About | Staff | ITPS News | Projects | Services | Industry News | FAQ | Contact

No where else can you find more news covering the amusement and leisure industry!  When news hits, you can be certain that will deliver it to you. 

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

Scroll Down for each news category.
Amusement/Theme Park | Waterpark
Aquarium/Zoo | FEC/LBE/Museum
Other News

It's a ghostly new season at Kennywood New funhouse ride replaces Gold Rusher   When Chartiers-Houston students head to Kennywood Park for their school picnic Saturday, they'll find that the deer are gone and the ghosts are back. And, of course, those scrumptious Potato Patch fries will be fresh and hot at the refreshment pavilion in front of the Thunderbolt. Yesterday was opening day at the venerable amusement park in West Mifflin, evoking all sorts of 'Burgh-happy memories, as well as introducing a new, high-tech ride, "Ghostwood Estate."

Click for Article

Nelson lauded for vision at Waldameer  In a few short weeks, the Ravine Flyer II roller coaster will make its debut at Waldameer Park & Water World. The Internet is buzzing about the new ride. Coaster enthusiasts from all over the country are planning trips here.

Click for Article

Camden Park continues its opening weekend today (Sunday) HUNTINGTON — The Spider leg’s have been greased, everything’s been painted, the Canna lilies are coming up and the stuffed Sponge Bob Square Pants’ have been hung by the Midway. It’s time for the 105th season of Camden Park to begin.

Click for Article

Thrills, smiles at Ohio's mega-parks Sandusky's Cedar Point, Cincinnati's Kings Island have much to offer  This summer, for the first time in a generation, Ohioans will have one fewer option when it comes to amusement park fun. After years of shrinking attendance, the venerable Geauga Lake theme park near Cleveland has finally closed its gates, to no one's great surprise.

Click for Article

Doing things the Cedar Fair way  Officials in the amusement park industry ride a fine line when attracting guests. Entice too few season pass holders, and attendance could drop substantially. But bring in too many regulars, and guests no longer have a reason to stay for the day, making them far less likely to spend their money once they're at the park. This is the Catch-22 scenario Cedar Fair officials are grappling with in the aftermath of an acquisition. Each of the five Paramount Parks locations carried its own distinct history and a well-established set of policies when Cedar Fair purchased them as a $1.24 billion package in 2006. In the entertainment industry lexicon, there's an official name for the remedy to this dilemma -- "right sizing."

Click for Article

Beach shows off new colors on first day  Fresh strokes of flamboyantly-colored paint signaling the change of the guard, Monticello's Indiana Beach opened its gates for the 2008 season this weekend - with new owners Morgan RV Resorts welcoming visitors in for the first time. "Everybody has seemed to be very excited about the new colors and changes they've seen inside," said Megan Morrow, Director of Operations at the beach. "We have had a pretty great weekend."

Click for Article

HRP Myrtle Beach Holdings, LLC Will Issue Its Quarterly Report, Including Quarterly Consolidated Financial Information, on May 15, 2008  MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--HRP Myrtle Beach Holdings, LLC ("HRP") announced today that it will post its quarterly report for the quarter ended March 31, 2008 on the company website (http://www.hrpusa.com) on May 15, 2008. T

Click for Article

Mini building boom for theme parks  Hundreds of millions of dollars in new thrills and spills are planned for Orlando alone, from a new, signature roller-coaster at SeaWorld - set to open in 2009 and billed as the park's most ambitious and expensive undertaking to date - to a major spending spree at Universal Studios, which just opened a revamped attraction called Disaster! Soon to come are The Simpsons Ride (a replacement for the old Back to the Future) and the US$230-million attractions area, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Click for Article

Wild sea lions find home at SeaWorld  ORLANDO - Three wild California sea lions have been relocated to SeaWorld Orlando after eating endangered fish.

Click for Article

Snoopy, Actress Lauren Holly, Craig Schulz and Best in Show Beagle Uno Celebrate Grand Opening of Planet Snoopy at Cedar Point  SANDUSKY, Ohio, May 5 /PRNewswire/ -- All the "Top Dogs" will be celebrating in style when Planet Snoopy, the new Peanuts-themed area at Cedar Point amusement park/resort in Sandusky, Ohio, has its grand opening on Saturday, May 10.

Click for Article

New Splash Island bubbles up  Cypress Gardens has opened the attraction's Splash Island water park, launched a new Web site and prepared for a series of concerts as its new owners and management dig in for their first summer season together. The five Splash Island attractions, which are included with a park admission, opened last Thursday at the Winter Haven theme park.

Click for Article

Q&A: IT is a moving target for Six Flags CIO  With 20 parks and nearly $1 billion in sales, Six Flags is the second-largest amusement park operator in the world. Since coming to Six Flags as part of a management reorganization two years ago, CIO Michael Israel has overseen a bottom-up rebuilding of the IT architecture in the parks and in the company's data center, which moved from New York to Dallas. Israel describes the amusement park business as a shopping mall with rides. Spend per attendee is everything," he says.

Click for Article

Disneyland trip with special-needs child brings tears, joy Monday, May 05, 2008 Nothing brings three generations of family together like a teacup spinning out of control. It had been 50 years since my mom, Adrienne, first had her turn on the teacups at Disneyland, and she was relishing the chance to live it again with her granddaughters Meredith, 10, and Caroline, 7.

