Dazzling Opening Held for Disney Castle in Boulevard City in Riyadh

The Riyadh Season 2023 kicked off on Thursday with the opening of "The Disney Castle," one of the entertainment zones in Boulevard City.
The Riyadh Season 2023 kicked off on Thursday with the opening of "The Disney Castle," one of the entertainment zones in Boulevard City.
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Dazzling Opening Held for Disney Castle in Boulevard City in Riyadh

The Riyadh Season 2023 kicked off on Thursday with the opening of "The Disney Castle," one of the entertainment zones in Boulevard City.
The Riyadh Season 2023 kicked off on Thursday with the opening of "The Disney Castle," one of the entertainment zones in Boulevard City.

The Riyadh Season 2023 kicked off on Thursday with the opening of "The Disney Castle," one of the entertainment zones in Boulevard City. These events offer some of the world's best entertainment destinations, SPA said.
The Castle is spread over an area of approximately 20,000 square meters and offers visitors a nightly 20-minute concert, a screening of the movie "Encanto," the famous house from the movie "Frozen," and an exploration of the wonders of the cave.
The Castle's activities include "Jimba" drumming for pieces from "The Lion King," exploring the underwater world with the character "Ariel," the mermaid, exclusive Disney merchandise, and the opportunity to capture memorable photos of The Disney Castle's magical worlds.
Visitors can also enjoy a 90-minute immersive experience of fun and excitement through shows that take them on a journey through the worlds of famous Disney cartoons.
The exceptional Disney family festival celebrates the most famous animated films through interactive performances in front of the towering castle stage, which reaches a height of 30 meters.
The Senior Vice President of Business Development & Business Affairs for the Disney Music Group (DMG), Chip MacLean, expressed his joy in presenting the world's first-of-its-kind show at the "Disney Castle" festival as part of the Riyadh Season 2023 events.
He emphasized that the success of launching this event emanates from creativity and close collaboration among a large group of talented people who made significant efforts to translate the shared vision into tangible reality.
The Riyadh Season, in its fourth edition under the theme "Big Time," celebrates a variety of global entertainment options, experiences, and unique entertainment events featuring a lineup of celebrities.



Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin Launches New Glenn Rocket on 1st Test flight

Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 36 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 36 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
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Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin Launches New Glenn Rocket on 1st Test flight

Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 36 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 36 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Blue Origin launched its massive new rocket on its first test flight Thursday, sending up a prototype satellite to orbit thousands of miles above Earth.
Named after the first American to orbit Earth, the New Glenn rocket blasted off from Florida, soaring from the same pad used to launch NASA's Mariner and Pioneer spacecraft a half-century ago, The Associated Press reported.
Years in the making with heavy funding by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the 320-foot (98-meter) rocket carried an experimental platform designed to host satellites or release them into their proper orbits. Company employees erupted in cheers and frenzied applause once the craft successfully reached orbit.
For this test, the satellite was expected to remain inside the second stage while circling Earth. The mission was expected to last six hours, with the second stage then placed in a safe condition to stay in a high, out-of-the-way orbit in accordance with NASA's practices for minimizing space junk.
The first-stage booster missed its landing on a barge in the Atlantic minutes after liftoff so it could be recycled, but the company stressed that the No. 1 objective was for the test satellite to reach orbit. “What a fantastic day,” Blue Origin's launch commentator Ariane Cornell, said.
New Glenn was supposed to fly before dawn Monday, but ice buildup in critical plumbing caused a delay. The rocket is built to haul spacecraft and eventually astronauts to orbit and also the moon.
Founded 25 years ago by Bezos, Blue Origin has been launching paying passengers to the edge of space since 2021, including himself. The short hops from Texas use smaller rockets named after the first American in space, Alan Shepard. New Glenn, which honors John Glenn, is five times taller.
Blue Origin poured more than $1 billion into New Glenn's launch site, rebuilding historic Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The pad is 9 miles (14 kilometers) from the company's control centers and rocket factory, outside the gates of NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
Bezos — taking part in the launch from Mission Control — declined to disclose his personal investment in the program. He said he does not see Blue Origin in a competition with Elon Musk's SpaceX, long the rocket-launching dominator.
Blue Origin envisions six to eight New Glenn flights this year, if everything goes well, with the next one coming up this spring.
“There’s room for lots of winners” Bezos said from the rocket factory over the weekend, adding that this was the “very, very beginning of this new phase of the space age, where we’re all going to work together as an industry ... to lower the cost of access to space."