Archive - Park Journey

Published on

November 6, 2014

Legoland California announces 2015 park additions

We were invited out to Legoland, California today to see what they have on tap for 2015.

Below is the press release and some promotional images. We'll have MUCH more for you tomorrow with a full park update about the event.

Light speed ahead! LEGOLAND® california Resort continues moving upward into 2015

Record Year leads to NEW LEGO® Friends Area and LEGO STAR WARS™ MINILAND EXPANSION

CARLSBAD, Calif. (November 6, 2014) – A galaxy far, far away and some new Friends took center stage as LEGOLAND® California Resort announced two major additions for 2015 at the annual press conference. General Manager Peter Ronchetti shared the family theme park’s 2014 successes before announcing the LEGO® Star Wars™ Miniland Death Star is arriving in time for spring break and an entirely new area, Heartlake City, based on the popular LEGO® Friends product, is opening before summer.

“This is our tenth straight year of continuous attendance growth and much of this can be attributed to providing our guests with a fun, family environment to enjoy unique interactive experiences and create family memories,” said Ronchetti.

“In 2011 we were the first LEGOLAND in the world to open LEGO Star Wars Miniland and the success and popularity that it has had throughout the years is out of this world,” said Ronchetti. “Our guests have asked us to bring the Death Star to the experience, and we’re excited to be able to do that next year!”

Opening March 5, 2015, LEGO Star Wars Miniland Death Star spans 6-feet across and offers guests the chance to view iconic film scenes made of LEGO bricks that were filmed inside the Galactic Empire’s space station. This includes the famous trench run scene where Luke Skywalker maneuvered his X-wing fighter through the combat zone and trench to blow-up the station and its planet destroying super laser. LEGO models of Stormtroopers, a Rebel X-wing fighter pilot and an Imperial Star Ship pilot will be on display. Guests can also use their imaginations to construct their own LEGO spaceships at building stations. LEGO Star Wars Miniland Death Star is opening just before the Park’s annual LEGO Star Wars Days happening March 7 and 8, 2015.

“With all the success we’ve had over the years, we continue to work harder than ever to outdo ourselves each year by creating attractions that immerse guests into LEGO Group’s popular intellectual properties,” said Ronchetti. “Last year we made a huge splash with the addition of the LEGO Legends of Chima Water Park presented by Cartoon Network and this year we are excited to continue that trend with the addition of LEGO Friends Heartlake City.”

LEGOLAND California is making a significant investment in LEGO Friends Heartlake City, opening summer 2015. The new area is based on one of the LEGO Group’s hottest toy lines “LEGO Friends”, which focuses on the lives and personalities of five girls: Mia, Olivia, Andrea, Stephanie and Emma. The new area invites guests to sing along with Andrea at her tour bus, stroll through LEGO horse stables, enjoy a building activity at one of the LEGO brick tables and go for a horseback ride on the carousel in Mia’s family ranch. The adventures are endless for guests as they enjoy living like LEGO Friends for a day in Heartlake City.

The LEGO® Star Wars™ Miniland Death Star and the new LEGO® Friends Heartlake City are included in the cost of admission to LEGOLAND California Resort. For ticket prices, operating schedule and additional information, visit www.LEGOLAND.com or call 760-918-LEGO (5346).

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Published on

November 5, 2014

Vote for the best on-ride picture and who wins a piece of Colossus wood

As part of our First Anniversary celebration we had a couple of great giveaways, the most awesome being a piece of Colossus wood.

We asked our readers to send in their on-ride pictures and below are the results. Vote for your favorite. The picture with the most votes by Sunday November 9 at midnight (Eastern) will win. We will announce the winner on Monday.

Before you vote, be sure to "like" us on Facebook and "follow" us on Twitter and Instagram.

* Click on any of the pictures to see a larger version

Billy

Cliff

Jordan

Kristie

Kolby

Michael

Mac

Matt

Maverick

Miklo

Ryan

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Published on

November 3, 2014

A look back at Park Journey's first year

Wow, a year of bringing you all updates and fun from Theme and Amusement parks across the US, and even a few other countries.

