LEGOLAND Water Park to follow 6th year of growth

by Tom Johansmeyer on

The first looks at the world’s first LEGO® water park were revealed recently at LEGOLAND California Resort. So far, it’s only an artist’s rendering of the new water park, but that’s the first step toward getting drenched.

This new initiative follows the park’s successes with the new Bob the Builder™ 4-D movie and the presidential inauguration scene in Miniland U.S.A. These new developments come on the heels of a sixth consecutive year of growth for the California resort, with 2009 turning in a 6 percent increase … and guest satisfaction ratings in the high 90s.

“2009 was a record year here at LEGOLAND California Resort,” said the resort’s general manager, Peter Ronchetti, during the press conference. This comes, he continues, as “Many theme parks across the country have reported difficult trading and necessary cost control actions as a result of the challenging economic climate over recent months. So we feel very fortunate with all of the expansion here at LEGOLAND California Resort, to be able to report that our attendance continues to grow.”

The trajectory is expected to run through 2010, with more than $15 million invested in the park. The LEGOLAND Water Park is set to open in June (behind Fun Town) and will be ideal for families with children aged 2 to 12. “LEGOLAND Water Park will be lots of fun, constructive play including slides, LEGO friends and, the feature I am personally the most excited about – the Build-a-Raft concept where kids customize their own raft made of soft LEGO bricks before floating down a lazy river,” said Ronchetti.%Gallery-73517%

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Resorts World Sentosa opens four hotels; Universal Studios Singapore to open next

by Melanie Nayer on

Grab your fairy dust and put on your glass slippers: the opening of Resorts World Sentosa four hotels at the site of Universal Studios Singapore will commence on Jan. 20, with the Festive Hotel, Hard Rock Hotel Singapore, Crockfords Tower and Hotel Michael. The hotel openings will set the stage for more reveal during the following 30 days.

Part of the Resorts World Sentosa, Universal Studios Singapore has been in production since 2006. The magic of movies will come to life in one of the seven ‘themed zones’: Hollywood, New York, Sci-fi City, Ancient Egypt, The Lost World, Far Far Away, Madagascar. In each zone will live a host of attractions and rides specific to the theme, such as:

  • Broadway-style theater and a Walk of Fame replica (Hollywood);
  • Pizza parlors, neon lights and city-scapes (New York);
  • Dueling roller-coasters and Battlestar Galactica facades (Sc-fi City);
  • Pyramids and mummy attractions (Ancient Egypt);
  • Water parks and dinosaurs (The Lost World);
  • Fairy tale characters comes to life in Far Far Away land and;
  • Zoo animals and river rides hit the streets in Madagascar.

Like any good theme park, guests of all ages will have the opportunity to go on wild rides, fight villains, channel their favorite celebrities and dine with your favorite animated character. The resort will feature 24 different attractions on the 120 acres and include six hotels upon completion. As you would expect, there’s plenty of shopping and dining to be had in this magic land of make-believe.

The cost to enter the new playground: Adult passes begin S$32 (approximately $23 USD) for a senior-citizen day pass to a S$118 (approximately $85 USD) for a two-day adult pass.

The experience: Priceless.

New to Hong Kong Disneyland: Big Grizzly Mountain

by Alison Brick on

The Wild West is going farther west. So far west that it’s the far east.

The newest roller coaster announced for Hong Kong Disneyland is Big Grizzly Mountain. Set to open in 2012, it will be the main attraction in Grizzly Trail — Hong Kong’s version of the original park’s Frontierland.

The ride follows a runaway mine train through the mining town of Grizzly Gulch, which comes decked out with a stagecoach, a jailhouse, and the world’s largest nugget of gold — plus the ubiquitous audio-animatronic bears, of course. Disney legend has it that Grizzly Gulch was founded by gold prospectors on August 8, 1888 — all of the eights make it the luckiest day, month, and year in Chinese culture.

Big Grizzly Mountain will be part roller coaster, part water ride — with geysers, leaking buildings, and a splashdown finale.

These are big days at the theme park. This ride is just part of a $500 million expansion that will add on three new theme lands — Grizzly Trail, Mystic Point, and Toy Story Land — to increase the size of the park by 23%.

[Thanks, LATimes.com]

Disney offers free park admission to volunteers

by Katie Hammel on

Volunteer one day of your time next year, and you could receive a free day of admission at a Walt Disney theme park in return. The Disney company has announced that one million people who volunteer with the HandsOn Network can get into any Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California, or into Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida, for free in 2010 through the “Give a Day, Get a Disney” promotion.

The HandsOn Network works with 70,000 agencies across the country, including Habitat for Humanity and local food banks and churches. After volunteers gets their service verified with the agency, they get a voucher for free admission. The work must be done in 2010 and the voucher needs to be used by December 15 of that year. Volunteers must be 18 or older to sign up, but kids ages 6-17 who complete volunteer work with their parents can also get into the park free.

Those who have multi-day annual passes can use their free-day voucher for up to six FASTPASS tickets that will get them to the front of the line for certain rides. Only residents of the US, Canada and Puerto Rico are eligible to redeem the free admission vouchers.

This isn’t the only deal Disney has offered recently. All of the US Disney parks offered visitors free admission on their birthday this year, and many Disney resorts offered “stay two nights, get a third free” promotions as well.

NYC duo gets tapped for Orlando smile assignment

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Orlando has spoken! A pair of New Yorkers rose above hundreds of applicants to become Orlando’s Smile Ambassadors. For 67 days, they will experience more than 100 attractions offered … which includes a hell of a lot more than just a dance with the Mouse. Alligators will be involved, for example. Along the way, they’ll blog and their experiences, giving the rest of the world an “in the trenches” view of what Orlando has to offer.

The final test for Kyle Post, a Broadway performer and Stacey Doornbos, a childcare worker in Harlem, was a 67-hour “boot camp” that ended on July 29, 2009. The candidates went hang gliding, did some indoor skydiving and checked out downtown Orlando, blogging and tweeting as though it were the real deal.

“Every member of the selection committee agrees that selecting one pair from our ten finalists was one of the toughest career decisions we have each faced,” said Gary C. Sain, president and CEO of the Orlando CVB. “Each pair demonstrated tremendous creativity, desire and commitment. We thank all of the finalists for making us smile and ultimately look forward to Kyle and Stacey bringing the complete Orlando experience to life for a worldwide audience starting Aug. 27.”

Kyle and Stacey have been frends since childhood, growing up together in Holland, Michigan. They have taken more than 30 amusement park trips together and say they’ve been on 618 rides. Kyle moved to New York and was cast in RENT, and Stacey wound up in the city after experiencing seven countries in three months.

The duo took a “friendship honeymoon” (how it pains me to use that expression … it’s worse than “staycation”) to Orlando shortly after they finished college, so it’s easy to see why Kyle says, “We feel like everything we have done in our lives so far has led to this moment.” He continues that they “chose to apply for this position because Orlando embodies everything we are – passionate, charismatic and adventurous. We can’t wait to start our 67 days in Orlando to share everything we learn about what this amazing destination has to offer.”