- How Disney will tweak Epcot’s holiday celebrationsby Dewayne Bevil on October 26, 2020 at 4:51 pm
Holidays will look different at Disney World in 2020. Here's what to expect at Taste of Epcot International Festival of the Holidays, beginning Nov. 27.
- No California amusement parks can reopen right now under new state guidelinesby Brady MacDonald on October 26, 2020 at 1:44 pm
California has more than 30 small and large amusement parks and family entertainment centers with amusement rides.
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom welcomes baby rhinoby Dewayne Bevil on October 26, 2020 at 1:33 pm
A male white rhinoceros was born at Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park Sunday. There are more on the way.
TA Podcast E29: Dr. Barry R. Hill
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Our guest needs no introduction…because he’s always at the end of the show! Dr. Barry R. Hill, our very own show producer and designer, is the author of Imagineering an American Dreamscape: Genesis, Evolution, and Redemption of the Regional Theme Park. This book tells the long-overdue story of the regionals and the strong-willed individuals behind them—where they came…
The Dynamics of Team Culture & Collaboration
The Individual Parts are Greater than the Whole The Themed Entertainment Industry is a broad and wonderfully complex world that offers incredible escapism, imagination and emotional connection. It also feels like the projects we undertake to build these experiences are equally complex, vast and definitely generate emotion! It is a tall order indeed to tell…
Five Things Your Marketing Team Wants in a New Attraction
Picture this: You’ve just endured countless hours (or has it been weeks—months, maybe?) of creative charrettes, late nights of design revisions and updates to the proposal for your next big guest experience project—and now you’re ready to get organizational buy-in. One of your key stakeholders—and most critical partners—is the marketing team. Sure, it’s their job…
Dimensionalizing Brand
Dimensionalizing Brand design by Theron Skees. Theron is the Chief Creative Officer of Designer’s Creative Studio. He also currently oversees Disney Cruise Lines as the Vice President, Creative Portfolio Executive with Walt Disney Imagineering. “Story” as Branding Experience Telling a story is at the heart of every one of our projects. We understand this as…
TORCHLIGHT: New Dark Ride Experience Unveiled By Katapult And Simworx
A gripping, new horror dark ride experience has been unveiled by themed attraction designers Katapult, in collaboration with simulator ride manufacturer, Simworx. Launched at Blooloop V-Expo, TORCHLIGHT: Search of the Forest will transport guests to a mysterious woodland where they are put in charge of finding out what has happened to dozens of missing people. The question is,…
The FRIENDS Experience Chicago Now Open
Borrow one of Chandler’s sweaters, because The FRIENDS™ Experience has blown into the Windy City for a limited time! Originally created for the show’s 25th anniversary, fans can celebrate their favorite friends and revisit some of the series’ most iconic moments with this two-story, enhanced experience created by Superfly X, Warner Bros. Consumer Products and Warner…
China Leisure Announces Plans to Develop Nickelodeon Playtime Family Entertainment Center in Partnership with ViacomCBS
FEC open at Shenzhen OCT Happy Harbor at the end of the year SHENZHEN, CHINA – China Leisure Development Co., (CLDC) and ViacomCBS have inked a deal to develop a Nickelodeon-themed Family Entertainment Center (FEC) in the city of Shenzhen, China. Comprising four attraction zones featuring SpongeBob SquarePants, PAW Patrol, Dora the Explorer, and Teenage…
Duplicating Disneyland is harder than you think: The CV Wood parks
Cornelius Vanderbilt Wood Jr. is the singular definition of an enigma. Few Disney fans have ever heard the name. The ones who have, have read anything from genius, showman, shuckster, to con man. The self-confident kid who got into college on a rope twirling scholarship was pure Texas and a born leader. His friends were…
Hershey’s Chocolatetown debuts
Well, they finally made it. After several weeks of wondering if they’d be able to open at all, Hershey unveiled the brand new expansion we’ve been anticipating for so long. And who was worried? It was only the largest expansion project in park history, adding twenty-three acres and clocking in at $150 million. It’s a…
Vintage park maps: Kings Island
In the early years, regional theme parks offered souvenir maps for sale. These were beautifully illustrated works of art with lots of fun details to discover. One of the ideas for the park history book was to include excerpts from these opening/early season maps to help visualize the walk-through descriptions. That would have made the…
Welcome to HORRORVILLE, a Scary Theme Park Land
Senior Thesis: Mike Artwell. Interior Architecture at the Cleveland Institute of Art. Part 1: Crafting a Year-Round Horror Park Most of my peers studying Interior Architecture at the Cleveland Institute of Art knew they wanted to craft a senior thesis that tackled hard-hitting, real world issues like re-developing the passenger experience at an airport, creating…
2020 Themed Experience and Attractions Academic Symposium Open Call for Proposals, Accuracy in Amusement Ride Safety Reporting, & Students Build a Dark Ride from Scratch
Each year international scholars from a variety of disciplines assemble during the final day of the IAAPA expo to exchange ideas, enhance research, and debate intricacies of the blending of art and science in themed environments and attractions. The Themed Entertainment and Attractions Academic Symposium (TEAAS) includes oral research presentation sessions and poster exhibitions relevant…
Purpose-Based Design: The Next Evolution in Immersive Environments
“To all that come to this happy place, welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past, and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. “ ― Walt Disney I’ve been involved with quite a few development projects throughout my career, in every project my goal has…
TA Podcast E29: Dr. Barry R. Hill
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS
Our guest needs no introduction…because he’s always at the end of the show! Dr. Barry R. Hill, our very own show producer and designer, is the author of Imagineering an American Dreamscape: Genesis, Evolution, and Redemption of the Regional Theme Park. This book tells the long-overdue story of the regionals and the strong-willed individuals behind them—where they came…
TA Podcast E28: Don & Doug Stewart
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Our guests are two of the industry’s leading feasibility experts, the father/son duo Don and Doug Stewart of Economic Consulting Services. In the themed entertainment world, we like to think we build the impossible. But the impossible is not always feasible. The “Walt Disneys” of the world rely on experts like Don and Doug who…
TA Podcast E27: Joe Lanzisero
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Joe Lanzisero is a 30-year Disney veteran who began his career in Disney animation and made the switch to Imagineering where he eventually became known as the theme park land expansion guy—think Critter Country & ToonTown in Anaheim, and Toy StoryLand, Grizzly Gulch and Mystic Point in Tokyo. Today, Joe is Executive Vice President at Zeitgeist…