Russia
Magic World Russia
'This incredibly ambitious project actually consists of multiple theme parks on a 600-acre site north of Moscow. In addition to hotels and waterparks, phase one includes the construction of Park Russia, a park that will celebrate the cultural heritage and scientific achievements of Russia, and “St. Petersburg Street”, a mile-long retail and entertainment boardwalk designed in the style of St. Petersburg’s famed fountains and gardens. “Magic Family Park,” specifically designed for families of young children, and “World Without Boundaries,” the world’s first theme park devoted to children with special needs, are also planned for this phase.
'Phase two includes an extreme sports park and Nanopolis Children’s Park, an “edutainment” experience for children to explore jobs and careers. Additional plans for the massive site include a Hollywood-branded theme park, an outdoor amphitheater, additional thrill rides, and water and laser shows. As planned, approximately 80% of the attractions will be available year-round. The cost for this incredible project is estimated to be a more than 2.5 billion dollars, and investors hope it will attract 10-12 million visitors a year.'-- entertainmentdesigner.com
Galactica Park
'Amusement park developer Universal Studios is eyeing Moscow for its fifth themed resort in Europe. The Galactica Park recreation zone including the Universal Studios Moscow amusement park as well as a water park and a shopping mall would be located in the South of Moscow in a 22 hectare plot, Kommersant daily reports. There would also be a concert arena seating 20,000 people, two hotels and exhibition centre as well as conference halls. The construction is scheduled to start in 2014 and would be open in 2018. The park’s capacity would be about 5 million visitors a year.
'The ambitious project of Universal and Bin Group would cost about $2.8 billion, while the theme park alone needs $500 million investment, according to Sait-Salam Gutsiriev, the co-owner of Bin Group. But experts say, the construction will need up to $11 billion as the road infrastructure needs upgrading and additional interchanges should be built in the area.
'The Moscow amusement park would be similar to four other Universal parks in Orlando and Hollywood in the US, in Singapore and Osaka, Japan. The entrance fee for the Moscow park would be about $34, the lowest in the world, compared to the $85 fee for the park in Orlando or $54 in Singapore.
'The Universal park would be the first large scale amusement park in Russia, though the idea of a theme park is nothing new for Moscow. Disney Park Group considered constructing a theme park in the Russian capital in 2010, but later gave up the idea. While the South Korean Lotte Group planned to build a “Park of Miracles”, but quit because of financial crisis.'-- collaged
Dreamwork's Russia Theme Parks
'DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. is partnering with Regions GC to open new theme parks in Russia. The studio released a statement today detailing its future collaboration with the property development and management firm to develop, what it promises to be, Europe’s largest year round indoor entertainment zone in three major cities: Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg.
'While building a theme park in Russia isn’t commonplace for an animation studio, DreamWorks has had a profitable history with the country. Six of the top ten animated films of all time in Russia are DreamWorks Animation pictures; Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted is currently the second highest-grossing animated film in Russia's box office history, and the fourth highest-grossing film of all time in the country.
'The parks will boast attractions ranging from movie and concert halls to retail centers, hotels and immersive, interactive environments with DreamWorks most beloved characters, from films including Shrek, Madagascar, How to Train Your Dragon and Kung Fu Panda, in addition to yet-to-be released DreamWorks Animation feature films including Turbo, which is set for its worldwide debut in Russia on July 11 before arriving in US theaters on July 19. DreamWorks indoor parks in Russia are expected to be completed by 2015.'-- Hollywood Reporter
Park Russia
'Announced at the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAPPA) Expo last year, this park will consist of four themed areas of rides and attractions: Ancient Russia, Czarist Russia, Socialist Russia and New Russia, as well as an animal park and botanical garden featuring native species. Like many of the projects on this list, Russia Park will be easily accessible from Moscow and designed for year-round operations. Hotels, restaurants and a convention center are also part of the six-year development plan, although no designers have yet been announced.'-- themeparknews.com
Malaysia
Ice Age: The Adventure
'The Indonesian amusement park Ancol will launch a new Ice Age themed attraction this Christmas, featuring a world first multiple ride experience in which visitors will be switched between four different vehicle platforms that will include a roller coaster, a water/rafting ride, a high speed "people mover" monorail, an innovative escalator, an "exploding" drop ride, and an immersive flume ride.
'The indoor flume ride portion of the experience invites Ancol guest to make a voyage with Sid’s Arctic Tours, where they are “guaranteed to get chills.” The journey is filled with animatronic characters, glaciers, geysers, waterfalls and other scenery, plus additional Ice Age multimedia content created especially for the attraction.
