Amusement Parks

Walt Disney Co. said Friday that it would submit plans to build its first theme park in mainland China, targeting one of the largest and most prosperous markets in Asia. The Burbank entertainment giant released a statement confirming its plans as news broke that the company was working with the Shanghai municipal government to build a $3.59-billion park to open as early as 2014. It would be Disney's fourth theme park outside the U.S., after Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

The Halloween battle of the theme parks has begun. For decades, Knott's Berry Farm's Halloween Haunt has reigned supreme as Southern California's ultimate theme park for Halloween frights. The Buena Park amusement park started the after-hours tradition more than 30 years ago and is credited with inventing the Halloween mazes duplicated by theme parks nationwide. But this year, officials at Universal Studios Hollywood say they are extending that park's Halloween Horror Nights and relying heavily on its movie connections to knock Knott's from its monster perch.

Disney unveiled plans today for the largest expansion in the history of the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, provided updates on its $1-billion expansion of Disney's California Adventure and said it would modernize the popular Star Tours ride at its domestic parks. Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Chairman Jay Rasulo chose the D23 Expo in Anaheim, the first-ever gathering of Disney devotees, to announce the ambitious new project in Orlando, Fla., that will nearly double the size of Fantasyland.

For kids -- and parents too -- it may be the ultimate play land: a 10-square-mile, $64-billion zone with amusement parks by Six Flags, DreamWorks Animation and Universal Studios, plus museums, shopping and 55 hotels. ? At twice the size of Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., this is a place where it's hard to imagine getting bored.

Although U.S. companies' international theme parks contain many of the elements that made them famous, they all have to adapt -- at least in some way -- to the local culture. Consider Disney's learning experiences: When its Paris park opened, it banned alcohol but offered a variety of gourmet, sit-down restaurants. But Parisians wanted their Chardonnay -- and American fare. "They wanted what Americans do: hot dogs," said Al Lutz, editor of the Disney fan website Miceage.com.

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.

As if rising gas and food prices weren't enough, a ticket to the Magic Kingdom will soon cost a few bucks more. Walt Disney Co. said Friday that it would raise one-day ticket prices at its domestic parks starting Sunday. One-day tickets for those 10 and older to Disneyland in Anaheim will rise from $66 to $69; for children ages 3 to 9, the price will increase from $56 to $59. At Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla.

The Happiest Place on Earth will soon know where in the world you are. Walt Disney Co. has struck a deal with Verizon Wireless that will allow it to remain in wireless contact with its theme park visitors -- even when they step outside the turnstiles in Anaheim and Orlando, Fla.

For two decades Chinese officials and Walt Disney Co. have batted around ideas for a theme park in the eastern fringes of Shanghai, only to see them go nowhere. "People have always been saying they'll build here," said Sun Jinbao, 61, a farmer near Zhaohang village, where several years ago Disney executives stood on the roof of a three-story building, peering out at the rice fields and wooded lands. But now the excitement is building again.