Author: Theme Park Wizard

I am a huge fan of theme parks!

Universal Studios Hollywood Construction Update!

by Theme Park Wizard, posted in Uncategorized

Welcome back to Theme Park Wizard where today we will take a look at some of the construction going on at Universal Studios Hollywood. I have been super busy the last few weeks and unfortunately was not able to the parks so I credit Dylan from Theme Park Obsession for these fantastic photos of the construction in the parks. I also invite you to watch his latest video! So let’s get started with the Secret Life of Pets project.

Secret Life of Pets from Theme Park Obsession

The Pets project is still under wraps, but as you can see here the facade work has been really making progress and the tarps look to be coming off sooner rather than later which is a great thing. This ride is supposed to open in Spring 2020 and believe it or not that is just a few short months away. Baker Street is still closed so to get to Minion Mayhem you must go around and use French Street.

Next up let’s take a look at the Nintendo project being built down in the lower lot.

Nintendo Land by Theme Park Obsession

Here is an overhead look at the Super Nintendo Project and you can see that the show building for Mario Kart is having its roof being installed. The second building to the left has gone more vertical and has had more steel beams installed along the site. The space is extremely tight so some people are wondering if the buildings housing the Studio Store and Panda Express will be demolished and rebuilt to allow for more breathing room and match the new themes of the Lower Lot.

What do you think of all the changes going on at the park? Are you excited for the Pets and Mario? Comment your thoughts down below and make sure to hit the follow button for constant theme park updates!

WDW Skyliner Has a Major Accident

by Theme Park Wizard, posted in Uncategorized
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Just a mere six days after opening the Skyliner at Walt Disney World has crashed due to a power failure on the Caribbean Beach Line. At about 9pm on Saturday night a power failure at the Caribbean Beach Station on the Skyliner caused a blue gondola to get stuck right before it was about to take off from the station. That caused about five other gondolas to crash into the blue gondola and for the whole system to auto-stop after the crash was detected. It was reported that one of the gondolas had its glass shattered, but luckily no guests were injured.

Speaking of the guests, although no guests were injured plenty of angry guests were stranded in other gondolas (some over water) for anywhere between 45 min for up to 3 hours. Now as one can imagine being stuck suspended in a gondola with no air conditioning in the humid and warm Florida air is not the most comfortable thing in the world. Luckily it was dark so it was not as hot as during the day and also guests were lucky not to have any stormy weather pass through while they were stuck. Unfortunately though it was dark so guests had no light besides their cellphone flashlights to guide them as they were waiting for help.

Guests also complained on social media of Disney not offering any updates on the situation for as much as 3 hours. The gondolas came equipped with emergency kits that included water, paper bags, and some other medical supplies for emergencies. At there highest point the gondolas reach 60 feet (six stories) above the ground which is enough for firetrucks to reach. The entire system has 300 cabins and crews have to evacuate each one manually which as one can expect takes quite a bit of time. For gondolas over water it takes even more time because crews have to get on small boats and evacuate the guests on to the boats and transport them back and forth to land before retrieving the next set of guests.

Disney has stated that the incident occurred due to “unexpected downtime” on the line and that they are offering guests four all day park tickets as well as a $200 gift card. I for one would be very hesitant to take the Skyliner because I do not like heights and get claustrophobic and for this very reason of being stranded for 3 hours above water or anywhere makes me wary to say the least.

What do you think of this situation? Just a fluke? Did Disney not do enough testing on the system and opened it to early? Do you think they will do the same thing with Rise of the Resistance and Avengers Campus? Leave your thoughts below!

The VOID at Downtown Disney to get a new Avengers Experience

by Theme Park Wizard, posted in Uncategorized

If you like the Star Wars experience at the VOID well you’re in some bad luck at that is about to make way for a new Avengers VOID Experience. This will be called Avengers Damage Control and will debut next month.

People will be teamed up in groups of four to take on an enemy who wants to steal the Avengers technology. Avengers like Black Panther and Doctor Strange will make an appearance as well.

Will you be trying this new experience? Comment your thoughts down below!

Legoland New York Set to Open on July 4th, 2020

by Theme Park Wizard, posted in Uncategorized
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Merlin Entertainment has set the opening date for its Legoland New York park to open up July 4th, 2020 in Goshen, New York. The resort will include a theme park and a hotel to start with potential expansion opportunities later on down the line.

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Legoland New York map

Above is the park map which Merlin says will be the largest Legoland park ever. Here is another angle with a scale model show below.

Local children help with a scale model of the park during a tour of the construction progress of LEGOLAND New York in Goshen on Thursday, August 16, 2018.