'In the roller coaster portion, blasts of water douse passengers from all around, signalling that the ice walls are giving way, and they are in danger of being swept up in a flood. A massive block of ice dangles precariously overhead ...and then comes sliding down, barely missing the coaster. But guests are then safe as robotic arms life them from the coaster cars and onto an escalator safe for a while where they travel upwards through several jungle scenes.
'Later, after being switched into the people mover, they encounter a volcano about to erupt. Boulders break off from the caverns, but now it’s not water streaming from the walls, it’s lava! Cars are struck by falling molten debris and rocked violently until the dangerously broken people mover cars crash, literally breaking open and smiling riders bodies onto a moving platform that deposits them into the vehicles of ride's next phase: a custom-themed Kontiki rocking raft ride.
'Riders then hurtle down a river and steep watery drop to seeming safety, a lake where a life size animatronic Sid waves guests goodbye, as riders are shuttled from the boats into a bomb-shaped car that ticks down and literally explodes, seeming to hurl visitors through a breakaway wall into the ride's exit.'-- collaged
Holland
Efteling Park
Hartenhof
'Close-partnered with the German dark ride supplier Heimo and Vekoma Rides Manufacturing presented Hartenhof, a dark ride system combines a show experience with an 18 meters high free fall tower whose suspended seats can rotate around three additional axes. The ride, which is costing 42.5 million euro to build, will open at Holland Efteling amusement park in mid-2015.
'The building structure is similar to a high rack storage area. Visitors will expect a combination of dark ride scenes and thrill elements while the "free fall towers" move around the building core with it's array of show cells arranged horizontally as well as vertically. "The interaction is the clue", says Olaf Mordelt of Heimo: "The patrons experience a show scene looking into a chamber packed with animatronics, special effects and video-projections and something will happen, something they will feel."
'Imagine that: You are looking into a gold mine and suddenly an enormous explosion blasts you on your back and with 2g up into the air - a 15 meters blast into nowhere. The thrill experience offers solutions for every target group: High thrill rides for the young and adventurous, can be varied by more moderate family rides: While viewing an aquatic scene, the passenger carriage rocks gently to and fro, as if the passengers were part of the scenery.
'Hartenhof features a technology with enormous potential: The vehicle consists of a pole with carriages on top and bottom. They are guided along a horizontal track, on the circumferences of the building core. The vehicle is self propelled. A carriage can move vertically along the pole, as well as rotate around it. Two seats assemblies are connected to this carriage by arm-like structures. Within these arms, hings are incorporated to allwo the seat assemblies to perform banking and tilting motions. All motions are separately driven my onboard motors and are free programmable. This allows multiple sequences and combinations of motions. By combining horizontal and vertical translation, all scenes within the array can be viewed.'-- coastersandmore.com
Lummels
'Last year Efteling announced that the Laaf village was going to receive a bit of a refresh with some new characters coming into play there, called the Lummels. While the Laaf village would not be changed, these new characters were to inspire new merchandise, a T.V series, and a new attraction on the land alongside the existing village.
'Now, it has been unofficially reported by a number of sites that the new attraction is to be two free-fall towers that will be partially built into the ground. Charles Willemen is the chief designer of the ride, who previously worked on the Flying Dutchman, and he plans for this new attraction to be partially built inside a cave, which stays within the theming of the Laaf village. If everything goes to plan and these rumours are true, the ride should be opening in 2014.'-- efteling.uk
France
Napoleonland
'A French MP has laid down the gauntlet for a new generation of history-themed mega-rollercoasters with plans for Europe's first theme-park based on the French general and emperor Napoleon. Dubbed "Napoleonland" and located about 40 miles from Disneyland on the outskirts of Paris, the project will formally launch this weekend with a race to court private foreign investors from Qatar to India, and a study to determine the exact nature of the technical wizardry of the rides that are hoped will tempt visitors from UK to China.
'More than just the latest step of a hybrid of history and leisure known as "histo-tainment", the tribute to one of French history's most complex and contentious figures is part of the latest quest by politicians on the French right to make their mark with theme parks.
'Yves Jego of the centre-right Parti Radical is a former minister in Sarkozy's government, and the local MP for Montereau, the site of one of Napoleon's last victories. He has described the project as his "life's work". Technicians and designers will set to work studying his dream rides to see whether his fantasy gimmicks and Napoleon experiences, recently outlined in his blog, are workable.
