Roller Coasters, Rides and Theme Parks!

[QualityChimp]

Totally out of the loop as I don't know when I'll ever go to Florida again, but it looks like Universal is making some progress with its new park, about 2 miles south of the current parks.

Facts and predictions in this pretty thorough video:

[wakka]

Thanks for posting that. I skimmed through the video and here are some summarised details:

The hub area seems to be space themed (hence, I guess, 'Universe' in the name), and the two hub area rides will be a dual tracking 'duelling' coaster called Starfall Racers and a flat ride named Constellation Carousel.

Other areas include:

1) Super Nintendo World, which looks mostly a clone of the existing Osaka one so far
2) Universal Monsters, which will have a rollercoaster called Curse of the Werewolf, and looks like a spooky European town a la classic Frankenstein movies
3) A third Harry Potter section - this one themed after the wizarding Paris featured in the Fantastic Beasts films (me neither)
4) A How to Train Your dragon area, which looks like it will play host to the 'Untrainable' stage show already in place in the Beijing park plus an elaborate roller coaster

There are three hotels being built too, named Terra Luna, Stella Nova, and Helois Grand. No further details on these.

I think this is going to be great. Really excited to see how it develops. Even though I haven't been to Orlando since the late 90s, I've observed from afar, and I think Universal's parks division have been at the top of their game over the last decade.

[Asura]

Realised, I don't think I ever posted our spreadsheet I should probably dig it out.

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2023-04-10/rogers-the-musical-disney-california-adventure-disneyland-marvel-avengers

Rogers: The Musical from Hawkeye has been adapted fully for stage and will debut at Disneyland this summer

[briareos_kerensky]

I've been to Universal Studio Japan in Osaka specifically to visit Super Nintendo World, so here are some impressions now that I've six hours to pass as I travel from Izumoshi to Tokyo.

First, getting to Super Nintendo World. That is inside USJ but you need a second ticket, and the SNW personnel won't let you in until the time written on the ticket, but once you're in, you can stay as much as you want.
You can book tickets online, though the process is not as straightforward as it can be, mainly due to payment options: I've tried with two cards (a Visa and a Mastercard), three different browsers (Firefox, Chrome, Edge), and the payment never went through. I dropped a line to USJ support and I had to read the reply twice: if your card has been issued inside Japan, they accept Visa and Mastercard only; if you card has been issued outside Japan, only Diners, JCB, and American Express. Luckily you can also pay with ApplePay and a friend had that.
Also, you can register your USJ ticket to the USJ app, but the app doesn't accept SNW's ticket, better save a PDF or print out that.

Getting to the park is rather easy, there's a dedicated line branching off Osaka's JR loop line, and everything is well indicated. At the park's entrance your bags get searched and you can bring in only one PET bottle...because they need to sell you their stuff, of course.
Anyway, SNW is next to Jurassic Park, and I think that features the longer rollercoaster in USJ...never rode it, even with an express pass there was a 45 minutes wait.

The road to SNW is laden with dates of all Mario games, and the personnel does a good job of firing you up. You can buy a Power Up Band to get points (I think the only purpose of those is to prop you up in today's high score for SNW) while bumping in ? blocks and doing the two minigames outside the main rides.
After getting the Band, you reach a plaza with a warp pipe that first leads you to a castle hall with paintings from SM64, pass the door and you find yourself in from of Bowser's Castle to the left and a platforms and blocks from SMW; behind you, Peach's Castle, and when I got in, there was Peach entertaining guests and taking pictures with them.
SNW is rather tiny and packed, no other portion of the park was this busy when I visited on a weekday. From Peach's Castle you descend a flight of stair and find yourself on the main playground where you can go to the two rides, the two stores, the Cafe, and other misc facilities.

