Ah yes, Wednesday, the best day of the week.
Here’s your round-up of theme park news from the last 7 days.
A few episodes ago we announced that Fun Spot America Atlanta were working with RMC
to debut a new roller coaster. We also heard a week or two prior that RMC were going to
start producing a family hybrid roller coaster model. Many people, including myself, assumed
that Fun Spot would be getting one of these. Well, we were wrong! Fun Spot America Atlanta
revealed several images of their proposed RMC roller coaster, showing a dive loop or immelmann!
The ride sports very American red, white and blue colours, and seems to have an out and back
layout. It’ll certainly be interesting to see just how big this new RMC Ibox coaster will be!
The Pokémon company announced that they’re opening a Pokémon theme park, kinda… Pokémon Wonder
describes itself as a “nature adventure”, where kids and adults become a Pokémon researcher
trying to spot and identify different Pocket Monsters. The Pokémon park will be located inside
of another amusement park in Japan, Yomuirland, located roughly 30 minutes from Shinjuku in Tokyo.
A 48000-square foot forest will become the setting for Pokémon Wonder, a forest
which has been untouched for the past 2 decades. Guests will be told how to look for the Pokémon,
which have been handmade from natural materials to help them blend into the setting. If you
gotta catch ‘em all you better head to Yomuriland between the 17th July 2021 to the 3rd April 2022!
Six Flags Fiesta Texas had a big announcement the other day,
an announcement to announce a future announcement. They told members of
the press that they’ll be revealing more about their new for 2022 roller coaster on the 28th
July. There they’ll also explain plans for their 30th anniversary celebrations. So just hang in
there a few more weeks and all will be revealed - hopefully, unless it’s just another announcement.
Guess what, there's track at the construction site of Universal's Epic Universe, at least,
it could be? Pieces of something have arrived at the soon-to-be theme park, pieces that look like
sections of supports and track. Some have guessed that it could be for the Yoshi transporter ride
coming to the park’s Super Nintendo World - whilst others claim it’s not track at all. Whatever it
is, it’s exciting! Universal's Epic Universe is coming guys, it’s just like 3 years away!
There’s a new theme park coming to Tennessee! The project, named Storyville Gardens,
is currently planned to be a 130-acre destination, which includes a theme park, three hotels,
entertainment, retail outlets and restaurants. The theme park is set to be a family-friendly,
story-led attraction, which is being designed by California-based Storyland Studios. Storyland
Studios Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Global Clients Ben Thompson said: “"We want to create
an unforgettable experience that ignites an insatiable love of reading and story in the
next generation of children.” The park is said to embrace reading and stories through world-class,
experiential attractions - and construction is currently set to begin in the middle of next year!
The London Resort’s planning application is going ahead, despite Merlin Entertainments telling
the Planning Inspectorate it shouldn’t. This is a complicated one, so buckle in.
The site in which the UK’s largest theme park is proposed was recently given SSSI designation,
meaning it’s a Site of Special Scientific Interest, i.e. it’s of ecological importance.
As a result of this, the planning inspectorate granted London Resort a 4 month delay to alter and
improve the detail of their environmental and sustainability plans for the site.
However, during this time, Merlin Entertainment believed that the London Resort had made
changes to the plans outside of the scope of documents relating to the SSSI designation.
They therefore wrote to the planning inspectorate stating that the London Resort should withdraw and
then resubmit their plans - of course they’d say that huh… Anyway, the planning inspectorate panel
reviewed the changes and came to the conclusion that they did not constitute a material change.
As a result, the London Resort can continue to move forward with its planning application,
updating the required documents during the 4 month extension. These will then be reviewed, before the
park moves onto whatever the next step of the complicated process of building a theme park is.
We’ve reached the end of another episode of dispatch. Who knows,
maybe we’ll still be making these videos in 2074 when the London Resort finally
opens. That’s the dream right? I mean dispatch lasting for another 50 years,
not the London Resort actually opening - I mean who cares about that.