'Detailed in the first drawings of the imagined park, Jego's ideas include a Revolution experience where visitors will be "freed from the Bastille" and, while "trembling", witness the guillotining of the king. Through French formal gardens and a 3D reconstruction of the palace of Versailles, visitors will be able to attend Napoleon's crowning of himself as emperor.
'A ride based on his Egypt campaign will send people plunging underground into a mock-up of the pyramids. The battle of Trafalgar will be re-enacted in a big aquarium and witnessed from under water. A Caribbean corner might feature the empress Josephine and a slave plantation.
'One of the most bold imaginings, however, is for the coldest moments of Napoleon's struggles: a dry ski-slope of his crossing the Alps, or a recreation of his disastrous retreat from Russia, re-enacting the crossing of the Beresina river past "frozen corpses of soldiers and horses".
'Austerlitz and Waterloo could also be represented. "Hear the shattering sound of the cannons, tremble when you feel the bullets whistle past your ears, breathe the smell of gunpowder, and admire Napoleon's sang-froid," wrote Jego.'-- The Guardian
Japan
One Piece
'The sheer dominating power of Eiichiro Oda's One Piece can't be stopped. Not content with ruling the manga and anime worlds, having its own special exhibitions, and more, One Piece is getting a theme park at Tokyo Tower. The 333-meter-tall tower—located in Minato-ku, Tokyo—will be home to the park starting spring 2015.
'There isn't a ton of information yet, but according to One-Piece.Com the theme park will have live character shows, attractions, restaurants, and shops for original goods. The main image from the park's official website, pictured below, says, "Straw Hat Pirates' Territory!!"'-- Otaku USA Magazine
Hong Kong
Noah's Ark
'In the late 90s, Hong Kong needed a bridge to connect the city with its new airport. Matthew Pine is manager of "Noah's Ark" theme park. "As part of the whole development scheme, there was an island that needed to be developed to enable the building of the bridge," he recalled. As a lawyer for the developers, Hugo Chan had a message for the government. "We can help you with the bridge if you negotiate with the owners of the land on the island, build a theme park for the community, let us relocate the villages and build a residential development," he told them.
'So the government built the bridge, apartments and, this summer, it opened a theme park. "They had vision to do something remarkable, something outstanding. So they came up with many ideas. Some of them were really outrageous and some of them were very unreasonable," Pine said. Developers say the vision of the ark came from an 8-year-old girl. "She drew a little picture, her dad took it. The government officials loved it and from there on the architects and the engineers developed the plan," Pine explained. "The marketing teams came alongside. And the Hong Kong government came to support it as well. And they eventually created what you see today."
'The contractors built the ark the way the Bible describes -- 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits high. Many believe it was the largest wooden structure ever to roam the seas. Outside of the ark, a garden features nearly 70 pairs of life-size replicas of animals and a few ones. Inside, the ark contains exhibits with rare animals like a nautilus, a toucan and exotic fish. Screens show animated films that demonstrate how the original ark could have been constructed and how it might have been ventilated. The exhibits also teach that the story of a major flood is nearly universal throughout the world's ancient cultures.'-- cbn
United States
Amazing World of Superman
'Back in the 1970s a little town in Illinois, which was named Metropolis long before Superman even existed, rebranded itself as being the home of Superman. The fact that it resembled Smallville more than Metropolis didn't seem to matter. DC Comics was on board with the idea of rebranding the town, and they helped set in motion a plan to build a Superman theme park called Amazing World of Superman.
'It all started when in 1972, a group of DC Comics representatives showed up with a guy wearing George Reeves’ actual Superman suit to declare Metropolis, Illinois the official hometown of Superman. That eventually led to the planning of the theme park to help the town out of its economic slump. The plan would have cost the city $50 million, or roughly $270,000,000 in today's dollars.
'Everything was moving forward and it was going to happen, but it all fell apart when OPEC proclaimed an embargo on oil exports to the US as retaliation for aid to Israel. That raised gas prices, and the future of car travel and vacations seemed uncertain. The park was cancelled. It would have included a 200-foot-tall statue of Superman that would serve as an entryway.'-- geek tyrant
Laff Track
'Known for blending the best of the past with the innovations of the future, Hersheypark announced the addition of Laff Trakk, the first indoor, spinning glow-coaster in the United States for the 2015 summer season. Laff Trakk will be the 13th roller coaster at Hersheypark, officials announced today in a press conference at the site of the new attraction.