Before we get into our fun retrospective, we want to send a HUGE thank you to the readers of the site. We've gone from getting a few hundred hits per week to an average of about 18,000 per week over the last month or so. While this isn't a lot for most sites, we are over the moon and couldn't be happier.

So thank you!!!

The Park Journey Story

Some of you have heard this story before, our apologies. But if you haven't, read on, it's actually kind of interesting.

Last year when I (Gregg) left MiceChat as their Six Flags (and periodically other parks) reporter I had NO intention of starting another site.

Then something happened. Six Flags Magic Mountain had a Fright Fest press event. Even though I had reached out to them and told them I was no longer writing for MiceChat, they still invited me to their event, as a kind of "thanks" for years of friendship. Because they had invited me, I felt that I needed to at least share my pictures and experience, so that's when I started the "free" website.

I put up that Fright Fest article in early October, 2013 and I figured that was going to be the end of it. Maybe I'd put up some personal blog stuff once in awhile, maybe some running stuff, but as far as a full-fledged theme park site, wasn't even in the cards. Not going to say I hadn't considered it, but the timing wasn't right.

For about a month, that was the only thing on this site. People were looking at it, people were messaging me asking if I was going to do more, I talked with my wife about it, talked with some dear friends (RD and Matt) about it and decided to give it a go, just to "see what happens".

The "official" kick-off of what was known at the time as "Park Journeys" was November 4th, 2013, still using the free site. Shortly after, Chris joined me to help out with the Facebook page, doing some updates for parks on the East Coast and more importantly, giving important advice on updates and internet battles to not get into.

Both Chris and RD have talked me down from the proverbial ledge more times than I can count. Without them, I don't think this site would exist. I don't think they know how much their input and wisdom has helped over the past year.

But the most important aspect of this site is, and always will be, having fun. And all of us who have had input into the site hope that comes through in these updates. We want to be more than just a "Construction update" site. And for the most part I think we've succeeded in that. We are very proud of where we were a year ago, and where we are now.

Our Facebook and Twitter pages have both grown and both should cross 500 "likes" and "follows" in the next month. We've also ramped up our Instagram page since September. I'll admit I don't really care for Instagram (guess I'm just too old) but luckily I have an 18 year old daughter who loves it, and has volunteered to run it for the site (for the most part).

We also do have a Google+ page, but nobody goes there so it's hardly worth mentioning.=)

We will be having more YouTube content in the next year, more on that below.

Park Journey by the numbers

The amount of updates we brought you this year, it's kind of overwhelming when we look at it, and we had no idea how many there were until we went through the site and added them up. In addition to our normal updates, we also had a LOT of press releases and events that we were able to bring you.

The fact that for our first year we were able to work with so many parks is in no way lost on us. It just goes to show that if you treat people great that they are going to help you.

We need to send a special thanks out to the PR staffs of Six Flags Magic Mountain, Knott's Berry Farm and Six Flags Great Adventure who were behind us from day one. Without them we would have had no content when we first started and for that we will be eternally grateful.

A look at how many updates we've done:

Six Flags - 69 Updates

Goliath opened at Six Flags Great America

Tsunami Soaker, new at Six Flags St Louis

Construction Updates and trip reports from parks like Magic Mountain, Great Adventure, Great America, St. Louis and Six Flags Mexico as well as press releases from all of the parks. We'll be getting to more parks and expanding our coverage next year. And obviously we'll probably have about 50 Twisted Colossus updates by the time we're done (I honestly hope not ... LOL)

This year we said goodbye to Colossus at Six Flags Magic Mountain

The Media Day that wasn't for Zumanjaro Drop of Doom at Six Flags Great Adventure

Cedar Fair - 25 Updates

Knott's Catawampus says Mooo!

