Shows & Events

A Review of a Delightful Day at Kentucky Kingdom and Their New Christmas Event

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Sledding hill and Ferris wheel at Kentucky Kingdom

We visited Kentucky Kingdom December 28, 2024 for their Christmas at Kentucky Kingdom event. For this event the park operates select rides, has special shows, great decorations and a massive sledding hill. The weather in Northern Kentucky in December can be hit or miss, but we had a perfect weather day. This was our first visit to the park and we found Kentucky Kingdom to be full of charm, but with a few quirks that didn’t necessarily detract from the experience, but instead were quite unique.

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Celebrating Dollywood’s 40th Anniversary with Eyes Toward Massive $50 Million Investment for 2026

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The 2025 season and Dollywood’s 40th anniversary are underway. For 2025 there’s no big new ride or attraction, but instead we’re getting a new restaurant, a bunch of refreshes/refurbishments and improvements to the guest experience. The park is already looking forward to 2026 with a reported $50 million expansion, the largest in the park’s history, and a major new attraction. An announcement this year teased a “Take Flight” theme with rumors of an indoor suspended roller coaster or flying theater coming to the back of Wildwood Grove. However, the additions for 2025 still represent millions of dollars in significant improvements that will make the park more enjoyable for years to come and help put the “theme” in theme park.

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Happy Easter! Maybe Someday there will be an Easter Roller Coaster at a Place Like Holiday World?

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Easter Roller Coaster
Easter Coaster made with Gemini Imagen 3 AI

Happy Easter! I did a search for an Easter roller coaster and came up empty, so I used Google’s Gemini Imagen 3 AI to make one. Like many things AI it’s not perfect, especially with the use of candy canes throughout? Perhaps the closest you come to an Easter roller coaster is Jack Rabbit at Kennywood. Probably the most likely place to see an Easter theme would be Holiday World in Indiana. Right now we have Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween and 4th of July, but maybe an Easter expansion could come some day…

Tickets on Sale for New Universal Horror Unleashed in Las Vegas Ahead of August 14, 2025 Opening!

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Halloween is one of the best times to visit a theme park. The weather is cooler and in the evening many of the parks put on amazing haunted houses, scare zones and other spooky entertainment. For many people Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights is considered the best of breed. Now they’re building a location at Area 15 in Las Vegas where you can experience Halloween Horror Nights year-round. Universal Horror Unleashed opens August 14, 2025 and tickets are on sale now!

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Sloth Encounter Review at Wild Adventures: Hang Out with These Amazing Animal Ambassadors!

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Feeding a sloth at Wild Adventures

Wild Adventures is now offering animal encounters with some of their amazing animal ambassadors including their two-toed sloths Oscar and Maya. Two-toed sloths are found in Central and South America and are known for their slow movement, nocturnal habits, and arboreal lifestyle, spending most of their time hanging upside down from trees using their powerful claws. During the encounter you get the opportunity to enter the sloth enclosure, pet them and feed them. We had the chance to experience this on opening weekend and it was amazing!

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Get Your Engineering Cub Scout Adventure Loop at Fun Spot America Atlanta with ArieForce One!

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Fun Spot America Logo

The “Engineering” adventure has the potential to be one of the most fun and exciting in scouting as one of the handbook recommended activities is to have scouts build their own roller coaster! A trip to a theme park is a great way for the scouts to explore and learn about engineering and Fun Spot America Atlanta is perfectly suited for this adventure. Earning the “Engineering” Adventure Loop at Fun Spot can be as simple as watching a few YouTube videos, having a discussion, riding a great roller coaster and participating in the park’s “build your own roller coaster” activity.

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See a Capybara at Wild Adventures Theme Park!

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The capybara is having a bit of a cultural moment. I’ve seen shirts and stuffed animals featuring capybaras at levels I never recall seeing before. There is even a local zoo in Georgia that offers capybara yoga! However, if you want to see some real live capybaras, one of the best places is at Wild Adventures Theme Park in Valdosta, Georgia. They have several of them that are quite active in a great habitat viewable from the giraffe overlook in the back center of the park. They are quite entertaining to watch and appear to be living their best capybara life!

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Did you Know IAAPA was in Atlanta in 2005-2006?

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Today the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) Expo is almost synonymous with Orlando, but did you know there were two years when it was held in Atlanta. IAAPA in Orlando makes sense as Orlando is essentially the theme park capitol of the world, however there was a two year span from 2005-2006 where the show moved to the Georgia World Congress Canter in Atlanta. IAAPA was in Orlando prior to 2005 and returned in 2007, but there will always be that 2 year anomaly where the largest theme park trade show was held in Atlanta.

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Headed to the 2025 NFL Draft in Green Bay, Wisconsin? Ride the Zippin Pippin Roller Coaster for Only $1.50 at Bay Beach Amusement Park!

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Zippin Pippin Roller coaster

The 2025 NFL Draft is headed to Green Bay, Wisconsin form April 24-26, 2025. It was also just announced from Bay Beach Facilities Supervisor, Britney Burkart-Labar that the city owned Bay Beach Amusement park will be open to coincide with the draft, operating on Wednesday, April 23 through Saturday, April 26 from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m . What is Bay Beach you might ask? It’s a 100+ year old amusement park on the shore of Lake Michigan that is home to a world class wooden roller coaster that Elvis loved called Zippin Pippin and you can ride it for only $1.50!

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Homeschool Family Deal at Lego Discovery Center Atlanta Deal Has $9 Tickets for March 2025!

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Logo Lego Discovery Center Atlanta
Logo (from Lego Discovery Center Atlanta)

Lego Discovery Center in Atlanta is offering $9 tickets to homeschool families (both adults and children) during the month of March 2025. This offer is valid Monday through Friday 10am to 5pm and includes everything a standard admission would include such as the 4D theater and all the other play experiences. This is a GREAT deal as the regular admission price starts at $24.99.

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