'Laff Trakk, built within a family friendly house of laughs, spins riders through an eye-popping adventure of sights and sounds complete with glimpses of colorful characters including classics like Laffing Sal plus an engaging hall of mirrors, house of cards and more. Laff Trakk, a 21st century Fun House, offers a new experience with every trip as riders enjoy the sensation of floating along the coaster track.
'Set to debut in May 2015, Laff Trakk, part dark ride, part family coaster, will deliver a different sensory experience with each trip on the innovative attraction. “The
number and size of riders affects the rotation of the cars giving riders a different view of the bright, colorful elements and playful surroundings providing endless amounts of fun on Laff Trakk,” continued Stumpf.
'As soon as riders enter the queue line, they will see a glimpse of the whimsy which awaits them in Laff Trakk and be able to capture the anticipation in sharable photo opportunities.
The roller coaster will deliver larger than life experiences in an elaborately themed environment. The new attraction will be located within a 130 feet long by 75 feet high red, white and blue building along Midway America between the Whip and Midway Tent.'-- Hershey Park
Wizarding World of Harry Potter
'Starting in late summer, Universal Studios Hollywood will begin construction of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter themed land at Universal Studios Hollywood theme park, as well as new and upgraded television production facilities, office space and infrastructure on the Universal Studios lot. These projects represent a nearly $500 million investment in the Los Angeles economy and the creation of more than 2,000 construction jobs alone.
'The 40-year-old Gibson Amphitheatre located on the theme park grounds will be torn down to make way for the Wizarding World attraction. Universal officials have said that the California themed land would include a clone of the Forbidden Journey ride inside a replica of Hogwarts castle. What remains unclear is whether Hollywood will get a Hogsmeade village complete with a Honeydukes candy store, Ollivander's wand shop, Zonko's joke shop and a Three Broomsticks restaurant. But The "when" and most of the "what" of Wizarding World still remains a closely guarded secret.
'The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Hollywood will be a fully immersive experience for the entire family designed to bring the Harry Potter fiction and films to life with impeccable detail and authenticity. Similar to the dynamic Universal Orlando Resort themed land that opened in 2010, but smaller in size at 6-acres compared to the size of the 13-acre Orlando location, the Hollywood experience will be faithful to the visual landscape of the fiction and films, including Hogwarts castle that will serve as the centerpiece of the impressively themed environment. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is a collaboration between Warner Bros. Entertainment and Universal Parks and Resorts.'-- deadline.com
Fury325
'Carowinds Amusement Park in North Carolina unveiled plans yesterday for a brand new, 325-foot 'gigacoaster' for the stateline amusement park in Fort Mill. Scheduled to open in Spring 2015, it will be the tallest, fastest, and longest steel roller coaster in the United and the third tallest, fastest, and longer steel coaster in the world.'-- themeparkreview.com
UK
Robin Hood and the Sherwood Forest
'A £13m Robin Hood attraction in Nottinghamshire will go ahead, despite delays, the company behind the scheme has promised. Concerns have been raised about the scheme to build a new medieval-themed park in Sherwood Forest. But Discovery Attractions, the company behind the venture, said the attraction will open in 2015, as planned.
'It will include a medieval-style village fair, a wildlife dome, an open-air theatre, a torture chamber, a 4D show, a world-class visitor attraction to promote the legend, life and times of Robin Hood and his band of merry men, an interactive, and futuristic attraction featuring the settings of a medieval castle complete with fortified ramparts made from local materials and an adventure play area. The current Sherwood Forest visitor centre, which dates from the 1970s, will be demolished. The development will take place on a site on Swinecote Road.'-- chad.uk.com
London Paramount
'Plans for a giant new £2bn theme park on the edge of London to rival Disneyland Paris have been halted - by a colony of rare spiders. Developers say the Paramount scheme will be the third biggest theme park in the world and will feature Europe’s largest indoor water park, theatres, live music venues, attractions, cinemas, restaurants, event space and hotels and, if given the green light, will be twice the size of Olympic Park in East London. It is due to create 27,000 jobs and was set to be completed by 2019. But an environmental audit of the 872-acre brownfield site in the Swanscombe Peninsula in Kent has found it is home to distinguished jumping spiders.
'Speaking about the theme park, Tony Sefton, the project leader said: “The park will have more rides and shows per hour than any other studio park in the world. There will be five first class roller coasters. Films from Paramount Pictures that will feature as attractions include Mission Impossible, Tomb Raider, Titanic and Star Trek. The main entertainment plaza of the park, which will be accessible to guests for just £5, will feature an array of attractions. This includes nine world-class experiences, a spectacular evening show, plaza shows every half hour, a daily carnival and two amazing play areas.
