WHAT:                    
Construction on Emperor – SeaWorld’s NEW dive coaster, the tallest, fastest and longest dive coaster in California – reached two significant and exciting milestones with the installation of the last section of track and the loading of the first ride onto the track. Each of the floorless trains holds 18 riders in three, six-person rows. This is the first seating configuration of its kind in North America.
​
When Emperor opens this summer, it will join Tidal Twister, Electric Eel and Manta as the park’s newest roller coaster thrill-ride experience. 
 
WHEN:                     
Feb. 4, 2019      

WHERE:                  
SeaWorld San Diego

DETAILS:               
Named for the world’s largest penguin, Emperor will be tallest, fastest and longest dive coaster in California, as well as the only floorless dive coaster in the state. Climbing to 153 feet with feet dangling in the air, riders on Emperor will be suspended on a 45-degree angle at the crown of the ride before plunging down a 143-foot facedown vertical drop accelerating to more than 60 miles per hour!
​
This exciting new attraction will also highlight an important new animal-conservation partnership between SeaWorld and Penguins International, an organization dedicated to penguin conservation and research, that will focus on penguin awareness and the conservation needs of this special aquatic bird. The partnership will include collaboration on educational elements that will be integrated into the attraction experience to educate guests on everything from penguin behavior and the effects of climate change on their habitats, to the work that SeaWorld and Penguins International are doing to help the species.

The partnership with SeaWorld will help advance Penguin International’s conservation programs at several high-priority sites and their public awareness campaigns. A portion of the proceeds from sales of penguin merchandise at the Emperor retail store will also be donated to Penguins International to support their important conservation, education and research efforts.
Emperor is being built by Bolliger & Mabillard, based in Switzerland.

It was a beautiful day at the park.

My normal plan was to come for a couple of hours to take my mind off the game, but as an added bonus, my friend Chris was making his first ever visit to the park. So it was nice to join in with Chris and his friend Blake for a bit and ride some rides!! I will also add, it's always nice to see parks through fresh eyes. We get kind of jaded on our own parks, but it's cool to see them through somebody who's never been. 

After a quick ride on Full Throttle and Goliath, I noticed they have a queue now for the Fish & Chips. I'm sure they've been here for awhile, but honestly, with West Coast Racers I don't think I've actually been to this area of the park since November. 

The park was delightfully empty. 

Last week Screamscape reported a rumor about a possible 2021 attraction replacing Tidal Wave. A Mack Power Splash. But this one would have a loop. 

So, we figured we'd look to see if we could find anything. 

The rumor of Tidal Wave's demise has been going around for at least a decade, but honestly, given the prime real estate and the fact that it's hardly ever open, it may actually be true this time. 

We'll definitely keep an eye out over the next few months. If they do build something here, and it's DC themed, hopefully they'll actually connect DC Universe and Metropolis. 

Heading over to The Underground, it looks like the area is finally complete. 

The "at Six Flags" is new since media day. 

As is the sign for the Pacific Speedway. Looks nice. 

Some cool posters that I forgot to take a closer look at as I was leaving. 

The Speed Shop wasn't open for us during Media Day, but it was yesterday. 

Here's a look at all of our videos of The Underground we've taken over the past few months, including a land overview, the Speed Shop from yesterday and even the Candy Shop from the first day it was open last year. 

Some cool looking merchandise. 

Not even sure Universal has Fast & Furious merchandise. 

Cool looking shirt. 

California Love. 

This also wasn't here for Media Day. 

Have to admit, the crew was really crushing it. Dispatches were very fast. 

Alright, that's gonna wrap it up. This is generally the time of year where our Six Flags Magic Mountain Updates ramp up, but since there is no construction going on this year I honestly can't tell you when our next one will be. 

Probably in a month or so unless anything major pops up. 

Thanks for reading as always!! 

Welcome to CityWalk where the Hard Rock Cafe is no more. Soon to be replaced presumably by Toothsome Chocolate Emporium. 

Is this a candy store, clothing store? Never have been able to figure it out. =) 

NBC Sports Grill will be opening before Toothsome. 

