From a major new European rollercoaster to the final countdown for Universal's newest theme park, it has been another busy week across the attractions industry.
Nigloland has revealed the biggest investment in its history, Universal Kids Resort is preparing to welcome its first guests in Texas, Gröna Lund has unveiled a highly interactive new dark ride and Parc Astérix is getting ready to light up the summer sky.
Here are the biggest theme park stories from the past seven days.
Nigloland Reveals Its Biggest Attraction Yet
The biggest coaster announcement of the week came from Nigloland, with the French park revealing Supersonic 1887 for its 40th anniversary in 2027.
The €18 million attraction will be a custom Mack Rides launch coaster combining forward and backward travel across a shuttle-style layout. It will reach a height of 47 metres and a top speed of 91 km/h.
Although the physical track will measure 355 metres, riders will travel approximately 770 metres as the train passes through sections of the layout in both directions.
Supersonic 1887 will include three launch sections, creating six acceleration sequences during the full experience. It will also feature three inversions and six moments of airtime, with more than half of the layout positioned above water.
The trains are another particularly interesting part of the project. Riders will be able to choose between traditional seats and outward-facing floorless wing seats, creating two noticeably different ways to experience the coaster.
For Nigloland, this feels like much more than another ride. It is a statement attraction designed to place the independent French park more firmly on the European coaster map.
Read our full Supersonic 1887 breakdown
Universal Kids Resort Prepares to Open in Texas
Universal's newest theme park is now just days away from welcoming its first official guests.
Universal Kids Resort is scheduled to open in Frisco, Texas, on 1 July 2026. Unlike Universal's larger destination parks, the new resort has been designed specifically around families with younger children.
The park brings together themed areas inspired by Shrek, Puss in Boots, Trolls, SpongeBob SquarePants, Minions, Gabby's Dollhouse and Jurassic World.
Rather than relying on major thrill rides, the experience focuses on smaller family attractions, interactive play, character encounters, splash areas and live entertainment.
Among the headline experiences are Jurassic World: Cretaceous Coaster, the Barnacle Bus Ride in Bikini Bottom and Swings Over Del Mar in the Puss in Boots area.
The resort also includes a 300-room hotel designed with families in mind, placing accommodation directly alongside the park.
Universal Kids Resort is an interesting step for the company. It is smaller and more targeted than Epic Universe or Universal's established destination resorts, but it could open the Universal brand to families whose children are not yet ready for its larger rides.
Gröna Lund Announces SCORE! for 2027
Sweden's Gröna Lund has unveiled SCORE!, a new interactive dark ride due to open in 2027.
The family attraction will take guests into a fictional underground archive beneath the historic amusement park, where riders will become part of an interactive gaming experience.
SCORE! will use eight trackless ride vehicles guided by radar-based positioning technology. Each vehicle will carry six riders and will be able to move, turn and reverse through the attraction.
Every guest will receive a laser blaster, allowing the full vehicle to compete for points as it travels through the themed environments.
The attraction is being developed with Jora Vision and represents an investment of SEK 205 million.
For a compact park such as Gröna Lund, where space is always at a premium, an indoor trackless experience makes a great deal of sense. It also gives the park a substantial family attraction that does not depend on height, speed or outdoor weather conditions.
The gaming element could also make SCORE! highly repeatable, particularly if different vehicle movements or scoring opportunities create a slightly different experience on each ride.
Parc Astérix Plans a Huge New Nighttime Show
Parc Astérix is preparing for an expanded summer season with a new nighttime spectacular combining drones, lasers, water effects, projections and fireworks.
Astérix et la Potion d'Étoile will feature more than 350 drones, alongside dozens of water jets, pyrotechnic effects and a large projection screen formed across the surface of the park's lake.
The show will bring characters and scenes from the Astérix stories to life using a mixture of modern technology and an original soundtrack.
It is due to debut as part of the park's Gallic Summer season, which runs from 11 July until 30 August 2026. Parc Astérix will remain open until 10pm during the event period.
Nighttime spectaculars are becoming increasingly important for European theme parks. They encourage guests to remain in the park later, create a stronger finale to the day and give parks something new to promote without needing to build another major ride.
Parc Astérix already has one of Europe's strongest attraction line-ups, and this new show could make its summer offering feel considerably more complete.
Looking Ahead
The coming days should be particularly interesting as Universal Kids Resort officially opens and guests begin sharing their first full experiences from the completed park.
Meanwhile, the announcements from Nigloland and Gröna Lund show how ambitious independent and regional European parks continue to be. Neither project is simply filling a gap in the attraction line-up. Both have been designed to give their parks something distinctive.
Supersonic 1887 is likely to remain one of the most closely watched European coaster projects heading into 2027, while SCORE! could provide a very different kind of headline attraction for one of Scandinavia's best-known amusement parks.
That is all for this week's roundup. Check back throughout the week for the latest theme park news, attraction announcements and development updates from the UK and around the world.
