Theme Park News for February 2025 from Disney, Universal, Merlin, and many more.

This Month's Theme Park News:

- California's devastating wildfires have caused the closures of Universal Studios Hollywood and the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood. They were closed for January 8th and 9th while the fires were brought under control. The Walt Disney Company is committing $15 million to recovery efforts in the Los Angeles.

- Disneyland Paris debuted it's new nighttime spectacular "Disney Tales of Magic" which features projections covering Main Street U.S.A. and Sleeping Beauty Castle as well as fireworks, lasers, and drones.

- Universal Orlando opened the first hotel at the South Campus of the resort, with Universal Stella Nova Resort opening this month. It is the ninth at the Universal Orlando Resort, and has really embraced the space theming with a beautiful almost science fiction interior.

- Walt Disney World have announced the closing dates of 3 Hollywood Studios locations closing to make way for Monstropolis. Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano will close first, on May 10th. Muppet*Vision 3D show and PizzeRizzo will close on June 7th.

- Walt Disney world also shared concept are for Magic Kingdom's new nighttime parade Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away, which opens this summer. T

- Walt Disney World has announced this year's Food Studios menus for the 2025 EPCOT International Festival of the Arts, which starts January 17 and continues through February 24. There are two new food stands called Opening Bites and Fictional Victuals.

- Similarly, Disneyland Resort have brought out their menus for their Lunar New Year celebration which starts on January 17 at Disney California Adventure.

- Los Angeles County has approved a construction permit for the next roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain, the project name 90011, which is rumoured to be a Vekoma Thrill Glider.

- Universal Orlando announced 12 artists that will headline their Mardi Gras concerts starting February 1st, with T-Pain and finishing March 29th with TLC.

- Universal Orlando have announced their event plans for this year, with dates for Halloween Horror Nights (which runs August 29 through November 2), and the Holidays at Universal Orlando (running November 21 continuing through New Year's Eve, December 31), as well as a new event called Universal Volcano Bay Nights, starting in April. The new after-hours event will run April 19, 26 and May 3, 10, 17

- Walt Disney World has added 4 more runDisney event weekends in late 2025 and 2026.

October 23-26, 2025: Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend

January 7-11, 2026: Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend

February 26-March 2, 2026: Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend

April 16-19, 2026: runDisney Springtime Surprise Weekend

- Six Flags Over Georgia have renamed their upcoming Surf Coaster, to Georgia Gold Rusher, after a fan vote had previously picked Georgia Surfer as the name.

- Six Flags Great America released a concept POV of their upcoming dive coaster Wrath of Rakshasa.

- Thomas Mazloum will be the new President of the Disneyland Resort, coming from the Disney Cruise Line segment of Disney Experiences.

- The biggest news this month was the opening of the Donkey Kong Country expansion of Super Nintendo World and Universal Studios Japan. This long awaited expansion opened on December 10th, and has had rave reviews from visitors. While POVs of the Mine Cart Madness coaster, look fun, but not super thrilling, the feedback on the ride has been very positive. Similar to the Mario Kart ride that anchors Super Nintendo World. This is not a thrill attraction, it is a family attraction. The best thing from what I can see from this expansion, is just adding space to Super Nintendo World.

- Here in Australia we have had two massive openings in the last month, with both Movie World and Dreamworld adding their new lands, the Wizard of Oz Precicnt and Rivertown.

- Starting with Movie World's new precinct dedicated to the Wizard of Oz, it opened on the 20th of December, without a soft opening period, with it's two new coasters:

- Kansas Twister: A Vekoma Family Boomerang Racer, twin tracks with a top speed of 58km/h and a 95 cm (37-inch) height requirement

- Flight of the Wicked Witch: A Vekoma Suspended Family Coaster, with a top speed of nearly 67km/h and 105 cm (41-inch) height requirement

I've seen really mixed reviews of the lands so far. People have been damning for the lack of shade in the outside portion of the land, which is a danger for any Summer opening of a Theme Park land in Australia. They have routinely praised the indoor queue elements of the two rides. The rides themselves haven't been big hits, but I'm going to hold my judgement on them for now.