The Witch's Keep at Knott's Scary Farm

For our first year this was mostly Knott's, which is to be expected. But next year we are already planning trips to Cedar Point, Kings Island and maybe even Carowinds. We'll also of course have Knott's updates along with California's Great America and the incredible Gilroy Gardens. For not having a Cedar Fair pass in 2014 we are actually pretty impressed with the amount of updates we had. But that's going to change for 2015 as my Cedar Fair Platinum pass is already in my wallet and ready to get used!

Fury 325 opening for 2015 at Carowinds

Rougarou opening for 2015 at Cedar Point

Universal Studios - 42 Updates

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey at Universal Hollywood

Springfield new for 2015 at Universal Studios Hollywood

Universal Studios Hollywood was one of the more interesting parks to do updates from this year, and will continue to be for the next few years. We started off just doing a lot of press releases in late 2013 and then in January 2014 we started our in-park updates. And finally in October we got our first press invite from the park for the amazing Eyegore awards, which was actually our goal at the beginning of the year. So yay!! We did run a few press releases for Universal Orlando over the past year, and we are hoping to expand our coverage there for 2015.

Our first Universal Press Event in October, 2014 for Halloween Horror Nights

Minion Mayhem and Super Silly Fun Land opened in April 2014 at Universal Hollywood

Disney Parks - 16 Updates

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at Magic Kingdom

We were one of the first sites to have Avatar/Lion King construction pictures at Disney's Animal Kingdom

Disney is interesting for us. We had never really had plans on covering Disney extensively because, well, it's covered online ... A LOT. Throw in the fact that nobody who does regular updates for the site has passes to Disney and you can see why we don't cover that more. However, I think some of my favorite updates this year have been Renee's RunDisney ones and hopefully those will continue next year.
We do have at least one contact on each coast so it's possible we'll have more Disney updates next year
But we understand we'll never be one of the go-to sites for Disney and the amount of work (and ass kissing) that it takes to get press access for Disney isn't something we are really interested in. =)

Oswald finally got a photo spot at Disney California Adventure

The hat at Disney's Hollywood Studios is finally being removed. The first of many changes coming to this park.

Other Parks - 18 Updates

Adventureland in Iowa was a favorite park for this year

The amazing El Loco opened up at The Adventuredome at Circus Circus, Las Vegas

This is where we had all of the non chain park updates, which as you'll see we actually had quite a few, and to some out of the way parks as far away as India and Iowa (yes, Iowa is out of the way for us). We hope to have more from out of the way parks next year as we find them absolutely fascinating.

Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park, the best views of any park you'll ever visit

Shawn from Miles to Memories shared his wonder pictures from WonderLA park in India

Other California Parks - 16

Legoland, California opened up a new waterpark area for 2014. We'll find out what is coming in 2015 later this week.

Sea World parks celebrated their 50th anniversary this year with events and announcements at every park

This is one section of the site that never really took off. We created this section because we'd hoped to get to more non chain CA parks this year, which if you have visited or live in California you'll know there really isn't enough of them to justify it's own section. This will be converting to a Busch Parks/Sea World section for 2015 as we hope to have more coverage from those parks next year.

Beyond The Parks - 20

The Getty Villa in Malibu is a hidden gem just off the Pacific Ocean

The Reagan Library hosted an amazing Baseball exhibit this year

We never intended Park Journey to be only about Theme Parks. That's not the only thing we enjoy doing and we wanted to bring you lots of things beyond theme parks. And for the most part I think we've been successful here. We used this section for our non-park Halloween coverage and I think it's worked out pretty well. We also hope to bring more non-park reports in 2015.

Queen Mary's Dark Harbor brought all kinds of scares for this years event

Evil Twin Studios Raymond Hlil Mortuary was easily the scariest haunted attraction we visited this year

The Future

For the time being you aren't going to see too many big changes going on with the site other than the new Busch Gardens/Sea World section. We are looking into moving over to a more robust Wordpress site to allow more people to do updates, but that won't be coming for at least 6 months.

