SpongeBob leads March debuts
We've got reviews and POV videos for you to enjoy this week, as news keeps breaking about the 2024 season and beyond.
SpongeBob hits his mark in 'Crazy Carnival Ride': The world's first SpongeBob-themed dark ride is now open, at Circus Circus in Las Vegas. Sally Dark Rides has delivered another run interaction attraction that hits the mark (pun intended) with its depiction of the characters and themes of its IP. Hit the link to watch me and Sally's Rich Hill ride and play!
SeaWorld launches new flume ride, with Catapult Falls: The week's other new attraction opening came at SeaWorld San Antonio in Texas, which debuted the world's first launched flume coaster. We've got a POV video of that one for you, too.
Fire In The Hole gets its opening date: Moving now from the just-opened to the about-to-open, we've got the official opening date for the first indoor coaster from Rocky Mountain Construction. The new Fire In The Hole opens at Silver Dollar City on March 30.
Legoland sets date for dinosaur land opening: On March 22, Dino Valley will welcome guests at Legoland California. The rethemed land will feature two newly rethemed dinosaur attractions, plus the park's Coastersaurus and an interactive dino dig play area.
Here's the latest on Universal Orlando's new DreamWorks Land: On the topic of rethemed lands, Universal Studios Florida this week announced a summer debut for its DreamWorks Animation land, which takes over the former Woody Woodpecker's KidZone.
Iger: We're going to put an Avatar land in Disneyland - Disney's CEO tipped yesterday that the Avatar experience in California will be another Pandora-style land.
Knott's revives plans for a major coaster rebuild: MonteZOOMa is not dead. Knott's has revived plans to rebuild its looping shuttle coaster, with a 2025 opening now set.
New characters coming to Disney's original Star Wars ride: The Mandalorian, Grogu, Ahsoka, and Andor arrive on Star Tours in Anaheim, Orlando, and Paris on April 5.
New seats coming on Hersheypark's Skyrush: It's the end of "thighcrush" (we hope) with redesigned seats this year on Hersheypark's wing coaster.
No more 'Intimidator' at America's theme parks: The coasters will remain, but the names have gone away.
See what's under development at top parks around the world on our continuously updated construction page.
Six Flags posts higher attendance, lower income in 2023: Moving on to industry financial news, we have the latest annual and quarterly reports from Six Flags...
New name and declining numbers at United Parks: ...and the former SeaWorld Parks.
A California family's trip report from Hong Kong Disneyland: We love readers' trip reports here on Theme Park Insider. Our latest details a California family's day at Hong Kong Disneyland.
Let's pick the winners at Disneyland's 2024 Food and Wine Festival: For more in-park coverage, Laurie and I visited Disney California Adventure last week for the first day of the annual Food & Wine Festival. See what we enjoyed most.
Disneyland makes changes to Magic Key pass sales: Disneyland has tried again with its online annual pass sales, and this time things went much better.
When 'chocolate dreams' become production nightmares: However, not all is well in the world of themed entertainment. Let's talk about that "Willy Wonka" disaster in Scotland.
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Best wishes for a great week and thanks for reading,
Robert Niles