true, as each state had the ability and freedom to create their own state IDs that were all to be accepted across the United States, mostly taking the form of a Drivers License. Rather than the Federal Government just stepping up to create a true national ID program that could be used by all the states, they simply set forth to create the concept of the “REAL ID” program, which includes a series of security measures that every state ID program must comply with going forward.
I don’t think any of these actually rolled out until maybe 8 to 10 years ago, but rather than make them the official replacement for your Drivers License ID, ensuring that everyone would smoothly transition over to the new system, instead these REAL ID were offered as a sort of upcharge option, without a lot of clarification about how to get one and what it was for. Even worse, since it cost a little more when renewal time came, and required an in person visit to your local DMV, most people took the easy and painless way out and requested a mail-in renewal.
The problem now is this… after years of delaying it, plus several more years caused by the pandemic, the TSA is now ready to enact the final purpose of the REAL ID, as a required form of ID if you wish to travel by airplane and depart from any of the nation’s commercial airports. According to the website, the official deadline to have your real ID is now May 7th, 2025. Oh… you also have to have a REAL ID if you plan on visiting certain Federal facilities as well… but let’s be honest. Most people are just going to need them to fly somewhere.
Now… if you’ve traveled internationally and currently have a valid Passport, you actually do not need a REAL ID, as you can show your passport instead, which is good for air travel anywhere in the world. The REAL ID is only recognized for air travel within the 50 United States and US Territories (Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands).
So the bottom line is, if you were planning on going on vacation this summer and don’t yet have a passport, you’ll have to check in with the website about how to get your REAL ID before your travel dates.
(1/23/2025) The 2024 season will go down in the history books as a time when a large number of amusement attractions either closed down for good, or were announced to be closing in the near future. Attractions from the top to the bottom of the chains were affected, with announcements from Disney parks, Universal parks, Six Flags, Cedar Fair and more. While some parks gave their fans some kind of advanced notice, unfortunately others did not, choosing to announce the closures after it was already too late.
Follow the link and read up on the details for everything we’ve lost and what is still to come.
(1/11/2025) Aardman Animation is now working with Spacetoon to expand the reach of their Shaun the Sheep character and introduce him to new audiences around the world. As part of this, Spacetoon will open a temporary themed Shaun the Sheep attraction in Qatar’s Lagoona Mall from Jan. 16 to Jan. 31, 2025.
(1/4/2025) In a world full of theme parks owned by chains that have been growing increasingly larger and larger due to mergers, there is something to be said for the persistent existence a true “family owned” theme park in today’s world. This week Blooloop has posted a fantastic list showcasing “17 of the world’s best family-owned theme parks”.
The list includes some parks you’ve probably heard of, like Europa-Park, Holiday World and Blackpool Pleasure Beach, but also a good number of park’s that you maybe haven’t heard of, or perhaps you never realized that they were family owned. Check it out!
(12/15/2024) Blooloop will be hosting an online-only Festival of Innovation event, featuring a very large collection of speakers. The collection of presenters come from a wide range of entertainment and technical disciplines ranging from theme parks, movie studios, museums and the creators at various technical solution houses. Follow the link to see the dates and list of speakers slated to present.
(12/6/2024) Here is a fun bit of trivia… if you’ve ever visited the Coke sponsored Club Cool at Epcot, the World of Coca-Cola attractions in Atlanta, or a few Coca-Cola Store locations like the one in Las Vegas, you may have had the opportunity to sample an odd beverage by the name, “Beverly”. The bitter tasting drink was created for the Italian market where it was introduced back in 1969… but in the US, it’s become something more of a rite of passage, as friends bring other unsuspecting friends to these attractions for the sole purpose watching them try a taste of Beverly for the first time.
If you’ve never tried Beverly, the taste is something you really won’t forget, but it also seems to write itself into everyone’s memory a little differently, because if you ask a group of people to describe the taste of it, you’re going to get a lot of different answers. For me, it’s like someone mixed a tiny taste of bitter ginger with the tastebud numbing nuclear winter of a White Claw, and then dropped in a heavy shot of carbonated wallpaper adhesive goop, and shook it all up just before you slam it.
