Here are today’s 13 verified theme park & live event stories, covering Theme Parks & Roller Coasters, Stadiums & Arenas and Live Music & Venues.
Every item below links to its original source.
The TLDR
- Theme Parks & Roller Coasters: EPIC Entertainment Group Caps 10th Anniversary With Busy Holiday Season
- Stadiums & Arenas: Denver’s Ball Arena Gets a $135 Million Renovation
- Live Music & Venues: Kenny Chesney Adds Second Gillette Stadium Night for 2027 Tour
Theme Parks & Roller Coasters
EPIC Entertainment Group Caps 10th Anniversary With Busy Holiday Season
Themed-entertainment producer EPIC Entertainment Group is closing out its 10th anniversary year with a packed fall-to-winter slate, according to blooloop. The company is behind Hersheypark’s Dark Nights, now in its fifth year, plus new holiday installations at Hotel del Coronado running November 22 through January 3 and seasonal work at the Santa Monica Pier’s Funhouse and Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. Managing partner Steve Sheldon called the scale of this year’s season ‘especially exciting’ as the company caps a decade in business.
LEGOLAND California Hosts Ronald McDonald House Families for Brick or Treat
LEGOLAND California Resort partnered with Merlin’s Magic Wand to host more than 200 guests from Ronald McDonald House Southern California during the opening weekend of its Brick or Treat event on September 19, according to Amusement Today. The visit, timed to Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, gave families affected by childhood cancer access to the Carlsbad, California park’s new Brick or Treat Street, which features six life-sized LEGO monster houses and a 17-foot LEGO Halloween tree.
Adventureland’s Phantom Fall Fest Opens Sept. 26 With Oversized New Haunt
Adventureland’s Phantom Fall Fest returns for its fifth season on September 26 at the Altoona, Iowa park, headlined by a new haunted house called MALICE: Jabberwocky’s Revenge, Amusement Today reports. The Alice in Wonderland-themed attraction uses oversized furniture to make guests feel shrunken down as they wind through a reimagined version of the rabbit hole. The festival runs five haunted houses and four scare zones alongside daytime trick-or-treating and other family activities.
Muppets Merchandise and Kermit Mug Set Debut on Disney Store
Disney Store has added three Muppets-themed shirts from RSVLTS and a set of 50th-anniversary Kermit mugs and coasters, WDWNT reports. The shirts, priced at $72 each, feature the Swedish Chef, Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, and the full Muppets cast, while the $34.99 mug-and-coaster sets also come in Rowlf, Sam Eagle, and Scooter designs marking The Muppet Show’s 50th anniversary.
New Holiday Ornaments Land at Disneyland Resort
Disneyland Resort has rolled out a new lineup of holiday ornaments featuring Mickey and Minnie, Stitch, Tinker Bell, and park attractions like it’s a small world, priced between $22.99 and $34.99, according to WDWNT. The porcelain and glass pieces, spotted at Plaza Point in Disneyland Park, include a Stitch-with-Dole-Whip design, with some of the same designs also appearing at Walt Disney World.
Tulleys Farm Sets Pumpkin Festival Record, Opens Christmas Bookings
Tulleys Farm in West Sussex, England, opened its Pumpkin Festival to its largest opening-day crowd yet on September 19, spanning more than 100 acres and roughly 1.5 million pumpkins and gourds, Park World reports. Days later, the farm also opened bookings for its Christmas season, Park World reports separately, with specific dates and packages still to be detailed on the farm’s website.
Five Six Flags Parks Named Among America’s Most ‘Overrated’ Attractions
A new ranking from luggage-storage company Stasher named five Six Flags parks — Great Adventure, Great America, Over Georgia, Fiesta Texas, and New England — along with Legoland Florida among America’s most ‘overrated’ attractions, Attractions Magazine reports. Stasher based the list on Tripadvisor ratings below 4.0 out of 5 paired with high online visibility across Wikipedia, TikTok, and Instagram.
‘Back to the Future’ Returning to Theaters in 4DX for One Day
‘Back to the Future’ is returning to theaters for one day only on October 21 — Back to the Future Day on the film’s own calendar — with 4DX and D-Box screenings at Regal, AMC, and Cinemark, Attractions Magazine reports. The motion-enabled formats add synchronized seat movement and environmental effects like wind and water to the 1985 film’s DeLorean and skateboard chase scenes.
Stadiums & Arenas
Denver’s Ball Arena Gets a $135 Million Renovation
Kroenke Sports & Entertainment announced last week that it will spend $135 million renovating Ball Arena in downtown Denver, home to the NBA’s Nuggets, NHL’s Avalanche, and NLL’s Mammoth, Coliseum reports. The phased project adds a new glass-fronted entrance and atrium, widened concourses, upgraded point-of-sale technology, and three new premium clubs, with the arena remaining open for games and concerts throughout construction. The work is targeted for completion in time for the 2028-29 season.
Belmont Park Racecourse Reopens After Three-Year Rebuild
Belmont Park’s racecourse on Long Island, New York reopened for a three-day opening weekend beginning September 18 following a three-year renovation, Sports Venue Business reports. New York Governor Kathy Hochul joined NYRA officials for the ribbon-cutting at the new five-story, 300,000-square-foot grandstand, which replaces the track’s 1968 structure and adds its first-ever tunnels for fan access to the infield. The rebuild follows a similar modernize-the-classics approach we’ve seen at historic ovals like our previously covered Martinsville Speedway.
Live Music & Venues
Kenny Chesney Adds Second Gillette Stadium Night for 2027 Tour
Kenny Chesney has added a second night at Gillette Stadium — August 27, 2027 — to his Original Vibe Room Tour 2027, citing ‘incredible demand’ following the previously announced August 28 date, Pollstar reports. The 68,000-capacity Foxborough, Massachusetts stadium will host Eric Church, Sheryl Crow, and Greylan James as support, with general public tickets going on sale September 25.
NCT 127 Kicks Off 10th-Anniversary Tour With Sold-Out Seoul Shows
NCT 127 opened their 10th-anniversary ‘Neo City: The Redline’ tour with a sold-out three-show run in Seoul, Billboard reports. The tour, performed by the group’s five-member lineup, continues across Asia through January 2027 with stops including Jakarta, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Bangkok.
Reeperbahn Festival Reports Growth in International Reach
Reeperbahn Festival’s 2026 industry conference in Hamburg drew 5,500 industry participants and 420 international speakers, up from 5,000 attendees and 350 international speakers in 2025, organizers said after the event closed on September 19, IQ Magazine reports. The 21st edition combined conference programming with concert showcases, continuing the festival’s growth as an international platform — echoing the cross-border concert scene we’ve covered at venues like Royal Arena in Copenhagen.
Explore more: Martinsville Speedway, The Fillmore Miami Beach, Royal Arena in Copenhagen.
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Photo: Alberto Pascual / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.