One small change you will be seeing is updates to the "cover photos" for each page. They were created quickly and have kind of worn out their welcome and really, look very amateurish if we're being honest. So we'll be working to make these "pop" more in the next month or two.

We'll also be upgrading our photo/video equipment early next year so we'll be having more video than we have now (which is pretty much zero). This will be a great tool for media days.

We've also toyed around with the idea of doing Message Boards, but we aren't so sure the audience or desire for Message Boards is there in the age of social media. If you feel otherwise, let us know. If the desire is there it's something we'll reconsider.

There's also a few other things we've got in the works with some of our partner sites that we can't really get into at the moment, but we think some of you will be VERY interested in what we have planned. It's going to be something that will probably be 8-10 months away, because we want to do it right.

We'll also hopefully be having more in-park meet up's next year, our first official one for the last day of Colossus at Six Flags Magic Mountain was great. Once we finalize our travel plans for next year we'll be posting dates for meet up's. These most likely won't be "park sponsored" meets, but just a group of people who like to have fun having fun at parks.

For something that started off as more of a "personal blog" a year ago we are absolutely thrilled with how far we've come and what the future holds.

Stuff we'd love to see happen in 2015

So what suggestions do you have for us? Anything to make the site or Facebook/Twitter/Instagram pages easier or more fun to read? More updates you'd like to see from other area's?

Some of our personal goals for 2015:
An active forum with jokes. Expanded coverage of areas outside of where we live. New people to help us make this dream come true with a larger sense of community. But, we are happy to just keep moving forward.

We are pretty sure the key to success is including opinions of others, engaging smart discussion and trying our absolute hardest to make sure we provide interesting and captivating content.

Please feel free to contact us if you think you can help us further some of our goals.

Thank you in advance, and thank you again for making our first year something incredible.

If you have any special memories of our first year, please share them below.

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

If you have any comments, please share them below.
Published on

November 3, 2014

Knott's Fire and Police recognition days Nov 22 - Jan 31

Cedar Fair Knott's Berry Farm Military Days

KNOTT’S FIRE & POLICE PERSONNEL RECOGNITION DAYSHONORS THOSE WHO PROTECT OUR COMMUNITY

Fire and Police Personnel and One Guest Get in FREE November 22 through January 31

BUENA PARK, Calif. – As a thank you to all the men and women who assist in protecting life and property, Knott’s Berry Farm Theme Park is proud to offer Fire and Police Recognition Days. Starting Saturday, November 22 through Saturday, January 31, 2015, Knott’s will once again extend free Park admission to all active fire and police personnel and one guest. From November 22, 2014 - January 4, 2015 up to six additional tickets can be purchased for only $29 each. January 5 - 31 up to six additional tickets can be purchased for only $24 each.

“We give great thanks to the fire officials and law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line every day for our community,” said Raffi Kaprelyan, Knott’s Berry Farm General Manager. “It is the dedication of these men and women that make our communities a safe place to live and work, and for that we are forever grateful.”

To participate, active fire and police personnel must present valid, photo fire or law enforcement ID at Knott’s Main Gate November 22 through January 31, 2015. Fire or police personnel absolutely must be present. Fire and law enforcement badges and identification cards are acceptable only if accompanied by photo ID. As all IDs must reference specific fire or law enforcement duty, government-only IDs will not be accepted.

Under promotional rules, Knott’s will admit sworn officers, civilian employees and support staff from all city and county fire and law enforcement organizations, plus the following: California Highway Patrol (CHP); County Sheriff; District Attorney; U.S. Forest Service, California Department of Forestry and other wild land fire organizations; correctional facilities (prisons); U.S. Marshals; ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms); the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); International Border Patrol; Immigration Naturalization Service (INS); Homeland Security which includes: International Border Patrol, Citizenship & Immigration, Immigration Customs Enforcement, Secret Service, FEMA,TSA; ambulance company EMTs; and reserve or volunteer fire and law enforcement members with valid ID. Please note that only individuals with proper photo ID specifically referencing fire or law enforcement duty will be accepted.

