Hong Kong Disneyland is Closed Again, Sesame Place Sets Plans to Open

© Hong Kong Dineyland

Hong Kong Disneyland was one of the first theme parks to close due to COVID-19, back toward the end of January.  It then reopened in the middle of June as one of the first in Disney's portfolio to welcome back visitors, but now due to new restrictions put in place by the Hong Kong government, it is once again closed.

The park officially closed again in the middle of last week as Hong Kong has seen increasing COVID-19 cases and is taking immediate and serious measures to stop that.  Per this news article, the area has seen 1,500 new cases since January, leading to the park's closure (and many other social restrictions).  Considering that a great number of states in the U.S. are filing way more cases than that per day, it isn't hard to figure out that Hong Kong is not messing around.

The closing of Hong Kong Disneyland does not have an official end date, and comes the same week that both the Disneyland Paris Resort and Walt Disney World in Florida were welcoming back visitors.

© Sesame Place

Pennsylvania's popular children's theme park, Sesame Place, has announced that it will reopen on July 24th.  While late in the summer, the park's water activities will certainly be welcomed by visitors as it has been one especially hot summer in the Northeast.

The park, as with other SeaWorld Entertainment properties, will have a full set of changes in place to operate in a COVID-19 world.  These measures include temperature checks for visitors and employees, mandatory face masks for those age 2 and older, social distancing protocols throughout the park, increased cleaning and sanitization and many changes to food and beverage services.  You can read through the park's full set of changes at this link.

In order to reduce interactions the park is also keeping several of their shows, their daily parade and some character interactions either restricted or closed.

Earlier this year Sesame Place announced two new attractions, a small family ride and a toddler play area, for the park's 40th birthday celebration.  Neither of these attractions are listed as part of the park's offerings, so it appears as they have been delayed or cancelled.

Disney Announces More Marvel Attractions for Several Parks

© Disney

The Disney Parks are continuing to add new Marvel themed attractions to their offerings across the globe, highlighted in a series of announcements today.  The popular characters that are a part of the Marvel universe will become a part of new lands, shows and rides at several parks over the next few years.

At Disney California Adventure, the addition of a whole new themed section based on Marvel characters has finally been confirmed.  Opening in 2020, a new land will take up the space currently occupied by A Bug's Land, which also includes the closure of It's Tough To Be A Bug - that took place on March 19th.  The rest of the Bug's Life themed land will close at the end of the summer.

The space is adjacent to the recently opened Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout! attraction, and will feature the Avengers and Spider-Man, but no hints yet on what rides or attractions will be built.

© Disney

Disney recently announced a large expansion for Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris, which will include a new Marvel themed land an a retrofit of Rock 'n' Roller Coaster based on the Avengers characters.  That is set to open in 2020, but this summer the park will hold the Marvel Summer of Super Heroes event, featuring an all new show titled Marvel: Super Heroes United.

The show will be held indoors at The Studio Theatre, and is described as a  "live-action super-production that mixes a huge 400 m² stage with one of the biggest LED screens in Europe, incredible special effects and, for the first time, in a Disney Park, the indoor use of drones beneath unbelievable aerial choreography for a truly spectacular show."  More details of the incredible show can be found in this press release.

Also previously announced is the creation of a new Marvel land at Hong Kong Disneyland, where a new ride based on Ant-Man and The Wasp will join the existing Iron Man Experience in giving visitors a new world to explore.

Massive Six-Year Expansion Plan Announced for Hong Kong Disneyland

© Hong Kong Disneyland

A massive set of expansion plans, costing $1.4 billion and running for six years from 2018 until 2023, has been unveiled for Hong Kong Disneyland.  Changes include new rides and attractions to open almost every year during the expansion, based on themes such as Frozen and the Marvel Comics properties.

One of the biggest changes is set for a 2019 debut, and that's a total re-imagining of the park's main castle.  Seen above, the new castle will be dramatically larger and have a much bigger presence over the park.

