Author: Theme Park Wizard

I am a huge fan of theme parks!

NBC Sports Grill and Brew Coming to CityWalk at Universal Hollywood in 2020!

by Theme Park Wizard, posted in Uncategorized
nbc sports grill & brew
NBC Grill and Brew in Orlando courtesy of Attractions Magazine

Antijitos is now open at Universal CityWalk in Hollywood and now they have announced their next major addition that will be coming to the entertainment complex.

NBC Sports Grill and Brew (which is already at CityWalk Orlando) will be making its West Coast debut next year as Universal Hollywood aggressively continues to enhance and completely revamp CityWalk. The pub will feature three giant TV screens out front as well as over 100 HD TV’s inside the restaurant. The menu will consist of general pub and bar food and alcohol and will add to the energy and excitement of CityWalk. This should look very impressive and fit in at night when the rest of the complex lights up. Its location is great as well as it will be in the center of everything in the main plaza right next to Antijitos, Tony Romas, and Johnny Rockets.

I am very excited for new changes to CityWalk and personally cannot wait for this to open up sometime in the next few months. What do you guys think about this new addition? Do you like the new changes that are coming or have been made recently to CityWalk? Comment your thoughts down below!

WDW Skyliner Reopens With Modified Hours

by Theme Park Wizard, posted in Uncategorized

After extensive testing for a week, Disney has announced that the Skyliner will reopen with a modified schedule so that more testing can occur during the overnight hours. So far these hours are just in effect for October 16th-18th and are as stated: October 16th The Hollywood Studios will be closed, but all other lines will operate from 1 pm-10:30 pm and on October 17th and 18th all lines will be open from 1 pm- 10:30 pm. It is not know what the schedule will be like after that date, but it is widely assumed operation will return to normal.

Did the accident deter you from ever trying or riding the Skyliner? Comment your thoughts below!

Walt Disney Studios Tram Tour Will Be Rethemed to Route 66 This Summer!

by Theme Park Wizard, posted in Uncategorized

Disneyland Paris has announced that their tram tour will not be going away and will be rethemed to the Cars franchise in summer 2020. Guests will be taking a road trip down Route 66 in this new adventure. It was long thought that with their 2 Billion Euro expansion that this attraction would be biting the dust, but then now we officially know it is here to stay. Below is an updated park map including all of the coming expansions.

Photo from LaughingPlace.com

As you can see the park is looking even smaller than usual at the moment with all of the construction and demolition of the Hollywood Backlot area but luckily in just a few short years that will all change. I find it rather odd there will be two cars themed attractions kind of far from each other. If they were to move the existing Cars ride they could form a Cars mini-land.

So what do you guys think of the Tram being rethemed to Cars? Would you rather it go away and replaced with something entirely new like at Hollywood Studios? Discuss your thoughts in the comments below!

Universal Studios Florida To Get New Jason Bourne Stunt Show

by Theme Park Wizard, posted in Uncategorized

Universal Florida’s website accidentally leaked the name of the show that is replacing the Terminator 2 stunt show. The show is to be called the Bourne Stuntacular and is to be based on a story from Jason Bourne. Hopefully Universal officially announces this attraction soon, but as of now that is all the info I have regarding this new and improved show! Check back and follow this blog for updates on this story as they become available!

New Fantasmic! for Hollywood Studios in 2023?

by Theme Park Wizard, posted in Uncategorized
Image result for fantasmic
Fantasmic! at Disneyland

There is an early rumor that Hollywood Studios will be receiving an entirely new Fantasmic! just in time for the show’s 25th Anniversary in 2023. There are very few details on this rumor as of this time, but based on Disneyland’s Fantasmic! refurb we can have an idea of what could be coming to this new version if it is in fact coming.

Disneyland’s Fantasmic! took about one year to refurb and added a couple new scenes such as the controversial Pirates of the Caribbean scene. No idea if the same scene would come to the new Hollywood Studios version or not, but if the show is going to get a refurb then expect the show to go down sometime in 2022 for a reopening in 2023.

Do you want a Fantasmic 2.0 in Hollywood Studios or do you like the current show? What new scenes would you like? What scenes are a must keep? Let me know in the comments below!

Universal Studios Hollywood to Test New VR Experience in CityWalk

by Theme Park Wizard, posted in Uncategorized

Hello and welcome back to Theme Park Wizard if you are living in Southern California then please stay safe from the strong winds and as of this writing five fires throughout our region.

Universal Studios Hollywood will be trying to compete with Downtown Disney and get its own new VR experience in Citywalk starting October 14th and going through November 7th. This is a partnership between Universal Pictures, Ford Motor Company, and Holoride.