The following organizations are not covered by the promotion: retired fire and law enforcement employees; U.S. Armed Forces, including all U.S. veterans; private law firms; reserve or volunteer fire and law enforcement members without valid ID; American Red Cross; California Conservation Corps.; private security firms; and all employees with government-only IDs or without specific fire or law enforcement IDs.

For more information on Knott's Berry Farm including Park hours, please call Knott’s Information at (714) 220-5200, visit us online at www.knotts.com or download the Knott’s Berry Farm mobile app for your smartphone.

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Published on

November 3, 2014
Six Flags Great Adventure to Host Fifth-Annual‘Grape Adventure’ Wine and Food Festival

Six Flags Six Flags Great Adventure
Wine and theme parks and animals, does it really get any better than that?

Plus it's your Last Chance to See Adorable Giraffe Calf ‘Mika’ Before Spring

What:
The region’s most unique wine festival, Six Flags Grape Adventure, offers guests a special opportunity to sample local wines, food and gifts partnered with a V.I.P. safari experience that includes giraffe feeding Nov. 8 and 9, 2014. The event is also the last opportunity for guests to see the safari’s newest resident – an adorable giraffe calf named Mika – before spring.

The festival features 14 New Jersey vineyards with nearly 150 locally-produced wines for sampling, handcrafted gifts from local artisans and an array of dishes from specialty food truck vendors. Visitors can purchase an upgraded safari package which includes a private tour of the 350-acre safari, a special wine tasting at Camp Aventura with a view of African plains animals including giraffes, zebras, Ankoli cattle, kudu, springbuck, gnu and more, plus an unforgettable, face-to-face giraffe feeding experience.

Weather permitting, guests can catch a glimpse of the Six Flags Safari’s latest addition, a female reticulated giraffe born at the wildlife preserve Oct. 11 to first-time mom Noel. “Mika” was born measuring 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighing approximately 125 lbs. She currently stands just under 6 feet tall. According to Safari Supervisor Jason Holloway, Noel is nursing and both mom and baby are very healthy. Mika is the Safari’s ninth giraffe.

Reticulated giraffes, also known as Somali giraffes, are native to northeastern Kenya, southern Ethiopia and Somalia. They possess a distinctive coat pattern featuring red-brown polygonal patches divided by thin white lines. Full-grown female giraffes stand approximately 16 feet tall and weigh approximately 1,800 lbs.

The fifth-annual Grape Adventure event follows the official ending of the 2014 Great Adventure season, and the theme park is not operational during this event.

Where:
Six Flags Great Adventure, 1 Six Flags Blvd., Jackson, NJ 08527
Enter via main park entrance on Rt. 537 West. Parking is free.

When:
Saturday and Sunday, November 8 and 9, from 12 to 5 pm
Safari Package (includes tours and tastings) available from 11 am to 3 pm

Participating Wineries:
Tomasello Winery
Sharrott Winery
Valenzano Winery
Working Dog Winery
4JG’s Winery
Belleview Winery
Wagonhouse Winery
Plagido’s Winery
DiMatteo Vineyard
Coda Rossa Vineyard
Cava Winery
Cedarvale Winery
Auburn Road Vineyard
Renault Winery

Advance Tickets:
Several packages are available for purchase in advance online at www.sixflags.com/greatadventure with promo code WINE (valid Season Pass required at entry for Season Pass Tickets).
Wine Event Online: $19.99
Wine Event Online - Season Pass Holder: $14.99
Wine Event & Safari Package Online: $39.99
Wine Event & Safari Package Online - Season Pass Holder: $29.99
Designated Drivers & Children: Free
Parking: Free

Info:
For more information, visit www.sixflags.com/greatadventure or call 732-928-2000.

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Published on

October 31, 2014

Halloween Season Wrap-Up

Well, it's finally here. The end of the Haunt Season.

As a site, this was our first year covering Halloween and we've had an absolutely blast. Personally, I've gone to more Haunts this year than any other year, and it still was just a drop in the proverbial bucket.

