Theme park and attraction news, rumors and videos.
SeaWorld’s Christmas Celebration in San Antonio is the state’s largest holiday gala, featuring millions of sparkling lights and displays, scrumptious food and drink, festive shows and entertainment, and three brand new experiences for 2020.
For two weekends only, South Texas’s rich cultural heritage will meet the sea at the all-new Fiesta del Mar event at SeaWorld San Antonio.
The National Roller Coaster Museum (NRCMA) has added a historic 1918 roller coaster car to its collection. The car is from the Rocky Springs Jack Rabbit coaster, which operated from 1918-1927 in Lancaster, Pa.
Disney On Ice makes its return to U.S. arenas and stadiums with a performance of “Dream Big” in Dallas, Texas on Nov. 6 – along with new health and safety protocols in place.
SeaWorld San Antonio is changing things up for 2021 by moving to year-round operations with no off season.
SeaWorld San Antonio has announced a brand-new attraction coming in 2020 – Texas Stingray, the soon-to-be tallest, fastest, and longest wooden roller coaster in the state.
SeaWorld San Antonio’s Howl-O-Scream is back for 2019 with plenty of thrills and chills, including a brand-new haunted house!
Kidzania is bringing its globally-popular brand of interactive edutainment centers to America for the first time, beginning this fall in Texas, and expanding to four locations across the country by 2021.
Kidzania USA’s headquarters is located in the Dallas metro area, and its first location will open at Stonebriar Centre in Frisco, Texas in fall 2019. Locations will open in Chicago and New York in 2020 and Los Angeles in 2021.
Hosts Elisa Rodriguez and Quinn Roseboom bring you this week’s theme park and attraction news. On this week’s episode of The Attractions Show:
Aquatica San Antonio officially kicked off its 2019 season on March 9 by opening Ihu’s Breakaway Falls, the tallest multi-tower drop slide in Texas.
The newly opened Ihu’s Breakaway Falls at Aquatica San Antonio lets riders climb nearly 70 feet to the top of an eight-story tower and step in to one of two colorful breakaway boxes, or face the plummet slide. As the door closes, riders cross their arms and give a thumbs up in preparation for their drop – not knowing when the floor beneath them will disappear. Facing each other, riders watch as fellow riders fall. After dropping in, riders descend at 20-24 feet per second into a spiraling speed slide before racing into a final splashdown.
“We are really pleased that guests to Aquatica San Antonio can experience this thrilling drop-tower so early in the 2019 season, giving them more reasons to visit the park again and again,” explained Carl Lum, SeaWorld & Aquatica San Antonio Park President. “Ihu’s Breakaway Falls is an amazing addition to the already impressive line-up of rides and experiences at Aquatica San Antonio.”
While Ihu’s Breakaway Falls at Aquatica San Antonio is now open, three additional new experiences are coming later this spring to SeaWorld San Antonio. Turtle Reef is an interactive sea turtle attraction that will give guests an up-close look at threatened and endangered sea turtles and the threats they face in the wild. The focal point of Turtle Reef will be a 126,000-gallon reef-themed environment, with a first of its kind natural bio filtration system which reduces water and energy consumption and allows for a bio-diverse, multi-species habitat, including green sea turtles and hundreds of multi-colored Caribbean fish. SeaWorld’s recently announced a partnership with the University of Texas Marine Science Institute to create the Turtle Reef attraction in an effort to highlight the plight of endangered sea turtles in the wild. The attraction will be populated with non-releasable sea turtles – turtles that are unable to survive in the wild on their own – and will encourage guests to be more conscious about human impact on the oceans and environment.
Additionally, two new family rides will also debut – Riptide Rescue where younger guests can board a boat and set out on their own sea turtle rescue mission and Sea Swinger, one of the tallest, fastest swing rides in the entire state of Texas – swinging riders 180-degrees in both directions while twisting them in a circle.
Also new this year and in celebration of Sesame Street’s 50th anniversary, SeaWorld San Antonio will feature a year of special Sesame Street experiences and festivities, including the debut of Super Grover’s Box Car Derby, a family friendly coaster that opened on February 23, and Sesame Street Kids Weekends. Guests can join Elmo, Cookie Monster, Abby Cadabby and all their favorite furry friends for hands-on activities, photo opportunities and more. Sesame Street Kids’ Weekends take place select weekends and are included with park admission.
For more information visit AquaticaSanAntonio.com and watch these videos of Aquatica Orlando’s installation of Ihu’s Breakaway Falls: