disneyland

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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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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The TEA Rankings are Out of for the Top 25 Theme Parks Worldwide and Almost Half are in Asia

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Super Nintendo World Sign at Universal Studios Japan
Super Nintendo World Sign at Universal Studios Japan

The Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) is a international non-profitwho releases a free annual report about the leisure and travel sectors including the theme park industry. The 2024 TEA Global Experience Index™ is out and the results show that Asia is a growing theme park powerhouse with 12 of the top 25 theme parks by attendance. It’s not uncommon for enthusiasts to travel internationally these days, but most seem to travel to Europe, not Asia. Most of the Asian parks in the top 10 are in Japan including #3 Universal Studios Japan, #4 Tokyo Disneyland and #7 Tokyo DisneySea, but you’ll also find several parks in China and two in South Korea. However, this report shows that if you’ve never visited a park in Asia you’re missing almost half of the top 25 parks in the world.

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Fort Collins Old Town was the Inspiration for Disney Main Street USA

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Did you know that a town in Colorado served as the model for Disneyland’s (and the Magic Kingdom’s) Main Street USA? Fort Collins proudly embraces this heritage and it’s all because of Imagineer Harper Goff who was born in Fort Collins. Main Street USA also draws inspiration from Walt Disney’s hometown, Marceline, Missouri but the similarities to Fort Collins are uncanny. In fact records show that Goff went back to Fort Collins in the 1950’s explicitly for the purpose of building Main Street USA in the future Disneyland park. You can see in the pictures above many commonalities from the trolley all the way down to the look of the street lights.

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The Fascinating World of Disney Balloons

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Getting a balloon at a theme park can be an iconic experience for a child and some of the balloons at Disney are amazing. Balloons can be found for sale, on parade floats and even as part of attractions. Much of the Disney balloon magic can be traced back to one man, Treb Heining who elevated balloons to an an art form. Mr. Heining was part inventor, part artist and part salesman who helped make balloons an integral part of Disney.

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Many Theme Parks Are Offering Scavenger Hunts to Increase Guest Engagement and Entertainment

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Many theme parks seem to be incorporating a scavenger hunt into their potential experiences for guests with even Disney is in on the trend. Many parks have these now with some being permanent, others seasonal and some just for special days. Gamification can bring out the competitive nature of many people as they seek to complete tasks for a modest prize. While waiting in lines or walking around the park these games can provide extra engagement and enjoyment, often with a free souvenir at the end. They can be especially fun for regular guests, season passholders or guests visiting for several days who are looking to enjoy the atmosphere of the park more than rushing to try to ride every attraction.

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Would you Pay $1,000 to Have Breakfast with Disney Characters?

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If you have kids of a certain age, character breakfasts are a big thing. It’s a chance for kids to have a somewhat extended interaction with some of their favorite characters while parents get some great pictures. During these interactions you often overpay for the food in exchange for the atmosphere and entertainment value, but a family’s experience at Disneyland may have taken this to a new level. John Tolkien recently posted about his $937.65 tab for his family of 5 at the Disney Princess Breakfast Adventure at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa at Disneyland. At $142/person for adults and kids over 3, so after tax and tip that’s nearly $1,000 (and the internet has been going nuts).

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Rivers of America at Disney’s Magic Kingdom Closes Forever to Make Room for Piston Peak National Park

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Steamboat riverboat on Rivers of America at Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom
Rivers of America (Photo by Matt Brinkley)

On on July 6 2025 Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island at Magic Kingdom closed Forever to make room for “Cars Land” and specifically what is being called Piston Peak National Park. Rivers of America have been part of Frontierland and Liberty Square since 1971 when the park opened, but the Liberty Belle steamboat and Tom Sawyer Island were actually added in 1973. This has long been known as a scenic and relaxing area of the park. This area is now being reimagined into a Cars themed land with a ride similar to the Radiator Springs Racers, a high-speed ride at Disney’s California Adventure. However, this is not a carbon copy of the California attraction located in the desert town of the first movie, but instead it will be an off-road adventure in a mountain and water-filled National Park.

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No More Virtual Queues at Disney World!

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Standby at Haunted Mansion at Disney Magic Kingdom
Lightning Lane at Haunted Mansion at Disney Magic Kingdom

It was announced earlier this year that Disney World’s Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind would cease using the virtual queue system on February 25, 2025. This followed a similar previous announcement in September 2024 for Tron Lightcycle Run. This means there are currently no rides at Disney World using virtual queue for the first time in years and every attraction will have standby lines available. It also ends the stress for many of waking up at before 7am on the morning of a Disney vacation and feverishly hitting the refresh button to try to get a boarding group to ride the lastest Walt Disney World rides sometime that day without paying extra. Virtual Queue was the only “free” way to ride without paying for a Lightning Lane Single Pass, which could cost $100 or more for a family on top of a regular Lightning Lane Multi Pass (formerly Genie+).

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Was This Mountain at Tokyo DisneySea Originally Destined for California? How Disney “Blue Sky” Concepts are Never Truly Dead.

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Tokyo DisneySea volcano

Disney loves its mountains, see Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain and the former Splash Mountain as examples. One of the lesser known “mountains” is the volcano known as Mount Prometheus at Tokyo DisneySea in Japan. For those not familiar, according to the DisneySea website it is, “The only Disney park themed to the myths and legends of the sea. Each of the eight themed ports features attractions, restaurants, shops, and more, inviting guests to a world “Where Adventure and Imagination Set Sail!” This is the 7th most attended theme park in the world and many consider it the best and most beautiful of all the Disney parks. However, did you know many of the concepts of Tokyo DisneySea came from a park called DisneySea California that was cancelled in 1991?

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