Hunting for treasure
There are targets big and small in this week's theme park news.
This past week provided two examples of where regional themed entertainment might be headed in the United States right now.
First, I drove up the California coast to Monterey for the debut of a new interactive dark ride on Cannery Row. It's the type of stand-alone attraction that we're seeing in markets where a full-sized theme park hasn't captured the demand for themed entertainment.
But second, a Branson-based group this past week announced its (rather audacious) plans for one of those full-sized theme parks. That's not the sort of project that many of us expected to see, given how the U.S. economy has been developing over the past generation. Can it work?
It's a pirate's life for thee on Cannery Row's Treasure Hunt: For six days in 1818, Hippolyte Bouchard sacked Monterey, flying his adopted Argentina's flag above what was then California's capital. His real-life story has inspired Treasure Hunt: The Ride, a new attraction on Monterey's Cannery Row that imagines what might have happened to the treasure that legend claims Bouchard plundered from the Spanish colony.
Okay, I get it. If I'm talking now about a stand-alone attraction inside an arcade mall on Cannery Row, you might ask what's next on Theme Park Insider - reviews of county fair carnival rides? But this is the latest production from Sally Dark Rides, which has established a well-earned reputation among theme park fans for fun, interactive attractions. And for Treasure Hunt: The Ride, Sally has joined forces with Daniels Wood Land, which has delivered perhaps the most impressively decorated immersive environment I've yet seen on a Sally dark ride.
Or any ride, anywhere, for that matter.
So let's give Hippolyte a chance, shall we? Perhaps there is something worthwhile lurking there underneath the street on Cannery Row. Read my review, including a full preshow and on-ride video.
New $2 billion theme park pitched in rural Oklahoma: As someone who has been covering the theme park industry for more than two decades and has spoken with many of the leaders in this business over that time, I always greet new theme park development proposals with skepticism. New parks pitched by companies with extensive theme park development experience don't always end up getting built. Parks proposed by companies new to the industry even more rarely happen. And the higher the price tag attached to a proposal, the more skeptical I become.
Mansion Entertainment Group, LLC has announced American Heartland Theme Park and Resort, a 1,000-acre development outside Vinita, Oklahoma, just over the Missouri border. Mansion Entertainment Group runs The Mansion Theatre For The Performing Arts in Branson and sponsored the grand finale show for this year's Rose Parade, so it has access to some capital. But $2 billion? That’s the current market cap of the entire Six Flags chain. Read the full story and my analysis.
More theme park news
New DreamWorks Animation land coming to Universal Orlando Resort: The new DreamWorks Animation land will open in 2024, replacing the former Woody Woodpecker KidZone and featuring characters from movie IPs Shrek, Trolls, and Kung Fu Panda, plus TV IP Gabby’s Dollhouse. Look for meet and greets and play areas in the land rather than big new rides.
Walt Disney World makes changes at its Trail's End
Knott's prepares for the 50th anniversary of Scary Farm
Hersheypark expands its Halloween event
Here's your chance to live inside Legoland
Round-up: Shark Week, Disneyland jazz and Dole Whip Day
On the discussion forum
Lord of the Rings in a Theme Park - Will It Ever Happen?
How much does it cost to build an themed land containing an immersive, E-Ticket experience?
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Thanks again,
Robert Niles