Thursday, January 21, 2016

5.5- Pirates of Dagobah


Joe, Mike, Nick, and Sean start the new year off right by talking Shanghai Disneyland, Star Wars land, the validity of wine as an alcohol choice, Reign of Kong, Hulk, Volcano Bay, more UOR construction, snow, and take your questions.

Email us at parkscopeblog at gmail dot com or follow us at ParkscopeParkscopeJoeCaptMichael87ParkscopeNick, and/or Parkscope_Sean.

Friday, January 15, 2016

Disney's Hollywood Studios Closures


Another one bites the dust. Hey hey.

Disney today announced the closure of Lights, Motors, Action! for April 2nd. Added as part of the Disneyland 50th Anniversary Celebration where Disney parks "gifted" attractions to each other (no joke, also how lame that WDW got most of DLR's presents?)

The land taken up by LMA is expected to be used by the Toy Story Playland and Star Wars land expansion projects.

In addition, the Orlando Sentinel reports the Earful Tower, Honey I Shrunk the Audience Movie Set Adventure, Monsters Inc meet and greet, and The Studio Catering Company will be closing April 2nd or soon around that time. RIP Buffalo Chicken Sandwich.

Not many tears will be shed over these closures, but this takes a weak park and further cripples it. While lots of awesome things are coming soon, the fact we've reached a point with DHS (and soon Epcot) where the parks have to be gutted to be brought up to Disney standards should never be forgotten. 

Thursday, January 14, 2016

January 2015 News Roundup

Happy New Year everyone! We hope your holidays were happy and safe, and now that we're all done digesting and sobering up, lets talk theme parks.

SeaWorld Ticketing


Recovering from recent from recent stock and financial slips, SeaWorld Orlando has announced new ticketing options they're calling "Choose Your Adventure" tickets. Tickets start off for $79 for one day at either SeaWorld Orlando, Aquatica, Busch Gardens Tampa, or Adventure Island Tampa all the way to $139 for 14 days.

DHS Fireworks


Poster danlb_2000 at WDWMagic posted about new permits for a new fireworks location permit for Disney's Hollywood Studios. The permit take the fireworks locations farther back, outside of the park. This will allow for additional construction for Toy Story Playland and for attractions like Toy Story Midway Mania to remain open during fireworks shows. This is a major improvement to the park that is long overdo.

The Incredible Hulk Construction Update


This past weekend Sean was down at Universal Orlando Resort and found the first signs of vertical construction at Hulk.


Skull Island: Reign of Kong Update


Sean also took some photos of Skull Island: Reign of Kong! Also check out OrlandoThemeParkNews for more photos.

Volcano Bay parking


The Orlando Sentinel (h/t to The Dis Universal) is reporting new permits for a tram lane from the Universal Parking Garages to Volcano Bay waterpark.

Trams appear to leave the bottom floor of the south garage, travel behind Royal Pacific, then disembark behind the Sapphire Falls Resort. Here guests will have a short walk, through a pedestrian tunnel, to the water park. Additional images are available at Orlando Business Journal.

For all the updates you need and more, make sure to follow @Parkscope on Twitter.