Reopening Dates Planned for Disney World and SeaWorld Orlando + First Cedar Fair Parks to Open

© Disney

Some major announcements came today with regard to parks reopening, the largest of which is Walt Disney World in Orlando starting to reopen on July 11th (pending final approval from Florida's Governor).  On that day both the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom will open, and a few days later on July 15th both Disney's Hollywood Studios and Epcot will welcome back guests.

The property has paused new ticket sales and hotel reservations in order to focus on guests with existing tickets and hotel plans - this includes annual passholders.  Guests will need to utilize a reservation system in order to visit the parks to control crowding - the park's attendance will be limited as expected.

The parks will hold off on holding shows, parades and fireworks for now, since these events create crowd gathering situations.  Face masks for anyone aged 3 and up will be required across the entire resort, except for when people are eating or swimming, and touchless temperature checks will be used.

Walt Disney World is a gigantic property, and arguably the largest park (set of parks) reopening that this country will see.  To that end everyone has a lot of questions about the property's 'new normal' so be sure to check out this site for some additional details.

© SeaWorld Entertainment

SeaWorld Orlando has also detailed their plans to reopen their park, which they hope to do on June 11th.  The park would like to hold an employee appreciation/test day on June 10th as well.

The park appears be waiting for final approval from the Governor until they update their website with official plans, however several sites are covering information from their presentation today.  The park will require guests aged two and a half and older to wear a mask, and will also utilize temperature screenings.  Interestingly, they do still plan to have parades though all guest interaction will be removed from them.

The reopening plans include Aquatica Orlando and Discovery Cove - all properties will have strict social distancing markers in place to keep guests spaced out.  That is an especially big concern for animal exhibits, where visitors commonly gather.

Expect to see more from the park with regard to their full plan as soon as they receive final approval.

© Cedar Fair

It also looks as though we have our first set of Cedar Fair parks to open, the recently purchased Schlitterbahn New Braunfels and Schlitterbahn Galveston.

No specific dates have been set yet for these two water parks to reopen, but the parks did post this today:

"We are pleased that Governor Abbott’s reopening plans now include waterparks. The safety of our guests and associates has always been, and will always be, our top priority.  Schlitterbahn is preparing to reopen our properties mid-June with enhanced safety measures and operational changes throughout both of our parks. We miss you and cannot wait to welcome you back to the Hottest, Coolest Time in Texas."

Unless another Cedar Fair park makes an announcement soon, it seems that these parks opening in "mid-June" could be the first for the company.

New Footage of Pandora: The World of Avatar Shows Impressive New Animal Kingdom Land

Disney World has started to give select media outlets tours of the all new Pandora: The World of Avatar expansion at Animal Kingdom.  Naturally this means that there has been a steady flood of new content posted from inside the land, and I must say it all looks very beautiful.

While the grand opening is still several weeks away (May 27th), we can now get a look inside Pandora.  If you're waiting to see the land in person, then obviously do not watch any of these videos as they are big spoilers!

The DIS filmed this daytime tour of Pandora, showing off the exotic plants and other features of the land.  The floating islands work perfectly in person, and from the film really look like they're hovering on their own.  The level of detail that can be found in the area is pretty top notch.

Pandora really comes alive at night, when the plants of the area reveal their bioluminescence for all to see.  This clip, also from The DIS, shows a look at parts of the expansion after the sun has set.  Lighting like this never looks as good on film as it does in person, so I think we're all in for a real treat considering how pretty it is in this clip.

Finally, the previews included rides on Pandora's two big attractions, Flight of Passage and the Na'vi River Journey.  Filming on Flight of Passage was not allowed, but it was on the Na'vi River Journey.  Seen above in a video from Inside The Magic, the slow moving boat ride takes passengers through a bioluminescent forest in the dark, and includes and encounter with a truly amazing looking animatronic at the end.

Can't wait to see more of Pandora once it opens, and hopefully in person before too long!

Disney Offers A New Peek Inside Pandora - The World of Avatar

© Disney

As a part of their annual Christmas special, Disney released some new footage taken both inside the new Pandora - the World of Avatar themed land, and also inside of of the attractions that will debut with it.  The new land will open later in 2017, and is so far along in the construction process that many floating mountains and other thematic elements can be seen from both inside and outside Animal Kingdom in Disney World.