- Over at Dreamworld, we have seen on the 23rd the opening of Rivertown. This new land takes the place of ABC Kids World, that kind of half merged into Kenny and Belinda's Dreamland when Dreamworks IP licencing deal was finished. Amusing that are of the park was originally known as Rivertown, so it's kind of return. Not really though. I'll get to that in a second. The new land brings one new, and one completely refurbished attraction. The new attraction Jungle Rush Vekoma switchback coaster with a low 95 cm (37-inch) height requirement, and high top speed of 80 Kmph. This is the first of it's kind of coaster in the world. The second attraction Murrissippi Motors, is a significant revamping of the Vintage Cars, that were previously on the other side of the park.

- Elsewhere in theme Parks, Disney has announced that beloved Australian cartoon dog Bluey is coming to Disneyland and Walt Disney World, as well as being added as a meet and greet to the Australian sailings of the Disney Cruise Line from next month. This comes on the back of Bluey's World, opening here in Brisbane at the start of November. Exactly what is going to happen at Disneyland and Walt Disney World, remains to be seen. I would expect to see meet and greets happening fairly quickly.

- Universal Orlando has filed permits for Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit to be removed, and replaced with a proposed new attraction. They have stated the existing ride will close in September 2025. The submitted plans, showed that the entire ride footprint plus some backstage area's near the New York area of the park, have been marked for the removal and replacement permit. The plans are obviously silent on what will replace the ride, but it is possible that this new area, might mean that the ride replacing it could be entered to from the New York area, rather than the current entrance near Minions Land at the front of the park. The wild speculation at this point, is that it could be a long awaited Ghostbusters attraction, running out of the New York section.

- Disneyland have opened a new Haunted Mansion themed gift show, Madame Leota's Somewhere Beyond, which went in the space of the former Splash Mountain Fastpass distribution area.

- Six Flags has submitted plans this week to "ALTER" rather than "Demolish" their "KINGDA KA/ ZUMANJARO" rides, which have been announced as being removed.

This week's Theme Park News:

- Halloween Horror nights in both Hollywood and Orlando kicked off this week, with a highlight being the Mini Puft S'more which is a S'more shaped like the Stay Puft Marshmallow man for Ghostbusters.

- Disney announced today that it will debut a new Disney Villains-themed show at Disney's Hollywood Studios next summer, which will take the place of Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy which closed on October 7. The new show themed to the Magic Mirror, the new production "will feature appearances by dozens of the most infamous evildoers, with fiendish foes Cruella de Vil, Captain Hook and Maleficent each breaking through the glass to take the stage in live production numbers," according to Walt Disney World's announcement.

- Walt Disney World has revealed that today will be the final day for the virtual queue on its TRON roller coaster at the Magic Kingdom. Tiana's Bayou Adventure and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind are now going to be the only attractions at Walt Disney World with Virtual Queues.

- Disney has also confirmed that the construction of the new Avengers attractions will result in "the removal of the backstage Red Car Trolley barn and, as such, we will discontinue operation of the attraction in early 2025"

- At Disneyland, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh has re-opened on Thursday as the park's Critter Country land prepares to be transformed into Bayou Country, when Tiana's Bayou Adventure opens in November.

- November 15, the date that Tiana's will open will also mark the start of the holiday festivities across Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. This year's festivities inclue the It's a Small World Holiday and Haunted Mansion Holiday overlays, as well as the Christmas Fantasy Parade, as well as the Believe... in Holiday Magic fireworks show.

- Universal Orlando have given us more details this week on the Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry ride coming to the Universal Epic Universe park, including our first look at the "Metro-Floo" hallway which is the entry for the ride.

- Universal Orlando has announced that Death Eaters will return to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Diagon Alley at Universal Studios Florida for select nights starting August 29 and continuing through November 3, as an unofficial part of Halloween Horror Nights.

- The Hello Kitty and Friends Cafe and Sanrio Smile Shop opened on Friday at Universal Studios Hollywood's CityWalk.

- Warner Bros. Discovery has combined their current Global Themed Entertainment licensing group and the Studio Tours & Retail division into a single unit called the Warner Bros. Discovery Global Experiences division. It will be overseen by Simon Robinson, Chief Operating Officer of WBD Studio.