Eewww…
I still find it shocking that it was popular in Italy. And I say that in the past tense on purpose, because many don’t realize that Beverly was retired as a drink in Italy in 2009! So what makes this even more funny is when you realize that Beverly is still made TODAY… but for the sole purpose of these taste test sampling stations. Otherwise, you can’t actually buy it anywhere in the world.
 (11/30/2024) While Screamscape has strived to showcase theme park news from around the globe, focusing in depth on water park attractions around the globe has been far more difficult due to just how many more there actually are, which has resulted in most of our coverage to be focused on North American properties. However, if you are curious about what the top attended waterparks are across Europe, the Middle East and Africa region of the world, Blooloop has actually posted a ranked rundown of the Top 10 waterparks in the EMEA by their attendance rankings over the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
The list includes a number of extremely popular waterparks that even I’m not very familiar with, including the #1 on the list, Therme Erding in Germany that served 1,860,000 guests in 2023 and in addition to 27 indoor and outdoor waterslides, it is home to the world’s largest thermal bath and spa complex.
(11/21/2024) The Blooloop 50 list for 2024’s Theme Park Influencers has been announced. The list contains a number of names many in the industry are sure to recognize, as well as a many more worth making note of for their own contributions. Give it a read and congratulations to all!
Internet Finds - (4/26/2025) One of the wildest new attraction concepts I’ve heard in quite some time is on the way to a quarry in Wales. According to Blooloop, Scuba Scape is planning to open an “underwater museum” as well as underwater “escape rooms” that will be created below the surface of a flooded slate quarry in Gwynedd, North Wales. Diving is already underway at the site for those who are scuba certified, but the plan is to open up the experience to those without any diving experience at all through the use of some more modern and sophisticated diving technologies that will allow guests as young as 10-years old to safely experience the submerged museum and escape room experiences.
(4/13/2025) Harry Potter: The Exhibition has just announced that they will open up their latest attraction in Milan, Italy this summer. They don’t have an opening date yet, but they will begin to pre-sell tickets starting on April 14th, where you should be able to select the date of your visit.
(3/30/2025) Harry Potter: The Exhibition has confirmed that your last day to visit the Boston location will be on April 27th. After that crews will being taking it down and prepping it all to move to a new home in Salt Lake City, Utah where it will open on May 24th. Advanced tickets for Sale Lake City are already on-sale at the official website.
On the international side of things, other touring versions of the exhibit are currently open in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and new exhibits are set to open in Melbourne, Australia on April 4th and
Krakow, Poland on April 11th.
(3/24/2025) Roller Coaster fans… now if the time to let your voices be heard. USA TODAY’s 10 BEST voting machine has turned its gaze upon your favorite pastime and is looking for everyone to cast your vote for which roller coaster in the BEST in the USA in 2025 from a list of 19 nominees. Why 19? I dunno… if I had to guess, they may have gone off an old list and still had Kingda Ka in there until someone pointed out that it was just imploded last month!
So your list of 19 nominees to vote for includes:
ArieForce One - Fun Spot Atlanta
El Toro - Six Flags Great Adventure
Fury 325 - Carowinds
Giant Dipper - Santa Cruz Beach Boardswalk
Goliath - Six Flags over Georgia
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind - Epcot
Iron Gwazi - Busch Gardens Tampa
VelociCoaster - Islands of Adventure
Lightning Rod - Dollywood
Mako - SeaWorld Orlando
Pantheon - Busch Gardens Williamsburg
Pantherian - Kings Dominion (formerly Intimidator 305)
Phantom’s Revenge - Kennywood
Phoenix - Knoebels
Ravine Flyer II - Waldameer Park
Steel Vengeance - Cedar Point
The Voyage - Holiday World
Time Traveler - Silver Dollar City
Wildcat’s Revenge - Hersheypark
On a related note, they currently have four other theme park polls going on right now that you can vote in as well.
Best Theme Park
Best Theme Park Restaurant
Best Theme Park Hotel
Best Theme Park Entertainment
(3/16/2025) Just a reminder to be aware of the quality of the attractions at the park you are visiting, especially when visiting a foreign country. A video posted online shows an accident took place on a swing ship style ride in Chennai, India, when a piece of theming meant to resemble a crow’s nest mounted to the center of the swinging ship failed in mid-ride, dropping onto two of the riders, sending them to a local hospital to treat their injuries.