"Other areas of the park planned include a Techno Expo, our version of Epcot, which will consist of 10,000 sq m of high tech attractions based around the best technology in the world. A 1,500 bed hotel, 150 food outlets and 10,000sq m of retail space will cater for more than 26,000 guests on peak days, with 7,000 staff on hand to manage facilities. Guests will also benefit from “75% of the operating area being undercover” to cope with the British weather, as well as a revolutionary new queuing system which will ensure guests are not wasting their time in queues for their favourite rides."'-- themedwire.co.uk
Ghost: The Haunted House
'Ghost: The Haunted House, a haunted house attraction planned by Legoland Windsor has been stopped. In a surprise move last night, councillors on the Royal Borough's Windsor urban development control panel ignored their officers' advice and refused permission to let it go ahead. Sue Kemp, Legoland's divisional director, said she was disappointed and felt the success of recent traffic trials designed to ease congestion caused by the theme park's visitors had been ignored. Earlier in the meeting Cllr Simon Meadowcroft (Con, Clewer South) said he feared the traffic trials had merely reshuffled cars onto different roads. He could not accept that the haunted house would not add to the traffic, and said: "I'm tempted to think this is the point where we have reached a threshold." Cllr Phill Bicknell (Con, Park) received unanimous support when he proposed permission be refused. He said: "We are at a point where something has got to give."'-- towernews.co.uk
South Korea
Robot Land
'Robot Land, a $600-million theme park celebrating famous science fiction cyborgs and motion picture androids, is expected to open in South Korea in 2015. Located about an hour west of Seoul in the coastal city of Incheon, Robot Land would feature 11 rides, seven attractions and eight shows on 190 acres. Dubbed the world's first robot theme park, the oft-delayed Robot Land would compete for visitors with the world's 10th busiest theme park (Everland) and the world's largest indoor theme park (Lotte World) in the greater Seoul area.
'Concept art of the still-evolving park shows amorphous-shaped futuristic architecture ringed by a monorail track with Robotland spelled out in the nearby hills à la the Hollywood sign. An aerial view of the park reveals four themed lands (Robot Kingdom, Kidbot Village, Robotopia and Fun City) along a waterfront with a distinctive green glass pyramid at a central hub. A 365-foot-tall Taekwon V tower, based on the robot from a beloved 1976 South Korean animated film, would serve as the park's central icon with an observation deck at the top and a dark ride themed to the automaton hero at the base.
'Among Robot Land's marquee attractions: A Kuka arm robocoaster similar to Knights Tournament at Legoland California and Sum of All Thrills at Walt Disney World. A roller coaster that seemingly dives underwater similar to Vanish at Cosmoworld in Japan. A giant wheel with a clockwork gears motif similar to the London Eye. An aquarium where visitors control robot fish. A robot arena where boxer-bots fight à la "Real Steel"
'Plans for Robot Land call for the park to feature movie sets from "Minority Report" starring Tom Cruise, "I, Robot" starring Will Smith and the "Matrix" trilogy starring Keanu Reeves. The park's Robot Character Hall would include exhibits based on the Transformers, Star Wars and Astroboy movie franchises as well as experimental robots built by manufacturers like Sony, Toyota and Honda. Virtually every aspect of the planned park would have some type of robot theme. Robot-themed rides at the park would include a free-fall drop tower, water flume, bumper cars and merry-go-round.
'Among the robot-inspired attractions: flower garden, zoo, museum, parade, nighttime spectacular and cabaret-style musical. A robot-centric water park would feature a lazy river, wave pool and slide tower. Even the restaurants would have robot waiters that break into regular staged performances during dinner. Opening in phases starting in 2015 and continuing into 2016, Robot Land eventually would be ringed by shopping districts, research and development facilities, robotics trade schools and high-rise commercial buildings.'-- Los Angeles Times
Fairy Trail Dream Boats
'A new attraction called Fairy Trail Dream Boats will open this Christmas at Lotte World Amusement Park near Seoul. I can’t quite figure out if this is a water ride or a walk through attraction. The sets look like they are made out of colorful candy, but they didn’t bother to hide the speakers or lights, so the attraction has a weird chic shabbiness about it that makes it peg out both sides of the well done/crappy scale.'-- themeparkinsider.com
Spain
Spain Paramount Park Murcia
'Spain Paramount Park Murcia project is not only going on but apparently they've found the funds and the 390M Euros project was even presented at Fitur, a big International Tourism Fair, in Spain. Brand new exciting 3D renderings were released as well as artworks in high-definition and more details about the rides, and these will give you a better idea of how will look this Paramount park which will be located at Alhama de Murcia when it will open, end 2015.
