The distinctive shape of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is already visible with its thin layer of fake snow covering it.

The twenty-acre amusement destination is scheduled for an early spring launch. The park, which is believed to have cost as much as £160 million, is part of the Universal Orlando Resort in Florida.

Upon visiting The Potter theme park, guests will have the opportunity to experience popular elements of the renowned story such as a tour of the Hogwarts Castle, a stop at Ollivander’s wand shop and even the one-in-a-life-time chance to taste some butter beer.

The opening of the theme park will be followed by the launch half-a-year later of the last film in the series, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows in November.

When arriving at the park, guest will be welcomed by the familiar whistle which announces the Hogsmeade Station when the Hogwarts Express arrives in the movies.

The centre piece of the new theme destination will be a cluster of three roller-coaster rides. Universal have promised to keep secret details of what it calls its best and biggest park attraction. Web-based Harry Potter fan sites have rumoured that the secret is Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, a hi-tech experience located inside the Hodgwarts Castle which features the similarity to the characters in the series.

Meanwhile, it was revealed recently that the teenage Harry Potter actress Emma Watson, who portrays Hermione in the series, has received the accolade of the highest-paid female star in Hollywood in a poll carried out by American entertainment magazine Vanity Fair.

The nineteen-year-old actress, who now represents top brand names in fashion campaigns, is believed to have earned more than  $30m (£19m) in 2009.

A Jackson family museum is already included in the plans, as well as a 300-room hotel and a performing arts centre. These are all scheduled to go up on some 100 acres of city-owned land in Gary, Indiana, birthplace of the Jackson family, said project promoter Odie Anderson.

Anderson said that everything is still going through planning stages at the moment, although things are moving rapidly and construction is expected to kickoff sometime in 2010.

The project is very likely to be constructed in phases, with the initial facet of the concept being the museum, hotel and arts center, which would be followed by theme park and the golf course.

Promoters have estimated the total project cost at $1 billion and that constructions would be spread through a decade.

To finance the project, Anderson said he was looking for tax incentives from the town of Gary, adding that the majority of the bill would be covered by private donors.

He refused to reveal how much money he managed to raise since October, when Mayor of Gary Rudy Clay unveiled two foundations to raise funds for the project.

Promoters have revealed that they’re tinkering with idea of constructing a replica ot the Jackson family home or to simply bus visitors to and from the real house.

Orcestrator, the proposed new tourist park, was seen as an opportunity to pull in thousands of tourists which would have come to the destination to experience the life styles of Vikings. Visitors could sleep in thatched-roof huts or long houses, enjoy feasting as well as drink mead.

Theme park staff would adorn period dress, thus playing the role of historical characters and lead guests through an imaginary land built in Durham, on a 250-acre parcel of land.

The planned park calls for the site to be divided into themed sections each representing a different element:  fire, water, earth and wind.

The dark-age them park was intended to assist in the funding of a multi-million pound redevelopment project at East Durham College’s Houghall campus, which is the proprietor of the land.

However, project supporters have now threatened to retract their participation unless administrators at East Durham College abandon their demands for them to make a deposit of £250,000 for the site.

Bruce Murray, the managing director of the proposed theme park, claimed that college bosses were forcing him to make other plans in terms of sites. He said he had no choice but to consider other locations. He added that unless they would make some kind of favourable movement, backers would pull out.

However, East Durham College principal Ian Prescott insisted that a deposit represented the normal procedure in such a case and that the asking price was fair.

Mr Prescott said that the college had been clear from the beginning about the deposit, adding that the school was a government body and like any other such institutions, a deposit is required in order to go ahead.

He said that the college would love to see the Orcestrator being developed because they they believe it’s a great project.

One way that amusement parks apparently enjoy competing with each other is with the size and quality of their roller coasters; they simply keep getting larger and scarier every year, with roller coasters that get bigger and scarier every year. Indeed, America is chock full of these spinning, twisting, speeding and especially gut wrenching metal giants.

But if everything goes according to plan, it would appear that Americans are about to getting beaten at their own game.

For the promising 2010 summer season of fun and games, a little known—at least to the Yanks—theme park and resort located in Staffordshire, England, is launching what it has baptized the planet’s first Psychoaster.

The biggest theme park in the United Kingdom, Alton Towers Resort, is at this very moment in the process of putting the final touches on its new beast,Thirteen, a towering roller coaster which promises to instill such psychological and physical fears and to generate such an intense experience that it will limit the rides to those aged between 16 and 55. Furthermore, all able bodied nutcase who will want to hop on this terrifying ride will have to sign a release, thus relieving all responsibility from the theme park.

