SpongeBob

UNIVERSAL has revealed further plans for yet another theme park which is due to open next year.

Set to open in Texas, America, Universal Kid’s Resort will be solely focused on children’s attractions.

The park will feature seven lands in total, all based on popular children’s shows and stories.

The lands will include Shrek’s Swamp, Puss in Boots Del Mar, Minions vs Minions: Bello Bay Club, Jurassic World Adventure Camp, TrollsFest, SpongeBob SquarePants Bikini Bottom and Isle of Curiosity.

Visitors will enter through the Isle of Curiosity where they will be able to meet Gabby from Gabby’s Dollhouse and enjoy a dance party together.

Then in Shrek’s world, which Universal describes as a “waterlogged paradise”, guests will be able to meet Shrek and Fiona, as well as grab a photo at the onion carriage.

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The land will have two interactive play areas as well – Shrek’s Swamp Rompin’ Stomp and Shrek’s Swamp Splash & Smash.

For kids who prefer Puss in Boots, they can meet the character themselves as well as Mama Luna and Perrito from Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.

The land will also have a series of carnival-themed games and concept arts suggest there will be a swing carousel.

One of the main attractions in the Minions land, where Yellow Minions battle Purple ones, will be a water ride that snakes around the world.

Onlookers can participate in the fun too, by using water pistols to spray those on the ride.

Aspiring paleontologists will get the opportunity to see a newly hatched baby dinosaur in the Jurassic World Adventure Camp as well as climb up Lookout Towers in a play area.

Concept art also reveals a rollercoaster and drop tower ride.

In the Trolls land, visitors can once again meet characters such as Poppy and Branch and experience two play areas – Poppy’s Playland and Trolls Critter Crawl.

In addition, some of the concept art shows that the land may also have a rollercoaster, hot air balloon-themed ride and a netted climbing area.

Heading ‘undersea’ to SpongeBob’s land, kids can head to Mussel Beach and also see SpongeBob’s iconic pineapple house.

Across the park, there will be multiple sensory gardens with different touch, sound and colour attractions as well.

For families looking to stay close-by, the theme park will have a colourfully-themed 300-room hotel.

Molly Murphy, president of Universal Creative said: “Universal Kids Resort embodies the spirit of igniting thrill that drives everything we create — designed to bring our youngest guests and families together through play, creativity, and beloved characters and stories.”

Brian Robinson, executive vice president and chief creative officer at Universal Creative said: “We envisioned this park through the unbridled creativity of kids where infinite imagination, curiosity and free-spirited play were core to our design philosophies.

“It produced a park that’s pure joy and an absolute celebration of what it is to be a kid.”

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In other family attraction news, a new theme park with world’s fastest and tallest rollercoaster to finally open this year.

Plus, the UK’s best value theme park has been named and tickets are buy one get one free this week.

Are you ready, kids? Because you’ll soon be able to visit a certain pineapple house without going under the sea.

Universal unveiled new details Wednesday about the various themed lands of its new theme park geared toward families with younger kids. Among them are areas that will spotlight the worlds of “SpongeBob SquarePants,” “Shrek,” “Minions” and “Jurassic World” with character meet-and-greets, interactive shows, sensory gardens and, of course, rides.

Universal Kids Resort will feature seven lands: Shrek’s Swamp, Puss in Boots Del Mar, Minions vs. Minions: Bello Bay Club, Jurassic World Adventure Camp, TrollsFest, SpongeBob SquarePants Bikini Bottom and Isle of Curiosity.

“Universal Kids Resort [is] designed to bring our youngest guests and families together through play, creativity, and beloved characters and stories,” Universal Creative President Molly Murphy said in a statement. “It’s a destination made for kids and, as a regional theme park, brings Universal’s signature storytelling to families close to home.”

Guests will start their visit at the Isle of Curiosity with the chance to meet Gabby from “Gabby’s Dollhouse” or head to a dance party. Shrek and Fiona will be on hand to greet families at Shrek’s Swamp, which also includes a photo opportunity at an onion carriage and two interactive play areas for kids that want to splash or stomp their hearts out.

A rendering of a play area in SpongeBob SquarePants Bikini Bottom at Universal Kids Resort.

(Universal Destinations & Experiences)

Those interested in meeting Puss in Boots, Mama Luna and Perrito from “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” (2022) can head to Puss in Boots Del Mar, where there will also be some carnival games. The Minions-obsessed water ride enthusiasts in the family will want to check out Minions vs. Minions: Bello Bay Club, while budding paleontologists and dinosaur lovers won’t want to miss the chance to see a newly hatched baby dinosaur at Jurassic World Adventure Camp.

Poppy and Branch will be among the “Trolls” characters guests can encounter at the musical party land that is TrollsFest, while “SpongeBob” fans can expect some F.U.N. times exploring Mussel Beach and meeting SpongeBob, Patrick and Sandy at SpongeBob SquarePants Bikini Bottom.

“We envisioned this park through the unbridled creativity of kids where infinite imagination, curiosity and free-spirited play were core to our design philosophies,” Brian Robinson, Universal Creative’s executive vice president and chief creative officer, said in a statement.

Universal Kids Resort, which will also include a 300-room on-site hotel, will open in Frisco, Texas, in 2026.

SpongeBob SquarePants would, in theory, have little use for stamps. They would get soggy in that pineapple under the sea.

Neither would Patrick Star (no fingers on the ends of those arms), Mr. Crabs (claws) or Squidward Tentacles (his name says it all). One could argue that even the fans of “SpongeBob SquarePants” wouldn’t have much use for stamps. That crowd doesn’t go in for snail mail — although Gary the Snail might.

Nevertheless, the whole gang from Nickelodeon’s long-running animated show — even Sandy Cheeks, the squirrel in the diving suit — is featured on a new set of commemorative Forever stamps, according to the U.S. Postal Service.

But the point isn’t to use them but to collect them, and perhaps look at the yellow, smiling, gap-toothed face of SpongeBob when you need a quick pick-me-up.

If you happen to be in New York City’s Times Square on Aug. 1 from 8 to 10 a.m. Eastern, you can get your hands on the new stamps. The event is free, but the stamps you’ll have to pay for. (A sheet of 16 will cost you $12.48. They’re 78 cents apiece.)

That’s 40 cents more than each stamp would have cost when “SpongeBob” premiered 26 years ago.

The USPS art director, Greg Breeding, designed the stamps with Nickelodeon artwork to guide him, according to the Postal Service. He’ll be on hand for autographs.

The world of Bikini Bottom was introduced in May 1999, and the show began a full run two months later. Creator Stephen Hillenburg, who died in 2018 at age 57 after battling Lou Gehrig’s disease, was — appropriately — a teacher of marine biology in Southern California before switching to animation. He created colorful teaching tools as well as wrote and illustrated stories with the characters who came to populate the show, as The Times wrote in Hillenburg’s obituary.

To set the record straight, stamps have, in fact, been used in Bikini Bottom.

One example: In the Season 13 episode “Patrick the Mailman,” the starfish delivers a letter to SpongeBob and asks him, “Do you know where this Spon-gee-Boob Squir-pa-Nants lives?” He then makes SpongeBob his postal pal.