© Hong Kong Disneyland

The park's current Sleeping Beauty Castle, which is fairly small and a near copy of the original at Disneyland, will be replaced with one designed for several live entertainment options.  Totally redoing a castle is unprecedented in Disney parks, so this is quite a dramatic move.  The new castle will be surrounded with a moat that will be incorporated in both daytime and nighttime spectacles. (one of which is pictured above)  A redesigned 'hub' area will also be built, with much more dedicated viewing areas for the new entertainment.

© Hong Kong Disneyland

This map details the castle change along with everything else that is being planned.  There will be significant changes to the Tomorrowland area, pumped up with Marvel-themed rides, and an entire new land based on Frozen.  Click the image for a larger view of the future park map.

© Hong Kong Disneyland

Hong Kong Disneyland's new Frozen themed area (listed as opening in 2020) will be the first full land at a Disney park to carry the Frozen theme.  The recreated Arendelle will be located beyond Fantasyland, and feature themed dining, retail, character interactions and two attractions.  One of them will be a trip to Elsa's frozen ice castle, named Frozen Ever After, which from the description in this video sounds like a clone of the ride of the same name that opened this year at Epcot in Florida.

© Hong Kong Disneyland

The Frozen area's second attraction is named Oaken's Dancing Sleigh Ride, where visitors sit in oversized sleighs that dance around on a frozen pond.  From looking at the concept art, it appears as though this may use a ride system similar to Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters at California Adventure.

© Hong Kong Disneyland

It looks like Disney is betting on their latest movie, Moana, to be a success considering that in 2018 a new Adventureland Show Place will open at the park, featuring “Moana’s Village Festival.” The theater will have a "series of daytime entertainment offerings anchored around a lively stage show in a new interactive entertainment environment."

© Hong Kong Disneyland

Changes to Tomorrowland will be significant, and kick off with the new Iron Man Experience simulator ride that will open on January 11, 2017.  The map of the park shows that the land will contain several clustered Marvel rides, with a big one replacing the current Autopia car ride.  That is listed for the very end of the expansion, in 2023, so there is plenty of time left to take a spin.

© Hong Kong Disneyland

Time is quickly running out for another Tomorrowland ride, though, and that's Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters.  The ride will be renovated into a Marvel Super Heroes attraction for 2018, I believe the concept art above is for this change.  The in-car shooting feature looks to be hanging around, but with a total theme change.

Hong Kong Disneyland is majority-owned by the Hong Kong government (53%), so they will be splitting the massive bill for this expansion with Disney accordingly.

Hong Kong Disneyland Posts Declined Operating Results for 2015

© Hong Kong Disneyland

After posting several years of increased attendance and overall profits, Hong Kong Disneyland has reported decreased figures across the board for its calendar year 2015.

Blamed on a softening in the local tour and travel industry, Hong Kong Disneyland saw a 9% decrease in attendance to 6.8 million visitors in '15, down from 7.5 million in 2014.  Total revenues for the property also declined 6%, along with increased costs of 2% and lower hotel occupancy rates of 79% (from 93% the year before).  These results caused the park to post an overall loss for the first time in several years.

It must be noted, however, that this past year was the park's 10th anniversary and the first to take place after a series of expansions that added three new 'small' lands to the park and a major parade.  Despite all the decreases, the property still increased guest per capita spending and spending per room in '15.

The current year holds more promise for Hong Kong Disneyland, as a major Iron Man themed attraction is set to open in Tomorrowland.  Next year, in 2017, another resort will open on property featuring 750 rooms named the Disney Explorers Lodge.

Best-Year-Ever Results for Hong Kong Disneyand

© Hong Kong Disneyland

Hong Kong Disney has posted outstanding fiscal year 2014 results, ones so good that they mark all-time records for the resort.  This actually marks the 5th consecutive year of record results in terms of attendance, revenue and guest spending.

In 2014 a record 7.5 million visitors passed through the park's gates, creating a net profit of $42.5 million off of gross revenues of $705 million, up 12% from 2013.  Hotel occupancy was 93%, down one percent from the previous year, however that is cited as a result of construction.

The resort has really blossomed from the early years of its existence - in fact this year will mark the park's 10th anniversary.  It is almost hard to believe it has already been ten years! 