The video shows a glimpse inside the Na'vi River Journey, a calm boat ride, that looks as beautiful in real life as in the concept art... but it's a quick view that leaves us hungry for more.  The video assures us that the ending of the ride features something special that will be unlike anything we've experienced before.  The video also has a quick look inside the giant theater that will hold Avatar: Flight of Passage, giving a view of the attraction's mechanics. 

Check out the full video, along with plenty of other details, below.

Pandora - The World of Avatar, Star Wars Land + More News from Disney World

© Disney

Today Disney Parks made a series of announcements that gave fans a closer look at some of the larger developments currently underway at the Disney World resort.

First, it was announced that Pandora - The World of Avatar at Animal Kingdom will open in the Summer of 2017.  Under construction for several years now, the land has made major progress with floating islands already in the sky above the park.

The above photo is of the just revealed entrance bridge to the themed area.  The Disney Park's Blog explains the story behind the look of the bridge, which fits in with the overall theme of the new land.

© Disney

Digging a bit deeper into Pandora - The World of Avatar, several new concept art images of food and retail buildings inside the land were released today.

Above is a look at the main dining location, Satu'l Canteen, which features Na'vi "art and cultural" items as decorations.  Other images show Windtraders, a large gift shop, and an outdoor drink location named Pongu Pongu.

© Disney

This concept art of the Star Wars themed land that is being built at Disney's Hollywood Studios was also released today, showing the land at night once the sun goes down.  It was also announced that a new "adventure" will be added to Star Tours - The Adventures Continue, to feature content from the upcoming Star Wars Episode VIII.

On a last note, it was also mentioned at a fan event today that Imagineering has been tasked with dreaming big for upcoming plans for Epcot - sounds good to me!

Animal Kingdom Project News + An Aerial Look at Avatar

Among the many updates we've featured this past week from the IAAPA Expo, there were some other tidbits worth covering as well in the greater industry.  Some of them come from a pair of news items from Disney's Animal Kingdom.

© Disney's Animal Kingdom

The theme park has provided some more details and new concept art (above) of Rivers of Light, an all new evening lagoon show taking place in the center of Animal Kingdom.

"In “Rivers of Light,” a pair of mystical hosts come to the river bearing gifts of light. During the show, the hosts set out from the shore on elaborate lantern vessels for a dramatic dance of water and light to summon animal spirits. With the storytellers as your guides, the wonders of “Rivers of Light” builds to a stunning crescendo."

Also as indicated in the concept art, the park's Tree of Life will be involved in the show - probably using some neat projection mapping technology.  The park shared a new video of the an interview with Joe Rhode about the show, offering additional details.

© Disney's Animal Kingdom

Last week Animal Kingdom also announced a brand new restaurant, named Tiffins, will open in 2016 as well.  The restaurant will serve both lunch and dinner to guests along the waterfront with indoor and outdoor seating - meals will be inspired by the various locations that are represented in the park.  The exact location of the restaurant in the park was not revealed in the announcement, but is rumored to be in the Southern portion of Discovery Island, which may give views of the new Avatar area.

Speaking of Pandora - The World of Avatar, Orlando Park Pass recently took a helicopter tour over Animal Kingdom and grabbed some images of both Rivers of Light and Pandora.  I highly recommend following this link to their update, which includes information on what's being done at the park.  The area is looking really good so far!

Disney Reveals Details on the 2nd of Pandora - World of Avatar's Major Attractions

As a part of the Japanese version of the D23 Expo, Disney released a new rendering and some additional details of the second major attraction for Pandora - The World of Avatar at Animal Kingdom.  The major ride that was announced earlier is the Avatar Flight Of Passage, a high tech simulator experience of flying through the lands of Avatar.

© Disney

The attraction that was detailed this past week is the Na'vi River Journey, concept art for which can be seen above - a larger version with more detail can be seen if clicked.  For those who aren't that Avatar familiar, the Na'vi are the blue extraterrestrial inhabitants of jungle-filled moon of Pandora.

This new attraction will have guests seated in a canoe for a peaceful trip down an "mysterious, sacred river" and through the bioluminescent forest that is depicted in the art above.  Guests will see all the beautiful glowing plants of Pandora, along with several of its inhabitants.  The finale of the ride is a meeting with the "Na’vi shaman, who has a deep connection to the life force of Pandora and sends positive energy out into the forest through her music."

