Earlier this month, Dennis Peterson, CEO of Big International Group of Entertainment, Inc., announced a plan promising to create 15,000-20,000 jobs in the area by building a theme park, restaurants, two resort hotels, a charter school, as well as a sports complex that would be attractive for an NBA team.

City board members, however, are skeptical — asking for more information about the project before putting the plans to a vote in April. Spring Hills Mayor Michael Dinwiddie said that the time before the final vote would allow the city to gather adequate information about the project, allowing them to make an informed go/no-go decision. This must be is getting more and more exciting for the residents of Spring Hill and surrounding cities!

Coming in at 7.5 feet tall and 12 feet wide, Ursula is one of the biggest animated characters Disney Imagineering has ever created. At the beginning of the month, the infamous evil sea witch moved into her lair inside The Little Mermaid — Ariel’s Undersea Adventure attraction that’s set to open June 3 at Disney California Adventure.

What’s most interesting about Ursula’s character is her dexterity — giving the figure  human-like motions. Check the video to see exactly what we’re talking about.

You may’ve heard that LEGOLAND California will soon unveil Star Wars Miniland — an area containing a series of seven scenes from the six action films plus the Clone Wars animated movie. The Miniland isn’t complete just yet, but lucky Dave Banks, with Wired.com, was able to score a first look at the area’s models and layouts.

“We begin walking up a hill perched above the rest of Miniland, toward the Star Wars scenes. Landscape workers are busy creating the desolate ice planet of Hoth. They’re spreading white sand to simulate snow around a couple of AT-ATs, while the rebel base and the all-important generators sit nearby,” writes Dave Banks for Wired.com.

According to early reports, the display will contain more than 2,000 models constructed from 1.5 million bricks. But master builder Ryan Ziegelbauer says that that number may be too conservative: “I think that number is low. We’ll need to count again — there are 750 battle droids alone.”

The seven scenes in the Star Wars Miniland will include:

• Episode I: The Theed Royal Palace, hangar on Naboo, and the invasion of Naboo
• Episode II: The Geonosian execution arena and a battle scene between Dooku’s droid army and the Republic
• Episode III: Order 66 on Kashyyyk and the duel on Mustafar
• Episode IV: Mos Eisley spaceport, complete with a humongous 19,000-brick Falcon, the cantina and the moisture farm
• Episode V: The Battle of Hoth
• Episode VI: The forests and landing platform at Endor
• Clone Wars: A battle scene from Christophsis between Separatist battle droids and Republic clone troopers

Read more (highly recommended, with pictures galore): Wired.com

From the two-and-a-half minute preview, it looks like Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides will have Captain Jack in pursuit of his now world-famous ship… but he’ll have to catch himself a mermaid along the way in order to find the fountain he so zealously seeks. This, however, is not the The Little Mermaid… not even close!

The fourth iteration of the film will make its way to theaters this summer on May 20. It will be the first of the series shot and released in 3D. Let’s hope the extra dimension won’t be used for the stale and staid “I’m an sharp physical object and I’m coming at ya” effect.

The first — named Festival Tennessee — is being developed by Dennis Peterson. The project promises to fully cover the expected $750 million development cost and employ 15,000 to 20,000 people.

The second is being developed by David Webb and goes by the name of Ole South USA. The project has high hopes to be located on a 1,200 acre sweep of land straddling Maury and Marhsall county lines and offer camping, a water park, hotels, residential and office space.

Both projects seem to be in their early stages, even though the latter seems to have been in the works for the last few years. Looks like there may be a battle a’brewin’ here… a theme park battle!

Read more (with video): WSMV

SeaWorld San Diego has announced that it will resume its Dine With Shamu program on April 23 on a year-round basis.

The event, available only by reservation, offers visitors the opportunity to dine at tables located next to the park’s whale pools as trainers show whale training techniques. The program concludes with a unique performance by the whales.

Dine With Shamu was suspended last year by parent company SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment following the death of whale trainer Dawn Brancheau in SeaWorld Orlando. This time around, however, trainers will be located poolside — a departure from the past — when they were present in the water with the whales. The change has been a policy for all SeaWorld whale shows since 2010.

Source: San Diego Business Journal

According to reports, a state inspector didn’t test the children’s ride and falsified a safety report. Not many other details are available at this time, but this very unfortunate event does beg us to ask the following question: how much do you trust the safety of rides at carnivals and theme parks — and just how much are we putting at risk when boarding a roller coaster or a moving attraction?

Our deepest, most heart-felt condolences go out to the family of the deceased boy and the other victims of this horrible accident.

In a statement on Thursday, the company stated that “it has temporarily suspended all its administrative and store operations in Tokyo.” Disney has closed 28 of its 47 stores in the country due to damage.

In a blog post last Friday, Disney Parks spokesman Thomas Smith said that the Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea parks both suffered minimal property damage. The company will keep its two Tokyo-based theme parks closed until March 21. Employees were offered an opt-out and many workers have already left the country.

We’d imagine that right about now, many Japanese residents aren’t in much of a theme park mood anyway.

Read more: Baltimore Sun

Blackstone’s plan was disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Universal City Development Partners Ltd. – an entity created by Blackstone for the transaction. NBCUniversal — which itself was acquired by Comcast Corporation from General Electric in January for $13.45 billion in cash and assets — has until June 12 to accept Blackstone’s offer.

Blackstone purchased the 50 percent stake in Universal Orlando back in 2000 from Rank Group PLC for a total of $2.07 billion.

“We are studying the proposal and considering our options,” said NBCUniversal spokesperson Cindy Gardner.

A Blackstone spokesperson didn’t return the Wall Street Journal’s messages seeking comment.

Read more: Online WSJ (sub. req’d.)

“Six Flags Over Georgia is proud to partner with MUST Ministries to collect food for needy families,” said Park President Melinda Ashcraft. “This special price of $20.11 is a great way to kick off the 2011 season while giving back to the community.”

The offer is only valid for the weekend of  March 19-20. Tuna, jelly, beans, rice, and canned vegetables are among a few suggested donations.

Read more: Atlanta Bargain Hunter Blog