Southern California Attractions | Development News

[milquetoast]

Check this out, it's ........ PRETTYCOOL!

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[saiholmes]

Originally Posted by Six Flags

Six Flags Magic Mountain today announced another world-record addition to their coaster dynasty with FULL THROTTLE, the world’s tallest and fastest looping coaster slated for the Valencia theme park in 2013. Unlike traditional coasters, this unique, one-of-a-kind triple launch coaster will take the coaster experience to the next generation as riders face a never-been-done-before launch up and over a “Top Hat” that traces the outside of a world-record loop, towering 160 feet — plus a zero to 70 miles-per-hour acceleration on two forward launches and one backward launch into and out of a special effects tunnel. FULL THROTTLE will be located near the front of the park in a newly themed five-acre section where guests will experience high-energy thrills through fast-paced imagery, sound and lights. With this addition, Six Flags Magic Mountain, the Thrill Capital of the World, firmly holds the coveted “Coaster Capital of the World” crown — with a total of 18 roller coasters — more than any other theme park on the planet.

FULL THROTTLE is the perfect addition to the park’s coaster collection, joining other adrenaline-pumping coasters, including Tatsu — the tallest, fastest and longest flying coaster in the world, X2 — the world’s first and only 5th dimensional coaster, Apocalypse — the next generation of wooden coasters and Goliath — the “giant among giants” mega coaster.

Read More: http://www.sixflags.com/magicMountai...pannounce.aspx
Read More: http://content.sixflags.com/newfor20.../full-throttle

[pesto]

Please use bathroom before entering the ride.

[milquetoast]

I don't think I can do that ride anymore.

[112597Jorge]

Huge Carson Porsche Playground Approved, Work Starts Soon

Friday, November 9, 2012, by Adrian Glick Kudler

This week the Carson City Council "enthusiastically approved" a crazy-ass-sounding Porsche Experience Center for the current site of a golf course, former landfill, and apartment building. Work will start on the 53-acre project by the end of the year, according to the Daily Breeze, and wrap up in fall 2013. The PEC will be the second in the US and have "a museum displaying historical vehicles, a business center, driving simulators, a high-end parts and service area, a restaurant and a 'human performance center' designed to train people like race car drivers," the DB reports in an earlier article. Porsche will also move its North American offices from Santa Ana to the Carson site. Porsche will have to clean up the former landfill site, raze the now-closed Dominguez Hills Golf Course, and demolish the vacant Don Dominguez Apartments.
Ways the Porsche center will terrify drivers>>
To help rich people feel alive for once, the Porsche Experience Center's "six planned courses include two tracks replicating challenging country roads - one about 2,500 feet long and one twice as long. On another 350-foot-long track, computer-controlled water jets will simulate an icy hill. A low-friction circle will replicate slippery roads, while a 280-foot-long kick plate will simulate the loss of rear wheel traction, and a high-speed track and dynamic area will challenge basic driving skills."
The PEC will sit right next to the Boulevards at South Bay project, which will have enormous amounts of residential, hotel, retail, entertainment, and office space when it opens, possibly in 2014.

la.curbed.com

[saiholmes]

very cool!

[saiholmes]

Originally Posted by Long Beach Business Journal

Aquarium of the Pacific: Benefits by land and by sea
Economic Impact Study Released; $50 Million Expansion Underway
By Micheal Gougis - Contributing Writer
October 09, 2012 - Head for the Aquarium of the Pacific on a warm, pleasant summer weekend.

You will quickly understand exactly what Aquarium President and CEO Dr. Jerry Schubel means when he says that while the facility could, theoretically, accommodate more visitors, “It’s not the kind of experience we want to provide.”

To do a better job of providing for the animals in its care, teaching the public about the waters of the world and bringing economic benefits to the city and the surrounding community, the Aquarium has announced that it is breaking ground on a $50 million expansion project.

The expansion will not only see an increase in the size of the renowned center, but in the sophistication of the exhibits to better educate the public, Schubel says. And it will help ensure that the Aquarium will generate increased economic benefits for the city in the future, he says.

“It’s about enhancing the experience, enhancing the educational value, and being able to accommodate a larger number of visitors,” Schubel says.

The economic impact of the Aquarium continues to grow as it becomes an increasingly integrated part of the Southern California tourism industry. Make no mistake – tourism is critical to the California economy. In 2011, “total direct travel spending in California was $102.3 billion, a 7.6 percent increase from 2010 spending,” according to California Tourism Industry data.

For the City of Long Beach, the Aquarium represents a $57 million annual economic impact, according to a study conducted by the consulting firm AECOM. That is a dramatic increase from the $42 million annual impact documented in the last study, conducted in 2004.