Having some time to spare before my first ride, I wandered off a bit and encountered two minigames. In one you had to turn an handle to stop a Goomba reaching a key, in the second you had to hit a POW block to launch a Koopa shell at the right time. The queue for those was quite long, so I skipped them for now and wandered a little bit, reaching the first shop (that theorically should be after the Mario Kart ride, but oh well).
I'm not entirely sure of the timings, but Mario & Luigi will come out for some photos, as well as Toad (normal, not Captain); unfortunately no Bowser. But I found a visitor dressed up as Waluigi (well, almost: black overalls with purple shirt and cap).

Time for the first ride, Mario Kart: Koopa's Challenge
This is an AR thing, so no photos allowed. But I did take plenty of photos of Bowser's Castle while going to the ride itself, and this is very well done and really gives the idea you are in Big B's home. There are several screens showing how Mechakoopas and Bomb Ombs are made, with several pipes, Mario Kart flags, and Cup Logos adorning the walls.
You are given a cap that will later be used to attack the AR goggles once you are ready to go.
You board a Kart with 3 other people, and your goal is to steer when the arrows are on screen and launch shells at Nintendo characters racing with you. The direction of the kart is of course fixed but I think all players' inputs dictate if you spin or not, and between this and having only a limited number of shells, makes for a somewhat chaotic experience, where you input the direction to steer but the kart spins in another way. But again, the presentation is fantastic and perfectly in line with MK8, with several touches here and there.
The ride doesn't last long, probably five minutes, and the queue really makes you appreciate having an express pass.

The second and last ride is [b}Yoshi's Adventure[/b], a much qiueter ride you can take pictures from. The goal of this ride is to press the correct button when you see a coloured Yoshi egg, and the cart you're on is nice enough to go "uaaah" (imagine Yoshi saying that) when you're near one.
The presentation is spot-on once again, but a tad less engaging that Bowser's Castle...it's not Yoshi's Wooly World, it's neither Yoshi on SNES or N64, it's "plain" Yoshi from SMW or New SMB.
The ride itself is pleasant and you can ride alone (up to two people in a cart), and it's nice to see Thwomps, Goombas, Magikoopas, and other Mario enemies so close. I think it lasts a little longer than Mario Kart, but this impression might be due to the lower speed.

Inside the stores you find what you'd expect: plushies, caps, t-shirts, biscuits, keychains...one shop is right after Mario Kart so it's stiled after a racing pit, the other it's more of a pipe maze reminiscent of SMB3's 7th world. I bought a Bullet Bill cap and a Bowser plushie. The cashier asked me where I was from, and she said she had been in Italy, visiting the country from Rome to Agrigento; almost the complete opposite from where I am, but it was nice nonetheless.

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2023/10/03/hong-kong-disneyland-opens-worlds-first-frozen-amusement-park-area.html

On 20 November, Disneyland Hong Kong will open its new extension which is the first World of Frozen themed area

[Neon Ignition]

[Neon Ignition]

UK’s first Universal Studios theme park takes huge step forward (msn.com)

[wakka]

That would be cool if it happens. It does seem crazy that there isn't a single Universal resort in Europe when there are three in Asia (and obviously two in the US).

Bedford makes sense as a UK site since it's pretty much equidistant between (and close to) the UK's two biggest cities and reachable from the others fairly conveniently too. It's also only about 40 minutes from Luton, which is convenient for European visitors.

Although the poor weather for most of the year is a challenge, I think it does make more much more sense to be close to London as a global transportation hub than their previous choice of Barcelona in the early 2000s. And it's not like anywhere in Europe has year-round sunshine (nor has this been a problem for their Osaka site).

I have to say I feel doubtful that it will go ahead though, considering how many large scale theme park resorts have been proposed for the UK over the years and never materialised.

[QualityChimp]

Epic?! What is this? A theme park for ANTS?!

[Neon Ignition]

1 missing person so far, everyone else with minor injuries. It wasn't open yet and is said to be a construction incident.

[Neon Ignition]

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2024/02/opening-season-tianas-bayou-adventure-at-walt-disney-world/

[Neon Ignition]

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