#ThemePark

[mi-parque]

Gaming from bed last night

[thesherwoodadventures]

Alton Towers has today released footage of them testing the Sky Ride! This is great news as it means it could actually be operating for the 2025 season!

[threeboy]

Random Thoughts About Universal Studios & Super Nintendo Land

I visited Universal Studios in Spring 2024, my first time back since the '90s. Here are my unstructured thoughts about the park, now seen through the eyes of both an adult and a parent...

General Musings

After walking around for a day, I felt like I’d seen most of what Universal Studios had to offer, even though we had two-day passes.

Many of the rides rely on movement-synced screen simulations (simulation ride). While it’s probably easier to update the video or movement portions, these rides don’t quite match the charm and immersion of Disney’s fully built-out dark rides.

The food quality was disappointing. It felt like expensive carnival food - $10 slices of pizza.

The refillable popcorn bucket was a good value. We snacked on an unhealthy amount of popcorn in lineups.

Universal Studios

The Studio Tour has changed a lot since I was a kid. It used to feature more built-out attractions, but now much of it relies on simulated screen experiences. Backdraft and Earthquake portions were shut down, and the original King Kong has been retired, which was a bummer.

I had a Duff Beer in The Simpsons area, mostly for the novelty. It wasn’t great—oh no!

I’m not a huge Harry Potter fan, but my wife was thrilled to try Butterbeer. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™ was one of the most fleshed-out areas of the park and definitely had more attention to detail than most other sections.

WaterWorld: A Live Sea War Spectacular: I saw it as a kid, so it’s old. That being said, it was absolutely amazing. The explosions, stunts, and action were top-notch. We watched it twice, and during one show, they messed up and had to improvise back into the story. It was handled so well that it added to the charm. I honestly don’t know why they don't have stunt shows like this everywhere.

We got stuck on Jurassic Park: The Ride for twenty minutes. We almost had a family panic attack (memories that last!), but thankfully, the issue eventually sorted itself out.

Transformers: The Ride – 3D was pretty damn good. While it’s another simulated screen ride, it combines screens with track movement effectively, making it one of the better attractions. The performers dressed as Transformers walking around the park were also surprisingly impressive.

Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem felt basic and lazy. It was essentially a movie theater with jiggly seats. Simulation rides work best when they combine screens with physical sets, but they didn’t go that route here.

Kung Fu Panda Adventure was just as bad as the Minions ride. Spoiler alert: near the end, the screen expands beyond its confines with projections. If you’ve ever wanted to see Kung Fu Panda action overlaid on wall sconces and exit signs, this is the ride for you.

Super Nintendo Land

The kids and I are big Nintendo and Mario fans, so we spent a lot of time in this section of the park. It was small but built out very well—everything looked great, with a lot of attention to detail. There were cool hidden pixel Mario characters, and we even spotted some Pikmin (as shown in the picture).

The Power-Up Bands were underwhelming. The "interactive" games were very basic and didn’t feel worth the long lines. Completing them and unlocking enough stars through the app gives access to a hidden interactive silhouette experience, which was cool, but the juice wasn't worth the squeeze.

We visited the Power-Up Cafe for Mario themed drinks and snacks. The drinks were basically Italian sodas with popping boba and that's fun but there the drop-in “power-ups” felt like gritty Tide Pods that never fully dissolved. After seeing the bill, I told the kids to enjoy it because we probably wouldn’t be doing it again.

The Toadstool Cafe™ was fantastic (if you could ignore the cost). The wraparound screens and themed collectibles included with the meals added a lot of charm.

The Mario Kart™: Bowser’s Challenge ride was the highlight of the land. The AR headsets were a bit janky, but they enhanced the track ride by adding interactive elements. The lineup was long, but there were plenty of cool details to check out while waiting.

The Thrilling Conclusion

Overall, Universal Studios was a fun experience, but it doesn’t compare to Disneyland. While Disneyland nails immersion with its seamless sightlines, Universal feels more chaotic, with worlds constantly in view of each other. The reliance on screen-based rides was hit or miss—some were impressive, like Transformers, while others, like Minion Mayhem, felt like a missed opportunity.

Despite the chaos, Super Nintendo Land, the Studio Tour, and the WaterWorld show were highlights. It’s worth a visit, but if I had to choose, Disneyland is still the GOAT.

Universal Studios: Where anything is possible (except taking a family photo without 30 people in the background).

[pixleddisplay]

New immersive project accomplished.

[caglica]

Aw man here we go again-

Lil bonus cuz yh

[themeparkattractionideas]

Maybe you have heard of the Cacau park(meaning cocoa park) a chocolate brand theme park that plans to open in Itu in the state of São Paulo, Brazil around 2027

Font: https://istoedinheiro.com.br/montanha-russa-de-1-km-e-sem-brinquedos-do-playcenter-como-sera-o-cacau-park-em-itu/

I'm sure hope it will be a sucess and up the standards of parks in brazil and south america who arent known to have the best safety standards

Idea for the park a thrilling dark brown rollercoaster themed to the dark chocolate line from the brand Bendito Cacau. Being a parallel between the intensity of the flavour of the dark chocolate with the intensity of the rollercoaster.

They could have mini lands in the park dedicated to a type of chocolate like dark chocolate, milk chocolate and white chocolate. And in this land there would be shops especialist in that type of chocolate.They could have a land that is all about chocolate with nuts too and also have especialty shops related to that selling the chocolate with nuts and nuts. Each of those lands would have at least 1 ride.

Their Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cacaupark?igsh=b3g2a2l1NDFxcTI4

[phuket-fantasea]

Celebrate a joyful Christmas and New Year at Phuket FantaSea! 🎅🎉🎄

Immerse yourself in the fun and excitement of the holiday season with these unmissable highlights:

• Exclusive Performance: Be captivated by a spectacular show at the Viva Bangkok Stage Theater.

• Festive Dining: Relish over 100 international dishes at The Golden Kinnaree Buffet Restaurant, complete with exclusive holiday menus.

• Holiday Shopping: Discover Christmas-themed treasures and savor festive drinks at the Festival Village.

Come make unforgettable memories and celebrate the season of joy with us, from now until January 7, 2025! 🎉⛄🎁

[scottchiriboga]

Work trip to Dollywood was a blast

[mi-parque]

On Parkitect I’ve been working on several improvements; first I decided to reroute and build a new skyway station opposite the Nemoland station so that I had plenty of space to build a new submarine ride in the middle of the lagoon one built this neat conservatory like load and unload at this L-shaped spot of land and did a little realignment of the lagoon boat ride. As a secondary project I added a third lagoon boarded station in Japantown. That new station was the previous location for the carousel which now I moved to Nemoland as a flat ride. Next indeed to work on underwater theming improve the submarine ride.

[thesherwoodadventures]

Roll on the start of the 2025 season!

[thegioinongsanglobal]

Trung tâm mua sắm Toppen, Tầng 4 10 giờ sáng - 10 giờ tối hàng ngày

[pixleddisplay]

Mission accomplished!

[fancyheartwerewolf]

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[themeparkattractionideas]

The dreamworks land really dissapointed me. I mean a lot of fans of dreamworks are even adults so this land desserves to be more ambitious and Universal studios need better attractions. I only hope after Universal complete Epic Universe they will give attention to Universal Studios and upgrade that land

[v0rpalalice]

[the-baggera]

Themepark (Zalaszabar, Hungary)