For the greater Southern California region, the Aquarium delivers $142 million in economic benefits – broadly defined as spending, wages and employment created by the activities and presence of the facility – Schubel says. Currently, the Aquarium is responsible for 520 jobs in the city of Long Beach, and more than 1,200 jobs throughout Southern California, according to the study.

For Long Beach, the Aquarium brings money to the city from outside of its borders, Schubel adds. “About 10 percent of the visitors to the Aquarium come from Long Beach. More than 80 percent of the visitors come from elsewhere in Southern California but outside of Long Beach.”

Attracting more dollars from outside of Long Beach will be one of the benefits of the expansion program, Schubel says.

“As we grow and expand, the length of time of stay at the aquarium goes up,” he says. “So people are more apt to get another meal here in Long Beach. We’re hoping that as the city matures, the number of overnights goes up, because there will be more and more things to do in our city. We not only will be a great destination for conventions, but a destination for tourists to stay overnight.”

Expanding the offerings at the Aquarium can greatly increase the number of visitors, overnight stays in Long Beach and even memberships at the facility due to a phenomenon known as “museum fatigue.”

Basically, researchers have determined that visitors to any exhibit-based facility will last about three hours before they develop a desire to run screaming for the door. If you’ve ever tried to cram in too much museum sightseeing on an overseas vacation, you are very familiar with the feeling.

Currently, a typical visit to the Aquarium is between two hours and 30 minutes and two hours and 45 minutes, Schubel says. By expanding the facility, it will take longer for people to complete their visit – more than the three-hour mark – thus encouraging multi-night stays in the city and increasing the demand for memberships, which save money for people who visit multiple times.

It is important not to think of the expansion solely in economic terms, Schubel says. The Aquarium is a non-profit entity, aimed at educating and informing the community about the waters that cover 70 percent of the Earth’s surface. Expanding the facility, and increasing the sophistication of the delivery of that information, will allow the Aquarium to continue to improve the way it pursues its mission, as it has improved it in recent years.

“Over the last two years, we’ve added a number of new platforms like Science on a Sphere, which is part of our Ocean Science Center, and it’s an entirely new way of delivering messages about the ocean and people’s relationship with the ocean,” Schubel says.

“We’ve added a watershed exhibit that allows us to demonstrate to people how human activities on land in the watershed get collected and transmitted to the ocean. We’ve added the Molina Animal Care Center that not only allows us to take better care of our animals, but it lets the public see how well we take care of our animals, and it’s connected to Miller Children’s Hospital, so that children in the hospital are able to observe our vets doing checkups on our animals and they can talk to him – it has an educational component to it.”

Technology at the core of the expansion plans will allow the Aquarium to continue down this path, Schubel says.

“Live animals are the heart and soul of the aquarium. But live animals are not very good at telling the big stories about what’s happening to their relatives in the wild or in the ocean,” he says.

“So we have to use technology and media. One of the things that will be in our expanded facility will be this amazing surround-around 4-D theater that will be the first of its kind anywhere in the world.”

In the end, telling the story of the ocean and connecting it to those of us on land is the reason for the Aquarium’s existence, and why it is working so hard to expand and improve, Schubel says.

“In a not-for-profit institution, the only profit that really makes sense is in how well you pursue your mission,” Schubel says. “If we increase the stewardship, the knowledge, the education of people in Southern California about the world’s oceans, then we will have succeeded. If all we did was make money, we would have failed.”

Read More: http://www.lbbusinessjournal.com/lon...nd-by-sea.html

[pesto]

Interesting. So the theory is to make it large enough that it takes more than 3 hrs. to visit; that way people have to come back a second day or hit the Queen Mary on some other day, which brings food and lodging revenues. Hope the aquarium is adding interesting or exciting exhibits and not just space-filler.

[saiholmes]

Originally Posted by pesto

Interesting. So the theory is to make it large enough that it takes more than 3 hrs. to visit; that way people have to come back a second day or hit the Queen Mary on some other day, which brings food and lodging revenues. Hope the aquarium is adding interesting or exciting exhibits and not just space-filler.

The Aquarium of the Pacific is in fact the fourth largest aquarium in the nation.

[saiholmes]

Originally Posted by Orange County Register

Anaheim clears way for resort-area expansion
Amendment streamlines development process in area around Disneyland Resort.
By ERIC CARPENTER / Orange County Register
Published: Dec. 18, 2012 Updated: Dec. 19, 2012 12:22 p.m.

ANAHEIM – The City Council has cleared the way for a large expansion of the Convention Center and streamlined the development process within the Resort District around Disneyland.

The council unanimously approved the amendment to the Anaheim Resort Specific Plan, the planning document that guides development within the 581-acre resort area.

The Tuesday night approval streamlines development standards and would expedite state-mandated environmental reviews that analyze how projects could generate additional traffic, air pollution and noise, among other effects on the environment.

