The developers of that new Mattel theme park near Phoenix have released additional details about the project, including confirmation that the park will open in 2024.
Mattel Adventure Park will include two Hot Wheels-themed roller coasters and a full-scale Barbie Beach House when it opens in the VAI Resort just south of State Farm Stadium in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale next year. The mostly-indoor nine-acre park will be open 365 days a year, making it a year-round destination.
"Mattel Adventure Park is an amazing opportunity to bring our beloved brands to life," Julie Freeland, Senior Director of Global Location Based Entertainment at Mattel, said. "Construction is underway and substantial progress has been made on what will give fans of all ages a day of thrills and nostalgia. We’re especially excited for families to experience the Hot Wheels Bone Shaker rollercoaster – a dream come true for any Hot Wheels fan."
Hot Wheels Bone Shaker: The Ultimate Ride will be an 84-foot-tall Chance Rides Family Coaster, featuring the hot rod skull design on its trains. The park's other coaster will be Hot Wheels Twin Mill Racer, a Chance Rides Hyper GT-X Coaster with a double loop and two corkscrews, making it a more extreme version of its sister coaster Kentucky Kingdom's Lightning Run.
Though the coasters will run outdoors, they will load inside the air-conditioned park.
Building off the current popularity of the Barbie franchise, the park's Barbie Beach House will feature the Barbie Dream Closet Experience, which will use hologram-like technology to bring the iconic character to life. The Beach House also will offer a rooftop bar and restaurant with views of the park.
Other attractions in the Mattel Adventure Park will include:
Stay tuned over the months ahead for more details about this new theme park. For those updates and more theme park news, please sign up for Theme Park Insider's weekly newsletter.
Obviously this development is going to benefit from some impeccable timing with the massive popularity of the Barbie movie and Hot Wheels TV show on NBC.
The way this is being described, it sounds like a place where guests pay for each attraction individually with perhaps a pricey all-inclusive all-day pass.
The Castle Grayskull laser tag arena sounds like fun, but I can't say that I have a lot of experience with Chance coasters to tell whether those will be any good. Overall this sounds pretty thin on attractions, but in a region that has desperately needed some type of theme/amusement park for a long time.
I am working on a post for later this week that asks if Mattel should have gone with an established theme park chain to boost its themed entertainment presence, or if going it alone like this was the company's best choice.
At least a lot indoors as Phoenix isn't actually known for fun times outside....
I think this will be successful in the area...(Similar to how Adventuredome does well in Vegas).
Add in the inevitable holiday Christmas & Halloween "events", and it seems like local crowds will keep this afloat.
The Barbie bar/restaurant alone could make this a success.
Here’s hoping they don’t skimp on the chance for some sort of Barbie-cue related punnery when the menu is unveiled
Lightning Run at Kentucky Kingdom is an awesome coaster and I'm thrilled to see Chance getting another crack at their Hyper GT-X model, which should have taken off and didn't. I agree with others, the park sounds like a good time for the local crowd.
@Robert: 100 percent agreed about the Barbie bar/restaurant. That was the first thing in the post that made me pause — in a good way.
Something new is good
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The Hot Wheels stuff certainly has me excited. It's good to hear some news from this park as it is within a few hours drive from where I live. I hope they also plan on allowing some space for future possible expansion. Also, it being open year round is great news as Phoenix is wonderful from October-March when similar attractions around the country are closed. Looking forward to checking it out for myself.