'The park will include five lands, so let's start by the entrance "Paseo Paramount". Guests will enter the park and this land by going through a recreation of the legendary gate of Paramount Studios in Hollywood and will then find a entrance plaza with a fountain followed by the typical shopping street and services. Guests will then arrive to a large central square connecting to other lands, with on the right access to the Plaza Futura - Paramount Park "Tomorrowland" - and on the left to Adventure City. In that square will be the first of the attractions, a cybernetic fountain which will play with lights , music and water effects to create a great show welcoming the visitors.
'The large central square is overlooking the lake with stunning views on the rest of the park, and with also a small garden promenade overlooking the lake that serves as a shortcut to communicate faster with The Enchanted Forest and Rango's West lands. "Adventure City" will be the next land on the left. In Adventure City guests will find one of the E-Ticket attraction of the park, Mission Impossible 3D , in which visitors will be immersed in an espionage adventure moving across highways, flying over rooftops and through multiple zones with flames, explosions and 3D action. The attraction technology will be similar to the Spiderman ride at Universal parks, with a similar ride vehicle adapted with the improvements which have occurred in recent years on this type of attraction.
'Unfortunately one of the attraction announced previously, dedicated to the Titanic has been cancelled, it was a kind of walk through museum ( see rendering below ) and they thought it was not attractive enough. It is replaced by a second attraction based on the Mission Impossible saga. This new attraction will use new technologies allowing visitors to interact with their smartphones and participate in the "impossible missions" in which they will be involved. Rango's West will be the largest area of the park and the first major attraction that guests will find is "Spirit of the West ," a mine train which so far looks like a standard mine train coaster from Vekoma, but it seems that no deal is signed yet with a manufacturer. Mine trains are often very popular with families attractions, and hopefully it will not be finally the standard model from Vekoma but something new.
'Let's move to the next land "The Enchanted Forest" which, just like Rango's West uses some not very successful or well-known franchises but with interesting premises to an area dedicated to magic and fantasy. The area is divided into three distinct areas: Sleepy Hollow will be the first one and is inspired by the popular tale and the Tim Burton movie in which Johnny Depp was playing. Just like in the Tim Burton movie Sleepy Hollow will be a grim but fanciful place that will reflect the atmosphere of mystery and terror of the film. Upon entering guests will see the dead tree with the unmistakable Tim Burton style beside which they will find the 3D Sleepy Hollow show and it seems that projections effects will be mixed with real actors.
'Plaza Futura "will be dedicated to science fiction and to that uncertain future that many movies have described, with thrilling outer space adventures". Like Adventure City, Plaza Futura will enjoy a very strong franchise - Star Trek - able to attract worldwide fans of the Star Trek movies. Plaza Futura is designed as a large retro -futuristic square in which guests will find the first attraction based on Star Trek, Starfleet Spain recruiting center, a 3D simulator ride that will be set in a recruitment center in which guests will live adventures in outer space. According to the description, the next attraction will be a big roller coaster in which visitors will ride aboard spectacular trains equipped for all kinds of emotions. "Warp Speed Coaster" will go up to 30 meters high, with a top speed of more than 100 km/h and will be 650 meters long with loops and even an underground section.'-- Disneyandmore
China
Dome Ride Theater
'Renowned ride designers Intamin and experience creators Attraktion! are partnering to create a brand new media based attraction that combines a full dome theater with an innovative ride vehicle system. Expected to open in late 2015, the Dome Ride Theater is one of many planned attractions for the Lewa City development, which will draw on Xian’s tourist identity as home of the Terracotta Warriors.
'Guests will enter the attraction and see a ring of seats on the perimeter of a dome screen. After guests are secured in shoulder harnesses, the center floor will descend down and reveal a nearly complete sphere. Riders will be situated along the “equator” of the sphere. 26 projectors hidden behind unobtrusive openings in the dome will illuminate the full dome surface, surrounding guests’ entire field of vision. Once the show starts, the ring will pitch 30-degrees to either side while the entire seating area can rotate in either direction at a maximum speed of six rotations per minute.
