travel

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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Get Your Engineering Cub Scout Adventure Loop at Fun Spot America Orlando with White Lightning!

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Fun Spot America Logo
Scout in front of White Lightning sign at Fun Spot Orlando

Earning the Arrow of Light “Engineering” adventure loop can be one of the most fun and exciting activities in scouting and highly educational, especially increased focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). Did you know that one of the recommended adventure activities in the cub scout handbook is to have scouts build their own roller coaster? A theme park is a great place for the scouts to explore and learn about engineering and Fun Spot America Orlando is a perfect real world laboratory for this adventure. Earning the “Engineering” Adventure Loop at Fun Spot Orlando is as simple as watching a few YouTube videos, discussing some questions, riding a roller coaster and participating in the park’s “build your own roller coaster” activity (or doing your own at your next den or pack meeting). This is essentially a prepackaged adventure that is sure to be memorable for scouts.

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New Theming and Story in the Lickskillet Area of Six Flags Over Georgia with Georgia Gold Rusher

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LickSkillet Area of Six Flags Over Georgia
LickSkillet Area of Six Flags Over Georgia

There are amusement parks and theme parks with one merely being a collection of rides while the later uses decor, landscaping, attraction design and overall atmosphere to create a unifying theme throughout an area of a park or an entire park. Six Flags Over Georgia is not an amusement park, but a full fledged theme park. I would argue the park has at least two themed sections and the argument can be made for a couple more. The most obvious of these is the Gotham area of the park with all the rides pulled together by the Batman universe. However, potentially the most themed area of the park is LickSkillet area where food, rides, buildings and entertainment all come together to tell a cohesive story about the Gold rush times in Georgia.

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Top Gun Experience Coming to The STRAT in Las Vegas in 2028

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The STRAT Hotel, Casino and Tower (formerly known as the Stratosphew), will be opening a Top Gun Las Vegas immersive entertainment experience in the summer of 2028. Not a lot of details are known yet, but there are several details out there that are very exciting. I mean I’m sure there are people who know more, but in the words of the movie, “It’s classified. I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.” We’ll litter several more Top Gun phrases throughout this article for fun too. Top Gun Las Vegas is to include rides, immersive storytelling and a sing-along bar all in tribute to the beloved films.

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Dining at Promenade Primo’s Pizzeria at Six Flags Over Georgia with Italian Street Food Inspired Pizza

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Promenade Primo's Pizzeria at Six Flags Over Georgia
Promenade Primo’s Pizzeria (courtesy of Six Flags Over Georgia)

Primo’s is one of three restaurants at Six Flags Over Georgia to see major upgrades this year with the others being DeeJay’s Diner and Firehouse BBQ (formerly Daddy O’s BBQ). In a press release about the Primo’s upgrade, Six Flags Over Georgia mentions, “Primo’s Pizzeria now has a new pizza recipe featuring a thicker crust, along with new menu items inspired by Italian street food.” In addition to a new pizza recipe Primo’s also features new chicken pesto sandwiches on focaccia and sausage piadina flatbreads inspired by Italian street food.

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Review of the Georgia Mountain Coaster: The Perfect Addition to Downtown Helen, Georgia!

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The Georgia Mountain Coaster is Georgia’s first and currently only mountain coaster. This may be the first mountain coaster in Georgia, but it will have everything you love about mountain coasters in areas where they are more commonplace, like Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. What makes this coaster special is location location location. It is located in the heart of Helen, Georgia, a popular German themed tourist destination in Northern Georgia and it’s LITERALLY on Main Street. You can easily walk to it from all the popular shops and restaurants and it’s the only pedestrian accessible coaster I know of other than Ripley’s Mountain Coaster in downtown Gatlinburg, Tennessee. However, even though it’s very close to everything, when you’re up on the hill it still feels quiet and isolated.

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Six Flags Launches $55 Season Pass with Access All 40+ Theme and Water Parks with “MVP” Sale!

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My local park, Six Flags Over Georgia (SFOG), has launched its latest season pass sale with the Most Valuable Pass (MVP) sale which will get you into 40+ parks until the end of 2026 for just $55! You can also do it as a membership at just $5.99/month with these prices good through September 2, 2025. This is such a good deal it almost seems like a mistake as last year you’d pay that just for SFOG and $100+ more for the All Parks Passport to get into all the other the legacy Six Flags and Cedar Fair parks. To top if you’ll also get a bonus free “bring-a-friend” ticket. If you get this pass the map below is your potential list of parks to visit immediately.

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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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Atlanta’s Six Flags White Water is a Beautiful Water Park in the Woods

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July 28th is National Water Park Day and it’s a great day to spotlight Six Flags White Water, which feels like a water park built in the woods. As you drive in the parking lot is your typical sea of concrete, but from the moment you step through security and towards the park entrance you’ll be walking through a forest of trees. This continues throughout the park with really only the wave pool and a few of the kids play areas not being tree covered. If you look at a Google Maps satellite view you’ll see the wave pool and a few patches of concrete elsewhere, but the rest is trees with hints of blue slides and water peeking through the gaps. This article is part history, part review and part looking towards the park’s future which may unfortunately be uncertain.

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Holiday in the Park 2025 at Six Flags Over Georgia Cancelled: Season Now Ends November 30, 2025

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Front entrance at Six Flags Over Georgia Holiday in the Park

Six Flags Over Georgia announced this week that its Holiday in the Park will not be happening in 2025 and November 30, 2025 will be the last operating day for the season. In its release simply called “Fall and Winter Update”, Six Flags mentions focusing resources “during the time when the majority of our guests visit the Six Flags Over Georgia” and “weather conditions can more consistently support our goal”. The business translation of that is, “It’s not expected to be busy enough with enough predictable revenue to justify us opening the park in December.” Although this is obviously disappointing, if it furthers the goals of keeping the park economically healthy it could be understandable.

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