Theme Parks Looking To Summer Rebound

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Today I'm reporting from Disney's [DIS  34.874    0.944  (+2.78%)   ] California Adventure, where the park is unveiling "World of Color," a water and light show, part of a billion dollar renovation of the park. Some 1,600 people are expected to turn out tonight for the unveiling of the Disney-themed show, which is said to put the Bellagio's fountains in Las Vegas to shame.

This summer Disney is phasing out discounts and counting on new attractions like this one to drive attenance. So far it's working: last week Bob Iger said Disneyland and Disneyworld hotel bookings continue to improve.Disney isn't the only one investing in new attractions- theme parks around the country are investing millions in new attractions. Universal's Islands of Adventure in Orlando is introducing a new Harry Potter attraction.Six Flags, which emerged from bankruptcy in May is adding more roller coasters. And Sea World, which is owned by Blackstone Group, is featuring new high tech shows.What's the potential return? The 400 amusement parks in the U.S. generate some $12 billion in annual revenue from more than 300 million annual visitors. Last year North American parks saw a one percent decline in attendance, but discounting prevented attendance from falling off further.This summer the mood is more upbeat: parks are bringing back normal prices and the industry is expecting an uptick in attendance this season. The head of the International Association of Amusement Parks, David Mandt tells me that an increase in corporate business and advance bookings is a positive sign.Cedar Fair ,[FUN  13.035    0.365  (+2.88%)   ] which operates a dozen amusement and water parks around the country, including Knott's Berry Farm and King's Dominion, is on track for an uptick in sales this summer, after suffering an 8 percent decline in sales and an 11 percent decline in 

Wizarding World of Harry Potter Opens Today - Harry Potter Theme Park Opens

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A new mini-amusement park at Universal Orlando, opened up today. The 250 million dollar recreates the world of Harry Potter with such detail, that Tom Leonard of theTelegraph says that the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is more “an exhibit than a conventional theme park.”Crowds began lining up last night for the grand opening of the new Harry Potter theme park, and park employees are predicting 5 hour lines for five minute rides.The new them park features roller coaster rides Flight of the Hippogriff, and the high-speed ride Dragon Challenge. But the biggest draw to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride, which brings Potter fans through a series of J.K. Rawlings imaginary worlds.Daniel Radcliffe and other Potter stars were at the opening to welcome guests and enjoy the rides.

Historic wooden roller-coasters near Pittsburgh attract enthusiasts

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PITTSBURGH, Pa. - For a city built on steel, some of the most sought- after attractions in Pittsburgh are actually made of wood.

Just ask the more than 400 members of the American Coaster Enthusiasts, who have come to Kennywood amusement park for the 7,000-member group's annual convention. The highlight will be riding three of the oldest wooden roller-coasters in the world — over, and over, and over again.

"There are very few, maybe no places, in the world quite like it," said Bill Linkenheimer, of Pittsburgh, the group's secretary and lifelong lover of the thrill of zooming over the rails, who joined the club in 1980 at age 13.

The gathering this week marks the fourth time that the group, founded in 1978, has held its annual convention at Kennywood. It also marks the first time the American Coaster Enthusiasts will honour two coasters at one park with plaques designating them ACE Roller Coaster Landmarks.

The rides — the Jack Rabbit and the Racer — were both built of wood in the 1920s by coaster designer John Miller. The Jack Rabbit is known for its 21-metre double-dip drop, while the Racer is the only single-track racing coaster in the U.S. Through its unique "reverse curve" design, riders start on the right side of the track and finish on the left.


They are just examples of the way coasters were made back then and how a coaster can survive so long and be really fun and really enjoyable," said John Gerard, of San Diego, the group's public relations director.

Although coaster enthusiasts like the newer steel coasters, too, many are partial to the click-click of old wooden coasters. Modern coasters can be extreme and fast, but the ride tends to be the same every time, while everything from the time of day to the humidity can change the ride on a wooden one, Linkenheimer said.