(3/15/2025) This is probably a lot of people’s worst nightmare, but about 20 riders became stuck in the air earlier this week when the Star Towers ride at a small carnival in Erin, Tennessee broke down in mid-ride. From the look of things, the Star Tower is a similar concept to the Star Flyer, where riders sit in swing style seats attached by chains that swing about a very tall tower. The riders became stuck at about 8:45pm at night and when the first rescue trucks arrived, they determined that their 75 foot ladder truck was not tall enough to reach them, so they called in for backup, which included a rescue truck with a 100 foot tower from a nearby county that began the nearly 3-hour process of bringing them all back down to Earth.
(2/19/2025) MediaMation Entertainment, LLC has announced the acquisition of the assets of MediaMation, Inc. (MMI), the designer of motion simulation hardway and technology. This includes the the MX4D Motion EFX theater brand, which I believe was used at the Kennedy Space Center with the creation of the Flying Theaters inside the new Gateway attraction in 2022.
MediaMation Entertainment was launched by Daniel and Alison Jamele, the original co-founders and shareholders of MediaMation, Inc (MMI). You can learn more about the merged company on their official website.
(2/15/2025) Disney theme park fans may be interested to know that a new documentary may be coming out in the near future that peeks behind the curtain and takes a look into a hidden dark ride of Disney fandom. The documentary is called Stolen Kingdom and it takes a look into the murky waters involving the strange disappearance of certain pieces of Disney theme park history, and a “clandestine world of extreme Disney collectors” along with urban explorers who travel behind the scenes into Disney’s magical theme park worlds. When they come back… sometimes they bring found items as trophies of the experience.
According to the article on Forbes about Stolen Kingdom, a key piece of the plot will involve the now missing animatronic figure of Buzzy who was once the star of the long-closed Cranium Command attraction at Epcot. In late 2018, Buzzy went missing, so it is fair to say that Stolen Kingdom may uncover a bit of the mystery about what may have happened to Buzzy and certain other missing pieces of Disney theme park history from over the years.
(2/4/2025) Falcon’s Creative has posted a new episode of their Experience Imagination podcast. This latest episode features “theme park legend and co-founder of Universal Creative, Bob Ward” along with a lengthy post about Bob’s long career in the industry.
(2/3/2025) Fans of Walt Disney may recall that one of Walt’s major inspiration for building Disneyland came when he would take his daughters to ride a carousel at a park, and while sitting to the site waiting for them, he thought that maybe someone should build a park where parents and their kids could enjoy attractions together.
That carousel was the Griffith Path Merry-Go-Round and it has been sitting closed since 2022, as the ride was in need of restoration and repairs. Since then, little if anything has been done to reopen it. Rumors say the costs to repair the carousel have risen to extremely high levels and with no one having the resources to pay to fix it, the carousel is in danger of fading away for good.
(2/1/2025) In a rather dramatic moment, the huge steel-structured lift hill of the MegaZeph roller coaster that was still standing at the former Six Flags New Orleans park came crashing down yesterday. You can see the dramatic video clip below. An assortment of other demolition pictures from the park have also been posted by the same source, Korver Demolition, which you might appreciate seeing as well.
(1/31/2025) A great breakdown of the history of themed attraction developments we’ve seen rise in Abu Dhabi over the years has been posted to Forbes. The article details how the mostly empty Yas Island area has now become the Orlando of the UAE, featuring a rising number of popular family attractions and parks, all shaped by the guiding hand of Miral.
The start of the article also mentions an interesting item… Miral says that they are now putting “AI” at the heart of their expansion strategy. They are using AI to transform the way they design their parks and attraction concepts going forward.
(1/27/2025) The Age of the Smartphone has definitely had an impact on today’s theme park experience, both from a user standpoint as well as causing a lot of worrisome conversations amongst theme park designers. After all, if a good percentage of your guest’s faces are endless plastered to their phone screens at any given free moment while not on an attraction, then is there a reason to try so hard to entertain them with fantastic theming, characters, music and colorful imagery?
