Weekly Rewind 7.4.10

Happy 4th of July to you all! Hopefully everyone got in their fill of amusement parks over this holiday weekend!

Busch Gardens Tampa is now offering a Play All Day and Dine For Free promotion where you can eat free all day at the park with the purchase of an admission ticket. The offer is good through September 6th at the theme park. That's quite a deal!

Legoland Florida is going to hold an open house for the public to come see the plans for the park this coming Thursday. Hopefully more details about the rides and attractions the park will offer will come from this. The park also announced the addition of three new Marketing staff members: "Director of Sales and Marketing Kim Isemann, Manager of Sales Todd Andrus and Public Relations Representative Jackie Wallace are bringing their expertise from Central Florida attraction destinations to promote the family theme park opening fall 2011."

Captain EO has made it's return to EPCOT at Walt Disney World in Florida. Fans have already celebrated the show's return in California and Paris, now the central Florida parks have MJ back as well. Here's a report with video from the media event for the reopening.

Cedar Fair has teamed up with Hipcricket to further launch their advertising strategies into the mobile market. Guests will be able to learn about in park specials, news, and other offers via their mobile devices. Cedar Fair is embracing technology!

Thorpe Park has submitted a planning application that shows what the park has planned for the next 6 years. Included in those plans are 5 "round rides" and two new roller coasters - one of which will be up to 40 meters tall, the other up to 50 meters. How that for a bright future!

Still no good new coming out of the closed Freestyle Music Park. A judge ruled against the park this week for unpaid bills, to the tune of $14 million. Park owners never even replied to the case, making the ruling quite easy. Owners say they're still looking for new investors to reopen the park with.

Fans of Facebook now have another way to spend some time - Six Flags Mascot Park. Six Flags theme parks has launched the new Facebook game which allows players to create a park mascot and then try to make them the "star of the show." If you want to play, start here.

The remains of Chicago's Kiddieland Amusement Park have met the wrecking ball. The park closed last fall, and will be replaced by a Costco. Thankfully as we well know, Six Flags Great America purchased the Little Dipper wooden coaster and now operates it at their park.

Spirit Mountain in Duluth, Minnesota, has opened the 3,200 ft. long Timber Twister Alpine Coaster. Riders control their own speed as they head down the mountain, topping out at 26 m.p.h. These rides are great fun, and it's wonderful to see a new one open.

The Indoor Waterpark Capital of the U.S.? That's what the Pennsylvania Poconos could be. With two facilities already open, three more in development, and one large outdoor park as well, things could get rather crowded. Still, many see the development as a good thing for the area. Check out the details here.