"Every wood coaster truly is unique," said Linkenheimer, who has ridden more than 600 roller coasters...[next page]

Andrew Sarris Harshes on 'Casino Royale' and 'Barefoot in the Park

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"CASINO ROYALE" is said to be doing spectacular business despite moderately unfavorable reviews. Most of the proceedings were too esoteric for this reviewer. At times, it seemed that the only joke in the film was the impunity with which the name of James Bond was bandied about. Bond is more than a sociological artifact: he is a fiduciary property. And it's funny to see more than one set of producers with their claws in him. As funny as Johnny Carson regaling his studio audiences with jokes about his successful raid on NBC. Or Jackie Gleason being expansive about his stature in Miami. People seem to laugh at these things nowadays without the slightest trace of resentment. Power, success, money, even conceitedness seem to be their own justification. Dean Martin doesn't make five million a year because he's great. He's great because he makes five million a year. This public attitude can be attributed partly to the low-pressure realism of television, and partly to an ominous swing to the right.
Popular complicity with power and success tends to stifle feelings of injustice. If Bond and Carson and Gleason and Martin deserve to be where they are, then Negroes and migrant farm workers and poor people generally are somehow to blame for their own plight. Not that America has ever been an egalitarian society. It is just that I can't think of a folk hero in human history with fewer redeeming qualities than James Bond. He's not even a human being, but just a department store dummy going bang-bang. And he is beyond criticism or spoofing.
"Casino Royale" tries to capitalize both on the James Bond name and the "What's New, Pussycat?" art nouveau nuttiness. I liked "Pussycat," but I don't like "Casino Royale," particularly when John Huston is flaunting the hardened arteries of David Niven and Deborah Kerr in a Scottish castle. Things pick up a little bit when Orson Welles, Peter Sellers, and Woody Allen stumble into the scene, but the total experience remains boringly incoherent. Also, this is one of the most sexless movies ever made. Of course, this reviewer is too wise in the ways of brainwashing to believe that any of his readers will believe him. So see it for yourself, but don't blame me, like the song says.
"BAREFOOT IN THE PARK" (at the Radio City Music Hall) contains a good opening sequence that was not in the play. Jane Fonda and Robert Redford make an attractively sexy couple of newlyweds. Mildred Natwick delivers two funny lines. Charles Boyer is miscast as a grotesque continental type. Gene Saks directs his first film so clumsily that he even muffs Mike Nichol's exploitation of the climbing the stairs gag that kept Neil Simon's feeble farce running for 79 years on Broadway. The movie is full of physical details that I found impossible to believe. The skylight, for example, with the hole in it.Over a bed during the winter snowstorm. The hero lies there with the snow coming down. Anything for a laugh. As for the hero walking barefoot in the park to prove that he is not a stuffed shirt, let us just say that this kind of Broadway philosophizing is a quaint sample of pre-hippie humor...

World's best theme Park

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Amusement park or Theme park is the general word for a compilation of rides and other amusement attractions assemble for the purpose of amusing a large collection of populace. An amusement playing field is more complicated than a easy city park or playing field, more often than not provided that attractions meant to cater to children, teenagers, and adults. A theme park is a type of enjoyment park which has been built around one or more themes, such as an American West subject matter, or Atlantis. Today, the terms amusement parks and theme parks are often used interchangeably.  Busch Gardens is a festivity of civilization both old and new—from the exquisite charm of European villages to the high-tech enthusiasm of out of this world coasters. Coaster enthusiasts who make a custom of riding the optimum and most exciting coasters in the world determination come across some of the most memorable right here similar to the 205foot, 70 mph, 90-degree drop you’ll experience on Griffon. Busch Gardens is situated in 2 seats. One is in Williamsburg, VA. And the other is in Tampa,FL.
                                                                                                                                                   
Cedar Point - It's the number-one rated enjoyment park on the earth. It is located in Sandusky, Oh. It's also the subsequent oldest amusement park in North America. With a the past dating back to 1870, the typical enjoyment park/resort on the shore of Lake Erie has seen its share of rides, roller coasters, trends and history. The park has more 15 roller coasters 68 rides than any other park in the world.


Discovery Cove in Orlando, FL. Discovery Cove is intended the way that theme parks be supposed to be, with no manifestation and unfinished go-ahead. It also represents a new breed of theme park. Only 1,000 populace are allowed at a time into the park, which is built as a series of lagoons, coral reefs, rivers and white sand beaches. The main magnetism of Discovery Cove is communication with natural world. visitors can swim and play with bottlenose dolphins, snorkel through coral reefs and snorkel past 4-foot-wide stingrays. In one lagoon, sharks and barracudas are kept behind a clear acrylic dividing wall so you feel as if you're swimming with them. Guests can also bound into the river and go in swimming past the park's aviary