How does that old saying go? If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to see it, does it still make a sound? Logic says yes, but if your guests are too busy chatting with someone else miles away on SnapChat rather than soaking in the environment of the park… well… you see my point. I don’t even want to starting discussing the people running around with airpods hanging off the sides of their heads all day long…
With that all in mind, an interesting article has been posted to Blooloop this week that approaches the concept of how parks can better handle the issue of phones in theme parks by some strategies to incorporate them into the experience. There are lots of interesting ideas pitched, even ones for those who wall themselves off from the world with their airpods. Some concepts may find more success than others, but as they point out, phones can either “be a distraction or an opportunity”.
(1/18/2025) The winners of the 2024 Blooloop Innovation Awards have been announced and posted, following the end of the online Festival of Innovation event that took place on Jan. 15 - 16, 2025. Follow the link and check out the long list of winners, many of which include some really unique projects that you may not have even heard about yet.
(1/17/2025) A great read about 13 popular industry trends to keep an eye on in the attractions industry has been posted to Blooloop this week that is worth checking out. This goes beyond industry mantra-like buzz-words like making things more immersive or family friendly, but also points out increasingly popular concepts like accessibility, a rising depand for more overnight concepts, the increasing popularity of Horror themed attractions, and how AI might be incorporated into it all in new ways.
(1/12/2025) Just a reminder, Blooloop will present the Innovation Showcase at The Festival of Innovation as an online event taking place Jan. 15 - 16th. You can learn more and register for free by visiting the official event website.
(1/5/2025) Pursuit Attractions, the company behind the “Flyover” brand of Flying Theaters with locations in Vancouver, Iceland, Las Vegas and Chicago, has announced that they have closed on a deal to purchase the Jasper SkyTram attraction, located in Canada’s Jasper National Park, in a deal worth $23.7 million Canadian ($17 million US).
“Pursuit has a long-standing history of delivering exceptional guest experiences throughout the Canadian Rockies. Together with the experienced Jasper SkyTram team, we look forward to finalizing our plans to invest in the refresh and renewal of this important Jasper landmark,” said David Barry, President and Chief Executive Officer, Pursuit. “As we enter 2025, we will continue to work closely with the community, Parks Canada and our tourism partners to ensure Jasper’s thoughtful and sustainable growth.”
(11/9/2024) Taking the rumor mill into consideration… and pondering the idea that Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure just might take its last ride this weekend, then who will take the record for having the fastest roller coaster in the world?
Currently, Kingda Ka regained the record for being the fastest coaster in the world (128mph) when Formula Rossa at Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi (149.1mph) closed for unknown reasons in early 2024 and has yet to reopen. By default, if Kingda Ka closes then the record would have gone to Top Thrill 2 at Cedar Point at 120mph, but sadly that transformation of the former Top Thrill Dragster coaster lasted only about 3 weeks before being shut down for technical issues and it too has yet to reopen and based on current rumors, it may not reopen in 2025 either.
So what’s next? Would you believe that the next in line would be Red Force at Ferrari Land in Spain, which features a 111.8mph launch. After that would be Superman: Escape from Krypton at Six Flags Magic Mountain, which opened as Superman: The Escape, with a 100mph launch way back in 1997 as the world’s fastest coaster. Over the years however, there are many who claim that Superman fails to reach that speed anymore, and there is a tie for the next two speed demons, with both Fury 325 at Carowinds (NC/SC) and Steel Dragon 2000 at Nagashima Spa Land (Japan) both claiming to reach a top speed of 95mph.
Beyond that, the list reads like a greatest hits list from Cedar Fair theme parks starting with Millennium Force at Cedar Point (93mph), Leviathan at Canada’s Wonderland (92mph) and Orion at Kings Island (91mph) and then Pantherian (formerly Intimidator 305) at Kings Dominion (90mph).
Waiting in the wings however is Falcon’s Flight, a new steel coaster currently under construction at Six Flags Qiddiya in Saudi Arabia, will has been planned to achieve a record-breaking 155.3mph. The earliest we may see Falcon’s Flight open however may be late 2025, and quite possibly not until 2026, so if this really is the end for Kingda Ka, then the crown would go to Red Force… at least until Ferrari World is able to reopen Formula Rossa.
