ITPS Amusement INdustry News 2.25.11

[Shawn Haas]



If you want to translate into your language, or are having trouble viewing this page, click here.
Click for more information regarding Ripley's Franchises.	International Theme Park Services, Inc. ("ITPS") delivers the news you want regarding the amusement and leisure industry on a daily basis. Nowhere else can you find a greater compilation of news covering the amusement and leisure industry! ITPS provides a full spectrum of services to all types of attractions no matter the size - small to large.  Below are some of the types of clients ITPS can assist. Theme Parks, Amusement Parks  Water Parks  Family Entertainment Centers  Zoos & Aquariums Museums, Location Based Entertainment Parks and Recreation Children's Entertainment Centers Hall of Fames Sporting Venues Themed Attractions Manufacturers & Suppliers Investment Banks, Bond Holders, Institutional Investors & Equity Funds Resorts, and more! Call 513-381-6131 for details on how ITPS can assist your business!
	Friday February 25, 2011
Visit Ripley's Believe It of Not! for the 4th Annual World Sword Swallower's Day on Saturday, February 26!! Visit Ripley's for more details.	Six Flags Initiates Stock Repurchase Program Six Flags Entertainment Corporation (NYSE: SIX), the world's largest regional theme park company, announced today that its board of directors has approved a stock repurchase plan that permits the company to repurchase up to $60 million of common stock over a three-year time period. Click for Article Voting begins on new Disney contract LAKE BUENA VISTA -- A new contract for Disney workers could be approved Friday. Union leaders have been going back and forth with Disney executives for months to get workers a bonus and health care coverage. Click for Article Busch Gardens offers BOGO ticket deal VA - This spring, Busch Gardens is offering a buy one, get one promotion that allows Virginia residents to bring a friend for free. Click for Article Review: Ride reboot at Six Flags Magic Mountain makes Superman coaster twice as good CA - I used to think the ride on the Superman shuttle coaster essentially ended when the car reached the climatic 415-foot-high peak. But now that Six Flags Magic Mountain has flipped the trains around to run backward, the fun is just getting started when you reach the top. Click for Article Disneyland plans to change Fastpass rides CA - Disneyland recently closed the time-saving Fastpass service for one ride and soon plans to use the tickets for another. The Fastpass system allows visitors to get tickets stamped with times when they can come back for shorter lines for certain rides. Read more about how Disney Fastpasses work. Click for Article Kings Dominion announces line-up for KingsFest 2011 Kings Dominion has announced the line-up for KingsFest 2011, an annual three-day event featuring speakers and singers of praise and worship. The event takes place July 7-9, 2011 at the park’s Kingswood Amphitheatre. Click for Article New blooms for Epcot flower fest FL - There will be familiar faces at the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival this year. Some will have moss, some will not. Fresh on the scene will be HGTV personalities, including Vern Yip, Genevieve Gorder, John Gidding and Ahmed Hassan. The designers will make appearances on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays of the Disney World festival, which begins Wednesday and runs through May 15. Click for Article Theme park shows kids career fun Japan - Come April, all public elementary schools in Japan will start teaching English to students in Grades 5 and 6. Kidzania, a popular indoor amusement park that aims to simulate different types of jobs, is giving kids a head start in English education. Click for Article Disney worker accused of raping woman in Caribbean Beach Resort FL - A Walt Disney World employee is accused of raping a single mother he lured to Central Florida with offers of free theme-park passes and bargain accommodations at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Office. Click for Article
AV Technician NASCAR Hall of Fame To function as a working AV technician for the purpose of operating, maintaining and servicing custom networked audio, video, and software based control systems installed at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. In addition to performing routine startups and operating hour walkthroughs, this position will execute preventative maintenance procedures, troubleshoot various aspects of the system and install equipment as needed. Click for Details	Laser tag arcade planned for Town Square mall Las Vegas - Jeff Swunlund is planning to light up Town Square with laser tag and old-fashioned arcade ambience at King Zargon Laser Tag, the latest from the man behind the valley’s King Putt mini-golf courses. Click for Article Taxes, tougher comparison melt profit for Chuck E. Cheese’s parent An unfavorable tax matter and a tougher comparison helped push the parent of Chuck E. Cheese’s kid-friendly restaurants to a nearly 50 percent drop in fourth-quarter profit, the Irving-based company said Thursday. CEC Entertainment Inc.’s profit for the quarter that ended Jan. 2 was $2.8 million, down 48 percent from the year-ago posting of $5.4 million. Click for Article Wonderworks Owner Awarded “Pioneer of the Year” Award at Chamber Event Panama City Beach, FL - One of the presentations was the “Pioneer of the Year” award. Former Panama City Beach mayor Philip Griffitts Senior presented the honor to Gary Walsingham. Walsingham owns Ripley’s Believe it or Not Museum and won Thursday night’s award for recently opening Wonderworks. Click for Article Go-karting complex in