Alton Towers Resort is claiming legal reasons for this restriction. The company actually wants to protect itself from the likelihood of causing death or serious mental distress by simply operating this monster.

Arlida Ariff, president and chief executive officer of Iskandar Investment Berhad (IIB), said the 26 hectares (62.4 acres) theme park located in the state of Johor, which neighbours Singapore, is now on track for an April 2012 unveiling.

According to Ms Ariff, the choice of Legoland was very deliberate. She said that Universal Studios’ planned theme park in Singapore will be for young adults, while the one in Johor will be for entire families. She added that the two will compliment each other rather than compete with each other.

Malaysia’s Legoland destination will be the first of all Asia.

IIB is an investment holding firm associated with the 17.7 billion ringgit Iskandar Development Region (IDR) infrastructure project in Johor.

Launched in November 2006, the IDR is said to be 2.5 times the surface area of Singapore once completed. The project will include up-market homes, a waterfront city, a logistics hub, a medical hub as well as an educational city.

Merlin Entertainments signed an agreement with IIB in 2008. Merlin operates a variety of attractions all over the world including Madame Tussauds, Sea Life and Legoland.

Merlin Entertainments is scheduled to design and operate the Lego attraction of which it will have a 20 percent stake, with a IIB lead consortium owning the remainder.

The Lego theme park will showcase 40 interactive rides, attractions and shows aimed at families with kids between two and 12 years of age.

The entertainment giant is offering kids who are having their birthday between now and Christmas free entry to the Disneyland theme park in California.

The most famous mouse in the world is celebrating his 81st birthday.

Mickey, who is the brainchild of Walt Disney, burst onto screens in a cartoon episode called Steam Boat Willie on November 18, 1928, despite being previously turned down by serveral film producers who believed that the now cute and clever cartoon character was at the time too simple to tickle children’s imagination.

Eight decades after his launch, Mickey has garnished such immense success that he has evolved to be the world’s most famous cartoon character and is the iconic branding of all Disney theme parks in the world.

California’s Disneyland theme park is presently giving kids free admission as long as they are celebrating their own birthday until the end of the year upon visiting the theme park.

Mickey enthusiasts who are planning a day at the park need to pre-register by visiting the Disneyland website. The special offer will end on December 31 2009.

The entertainment company is also offering a vacation at Walt Disney World in Orlando of 14 nights for the price of seven, when reserving a Premium package before the end of 2009. This package includes park access ass well as all the rides as long as it’s booked prior to December 23. To get more information and view all the details, please visit the Walt Disney World website.

For those who might considering a trip to France, a free ’stay and play’ for kids aged under seven is on offer at Disneyland Paris until January 2nd 2010 with every adult lodging reserved at the park. For more details about this offer, please visit: www.disneylandparis.com.

From an eight-square-mile heavily guarded patch of land, called Hacienda Napoles, in the middle of the South American jungle, the king of cocaine ran a drug empire which once made him the world’s 10th wealthiest man.

By 1989, Pablo Escobar had bombed governments, was believed to have murdered about 4,000 people and had control over 80% of all the cocaine sold on the planet.

But after the 1993 police raid and shootout which killed the narcotic mastermind, his estate fell into ruins.

Today, his lush country property is being put back into shape and tourists are queuing to experience a bit of the man through the surreal theme park which has been created in his honour.

Despite being notoriously violent, Escobar spent much of his millions on converting his estate into a private fantasy land.

Visitors must pay £5 to tour the property which features a bullfighting ring, huge concrete dinosaurs and a zoo housing elephants, giraffes, kangaroos and even hippos.

Numerous references to the drug lord litter the park, such as wanted posters, burnt-out luxury cars and his bullet-hole-riddled mansion.

The park even features the small plane his runners used to enter drugs into the United States.

Every year, an estimated 50,000 visitors pass the gates of Hacienda Napoles to come to see what is left of the one the locals nicknamed ‘El Patron’ (The Boss).

Escobar was said to have had a real passion for exotic animals, so much so that the park and the surrounding jungle now boasts the largest population of hippos outside Africa.

Escobar was gunned down and killed in 1993 by US backed Colombian police officers on the top of a building in the nearby city of Medellin.