- Efteling in the Netherlands has announced that a new Aquanura show, which will debut this winter, will feature a new score as well as four new eight-meter "Beacons of Light" around the park's central lagoon.

This week's Theme Park News:

- Australia’s first and last tourist monorail has now been closed at SeaWorld on the Gold Coast. The monorail has been standing but not operating 2019. It opened in 1986, and closes after 330, 000 laps of the park.

- Disney Parks confirmed that the new Cars attractions announced at D23, will be located in Magic Kingdom will be replacing Tom Sawyer Island and the Rivers of America.

- At Walt Disney World the Peter Pan's Flight ride has re-opened early from it's maintenance, and it has replaced the scene featuring the Never Land Tribe to use less racist stereotypes.

- At Disney California Adventure, a new show called "The Storytellers of Plaza de la Familia Celebrate The Musical World of Coco!" will debut August 30.

- The 2023 Theme Index Report was released with the top 3 parks being Magic Kingdom, Disneyland and Universal Studios Japan.

- Six Flags announced two new coasters for the 2025 season. Six Flags Great America, north of Chicago, will introduce Wrath of Rakshasa, a Bolliger & Mabillard Custom Narrow Dive Coaster. At Six Flags New England, the Massachusetts park will welcome Quantum Accelerator, an Intamin family launch coaster will feature two launches, sending riders to a top speed of 45 mph on its 2,604 feet of track.

- They also delayed The Flash: Vertical Velocity at Six Flags Great Adventure and Georgia Surfer at Six Flags Over Georgia.

- Six flags has released concept art of their Halloween Fright Fest event for the Conjuring Universe house. It will feature a tour of the Warren's family Occult Museum.

-The menus have been released for the 2024 EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival, which starts August 29 and continues through November 23. You can see the line-up of returning menu items as well on Disney's website.

This week's Theme Park News:

- The D23 Parks Panel, named Horizons, has just been completed. Here are there "Non-blue sky" announcements:

- Avatar experience based on the sequel films to DCA.

- Coco ride coming to Disney California Adventure.

- Disney Starlight nighttime Spectacular for Magic Kingdom in 2025

- Frozen land to open in Paris 2026

- Lion King land also coming to Disney Adventure World

- Walt Disney A magic life coming to Main Street Opera House

- All new Indiana Jones and Encanto Rides coming to Tropical Americas.

- Tiana's Bayou Adventure to open November 15th at Disneyland.

- New lounges for Epcot and Magic Kingdom

- Monster's Inc land for Hollywood Studios including Door coaster.

- Cars replacing part of frontier land at Magic Kingdom with two new rides.

- Two new attractions for Avengers Campus at DCA.

- Villains land with two major attractions coming to Magic Kingdom.

- Disney also did some financial reporting ahead of D23 this week, with reporting that it's theme parks division brought in $5.82 billion at its U.S. theme parks during the period, plus another $1.6 billion from its international parks. Due to Higher coast though, the US parks had a decline in operating income, which was down 6%, to $1.347 billion for the quarter.

- Universal Studios Hollywood have finished their house line-up for this year's Halloween Horror Night, with a featuring musician The Weeknd, called The Weeknd: Nightmare Trilogy. They also confirmed this week that the Terror Tram will return this year with the theme Enter the Blumhouse, featuring characters from M3GAN, The Black Phone, Freaky, The Purge, and Happy Death Day. They will also be bring back The Purge: Dangerous Waters show in the WaterWorld theater.

- Universal Studios Hollywood also announced this week that it has added Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge to the list of attractions eligible for its Universal Express pass

- Canada's Wonderland will open the longest, tallest, and fastest launch coaster in Canada next year, called AlpenFury. The Premier Rides coaster will feature 9 inversions, the most of any launch coaster in North America, and will be 115 km/h along 1 KM of track, with a 50 metres tall.

- Carowinds is planning a Camp Snoopy Expansion in 2025. They plan to add an ART Engineering family launch coaster call Snoopy's Racing Railway, similar to the one that opened at Canada's Wonderland last year. They will also b adding a Splash Battle ride call Charlie Brown's River Raft Blast.