I must admit I'm quite excited for this attraction, perhaps more so than the Avatar Flight of Passage simply because it is 'old school' in its presentation, featuring what appears to be immersive sets and perhaps even an animatronic character or two.  At least on the surface it seems to use no film related special effects, instead taking us through 3-D environments that look pretty gorgeous in the art.  I'm all for the use of digital technology in attractions, don't get me wrong, but it is a nice change of pace to see a large caliber ride like this employ more traditional dark ride methods.

We will still have to wait a while for our trip down the river, though, as Pandora - The World of Avatar won't open at Animal Kingdom until 2017.

Disney Announcement Overload From 2015 D23 Expo - Star Wars, Toy Story Land, + More

Last weekend's Disney D23 Expo proved to be an explosion of massive announcements for Disney theme parks across the country, much to the delight of the thousands of adoring fans in attendance.  Not too shabby for us on the interwebs, either.  Almost too much to take in at once, new rides and attractions were unveiled that have been underway for years, and won't open to guests for many more years.

Arguably the biggest news of the Expo presentation on Disney Parks was the long awaited announcement of Star Wars themed lands for both Disneyland and Disney's Hollywood Studios in Florida.

These pieces of concept art that were released show that Disney is most certainly going all-in on the Star Wars lands, both of which will come in at 14 acres - very large expansions to the parks.  Disney is creating an all new, previously unvisited trading planet, where everything will be Star Wars authentic down to the shopkeepers.  Make sure to click these pieces of art to see larger versions with more details.

Each of the new Star Wars areas will have two major attractions, one of which will put riders inside the famous Millennium Falcon, and another that puts us in the middle of a battle between the First Order and the Resistance.  The environments look as immersive as they come, meaning Disney plans to do these areas correctly and absolutely load them with details.  Unfortunately there was no mention of even a possible time frame for the lands to open, and rumors point to us waiting until around 2020 to step foot in them.

Disney's Hollywood Studios, currently a bit of 'the little park that could' will also see a massive addition named Toy Story Land.  It will be anchored by what appears to be a repositioned entrance to Toy Story Mania, which will be adding a third track for additional capacity.

Outside the ride will be an 11 acres expansion that shrinks visitors down to the size of toys where they will explore Andy's backyard.  The largest addition here will be a custom roller coaster that looks to have both a lift hill and a launch, with riders sitting in trains that are one giant slinky dog.

Also new to the land will be a pair of family spinner rides, themed to the little green aliens from the movies.  The area will be stuffed with over-sized props, food and retail locations and a purposely immersive theme that is said to be the future direction of the Studios parks.  No opening date was announced for this land.

Animal Kingdom was included in the announcements as well, though just with additional details given on previously announced attractions.  Here is some beautiful concept art for the park's new lagoon nighttime show, named Rivers of Light.  The show will feature "live music, floating lanterns, water screens and swirling animal imagery" that will combine to create a show unlike any other at a Disney park.

Animal Kingdom's famous Kilimanjaro Safaris will also be expanded to include to new animals - African wild dogs and hyenas.

Under construction for some time now, we finally have an official name for the new land at Animal Kingdom, Pandora: The World of AVATAR.  Other details, such as the name of the area's e-ticket ride, called AVATAR Flight of Passage, were also revealed.  Disney brought a giant model of the new area as well, showing off an incredibly details and dense land being created.

Also confirmed after being rumored for years, both Epcot and Disney California Adventure will premier Soarin' Around The World next year.  The new films for the super-popular Soarin' rides will feature some of the most famous sights around the world.

All concept art/photos are © Disney

Disney Shares Some of Animal Kingdom's Avatar Tricks in New Update

© Disney

Another small Avatar Land reveal has taken place, once more on the Disney Parks Blog.  The new Animal Kingdom development is under heavy vertical construction at this point, so I suppose it makes sense to give fans some more information on the project.

The above concept art is a bit of a puzzle when you first look at it, what helps is to take notice of the little blue people on the ground, which gives us some scale.  So with that help we can gather that these are the huge floating mountains we've heard about, which will tower over the area (and apparently support themselves using some faux vines).  As for what exactly the background structures are is unclear, though I think the focus of this piece of art is the flower and plants that will be found in Avatar Land.