'According to Intamin’s Executive Vice President Sascha Czibulka, the ride system is acutally built like a roller coaster. The seating area will essentially be spinning around on coaster track. Czibulka expects the mechanics to be driven electrically and imagines a 100-120cm height restriction. When asked why only a 30-degree pitch, Czibulka replied that while spinning at a 30-degree angle, the guests at the bottom are already experiencing significant G-forces which, if increased, would detract from the ride’s family-friendly design.'-- inparkmagazine.com
The Titanic
'A Titanic theme park with a “shake and tumble” simulator recreating the liner sinking was condemned as deplorable by victims’ relatives yesterday. Douglas Piper, 80, whose grandad John Barnes was a fireman on board the famous ship , said: “This is exploitation. No one should make money or jokes out of a disaster.” Rudi Newman, of the British Titanic Society, said: “This is in incredibly poor taste and frankly deplorable. Whatever next, the Pompeii experience?” The park in Sichuan, China, is due to open in 2016 and light and sound effects will make visitors fear they are drowning.
'The ship, which will cost $165 million dollars to be built and will be docked on the Qi River, will simulate hitting the iceberg by "shaking" and "tumbling," according to Su Shaojun of Seven Star Energy, the investment group funding the endeavor. Shaojun told Reuters: "We will let people experience water coming in by using sound and light effects. They will think: The water will drown me, I must escape with my life."'-- collaged
Dubai
Spinning Spire of Hallucination
'Given that Dubai is waging an ongoing war against the forces of subtlety, it's unsurprising that the city almost had a psychedelic Six Flags theme park, complete with a an attraction called The Spinning Spire of Hallucination. Instead of your run-of-the-mill amusement park layout, with specific zones dedicated to such white-knuckle thrills as log flumes, roller coasters, and strangers in terrifying Berenstain Bears costumes, Six Flags Dubailand was to be laid out according to vague human emotions and experiences. Visitors would psychologically pinball around the park, bouncing between areas dubbed "Play,""Celebrate," and "Wonder." But Six Flags Dubailand's fantastical attractions remain solely in the realm of concept art. The Great Recession hit both Six Flags and Dubai hard, permanently scuttling plans for the park in 2010 and leaving Dubai's ne'er-do-well teenagers one less paradise where they could play hooky from school and chew khat until the walls start melting.'-- cracked.com
Dubailand
'Dubailand is currently in development stages (which threatens to become a permanent condition with recent Dubai economic woes), but if completed, it will be a giant theme park 3-billion square foot complex. In other words, it will be twice to four times the size of Walt Disney World in Florida.Not a small part of Dubailand will be a futuristic City of Arabia, complete with dinosaurs, monorail transport - all on Dubai patented steroids, of course. The gateway to City of Arabia is the super-mall (of course) and biggest in the world (of course), threatened by a flock of dinosaurs.'-- darkroastedblend.com
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p.s. Hey. ** Jose Osoria, Hi, Jose! Oh, thank you very much, that would be really great! My email address is: dcooperweb@gmail.com. Or I'll email you too. Yeah, that's really kind of you. Thanks a lot! Have a great day! ** Thomas Moronic, Hi, T. Yeah, it'll be a while on the film. We hope it have it completely finished and polished in January, and then I guess it'll play festivals for a while. Thank you for the fucked-up-ness. Any old time, please. I stopped listening to Bret's podcasts 'cos they irritate me for some reason, but maybe I'll try dipping in again, although that one sounds potentially quite irritating, ha ha. I have a query out about Lawrence's book, and I'll let you know when/if I get any news. ** Kyler, Hi, K. Funny that Strand's buyer is a toughie. That's always seemed to me like a store that'll stock anything literary, but that's probably an illusion caused by its size. Best of luck on that seemingly no brainer seduction. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi. Huh, let me look up gratuitous in the dictionary. Hold on. Definition: 'done without good reason; uncalled for.' Then nope, there's no gratuitous nudity in the film. It's always purposeful. ** Hyemin Kim, Hi. My exhaustion is easing up, thank goodness, 'cos today we have to start scrambling and planning for the next scene in a few days. Oh, I still feel like a 'wannabe'. I sort of think it's important to maintain the feeling that I'm not the writer I want to be yet so I'll hopefully keep getting better. Maybe 'interests' was the wrong word. I really meant that my energies don't seem to fit with the pace and concentration of gardening, at least in theory. I think I'm too hyper or impatient or something. I can totally see what you mean about the relationship between gardening and scrapbooking for sure. Makes total sense. Trees? Not in the last scene we shot. Just lots of fake snow and a tent. There's a scene that takes place in the woods, so there are a bunch of trees in