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• UK: Battle of Bannockburn visitor centre work to begin
  • Construction work on a new visitor centre at the site of the battle of Bannockburn will begin in the summer, it has been confirmed. | read more

• Legoland Florida: Water park will open May 26
  • Legoland Florida theme park, which opened in Winter Haven in October, has announced the opening date for its water park. | read more

• Splash Canyon Waterpark Delays Opening in Las Vegas
  • Splash Canyon Waterpark officials announced today the $20 million family waterpark in southwest Las Vegas will open spring 2013. It was expected to open Memorial Day weekend. | read more

• Maryland Zoo seeks $5M grant from state
  • Donations down, attendance up, says CEO Hutchinson | read more

• Oriental Land Co - Detailed Materials: Results for the Thir...
  • Supplementary Materials: Results for the Third Quarter of the Fiscal Year Ending March 31, 2012 | read more

• Museum of Fine Arts, Houston expansion advances
  • The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston announced Thursday that Steven Holl Architects will design its major two-acre expansion, which will create new space for collections, exhibitions and educational programs. | read more

• New England Aquarium announces $15M ocean tank upgrade
  • The New England Aquarium announced it is launching a $15 million rebuild of its central tank. “We are going to completely change that exhibit. We will redo all the windows, we’ll place an entirely new reef in the center of the exhibit. We’re going to put a dome over the top and add a new education center at the top,” said New England Aquarium President Bud Ris. | read more

• Underground Railroad Freedom Center battling tough times
  • It opened to great fanfare and promise in 2004. Now, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, whose exhibits focus on the story of the American struggle for freedom, especially that of African Americans, is in deep financial trouble that could force it to shut down | read more

• Toronto Zoo eager to get Chinese pandas — and will find the ...
  • The Toronto Zoo would have no problem attracting the private sponsorship needed to help pay for a new giant panda exhibit, says the vice-chair of the zoo’s board. ... A published report says an announcement on the pandas will be made next week during Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s five-day trip to China. | read more

• South Carolina Aquarium visitors offered journey to Madagasc...
  • The South Carolina Aquarium is constructing a new exhibit that will immerse visitors in this distant land. ... Twenty percent of the aquarium's floor space is currently undergoing transformation. This will make it the largest exhibit since it the aquarium opened. | read more

• Kings Island's Soak City expansion targets May 26
  • Construction continues on Kings Island's new Soak City water park, a $10 million expansion of the park's existing water park. | read more

• UK: Council's £3.5m bid for Civil War Centre
  • NEWARK and Sherwood District Council is bidding for £3.5 million of Lottery funding to create a National Civil War Centre. ... The council will learn in May if the bid has been successful. | read more

• India: Amusement parks industry seeks social infrastructure ...
  • The Indian Association of Amusement Parks and Industries seek Government support to resolve issues such as high, multiple and differential taxation at State-level, funding and land requirements. The growth of amusement parks will help improving the flow of tourists, which will result in increased tax revenues to the State Government concerned. | read more

• Toronto Zoo’s chief executive will provide update on specia...
  • Toronto Zoo’s chief executive will provide an update about a special exhibit, which one report is saying will be a pair of pandas from China. Members of the zoo board are meeting Thursday morning, and one of the items on the agenda is an update by CEO John Tracogna on “a future special exhibit.” But no further details were provided, and officials weren’t immediately available for comment. | read more

• Schlitterbahn to open indoor waterpark hotel on South Padre ...
  • Schlitterbahn announced this morning plans to build a new indoor waterpark hotel on South Padre Island. | read more

• Toledo Zoo director Anne Baker to retire
  • After six years at the Toledo Zoo's helm -- and at least two years later than she expected -- Anne Baker is retiring by year's end after shepherding new exhibits, calming controversies, and securing a levy renewal for the 112-year-old institution. | read more

• Virginia: House set to vote on school-year start
  • A vote Thursday could change when Virginia kids go to school and when families take vacations. The House of Delegates will take a final vote on whether to repeal the so-called King's Dominion law, which prohibits Virginia school systems from starting classes before Labor Day. | read more

• Oakland Saves Funding for Fairyland and Zoo
  • The City Council voted 6-1 on a final budget that maintains funding for Children's Fairyland, the Oakland Zoo, arts groups and neighborhood crime prevention services - all of which faced drastic reductions. Councilwoman Pat Kernighan voted no and Nancy Nadel abstained. | read more

• Hong Kong's tourism industry will cater to the accommodation...
  • Hong Kong's HK$250 billion tourism industry will cater to the accommodation needs of visitors by adding 9,000 more rooms in five years. But no new sites will be available in the new fiscal year. ... Tsang said there are 190 hotels providing about 62,000 rooms. By 2016, there will be 50 more hotels, taking the total to 240 and increasing the number of rooms to 71,000. | read more

