217. What's New for 2024 with Arthur Levine

Arthur Levine of About Theme Parks visits Shanghai Disneyland for its opening.

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It’s an interesting time in the world of theme parks as we look to 2024. Major attractions and a new Universal theme park are opening in 2025 and beyond, so it’s easy to look ahead. This feels like a transition year that will set the stage for larger projects down the road. Even so, there’s still plenty to get excited about for the next 12 months. Today’s podcast is all about what’s opening this year, and the perfect guest to talk about everything is Arthur Levine. He’s been covering the industry for more than 20 years and written for many top publications about the parks.

Arthur is my guest on this episode of the Tomorrow Society Podcast to talk about all the major attractions opening in 2024. We start by chatting about his background and his current writing on his About Theme Parks newsletter plus what inspired his career. Then Arthur provides great insights about the current state of the industry. Our first stop is Disney with Tiana’s Bayou Adventure replacing Splash Mountain this year. We also discuss updates to the Country Bear Jamboree and Star Tours plus the major expansion Fantasy Springs at Tokyo DisneySea. Next up is Universal with their Dreamworks land in Orlando and Donkey Kong Country opening in Japan this spring.

There’s a lot happening beyond Disney and Universal, and Arthur and I cover many highlights during this show. I’m excited about the Fire in the Hole replacement at Silver Dollar City, which is such an interesting approach to the classic ride. We also dig into Good Gravy! at Holiday World, Top Thrill 2 at Cedar Point, and the Vekoma Super Boomerang The Flash: Vertical Velocity at Six Flags Great Adventure. Arthur also points out a few more cool rides that will be opening during 2024. It was awesome to talk with Arthur, and I can’t wait to have him back for more in the future.