Disney also released this video, which shows some of the amazing plants that Imagineers have created for Pandora... the bioluminescent flowers are beautiful.  Not to mention the floor that glows as guests will walk over it!  If one of the goals of the Avatar project is to keep guests in the park longer this will be a home run - everyone will pack the area once the sun goes down to see this stuff!

Read more details in the original post from Disney Parks.

New Aerial Perspective of Disney's Animal Kingdom Avatar Expansion

© Your Flying Camera via YouTube

It wasn't too long ago that we got our first aerial look at the development of the Avatar themed land under construction at Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park, but what a difference a month or so makes!

We first saw that plenty of foundations had been poured for buildings and other structures in the area, but now things have gone vertical, and quickly (this actually makes me wonder if the first batch of photos were from earlier in the fall).  The main building, which appears to hold four theaters for viewing the E Ticket simulator style ride, is growing quickly in newer shots.  An adjacent structure has had loads of concrete poured for a foundation, but hasn't been framed out much more than that.  Other smaller structures and concrete barriers (to be used for exactly what I am unsure) are also sprouting up.

The image above comes from a new video posted to YouTube, taken from an aerial drone video camera.  Make sure to click over to watch the video in high definition. 

The vertical construction is exciting, but I'm really interested in seeing the theming start to be applied to the Avatar area.  The concept art has me ready for some stunningly beautiful environments, and I can't wait to see that take shape!  We'll have to hold tight for probably another six months until the good stuff starts, though. 

New Aerial Photos Show Off Avatar at Animal Kingdom

© Disney

I have a feeling that Disney is hoping that the new Avatar based land at Animal Kingdom will be a secret weapon of sorts, an addition that really might stand up to Universal's Potter themed areas.  If the final product turns out like the concept art release thus far, some of which is above, it very well may be.

Details of the attractions in the creation of the film's Pandora include a big Soarin' style attraction and boat ride of some sort.  There's also no official opening date, but we're still at least two years out at a best guess.

What stirred this post was some fantastic new aerials photos that I noticed were posted to Themeparx, showing off current construction of the Avatar land.

A while back some plans for the attractions in the Avatar area were leaked, and it looks like they were spot on.  I took one of the aerial images and outlined what seems to match to these plans (image below it) perfectly in yellow.  You can clearly see the curved footers that will be needed for the seating mechanisms for the four separate theaters in the Soarin' style ride.  The adjacent building, which will have the boat ride pass through, can also be seen.

There's plenty of other structures underway in the area, including footers for what I would think could be the start of floating islands and the facade for the huge show building.  Things will be more interesting in the coming months as the structure are finished, and we get a better idea of how this will all come together!

"Rivers of Light" Nighttime Spectacular Coming to Animal Kingdom

This week Disney announced a new nighttime spectacular show - which was hinted at earlier - for Animal Kingdom, named Rivers of Light.

The show will take place on Discovery River each night in a location in between Expedition Everest and Discovery Island.  From the concept art the park released the show appears to take elements from many of the chain's popular nighttime shows, such as Fantasmic, World of Color, and the Paris Castle moat shows.  The official description for the show is short for now, revealing only that it will "combine live music, floating lanterns, water screens and swirling animal imagery."  There will be live performers as well, including some musicians.

No opening date for Rivers of Light has been announced, though it is expected to open before the Avatar themed section of the park in 2017.  Other recently announced entertainment for the park includes special ticketed Lion King shows in the new Harambe Theater and a night version of the park's famous Kilimanjaro Safaris.

Avatar Breaks Ground at Animal Kingdom

© Disney Parks

As a great follow up from the last story I posted about Camp Minnie Mickey closing at Animal Kingdom, the Disney Parks Blog has shared news of an official ground breaking for the Avatar themed land that took place this past week.

Seen above, park officials and the team behind the Avatar films use giant Na'vi themed shovels to mark the occasion - fitting as the new land will take visitors into Pandora to experience all the magic and mystery it has to offer.

Now that the dirt will start to fly on the new land, much more exciting updates are sure to come quickly.  There's still quite a length of time to wait before any guests step food in Pandora, and no official opening date as been released yet - but 2017 seems to be the rumored year for an opening.

