Theme Parks

Virtual reality headsets are increasingly being put to use at theme parks, in setups that move around in accordance to what wearers are experiencing in the VR world. A new headset is designed to make the experience more efficient and more hygienic.

Disney’s animatronics are coming a long way from hippos that wiggle their ears. In the (relatively) near future, robotic versions of Iron Man or Buzz Lightyear could be performing autonomous acrobatics overhead in Disney theme parks, thanks to the newly-unveiled Stuntronics robot.

Like goodies from a "?" box in Super Mario, details are slowly being revealed about Nintendo's theme park venture with Universal Studios. The two companies have now announced some general ideas about what we can expect to experience when Super Nintendo World arrives by 2020.

More and more we're seeing companies step in to offer VR as a theme park or arcade type of experience, and the latest to throw its hat into the ring is Modal VR, with a semi-portable system that can reportedly track the heads and gestures of up to 10 players, without trailing cables everywhere.

​There’s nary a Star Wars fan alive who hasn’t at some point swung a makeshift lightsaber around. A new patent awarded to Disney suggests that future visitors to Disneyland may get a more hands-on experience, using a physical lightsaber to deflect lasers fired at them by animatronic bad guys.

The Cedar Point theme park in Sandusky, Ohio, has announced a new ride that it says will claim 10 world records. Valravn will apparently be "the world's tallest, fastest and longest dive coaster." It will be 223 ft (68 m) tall, hit speeds of 75 mph (121 km/h) and be 3,415 ft (1,041 m) long.

Fasten your seatbelts: work has begun on the construction of the Ferrari Land theme park. Based in the PortAventura Resort near Barcelona, Spain, it is described as a "take on the Ferrari myth." It will reference Formula 1, Ferrari innovation, traditional Italy and marque founder Enzo Ferrari.

Ferrari and PortAventura Entertainment S.A.U have signed an agreement to build a Ferrari-themed park, Ferrari Land, as part of the PortAventura resort and theme park outside Barcelona, Spain.

Ground was officially broken for the 300-acre Robot Land theme park in Incheon, South Korea last year, with a new timeline suggesting that it may now be on target to deliver on its promise of a themed world dedicated to robots.

Disney World recently commemorated the opening of the New Fantasyland expansion in the Magic Kingdom by having a mechanical flying dragon soar over the grounds on its own.

South Korea's "Live Park 4D World Tour" uses Kinect and RFID wristbands to immerse visitors in a virtual theme park.

Trekkies might soon find themselves donning Starfleet-issue jumpsuits and beaming off to the Middle East.