Old Wildwater Kingdom Picture

EDSA Cloward Engineers have worked on designing water features for everyone from Universal Theme Parks to private Golf Clubs. They also did work for Dorney Park's Wildwater Kingdom back in the day. Their website has the above photo.

They firm did engineer work on the Wildwater River lazy river attraction, the former tank-tag, the former go-carts, and the former mini-golf course.

I am obsessed with this photo. There's so much to see! Let's start looking around. Click it for a bigger version, I actually made it a little bigger then it originally was.

· Very top of the photo you can see the parking lot that was between the two parks. This is now Talon and the main midway area of the park. Obviously the parks were still separate admission at this point.

· Look at the Wave Pool. Why is the water not going all the way up in the middle like that. Did this part used to be raised and thus make the water not reach up that far? I'm very confused.

· Upper left you can see the Tank Tag and Boat Tag. Did Tank Tag have a ramp on the side of it? You can see a raised portion but I don't remember that.

· No Aquablast! Also on the kiddie area there in the middle you can still see the kid's version of Riptide Run that was on the hill. Last I knew the slide was still there - just filled in with dirt and mulch with plants in it.

· Torpedo Tubes. Okay so in some newspaper articles back when these were added they always wrote that it had 3 slides. Well I had only ever known it to have two, what was there up until this past winter when the whole thing came down. But there were 3! Look:

I know that this looks like a green blob, but look on the right side of the loading area at the top of the tower. There's totally a third slide! It looks like a somewhat smaller, totally enclosed, tube that dives down, does a 360 degree spiral, then quickly empties into the pool below. I've never seen any other pictures of the ride that shows this. If anyone has any older pictures and wants to contribute by all means let me know!

· At the bottom is the mini-golf area. When that part of the park was separate admission I used to love to go play there during the summer.

· Bottom right corner - the big Pepsi Can! That thing was so funny, wasn't it also a waterfall that dumped into the lazy river? I remember that after it went up the local South Whitehall people decided that it was a sign or something and was too close to the road and eventually it was removed.

That's all I see - anyone else?

Dorney Zoning Update

This is now on South Whitehall Township's site:

Notice is hereby given that the Board of Commissioners of South Whitehall Township will meet in the Township Municipal Building located at 4444 Walbert Avenue, Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, April 18, 2007 at 7:30 p.m. for the purpose of conducting a public hearing and possible adoption of a proposed Ordinance pertaining to a rezoning petition filed by Cedar Fair L.P. to amend the South Whitehall Township Zoning Map which is summarized as follows:

An Ordinance Amending The South Whitehall Township Zoning Map And Zoning Ordinance To Modify The Boundaries Of Certain Areas Of The Commercial Recreation Zone That Provide For A Greater Height For Amusements As Conditional Uses

Now, the meeting minutes from the most recent planning commission meeting are not posted yet, so I still have no idea what happened then.

I'm not sure if this is even the same thing to be honest. This sounds like it could be a more general request to rezone the property so that Dorney no longer needs to have these meetings for new rides so far in advance, which in turns forces them to 'show their hand' rather early on.

I know that DP has tried this in the past and been shot down. If that's what this is I hope they get everything rezoned. It's fun to speculate and find hints as to what the park has planned, but really, it's a business disadvantage and must really stink if you are the park.

Anyone care to drop by and take a look at the plans anyway?

Cypress Gardens' Splash Island

Photo from AeroPhoto

This is an aerial picture of Splash Island waterpark at Cypress Gardens in Florida.

*trying to think of something nice to say*

Uhh, well all the grass around everything looks really green!

Valleyfair! 2007 Brochure

It's much better than it used to be, but still seems 'odd' when compared to the other Cedar Fair brochures. I can't exactly put my finger on it. Download it from Valleyfair!'s site.

Two Six Flags-ish Items

Two Six Flags items to mention:

This screen shot is from an investor presentation that Mark Shapiro gave a few days ago:

I never realized that when they sold the parks recently they left only one American property that is not Six Flags branded. I would assume Great Escape will get a new name pretty soon, perhaps even with a big steel coaster that used to live in Texas.

There's nothing earth-shattering in the presentation but it's worth a quick view if you like. It's a pdf file.

Item two is related to CNL properties, the real estate investment firm that purchased the parks from Six Flags. They seem to be ramping up their appraoch, as it was announced today that they are buying Magic Springs and Crystal Falls in Arkansas.

Basically they are doing the same thing they did with the Six Flags parks, as they are going to immediately lease the park back to the current management. This allows the managers to run the park the same but have a whole lot more financial flexability when it comes to expanding the park. There is an article in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette worth reading.