- Reuters reports that a private equity firm behind Parques Reunidos, EQT, has enlisted JP Morgan to conduct a review of the Spanish theme park operator that could result in a sale of its US assets. Parques Reunidos's US assets are held by Palace Entertainment and include Kennywood, Lake Compounce, Iowa's Adventureland, Southern California's Castle Park and Raging Waters and the Noah's Ark Water Park in the Wisconsin Dells. Reuters cited a source that the Palace Entertainment properties could be valued at 1 billion Euro.

- Universal Hollywood have announced they will open a new Hello Kitty and Friends Cafe and Sanrio Smile Shop at Universal CityWalk.

- Hollywood also announced another house for this year's Halloween Horror Nights, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Legacy of Leatherface, and one more scare zone called Luchadores Monstruosos.

- Universal Orlando this week confirmed details about the last land at its Epic Universe theme park: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic. The main attraction in the land will be Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry. Epic Universe's land will be set in 1920s Paris from the "Fantastic Beasts" films, while it's major attraction will be in the British Ministry in London in the modern day, for the trial of Dolores Umbridge. The land will also host Epic Universe's largest live show, the Le Cirque Arcanus, which is inspired by the Fantastic Beasts movies. The land will host a couple of French eating spots, and American Bar as well as a Butterbeer cart.

- Universal Singapore have reported the first details of it's upcoming Minion Land which will debut in 2025. It will include a minion's theme Super Silly Fun Land, as well as Gru's Neighbourhood, which will feature another installation of the Despicable Me Minion Mayhem attraction. This land is replacing the Madagascar themed land and dark ride.

- Disneyland's union workers have ratified the contract that had tentative agreement last week.

- Britain's Drayton Manor has opened its new Intamin family coaster, Gold Rush.

- The newly merged Six Flags parks, are reporting that from next year you will be able to by an All Park Passport add-on to their annual pass, which will over all parks from the former Cedar Fair and Six Flags theme park chains.

- Cedar Point announced it will close its Snake River Falls log flume on September 3rd. The Arrow Dynamics shoot-the-chutes ride opened as the world's tallest, steepest, and fastest water flume ride in 1993. It takes riders 82 feet in the air for a 50-degree plunge at 40 mph.

- Kings Dominion announced its new roller coaster for 2025 - Rapterra, a 145 feet tall and 3,086 feet long wing coaster.

This week's Theme Park News:

- Halloween Horror Nights at both Universal Studios Florida and Hollywood will feature an all-female house called Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines this year. It will feature The Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula's Daughter - Countess Marya, She-Wolf of London, and the mummified Egyptian princess Anck-Su-Namun, as well as a new foe - Saskia Van Helsing, the daughter of Dracula-killer Abraham Van Helsing.

- We also saw two more scare zones announced for Orlando with Duality of Fear and Demon Queens. Duality of Fear will offer fans a choice, with universal saying "As soon as you enter the gates of Halloween Horror Nights, you must choose a path: follow SINIST3R, the manifestation of visceral horror. Or follow SURR3AL, the incarnation of unearthly terror." Demon Queens sits in the same universe as Duality of Fear: "Get caught in an otherworldly hellscape ripped from the darkest corners of your mind. Four merciless queens loyal to SURR3AL rule, surrounded by hordes of fanatical followers."

- Revenue dropped more than 10% at Universal's theme parks during the second quarter of 2024, compared with the same period last year. Its theme parks brought in a measly $1.975 billion in revenue for the three months to June 30, 2024. That's down just over 10% from the same period in 2023, when the parks brought in $2.209 billion.

- - Disneyland and it's labor unions have reached attentive agreement this week. The Master Services Council with represents the four unions said that the deal includes "a three-year contract that contains significant wage increases for all cast members, seniority increases and additional premiums as well as the retention of premiums".

- Disneyland is also re-opening it's Haunted Manion ride on Monday, after being closed since the start of the year. It is returning as it's Haunted Manion Holiday variety July 28th.

- Deadpool has started appearing for a limited time at Avengers Campus Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris and Disney California Adventure at Disneyland Resort this week. This is obviously to promote the new Deadpool and Wolverine movie.

