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Universal Studios Japan plans to open its $580 million Nintendo attraction on Feb. 4, finally debuting a long-delayed effort to introduce Mario and other beloved characters to real-world theme park visitors.
Super Nintendo World, built on the existing Universal Studios Japan site, is envisioned as a life-sized replica of Nintendo Co.’s most popular games with rides, shops and walk-through activities.
— Bloomberg
Bloomberg reports that a Mario Kart ride inside a recreation of Bowser's Castle would be one of Super Nintendo World's first attractions. Image courtesy of Nintendo. The ambitious half-billion dollar theme park was originally scheduled to open last summer, but the global coronavirus outbreak... View full entry
Super Nintendo World, the Mario-themed expansion to Universal Studios, is shaping up to be one of the most interesting and tech-infused theme park attractions to date.
The park, launching ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as part of Universal Studios Japan in the city of Osaka, will feature wearable wrist bands called “Power Up Bands” that will sync with a smartphone app and track digital activities while you walk around
— The Verge
After breaking ground on its ambitious high-tech theme park, Super Nintendo World, in 2017, Universal Studios Japan unveiled more details this week about the anticipated destination slated to open in Osaka this summer. "A life-size, living video game" -- Thierry Coup shows us the new app used to... View full entry
Shanghai Disney Resort today announced that the main construction for the its highly anticipated Zootopia-themed expansion had begun. It will be the first-ever Disney park worldwide to construct a park inspired by the 2016 animated film of the same name. The new expansion will sit adjacent to... View full entry
At a press conference in Tokyo on Friday, Studio Ghibli producer and co-founder Toshio Suzuki, Aichi governor Hideaki Omura and Chunichi CEO Uichiro Oshima laid out the basic plans for the park.
The site is located within the Expo 2005 Aichi Commemorative Park, and in keeping with director Hayao Miyazaki's strong environmental beliefs, is to be built in harmony with existing nature and without cutting down a single tree. The park will not feature roller coasters or other ride-type attractions.
— The Hollywood Reporter
The celebrated Japanese animation house Studio Ghibli announced more details of their upcoming theme park in Nagakute City, in Japan's Aichi Prefecture. The studio and their collaborative partners revealed that three areas of the 494-acre park will open in fall 2022. According to Japan Today... View full entry
Significant expansions to Disneyland, the fabled theme park in Anaheim, California, are not taken lightly among its designers and imagineers. Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, the newest 'land' at the park, has been hotly anticipated since it was first announced over five years ago. The 14-acre addition... View full entry
...Climate change is bad for business. But as I’ve seen firsthand, companies that invest in clean energy, engage customers in sustainability efforts and leverage their influence to drive smart policies can turn a downside risk into tangible cost-savings, customer retention and global leadership. — Forbes
Many of Walt Disney's original plans for Disney World, in Orlando, Florida, were scrapped shortly after his death in 1966. Disney envisioned EPCOT (short for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow), for instance, as a hotbed for scientific research and a model for energy and material... View full entry
MVRDV has recently completed The Imprint, a new 2-building art and entertainment complex next to Seoul’s Incheon Airport. Featuring a nightclub in one building and indoor theme park in the other, the windowless structures are part of the larger Paradise City complex of 6 buildings next to South... View full entry
The fantasy world of Oscar-winning animator Hayao Miyazaki will come to life as a theme park, set to open in central Japan in 2022, the regional government said Wednesday.
Miyazaki is the cofounder of Studio Ghibli, the nation’s premier animation studio, and is renowned internationally for works including “Princess Mononoke” and “Spirited Away.”
Studio Ghibli has released a basic concept for the vast park, which will be built by 2022 near Nagoya in Aichi Prefecture.