that one. I think those are our only trees. I won't get a restful today, but it might be fine. I hope your day manages to have both qualities. ** Steevee, Hi. Redemptive: that's such a strange idea that films or books or art need to have a redemptive quality, but I understand. I guess I think an artist's honesty and sincerity and maybe finesse are the redemption, and the rest is personal taste? ** Grant maierhofer, Hi, Grant. Thanks a lot for the alert and link and the share, man. Everyone, writing maestro Grant Maierhofer has graced us with a share, and please take advantage. Here he is: 'I just wanted to let you know that the first part of that Lorn release was put up today digitally. It'll be this way for a bit and then the final physical release. It's free or name your price on Bandcamp, and features one of the more Irritant-inspired fragments of writing that'll wind up in the final book.' Thanks again. ** Keaton, Hey. There's no right or wrong really, despite my assertion that you were wrong. Saying 'wrong' is an emotional thing. Effective sometimes, but a bullshit approach in terms of the factual. Why do you hope the novel will be your last? I guess I always hope mine will be will too, but that hoping hasn't worked so far. Wow, your new blog thing looks complicated and fun. Cool! I'll get all over it. Everyone, Keaton has constructed a pretty and titillating game of Clue over on his crucial blog. It's called 'It's All Green Lights From Here', and 'Here' means here. I think maybe the guy flashing the 'V' sign did it with his braces? ** Nicki, Hi, Nicki. What up, bud? ** _Black_Acrylic, Hey there, Ben. Yeah, I sure read nothing but raves about the Bush thing too. I'm going to hunt down that TV spot for sure. Cool. ** Kier, Hi, K. Yes, I and everything I own or leant to the shoot came home covered in fake snow. I'm still a little covered after two showers. The flakes were really big, relatively speaking. Basically, it was billions of pieces of shredded transparent plastic. They look pretty realistic lying and falling if you light them in a certain way. They were the snow from 'Kindertotenlieder'. Gisele decided to buy new snow for 'Ktl' because that snow was getting a little gnarly, and she gave the old stuff to us. It didn't seem too gnarly though, apart from having lots of fake dried blood scattered throughout that we had to pry away. It was sort of what picking cotton is like? I really, really want to see that pocket shrine! Great that the drawing is going excitingly! Yes! Yesterday was a dazed day. I never quite woke up. Zac and I decided to give ourselves that day off, and then today things move back into really high gear. The rental place picked up the snow machine, and I had to facilitate that. I sent the performers in the scene some iPhone photos an videos as souvenirs. I wandered around. It seems like I didn't do much at all, so I think I didn't. But there's a lot to do today, and then tonight Zac and I get to go to an advance screening of Christophe Honore's new film, so that should be exciting. How was your day, pal? ** Misanthrope, I'm interested in your new workout regimen and especially in your feeling pretty good. Get rid of that 'pretty' or I mean as an attachment to the word 'good'. Yes, 'Ktl' is finally going to NYC! Plan is that Zac and I are going there for the shows and then a bit of traveling upstate or somewhere and then to Iceland for about a week and a half. So, I think I'll be there. Final word on that once it's final. Zac will be editing the film, but I'll advise and observe and stuff. We only edited a little part of the film in a rough way a while back because the producers wanted to see some footage, but it was very rough, The editing proper will start in September. ** Sypha, Hey, James. ** James, Hi, James! Yeah, I'm very happy with the recent shooting. Very. It's going to really beautiful and weird, I think. Zac watches the dailies a little bit while he's downloading the footage onto hard drives, but I've only seen bits and pieces. I liked 'Nicola, Milan' a lot. I had it in one of my 'books I love' posts a while back. Yeah, it's very good, beautifully written, very nice. Good to see you, man! ** Rewritedept, Hi, Chris. Oh, huh, maybe I come across those tumblrs in bits and pieces when I do image searches. I've gotten very minimal downtime since we started shooting the film. And it's never fully downtime because there's always a lot to do or figure out every day. When we finish shooting, I'll get some space before we start the editing. And I plan to get back headlong into my novel as soon as we're finished, although I have to finish writing the new Gisele theater piece, which I'm way behind on, and Zac and I are writing a feature film that Gisele is going to direct, and we're behind on that too. So, I don't think much of an actual rest is coming for quite a while. Your weekend sounds like it could be fun maybe. Birthday, wedding. There's real potential there. Hang in there until that time. ** Right. You get another one of my theme park-themed posts today. Pretty cut and dried. Stuff coming to theme parks or theme parks coming to giant vacant lots in various parts of the world and things related to that. Could be fun? Don't know. It is for me. Lucky me. See you tomorrow.