Below are our rankings, this is by no means a complete list of everything that is out there, but if you are planning on getting one last scare in this season, you can't go wrong with any of these.

Best Theme Park Haunt - Knott's Scary Farm

I know a lot of people thought that Knott's had a down year but I thought it was amazing. Maybe it's because I didn't make it to Haunt last year but the great mix of new mazes and returning favorites was amazing.

Small improvements like the Skeleton Key rooms and new effects in mazes made the event seem fresh and the Mine Ride enhancements for The Witch's Keep were awesome.

Knott's Scary Farm is open tonight (Halloween) and Saturday Nov 1st.

Best Non Theme-Park Haunt - Raymond Hill Mortuary

To say we were completely blown away by Raymond Hill Mortuary would be a HUGE understatement. From the talent, the execution, the theme and overall creepiness it was an absolute success in every way imaginable.

The group at Evil Twin Studios put their twisted and creative minds together and brought the world an incredible haunt for 2014. We really can't wait to see what they have in store for next year.

Raymond Hill Mortuary is open tonight (Halloween) and Saturday Nov 1st.

Best Home Haunt - Sherwood Scare

To be honest, we didn't get to as many home haunts this year as we would have liked, but if the few we visited this year were any indication, we are definitely getting to more next year.

We wish we could call this something different than a "home" haunt, because the talent, story line and effects in this maze are nothing short of professional quality.

Sherwood Scare is open tonight (Halloween) and Saturday Nov 1st.

Best Maze - American Werewolf in London - Halloween Horror Nights (Hollywood)

This was EASILY my most anticipated maze of 2014 as it's one of my all time favorite horror movies. And American Werewolf in London didn't disappoint.

Universal is known for their use of movie quality effects, props and locations, but this maze combined all three of those elements into our top maze of 2014.

Halloween Horror Nights is open tonight (Halloween), Saturday Nov 1st and Sunday Nov 2nd.

Best Scare Zones - Fright Fest - Six Flags Magic Mountain

It takes a lot for a park to start competing with the likes of Knott's Scary Farm for best scare zones, but this year Magic Mountain managed to pull it off .

The DC Universe "City Under Seige" is still the biggest and best in the park, but this year the incredibly unique black-light scare zone "Nightmares - A Twisted Fantasy" just pushed them over the top. We'd also be remiss if we didn't mention the 3 great new mazes the park added this year.

Fright Fest is open tonight (Halloween) and Saturday Nov 1st.

Best Talent - Queen Mary's Dark Harbor

This category wasn't even close. The talent at Dark Harbor has so much freedom it's really hard for the other events to compare.

Not tied to any corporate structure they are free to interact with the guests as they see fit, free to do things that other parks would freak out about while still maintaining safety for themselves and guests.

Dark Harbor is open tonight (Halloween), Saturday Nov 1st and Sunday Nov 2nd.

Best New Maze - (tie) Voodoo - Knott's Scary Farm and Red's Revenge - Fright Fest

This was easily the toughest category. This was a Pick 'em between Voodoo and The Tooth Fairy at Knott's and Red's Revenge at Fright Fest.

We decided to end this one in a tie because we just couldn't decide. Voodoo won out because of the incredibly done Skeleton key room, great talent and the uniqueness of the multiple paths. Red's Revenge deserves recognition just because of the sheer quality of this new generation of Fright Fest maze.

Best Returning Maze - Submerged - Queen Mary's Dark Harbor

Hands down the creepiest maze we did this year. I know a lot of people complain about it being old, but if it's not broken, don't fix it.

As we said in our Dark Harbor review, no other event, except maybe Raymond Hill, can compete with the sheer creepiness of the on-ship mazes at Dark Harbor.

So that's going to wrap it up for Haunt Season. We hope you enjoyed reading about all of the events as much as we enjoyed covering them. We are already thinking about next year and how we can do even more coverage of events outside of California.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled website. =)

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