— The Japan Times
Plans for a Studio Ghibli theme park have been floating for some time, but they appear to become more concrete now with the announcement by local officials in Japan's Aichi Prefecture and the release of (very conceptual) illustrations of the park depicting structures that resemble buildings from... View full entry
After her grandparents passed away, Kelly Wise Valdes found a treasure trove of candid pictures taken by her grandfather, Chester "Chet" Wise, a master craftsman and woodworker who worked on the construction of the Magic Kingdom in Florida. [...]
Thousands of construction workers were there during the Magic Kingdom construction. Disney kept a small handful of these master craftsmen and made them full-time Disney employees, and my grandfather was one of the chosen few.
— CNN
Click here to find more photos. All images via cnn.com, courtesy of Kelly Wise Valdes.Related stories in the Archinect news:Relatively soon, in a galaxy (not so) far far away: announcing Star Wars LandsKeeping the Disneyland magic alive, by limiting neighbors' building heightsAll the Lights of... View full entry
The park’s centerpiece features three decks of exhibits explaining Answers in Genesis’ views of the biblical flood account..[It] also features a two-story restaurant, aerial zipline cables and the Ararat Ridge Zoo...
“...in a world that we see becoming very secularized before our eyes, it’s really time for Christians to do something of this size, of this quality, that competes with the Disneys and the Universals to get a message to the world.”
— The Charlotte Observer
This might be worth a pitstop for anyone planning a U.S. summer road trip. Envisioned by the Creationist apologetics ministry Answers in Genesis, a replica of Noah's Ark — measuring 510 feet long, 85 feet wide and 51 feet high — opened last week as the centerpiece of the Ark Encounter theme... View full entry
Just in time for the Independence Day weekend, Legoland is showing off an extensive remodel of its New York miniland, dominated by a towering replica of Manhattan’s One World Trade Center. [...]
Nearly a year in the making, the redesigned New York area includes a number of new buildings, a dozen more moving automobiles and a subway system with new cars and tracks that are illuminated and feature sound effects that mimic the real thing.
— San Diego Union-Tribune
The Legoland announcement proudly boasts these details:"The One World Trade Center LEGO model is built with more than 250,000 LEGO bricks, and took eight Master Model Builders more than 1200 hours to build. This dynamic structure weighs more than 1,000 pounds and towers at a record breaking... View full entry
Deep in the Transylvanian countryside lies an ancient salt mine dating back over two millennia.
Today Salina Turda has become an unlikely tourist attraction, with thousands of visitors descending its vertical shafts each year to play mini-golf, go bowling and row around its underground lake. [...]
British photographer Richard John Seymour recently travelled to Salina Turda in his quest to document human-altered landscapes.
— thespaces.com
Related stories in the Archinect news:Chinese Fun: Photographer Stefano Cerio captures the eerie side of empty amusement parksOdd beauty: downtown São Paulo through the lens of Felipe RussoPhotographer captures the beauty of Beirut's architecture View full entry
The policy, limiting building heights of 75 to 240 feet within a half-mile radius of the Disneyland Resort, isn’t meant to keep outsiders from getting a peek at the rides and attractions.
Rather, the Disney Cone is aimed at limiting views of the outside world for the 25 million-plus annual visitors who walk into the parks for a sense of escape and fantasy – just as Walt Disney had first envisioned on Disneyland’s opening day, more than 60 years ago.
— ocregister.com
Over the past five weeks, more than 150,000 people have visited the subversive theme park in a derelict seafront lido, which had been shut since 2000 and reopened in a blaze of publicity on 20 August. [...]
But, it is the town's tourist businesses that have reaped the benefit - to the tune of £20m, says Visit Somerset, more than three times what the trade body initially suggested. [...]
Everyone has noted the irony of the anti-capitalist art show boosting business.
— bbc.com
Previously: Banksy about to open "Dismaland" pop-up exhibition in British seaside resort View full entry
The management at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum has defended the installation of sprinkler showers at its entrance, after a visitor complained that the new facilities were a painful reminder of the gas chambers used to murder prisoners. — The Independent
Is Auschwitz now a theme park? View full entry