Animal Kingdom Closes a Land for Avatar

The little land named Camp Minnie-Mickey, located in the lower left corner of Animal Kingdom theme park, has closed for good to make way for Avatar to eventually move in.  This is something that was expected, and considering that the area only existed because of larger budget cuts made ages ago, it is actually surprising that it made it this long.

Aside from cute little displays like the one above, really Camp Minnie-Mickey served as a place in the wildlife themed park to hold character meet'n'greets.  There was also the theater for the lively Lion King themed show that utilized old parade floats - honestly the popularity of that show probably helped the area hold on for so many years (15 or so if you can believe it!).

Fear not, though, as the Festival of the Lion King will return later this year in a brand new theater built in the more appropriately placed Africa section of the park.

With the Camp now a memory, Animal Kingdom can start the heavy lifting in order to get Avatar in the door.  There's really a ton of open space for the project - see above - Camp Minnie Mickey only took up a small portion of a rather large undeveloped area.  Fans of the park will remember that this area was once destined to become home to the Beastly Kingdom, a home for mythical animals that had a lot of us drooling.  In the end the mythical will find its way to the spot after all, just not how most folks assumed it would happen all those years ago!

Both Orlando Attractions Magazine and LaughingPlace have nice galleries up of the final days of both Camp Minnie Mickey and the Festival of the Lion King in its original home.

Another Look at Avatar at Disney's Animal Kingdom

After dropping new concept art and some details on the progress of Avatar at Disney's Animal Kingdom this past weekend, Disney has also released a new video that was shown at the D23 Expo in Japan.

In the video there are some new shots of the world of Pandora, including another majestic view above.  I can't wait to see how those floating islands turn out in reality, the area looks to have such potential thematically.

This image was also included, and is a night version of one of the art pieces released Friday night.  As you can see the designers are going full force to have this area be spectacular at night.  The bioluminescent plants that have been created for the area are also shown in a quick clip in the movie, and are as beautiful as you would expect.
 

While no firm details on the rides the Avatar land will have were released in the movie, they do show a clip of what is clearly a simulator styled ride, above.  The folks in the clip are standing, but I have a feeling that's just a part of the design process.  Rumors are that this specific ride will use technology similar to Soarin', only improved.

Check out the post from Disney here, and the full video below.

Disney Showing Off Plans for Avatar at Animal Kingdom

We first heard official news that Disney was working on an Avatar themed area at Disney's Animal Kingdom just around two years ago, can you believe it has been that long already?  With almost no detail on the project coming out since then, Disney has finally given fans a look at what they've been working on.

In time for the Disney D23 Expo currently being held in Japan, some information and these images were released of the Avatar plans so far.  Above is a general view of the mythical Pandora setting guests will find, complete with floating islands and unique plants and surroundings.  Impressive goes without saying if the actual area looks like this.

This photo of the current model of the land shows even more details of the lush setting.  If you click on the larger version you can see a more clear idea of how the land will really transport visitors to another world.  In the photo are (left to right) James Cameron, Tom Staggs, and Joe Rohde.

While the press for the announcement of these images does not detail too much of the area's attractions, it appears as though this shot is meant to show off an attraction where "guests discover what it feels like to soar into the sky riding a Banshee."  I would think this would be a simulator styled attraction, though I'm sure the technology behind it is well beyond the simulators of the past.

This shot looks like the rumored boat ride that explores the world of Pandora and it's amazing settings.  This one seems to match up with the description of visitors being able to "wander through a nighttime jungle of bioluminescent plants that are alive with light and sound."  I'm excited for a traditional, no thrills, Disney style boat ride to make a return to the parks!  No gimmick ride system I hope, just a high level of detail and theme.  Looks beautiful in art form, for sure.

This latest news also gives an early 2017 opening for the Avatar area, so we're still a rather long way off.

The announcement also included some changes for Disney's Animal Kingdom as well.  With such a major expansion the park will finally stay open later into the night, which means we can experience the park after dark.

A big addition will be a "new nighttime spectacular where live music, floating lanterns, water screens and swirling animal imagery all combine to bring a show to Discovery River," but there will also be live entertainment on Discovery Island and a "nighttime version" of Kilimanjaro Safaris.

All images © Disney

The Lion King Moves at Animal Kingdom - For Avatar?

© Disney

The popular show Festival of the Lion King will be moving to the Africa section of Disney's Animal Kingdom in 2014, the park has confirmed.

