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By Robert Niles: As the "rope drop" starts a day at theme parks, the Sunday "Rope Drop" post kicks off the week here at Theme Park Insider. Here is what lies ahead for fans at the parks this week. On Thursday, the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida will celebrate its 55th birthday. The Magic Kingdom first opened to gu
By Robert Niles: Disney's plans for using more AI in its theme parks continues with a new patent application this week. In "Techniques for Automatically Monitoring Animal Behaviors and Generating Notifications," Disney describes plans for using cameras and machine learning to keep track of animals in a designated area,
By Robert Niles: It's time for Theme Park Insider's week in review. Cotaland is celebrating its Grand Opening weekend, starting today. The Austin, Texas theme park is located on the grounds of the Circuit of the Americas F1 track, thus the name. The park's top coasters are the Circuit Breaker, a Vekoma Tilt Coaster, an
By Robert Niles: Happy Dolly Parton Day! If you are wondering why today, September 25, of all days should be the day to honor the late singer, entrepreneur, and humanitarian, just look at that date in U.S. format - 9/25. Then say the individual digits out loud. Nine. Two. Five. That, of course, is the name of the 1980
By Robert Niles: In this week's episode of the Theme Park Insider Podcast, Jake and I talk about how being a hard-ticket event (or not) affects the quality of a Halloween haunt. We also get into the latest existential threats to Six Flags - the ongoing debt burden and now the prospect of having to pay big legal settlem
By Robert Niles: Walt Disney Imagineering has started testing on its new Spider-Man roller coaster at Shanghai Disneyland. The new coaster will anchor Disney's first Spider-Man-themed land. Disney has yet to announce a name or opening date for the coaster or the land, which will be the latest expansion to the Shanghai
By Robert Niles: Theme park fans have learned what to expect from Six Flags. You're getting roller coasters, cheap annual passes, and high prices inside the parks to make up for those cheap annual passes. And if you look at the company outside the parks, you will come to expect shaky financials and regular calls from b
By Robert Niles: Six Flags Magic Mountain did the right thing by retiring X2. As I wrote in my Orange County Register column today , theme parks need to be more aggressive about closing rough and painful thrill rides, especially when those rides develop a history of injuring guests with no pre-existing medical conditio
By Robert Niles: Well, that's it. Six Flags has thrown in the towel and given up on X2. Six Flags Magic Mountain President Brian Oerding made it official this morning. "While X2 consistently passed a multitude of safety tests, we have decided to close the ride because we believe it�s the right thing to do," he wro
By Robert Niles: Universal Studios Hollywood is opening its new Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift roller coaster during Halloween Horror Nights. But you will have to pay extra to ride it. The new coaster is now open to all day guests at the California theme park. [Here is our review, including on-ride POV: Universal cross
By Robert Niles: As the "rope drop" starts a day at theme parks, the Sunday "Rope Drop" post kicks off the week here at Theme Park Insider. Here is what lies ahead for fans at the parks this week. Happy birthday today to Universal Studios Beijing , which is celebrating its fifth birthday. The park recently announced pl
By Jacob Sundstrom: When Six Flags and Cedar Fair merged to become the largest operator of regional theme parks in the United States, I was fairly confident this would work out poorly for consumers. That�s not exactly a hot take � mergers are great for shareholders and pretty terrible for everyone else. But I
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