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tz
/ July 15, 2026
The Oregon Zoo sits in Portland’s Washington Park, just two miles southwest of downtown, and holds the distinction of being the oldest zoo west of the Mississippi River, tracing its roots back to 1888. Owned and operated by the regional government Metro since 1976, the
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tz
/ July 15, 2026
Denver Zoo opened in 1896 in City Park with a single black bear cub, growing into one of the oldest zoological institutions in the western United States. Now operating as the Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance, it sits on an 80-acre campus and cares for more
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tz
/ July 15, 2026
The Dallas Zoo is Texas’s oldest and largest zoological park, sitting on 106 acres in Marsalis Park just three miles south of downtown Dallas. Founded in 1888, the zoo has grown from a small municipal menagerie into a major AZA-accredited institution that draws more than
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tz
/ July 15, 2026
Lightning Racer is a wooden dueling roller coaster at Hersheypark in Hershey, Pennsylvania, built by Great Coasters International (GCI) and designed by GCI’s Mike Boodley. Planning began in 1999, and the $12.5 million ride opened to the public on May 13, 2000, inside the park’s
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tz
/ July 15, 2026
Candymonium is a steel hypercoaster at Hersheypark in Hershey, Pennsylvania, built by Swiss manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard. It opened on July 3, 2020, as the centerpiece of the park’s Chocolatetown expansion, and immediately claimed the title of tallest, fastest, and longest coaster in Hersheypark history.
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tz
/ July 14, 2026
The Metropolitan Opera House has stood at 30 Lincoln Center Plaza on Manhattan’s Upper West Side since it officially opened on September 16, 1966. Designed by architect Wallace K. Harrison as the centerpiece of the newly built Lincoln Center complex, the fan-shaped auditorium replaced the
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tz
/ July 14, 2026
The Palais Garnier is a grand 19th-century opera house on the Place de l’Opéra in Paris’s 9th arrondissement, designed by architect Charles Garnier and opened on January 5, 1875. Built during the reign of Napoleon III in a lavish, eclectic style that blends Baroque, Renaissance,
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tz
/ July 14, 2026
The Fort Worth Zoo opened in 1909 with just a handful of animals — a lion, bear cubs, an alligator, a coyote, a peacock, and some rabbits — housed at Trinity Park. More than a century later, it has grown into one of the most
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tz
/ July 14, 2026
The Houston Zoo sits inside Hermann Park near downtown Houston, Texas, and has welcomed visitors since it first opened in 1922 with a single deer pen donated to the city. Over the following century it grew into one of the most visited zoos in the
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tz
/ July 14, 2026
Brookfield Zoo opened on July 1, 1934, in Brookfield, Illinois, just outside Chicago, and quickly became known for reshaping how American zoos presented animals. Rather than lining up cages, the zoo used moats, ditches, and naturalistic barriers to separate visitors from wildlife, an approach that
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tz
/ July 14, 2026
Summit Canyon, Water World’s biggest expansion since 1986, officially opened to guests on July 16, 2026 at 10:30 a.m., giving the Federal Heights park its first drop-capsule waterslide and its tallest structure ever. The 2.5-acre zone was built on a $25 million public bond and
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tz
/ July 14, 2026
Teatro alla Scala, known simply as La Scala, is a neoclassical opera house in Piazza della Scala in Milan, Italy. Opened on August 3, 1778, and designed by architect Giuseppe Piermarini, it quickly became one of the most important venues in the world for opera,
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tz
/ July 14, 2026
Lincoln Park Zoo sits along Chicago’s lakefront in the neighborhood that shares its name, and it has welcomed visitors free of charge since it opened in 1868. That makes it one of the oldest zoos in the United States, predating most of the country’s major
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tz
/ July 14, 2026
The Saint Louis Zoo sits inside historic Forest Park in St. Louis, Missouri, and has been a fixture of the city since its founding in 1910, growing out of a flight cage built for the 1904 World’s Fair. Spanning roughly 90 acres, the zoo has
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tz
/ July 14, 2026
Great Bear is a steel inverted roller coaster at Hersheypark in Hershey, Pennsylvania, built by Swiss manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard with track design assistance from Werner Stengel’s engineering firm. When it opened on May 23, 1998, it became the first inverted looping coaster in the
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tz
/ July 14, 2026
Phoenix is a classic wooden roller coaster at Knoebels Amusement Resort in Elysburg, Pennsylvania, prized by enthusiasts as one of the best wooden coasters in the world. Its story didn’t start in Pennsylvania, though. Built in 1947 by designer Herbert Paul Schmeck and Philadelphia Toboggan
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tz
/ July 14, 2026
Europa-Park is a 95-hectare theme park in Rust, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, founded by Franz Mack and his son Roland and opened to its first visitors on July 12, 1975. Built as a showcase for the family’s ride-manufacturing business, Mack Rides, it grew from a modest site
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tz
/ July 13, 2026
Phantasialand is a theme park in Brühl, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, that opened on April 30, 1967, founded by dollmaker Richard Schmidt and businessman Gottlieb Löffelhardt. What began as a puppet theater with a handful of boat rides has grown into one of Europe’s most densely
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tz
/ July 13, 2026
Kraken is a steel floorless roller coaster at SeaWorld Orlando in Orlando, Florida, built by Swiss manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard and designed by Werner Stengel. It opened to the public on June 1, 2000, after a soft opening in late May of that year, and
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tz
/ July 13, 2026
Six Flags Over Texas opened Tormenta Rampaging Run this week, a Bolliger & Mabillard dive coaster that claims six world records and the distinction of being the first-ever “giga dive coaster” — a dive coaster standing between 300 and 399 feet tall. The ride officially
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