FORGET Spidey versus Capt. Jack Sparrow. This time of year, serious competition for entertainment dollars happens not just in theaters, but also in local theme parks -- and that means new attractions.
Aside from a cage match between Mickey Mouse and the Mummy, thrill seekers can expect spectacles and rides of every stripe. We're talking walls of water, U.S. landmarks reproduced in painstaking miniature, imported European thrills -- even underwater extravaganzas that took years to develop.
That last reference belongs to Disney, of course, which, Tinker Bell notwithstanding, never does anything small. For the last three years, officials at Disneyland have been reworking its decades-old submarine lagoon into a new underwater amusement featuring the characters from the film "Finding Nemo." At the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, which opens June 11, riders can board a newly painted bright-yellow submarine (do the Beatles know about this?) ostensibly bound for an underwater exploration. Using an elaborately built underwater set and speakers built into the sub, Disney's Imagineers quickly shift the story to the missing Nemo, and riders are brought along on the search.
"We wanted a totally immersive experience," Disney Imagineer Kevin Rafferty says. "We also wanted an experience you can enjoy more than once. People in the front of the sub may see things that people in the back don't, and vice versa."
Additionally, with "Pirates of the Caribbean" opening tonight, Disney is rusting up the ol' scuppers in Frontierland, unveiling a new, swashbuckler-themed upgrade of Tom Sawyer Island debuting Friday.
Over at Universal Studios Hollywood, the focus also is water, but on a much more vertical scale. The park has revved up some of its existing rides to add more H2O and other ways to keep park visitors cool.
For example: the Jurassic Park ride. Aside from an additional dinosaur, look for a 60-foot "wall of water," care of newly added cannons, which will shoot straight up when the refurbished ride opens June 21. The park is also putting its Mummy ride on ice -- or, actually, to be precise, liquid nitro.
"We're completely changing the finale," says John Murdy, the park's creative director. "At one point the temperature drops dramatically, and people are engulfed in the eye of the storm."