In a bizarre related event, Pablo Escobar’s son is now asking forgiveness for murders committed by his father.

Absent from the public eye for 15 years, Sebastian Marroquin, formerly known as Juan Pablo Escobar, as been living and working as an architect in Argentina. He changed his name following the death of his father in 1993 in a bid to avoid confusion and problems.

Escobar’s son is featured in “Sins of My Father,” a film premiering later this month in Amsterdam and Argentina. In the documentary, Marroquin asks forgiveness from the sons of two politicians who were ordered assassinated by his father.

In Beijing earlier today, Communist Party officials finally ended years of speculation by approving Disney’s long-awaited first amusement park to be built in mainland China.

The announcement comes less than 14 days prior to US President Barack Obama’s first official visit to China, which is scheduled to begin on November 15 in Shanghai.

The announcement follows 10 years of seesawing negotiations between the Shanghai authorities and Disney which showed the difficulties which foreign media companies face when trying to gain a foothold in the country in order to reach 1.3 billion Chinese.

Such entertainment ventures have become particularly attractive thanks to rising incomes in China as wealthier families search for new ways to pamper their kids, most of them born under China’s policy of “one couple, one child”.

Walt Disney officials said The Project Application Report (PAR) for a new theme park in Shanghai has been awarded approval from the central government of China authorities. The theme park will be built in the Pudong district of the city.

Pudong is Shanghai’s new business heart where several skyscrapers have risen in the last decade alongside a multitude of apartment complexes. A Disney theme park would certainly contribute to inject life into this rather soulless ocean of offices and shopping malls and may even rekindle the fortunes of Shanghai which is facing tough competition from several other urban centres in China.

No budget or schedule for the theme park construction has been revealed. But when speculations of an agreement spread this week, the US entertainment giant was said to be investing $US3.6 billion for a 10-square-kilometre theme park.

Mr. Lewis said that once completed the building will have a total area of almost two million square feet.

At about 65% completed, the attraction is scheduled to be finished sometime in 2010, but it’s far enough along to host gigs by Aerosmith, Kings of Leon and Jamiroquai, which are part of this year’s celebrations at Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Keith James, a Cincinnati-based Jack Rouse Associates and designer of the Ferrari theme park’s attractions, said the roof of the building looks like the largest Ferrari logo in the world.

He said that the prancing horse and the red building are clearly visible from planes taking off from the nearby Abu Dhabi international airport.  He added that their aim had been to capture the essence of the image of Ferrari and avoiding being too literal.

The theme park which is located on Yas Island, is only a short drive away from the city of Abu Dhabi thanks to a new 10-lane highway. The park also incorporates both theme park attractions, which features a roller coaster, and an immense retail mall housing 700 shops.

Mr. James said that roller coaster enthusiasts will experience an intense two minutes as they sit in copies of Formula One Ferraris. He said the coaster could reach a whopping 150 miles per hour, but can also be operated at much lower speeds.

Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi is the famous luxury car manufacturer’s first theme park, although the company has already launched a Ferrari retail store in Dubai.

Both James and Lewis said the automaker was greatly involved in the planning for Ferrari World. Ferrari management said via a statement that Ferrari World Abu Dhabi will offer over 20 state-of-the-art attractions, each created to highlight a different part of the Ferrari idea.

Universal Orlando, which is a partnership between by the Blackstone Group and NBC Universal, said this week that the legendary film creator and now theme park consultant Steven Spielberg had ok-ed the postponement of a buyout option in his contract until at least 2017.

It is unknown what Universal offered Spielberg to convince him to remain in place. It is believed that he is set to receive at least extra “considerations” in respect to future Universal amusement parks in Dubai, Singapore and two other undisclosed locations.

Spielberg’s consulting contract was already extremely generous: he gets nearly 2% of gross receipts in perpetuity—really… for ever– from the Universal amusement parks Japan and Florida.

It’s been rumoured that in Florida alone, the deal generates an annual $20 million for the film director. His income stemming from this park is set to increase, due to the arrival of the Harry Potter attraction next spring which will surely boost the popularity of the site.

Under the terms of the contract, which was due to end in June 2010, Spielberg could have asked the entertainment giant to buy his stake in the business at any point in time afterwards. This would represent hundreds of millions of dollars.

Faced with the difficult task of producing this kind of cash, Universal Orlando managed to negotiate an extension of the option to buy during the summer. Spielberg is reported to have made the company wait until August, wanting to deal with such matters only upon returning from his holiday.