The park will include over 50 rides and 7 themed lands. 1 day tickets range from $61-$72 while passes range from $119-$209 all of which are very affordable prices in my opinion. Tickets and passes are on sale now and you can buy them through the Legoland New York website.

The Legoland Hotel opens in 2021 with rooms themed to Pirates, Ninjago, Lego Friends, and Castles.

Here is a better view of the park map from the Legoland New York website.

Taking a closer look at the map we can deduce that this park has just about all of the iconic rides you would find at the other U.S Lego parks and the same themed lands as well. You can also spot what the Legoland Hotel will look like in the bottom left corner of the image.

So what do you guys think of this third Legoland Resort in the U.S? Will you be visiting? Does the fact that the park is seasonal have an impact on attendance? Let me know your thoughts down below and be sure to give this blog a follow for constant theme park updates including a big article on Six Flags trying to buy Cedar Fair coming up next!

Is Something New Coming to Disney World’s Tomorrowland?

by Theme Park Wizard, posted in Uncategorized

The Magic Kingdom’s Tomorrowland may not be finished yet in terms of enhancements with rumors increasing swirling of something to replace Stitch’s Great Escape.

Great Escape was moved to seasonal operations last year due to declining attendance and now has apparently been fast tracked for retirement and relatively soon. Rumor has it that a Wreck it Ralph attraction will be replacing Great Escape and that this Wreck it Ralph attraction will be using some sort of Virtual Reality (VR) system.

Not much else is known about this rumor, but as soon as more details come along I will be sure to update you! Thank you for reading and if you would like to leave a donation or subscribe for exclusive content the options to do so are below and are very much appreciated!

What do you think of a Wreck it Ralph attraction? Do you like the use of VR in theme parks? Leave your thoughts below!

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Will You Be Getting Disney +?

by Theme Park Wizard, posted in Uncategorized
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We have just over a month to go until the official North American debut of the Disney+ streaming service and there is plenty to be excited for if you are a Disney fan. Shows that are new and old will be coming to the service as well as tons of original content that Disney is developing for Star Wars, Marvel, and Walt Disney Studios.

Another thing you can’t beat is the price, the service will cost 6.99/month or 69.99/year! Both of those prices are very competitive with Netflix and the rest of the streaming market. All Star Wars, Marvel, and other Disney movies will be going straight from the theater to this new streaming service further enticing people to go subscribe to it?

What shows, movies, etc are you most excited for on Disney +? Will you be getting this new streaming service? Have you pre-ordered it already? Comment your thoughts down below and make sure to give this page a follow for constant theme park updates!

Walt Disney World Skyliner Opened Today

by Theme Park Wizard, posted in Uncategorized
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WDW Skyliner

The highly anticipated Disney Skyliner opened today at Disney World with three lines that connect portions of the southern half of the resort. The Skyliner so far connects locations like Hollywood Studios, The Caribbean Beach Resort, The Art of Animation and Pop Century Resorts, The Riviera Resort as well as Epcot.

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Skyliner Map

Now some people are asking if the Skyliner will replace the Monorail and my answer to that is no. I think both transportation systems will complement each other very nicely. The Monorail covers resorts and parks in the North section of the resort while the Skyliner is starting to cover the Southern parks and resorts.

Another great thing about the Skyliner is that the gondola system is cheap and quick to build and does not take up a lot of space. It is also meant to go high which means the cables can easily go over existing buildings while providing great views for guests who are riding it. Further expansions of the Skyliner could include The Coronado Springs Resort as well as Animal Kingdom.

What do you think of the Skyliner? Do you prefer it over the Monorail? Will you be riding the Skyliner next time you are at Disney World? Let me know in the comments below! If you like this content please subscribe for constant updates and articles!

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Disney World Looking at Possible New Ticket Options?

by Theme Park Wizard, posted in Uncategorized

So in an effort to increase attendance at the resort Walt Disney World (WDW) resort Disney is thinking of introducing some new ticket options for the new fiscal year. I will go over each option below.

Option 1

Disney World would give guests purchasing a 4 day ticket free park hopping capabilities. I think this would be a great incentive for guests coming to the resort because most guests would not come just to see 3 or fewer of the 4 parks.

Option 2

Option 2 would give guests restricted hours to go to the parks. It would essentially expand the current one day noon ticket into a multi day ticket where you can only enter the parks after 12 on each day.

Option 3

Option 3 is called “Long Duration Benefit/Free Days” which would give guests who purchase a 4 day theme park ticket two additional free days, so it would be 6 days for the price of 4.

All of these ticket options are a great way to increase attendance and hopefully will help out the resort. I am wondering if Disneyland will implement ways to increase attendance at that resort. Some ways I am thinking of could be unblocking more passholders for more days as well as more SoCal resident deals. A major reason for the decline in attendance seems to be Galaxy’s Edge not being as guests anticipated it to be or that guests felt like the land would be way to crowded and decided to avoid it. Another reason for the decline could be that so many new things are opening and happening in 2021 and people could be waiting until then to go and cover everything including Galaxy’s Edge.

