Ep: 14 - Jan 28th - Europe in Snow and Japanese Spiderman Closes

Nuts about Theme Parks

This week's Theme Park News:

- Disneyland Paris reopens its Disneyland Hotel following a three-year refurbishment. The hotel features a new lobby (with it's centerpiece is a new Bohemian crystal chandelier, representing the park's Sleeping Beauty Castle) and refurbished rooms and new suites.

- Snow has blanketed continental Europe this week which resulted in some beautiful images from Disneyland Paris, Efteling and Germany's Phantasialand, which capture amazing footage of one of the coasters TARON clearing the snow with it's morning test runs.

- Lunar New Year celebrations returned to Disney California this week, with the opening of several food booths, as well as the debuts of meet and greet characters Meilin Lee and her mother Ming Lee from Disney/Pixar's "Turning Red" .

- The Disneyland Resort will commit to spending more than $2 billion in Anaheim over the next decade, under a new development agreement proposed today with the City of Anaheim as part of its DisneylandForward plan. Disney would spend a minimum of $1.9 billion on new attractions, entertainment, and lodging within the first 10 years after approval, and Disney would commit $45 million for street improvements in Anaheim and $40 million to acquire Magic Way, Hotel Way, and part of Clementine Street that runs through the Toy Story Parking Area.

- NBCUniversal's Theme Parks segment reported $2.371 billion in revenue for the final three months of 2023, up 12.2% over the same period in 2022. Comcast reported revenue gains at both its domestic and international parks, though the domestic increases were driven by Universal Studios Hollywood, which continues to enjoy an attendance and guest spending boosts from the early 2023 opening of Super Nintendo World. That increase was partially offset by lower revenue at Universal Orlando in the quarter.

- Europa-Park is showing off a completed train for its upcoming 2024 roller coaster - Voltron Nevera.

- Disneyland Resorts Downtown Disney has given us more details on their upcoming restaurants, including adding a new quick service to the bill. Tiendita ("little shop") will offer Mexican street food staples to complement the full-service dining at Paseo and the bar service at Céntrico. There was also concept art of the new Earl of Sandwich, the Din Tai Fung restaurant as well as the Parkside market, which will house Seoul Sister, GG's Chicken Shop, and the coffee shop Sip & Sonder.

- The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man has closed at Universal Studios Japan, after a two-decade run at the Osaka theme park. The termination of Universal's Marvel license in Japan now clears the way for Disney to introduce Spider-Man and other Marvel characters at Tokyo Disneyland or Tokyo DisneySea.