A brand new theater, designed much like the current one and expected the hold the same number of guests, will be built in the Western side of the Africa section, off a path leading from the Tusker House restaurant.  There are no major plans to change any of the show's content when it opens in its new home.  The park also isn't quite ready to say when the performance will move, or if there will be a period where the show is dark during the transition.

The current theater for the Festival of the Lion King is in Animal Kingdom's Camp Mickey-Minnie, which is said to be the future home of the Avatar land.  Really the entire land as it is contains a bunch of meet and greet areas, and the Festival theater.  Fans of the park have grown to love the show enough that they chose to build it a new home instead of retire it.

There has been some speculation that the Avatar project isn't moving forward with the steam that many thought it would have, and fans have had some seriously mixed reactions to the plan.  However, it seems like it could still be in the works since they're spending the cash to move the Festival show.  An interesting development, it will be even more interesting to hear more news of what Avatar may hold and see if the bulldozers start to roll in.

Avatar Themed Land Coming To Animal Kingdom

I always questioned if Disney World's real answer to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter was the Fantasyland expansion, which while great looking, never really compared equally for me.

Now, with a surprise announcement on the Disney Parks Blog, I think I see more clearly what Disney has planned to fight the good fight with the wizard:  Avatar and James Cameron.  They just announced a "long-term creative partnership" with Lightstorm Entertainment and Fox Filmed Entertainment, the creators and distributors of Avatar, to create theme park lands and attractions based on the film.

Avatar will take up home in its own land in Disney World's Animal Kingdom theme park, with construction possibly starting in 2013, and a potential opening of 2017 - so Avatar fans needn't book their flights to Florida quite yet.  An obvious question is whether or not the Avatar area will replace the land once destined to be Beastly Kingdom... another is if Joe Rhode, a lead designer of the entire park, is on board with the project.

While "Avatar Land" will first open at Animal Kingdom, that will be the first of several.  Tom Staggs, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, promises that the areas will be complete, including attractions, entertainment, shops, food and more as a fully immersive experience.

At first thought Animal Kingdom seems an unlikely place for the Avatar area, but if you consider the visuals of Pandora (the moon Avatar takes place on), like the shot above, it starts to work a bit better.  I still feel like there's a bit of a stretch in there, but according to the Disney Parks Blog "Animal Kingdom is a great fit for this project because it was created to give guests the opportunity to experience the worlds of animals and nature – real and mythical – in new ways. Disney’s Animal Kingdom also celebrates adventure, living in harmony with nature and environmental stewardship – themes that are deeply rooted in the story of AVATAR."

Avatar grossed an amazing $2.8 billion worldwide after its 2009 release.  There are currently two sequels planned to the film, creating a trilogy.  Those films are expected to be released in 2014 and 2015, so the films will still be quite relevant when the land opens.

Rejected Amusements: Discovery River Boats at Disney's Animal Kingdom

Editor's Note: I'm pleased to welcome a new series to NewsPlusNotes, Rejected Amusements.  In welcoming the series, I'd also like to extend a warm welcome to its author and a new memeber of the NPN team, Ryan.  Rejected Amusements will be taking a look at our favorite industries' unbuilt, altered, and short-lived amusement parks and attractions.  Rejection never felt so good! ~Mike

Opening with the park in 1998, Disney's Animal Kingdom's Discovery River Boats (also known as "Discovery River Taxi") provided up-close looks at animals and took guests on a leisurely trip around the park's Safari Village (later named Discovery Island). Along the way, riders were shown some smaller animals held by a trainer, who also gave a live speil about Discovery Island.

Primarily, the purpose of the boats was mainly transportation (from the Safari dock to the Asia dock, outlined in white on the map below), but the voyage also showcased some upcoming (now lost) Beastly Kingdom attractions. Near Camp Minnie-Mickey, a waterfall with dragon-shaped rockwork could be seen (yellow), while a fire-breathing dragon in a cave existed further down (green). Geysers were up ahead in Africa, but they wouldn't soak guests.

Coming from the Asia dock, riders could see a preview of the Asia-themed land (which would be debuting the following year), a static dinosaur statue (red) in the river, and some fountains (since removed). The boat storage and dry docks for the boats was placed behind the Theater in the Wild (blue).