Hong Kong Disneyland isn't slowing down, having just announced the start of construction on a third hotel resort, to be known as the Disney Explorer's Lodge.  While that will open in 2017, 2016 will see the premier of the Iron Man Experience, an all new attraction based on the popular Marvel character.  The highly anticipated attraction will be the first of its size in a Disney park to use the Iron Man brand - something most have been waiting for since Disney acquired the company in 2009.

Third Resort for Hong Kong Disneyland Breaks Ground

Hong Kong Disneyland Resort has broken ground on the park's third hotel resort, named the Disney Explorer's Lodge.  The new hotel will join the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel and Disney's Hollywood Hotel as the resort's offerings for overnight guests.  The resort previously announced plans for a third hotel, but has now provided an official name and more details.

© Hong Kong Disneyland

Disney Explorer's Lodge will features 750 guest rooms and a theme that celebrates exploration of the world and its exotic locations.  The new pieces of concept art seen in this story represent the four gardens that will be on the grounds, each themed to one of the globe's most unique settings: the African Savannah, Polynesian islands, Asia and a South American rain forest.  This story says that Disney film characters in the area will include those from Up, Finding Nemo, The Lion King and The Jungle Book.

© Hong Kong Disneyland

The Disney Explorer's Lodge will have three different restaurants, a huge outdoor pool and retail locations as well.  It is slated to open in 2017, the same year that the theme park's new Iron Man themed ride will open.  That attraction will be the first full fledged ride to be built at any Disney park based off of a Marvel character franchise, and many are predicting especially large crowds as a result.

Hong Kong Disneyland Announces Record Results and New Hotel!

© Hong Kong Disneyland

Hong Kong Disneyland is definitely riding a high right now, having just announced their 4th consecutive year of record revenue, park attendance, guest spending and hotel occupancy.  So in short, 2013 was another really spectacular year for the resort.

Attendance reached 7.4 million visitors during the year, besting all previous years.  When the park first opened (almost ten years ago) it saw attendance of around 5 million, give or take depending on the year.  A recent multi-year expansion that saw the addition of three entirely new mini-lands introduced unique themes and attractions that greatly helped the park's growth and got the attention of many Disney fans.

© Hong Kong Disneyland

Now a brand new hotel has been announced for the resort, consisting of 750 rooms and set to open in 2017, should proper approvals be granted.  According to the park's press release, the new hotel will be themed "to the spirit of exploration and celebrates exotic locations from around the world."  The two pieces of concept art shared with the announcement make the exotic theme of the resort crystal clear.  Hotel occupancy at the resort's current two properties was at 94% in 2013, and this new addition will increase the overall number of rooms available at Hong Kong Disneyland to 1,750.

© Hong Kong Disneyland

The new hotel will be located next to Disney's Hollywood Hotel, and if you click the image for the larger version you can take a good look at the layout of the property.  And why not take a look at a bit of the theme park's schematics while you are there?

Another part of this announcement was that a new nighttime show will be opened at the theme park in 2014, named "Disney Paint the Night."  No details on the production were given, so it is hard to tell the exact nature of the show.  2015 will bring the park's 10th anniversary celebration to life, and 2016 shall see the opening of a new area themed to Iron Man, including a blockbuster new ride.  Sounds like we could see more announcements of record breaking performance in the future.

Hong Kong Disneyland Nabs First Marvel Themed Ride

Disney has announced that Hong Kong Disneyland will be the first park in the company to receive a Marvel character themed ride with the opening of the Iron Man Experience in 2016.  Expected to run the company upwards of $100 million to build, the addition to the Tomorrowland section of the park will include the Stark Expo where guests can see the Iron Man suits and other innovations.

The development will also bring a major new E-Ticket attraction to the park, also based on Iron Man, though full details are not being revealed at this time.  As described by Disney Parks Chairman Tom Staggs, "Upon entering the ride vehicle our guests will be able to take flight with Iron Man on an epic adventure that not surprisingly pits Iron Man, and our guests, against the forces of evil. This adventure will take place in the streets and skies of Hong Kong, which will make an even more unique and special experience for our Hong Kong Disneyland guests."

