Park Journey
Menu

2017 Holiday Event Reviews, Updates and Info

11/28/2017

0 Comments

 
Looking for a review or information for a 2017 Holiday event? Well look no further. Below you will find reviews of Holiday events we have attended or are planning on attending and a list of all of the other events (Merry and fun) that we've received information for. 

​We will be updating this as we receive information about additional events. 

Updates and Reviews

​Click links to see updates
Picture
The Holidays at Disney's Hollywood Studios - Walt Disney World (November 11)


Picture
Christmas in the Wizarding World - Universal Studios Hollywood (November 20) ​


Picture
Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party - Magic Kingdom (November 21)


Picture
 Holiday In The Park - Six Flags Magic Mountain (November 27) 


Picture
Zoo Lights 2017 - Los Angeles Zoo (November 28)


Picture
Holidays at Universal Orlando - Universal Orlando Resort (November 30)


​Event Information


​Click links to see event information
  • Busch Gardens Tampa's Christmas Town - Begins November 19
  • California's Great Adventure Winterfest - Begins November 24
  • Disney's Hollywood Studios Holidays - Begins November 10
  • Disneyland Resort Holidays - Begins November 10
  • Dollywood's Smoky Mountain Christmas - Begins November 4
  • Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede Christmas Show - Begins November 1
  • Dolly Parton's Smoky Mountain Adventures Christmas Show - Begins November 1
  • Holiday In The Park (Six Flags Great Adventure) - Begins November 18
  • Knott's Merry Farm - Begins November 17
  • LA Zoo Zoo Lights - Begins November 17
  • Legoland California Holidays - Begins November 18
  • Queen Mary's Chill - Begins December 13
  • The Queen Mary New Years Eve - December 31
  • SeaWorld Orlando's Christmas Celebration - Begins November 23
  • ​SeaWorld San Diego's Christmas Celebration - Begins November 18
  • Universal Studios Hollywood Christmas In Hogwarts - Begins November 24
  • Universal Orlando Holiday Celebration - Begins November 18​

Related Updates: 
  • Halloween Season Officially Kicks off at MidSummer Scream 2017
  • Winchester Mystery House Mansion Tour
  • ​An amazing look at the Walt Disney Family Museum 
  • 2016 Holiday Event Reviews
  • Team Park Journey reviews the Legacy of Arrow ​​​


​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
0 Comments

Holiday Fun at LA Zoo Lights 2017

11/28/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Today we're back with another holiday update, this time from the Zoo Lights at the Los Angeles Zoo. 

In it's 4th year they've made a few changes to the event and the holiday cheer is evident all around. 

Written by Gregg Condon
Welcome to the Zoo Lights!! 
Picture
Monkeys are awesome!! 
Picture
Picture
Some of the new lights for 2017
Picture
Yay, Reindeer!! 
Picture
Aww, they were tired. =) 
Picture
More new lights 
Picture
Two Swans a-sleeping ... 
Picture
Picture
For some reason this looked like celery to us 
Picture
The Tunnel of Lights!! Always a highlight 
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
These are new, snowflakes with different animals 
Picture
Picture
Flaming O's!! 
Picture
Picture
Picture
Disco Christmas!! 
Picture
The Flaming-O Musical notes. Not new, but in a new location. 
The water show was back, check out a video and slideshow of it below. It's a lot of fun 
Overall it was another great year for the Zoo Lights. It's a great family evening in Griffith Park. 

We will say though, it's probably time for them to change some things up next year. 4 years and most of the lights were the same as year 1. We'd love to see them expand this deeper into the zoo as well as it can get quite crowded. But overall a really fun family event that we look forward to every year. 

