By Andy Guinigundo Anaheim, Calif. – It has been a long tradition that individuals who have made significant contributions to Disney are honored with a window on Main Street USA at Disneyland and Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. The Sherman brothers were so honored this past Thursday, March 11, 2010. The casual amusement park or Disney [...]

By Andy Guinigundo Anaheim, Calif. – The long-awaited revival of Michael Jackson’s 3D short, Captain EO has returned to the Tomorrowland Theater in Disneyland. The film originally had an 11-year run at Disneyland from 1986 to 1997 covering a good portion of the height of Jackson’s popularity. It also played at Epcot from 1986 to [...]

By Andy Guinigundo Louisville, Ky. – Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom located in Louisville, Ky., will not reopen for the 2010 season. In a statement, Six Flags states they were unable to come to an agreement with the Kentucky Fair Board for the lease of the land where the park was located. Six Flags felt that [...]

By Ricky Brigante Photos by Jeremiah Daws Readers of this blog are already quite familiar with the Universal Orlando Resort. Orlando Attractions Magazine regularly covers the latest happenings at Universal Studios Orlando and Islands of Adventure as well as Universal Orlando CityWalk. But this past weekend I took a trip to California and decided to [...]

By Andy Guinigundo As I was scouring the Internet for stories for the recently released Winter issue of Orlando Attractions Magazine, I came across a press release announcing the closing of a fan favorite at Bush Gardens in Williamsburg, Va., the Big Bad Wolf. The press release was a few months old, July 24, 2009, [...]

By Andy Guinigundo Carlsbad, Calif. – Several months ago, Legoland confirmed rumors that a water park was being added to the Legoland Resort in Carlsbad, north of San Diego. At that time other than the confirmation, no further details were released. Recently, at their yearly conference for media and invited guests, they finally presented the [...]

By Andy Guinigundo When I visited Disneyland this past November, I was excited that I’d able to experience the ride “overlays” of The Haunted Mansion and it’s a small world. A tiny part of me was somewhat skeptical however. Would the overlays be silly or poorly executed? I had to experience it for myself. Think [...]

By Andy Guinigundo With the Christmas holiday upon us, let’s look at a winter festival that takes place at one of the biggest amusement destinations – Six Flags. There are four Six Flags Parks taking part in the “Holiday in the Park” celebration this year. These include The Great Escape (Lake George, N.Y.), Over Texas [...]

By Andy Guinigundo There is perhaps no place more magical during the holidays than a Disney park. That is true stateside and internationally. Let’s take a peak a two international holiday celebrations Disney style. Paris, France – “A Fairytale Christmas Celebration” at Disneyland Paris commenced on Nov. 8 and will continue into the New Year [...]

By Andy Guinigundo This week’s post is about my Disney Cruise Line house party that took place a few weeks ago. Certainly, Disney Cruise Line (DCL) is part of the greater Orlando attraction landscape with Port Canaveral being DCL’s main departure point. Definitely, Disney is part of the Orlando scene. The marketing idea of the [...]

By Andy Guinigundo Washington, D.C. and Anaheim, Calif. – The first mention of a ceremonial turkey presentation at the Whitehouse (stop snickering, an actual turkey) was during the Truman administration. No mention is made in the literature about a Presidential Pardon. It wasn’t until the first George Bush’s administration in 1989 that the yearly tradition [...]

By Andy Guinigundo It wasn’t even quite the last week of October at my local Target and Walmart type stores that Halloween decorations were coming down and all things orange and black were being consolidated. This was followed by empty “seasonal items” shelves. Finally on Nov. 1, Christmas decorating and shopping was in full swing. [...]

By Andy Guinigundo Mini Vietnam Memorial for Veterans Day Carlsbad, Calif. – While many attractions around the U.S. have ongoing specials for military and sometimes family, I haven’t personally heard of too many Veterans Day events that are taking place in the parks. Well, Legoland is honoring veterans by dedicating a Vietnam War Memorial Lego [...]

By Andy Guinigundo I suppose it’s fitting that someone who loved amusement parks so much, mostly Disney, has been appearing in various ways at various attractions since his death in June. No, I am not implying that Michael Jackson has been “haunting” various attractions. However, tributes have been prominently attempted and sometimes executed at various [...]

By Andy Guinigundo Cedar Fair has announced that after a 26-year run at Cedar Point, The Demon Drop will be dismantled and reassembled at sister park Knotts Berry Farm near Los Angeles. First opened in 1983, the Demon Drop is an elevator-style drop ride that simulates a free-fall drop from a 10-story building. In the [...]

By Andy Guinigundo Let’s go over the scorecard: The Blackstone Group describes itself as an “alternative asset manager and financial advisory firm”. In this layman’s definition it is a company that owns companies. Most recently, it acquired Busch Entertainment Corporation – the company that owns Busch Gardens and SeaWorld. Blackstone also jointly owns Universal Orlando [...]

By Andy Guinigundo The last few weeks I have been posting Halloween stories, well, because ‘tis the season! As a result, I have a few weeks of backlogged updates to report this week. We’ll travel to Singapore, Africa, and then back home to the USA. Universal to Get Dreamworks Madagascar and Shrek Attractions Universal Studios [...]

By Andy Guinigundo Interstate 275 is the freeway that encircles Cincinnati, Ohio. Go five miles north of the circle on I-71 and you’ll come to one of the booming northern suburbs of Cincinnati – Mason, Ohio. Mason is known for several things including traffic, car dealerships, a world-class professional tennis tournament and Kings Island amusement [...]

By Andy Guinigundo Halloween is a fun definitely a fun time at the Magic Kingdom in Florida with Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. It’s inevitable that you’ll get caught up visiting the many candy stations around the park. One might assume that Halloween at Disneyland in California, Paris and elsewhere is exactly the same. [...]

By Andy Guinigundo First off, I would like to thank my colleagues for bringing such complete coverage of Disney’s D23 Expo from Anaheim. Out of the Loop took a mini hiatus during this time since much of the coverage was news from outside of Orlando, which is this column’s focus. While, I was unable to [...]