IAAPA - (11/9/2024) For those keeping track, the annual IAAPA Orlando Expo will be taking place from Nov. 19 to Nov. 22, 2024. It has become a normal thing for parks and attraction developers to save some of their big announcements for the year to take place during the IAAPA trade show, so I thought it might be nice to list a few pending announcements that are already scheduled that week. This won’t be a complete list by any means, but these are some of the ones we know of so far that may involve major attractions or the unveiling of new attraction technology.
Brogent Technology, a force behind many media based attractions and flying theaters, will be hosting a press conference at their booth on Nov. 21 at 11am where they are set to reveal a new model of their “s-Ride” that will offer a “unique riding position” for the flying theater experience.
Extreme Engineering is announcing their ‘next chapter’ on Nov. 19 at 4:50pm.
Falcon’s Beyond says they have a major announcement to make about the growth of the company on Nov. 19 at 4pm.
Triotech will be holding a press conference on Nov. 19 at 3:30pm to unveil a large new IP based project they are working on.
VidantaWorld will be announcing something about the future of the their BON Luxury Theme Park in Mexico with a presentation featuring the Exec Vice-Chairman of Cirque do Soleil and the VP of Sales & Marketing from Vekoma and the CEO of Mack Rides on Nov. 19 at 12:45pm.
(9/24/2024) IAAPA has announced that the first IAAPA Expo Middle East will take place in Abu Dhabi from March 30 through April 2, 2026 at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre.
LEGACY ENTERTAINMENT - (3/10/2025) Legacy Entertainment reports that they are now working with Taman Safari, an owner of nine parks and four safari resorts across Indonesia. The deal will see Legacy create a new master plan as well as the design of some next-generation experiences and attractions, with a focus on updating the chain’s original park, Taman Safari Bogor.
The park opened in 1986 and while it has grown over the years, the growth was done rapidly to fit the growing needs of the park, but without an overall “unifying vision” to tie all the experiences together. The goal will be to implement next-generation designs to the Safari attraction with new storytelling that will “put the spotlight back on the animals at Taman Safari Bogor.”
More details are expected to be announced later this year.
(6/3/2024) Legacy Entertainment has been announced as the lead designer for the upcoming Beijing Haichang Ocean Park. The new marine themed park was first announced back in 2023 and is now expected to open in 2027, drawing an estimated 3.5 million visitors annually. Operated by the Haichang Ocean Park group, the park is intended to ‘strengthen the Beijing Sub-Central Cultural Tourism Zone, already home to Universal Studios Beijing.”
Over the last decade, the Legacy Entertainment team has been responsible for the design of several of the world’s most celebrated Aquariums and Oceanariums. Among these are The Sea Shell at VinWonders Phu Quoc in Vietnam, and the recently-opened Chimelong Spaceship, which currently holds seven world records. Legacy has previously collaborated with Haichang on the design of their flagship park in Shanghai. The 5 billion RMB park, which opened in 2018, has received a wide array of awards and accolades since its debut in 2018, including being named “China’s Best Theme Park” by numerous organizations.
NEON / Victory Hill - (5/20/2025) NEON has confirmed that Harry Potter: Vision of Magic will next arrive in Mexico City!
(4/6/2025) NEON has confirmed that they will open the latest edition of their Jurassic World: The Experience attraction in Singapore at the Cloud Forest at Gardens by the Bay on May 29, 2025. Like NEON’s other Jurassic World traveling experiences, it will feature a large number of animatronic dinosaurs as you pass through the themed exhibit space as if you were in a movie set.
But in most cases, the full background scenery has to be created by NEON, but hosting the attraction inside the Cloud Forest at Gardens by the Bay which already features a lush tropical landscape will only take the look and feel of the experience to the next level.
If the site sounds familiar, you may recall that an Avatar: The Experience was also placed here for a time in 2023 and saw much success. Follow the link to learn more about this latest attraction.
(12/23/2024) It has been confirmed that NEON’s Jurassic World: The Exhibition will be arriving next to Bangkok, Thailand sometime in Q2 of 2025, according to the official website. There will be a slight name change when it arrives, as the exhibit will now be known as Jurassic World: The Experience in Thailand.
