La Mirada water park; Toy Story Mania; Disney Dream Home; Indiana Jones stunt show

La Mirada mini water park
The city of La Mirada just opened a $42-million aquatic center that includes the pirate-themed Buccaneer Bay mini water park with a water-slide tower and 500-foot-long lazy river.

The admission fee ($14 for adults, $9 for children) seems about double what I’d be willing to pay. I could go to a real water park for less than $30.

Howard Johnson mini water park
Another mini water park is under construction at the Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel in Anaheim near Disneyland. (Check out Mice Age for photos.)

Scheduled to open in July, the pirate-themed Castaway Cove (I sense a trend here) will include slides, a bucket dump and water cannons. (Check out Laughing Place for concept art.)

Best new California ride of 2008
With more than 600 ballots cast, X2 at Six Flags Magic Mountain leads our online poll of the best new California amusement park ride for 2008 with more than half the vote. The current runner-up: Toy Story Mania at Disney’s California Adventure. (VOTE HERE)

The big surprise: Firefall at California’s Great America holding down the bronze medal position (and stomping the Simpsons Ride at Universal Studios Hollywood and Pony Express at Knott’s Berry Farm.)

Taking up the rear: Tony Hawk’s Big Spin at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.

Toy Story Mania grand opening
Mouse Planet staff writer Adrienne Vincent-Phoenix delivers a comprehensive report and photo gallery from the Toy Story Mania media event at Disney’s California Adventure.

The highlights included parachuting green army men, Buzz Lightyear reporting from the International Space Station, plus costumed versions of every Pixar character ever created.

The serpentine four-hour line for the new attraction stretched out to the front entry plaza.

Disney Dream Home grand opening (sort of)
Disneyland held the grand opening ceremony for the new Innoventions Dream Home in Tomorrowland and then promptly shut the attraction for further construction work.

Turns out the home is not quite ready for the fictional Elias family to move into just yet. Maybe by the end of June. Or early July. Definitely this summer. You know how contractors can be.

Check out the photo gallery and report from the grand opening, once again from Adrienne at Mouse Planet.

Indiana Jones hits a girl
Disneyland plans to tone down the new “Secrets of the Stone Tiger“ stunt show starring Indiana Jones, according to the Orange County Register.

Turns out visitors had a “big negative response” to Indy punching a female character in the face during a choreographed fight scene.

Find the latest amusement and theme park news at the
Los Angeles Times Funland blog: www.latimes.com/funland

— Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

[Photo: City of La Mirada]

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This entry was posted on Saturday, June 28, 2008 at 6:00 am by Brady MacDonald and is filed under California’s Great America, Disney's California Adventure, Disneyland, Family & Kids, Knott's, Los Angeles, Magic Mountain, Orange County, San Francisco, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, Theme Parks, Universal Studios Hollywood, Water Parks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.