In early 1999, with the park in need of more capacity, the attraction was given a Radio Disney River Cruise overlay. Instead of station-to-station travel, the boats now completed a round trip of the river. Animals no longer were a part of the cruise, and new speakers played pop music and pre-selected sound clips. Perhaps the most jarring change was a complete disregard to the realistic scenery surrounding the route (for example, the fire-breathing "rock dragon" was re-christened as a volcano in the tour audio).

By the end of 1999, the attraction was closed altogether. Long lines, as well as guest confusion over the nature of the attraction, led to the Discovery River Boat's early demise. Both docks are used as meet-and-greets in the park.

Weekly Rewind 7.17.10

Coaster club members should be interested in knowing that Valleyfair will hold their Coaster Craze event this Friday, July 23rd. The park will have plenty of ERT for guests, as well as a question and answer session with park management. Full details are available here.

Arnold's Park is holding an All American Memories Contest where you can submit your favorite park memories for a chance to win four tickets to the park. The contest will run all summer long so there's more than one chance to win! Read more and enter on Arnold's Park's website.

Cedar Fair has announced that they are going to be refinancing their current debt at the end of this month. Hopefully this will allow the company some breathing room in the coming years - breathing room that will allow for new capital expenditures we hope!

We already know that Busch Gardens Williamsburg is planning a large tower attraction for next year, but if you want to read the planning notes for the approval of the ride you can click here. There are no new details available, but it's still something to check out.

Check out this scene by scene description of Ariel's Undersea Adventure, currently under construction at Disney California Adventure. The Funland blog breaks down what riders will encounter along the way of what sounds like a great dark ride.

The Kilimanjaro Safaris at Disney's Animal Kingdom has always been a favorite attraction of mine, and soon guests will be able to experience it in a new way. The park will offer extra charge exploration tours of the Harambe Reserve in small groups. Details are still in the planning stages, but it sounds like a great experience.

Plans for a massive eco-theme park in Texas are still being kicked around, although no dirt has been moved yet. EarthQuest is to sit on 500 acres of land when it opens, potentially in 2013. The project has already been delayed, though, so I wouldn't book your plane tickets just yet.

Learn some more about the technical wizardry that went into creating Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey at Islands of Adventure with this article. The super high-tech ride is thrilling thousands of Harry Potter fans each day, and has received rave reviews.

Coaster101.com is holding another photo contest this year. Categories include Original Photo, Edited Photo, and Humorous Photo. Head over to their site to check it out and submit your snap shots.

In a few weeks the Kentucky State Fair will open without the use of the former Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom park. Officials are optimistic the Fair will do okay without the park, but some are not convinced. Hopefully the state works with the new operator they've lined up to get the park open so the 2011 Fair doesn't suffer as well.

I'm still so looking forward to Knoebel's opening the Black Diamond next year. That makes this recent article a must read for me. The park is letting two designers (not saying who, though) come up with plans for the dark ride stunts, then they'll pick one. I can't wait!

Interviews with Dick Kinzel are always worth a read. This one covers his feelings on Shoot The Rapids, what's new next year, and more. He also mentions that 1994 was the park's best year ever, with 3.6 million visitors.

Ghost Town In The Sky can't get a break, huh. After receiving a new owner who pulled them from bankruptcy, access to the park was blocked by a massive mud-slide. Now the park has no shot at opening this summer. How cruel, fate!

Two Disney Rumor Items

I noticed a couple interesting Disney Park related rumors on the net recently, and wanted to point them out to you guys.

First, Disney And More has published a breakdown of what they say will be coming to the Disneyland Paris Resort in the coming years. Lots of interesting things to read about here, from hotel expansions to new rides like Indy and Little Mermaid. Check the article out for yourself.

Next is a rumor about a new mini-park attraction that could be Disney World's next big thing. A poster over on MiceChat took an online survey that detailed what "The Jungle Trek" would be like in Disney World. Read the details here, but it sounds like a highly detailed and themed interactive, personalized Jungle adventure - that would cost a lot.

It's being rumored as the 5th park for the resort, but really it sounds like a nice add-on for Animal Kingdom. It would cost a lot for each person, and have limited attendance, i.e. - it's Disney's answer to Discovery Cove.

As long as it doesn't cut into funding for new attractions at existing parks, or cannibalize the property in general, it sounds like a neat idea...