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  ITPS has proudly served the leisure industry since 1983.  Visit http://www.interthemepark.com for more information.

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Smaller parks ready to compete for thinner slice of tourists' cash Visitors will defy economic worries and come to Orlando this year, but they might not bring as much money with them -- leaving the area's smaller attractions to compete more for a little less.

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Momentum, marketing are key for parks -- with few new waves  Most of Orlando's theme parks will be counting on momentum and marketing, more than new attractions, to overcome any potential economic woes in 2008, so the opening of Busch Entertainment Corp.'s Aquatica should produce the biggest waves this year.

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Village ups stake in SAG  THEME park operator Village Roadshow has edged its way up the register of hostile takeover target Sydney Attractions Group to clinch a 39.2 per cent stake in the company. Village chief operating officer Peter Foo said yesterday he was confident the company would comfortably control 40 per cent of SAG's stock when its final $6.50 a share offer expires on Monday.

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Ride sales generate millions for park In the pursuit of a buyer for Wild West World's land, only a couple of prospects have appeared.  Bankrupt theme park Wild West World ended November with about $3.2 million in the bank, according to operating reports filed this week with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wichita. Court documents show that much of that revenue -- in six court-authorized bank accounts operated by park owner Thomas Etheredge's bankruptcy attorney, Ed Nazar -- was generated from ride sales.

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WILD RIDE AHEAD FOR CONEY PLANNERS AND FOES  Get ready for some politically motivated Coney Island freak shows. Hundreds of people are expected to pack public meetings tonight and tomorrow to battle over the Bloomberg administration's plan for revitalizing the aging amusement area.

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Area grows as hub for park operations  Orlando gains more credence as the world's theme park center this summer when Busch Entertainment Corp. transfers its headquarters and several dozen executive jobs from St. Louis.

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Arlington needs to open the tap on alcohol sales  Why is Arlington so weird about alcohol? First, an aspiring politician named Bill Zedler tried to dry up the taps at a sports bar and grill, all because a group named Decency for Arlington didn't like the idea of Hooters. He wound up elected to the Texas House. Hooters had to go to Austin, too -- to a judge. Seven years later, customers finally can buy a beer.

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Christian TV faces test in its new Holy Land  Now that Holy Land Experience has emerged from a controversial change of ownership, Trinity Broadcasting Network will see if its televangelism marketing muscle can turn around the attraction in 2008.

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Storms cause Discovery Kingdom to end season early  This week's storms have likely caused Six Flags Discovery Kingdom to end its first winter season early, a park spokeswoman said Friday. The park's last operating day was to be Sunday, but the fierce storms forced its closure Friday, said spokeswoman Nancy Chan.

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Don't Just Experience Cedar Point - Be a Part of It!  Cedar Point amusement park/resort, home of the Maverick roller coaster and the world's largest collection of rides and roller coasters, is now hiring for its 139th summer. More than 4,000 jobs are available at the park voted the "Best Amusement Park in the World" for a record ten consecutive years by the readers of Amusement Today newspaper. Have you ever wanted to operate the Top Thrill Dragster roller coaster, get guests excited about playing the ring toss, or serve the best French fries with a smile? Jobs like these are now available.

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DAVID DOTSON PROMOTED TO PRESIDENT OF DOLLYWOOD FOUNDATION PIGEON FORGE, Tenn --- Dolly Parton announced the promotion of David Dotson to president of the Dollywood Foundation and the Imagination Library program. The Imagination Library program has shown unbridled growth under Dotson’s guidance as Executive Director. Parton’s Imagination Library provides a new, age-appropriate hardcover book each month from birth until the time a child enters kindergarten at age five to children in the communities which it serves. The program is completely free of charge due to the foundation’s unique partnership with hundreds of local sponsors such as United Way, Rotary, Kiwanis, government and school systems. There is no socioeconomic standard for participation. “David has been with us for eight years and has grown the Imagination Library from Sevier County to now be in 740 communities, as well as in Canada and the UK,” said Parton. “He always exceeds my expectations in creating new opportunities for kids and managing the growth of the Imagination Library. This coming year, we will give away more than five million books.” The Imagination Library program recently expanded into several communities in the United Kingdom and continues to explore partnerships for new locations around the globe. The Imagination Library was launched in 1996 for preschool-age children in Parton’s native Sevier County, Tenn. to encourage parents to read to their children throughout the first five years of life. For more information, Contact David Dotson, President, the Dollywood Foundation and Imagination Library program, 865-428-9604.  ---end story---

In the beginning there was Disneyland - now Bibleworld  IN the beginning there was Disneyland. Then came its spiritual brother, Disneyworld, and a host of followers - from Dolly Parton’s Dollywood to Stalin World, in Lithuania. Now, the greatest story ever told is to get its own theme park - Bibleworld, a new £200,000 Christian centre to be opened in Edinburgh next spring.