• Myrtle Beach zipline construction under way, details reveale...
  • Construction has begun on the new attraction at the old Myrtle Beach pavilion site. The site has remained an empty field since the old amusement park shut down. It will soon house a zipline attraction. | read more

• Cedar Fair Names Kelley Semmelroth Executive Vice President ...
  • Cedar Fair today announced Kelley Semmelroth as the Company's executive vice president and chief marketing officer – a newly created executive role. | read more

• Country Music Hall Of Fame Sets Attendance Record
  • The Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum set an all-time attendance record in 2011, museum officials announced. The 2011 attendance total of 507,510 people is the largest in the institution's 44-year history. | read more

• SplashTacular Partners with Hawaiian Falls
  • SplashTacular is partnering with Hawaiian Falls Waterparks in Texas to launch two signature attractions in 2012—including the world’s first Double BowlsEye™ at Roanoke and the 360Rush™ at The Colony. | read more

• Busch Gardens' ice show, 'Iceploration,' opens Thursday
  • Iceploration, Busch Gardens' largest ice show to date, will open on Thursday with ice skaters, puppets, original music and animal stars. | read more

• Ontario Place venues to be closed by province: New board wi...
  • The provincial government is taking steps to cut losses at Ontario Place, while appointing a new board that will help determine the future of the Toronto amusement park. | read more

• Universal Studios Hollywood Transformers ride gets Super Bow...
  • Universal will tout the new Transformers attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood in an immersive Super Bowl ad. After appearing in two Super Bowl commercials last year to promote Paramount's third "Transformers" and Chevy's Camaro, ... | read more

• Toronto Zoo saw a 5 per cent decline in attendance last year
  • The Toronto Zoo saw a 5 per cent decline in attendance last year — more than 67,000 fewer visitors than the year before. The decline, from 1,308,788 in 2010 to 1,241,695 for all of last year, was blamed on the weather, cautious spending by consumers wary of the shaky economy and the high Canadian dollar, according to a report to be discussed at Thursday’s meeting of the zoo’s board of directors. | read more

• Man sees aquarium aiding city economy; tourists on I-5 would...
  • A Redding man wants to bring a world-class aquarium to the city, saying Redding's proximity to Interstate 5 makes it a perfect spot for another tourist draw. ... "We're going to look for foundations that support this mission," he said. "This is completely citizen-driven." Bartley said he's been in contact with an economic consulting group. | read more

• New attraction for Splash Kingdom Waterpark at Pharaoh's amu...
  • A groundbreaking ceremony was held at Splash Kingdom Waterpark at Pharaoh's and the park's newest attraction, as well as the park's new vision for the future, were the focal points. "The Wave Pool" will serve as the park's latest marketing tool - 80 feet from end to end, six feet at its deepest, and hold between 600 and 700 people. ... The `Wave" is the park's first new attraction in 15 years | read more

• HK: Dizzy frights for 26 at Ocean Park
  • Twenty-six thrill-seekers at Ocean Park got the fright of their lives when their ride stopped in midair after spinning to a height of 23 meters. The glitch yesterday was the eighth ride-related incident to hit the theme park in the past five months. | read more

• Lotte World Waterpark $22M Deal Signed with WhiteWater
  • Lotte World, known as the world’s largest indoor theme park in Seoul, South Korea, has just signed the largest contract in the waterpark industry with WhiteWater to open a new waterpark to be located in Kimhae, near Busan, South Korea. | read more

• Daytona Lagoon May Add Roller Coaster To Boardwalk
  • A 1700-foot steel roller coaster may give locals and tourists another reason to visit Daytona Beach's boardwalk this summer. Daytona Lagoon's general manager, David Hummer, said the company purchased the coaster from a closed park near New Castle, Del. | read more

• Abu Dhabi: Museum, archaeological park planned in Al Ain
  • The Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture & Heritage (ADACH) has unveiled its plans for two key projects in Al Ain. The Al Ain National Museum (AANM) and Hili Archaeological Park (HAP) were both publicly announced by the Abu Dhabi Executive Council last week. | read more

• Singapore visitors key for Johor's Legoland
  • 'Singapore is a very important market for us, especially the locals and tourists there,' Legoland Malaysia's general manager, Mr Siegfried Boerst, said in an interview. | read more

• Forbes ranks 12 Best Children's Museums In The U.S.
  • When families travel, one of the hardest challenges facing parents is keeping their kids entertained and finding appropriate attractions for a variety of ages. For these reasons, a good museum can be a real lifesaver, and in some cases, the very best can even be the cornerstone of an entire vacation. | read more

• Brooklyn Botanic Garden To Open New Visitor Center in May 20...
  • The Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) announces that on May 16, 2012, it will open its new Visitor Center. ... BBG is home to more than 12,000 types of plants and hosts more than 725,000 visitors annually | read more

