Christmas | Amusing the Zillion

Posts Tagged ‘Christmas’

Holiday Videos of Parks & Attractions Around the World

Posted in video, tagged Christmas, Europa Park, Hellmans Drengar, Kennywood, Liseberg, Lotte World, Merry Christmas, San Diego Zoo, St Lucia's Day, Walt Disney World, Weeki Wachee Mermaids on December 25, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Merry Christmas from Amusing the Zillion! Here’s our holiday compilation of videos showing seasonal celebrations at parks and attractions around the world. Among the wonderful and sometimes wacky gems are the Christmas Parade at Seoul’s Lotte World, the world’s largest indoor theme park; a choral group singing while riding a roller coaster at Sweden’s Liseberg; and the mermaids at Florida’s Weeki Wachee Springs trimming their underwater tree.

The Mermaid show at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park in Spring Hills, Florida, is presented daily, including Christmas. This year’s “Elf on a Shelf” music video was created by Merstar and Andrew Brusso.

The underwater entertainment at South Korea’s COEX Aquarium currently features Scuba Santa delivering presents to the fish.

Last week, Christmas came early to the San Diego Zoo. Polar bears Kalluk, Chinook, and Tatqiq got a gift of snow – 26 tons of it! The surprise snow was made possible by donors who contributed to the animal care wish list on the San Diego Zoo website, sandiegozoo.org. The bears, who came to the zoo as orphans, rolled around in the fresh powder and wrestled with each other all morning long. “This was a special day for the polar bears, and I could tell they really loved it,” said Susan Purtell, senior keeper, San Diego Zoo. “It was great seeing them roll around in the snow, showcasing their natural behaviors.”

In Pennsylvania, Kennywood’s annual Holiday Lights celebration, which concludes this weekend, includes a spin on the park’s 1926 Dentzel carousel. YouTube user 20th century Wurlitzer recorded the ride’s band organ, a 1916 Wurltizer #153, which is considered the oldest of its kind, playing Christmas music. Here’s “If It Doesn’t Snow On Christmas,” which is appropriate considering the warm temps in the Northeast.

One of the most popular feast days in Sweden leading up to Christmas is St. Lucia’s Day, when celebrants wear white garments and a wreath of candles and there are processions galore. This year, Hellmans Drengar, known as Sweden’s bravest men’s choir, probably broke the record for the world’s fastest St. Lucia procession. Their approach was a novel one: singing Lucia songs at 56 miles per hour, on the Balder roller coaster at Gothenberg’s Liseberg Park.

In Scandinavia, it is said that celebrating St. Lucia’s Day will help one thrive during the long winter days with enough light. Christmas at Liseberg runs through December 30.

At Germany’s Europa Park, the Winter Wonderland celebration continues through January 10th. The park is elaborately themed for the winter season, with Yule logs ablaze on ice floes, sleigh rides, parades, and a Christmas Market. The park’s Giant Wheel is dressed in candy cane colors and the Eurosat roller coaster is beribboned in red.

Last but not least, from Walt Disney World in Orlando, here’s a magical time lapse video of the resort’s famed Christmas parade and fireworks.

Photo of the Day: Ferris Wheel in CO Bigelow Christmas Window

Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged Christmas, Christmas Window, CO Bigelow, Ferris wheel, Greenwich Village, Holiday windows, holidays on December 7, 2015| 4 Comments »

Holiday window at Bigelow Pharmacy in the Village. December 6, 2015. Photo © Tricia Vita

On Sixth Avenue in the Village is C.O. Bigelow Chemists, established 1838, where you can get not only your Rx but the most wonderful perfumes and toiletries. The Washington Square Arch is in one of its holiday windows and a Ferris Wheel is in the other. It brings to mind the last time we saw an actual Ferris Wheel in the Village. Our Lady of Pompeii Church on Carmine Street had a street fair in the 1970s and ’80s with an Eli Wheel that let riders peer into upper story windows. Those were the days! Let us know if you spot any amusement park rides or circuses in holiday windows this season.

Photo of the Day: Coney’s Parachute Jump & Wonder Wheel Lit for Holidays

Posted in Photo of the Day, Photography, tagged Bruce Handy, Christmas, Christmas lights, Deno's Wonder Wheel Park, Holiday lights, light show, Luna Park, Parachute Jump, Wonder Wheel on December 28, 2014| Leave a Comment »

This strikingly beautiful photo of two Coney Island landmarks illuminated for the holidays was taken by Bruce Handy on Christmas Eve 2013. Though the Wonder Wheel appears to be superimposed on the Parachute Jump, there’s no Photoshop trickery here. It’s precisely what the photographer saw that night. “I walked out the door of my apartment house and turned the corner and nearly fainted at the sight,” Bruce tells ATZ. “It was a Christmas Eve miracle. A complete surprise. The photo can only be taken from that exact spot.”

Ever since The Parachute Jump’s dazzling 8,000 LEDs debuted in 2013, the landmark tower’s light show has continued nightly. Specially programmed lighting schemes have paid tribute to the two slain NYPD officers, raised awareness for childhood cancer, and celebrated holidays such as the Fourth of July and Christmas. On New Year’s Eve, the Jump’s LEDs will ring in 2015 with a simulated “ball drop” and light show.

The annual tradition of putting a lighted cross atop the Wonder Wheel during the Christmas season began in 1945 to mark the end of World War II and the troops return home. During the war years, Coney Island was dark after sundown because of “dim-out” and “blackout” regulations to protect shipping from being silhouetted for the enemy by the glare from the shore. The new LED cross was made by DJ Vourderis, whose family has owned Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park for more than 30 years.