Newsletter: In the Loop: Noah’s Ark theme park requires Christian oath from employees
Welcome to another edition of In the Loop, the Los Angeles Times’ theme park newsletter. I’m Funland theme park blogger Brady MacDonald, and this week, we prepare to meet Leatherface at Horror Nights 2016, stick a shovel in Star Wars Land, sip a margarita on a zipline coaster, set sail at a Noah’s Ark theme park and head skyward on vertical coasters.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. announces plans to build a $1-billion theme park in Abu Dhabi next to Ferrari World.
This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Ben Affleck, left, and Henry Cavill in a scene from, “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.” Warner Bros. plans to feature the Batman and Superman characters in its Abu Dhabi theme park.
Horror Nights
Universal Orlando unveils the first maze of Halloween Horror Nights 2016: “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.”
‘Star Wars’
Disney celebrates the groundbreaking of Star Wars Land at Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios with a digitally enhanced construction image that includes robots, X-wing fighters, androids and Stormtroopers.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios will lengthen the “Star Wars” fireworks show and add projection mapping of movie scenes to the Florida park’s replica of Graumann’s Chinese Theater.
Vertical coasters
A new class of extremely compact and vertically oriented roller coasters popping up at theme parks around the world packs lots of thrills into tight spaces.
Margaritaville
A new Margaritaville resort in Biloxi, Miss., will feature the first indoor zipline roller coaster in the United States.
Walt Disney Imagineering
A new documentary about Rolly Crump pays tribute to the self-described “worst” artist ever hired by Walt Disney Animation Studios who went on to help create three of Disneyland’s most beloved attractions: It’s a Small World, the Haunted Mansion and the Enchanted Tiki Room.
And finally
Kentucky’s Ark Encounter theme park opening this summer with a 510-foot-long replica of Noah’s Ark will require employees to sign a Christian oath and “profess Christ as their savior.”
Still need more theme park news? Check out the Los Angeles Times Funland theme park blog on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Instagram. Also feel free to email me with any feedback on the newsletter.
ALSO
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