• Buccaneer Bay Water Park makes post-Katrina comeback
  • Before a new $6 million waterpark can go up, the storm damaged remnants of the original park must come down. | read more

• Report: Temecula seeking offers for waterpark land
  • The city is negotiating with multiple developers interested in building a waterpark in the northwestern corner of Temecula, city officials said recently. According to a closed-session item on an agenda earlier this month, the city and its Redevelopment Agency are talking to a company called Agua Caliente Inc. about the sale of 30 acres of land at the northwest corner of Dendy Parkway and Diaz Road. | read more

• Hawaii sees highest visitor influx in 4 years
  • State estimates being released Monday show the number of visitors to Hawaii rose 3.8% to 7.28 million from 7.02 million in 2010, amid increases in most of the islands' major markets. A 2.3% increase in visitors from the U.S., along with double-digit percentage gains from markets such as Canada and Australia, helped offset a 5% decline in visitors from Japan, which suffered a devastating earthquake and tsunami last March, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority. | read more

• Construction Underway For Six Flags Great America 'Wing Coas...
  • Six Flags' new roller coaster, X Flight, due to open this Spring | read more

• National Aquarium Names Steven Schindler as Chief Marketing ...
  • The National Aquarium is pleased to announce Steven Schindler has been named the organization's new Chief Marketing Officer. | read more

• Lo-Q to install Q-band system in ninth Six Flags water park
  • Virtual queuing specialist Lo-Q (LON:LOQ) is to install its water park system Q-band in another US theme park run by Six Flags. Six Flags will install the system at the Hurricane Harbor Magic Mountain water park, which is next door to Six Flags' Magic Mountain theme park in California. | read more

• N.C. Zoo receives $1 million donation
  • The donation, from the estate of Juanita Lamport Spalding, would go toward creating wilderness areas for the zoo's animals. The zoo is located in Asheboro. | read more

• Compagnie des Alpes revokes share transfer for the sale of F...
  • CDA has been informed by German authorities that representatives of One World Group, the purchaser of the Fort Fun park (see press release of January 4, 2012), were suspected of producing false documents concerning the bank guarantee associated with payment of the balance of the transaction price (€5.75 million), to take place on January 31, 2012. | read more

• Chicago Botanic Garden set an all-time attendance record in ...
  • During 2011, the Garden experienced three record-setting months: August was the highest attendance month ever in the Garden’s 40-year history with 134,049 visits; October had 97,289 visits and December saw 70,509 visits. The Wonderland Express winter exhibition exceeded 2010 attendance by 15,000 people, with overall attendance reaching 65,000. | read more

• Ca: No aquarium for Windsor
  • An aquarium is not viable in Windsor. That's the conclusion of a committee looking into such a project. A member of the group, Mario Sonego, who is the city engineer, said there are aquariums relatively nearby. There is a new one in Cleveland, a small one in Toledo and one in Chicago, he noted. ... A report with the recommendation not to proceed with an aquarium goes before council at its Feb. 7 meeting. | read more

• NASA's visitor center at Stennis Space Center closing; Infin...
  • The museum and visitor center at the Stennis Space Center east of Slidell will be permanently closed Feb. 15, as Stennis prepares to open a new, larger center. | read more

• Kuala Lumpur: Sentora to invest RM48mil to develop safari pa...
  • Sentoria Group Bhd plans to invest RM48 million from internally-generated funds to develop a safari park. | read more

• Nz: Zion Wildlife Gardens sold
  • Whangarei's Zion Wildlife Gardens has been sold to a company which has engaged former owner Craig Busch to help with its operation, its receivers say. ... The purchaser is Zion Wildlife Kingdom Ltd. | read more

• Construction on Hersheypark's latest roller coaster, Skyrush...
  • On Monday, steel workers from Aycock construction in Hummelstown hung more than 20 stories above the park to put the final bolts into place on the roller coaster’s lift hill — a milestone in the coaster’s construction. | read more

• Roller coaster, Ferris wheel to open in May on Pleasure Pier
  • In an effort to bring back a 1940s tourism attraction, Landry's announced today a plan to redesign and open Galveston's once-famous Pleasure Pier by May. This multi-million dollar project include a double-decker carousel, a 100-foot tall Ferris wheel, and a steel roller coaster with a 100-foot vertical climb, according to a news release from Landry's. | read more

• Galveston's Pleasure Pier plan to be revealed today
  • Landry's will announce today exactly what's going to be going up at the new Pleasure Pier in Galveston. The pier is getting a $60 million renovation. -- The goal is to make the pier a destination similar to Chicago's Navy Pier, the Santa Monica Pier and Coney Island's Luna Park. The projected date for its opening is May 2012. | read more