Hey Harry!! 

We headed to the Studio Tour for some fun and a couple of pics of Super Nintendo World

Lots of work going on 

No evident track, etc within the buildings. 

But they definitely aren't messing around. 

From the other side. 

We obviously don't know for sure, but would imagine the building with the store/restrooms, panda express and food location will be removed to make room for Super Nintendo Land. Can't imagine the only entrance being near Transformers.

​And maybe even the backside of Jurassic Cafe, which I believe is a security office right now. ​

An overview of the entire lower lot. I know it may look like Mummy is larger than Super Nintendo World from this angle, but it's not. 

And obviously we still don't know how much higher they are going here since we don't have official artwork for this park yet. 

There's an entire section that isn't too vertical at this point. 

On the upper lot, Secret Life of Pets is getting close to opening. No official date yet, but can imagine it will be soon. 

The outside facade looks great. 

Of course, we're not sure what the pets will think of their new neighbors. =) 

Great use of forced perspective here. 

What we assume will be the rides entrance. 

Road signs in case you get lost. 

Coming Soon!! We'll have some more info about the attraction soon. Stay tuned!! 

Thanks for checking out the update and of course, as always, the support of the site. If you missed our Lunar New Year Update yesterday be sure to check it out. 

Welcome to Universal Studios Hollywood

Some cool spinners on the hanging plants at the front of the park in celebration of Lunar New Year

All of the characters are also decked out in their Lunar New Year outfits 

Amazing photo op

Most of the activities are in the Universal Plaza 

Video highlights of the Lunar New Year

The beautiful cherry blossom trees are back

Hi Poe!!

Special shout out to Poe's companion, she's absolutely fantastic in getting those taking pictures to do all of the poses. 

Hey Tigris!! 

You can try all of the different stances of the Furious Five. 

There was also a very cool Cultural Celebration put on by a local group, we all found it very entertaining and inspiring. 

A look at all you can see at the Lunar New Year celebration 

And of course, there is awesome food. Click any of the pics to see a larger version. 

Fun Facts!! 

Be sure to check out this years event, it's fantastic. You can find out more details about the event here. 

We'll have another general park update from Universal Studios Hollywood tomorrow. 

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Written by Gregg Condon

Welcome to Knott's, as you can see it was a beautiful day.

Knott's Beary Farm is opening a Build a Bear Workshop soon.

We love that they have these great events all year, and they all seem to get longer each year, which is great. 

Sorry Chuck, Lucy made me do it. 

We also put together a highlight video of the event, be sure to check it out. 

Welcome to Ghost Town

There were Kite-Eating Trees EVERYWHERE!

Lots of yummy treats all around the park. No tasting cards like they have for the Boysenberry Festival, but I'm sure those are coming one of these years. 

Pig-Pen's Pig Pen is back!! 

Say hi to Ted everybody!! 

Piggies!! (much more of them in our highlight video above)

Hi Pig-Pen!! 

Our first stop was the Sketch School in the Bird Cage Theatre. It's super fun. 

We learned how to draw Charlie Brown! 

Well, kind of. =) 

More Kite's!! 

We'll stop eating now in preparation. =) 

Not much going on outside of the new Bear'y Tales, even the Iron Reef signs are still there. 

Lots of great Peanuts Celebration merchandise!! 

Not a cloud in the sky

We didn't partake in the $15 shake this time. Remember when John Travolta was questioning a $5 shake? =) 

Woodstock's Bird's Eye View is back!!

We did a live stream of it on our FB page

The Timber Mountain Log Ride is closed for it's annual refurbishment

Later in the day it appeared they were doing some work on the bottom of the final drop. 

YUM!! 

We were invited in to a Media Day reception where we got to see all of the food available at the event. 

And a bit more merchandise. 

Slideshow of all the yummy food. 

We didn't get to try all of this, mostly the desserts, but what we had was quite tasty. 

Spike is here!! 

The all new show Happiness is... was very popular. 

It was full of energy and kids seemed to love it. We realize we aren't the target audience for these kinds of shows though. But if you are, you'll love it. 