"(The Resort District) has been a major economic engine of the city," Councilwoman Kris Murray said. "We have to look forward. This is the document that allows us to plan for future growth."

The approval clears the way for the Anaheim Convention Center to accommodate up to:

•an additional 400,000 square feet of Convention Center exhibit space

•180,000 more square feet of commercial space, for businesses such as restaurants and retail

•40,000 square feet of additional meeting and ballroom space

•900 hotel rooms on the city's property

The city-owned Convention Center has undergone five major expansions since it opened in 1967. It now has 815,000 square feet of exhibit space, which makes it the largest exhibit facility on the West Coast.

Next month, the Grand Plaza is expected to open – providing an additional 100,000 square feet of outdoor exhibit space.

City officials cited statistics that show there is reason for optimism about growth in the Resort District. Revenue from the city's hotel-bed tax has nearly doubled in 12 years – from $45.4 million in the 1999-2000 fiscal year to $90.4 million.

Read More: http://www.ocregister.com/news/city-...rt-center.html

[saiholmes]

The Legoland Hotel plans to open at the Carlsbad, Calif., park on April 5, 2013.

[slipperydog]

From Curbed LA:

Huge Universal Studios Expansion Could Start This Summer

The NBCUniversal Evolution Plan, the huge expansion of the Universal Studios lot, has now gotten final-final approval from the LA City Council (it got initial approval last fall) and the mayor says he'll sign off too; now it goes to the county planning commission for the last of it. All those approvals cap about seven years of work on various iterations of the plan--just last year, NBCUni cut all housing from the project. They also agreed to cut any digital billboards facing neighboring homeowners, aside from ones at the entrance. The final version "involves extensive upgrades to the company's movie and television studios, including new sets, soundstages and technology, as well as new hotels, $100 million in transportation improvements and expansions at CityWalk and the theme park," in the words of the Daily News. There'll also be a park and bike path on the river. The studio says that if everything goes according to plan, work will start this summer--first up is the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter attraction and the production facility upgrades.

http://la.curbed.com/archives/2013/0...his_summer.php

[saiholmes]

Originally Posted by NBC

Disneyland debuts Fantasy Faire for the princess-mad masses
Rob Lovitt , NBC News contributor

Fantasy Faire, however, better befits the princesses’ regal status. Located near the forecourt of Sleeping Beauty Castle, the attraction resembles a medieval village; highlights include a Royal Hall, Royal Theatre and Tangled Tower, a lighted sculpture inspired by the story of Rapunzel.

http://www.nbcnews.com/travel/itiner...sses-1C8775301

[saiholmes]

[saiholmes]

Dapper Day at Disneyland, the nattiest place on Earth
Sartorial events at Disneyland attract thousands who enjoy the outmoded notion of dressing up in vintage or modern style.
BY RICK ROJAS, LOS ANGELES TIMES
PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRISTINA HOUSE, FOR THE TIMES
March 26, 2013

"People are looking for an excuse to dress up," said Justin Jorgensen, who started Dapper Day in 2011 and has organized five of the events, all at Disneyland. The latest Dapper Day — the same Sunday as the Oscars, Hollywood’s own dress-up day — drew an estimated crowd of 10,000 to the Anaheim park and about 1,000 more at Florida's Disney World.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...0196.htmlstory
http://dapperday.com/

[saiholmes]

Originally Posted by Los Angeles Times

Nederlander to bring concerts to USC's Galen Center
By Randy Lewis
April 24, 2013, 4:47 p.m.

Just as news came down that the long-running Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal City will close in September and be razed to make way for a new Harry Potter attraction, a new pop music venue is about to come online in Los Angeles.

Nederlander Concerts has entered a deal to book concerts at USC’s Galen Center, a sports arena that can handle events for audiences of 5,000 to 11,000 capacity, Nederlander Concerts Chief Executive Alex Hodges told The Times on Wednesday.

“This gives us an indoor place for those shows that need to be indoors, and for winter months it gives us the opportunity to replace some of the shows that would be at Gibson on a 12-month basis,” Hodges said.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...,2864946.story

[milquetoast]

NBCUNIVERSAL RECEIVES POSITIVE COUNTY VOTE ON EVOLUTION PLAN

UNIVERSAL CITY, California, April 23, 2013 – NBCUniversal announced today plans to begin construction of the first projects of its 25-year Evolution Plan. The Evolution Plan represents a $1.6 billion investment in tourism and production. This long-term investment in two industries that are vital to Los Angeles will create more than 30,000 jobs and generate $2 billion of economic activity during operations for the region.

