Here is the latest schedule of major attraction openings at top parks around the world. Many parks have yet to announce specific opening dates for their new rides and show, so we've gone with the most specific date that the parks have released, or ones that have been widely rumored from credible sources. (Updated based on comments.)
March 7 — Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters, Disney California Adventure
The revamp of Luigi's Flying Tires, with new ride vehicles and a new ride system.
March 18 — Jurassic Park: The Flying Dinosaur, Universal Studios Japan
This will be the world's longest Bolliger & Mabillard Flying Coaster.
March 24 — Galactica, Alton Towers
AIR becomes Galactica, a virtual reality outer-space adventure where visitors wear VR headsets as they ride.
March 26 Season passholders only — The New Revolution, Six Flags Magic Mountain
The California park is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the world's first looping steel coaster with new trains... and VR headsets.
April 7 — The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Universal Studios Hollywood
The west coast version of Hogsmeade soft-opened earlier this month, and features a 3D version of Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.
May 5 — Ninjago - The Ride, Legoland California
An interactive dark ride where your hands, not guns, are the weapons of choice.
May 7 — Valravn, Cedar Point
This will be Bolliger & Mabillard's tallest, fastest and longest dive coaster, with a 214-foot vertical drop and top speed of 75 miles per hour.
May 27 — Frozen – Live at the Hyperion, Disney California Adventure
Aladdin's replacement takes over the Hyperion Theater stage.
June 10 — Mako, SeaWorld Orlando
The 200-foot, 73-mph Bolliger & Mabillard hyper coaster will be the fastest and tallest coaster in the Orlando area.
June 11 — GhostRider, Knott's Berry Farm
Knott's signature wooden coaster is getting a retrack from Great Coasters International and new Millennium Flyer trains.
June 13 — Lightning Rod, Dollywood
Built by Rocky Mountain Construction, Lightning Rod is the world's first launched wooden roller coaster.
June 16 — Shanghai Disneyland
Disney's 12th theme park might be its most ambitious to date. One of its attractions will be a new version of the Soarin' movie, which also will debut at Epcot and Disney California Adventure the next day.
June 17 — Cobra's Curse, Busch Gardens Tampa
This new Mack spinning family coaster will feature a vertical lift.
June 17 — Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular, Disney's Hollywood Studios
This new fireworks show will add projection mapping of scenes, characters and locations from the Star Wars films.
June 21 — Frozen Ever After, Epcot
The Norway pavilion's Maelstrom gets its Anna-and-Elsa-and-friends overlay.
June 23 (Media preview) — Skull Island: Reign of Kong, Universal's Islands of Adventure
Universal Orlando is plussing Hollywood's King Kong 360 3-D with an elaborate setting and an encounter with an animatronic Kong.
July 2 — Mickey and the Magician, Walt Disney Studios Park
This new musical production replaces Animagique.
July 9 — Out of the Shadow Land, Tokyo DisneySea
This original musical will play in a new theater in the Lost River Delta.
Summer — Iron Man Experience, Hong Kong Disneyland
Disney's first Marvel-themed ride will be a 3D simulator-driven adventure.
Summer — Incredible Hulk Coaster, Universal's Islands of Adventure
Universal is rebuilding its iconic launch coaster.
October — motiongate Dubai
the flagship of the new Dubai Parks and Resorts, motiongate Dubai will be a movie-themed park with franchises from DreamWorks, Lionsgate, and Sony, including The Hunger Games, Underworld, Ghostbusters, Zombieland, The Green Hornet, Hotel Transylvania, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, The Smurfs, Shrek, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda, and How to Train Your Dragon.
Unknown — Rivers of Light, Disney's Animal Kingdom
Animal Kingdom's new nighttime spectacular will play on the Discovery River, between Discovery Island and Expedition Everest.
Which new attractions are you most looking forward to experiencing in person?
TweetThese dates are completely unofficial, but I've heard the following information from reliable sources about the regional So Cal projects:
New Revolution (Six Flags Magic Mountain): The park is shooting to have this ride open on May 9th, the actual 40th anniversary of the coaster. At the moment, they are on schedule, but if we got another bit of bad weather this could possibly be delayed.
GhostRider (Knott's Berry Farm): The ride is supposed to open by Memorial Day weekend, with the possibility of passholder previews earlier in May. The rest of the 2016 Knott's additions (Ghost Town Alive, the new shows, etc.) will all begin Memorial Day weekend as well. The Chicken Dinner Restaurant is supposed to reopen sometime in May.
Also, let's hurry up and start betting money right now on how many complaints about Disney there will be on this thread.
I am most excited for Rivers of Light. I assume it would be similar to World of Color. That would be great for Animal Kingdom
I am worried that expectations for Kong are wildly exceeding what the ride will deliver. It will be a great attraction, but it's not going to be a 10-minute-plus, Pirates-style ride.
Elsewhere in Europe, Phantasialand's new coaster Tarok looks ace. They've been on brilliant form of late with new attractions, and it looks like this one will be no different. And Hansa Park given a significant amount of time to theming up last year's new coaster Karnan, which will be interesting to see.
From the list above... I cannot wait for Rivers of Light. Delighted that it'll be running in time for my next visit.
Far too many screen based attractions now.
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Overall, this list is a good one, and for once I am far more excited about attractions being built by folks not named "Disney" or "Universal"! (Although, to be honest, Shanghai Disneyland really is the most exciting opening on this list, bar none - it is just too far away for me to consider it a realistic stopping point for the Rao family).