It sounds like the ride will be of the 4-D nature, perhaps even a comparison to Universal's Transformers ride is in order.  That's pure speculation on my part, however.  The Expo section, which will include a retail portion, sounds similar to what Disneyland did this year for the opening of the third movie in the series.

The new Iron Man attractions are set to open at Hong Kong Disneyland in late 2016, so we still have a ways to go before we get additional details.

Upon entering the ride vehicle our guests will be able to take flight with Iron Man on an epic adventure that not surprisingly pits Iron Man, and our guests, against the forces of evil. This adventure will take place in the streets and skies of Hong Kong, which will make an even more unique and special experience for our Hong Kong Disneyland guests. - See more at: http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2013/10/marvels-iron-man-coming-to-hong-kong-disneyland-in-2016/#sthash.mXhmyDkZ.dpuf

Upon entering the ride vehicle our guests will be able to take flight with Iron Man on an epic adventure that not surprisingly pits Iron Man, and our guests, against the forces of evil. This adventure will take place in the streets and skies of Hong Kong, which will make an even more unique and special experience for our Hong Kong Disneyland guests. - See more at: http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2013/10/marvels-iron-man-coming-to-hong-kong-disneyland-in-2016/#sthash.mXhmyDkZ.dpuf

Upon entering the ride vehicle our guests will be able to take flight with Iron Man on an epic adventure that not surprisingly pits Iron Man, and our guests, against the forces of evil. This adventure will take place in the streets and skies of Hong Kong, which will make an even more unique and special experience for our Hong Kong Disneyland guests. - See more at: http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2013/10/marvels-iron-man-coming-to-hong-kong-disneyland-in-2016/#sthash.mXhmyDkZ.dpuf

Take a Ride Through Mystic Manor

I'm back! Lots to catch up on but I saw this over the weekend - new on-ride video is popping up of Mystic Manor at Hong Kong Disneyland.

In short, the ride looks amazing.

Most of the time dark rides of any nature look bad on film.  Granted today's technology has helped in the form of high quality filming, but so much is usually lost that you can't get a feel for the ride's atmosphere.  That said, considering how good Mystic Manor looks on video I can only imagine how wonderfully immersive the ride is in person.

With several trackless cars traveling through at the same time each video is a bit different, showing off different effects better than others.  Kinda like watching video of Pooh's Hunny Hunt.  Here is a link to another video, watching both gives an even better ideas of the experience.

Hong Kong Disneyland the First to Feature Marvel

Far from an official Disney announcement, the Wall Street Times is reporting that the Hong Kong Financial Secretary has been quoted as saying that Hong Kong Disneyland will add a Marvel themed areas as part of an upcoming expansion.

Granted since the park is 52% owned by the government an official's words do bear some weight as far as the future goes.  With the park's third mini-land expansion set to open this year I wouldn't be looking for any Marvel themed area to open any time soon.

Since Disney spent a cool $4 billion on Marvel a few years ago everyone has been waiting to see how they would be incorporated into the theme parks.  Obviously movies and retail have been successful for the franchise, but the possibility of Marvel rides is almost endless once the Imagineers are unleashed.

This will definitely be a story to follow in the future as plans develop since it very well could set the pace for the brand to be used in other parks, including those on American soil.

Hong Kong Disneyland Turns Its First Profit

© Hong Kong Disneyland

Hong Kong Disneyland turned a profit for the first time when it finished its fiscal year this past September 29th, according to news reports.

After many years of losses, the property posted earnings of $14.1 million - which is considerably better than the previous year's $30 million loss.  Revenues reached $550 million and attendance was up 13% to a new park record of 6.7 million guests.

2012 saw the opening of a new land, Grizzly Gulch, bringing the great Wild West to Hong Kong Disneyland.

The main feature of the area is a large roller coaster named the Runaway Mine Cars that features forward and backwards track along with a launch section.

The end of 2011 saw the opening of a Toy Story themed area, nearly a duplicate of the one that opened in Paris.

