Japanese Theme Park Getting Life-Size Godzilla!

Posted on 05/11/2019 by Paul Strauss

Japan sure loves their classic monster movies, so it’s no wonder that Godzilla is always showing up all over the place. Now, it turns out that a theme park is building a life-size version of the scaly kaiju, and unlike some previous Godzilla statues, this one is going to be a permanent installation.

The gigantic Gojira will measure roughly 65′ high, 82′ wide, and 180′ long, and will be a fixture at the Nijigen no Mori anime theme park on Awaji Island. The massive creature will be part of an area to be called Godzilla Interception Operation, which will include several attractions, including a shooting arcade, as well as a zipline that glides right into the mouth of Godzilla.

Here’s hoping he doesn’t chomp down while you ride between his razor-sharpened teeth. Godzilla is expected to rise in the summer of 2020. I wonder if this means Mothra or Megalon will be showing up soon afterwards.

Disney’s ‘Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance’ ride opens December 5th

Posted on 11/07/2019 by Engadget RSS Feed

Disney's new Star Wars-theme park, Galaxy's Edge, will get its second ride before the year is up. Today, Disney Parks announced that "Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance" will arrive in Florida at Walt Disney World Resort on December 5th -- Walt Disney...

Nintendo and Universal Studios Tease Super Nintendo World Theme Park

Posted on 08/06/2017 by Shane McGlaun

Late last year, I talked a bit about the Super Nintendo World theme park that’s coming to Universal Studios Japan in 2020. Lest we forget they’re building the park, Universal and Nintendo have released a new teaser video to give us an idea of what to expect once it opens.

If you ever wanted to travel through sewer pipes and pick up coins, this will be the theme park for you. Check it out:

Sure, the trailer has real people over what is clearly some green screen animation work, but it sure looks cool. The park won’t open until 2020 in Japan, with parks at Universal Studios Orlando and LA coming later. There is also word that the park in Japan will cost the companies about 50 billion yen, or about $450 million to build. For that price, it had better be awesome.

[via Den of Geek]

125,000-Piece LEGO Dinosaur Theme Park: Jurassic Brick

Posted on 15/02/2017 by Conner Flynn

There are LEGOmaniacs and then there are LEGOmaniacs. James Burrows is a LEGOmaniac of the first order. Check out Beyond the Brick’s video of him giving a tour of his massive dinosaur themed LEGO park, complete with functional CoasterSaurus II roller coaster.

There is some actual science behind that coaster, since James said he took a college course to understand the math and physics of coasters so he could make the loop-de-loop work. Now that is taking your passion seriously. The whole 125,000+ brick theme park is incredibly impressive, and loaded with lots of cool little details.

Remember it has a WORKING LEGO rollercoaster. WORKING. That makes this LEGO theme park one of the best ever.

[via The Awesomer via Geekologie]

Super Nintendo World to Open at Universal Studios Japan Before 2020 Olympics

Posted on 12/12/2016 by Shane McGlaun

Universal Studios Japan has announced that it will be opening its new Super Nintendo World section of the theme park in time for the 2020 Olympic games, which will be held in Tokyo. The theme park is located in Osaka and will be adding a number of Nintendo-themed attractions and shops that are aimed at people of all ages.

The art you see here was released along with the information and clearly shows Princess Peach’s castle in the foreground, Bowser’s castle in the background and a blocky Super Mario level in between.

The attractions will be massive from the looks of it, and this should be cool for Nintendo fans. You can bet Mario and his pals will have a big role in the theme park.

[via Nintendo]

Galactica Roller Coaster Melds VR with Real Thrills

Posted on 13/01/2016 by Shane McGlaun

The Alton Towers adventure park in the UK has whipped up a new roller coaster that looks really cool. The coaster is called Galactica is being built using an existing flying-style coaster previously known as Air.

Galactica is something different though. Passengers ride face down in the coaster and wear VR goggles on their heads the whole time. The goggles display video that has passengers traveling through galaxies on a space mission that’s synchronized with the turns and falls of the coaster.

Like Air before it, the coaster will have three trains in use a time and each train holds 28 passengers. The track is 2,755 feet long and has a highest drop of 66 feet. Max speed reached is 47 mph with max g load of 3.5g.

This all sounds pretty awesome, though Alton Towers recently had one of their rides cause serious injuries to passengers due to operator error. I guess space travel is dangerous, even if you never leave planet earth.

