News in a Minute - 26th June 2020

This week's News:
• Splash Mountain is officially being rethemed to Princess and the Frog at both Disneyland and WDW. Disney announced the change, which has been in development for a year, early due to Controversy around the incredibly racist movie Song of the South which the original ride is based upon. As it’s still with Imagineering, there is no date for when work will start on this re-imagining.
• Disneyland has indefinitely postponed their reopening plans. The Californian government has said that it won’t decide on any theme park in openings until July 4th. Disney said this didn’t leave sufficient time for their planned July 17 opening.
• Tokyo Disney has announced July 1st as its opening date. Disneyland Paris has announced they will reopen July 15th
• The UK government has stated that their parks are allowed to reopen from July 4th.
• Australia’s first theme park to reopen, Sea World reopened today!
• WDWs new Park Pass Reservation system opened this week, with heavy access and technical glitches.
• Disney has also stated they have "paused” the planned rewrite and refurbishment of Epcot's iconic Spaceship Earth attraction.
• In the Netherlands, Efteling Opens Its New Family Coaster, Max & Moritz.
• The US state of Virginia has cleared the way for it’s theme parks, Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens Williamsburg to reopen, but have capped parks to 1000 people.

News in a Minute - 19th June 2020

• The Bourne Stuntacular Has started technical rehearsals at Universal Orlando.
• Walt Disney World have cancelled the Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party in its entirety. They have confirmed a modified version of Epcot’s Food and wine festival will still run.
• Hong Kong Disneyland Reopened yesterday
• Australia’s big theme parks are reopening. First Sea World on June 26, Movie World on July 15th and Dreamworld sometime before September. The parks will be opening at half capacity.
• Hersheypark is going to reOpen with their brand new B &M hyper coaster Candymonium on July 3.
• California has had a state wide mandatory mask order, which trumps the local Orange County weakening of restrictions that were effecting Disneyland and it’s surrounding areas.
• The original Wizarding World of Harry Potter land in Universal Orlando is celebrating it’s 10th anniversary this week.
• Tivoli in Denmark reopened this week.
• Power Park in Finland has started testing their new Gerstlauer coaster.
• Se World SAN Antonio appears to be planning at least 2 new rides, with one likely to be a Mack Power Splash.

Theme Park News in a Minute - 12th June 2020

Here is the news:
• Disneyland theme park is reopening on it’s 65th anniversary, July 17th. The resort is using a staged approach to reopening with the Downtown Disney opening on July 9th and two of the 3 reiterated hotels opening July 23rd
• Universal Hollywood and Knotts Berry farm both opened their external shopping districts this week
• Lotte World in South Korea closed for a day of disinfecting after a visitor tested positive for Coronavirus
• Universal Studios Japan re opened this week, which has given us some great new images of the upcoming Super Nintendo World.
• Shanghai Disneyland has started vertical construction of its upcoming Zootopia-themed land this week
• The two owning companies for Australia’s biggest theme parks have teamed up to submit Reopening plans to the Queensland government. Current restrictions allow them to reopen, but limit them to only 100 in the park which would not be financially viable.
• Cedar Fair have announced opening dates for some of their parks: Kansas City’s Worlds of Fun will reopen to its pass holders on June 22. Kings Island will reopen on July 2, followed by Cedar Point one week later - on July 9.
• Movie land park in Italy is set to reopen today.
• Sea world Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa Bay have reopened yesterday.
• Holiday World in the US has added a new policy where guests can get a pass to return on an additional day if weather causes the closer of an attraction for more than 2 hours.

News in a Minute - 5th June 2020

• Black Lives Matter.
• Universal Studios Orlando's theme parks have re-opened this week.
• Other Reopenings this week include Europa Park and Efteling
• Efteling have also announced their new Max & Moritz will debut on June 20.
• Parks that have announce their opening this week inclue Universal Studios Japan Busch Gardens Tampa, Hersheypark, Kentucky Kingdom, Silver Dollar City, Sea World San Diego and Legoland California.
• The NBA is going to implement a long speculated plan to finish it's season at the Walt Disney World resort.
• Univesal Studios Beijing has revealed the lineup for their CityWalk Shopping and entertainment district.
• Sea World and Busch Gardens have announced details of their advanced reservation system
• King's Island is suing the state of ohio for the right to re-open