​Related Updates: 
  • Museum of Ice Cream - A Museum for the Instagram Age
  • Halloween Season Officially Kicks off at MidSummer Scream 2017
  • Winchester Mystery House Mansion Tour
  • ​An amazing look at the Walt Disney Family Museum 
  • 2016 Holiday Event Reviews


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
0 Comments

Museum of Ice Cream- A Theme Park for the Instagram Age

11/2/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture

​On my most recent trip to Disneyland, I was very excited to check out the newly reopened Fantasmic. We had great seats, sitting almost front and center with just a family of four in front of us. Right before the show began, the young girl sitting with her family whipped out her phone, and didn't put it back down until the show had concluded. As the show went on, she took hundreds of blurry photos and dark videos, all while never glancing up and smiling ear-to-ear. Over and over again, on basically every attraction we went on, there was a similar trend- young people on their phones. 

It struck me, as I'm sure it's struck  many of you, that social media has created a whole generation who are more excited by documenting experiences than they are by simply watching them. The only problem- your traditional amusement park isn't really built for this. While many have tried, it's basically impossible to get quality content from your phone while on a roller coaster or dark ride.

So how does the amusement industry evolve with this growing trend? Welcome to the Museum of Ice Cream- an attraction built for the age of Instagram. In fact, the creator has been described as "The Millennial Walt Disney", with ambitions to grow and scale Instagrammable attractions nationwide. 

​Written by Andrew Cunningham 

Picture
The Museum of Ice Cream launched in New York, heavily leveraging social media influencers and from the beginning. As they expanded to LA and eventually San Francisco, Gwen Stefani, Katy Perry, Kim Kardashian, and even Queen Bey herself took to Instagram with colorful photos and videos depicting life in this candy coated world.

Day dreaming to when Queen Bey and Princess Blue came through our doors! #TBT #museumoficecream #insidemoic (cc: @beyonce)

A post shared by MUSEUM OF ICE CREAM (@museumoficecream) on Aug 10, 2017 at 4:21am PDT

When it was announced that MoIC was expanding to San Francisco, I was intrigued and wanted to get tickets. Let me tell you- I was far from the only one. 

Getting tickets to the first round of San Francisco was like getting highly sought after concert tickets. I used my Amex for pre-sale, sat in a virtual queue, and had about .02 seconds to find a time and check out. I ended up getting a Monday lunchtime slot, which was a lucky grab. Twitter and Facebook were immediately bombarded with people complaining that they spent their afternoon in a virtual queue only to find the experience was immediately sold out. 

Clearly, there is a ton of demand for the kind of experience that MoIC provides.
Picture
Your experience starts by arriving at your assigned time slot and checking in at the museum entrance. You are assigned to a team of about 15-20 people, and then go through various pre-museum activities that seemed to be designed to space groups out to help with guest flow. We had to come up with a team name (Vanilla Sprinkles), go through an ice cream trivia contest, and were finally ushered to the Ice Cream Vault to begin our colorful journey. 
Picture
Once in the Ice Cream Vault, an MoIC employee did a spiel of the rules. Everything was pretty simple: most exhibits were interactive, but we were asked not to touch a select few things. The museum also has a strict one-way flow. You are able to spend as much time you like in a room, but once you leave a room you cannot reenter. 
After departing the Ice Cream Vault, you are free to work at whatever pace you'd like through the museum. RIP team Vanilla Sprinkles.  

The general flow of the museum is spread between pop art installations, interactive displays, and various ice cream stops. The ice cream stops usually correspond to nearby artwork, so you can take your photos with treats as you go through. 
Naturally, the Instagram portrayal of MoIC leaves out a few of the lesser points of the experience. Almost every photo spot or ice cream station had lines that weren't managed at all. There were some definite moments of frustration trying to work our way through the exhibits and it did get pretty crowded at certain bottlenecks. There were also several picture spots that were dirty or tarnished from previous guests, which obviously made them less desirable for photos.  