“After nearly a decade of work on the Evolution Plan, today’s vote sets the stage for our next 100 years in Los Angeles,” said Ron Meyer, president and COO of Universal Studios. “We are thankful for the support and leadership we have received from both the County and City of Los Angeles and are ready to get started investing in these important tourism and production projects in the next few months.”

Starting in late summer, NBCUniversal will begin construction of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter themed land at Universal Studios Hollywood theme park, as well as new and upgraded television production facilities, office space and infrastructure on the Universal Studios lot. These projects represent a nearly $500 million investment in the Los Angeles economy and the creation of more than 2,000 construction jobs alone.

“We thank Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, the entire Board of Supervisors, and County staff for providing us the path to bring much needed jobs and investment to Los Angeles,” said Corinne Verdery, Chief Real Estate Development and Planning Officer, NBCUniversal. “The working relationship we have built with the community was invaluable in developing our future plan and we are grateful to our nearly 7,500 supporters and union partners who have been with us every step of the way. We look forward to bringing The Wizarding World of Harry Potter to Hollywood, forever changing the face of tourism in Los Angeles.”

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Hollywood will be a fully immersive experience for the entire family designed to bring the Harry Potter fiction and films to life with impeccable detail and authenticity. Similar to the dynamic Universal Orlando Resort themed land that opened in 2010, the Hollywood experience will be faithful to the visual landscape of the fiction and films, including Hogwarts castle that will serve as the centerpiece of the impressively themed environment. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is a collaboration between Warner Bros. Entertainment and Universal Parks and Resorts.

On the Universal Studios lot, NBCUniversal will upgrade existing production facilities and add new capabilities to better respond to the needs of television production. In addition, NBCUniversal is looking to create modern offices that will house everything from post-production services to traditional office space.

About The Evolution Plan
The NBCUniversal Evolution Plan is a blueprint for the 391-acre Universal City property. The plan includes upgrades and improvements to our production and post production facilities, a revitalized entertainment destination, and modern office space, all without expanding the current property. The plan also includes more than $100 million investment in transportation and transit improvements. These advancements will secure our role as one of the world's largest working studios, keeping high-paying production jobs in Los Angeles while adding significant investment and tax revenue to our local economy.

For more information about the Evolution Plan, go to www.nbcuniversalevolution.com.

NBCUniversal will also be making significant investments in the community including providing funding for the development of a bikeway along critical segments of the Los Angeles River as well as funding for programs and local organizations that will enhance the neighborhoods closest to the property including landscaping and neighborhood traffic protection measures.

Although today’s endorsement by the County Board of Supervisors is a critical step, the Evolution Plan project will require additional approvals as it moves through the final County processes.

About Harry Potter
Harry Potter continues to be a global phenomenon. Each of the seven books by author J.K. Rowling has broken sales records, with the series to date having sold over 450 million copies worldwide and translated into more than 70 languages. The Harry Potter films, produced by Warner Bros. Pictures, have grossed more than $7.7 billion to date worldwide at the box office, making Harry Potter the largest-grossing film franchise in history.

About Universal Studios Hollywood
Universal Studios Hollywood, The Entertainment Capital of L.A.SM, includes a full-day, movie-based theme park and Studio Tour; the CityWalk entertainment, shopping and dining complex, the Universal CityWalk Cinemas, the “5 Towers” state-of-the-art outdoor concert venue, and the Gibson Amphitheatre concert and special event arena. World-class rides and attractions include the critically-acclaimed and award-winning mega-attraction, “Transformers™: The Ride-3D,” the intense, award-winning ride, “King Kong 360 3-D” on the famed behind-the-scenes Studio Tour, “The Simpsons RideTM,” “Revenge of the MummySM —The Ride” indoor roller coaster and “Jurassic Park® —The Ride.”

About NBCUniversal
NBCUniversal is one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. NBCUniversal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment television networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, world-renowned theme parks, and a suite of leading Internet-based businesses.

NBCUniversal is owned by Comcast Corporation.

About Warner Bros. Entertainment
Warner Bros. Entertainment is a global leader in all forms of entertainment and their related businesses across all current and emerging media and platforms. A Time Warner Company, the fully integrated, broadbased studio is home to one of the most successful collections of brands in the world and stands at the forefront of every aspect of the entertainment industry from feature film, television and home entertainment production and worldwide distribution to DVD, digital distribution, animation, comic books, video games, product and brand licensing, international cinemas and broadcasting.

The NBCUniversal Evolution Plan No Residential Alternative is a blueprint for our 391-acre Universal City property. As part of the Final Environmental Impact Report and in response to Supervisor Yaroslavsky, Councilman LaBonge and the community, we made the tough decision to eliminate the nearly 3,000 residential units from the plan and move forward with the No Residential Alternative. With the No Residential Alternative, we will focus our future growth on this property in our core businesses of production and tourism.