Click for Article

Hershey Park Opens  Dozens of families made sure to take advantage of opening day, from grabbing that sweet souvenir, to racing to be the first in line for the rollercoasters.

Click for Article

Kennywood alumni can relive those sweet summer days  Kennywood is inviting those former employees, or "team members" in Kennywood-ese, to return and relive the shared memories from the past 109 seasons. An Alumni Picnic is set for May 18, rain or shine.

Click for Article

Will waterpark spring up in Buford amid drought?  GA  Talk about timing. A Duluth real estate company is proposing a 200,000-square-foot water park for Buford. In the middle of Georgia's historic drought.

Click for Article

Great Wolf provides fun for young, old  GRAPEVINE, Texas — If a resort can be judged by how tired you are when you leave, Great Wolf Lodge is spectacular beyond measure. The Northwoods-themed chain of resorts opened here in January.

Click for Article

CoCo Water Resort provides wet and wild adventure with new waterpark  NEWARK - Visitors can have a wet and wild adventure with the new "Wild Waterpark Works!" package that includes lodging and admission to some exciting area places. The CoCo Key Water Resort at Cherry Valley Lodge has teamed up with The Wilds in Cumberland and The Works in Newark to offer visitors a package deal that includes two nights lodging, passes to the water park, a safari at The Wilds and a hands-on experience at The Works.

Click for Article

Things Are Hopping At Good Zoo Exhibit  Things are hopping at Oglebay’s Good Zoo, where the staff has welcomed new gray kangaroos and wallabies to an outdoor exhibit. “Our visitors just loved the kangaroos in 2006 and asked that we bring them back,” said Penny Miller, zoo director.

Click for Article

WORLD'S LARGEST AND MOST NTERACTIVE RIPLEY'S BELIEVE IT OR NOT!ODDITORIUM OPENS IN SAN ANTONIO!   New Odditorium is Home to Mortician's Toe-Tag from Lee Harvey Oswald, a Two-Trunked Elephant and a 512-Pound Iron Meteorite San Antonio, Texas - (May 5, 2008) - With everything bigger in Texas, Ripley Entertainment Inc. has opened the doors to the all-new Ripley's San Antonio Odditorium, the largest and most interactive Ripley's to date. The all-new Odditorium houses the ultimate in the odd and bizarre, including the mortician's toe tag from Lee Harvey Oswald, a two-trunked elephant, a 512-pound iron meteorite and the mummified head of American cannibal Alfred Packer

Click for Article

New Aquarium Adventure Play Structure Adds Appeal to Palm Beach Beginning this May, visitors to Moody Gardens’ popular summertime attraction Palm Beach will be able to enjoy a brand new, interactive, multi-level play structure. The new addition, Aquarium Adventure, will feature a playful underwater theme, raising the fun vertically with climb-on platforms up to eight-feet tall. Gutter Dumps, Tippy Buckets, Powered Water Blasters, Deck Bubblers and even a 25-foot Hydro Storm tower will surprise guests below with a 500-gallon water dump.

Click for Article

Future of ‘Star Trek: The Experience’ In Doubt  Since opening in early 1998, Star Trek The Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton has been the premiere live Star Trek attraction in the world. With its Trek-themed restaurant, museum, shops and rides, it plays hosts to thousands of tourists and Trekkies every year. However, the current contract is up and it looks like 2008 may be the last year for Star Trek The Experience.

Click for Article

Tourism Pays Price As Cost of Fuel Rockets  UK  Tourism is paying the price as fuel hits the pounds5 a gallon mark. The shocking revelation came as the Westcountry saw a litre of unleaded top 110p. Late spring usually marks the start of the holiday season, but Tim Jones, chairman of Devon and Cornwall Business Council, said tourism was already suffering.

Click for Article

Pain beyond the pump: Gas near $4 a gallon raises costs for businesses OWNERS PASS ON THEIR ADDED EXPENSES  If the cost of a fill-up at the gas station makes you gasp, you ain't seen nothing yet. High pump prices are just the beginning of the four-dollar-gas fallout. In Silicon Valley, flowers, pizzas and taxi rides to the airport are going to cost more. So will hay for horses and limousines to the prom.

Click for Article

To UNSUBSCRIBE or SUBSCRIBE to the daily mailing, please email Shawn.

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

Click on a day above for each daily news.

Click here for previous months.

ITPS provides a full spectrum of services to all types of attractions no matter the size, small to large.

Below are some of the services that ITPS' experienced team of experts can provide:

• Acquisitions / Mergers / Property Valuation / Due Diligence
• Feasibility Analysis
• Facility Audits
• Concept/Design / Masterplanning
• Business Plans
• Planning/Development
• Project Management / Construction
• Financial Development
• Maintenance Programs
• Executive Search
• Marketing / Group Sales / Sponsorship
• Executive/Employee Training / Manual Development
• Loss Prevention / Safety/Security Programs
• Entertainment Programs
• Long-Range Planning
• Operational Planning
  Attractions Development
• Ride Bid/Negotiation / Ride Procurement
• General Management

Call 513-381-6131 for more information on how ITPS can assist your facility!