David Jones reports that comic powerhouse Marvel has entered into a deal for major a theme park in Dubai. Marvel Entertainment Inc. said Tuesday that it has teamed up Al Ahli Group to develop a $1 billion theme park in Dubai based on Marvel superheroes, including Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk and The Fantastic Four. This… Read More »Marvel Expanding Into Theme Parks, Films
Hans van Leeuwen of Bloomberg reports on the ongoing moves of Village Roadshow to create a synergistic conglomerate. They’re a theme park operator, film producer, majority owner in a radio broadcaster, and they’re Australia’s biggest cinema chain, and now they’re looking to expand their theme park business and start up a music division. Last year,… Read More »Synergy Down Under – Village Roadshow
Deepa Bharath of the Orange County Register gives us an update on plans for a theme park south of the Disneyland Resort, in the City of Garden Grove, California. The search for theme park investors and developers is continuing after city officials broke off a contract with a developer because they were not satisfied with… Read More »Garden Grove Theme Park Update
My latest Kenversations(TM) column is now posted in full on LaughingPlace.com. The third and final part, about recent changes and trends in the theme park industry, went up today. Part one is here – It is about major changes within the Disney Company in the last few years, and in the feature film industry, and… Read More »Shameless Plug – The Last For Now
The other day I had the chance to try out a newly opened restaurant here in Terre Haute. The restaurant was called “Cheeseburger in Paradise” and it is part of a larger chain owned, not so surprisingly, by Jimmy Buffet. While there, I ordered the mini-cheeseburgers. Now, I have had mini-cheeseburgers before at a myriad… Read More »What a cheeseburger can tell us about Disney attractions
All of us have a preference for a specific park, a specific resort, or even a specific hotel. We are all very different, so this is not too surprising. However, one of the more disturbing results of this is that many fans have to prove to everyone that their preference should be shared by the… Read More »In Recognition of All Disney Parks
Noah Bierman of the Miama Herald writes about the University of Central Florida Rosen School of Hospitality’s program studying theme park and attraction management. Theme-park industry executives help craft the school’s curriculum, meaning students aren’t likely to get too much skepticism about the industry. By the end of one class, students are required to explain… Read More »Want to Work in Theme Park Management?
Susan Chaityn Lebovits writes about an Imagineering contest and what two students at Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in Needham came up with. "Our idea was to create a video capture system throughout the park," said Michaelidis, who grew up in Hyde Park. “To take still-frame shots — like photos of visitors with Mickey… Read More »Engineering Students Participate in Imagineering Contest