The Southern California Theme Park Attractions Update Last Updated Oct 10th
The plans to add a small attraction at Knotts in 2009 have been scrapped.The money will go towards funding a major new attraction in 2010.Six Flags Magic Mountain is finally getting the electronic version of the Flash Pass.Lo-Q,the owner of the Q-Bot technology used in the Flash Pass are looking to hire staff.Also they will be adding a Great Coasters International wooden coaster for 2009.It'll be themed to the Terminator.Construction has begun at the park.The old Psyclone location has been cleared,graded,littered with survey markers,and piled on by large stacks of wood.The height requirement is 48 inches.A Wiggle's World may be on deck for 2009 or 2010.Also Disney's California Adveture is getting a makeover spending 1.1 billion dollars.DCA will add a Cars Land.The featured attraction will be Radiator Springs Racers.It might use a ride system similar to Test Track at Epcot.Cars Land will also offer two other,smaller rides based on the film's characters,Luigi and Mater.And the Cars Land Drive-In Restaurant,in which diners will watch old movie clips about cars while eating inside retro-fitted automobiles,Cars Land will debut in sumnmer 2011.DCA will get its own nighttime spectacular.To be located in a new 9,000-capacity viewing area alongside the Paradise Pier lagoon,the show will use water effects and pyrotechnics to highlight classic Disney animation.Look for Disney's World of Color in spring 2010.In early 2009 the lagoon will be drained to do some of the extensive work.The Voyage Of The Little Mermaid.A dark ride featuring the wonderful music and characters from the film will be coming to the Paradise Pier area.The Little Mermaid ride will debut in 2011.Full construction on The Little Mermaid ride starts late spring 2009.Due to construction on the Little Mermaid ride,there won't be a Golden Screams show this fall.The new DCA Preview Center that will show all of the proposed changes coming to the park opening October 20th.Annual Passholder Previews October 16th-19th.The Sun Wheel will be remade as Mickey's Fun Wheel with some new LAD lighting effects.The refurbishment starts October 13th.Also planned to take place during this time is the re-theming of the Games of the Boardwalk & California Screamin's queue.The re-theme will include the new 1930's style Mickey Mouse face,re-working of the queue,a re-paint,& the new name,Mickey's Fun Wheel.Mulholland Madness will be remade as Goof's Sky School.Orange Stinger will be remade as the Silly Symphony Swings.The remodeled attraction will have a Band Conductor Mickey on top of the tower who will move around to the music.The top will be remodeled to be more like a carousel to allow for the placement of scenes from the Silly Symphonies on the inside of each section.The Spectromagic parade from Disney World may move into California Adventure in 2010 as part of the resort's 55th Anniversary celebration.The Carthay Theater building will simply be an empty shell for the time being.However we have heard that the upstairs section may be used as another exclusive Club 33 style VIP Room.There may be some kind of Disneyland fireworks viewing area from here.Disney may have canned The Walt Disney Story attraction planned for the Carthay Theater building.But the building is still going in as part of the remodeling of the main entrance pathways,but it will instead be used for something else.They may eventually rename the Hollywood Pictures Backlot into Hollywoodland.Walt Disney Plaza and the entire new entrance area of the park will not be ready to open until February 8th,2011 as part of the park's 10th Anniversary celebration.A new experience that will introduce them to a world of historic California streets just as Walt experienced as a young artist.Outside in the streets,Red Car trolleys,will travel up and down the main street.The cars are said to hold only about 20 people each.New restaurants and shopping opportunities will also be added to Walt Disney Plaza.Disneyland may be getting their own version of Tokyo Disneyland's Jubilation Parade as early as Summer 2009.The plan is to build their own fleet of floats,and the production will get a new soundtrack and likely new costumes as well by the time it opens.Star Tours 2 is opening Fall 2009,but it's still very possible for it to slip back to early 2010.Star Tours is going shut down by late 2008 or early 2009 in order to begin work on the massive overhaul it will receive for the Star Tours 2 concept rebirth.Currently WDI has been playing around with one of the pods inside the cabin,they are doing testing on a new 3D projection system.Disneyland will reopen the Sleeping Beautry Castle Walkthrough in time for the December holiday season.Universal Studios Hollywood has been giving out surveys that contain ideas about possible attractions to replace King Kong.Most of the ideas are still fairly generic themed "stage" ideas at this point.