Amusement Park Rides

As Walt Disney Co. set out to renovate It's a Small World at Disneyland, the company's Imagineers had one thing in mind: Don't mess it up. Despite being one of the oldest attractions in the park, the ride is among the most popular -- drawing about 6.7 million riders a year.

Pounding hammers and whining saws at Magic Mountain in Valencia signal a new roller coaster dubbed Terminator Salvation and other changes in the works for the summer tourist season. But the noise and excitement about the park's plans can't completely muffle the bad news coming from New York-based parent company Six Flags Inc., which announced Thursday that its stock value had fallen so low that it was being delisted by the New York Stock Exchange. Trading was halted, with shares at 27 cents.

Disneyland's "Small World" will soon be getting a little more crowded. The Anaheim amusement park is planning to add iconic Disney characters to the anonymous international cast of the beloved 'round-the-globe boat ride. The idea has sparked outrage among the family of the attraction's original designer and prompted a preservation campaign for the ride, which opened in 1966 and closed for renovations in January. Walt Disney Co.

My stomach churning, the sun beating down on my aching cranium, I slowly uncurl my fingers from their death grip. My eyelids creak open. I'm lying on my back, with my upper torso restrained by a harness and my legs feebly kicking in midair. "Sweet merciful savior," I think, "it's nearly over." An old aphorism says that there are no atheists in foxholes. I'd amend that to include roller coasters.

What do you get when you combine a shoot-'em-up video game with an amusement park ride? Disney hopes you get a way to lure jaded gamers off the couch and to one of its theme parks. Walt Disney Imagineering melded the interactive elements of a video game with the kind of immersive 3-D experience of an amusement park to create Toy Story Midway Mania, a ride opening today at Disney's California Adventure park in Anaheim.

Every childhood visit to Disneyland provoked the same argument between Patricia L. Caplette and her brother over which ride to hit first. He wanted to head straight for the Haunted Mansion; she insisted on Pirates of the Caribbean. So they bargained: If she could start the day with her favorite scurvy crew, he could end it getting spooked.

Walt Disney Co. said it would open 11 new rides and live shows in 2007 to maintain attendance after a two-year surge in revenue from resorts. Four rides will open, including Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage at Disneyland in Anaheim, and Cars Quatre Roues Rallye and Crush's Coaster at Disneyland Paris. Revenue from Burbank-based Disney's parks and resorts rose 13% from 2004 to 2006, outpacing growth at the company's larger media business.

The Walt Disney Co. has settled a wrongful-death lawsuit with the family of a Spanish woman that contended she suffered a fatal brain hemorrhage as a result of riding the Indiana Jones Adventure at Disneyland. Cristina Moreno, 23, of Barcelona rode the thrill ride while on her honeymoon in June 2000. She reportedly passed out after returning to her Hollywood hotel, never regained consciousness and died two months later. Her heirs were seeking more than $1 million in damages.

Magic Mountain theme park in Valencia said two of its 17 roller coasters would be closed for the 2007 season to make room for expansion. The wooden coaster Psyclone will be dismantled and the corkscrew coaster Flashback will be moved. By closing those two rides, Magic Mountain will cede its title as the U.S. park with the most roller coasters to Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, which has 16 operational coasters. New York-based Six Flags Inc.

As most everyone knows by now, "The Simpsons," after 17 years as a Fox TV series, is finally getting big-screen respect this summer with a movie version. How do you top that? How about a theme park attraction? Universal is set to unveil plans today for a "Simpsons" thrill ride at its parks in the San Fernando Valley and Orlando, Fla. The attraction will open in spring 2008, the studio said.