Author: printingddd

Wild Oasis at Busch Gardens is Now Open!

/ printingddd / 1 Comment
Entrance to Wild Oasis at Busch Gardens
Entrance to Wild Oasis at Busch Gardens (Courtesty of @SaxOnTracks)

Wild Oasis opened to the public on July 15, 2025 after a couple of delays, but appears to be worth the wait. This isn’t just a ride, but a whole new area or realm of the park located in Jungala. This area contains a family drop tower ride, climbing area, splash pad, interactive elements and a new animal habitat including Capybaras! I want to give a HUGE shout-out to @SaxOnTracks for the images in this article from the grand opening festivities, he’s a great follow for the latest happenings at Busch Gardens.

Continue reading →

Use LogRide to Track Your Roller Coaster Credits, Theme Park Trips and Tons of Other Stats

/ printingddd / 1 Comment
LogRide theme park app logo
LogrRde Logo (courtesy of LogRide)

How do you track roller coaster credits, rides and parks visited? I’m a huge fan of the LogRide App. LogRide can track your rides and parks visited and currently catalogs 4,600+ parks, 5,600+ roller coasters and 74,800+ attractions worldwide. It’s super easy to use and comes in both a free version as well as a “pro” version for $0.99/month which gives you enhanced statistics. The app is easy to use while at the park and even has an Apple Watch version. The amount of data here is intense including trip reports, miles traveled on coaster track, total inversions and even steps walked inside of parks. You’ll also find ride information pictures and reviews from other users along with current wait times and show times for many parks. LogRide will quickly become your go-to app inside parks, sometimes more than the theme park’s own app!

Continue reading →

A WWE Wyatt Sicks Haunted House is Coming to Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights

/ printingddd / Leave a comment

Update: July 29, 2025 Universal announced that a WWE themed house was indeed coming to Halloween Horror Nights 2025 in both California and Florida. The house is based off of the Wyatt Sicks from characters originally created by the late Bray Wyatt. Freaky characters including Uncle Howdy, Rambling Rabbit, Mercy the Buzzard, Abby the Witch and Huskus the Pig will meet you in an eerie arena where you may just meet your match. With a mainstream push like this you can probably expect these wrestlers to get a push (more TV time) in the coming months to help cross promote the house and WWE.

Continue reading →

Review of Island H20: A Wonderful Water Park Day!

/ printingddd / 2 Comments
Island H2O Sign

Island H2O is the Orlando areas newest water park located just south and adjacent to Walt Disney World in Kissimmee, Florida.  It combines family fun with technology using an internet and social media theme with attractions like Follow Me Falls, Reply Racers, Chat Creek and Live! Lagoon. Island H2O isn’t the largest water park, but it essentially has one of everything you could want in a water park in a great layout and manageable size. Each of the slides and attractions it has are well done and sincerely great versions of that type of slide or flume. Island H2O is very much a quality over quantity approach to a water park with excellence at every point from the food to the staff.

Continue reading →

Review of MISSION: ESCAPE Cartersville and the Disney Inspired Mayan Temple of MISSION: Copán!

/ printingddd / Leave a comment
MISSION: ESCAPE Cartersville front enytance
MISSION: ESCAPE Cartersville

MISSION: ESCAPE is one of Georgia’s newest escape rooms and is located in downtown Cartersville, Georgia. MISSION: ESCAPE Cartersville has 3 rooms to challenge you including MISSION: Copán. In the MISSION: Copán game, “Your mission will take you to the Copán Ruins in Honduras where you will infiltrate the operation of the GCS and retrieve the burial mask of Mayan ruler, Yax-Pasaj, before the GCS is able to use it for horrendous ends.” MISSION: Copán is a multi-room challenge with several types of puzzles and tons of kinetic action for a thoroughly entertaining escape room experience. The local creator of this room was also inspired by Disney’s Haunted mansion and included one of its famous special effects!

Continue reading →

Review of the New Wisconsin Dells Mountain Coaster: A Fast Ride Through the Woods on Wisconsin’s First and Only Mountain Coaster

/ printingddd / 2 Comments

New for 2025 is the Wisconsin Dells Mountain Coaster, which is Wisconsin’s first and currently only mountain coaster. This may be the first mountain coaster in Wisconsin, but if you’ve ridden a mountain coaster in a place like Pigeon Forge this Wiegand creation will feel very familiar to you. That’s not a bad thing though, this is a really fun coaster in a great location. You could summarize this coaster with two words, smooth and fast. Some mountain coasters take a bit to get going, but from the moment you’re released from the lift hill this coaster is flying and doesn’t slow down until the bottom while giving a glass smooth ride.

Continue reading →

Superman IP Likely to Pay Dividends for Six Flags with New Superman Movie #1 at the Box Office

/ printingddd / Leave a comment
Superman: Ultimate Flight roller coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia

Intellectual property is a big deal for theme parks as guests come to immerse themselves in themed worlds of their favorite characters. The largest license at Six Flags is DC comics and with that comes characters like Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. On July 11th the new Superman movie debuted and box office results of $122 million domestically had it #1 this week with the 3rd biggest opening of 2025! Having the IP of a #1 movie in your park is never a bad thing!

Continue reading →

Brian Bacica Named New President of Busch Gardens Tampa

/ printingddd / Leave a comment
Busch Gardens Tampa President Brian Bacica
Busch Gardens Tampa President Brian Bacica
Busch Gardens Tampa Sign
Busch Gardens Sign (Courtesy of Creative Sign Designs)

Update December 2025: It appears (according to well informed sources) that Brian Bacica will shortly no longer be with Busch Gardens Tampa. Screen shots of an internal Merlin message show him moving to LegoLand Florida to become VP on December 10th. I was able to independently confirm the LegoLand opening through a connection also applying for the position. This means Busch Gardens will have its 3rd park President in the last year!

Continue reading →

Netflix Getting Into the Theme Park Business with Netflix House in Philadelphia, Dallas and Las Vegas

/ printingddd / 1 Comment
Netflix House (courtesy of Netflix)
Netflix House Logo (courtesy of Netflix)

Have you ever wanted to participate in the Squid Games? Perhaps you’d like to visit Hawkins, Indiana from Stranger Things? Starting next month you may get that chance in Dallas and Philadelphia in a new concept called Netflix House. Netflix is bringing its internet entertainment to the real world in the form of “immersive, in-world experiences that let you step inside your favorite shows, dig into themed meals at our in-House restaurant NETFLIX BITES, or grab exclusive merch from our shop.” These aren’t “rides” in the classic theme park sense, but more immersive worlds with actors and other interactive elements. These new venues will be called Netflix House Dallas and Netflix House Philadelphia and will be permanent locations where you can interact with your favorite Netflix worlds.

Continue reading →

Summer Fun with the Splash Water Parade at Six Flags Over Georgia

/ printingddd / Leave a comment
The Splash Water Parade at Six Flags Over Georgia
The Splash Water Parade at Six Flags Over Georgia

On July 4th we had a chance to catch the Splash Water Parade at Six Flags Over Georgia and it was simply stellar summer fun. The parade features several dozen performers who put on a water-themed show full of music, dancing and some audience participation. What was surprising is that the parade features live singing, original music and a huge cast of choreographed dancers. This parade has the look and feel of a Disney afternoon parade with catchy music and high performer energy. Part of me sat there a bit dumbfounded as I almost couldn’t believe this was happening at Six Flags Over Georgia. From the floats to the choreography to the Splash logo gear performers and the support staff, it was obvious Six Flags made a major investment here. It was a complete and seamless performance.

Continue reading →