Newsletter: In the Loop: Wizarding World gets an opening date at Universal Studios Hollywood
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 sing along with the Disneyland Candlelight Processional, bid on 1963 blueprints for Disney World in St. Louis, check out the lights at Holiday in the Park and make plans to visit Wizarding World West.
Wizarding World
Universal Studios Hollywood officially sets the opening date of the West Coast version of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter: April 7.
Ghost Town Alive
The new “Ghost Town Alive” interactive entertainment experience will inject Wild West characters and improv storytelling into the oldest area of Knott’s Berry Farm.
20th Century Fox
Forbes takes a look at how 20th Century Fox benefits from licensing its brands to theme parks around the world.
SeaWorld
The parent company of SeaWorld San Diego gets additional time to challenge the conditions imposed by a state panel on the theme park's plan to expand its killer whale enclosure.
Disney World
An auction house accepts bids for 1963 blueprints laying out ultimately abandoned plans for an indoor version of Disney World in downtown St. Louis.
Holiday celebrations
-- A 600-singer choir celebrates the Candlelight Processional at Disneyland, an annual holiday ceremony started by Walt Disney in 1958.
-- Check out this video from the “utterly fantastic and magical” Holiday in the Park light spectacular at Six Flags Magic Mountain.
-- And finally, the larger-than-life balloons seen in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City make their annual pilgrimage south to Universal Orlando.
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.
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