Over in Camp Snoopy, lots of fun photo ops. 

And of course the return of Beagle Bonanza 

Our POV of Beagle Bonanza from last years event. 

All new for this year. 

Outside the park, we saw this in the California Marketplace. But we didn't see them for sale anywhere. Anybody know where they are? Definitely would like a nice Knott's throw. 

For those who still need their Knott's Scary Farm sign, the Department 56 store has them in stock!! 

Sadly, the time came for us to say goodbye to Knott's. 

But we had an amazing time!! 

We had an amazing time at the Peanuts Celebration. Check out all of the information about this years event here. 

Related Videos:

Related Updates: 

• Winterfest 2019 at Canada's Wonderland - November 27, 2019
• Knott's Merry Farm 2019 at Knott's Berry Farm - November 24, 2019
• Bear-y Tales returns to Knott's Berry Farm in 2020 - November 7, 2019
• Knott's Scary Farm Opening Weekend - September 24, 2019
• Calico River Rapids Media Night at Knott's Berry Farm - May 17, 2019

If you enjoyed this update please share with your friends and make sure you "like" us on Facebook and "follow" us on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. 

If you have any comments, please share them below

We always love being at Disneyland during sunrise, something magical about it. 

Obviously our main goal for the day was to experience Rise of the Resistance, which we did!

​Be sure to check out our tips for experiencing Rise of the Resistance that we posted the other day. 

While waiting for our ride time, we got to experience some classic attractions, but not this one. It was pretty chilly. 

We wrecked the halls with Jack one last time. Looking forward to OG Haunted Mansion being back soon. 

Yo. Ho. 

We actually had an interesting experience on Pirates. As we were launching the CM's at the dock made the announcement that the ride was shutting down. We went through the ride, every boat behind us was empty. We didn't stop once, not even at the final lift. 

When we got back to the entrance of the ride, it was completely empty. We have zero idea what was going on, but the ride was back open when we passed by later in the day. 

We also spent some time in Batuu as our ride time for ROTR got closer. 

We tried our first Breakfast Ronto Wrap. It was yummy. 

We also tried this thing, it was, ok. 

I got to hang out with Chewie!! We didn't see R2D2 unfortunately. 

My OMG face before we even got into the "ride" part of Rise of the Resistance. 

My review of Rise of the Resistance (no spoilers) in case you missed it the other day

After our experience on Rise of the Resistance, we needed to decompress at Lamplight. 

And check out some Lunar New Year treats

Let's go try some food!! 

Firecracker Three Cup Chicken Wings (my favorite thing we tried)

We had reservations to experience Oga's Cantina for the first time, so we headed back over to Disneyland and stopped at one of our all time favorite attractions. It's still great, even after all these years. 

Back in Galaxy's Edge, Kylo Ren is looking for somebody. 

I still can't get over how amazing it is to see the Millennium Falcon just sitting there. 

Time for the Cantina!! 

Took some video of our experience 

This is such a cool touch

The Jet Juice

She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid.

Fuzzy Tauntaun

​It was tingly for sure

T-16 Skyhopper

Definitely unique, not sure we'd get it again. Not to be used for shooting Womprats. 

As we had been up since the early morning hours (1:30am for me for some stupid reason), we decided to do one last attraction and head out. And we decided on It's a Small World. 

Sunset over Matterhorn

We had to pick up a popcorn/fries bucket for a friend

And I had to do my best Flavor Flave impression

I will say, my one disappointment is the lack of Rise of the Resistance merchandise. I don't care for the regular shirt, at all (and it had a HUGE head hole).

I did like the Passholder design with the logo, but honestly, I don't want the Passholder there. 

​Need just a plain black shirt with the Rise of the Resistance logo on it. That's it. 

Hopefully those are coming soon. 

We said goodnight to Walt and Mickey and headed home. 

It was a great night, and we're already making plans on heading back soon. 

Now that we've used our Flex Pass 3 times I think we've got a pretty good handle on it, and we'll be doing a review of that particular pass soon. So stay tuned for that!!