- Our first change from the merge of Six Flags and Cedar Fair happened this week, with Six Flags Entertainment Corporation eliminating a guest surcharge fee on in-park food, beverage, and retail purchases at the legacy Six Flags theme parks. Cedar Fair did not charge these fees.

- 99% of Disneyland union members this week have authorized strike action if necessary as negotiations between Disney and the 4 Unions involved commence this week

- Disneyland have announced that the Hungry Bear restaurant will be returning as Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree, the first barbeque restaurant in the park since the construction of Galaxy's edge.

- Universal Orlando have announced that Nightmare Fuel: Nocturnal Circus is going to play on the Fear Factor Stage during this year's Halloween Horror Nights. This is the fourth Nightmare Fuel since their first in 2021. They've also announced scare zones called the Swamp of the Undead and Torture Faire, a ren fair based scare zone. For Swamp of the Undead, Universal said: "In backwaters Louisiana, you unwittingly wander onto private property, where you’re swamped by zombies borne from the bodies of other trespassers who were killed and dumped in a nearby bog." Orlando's Halloween Horror Nights, which starts August 30 and runs select nights through November 3

- Busch Gardens Tampa's new family coaster Phoenix Rising officially opens July 21

- The board of directors of Sweden's Liseberg theme park has voted to rebuild its Oceana waterpark, which was nearly destroyed in a fire while under construction earlier in February. The 3.5 acre indoor water park has been set to open this summer, for the tragic accident which claimed the life of one of Liseberg's construction managers.

- Disneyland Paris celebrated Bastille Day this week with a record-breaking nighttime spectacular with 1,571 drones forming a tri-color Mickey Mouse head for the show's finale, which was a Guinness World Records-setting display of the "largest aerial display of a fictional character formed by multirotors/drones."

- In Canada 17-year old girl fell from the park’s Swing of the Century ride at Canada's Wonderland late last week. The girl was reportedly in a critical condition following the incident.

- Europa-Park announced that its characters Ed Euromaus and Edda Euromausi will star in a new animated feature film, to be distributed by Warner Bros. next summer. The film should be hitting theaters in Germany in time for the park's 50th anniversary next summer.

This week's Theme Park News:

- Disney has announced the program line-up for its D23 event in Anaheim. Formerly known as D23 Expo and now called D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, the three-day gathering will feature presentations and show floor exhibits from across The Walt Disney Company, including a strong presence from Disney Experiences and the theme parks. The big event for Disney Parks fans will be Horizons: Disney Experiences Showcase on Saturday evening, August 10 hosted by Josh D’Amaro. Other panels of interest include Bringing the Worlds of Disney Animation to Life in Disney Parks, Dream Chasing: Four Decades with Walt Disney Imagineering, Magic After Dark—The Story of Disney’s Nighttime Spectaculars and Disneyland Foods – Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow.

- Insidious: The Further is joining the line-up for this year's Halloween Horror Nights at both Universal Studios Florida in Orlando and Universal Studios Hollywood. This was briefly leaked by the Universal website ahead of the office announcement this week. There is one more house announcement to go for Orlando and three more for Hollywood.

- Efteling in the Netherlands have announced that their new haunted house attraction Danse Macabre attraction will open at Efteling on October 31, Halloween. Danse Macabre will be a first of its kind Intamin Dynamic Motion Stage ride which replaces the old Spookslot haunted house.

- Walt Disney World has started previews for it's updated Country Bear Musical Jamboree show at Magic Kingdom. The official opening for this is July 17th.

- Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Hollywood has added a new interactive element under the Frosted Glacier. There are four different game play modes for this interactive all, that each correspond to a Power Up icon released from the Question block. The Power ups are: Fire Flower, Ice Flower, Super Mushroom, or Super Star. If you play with a power up band you will collect coins and stamps.

- Disney cruises will be coming to Japan, starting in 2029. Disney announced an agreement with Oriental Land Co. - the owner and operator of the Tokyo Disney Resort - to develop and operate a Disney-branded cruise business in Japan. They are going to start construction on a ship the same model as the Disney Wish vessel very soon.