I've been cheering for Magic Springs for a while now so this is good news for the park.

Dorney Park Fun Facts #8

I just found this pic while going though some older stuff:

Here you can see the little used additional part of the ride's logo. That bird claw thing (with blood!!) didn't last all that long.

I'm drawing a blank ... did Hydra get one of these signs after it was announced?

Edit: I asked that then looked around and found these two pics, which answer my own question. Not nearly as elaborate as Steel Force and Talon's signs, but it'll do.

The upper picture is from CoasterImage and the lower I can't seem to find. If it was yours let me know!

Carowinds is Open

So Carowinds has opened for the season as of this past Saturday, the 24th of March. By all accounts I've seen the park had a nice opening weekend.

The above photo, which is of the new sign for the old-but-new attraction for the season is from a photo trip report that can be found here. It's worth a read.

The Charlotte Observer also has an article on opening weekend. It's found here. The highlights are as follows:

~ Opening day was one of the park's busiest in its history
~ The park spent $3 million for 2007
~ Borg is 'safer than ever before' now

That's all. I'm sad that the park opened and they still haven't put up their 2007 park map yet. How very Six Flags of them.

Dorney Park 2007 Season Update #7

Still not a ton going on, but a few little things. Here goes.

Still standing. If they keep tearing out parts of it before you know it the thing will fall over on its own!

Nothing to see here. I'm thinking more and more that any changes that were planned for this area have been pushed off due to something else impacting the area. (see Idle Hands post)

They're still doing footings and moving dirt and stuff for Aqua Racer.

A better view of the area. Still nothing earth shattering though.

Last view of the area. They were working when I took these photos, which is a Saturday.

On another note, Water Works is getting a paint job. This is great news, since it has needed it badly for years now. Plus with more attention to the area with the new slides this will probably be an even busier area come summer.

That's all for now!

Idle Hands...

...are the devil's playthings:


Hehe.

Dorney Park Fun Facts #7

Let's take a peek at two of the more recently lost Dorney Park Rides.

First, the Skyride:
My memories of this were of it stopping while you were on it for loading purposes and being scared out of my wits. (Hey, I was a kid!) I also remember being spit at by kids that were on it. Can't say that I miss that!

Next, the Paratrooper:
Honestly I'm surprised that this location is still some trees and landscaping, but anyway, this actually was one of, if not, my fav rides at the park. It looked pretty nice at night as well.

Ah, memories.

OMG - Michigan's Adventure Logo-ing

Now they are using this, which is a combo of the new Cedar Fair style AND the old one by using the old Snoopy. Talk about an identity crisis.


It's certainly better than this:

But not better than this:

I don't know anymore, really. Just make up your mind.

Six Flags News: New England's Thomas Town and Johnny Rockets

MassLive has an article today about Six Flags New England being granted approval to build their Thomas Town. The article states that the area will go on "an existing parking lot," and will be "adjacent to the park's main entrance." From this, I posted where I'm guessing the area will go in the picture above. I don't know for sure, but that is what makes sense to me. The article also lists the attraction as opening in June.

June!? Wow Mr. Shaprio - that's right when the season opens, right? Eh, anyway...

Six Flags has also put out another press release about a new "alliance" with Johnny Rockets restaurants. In addition to marketing programs, Six Flags will open Johnny Rockets restaurants in 26 of its parks over the next three years. 2007 will see the restaurants opening at Great America, Over Texas, Magic Mountain, Great Adventure, Fiesta Texas, and St. Louis.

I wonder how far Mark Shapiro will take marketing alliances and the parks. I don't see why the Six Flags parks do not have a bathroom sponsor yet. I'm serious, paper towels, toilet paper anyone? Just wait.

MGM Grand Adventures Aerial Pics

I intended a while back to post a picture of what's currently left of the MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park via Windows Live Local. And then I forgot. And then today I remembered and went to lookin' and found that if you move in on an area in Live Local from a certain direction you can get older pictures to pop up. I've done this before (Geauga Lake, for example) but it was a nice surprise today. Here's a composite of the whole park:



You'll have to click for the larger image to see everything. While I do not have a date of the photo, it must have been pretty shortly before they bulldozed everything and started the condo/hotel towers that are there now.

Regardless, as you can see the pool area is there along with the convention center. That's not new though, those were already going up when I was there in 1997. I put some outlines of the attractions that were located where these things are currently.

The rest of the park is somewhat intact. The hardware for the river ride, coaster, sky coaster, and log flume are gone though, but that's becuse they've been trying to sell them forever. I'll let the labels speak for themselves, but you can see all sorts of the parks' details still standing.