At scale, they definitely have a few kinks to work out in terms of guest flow and maintenance, but that's not unusual for an early-stage attraction concept. The demand seems to be there for them to grow and figure these things out. 
I'm usually a pretty photo-shy person, and I don't even have an Instagram account, but I tried my hand at a couple photos. I think I have a long road ahead of me before I reach influencer status on Instagram.
The museum's finale is the iconic dip in their 4 foot deep pool of (plastic) sprinkles. This was the one part of the experience that was closely managed by the staff- you were put into a group of about 10 people and given a time limit to go take a dip in the pool. 

I have to say, despite my less-than-enthusiastic look in the picture, it was pretty fun getting knee deep in a pool of sprinkles. As I'm writing this article, I'm still finding sprinkles in my pants, pockets, socks, and many unspeakable places (or, unfortunately, nearby streets and gutters).
Like any good attraction, MoIC ends with a trip through a gift shop. Various colorful, candy-themed items are on display and ready for you to bring home with you.

Oh, and those jewel ice cream pieces? Priced at $4-$6k each. 

Good for you, Museum of Ice Cream. Don't hate the player, hate the game. 
So, what did I think of the Museum of Ice Cream? Personally, at $38 a ticket, it wasn't really my cup of tea. 

With that said, I think it's a business model that'll be really interesting to follow as they attempt to grow. People are clearly willing to pay for these experiences, and if I were a major park chain, I'd be looking at ways to integrate the concept into my properties. They still have kinks to work out with the experience, but they definitely have the opportunity to hit on something big. 

What are your thoughts? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter, and of course, Instagram. 

​Related Updates: 
  • 2017 Halloween Event Reviews 
  • The Three Tours of the Winchester Mystery House
  • Halloween Season Officially Kicks off at MidSummer Scream 2017
  • ​An amazing look at the Walt Disney Family Museum 
  • Team Park Journey reviews the Legacy of Arrow ​​​


​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
0 Comments

    Categories

    All
    Boo At The Zoo
    Candlelight Tour
    Chill
    Dark Harbor
    Dark Horizon Orlando
    Delusion
    EA
    Evil Twin Studios
    Explore More Tour
    From The Mind Of The Editor
    Ghost Train
    Griffith Park
    Halloween
    Horror Made Here
    Kingdom Hearts
    LA Haunted Hayride
    Las Vegas
    LA Zoo
    Legacy Of Arrow
    Mandalay Bay
    MGM Life
    MGM Resorts International
    Midsummer Scream
    Motel 6 Feet Under
    Nintendo
    Plague Productions
    Queen Mary
    Reign Of Terror
    Rise Of The Jack O' Lanterns
    Roaring Nights
    Ronald Reagan Library
    Scream N Stream
    Sinister Pointe
    Skyslide
    Skyspace LA
    Star Wars
    Star Wars Battlefront
    Star Wars Celebration
    The 17th Door
    The Getty
    Video Games
    Walt Disney Family Museum
    WB Studio Tour
    Winchester Mystery House
    WonderCon
    Zoo Lights

    Archives

    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    May 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013

    RSS Feed

  • Home
  • Six Flags
  • Cedar Fair
  • Universal Studios
  • Disney Parks
  • SeaWorld Parks
  • Other Parks
  • Beyond The Parks
  • The Other Side of the Tracks
  • Industry News
  • Cruise Journey
  • Park Journey Shop
  • Theme Park Art
  • Past Updates
    • 2019 Updates
    • 2018 Updates
    • 2017 Updates
    • 2016 Updates
    • 2015 Updates
    • 2013 and 2014 Updates
  • Contact Us
  • Home
  • Six Flags
  • Cedar Fair
  • Universal Studios
  • Disney Parks
  • SeaWorld Parks
  • Other Parks
  • Beyond The Parks
  • The Other Side of the Tracks
  • Industry News
  • Cruise Journey
  • Park Journey Shop
  • Theme Park Art
  • Past Updates
    • 2019 Updates
    • 2018 Updates
    • 2017 Updates
    • 2016 Updates
    • 2015 Updates
    • 2013 and 2014 Updates
  • Contact Us