During this experience guests are loaded on to the back of Ford 2020 Explorer cars and will take a 5-7 min drive by a professional driver. The interesting twist of this drive is that it will be through the dark world of Frankenstein. Riders will be using Oculus Headsets to experience this attraction. The best part is that this limited time attraction is free and all you have to do is sign up for a free reservation on their website.

So what do you guys think of this new experience coming to Citywalk? Will you be signing up and giving it a try during this month trial period? Let me know in the comments below!

Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway Officially Begins Construction at Disneyland

by Theme Park Wizard, posted in Uncategorized

Hello there and welcome back to yet another construction update. Earlier today I talked about the Velicicoaster and right now I have an Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway (MMRR) construction update to share.

Visitors to Toontown this week probably have noticed some very visible changes to the backdrop of Toontown as now Toontown mountain range has been completely demolished.

Image result for MMRR construction toontown disneyland
Picture from wdwinfo on Demo behind Toontown

As you can see from this picture both entertainment buildings D13 and D14 were demolished within 48 hours starting Monday and ending today. The Toontown hills are attached to those buildings that are still intact in this picture but as of now those structures and the hills are gone as well.

Image may contain: one or more people, sky and outdoor
Photo of Toontown Hills gone from Micechat

Construction still has a long ways to go as this attraction will not be open until 2022, but it is great to see it starting already.

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Entrance to the attraction when it opens in 2022

Well that is it for this quick update, are you excited for this attraction to open in Toontown? Comment your thoughts below and don’t forget to hit that follow button for constant theme park updates!

Velicicoaster Construction Update!

by Theme Park Wizard, posted in Uncategorized

Hello and welcome back to the blog where today I have a construction update on Universal Island’s of Adventure’s new coaster coming to the Jurassic Park area of the park called the Velicicoaster. All these pictures are courtesy of fellow blog Micechat which provides excellent Disney news so be sure to go over and check out some of their stuff.

This first picture is taken from across the lagoon and really shows the massive scale of the project.

, Dateline Universal Orlando: A Tale of Bees and Dinosaurs

The building in the center is the Jurassic Park Discovery Center which is expected to remain with the coaster tracks going around the structure. You can also see the start of potential footers in the water as this coaster is expected to have a rather significant portion of its track be over the lagoon area which will certainly make this coaster very beautiful and picturesque.

That is the best vantage point you can get from this project as all other areas inside the land just have large construction walls blocking all of the view.

, Dateline Universal Orlando: A Tale of Bees and Dinosaurs
, Dateline Universal Orlando: A Tale of Bees and Dinosaurs

This coaster is expected to be an intense coaster much to the likes of Taron over at Phantasialand. That coaster goes 70 mph and twists and turns through highly themed caverns and environments. One last thing I would like to talk about is the name of this coaster. I absolutely love the name Velicicoaster but I did want to let you know this is so far just the rumored name as Universal has not even announced the project yet! They did trademark that name though, so I am very hopeful that they will use it as the official name of the coaster.

Are you excited to ride the Velicicoaster when it opens in 2021? What do you think of the construction progress currently? Stay tuned because coming up later today I will have a Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway construction update from Toontown!

Hong Kong Disneyland Castle Construction Update!

by Theme Park Wizard, posted in Uncategorized
Image result for hong kong castle construction

Hello and welcome back to Theme Park Wizard where today we are going to check in on the Hong Kong Disneyland Castle Refurb and Expansion. Several months into construction we can see the castle is at least halfway done by now and is looking rather excellent. The final product will look like the concept art down below!

Image result for hong kong castle construction

I love the new look of the castle and did not like that the original castle was a carbon copy of Disneyland’s castle here in Anaheim. Now each Disney park has its own unique castle and I think that is fantastic, but what do you guys think? Do you like the look of the new castle? Do you think Hong Kong getting a new castle is a waste of money? Let me know in the comments below!

New Digital Fastpass Kiosk Being Tested at Disneyland’s Tomorrowland

by Theme Park Wizard, posted in Uncategorized

Well we know at least some of the work going on at Tomorrowland inside Disneyland. Part of the work going on beside the Tomorrowland Theater is the installation of a new digital Fastpass kiosk that will include fastpasses for Star Tours, HyperSpace Mountain, and Buzz Lightyear.

This new digital kiosk is a test to see how guests react to the new system and if it becomes popular and guests find them easy to use then all fastpasses kiosks will become digital. Guests will have to link their ticket to the Disneyland app to be able to use this new kiosk since their will be no slot to insert your ticket or annual pass.

I happen to love this new idea of getting rid of the paper reminder tickets, but what do you think of this new kiosk? Potentially too confusing for you? Or do you like that Disneyland continues to evolve to the future with less paper and more in-app and digital kiosk type stuff? Comment your thoughts down below!