Still to come, and highly anticipated, is the third mini-land that sits between Grizzly Gulch and Toy Story Land, Mystic Point.  This final area will contain a unique take on the classic Disney Haunted Mansion named Mystic Manor - filled with special effects and a totally unique storyline.

These additions have helped the park to break all previous records, proving that what everyone said from the beginning (that the park was far too small and lacking unique attractions) was true.  I'll be quite interested to see what else may come to the park after this round of expansion is done, especially if they continue to come up with themes and rides that have not been copied at other Disney parks.  Should be interesting!

The Beautiful and Mysterious Mysic Point

My Twitter feed was abuzz today with links to some impressive new photos of Hong Kong Disneyland's Mystic Point, which is the theme park's third and final expansion land.  The area has yet to open, and follows Toy Story Land and Grizzly Gulch as new mini-lands that have helped grow the park's number of rides and attractions.

The photographs are from Dejiki Nicholas' blog, and many of them focus on the facade of the new Mystic Manor ride.  An updated type of Haunted Mansion attraction, the ride will use trackless vehicles to take riders through the manor, where a curious monkey has made the house full of artifacts come to life.

Of all the new attractions that have been built at Hong Kong Disneyland, myself and many others agree that Mystic Manor has the potential to be the best.  The ride does not use any film or character franchise for its theme, so this will be a unique addition by any definition.  While the spooky factor seems to have been tamed down over the ride's development, the quirky looking house is sure to hold some neat special effects when it finally opens.

And if the inside is anything like the outside, then we're all in for a treat.  See what I mean by checking out the photos here.

Weekly Rewind 12.2.12

A new way to spend time on your phone!  SeaWorld has launched their first mobile game, Turtle Trek.  The free game has players "guide an adventuresome sea turtle on a quest across the beach and into the water to find friends," and I must admit looks rather cute.  Look for it in your favorite app store.

Arnolds Park is giving their classic Legend roller coaster some love.  As a result of a survey done by GCI, the park is replacing 575 feet of track and adding several new concrete footings on the coaster.  The project will cost $250,000 to complete.

While the devastation felt in Coney Island as a result of hurricane Sandy is quite serious, there are a few bright spots in the story of recovery and rebuilding.  This article details some of those, and one that has my interest is the plans for Spook-a-Rama to be back better than ever, complete with new props.

The official numbers have not yet been released, but reports are coming out that Hong Kong Disneyland will see 2012 as its first year of profitability.  Under performing since it opened, the park has seen two expansions open in the past year, which has probably led to the improved results.

The terms of the sale may not have been announced by Cedar Fair and SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, but the price of Soak City San Diego was a cool $15 million.  Just checked the Cedar Fair 2000 annual report, and it was originally purchased for $11.6 million.  Not bad!

Six Flags New England has been given formal approval to build their 2013 attraction, called the Bonzai Pipelines.  The new slide tower, featuring six different slides, will be built in a space currently used as employee parking - expanding the overall size of the water park.

Mt. Olympus is wasting no time at all on turning Hades into Hades 360!  The park has already removed the former turnaround section, and currently has new structure in place for some of the new elements.  A full inversion and highly banked turn will be installed for 2013.

Proslide's success as one of the water park supplier industry leaders continues, with strong sales growing over seas.  The company is also still planning their own water park, Alottawata, and it seems that the plan will move forward soon.  They've been talking about it for several years now.

If you want even more photos of the recently topped off GateKeeper at Cedar Point, Pointbuzz has a extensive gallery of shots taken on site.  I must say, the ride looks really great standing along the beach, they have indeed opened up that area nicely.

Watch Out for Bears on Big Grizzly Mountain!

Hong Kong Disneyland's latest attraction, the Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars, is now in a preview mode, and while the video is pretty shaky a rider has posted a full point of view of the new coaster:



The coaster most certainly looks like Expedition Everest and Big Thunder Mountain had a baby, and that baby was named Big Grizzly Mountain.  The ride system is by Vekoma, like Expedition Everest, complete with track switching and a backwards section.

The launch looks like great fun, and the bear characters that wreak havoc as you make your way around the track is a cute addition, too.  The rest of the new land, named Grizzly Gulch, features a large water play area as well.  After this section opens later this month there will still be the Mystic Point area to look forward to, home to a large dark ride.