Here's a close up show of the river rapids, Grand Canyon Rapids, just because I really liked the ride. You can easily see all the theming that was along the course. You can also see some of the footers for the coaster when it was extended over the river ride. The long section that is enclosed was filled with scenes and animation, and ended with the mine 'exploding' around you just as you left.

This one I happened to stumble across as well. It's later on, when they had cleared more than half of what was left of the park to start on the condo towers. Sad looking, if you ask me.

And here's a shot of what is there in the most recent picture. You can see that the maintenance building is still there, along with the building and facade for the Haunted Mine and the bumper cars. Oh, and the building from one of the food locations is standing. That's about all though.

In press photos for the Signature towers that have recently opened they show what was left of the park as a nice area covered in trees. I can't tell if they trashed what was left or just photo shopped the image, so I'm not sure if these last bits are still around.

Well, that's all I found. If anyone has other images or knows of more, please by all means let me know!

Dorney Height Requirement Changes

Check out some new changes in rider height requirements for a few Dorney rides:

Dominator is now 48", down from 52".

Hang time is now 54", down from 56".

Wild Mouse is now 44" and an adult up from 42" and an adult, or 48" alone.

I know that Carowinds posted a whole list of ride height changes, but I just noticed these few for Dorney. I think some new seats are going on Dominator that caused the change in height requirement, but I have no idea about Hang Time or Wild Mouse's changes.

Perhaps the park plans to run Wild Mouse this season with an insurance inspector in the station at all times. That way, the ride's interesting operational procedures can be even more strictly observed.

Steel Force Construction Diary #8

So the park is open at they are rushing to get the ride done. Let's continue.

Here we are, still on May 10th, 1997. As I said in the last update, here is a better view of the station area. As you can see, the station still needed a roof on it. The entrance plaza was complete though, along with the ride's sign and queue.

Here's the other side of the plaza. You can see that the on-ride photo location is complete, and you can get an even better view of the station work going on.

Here's the mid-course brake run on May 16th, 1997. The supports were up, but the track was not placed on them yet.

The other side. They were placing track while the park was open. It looks like almost all of the supports were up, there were just a couple left to go up in that gap. This was actually taken two days later, on May 18th, 1997.

This was taken on May 23rd, 1997. As you can see, Steel Force's track was complete! It happened sometime between the 19th, and 22nd, but I don't have the exact date. Also take note that the supports in the background were painted white, a primer for their final gray color.

Now that the ride is complete, all that's left to do is open it! That'll be next time. I have the opening day stuff, along with a series of (I think) cool before and after photos of the park that really show the changes that Steel Force made. Stay tuned!

Valleyfair!'s Renegade

How sweet is Valleyfair!'s new GCII wooden coaster, Renegade, looking? I really love the location of the ride and how it winds out into an undeveloped area yet sits right on the midway. I'm sure it will be one heck of a ride as well.

Valleyfair! has been posting photo updates frequently lately, I thought it was time to give them and their new ride some love. Check it all out on Valleyfair!'s site.

Geauga's Head Spin Color Change

I contacted the park to find out if Head Spin would receive new colors during it's painting, and they confirmed that it indeed will. It was explained to me as "tropical coral with matching accent colors." You can take that as you will, but I take it to mean pretty much this:
As many have suspected since this sign went up, I take it that this is the color palette for the ride's paint job. It will certainly liven up the area!

The above photo is from Geauga Lake Today, one of the two leading Geauga Lake sites on the net. They just broke the news that Steel Venom is starting to come down! Check them out!

Disneyland Paris Decorates Castle for 15th

They're at it again! To help celebrate Disneyland Paris' 15th anniversary, the folks over in France have decorated the park's beautiful castle with some Disney characters. The characters include Chip & Dale, Donald, Jiminy Cricket, Goofy, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Pluto, and Daisy, each of which are working on placing a birthday candle on the castle. I'm not sure if there are more to come, as I would think there should be 15 characters with 15 candles.

You can see plenty of close up photos and more over at DLRP, which, I must say, is an amazing, up-to-date site for the whole Disneyland Paris resort.

Knott's Great America

Looks like Dorney Park accidentally spilled the beans on this one, this is from their season pass page:
I wonder when the official announcement will be? Anyone heard anything?

Great America 2007 Map / Knott's?

Great America's new 2007 map has been posted to their website. It features the new wave pool, Great Barrier Reef. Oddly, this attraction has not even been formally announced yet. Not sure what is going on with the park in that regard.

