Tech & Business

When Will We See a Minecraft in a Merlin Theme Park?

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Back in November of 2024 there was a lot of excitement about the announcement that Melin Entertainment (the company behind Legoland and Alton Towers) was going to be building Minecraft attractions. These immersive areas will be built in collaboration with Minecraft developer Mojang and be built in existing Merlin locations in 2026 or 2027 in a collaboraton named, “Adventures Made Real”. It’s now 2026 and the promo video says 2026, but there’s still no further news related to Minecraft. Also, the Merlin parks have mostly announced other new attractions for 2026 such as Legoland Florida/California getting the Galacticoaster, Alton Towers getting the Bluey Coaster and Lego Billund getting the Minifigure Speedway Coaster. Therefore it looks like 2027 will be the year of Minecraft.

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Georgia Theme Park Opening Days for 2026

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Wild Adventures entrance plaza sign

Happy New Year! It’s now 2026 and parks in Georgia have begun announcing their opening date for the new year. Most parks (with the exception of Fun Spot Atlanta) close for a few months in the winter before reopening in spring. Six Flags Over Georgia actually just moved its opening date two weeks earlier than previously announced the March 14th! Here are the announced dates so far:

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Will SeaWorld and Busch Gardens End Ticket Fees?

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If you’ve bought tickets or passes for SeaWorld or Busch Gardens online you may have noticed a service fee on top of the price and taxes. The fee is about 10% the website says it “covers costs such as credit card processing and fraud prevention”. This fee is part of a new lawsuit against United Parks & Resorts, Inc., parent company of SeaWorld Parks and Busch Gardens. The lawsuit accuses SeaWorld of using ‘bait-and-switch’ tactics by hiding extra fees until the final checkout stage of online ticket purchases, leading consumers to pay more than expected. 

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Splashville Water Park Coming to Bartow County in Cartersville, Georgia in May of 2026

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Splashville Sign at Cartersville Christmas Parade
New Bartow Water Park Rendering

Bartow County is getting a new water park in 2026 called Splashville. This apparent name was announced through it being featured on the Bartow County Parks & Recreation float during the Cartersville, Georgia Christmas parade. The water park construction has been underway for some time adjacent to the new indoor gym facility, but the name and May 2026 opening date were new. The name is a play on Cartersville where it is located in the Hamilton Crossing area of town. The water park is adjacent to the new Bartow County Gymnasium and Recreation center which opened January 16, 2026.

Update May 2026: Splashville Sign Up and Pools Filled for Memorial Day Weekend Opening of New Bartow County Water Park

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Will Six Flags Keep the Exclusive DC Characters License or Will it Move to Universal?

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DC Universe at Six Flags Fiesta Texas
DC Universe at Six Flags Fiesta Texas

It has been reported that Warner Bros. Discovery is considering licensing its DC characters to Universal. Six Flags currently holds exclusive theme park rights to DC Comics characters in theme parks, so the question is if the characters would potentially be found in both chain’s parks going forward or move exclusively to Universal. Warner Bros. currently license Harry Potter to Universal, so the two companies already have a track record of working together on theme park attractions. A DC license could also be seen as a replacement for the Marvel IP Universal still has in its park Disney now owning the rights to Marvel. Given the media merger landscape, we could see a major reshuffling of theme park IP in the coming years.

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Rides from Six Flags America Briefly Appear for sale on Used Ride Website

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Screenshot fromAmusement-Rides.com showing rides from Six Flags America for sale
Screenshot fromAmusement-Rides.com

Three rides from the former Six Flags America park briefly appeared on the prominent used ride website Amusement-Rides.com. The rides included the park’s Zamperal NebulaZ SteamWhirler, its Zampera spinning coaster Ragin’ Cajun and its Zamperla Discovery Harley Quinn Spinsanity. The NebulaZ and Giant Discovery were especially surprising given they were nearly new and seemed likely to be relocated to another Six Flags park. The spinning coaster was a tad older, having originally come itself in a relocation from Six Flags Great America, but also was seen as likely to find a new home.

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Travis Kelce’s Investment in Six Flags Could be a Game Changer

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Travis Kelce Mr. Six Flags Kansas City Chiefs Jersey
Travis Kelce Mr. Six Flags Kansas City Chiefs Jersey

Kasas City Chiefs tight end and Taylor Swift fiancé Travis Kelce is now a major investor in Six Flags. He has partnered with activist investor Jana Partners to take a 9% stake in the company. They plan to engage with the company’s board and management regarding opportunities to enhance shareholder value and improve the guest experience and the company seems willing to accept the help. Kelce was a fan of Cedar point as a child and wants future generations to have the same experience he did growing up.

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Brian Bacica Leaving Post as President of Busch Gardens Tampa to Join LegoLand Florida

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Busch Gardens Tampa sign with now hiring sign in front

It appears that Brian Bacica will shortly no longer be with Busch Gardens Tampa and will be moving to LegoLand Florida. This is according to well informed sources at Busch Gardens as well as a Screen shot of an internal Merlin message announcing him joining LegoLand Florida as VP on December 10th. I was able to independently confirm the LegoLand VP opening through a connection vying for the position. Busch Gardens will have its 3rd park President in the last year, which is an incredible amount of turnover. The new President inherits a park with tremendous history and world class coasters, but with increasing perception that Busch Gardens Tampa is a park on decline. Hopefully 2026 will bring great things for the park!

Is the Closing of Six Flags America a Sign of Things to Come for the Theme Park Industry?

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Entrance to Six Flags America
Entrance to Six Flags America

Six Flags America is closed, likely forever, unless the land is bought by a group who intends to reopen it, which seems unlikely. There have already been reports of trains from Professor Screamore’s SkyWinder being moved to Canada’s Wonderland for their Vekoma SLC Flight Deck, so it appears the dismantling is underway. Six Flags also announced on an earnings call its intention to divest other “non-core” parks, but it is yet to be seen if these sales will be to another operator or result in closure with the land seeing other uses. A closure is often in the best interest of a seller in order to drive business to their other parks nearby. National news gave lots of coverage to the Six Flags America closure, laying part of the blame on a “sluggish economy that’s hit Six Flags’ core middle-class customers particularly hard”. So what does this mean for the industry going forward?

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Universal Orlando Announces 2026 Military Freedom Pass Offering a $220 Annual Pass!

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Universal CityWalk Orlando

If you are active duty or retired military or a department of defense civilian employee you can get a Universal Orlando Resort Annual Pass incredibly cheaply. The pass is called the Military Freedom Pass and it starts at just $220 (compared to the cheapest standard pass at $425). You can choose From 2-Park or 3-Park options where Volcano Bay is added as the 3rd park. Keep in mind that no Universal annual pass currently gets you into Epic Universe, but more on that later. This is quite the bargain when a single day ticket starts at $119, so for less than the cost of 2 days you get the whole year.

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