Weekly Rewind 6.2.12

Galveston Pleasure Pier has opened the Iron Shark to customers.  The custom designed Euro-Fighter looks intense!  Check out a video from the park.

There will be previews of Luminosity at Cedar Point all this week, leading up the grand opening on June 8th.  Check out a new behind the scenes video of the production from the Point.

The Big Thunder Mountain Railroad has reopened after a rather lengthy six month refurbishment at the Magic Kingdom.  The ride looks great, like brand new.  Check out a report here.

The chain of Cedar Fair parks have debuted a new set of phone applications, and they're a vast improvement over the former ones.  Included are many handy tools for in park use, such as show times that are accurate.  The maps are also super detailed, the Dorney Park one features backstage buildings, correct coaster layouts, and even businesses across the street!

Hong Kong Disneyland is opening their new Grizzly Gulch area this Summer, which features the Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars coaster.  The area looks well done, and I'm sure the ride is going to be a blast... literally.

I love when Great Adventure History publishes a new story on a section of the park, and this past week they did that with Balin's Jungle Land, a kiddie area that had a short and weird life at Six Flags Great Adventure.

Check out the cute mini-funnel that is a part of Wet 'n' Wild Phoenix's new children's area!  The section includes small versions of the park's big slides.

Same name, different spelling - today Wet'n Wild Orlando opened their new Blastaway Beach interactive water structure.  I really like the sandcastle theming on it!  Looks like fun.

Six Flags Over Georgia is opening their new iLuminate show today, which features performers with glowing costumes set against a pitch black dark performance area.  Looks intriguing...

Weekly Rewind 1.14.12

With no confirmation that it is, it looks like Galveston Please Pier has posted a photo of some StarFlyer pieces on their Facebook!  That's a perfect ride for a pier setting.

I love aerial photos, no secret, so WDW Magic's continuing series of Fantasyland expansion photos are right up my alley.  The new section at the Magic Kingdom is really coming a long, now with footers for the new Seven Dwarfs Mine Train going in.

Another new attraction for Hong Kong Disneyland?  Disney and More, via their Star Tours blog, is saying it's a go, to open just after the previously announced expansions debut.  Must be buffing up the offerings for Shanghai Disney



This totally a fan created preview of Alton Tower's planed coaster for 2013, and it looks amazing.  When reviewing the plans I didn't realize the cars had the possibility to interact like that.  I hope they do!

Holy moly, Thorpe Park's Swarm is already testing!  Check out these new photos of a train making its way around the course.  Coasters are growing up faster and faster these days!

So Europa Park has been taking some gorgeous photos of their new coaster, Wodan.  And with plenty of sites covering the progress, it's never hard to get an update.  Official photos can be found here, along with some GCI shots here.  The station fly-by, which is banked, looks amazing.

A lot of people were very excited about the launch of a new section of Disney California Adventure's website devoted to Cars Land, but it all seemed like stuff we've already seen.  Just me perhaps?

Look Ma, we got new logos!  Both The Great Escape and Darien Lake swapped out their old logos and replaced them with fresh designs last week.  The Great Escape's looks very fitting for the woodsy property, and Darien Lake is a total reversal of the thrill-oriented logo the park was using.

It does not have much content quite yet, but Universal Studios Hollywood has launched a new website to help promote Transformers The Ride: 3D, which is set to open in May.  I'd be on the watch for more content as the ride's opening draws closer.

Weekly Rewind 10.22.11

Wild Eagle at Dollywood is already getting close to being completed!  This ride is going up oh so fast, and from these new photos, looking oh so good.

This was the first year for Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Singapore, and it looks like the event is quite good.  Certainly not the same as the American counterparts... but a nice start indeed.

Hollywood Drive-In Golf has changed from a hole in the ground to a identifiable mini-golf course, complete with some wacky theming, at Universal Orlando's CityWalk area.

The opening of Hong Kong Disneyland's new Toy Story Land is less than a month away.  The area, very similar to the Paris version, features three new rides in a larger-than-life setting.