Perhaps it has something to do with this:

http://www.knottsgreatamerica.com/

I guess they are changing their name. It makes sense as far as Knott's recognition goes in California. I suppose we will have to play wait and see.

New Dorney Logo / Rider Guide

I finally came across a version of Dorney's 'new' logo - the Cedar Fair standard one. I mean we all knew what to expect, but I'm still not in love with it.

It came from the 2007 Rider Safety Guide, which is now on Dorney's site. You can download the PDF file here.

There's no real surprises that I found in there, other than the name of the shows this year are Boogie Down Band!, Rewind!, and Pulse!. What's with all the exclamation points?! Oh and the Camp Snoopy show as well. And it can be confirmed (like we needed it) that Halloweekends will not expand at all this year, again.

Dorney Park Fun Facts #6

Here are some older pictures of Laser before it got new trains and a new paint job to it's current green and purple.


Sorry this one is much darker than I wanted. I tried to lighten it up but it just looked weird that way. I loved those fair-style light fixtures that were on the ride back in the day.


Sorry this one is blurry, but it was like that from when I took it. Don't get me wrong, I like the flood lights the ride has now but wasn't the lighting on the loops awesome?!

I found some more older pics of the ride that'll show up on here later.

Kings Island 2007 Brochure

I haven't seen this on the web yet, it may be but not to my knowledge, so I thought I'd add it.

That's a much more 'complete' Firehawk logo than I've seen thus far.





I really like that they are celebrating the park's 35th in some small way on the brochure. Another nice brochure, I think!

Firehawk Goes Vertical

Firehawk is vertical! Check it out at Kings Island's media center.

Is it me or are those supports NOT painted from when the ride was X-Flight?

More on Bob Ott

This is from today's Morning Call:

March 9, 2007

Dorney Park has lost its most loyal fan

Dorney Park lost its most loyal fan last week when Bob Ott passed away. Bob's ties to the amusement park were secure when Bob met Sally Plarr at a Castle Garden dance in 1934. Sally was the coat check girl, working for her father, Bob Plarr, the owner of the park. As Bob tells it, the couple sneaked in a few dances to the music of Ted Wheems and his Orchestra, and ''We've been dancing around together ever since.''

As attrition occurred in the Plarr family, Bob and Sally ended up being the owners of the park and along with their son Bobby, they managed every aspect of the operation as a family corporation. Bob became chairman of the board and son Bobby became president. Sally was the corporate secretary. Under their leadership the park grew and made possible the amusement giant we know today as Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom.

Bob grew up in East Allentown and attended Ritter Elementary School and Harrison-Morton Junior High School. As an adult he openly shared his pride in his H-M heritage. Like the late jazz saxophonist Willie Restum, he would sing the Harrison-Morton Fight Song with the slightest provocation. Both men are enshrined on the walls of the school in the H-M Hall of Fame.

Bob knew every nut and bolt in Dorney Park – if someone points to the old Coaster (The roller coaster now called the Thunder Hawk) Bob says, ''I personally painted every inch of that and, checking for problems, I walked the entire route every morning.'' The Merry-Go-Round – ''I lost most of my hand in the mechanism during a stupid accident.''

One of Bob's most-anticipated and popular Dorney Park stories was about the ''sinking'' of the Showboat in the lake near Castle Garden. Patrons crowded to one side of the boat watching passing swans and water overflowed the floor of the ship, sinking it in 18 inches of water. Although there was no real danger and no injuries resulted, claims for expensive damaged clothing, shoes, watches and even a girdle were settled by the park's insurance following the event.

Bob watched from afar as major changes were made in the facility. He admired what Cedar Fair was able to accomplish. Bob defended the park advances in the face of critics who told him firmly, ''It is not the same as it used to be.'' Bob's reply always was, ''Nothing is the same as it used to be – it would have changed if I was still at the park.'' He beamed with pride as he recalled planting trees many years ago which are still there on the park property. And, he was proud of the improved safety for patrons when the old road through the middle of the park was shut down. Cedar Fair managers respected Bob and his lineage of park history, constantly inviting him to special park events.

Bob and I had a unique friendship over the past five years. I rode Bob's coattails celebrating the popularity of the history book ''Images of America, Dorney Park.'' What followed could never have been foreseen. The two of us were invited to book signings and personal appearances to discuss the book, the park, and park history. Over and over again, Bob told audiences his memories of ''the good old days'' at Dorney Park. Some of the audiences had us back twice, and Bob had so many stories, he rarely told the same ones twice! We joked that I had heard his speech more than 80 times and never heard the same speech twice.