Mahabaleshwar gets govt nod by default India - A proposed go-karting centre-cum-amusement park on 5 acres on the outskirts of Mahabaleshwar has been given a clean chit by the Mahabaleshwar judicial magistrate first class (JMFC). Click for Article Navy Pier is worth a second look Chicago, IL - On Feb. 16, on the first of two unseasonably mild days easing Chicago into a pre-spring melt, a young, attractive couple waited at the base of Navy Pier's enormous Ferris wheel for a brief ride into the bright winter daylight. She was visiting from Brazil, he from Georgia (the country, not the state), and they stood close and eyed the steel vessel as it gently carried their assigned gondola, No. 22, down to the boarding platform. Click for Article ASU: Cultural museum will not reopen NC - After five years without a home, the Appalachian Cultural Museum's fate is final. Despite efforts to find a new location for its collection of historical artifacts, Appalachian State University announced Monday that it will not reopen. Click for Article
	Clementon Park makes a splash with new water slide Clementon Park and Splash World is set to make a worldwide splash this summer.   The park announced it will launch "Torpedo Rush," the world's tallest dueling trap door water slide, in time for the new season starting May 21. Click for Article Swim center suffers big blow CA - A long-sought acquatic park might be nothing more than a mirage after last week’s invalidation of the Ellis developer agreement by Judge Lesley Holland. If Holland’s tentative decision stands, the city of Tracy will have to forgo the $10 million and 16 acres The Surland Cos. was set to contribute toward a water park as part of the agreement. Click for Article 'Highly qualified' potential buyer found for Blue Harbor Officials from Madison-based Great Wolf Resorts Inc. said today that they’ve found a “highly qualified” potential buyer for the company’s Blue Harbor Resort and Conference Center in Sheboygan and hope to complete a sale by the end of March. Click for Article
	John Ball Zoo fees are going up John Ball Zoo will remain a good value relative to other entertainment options even with higher admission fees, the zoo director said. Whether visitors agree will become clear starting Tuesday (3-1) when the facility at 1300 W. Fulton St. reopens after a 4-month shutdown. Click for Article Marineland’s Future: Dividends in Waiting After Acquisition by Georgia Aquarium FL - There’s a bit of a drum-roll feel in Marineland these days, with no sense yet of when and to what extent the attraction will change. But its new owners are drizzling hints. The nonprofit Georgia Aquarium bought Marineland’s 5 acre oceanfront dolphin attraction just before the New Year for $5.7 million. Click for Article De Valence aquarium plans revealed UK - Plans to site a unique visitor attraction at Tenby’s De Valence Pavilion have been revealed this week.  Owners of Silent World Aquarium and Reptile Collection, which is located in a former cemetery chapel at Slippery Back on Tenby’s Narberth Road, have told the Observer that the now unused building inside the town walls would be perfect for their plans to create a state-of-the-art aquarium.  Click for Article Zoo board, consultants hold closed-door meeting TN - Chattanooga Zoo officials met Thursday with two zoo management consultants but closed a later workshop to the press. The consulting firm Schultz & Williams is being paid $25,000 by Friends of the Zoo, which contracts with the city to manage the zoo. The contract stipulates that Friends of the Zoo must abide by Tennessee open meetings and open records laws. Click for Article ‘Brew at the Zoo' event postponed due to upcoming storm UT - You'll have to find something else to do if you planned to be drinking and dining with the party animals this Saturday night at The Living Desert's second annual “Brew at the Zoo” — the event was postponed Thursday due to expected winter storms. Click for Article
	Helsinki tourism clearly up in 2010 Finland - Thanks to domestic travellers, Helsinki tourism showed an upward trend in 2010 after a decline in 2009 following the record figures posted in 2008. In 2010, the number of bed-nights at accommodation establishments in Helsinki reached an all-time high, exceeding the previous record set in 2008 by 105,000. Click for Article 'Vote of confidence' for hospitality jobs FL - Students at the University of Central Florida got an encouraging sign Thursday: A job fair that actually featured jobs. UCF's Rosen College of Hospitality Management had its first major job fair this spring after holding smaller events for the past two years because of the struggling economy. About 850 students showed up for the event featuring more than 60 companies. Click for Article
Shawn M. Haas Vice President of Retail, Operations and Information Technology International Theme Park Services, Inc. 2195 Victory Parkway Cincinnati, OH 45206 513-381-6131 Phone 513-381-2756 Fax Email Shawn	For over 11 years, ITPS has been providing news updates to the industry. We continually strive to improve our offering and have made some changes to the news, beginning this week. We hope you find the changes beneficial and make it easier for you the reader to quickly find the news you want to read. Please email us for your feedback and suggestions. Thanks for reading! To UNSUBSCRIBE or SUBSCRIBE, Change Email Address, delivery issues or to send attraction, facility press releases or job openings to the daily mailing, please email Shawn. Visit news.interthemepark.com for past editions of the news are available on our website. Click here for previous daily news updates. To search the archives of ITPS Amusement News, click here.