Cedar Fair has promoted Richard Zimmerman to COO, formerly he was a Regional Vice President, and before that GM of Kings Dominion.

It is almost like these Wing Rider coasters go up faster than others!  The Swarm at Thorpe Park has made much progress again this week - the ride is now completed up through the zero-g roll.


Busch Gardens Williamsburg has released a new teaser video for Verbolten, above. For recent photos of the ride's construction, check out this link.

The Hawaiian Falls chain of water parks in Texas will be growing again next year with the debut of Hawaiian Falls Waco.  Check out all the info on the project on the park's website.

In other water park news, Virginia's Water Country USA is seeking approval to develop the park to double its current size in the future.  Think of all the slides they can build!

The old Hard Rock restaurant building inside Universal Studios Florida has finally been demolished.  For something new?  It's a weird location, but perhaps!

Weekly Rewind 8.6.11

The new B&M Inverted ride being built at France's Parc Asterix is moving along at a rapid pace -  almost have the ride's track is now in place.  I have to say it looks like one of B&M's better designs in quite some time.

Legoland Florida has announced a new Senior Pass for guests age 60+, which is only $60 for a whole year of fun.  The park also recently had another media tour, showing off their progress.

Bill Nye The Science Guy was on hand for the launch of the Atlas Rocket at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, and attendance at the center for the day was double the usual. 

Busch Gardens has launched a new iPhone application that helps guide guests through both of the company's theme parks.  An Android version will be released soon.

Storybook Land, NJ, has opened a custom themed Frog Hopper from S&S called Beanstalk Bounce, and is themed to Jack and the Beanstalk. Another new ride, an SBF Drop N'Twist tower will open this year, too.

Excellent news from Silverwood Theme Park - they are on track to have another record breaking season if their current attendance trends hold up.  Things could finish in the 650k range this season.

Atlantic City's famous Steel Pier has been sold to the group that's operated it for two decades for $4.25 million.  Best of all, there's already talk of a new coaster for next year.

Cedar Fair has announced solid operating results for the second quarter of 2011, as well as the month of July.  The chain's Western parks, especially, are being noted for great results.

A nice treat for teachers - Six Flags America is offering educators from Maryland, Virginia, and DC free admission to the park this month.  Read more here for additional details.

California's Castle Park has opened a new waterplay area named Buccaneer Cove.  The 20,000 sq. foot play area features tons of interactive features along with a giant tipping bucket.

Here is a link to some recent and high quality shots of the expansion of Hong Kong Disneyland.  Things are coming together - the coaster in Grizzly Gulch look especially promising!

A lot of footings and one rather large trench, that's what I'm seeing from these new photos of Europa Park's construction of a new GCI wooden coaster.  Lookin' good!

Hong Kong Disneyland Expansion Preview Center

Much like the Blue Sky Cellar at Disney California Adventure, Hong Kong Disneyland has also opened a detailed preview center for their big expansion.

With three entire new lands opening in the next few years, including Grizzly Gulch, Mystic Point, and Toy Story Land, the park has a lot to show off.  The preview center just opened, and some photos from it were posted in this Mice Chat thread.  I think the mischievous monkey that will be central to Mystic Manor is quite adorable!

Hong Kong Disneyland also recently launched their 5th anniversary celebration, which includes a new parade, Flights of Fantasy, and special decor for Cinderella Castle.  I'm not sold on the decorations' appearance in the daytime, but at night when Tinkerbell magically lights it up it's pretty beautiful.  Checkout some photos and video of that from Disney And More.

Hong Kong Disneyland Expansion Video

This video may not be in English, and I think the only thing I understood was "high capacity," but it's still pretty neat.  Hong Kong Disneyland is hard at work creating three new lands at the same time, which will open over the next several years with the Toy Story area arriving first.  The video contains a mix of construction footage, close ups of the models that have been created, and plenty of concept art.  It's a grab bag of expansion goodies.

Hong Kong Disneyland was also reported to have had excellent attendance during the past fiscal year, up 13% to 5.2 million.  That's still not at the level of original estimates, but encouraging nonetheless.