Ep: 37 - Jul 14th - D23, Halloween and Japan Cruising

Nuts about Theme Parks

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.