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Prepare for crowds at Disney World  In no way is what you're about to read meant to deter you from traveling to Walt Disney World. But if you indeed are thinking about, or have been planning, this apple pie and Mickey Mouse getaway to Orlando, read on -- and be prepared for some tough love.

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Disney bans children from fanciest park restaurant  Walt Disney World has banned young children from its fanciest restaurant. Starting this week, children under 10 are no longer welcome at Victoria & Albert’s in the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa at the Florida theme park.

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Sesame Place looking for personality, pizazz  It was Saturday afternoon, and 20 teens were shakin' it to Christina Aguilera's "Come on Over." No, this was not a tryout for an MTV music video.

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Kalahari's impact is still being questioned  ERIE COUNTY, Ohio--When Kalahari Resorts opened here in 2005, the indoor waterpark hotel wasn't exactly a new concept for this part of Ohio. Two smaller indoor waterpark hotels--Great Wolf Lodge and Castaway Bay--already were up and running, and Cedar Point, the 140-year-old giant amusement park, was a long-established attraction.

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Adventure Landing to get new water slide A contest will name the thrill ride, set to open May 2.  Jacksonville attraction Adventure Landing announced Friday that it will break ground this month for a half-million-dollar addition. sponsored links Ads by Yahoo! A water slide will be added to its Shipwreck Island Waterpark on Beach Boulevard. It is expected to open May 2

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Waterpark one of lodge's great draws  I knew Great Wolf Lodge was a big hit when my 4-year-old said: "Mom, can we live here?" But it was no surprise to me the kids -- and even us adults -- wanted to ditch our Toronto digs and move into this Niagara Falls hotel. At Great Wolf, life is fun, and very, very easy.

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Palm Beach Zoo named in top 10  The Palm Beach Zoo has achieved national recognition, named as helping to achieve one of the top 10 wildlife conservation success stories for 2007. The announcement by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) said that the Palm Beach Zoo is one of three zoos in Florida housing and caring for some Perdido Key beach mice – only a few hundred of which are left in the wild, inhabiting just one barrier island off the coast of Pensacola.

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Zoo's rhino calf stillborn  Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden suffered a loss late Saturday when Nikki, the zoo's 3,600-pound Indian rhinoceros, delivered a stillborn female calf. Zoo vet Dr. Mark Campbell worked 20 minutes performing emergency resuscitation, but the calf never responded.

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Defending the zoo's job performance I write with regard to the "Your Voice" column "Zoo should cut programs before taxes raised" (Jan. 3). We do three things at the Cincinnati Zoo, and we do them as well, if not better, than any zoo in the world. All three serve the residents of Hamilton County by adding to their quality of life and contributing to our local economy.

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Sam Singer, zoo's crisis controller, keeps his cool when heat is on  For six days, San Francisco Zoo officials contending with fallout from the Christmas Day escape of a Siberian tiger and mauling death of a teenage boy seemed the picture of incompetence - incapable of providing even an accurate description of the dimensions of the wall the beast leapt over to get at her victims. The wall, it turned out, was 4 feet lower than recommended for such enclosures.

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Hattiesburg Zoo seeks accreditation  Officials are working on getting national accreditation for the Hattiesburg Zoo, general curator John Wright told Area Development Partnership members Friday. The last step in the process, Wright said during the monthly First Friday meeting, is to appear before an Association of Zoos and Aquariums panel in Birmingham in March.

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Video gaming has seen little to rival arcade boom of 1980s Video gaming has seen little to rival arcade boom of 1980s  Nestled among the steering-wheel-equipped-racing simulators and humongous shooting games at FunCity arcade sits a modest little arcade cabinet that houses two arcade gaming classics -- Galaga and Ms. Pac-Man. The cabinet seems oddly out of place sitting next to its modern and over-sized brethren, which come equipped with everything from bongo drums to boxing gloves.

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Twins' clown act wows judges Among 20 finalists, two brothers from Weston won the second annual Funniest Kids in South Florida contest, as determined by a panel of veteran circus clowns.  There were joke tellers, silly dancers and a singing tooth-brusher, but in the end, the comical clown act of 13-year-old twins Brandon and Justin Lau of Weston won them the title of Funniest Kids in South Florida. The second annual contest, sponsored by the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, took place Dec. 28 at Wannado City in Sunrise.

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Construction of Westchester Children's Museum delayed  RYE - Plans to complete construction of Westchester County's first children's museum in a Playland building have been pushed back to the end of 2010. The initial goal was to complete construction - which has yet to begin - in the bathhouses of the amusement park by the fall of 2009. The proposed layout includes room for interactive exhibits, an event room, a museum store, a cafe and a ticket booth.

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To send attraction and facility press releases, e-mail Shawn at the address below.

Contact:
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
http://www.interthemepark.com
shawnhaas@interthemepark.com

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