Currently NEON is running Jurassic World attractions at four different locations around the world: Switzerland (though March 2025), Mexico (Ending Jan 12, 2025) , UK (Ending Jan 5, 2025) and Australia (through to at least Feb. 10, 2025). I can only assume that one of the existing tours slated to end soon will be relocated to Thailand, most likely the Australia version if for no other reason than it being the closest proximity to Thailand.
On a related note, Neon’s other very popular traveling exhibit, Harry Potter: Vision of Magic appears to be ending their run in Brussels, as the official website only shows tickets available through to Jan. 5, 2025. It isn’t known yet where that exhibit will travel to next.
(11/6/2024) NEON has announced that their new Harry Potter: Vision of Magic attraction will be ready to open at Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore on November 22, 2024. This latest edition of the “Harry Potter: Vision of Magic” product is bigger than the initial version that is currently touring Europe and in Belgium, with the new Singapore version feature two entirely new environments, including an experience about the “whispers of Parseltongue” in the Chamber of Secrets and a series of rooms protecting a legendary treasure behind The Trap Door. Visit the official site to make your reservation to visit.
Netflix - (6/22/2024) The decline of the American brick-and-mortar retail market may end up being Netflix’s gain! What… wait? Netflix is to benefit and not just Amazon? That is starting to look to be the case, as Netflix has announced they will open new “Netflix House” immersive entertainment centers inside shopping malls in Texas and Pennsylvania in 2025. Netflix will build their new Location Base Entertainment (LBE) attractions inside former retail store venues at the King of Prussia mall in Pennsylvania and the Galleria in Dallas, Texas.
According to Blooloop, the Netflix House attractions will provide immersive experiences that will be regularly updated, as well as offering retail and food offerings that will tie into the themes of your favorite Netflix programs as well. Up until now Netflix has opened a number of limited time Netflix House themed experiences in 25 different cities across the world, offering a range of experiences themed to Netflix IP hit series such as Brigerton, Stranger Things, Squid Game, Knives Out, Army of the Dead, Money Heist and more. These latest two sites will be on a grander scale, taking up residence inside former department store locations, “covering an area of more than 100,000 square feet.”
SONY - (1/11/2025) Sony has reported that they are planning on building an “immersive experience” attraction themed around the popular “The Last Of Us” Playstation video game and HBO/MAX series. Some visuals about the concept were said to be on display at Sony’s booth at the CES show in Las Vegas this past week.
According to a statement from the video game studio that created the universe, the immersive experience will be set within the “infected underground” of Seattle, that are used as a setting in The Last of Us Part II game. While they don’t go over more details about this upcoming project, I do wonder if we might see some of it used as an expansion of the Sony Wonderverse attraction that opened about a year ago in the Chicago area.
UBISOFT - (11/19/21) Storyland Studios and Ubisoft have announced the development of the first ever Ubisoft Entertainment Center will take place at Studios Occitanie Mediterranee on France’s Mediterranean coast, in 2025. This is supposed to be the first of many venues where guests can immerse themselves in the various worlds from Ubisoft games.
The first location will also be home to a film studio and feature many other entertainment and retail opportunities, and happens to also be “in the region of Montpellier, home of the Ubisoft studio that created our iconic characters Rayman and the Rabbids.” The attraction will feature some all new entertainment concepts as they push forward with all new gamification technology.
Also still in the works between Ubisoft and Storyland Studios are plans to eventually create a full scape Ubisoft theme park project. I think the development of this smaller attraction does represents a big step forwards to the goal of eventually opening a full scale park, but testing the waters of the various Ubisoft IPs, as well as being a creative sandbox to test out ways to interact with new innovative attraction concepts.
Warner Brothers Discovery - (9/6/2024) Is Warner Brothers looking to get back into the attraction’s biz? According to the latest update, the new “Warner Brothers Discovery” restructure has created a new global division to oversee ‘Experiences, Parks, Exhibitions and More”. The purpose is to bring all of the teams that oversee the various studios tours, touring attractions and location-based experiences all together into a single team.
The goal of this new “Global Experiences” team will be to strategically expand and pursue new business opportunities in order to capitalize on the brand’s various Intellectual Properties.
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