[via BBC]

Nintendo and Universal Studios Tie up for Attractions Based on Games

Posted on 08/05/2015 by Shane McGlaun

With the exception of collectibles and the occasional bad movie or TV show, Nintendo has kept a death grip on the use of its characters outside of its games. One of the biggest licensing deals ever for the gaming firm is their new tie up with Universal Studios in a deal that will see games and characters in Universal parks around the world.

I hope this means that some day we’ll be playing real life Mario Kart as a ride at Universal Studios. Exactly which characters will be turned into attractions and such we don’t know, but the deal covers pretty much every Nintendo character.

That means Mario will certainly be represented. I hope they use Donkey Kong too. Universal says that it will create, “spectacular, dedicated experiences based on Nintendo’s wildly popular games, characters, and worlds.” We’ll have to wait to hear more details later.

[via Kotaku]

55-Story Tall Rollercoaster to Scare the Crap out of Floridians

Posted on 19/11/2014 by Shane McGlaun

I like rollercoasters well enough, but mostly I think I will die any second when I am riding them. Rollercoasters always remind me of being in a car wreck, at least that’s how I feel after riding some of the coasters at Six Flags here in Texas. Adrenaline junkies headed to Orlando, Florida will have a new rollercoaster to ride sometime in 2016.

This coaster has laid claim to the title of world’s tallest, at least on paper. The coaster will be called Skyscraper and will be part of a larger complex called Skyplex. The mile-long coaster will loop and twist down the side of a 55-story tall tower.

The coaster will also twist around the Skyplex building as well. Riders will hit speeds of 65mph and the ride will last about three minutes. There will also be restaurants and retail spaces as well as a place to eat and an observation point at the top of the tower reached via a glass elevator.

[via Gizmag]

Insane Verruckt Water Slide Stands 17-stories Tall

Posted on 09/07/2014 by Shane McGlaun

If you are visiting or live in Kansas City, Kansas, the world record breaking Verruckt water slide at Schlitterbahn is finally opening this week. The opening has been delayed a few times before to allow for more testing. I suspect more testing was code for “give us time to clean the crap off that was scared out of the testers.”

The water slide is verified by the Guinness World Records people as the tallest water slide in the world. Verruckt, which means insane in German, stands 17-stores tall, or about 168-feet. Riders go down the slide in rafts that hold four people and are said to reach speeds up to 70 mph.

I can only imagine the friction burns and mega scale water wedgies that would result from not using a raft.

[via Boston Herald]

South Korea to Open Robot Land Theme Park in 2016

Posted on 11/02/2014 by Alexandru Chiuariu

Not every day you hear about a country’s intentions to dedicate a theme park to robotics and artificial science, but South Korea looks to build such an amusement park by 2016.

Indeed, robots and AI don’t get anywhere near the deserved recognition, and those terrible Transformers movies (starring actual cannibal Shia LeBeouf, well, not anymore as of Age of Extinction), which feature dinobots as of lately, don’t even qualify as a tribute to this grand field that is robotics.

South Korea intends to build an amusement park called Robot Land, and open it in 2016. With news of this country using a modified version of Microsoft Kinect to guard the strip of land that separates it from North Korea (also known as DMZ or the Korean Demilitarized Zone), it’s safe to say that South Korea goes big when it comes to hi-tech.

The amusement park spanning 387,505 square meters in Incheon, 30 km from Seoul, will definitely be family-friendly, despite the recent fear of a Skynet rising that was caused by Google’s sudden interest in buying a lot of robotics companies, including Boston Dynamics. Besides rides, attractions, a waterpark and a hotel, Robot Land will also include a graduate school for robotics, as well as an R&D lab. I love the fact that they’re also focusing on educating people, not only on entertaining them. On top of it all, Robot Land will also have a residential complex, a condominium and a retail center.

National and local governments, along with private developers, invested significant amounts of money in this project, and the total cost is estimated at $625 million. Besides the Robot Gaming Arena, the Robot Kingdom will also feature an area where it will be demonstrated how robots will assist the elders in 2030, and how they will do various house chores.

The Robot City, on the other hand, will include an aquarium populated by robotic fish. Kidbot Village will be home to such attractions as a flying robot coaster, Bot Bounce jump ride, Ferris wheel, merry-go-round of robot animals and education center. South Korea’s decision to mix hi-tech entertainment with educational attraction is definitely worth some applause, as most developers only focus on the former, and not even that is hi-tech at all times. This will be the world’s first amusement park with such a focus, but hopefully other countries will follow the trend and develop their own, too.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the Parrot Jumping Sumo and the Roboexotica Festival.

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