What do you guys think of these new ticket options? Will it entice you to go to the parks? What do you guys think is the cause for the decline in attendance in the resort? Let me know your thoughts below! Donations and subscriptions are always appreciated and welcome! Be sure to become a follower of the blog to get constant updates on all theme park related news.

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Guest Writer: Dominique’s Horror Nights Experience!

by Theme Park Wizard, posted in Uncategorized

Hello all, so I am starting a new series on this blog where once in awhile I will have guest writers on here to write about their theme park experiences! Today I am proud to introduce Dominique who has written about her time at Horror Nights.

“Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights changes little by little each year. They add elements to popular mazes like Stranger Things, and replace ones for others based from new movies like Us.

Unfortunately, I was only able to go on three mazes: Stranger Things, Holidayz in Hell, and Killer Klowns from Outer Space.

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Comparing to last year, Stranger Things was definitely better this time around, as they added more beings and it looked scarier as well. I loved the humongous being that they added in this maze called “Mindflayer”. It looked incredible and intimidating as it basically towers over you on its fours. The intense music throughout the maze with all of the demogorgans and other characters popping out flowed a lot more.

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Now I am a person that cannot stand clowns, but Killer Klowns from Outer Space maze was actually pretty interesting. It was the only maze where someone/something made me jump, and I am not surprised. Those clowns looked super creepy, and I’m pretty sure they would haunt my dreams if I went into that maze for a second time. The big smiles on their faces freaked me out already, imagine one coming out from around the corner? No thanks! That is enough challenging my heart rate for the day.

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It wasn’t over yet though, Holidayz in Hell made me rethink about all of the holidays we have over the year. I knew from the moment walking though, that I would hate looking at the Easter Bunny. The creepy Easter Bunny was the scariest one in my eyes out of all the holiday madness. I know for sure that Stranger Things was my favorite maze out of the ones we went to, even though the other ones were just as cool looking.

As for some of the tasty snacks during horror nights: yeah sure Panda Express is great, but the 6x chocolate shake was really good at Studio Scoop. They also had some limited edition Stranger Things treats that looked amazing: one was a really rich chocolate shake with black licorice and raspberry syrup, as well as soft served ice cream with mini waffles on top. Now that’s how you would get a crazy sugar high for a long day like that.

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Ice Cream Shakes from Studio Scoop
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Stranger Things Ice Cream Waffles

Overall, Horror Nights was pretty fun. Of course the lines were very intense, especially as hours went by after opening. We avoided the majority of the lines due to them being pretty much two hours just to go in some of the mazes. It was also a bummer that the tram wasn’t happening this year, but the time spent at the event was exciting. Was the ticket expensive to get in? Yes. Will I want to go next year? Most likely yes. As long as you got some friends to hangout with it could make the trip worth it.”

Thank you Dominique for your review of Horror Nights. What do you guys think of the treats and mazes? Comment your thoughts below! Donations are always appreciated and welcome to help keep this blog going!

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My Favorite Mazes at HHN Hollywood 2019

by Theme Park Wizard, posted in Uncategorized

So I had the pleasure of going to Halloween Horror Nights (HHN) at Universal Studios Hollywood last weekend and I wanted to share my two favorite mazes that I went through. That night my group and I ended up going through 3 scare zones and 7 mazes. We went through Us, Pandora’s Box, Ghostbusters, Killer Klowns, Frankenstein Meets Wolfman, Walking Dead, and Creepshow.

The Curse of Pandora’s Box

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This was by far the best maze in my opinion in terms of scares and set design. This maze was incredible from the facade to the interior design in each room. Each room had a specific pattern and there were scare actors that were dressed as the patterns jumping out at you. It was visually extremely impressive and it was worth the 110 minute wait.

The scares were great too since they camouflaged with the patterns you did not notice most of the scare actors and they instantly leaped out at you (and made my friend cry). I definitely say that Pandora’s Box is a MUST DO maze if you decide to go to Horror Nights in Hollywood.

Killer Klowns from Outer Space

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This maze turned out to be a surprise hit for me. I thought it was just going to be silly like Ghostbusters was intended to be, yet this one had some amazing set design and scares as well. The Klowns were also very interactive with guests by squirting water all over their faces. From above this maze looked like it was going to be mostly black walls, but that was not the case at all thankfully.

So that is my short review of Universal Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights 2019. Did you attend this years event either here or Orlando? Let me know what you thought of either one in the comments below! Donations are always welcome and appreciated to keep this blog going strong thank you!

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