I had the pleasure of witnessing Bob being greeted by friends from the past – folks he had not seen for decades. They all cherished the opportunity to visit with Bob one more time. A common beginning was ''You won't remember me, but I worked for you at the (something) stand or ride.'' With that, a new sharing of stories began as each story bounced off the previous one.

A few years ago, the amusement park industry honored Bob with a lengthy article in its monthly magazine, along with a full-page picture of Bob. They called him ''a legend'' in the industry. The label was right on target. Bob carried it well and often joked with us by reminding us that we were in the presence of a legend. All of us who knew the Legend were proud of that association, and are going to miss those Dorney Park and Harrison-Morton stories. May the Bob and Sally Ott love story never end.

Steel Force Construction Diary #7

Last time we were on May 9th, the day before Dorney opened for the 1997 season. The opening of the ride had already been delayed, and construction was at a frenzied pace.

In addition to having the turn around helix completed, they also had supports up for the entrance to the mid-course brake run.

They also had up the supports for the mid-course. Well at least some of them. I'd have to go back through some articles about it, but I know they had some problems getting permission for these supports because of how close they were to the creek and they were eventually modified from their original design.

This is the last picture from the 9th. It was pretty exciting back then to see the ride from Hamilton Blvd. like this. Also, take note that part of the parking lot had been paved and even the parking lines look bright and new.

Here we are on opening day, May 10th, 1997. This was taken from the Sky Ride, remember that? Ha ha. Anyway, they had supports piled up over by the entrance road, still on the trailer they came on. As you can see, some were painted, and some were not.

Here's the view of the turnaround from in the park. As you can see, they were putting up supports even on that Saturday to get the ride done. And as you can also see, they weren't even painted yet.

Here's a somewhat foggy looking view of the station area. Next update will have better views of the area, so let's just consider this a teaser for next time!

Motley Fool Bullish on Six Flags

On the heels of Six Flag's announcement of another corporate deal with Sara Lee for "official hot dogs," the Motley Fool has published an article about the company's recent developments.

The Fool seems pretty bullish Six Flags' 2007 prospects. Personally, I'm rather excited to see how the season plays out for them.

Read the article on Motley Fool's site.

Passing of Bob Ott

Bob was an amazing man who so much of what Dorney is today can be credited to, and I feel very lucky to have spoken with him - even though it was only once. I'm glad he is once again with his wife.

The above obituary is from the Morning Call Online.

Sea World Announces Aquatica

Sea World formally announced their new Orlando Water Park yesterday, and as expected it is named Aquatica.

The drawings of the park make it look really nice. I'm not saying it won't, but the drawings also seem misleading. For example, in this concept art:
All the attractions are piled up with theming and it all looks great. But then you look at the model:
And suddenly things look like your normal water park layout. Still, I"m sure it will be a nice kick in the pants for Orlando's overall market.

The park's flash-heavey site can be found here.

Dorney Park 2007 Season Update #6

These pictures are from 3.3.07. Not a lot of changes but since work has started I figured I'd try to keep up.

The house is getting closer to coming down. More of it has been torn out, there are holes in the roof now. Why? No clue.

Here you can better see the holes in the roof. I'm sure when they tear it down it will be gone in a day or two.

Still doing ground work for Aqua Racer.

Sorry about the rain drops, yesterday wasn't a very nice day. I can't tell if they have footings in yet or not.

I'll keep updating as things progress!

New Firehawk Images

Kings Island updated their construction images of Firehawk. They've started to paint some of the track:A few more pictures, including the footers and such, are on Kings Islands website.

1998 Geauga Lake Ad

Here's an ad from Geauga Lake's 1998 season. New for '98 was Serial Thriller. I'm sorry, but I always thought this was a stupid pun of a name that did not belong in a family amusement park.

I also always liked Geauga's logo during this period. I also loved how they actually put a ferris wheel in so that it was positioned to match the logo, which was already in use.

Anyone know if Head Spin is getting new colors? I know thats unrelated but I'm curious.

Camp Park at Mall of Nickelodeon

Mall of America and the Park at Mall of America along with Nickelodeon have formally announced their plan to remake the park into America's first all Nick themed amusement park.

In addition to the Gerstauler Euro Fighter coaster going in in '08, they have plans to add a freefall ride that looks to drop from around 70ft. The link to the press release will follow, but first something else.

Okay so Cedar Fair managed the park while it was Camp Snoopy with the Peanuts characters. Then they lost the contract and the park was unthemed. Then Cedar Fair bought Paramount and got the Nickelodeon characters. Now the park at MOA announced they have the Nick characters also? It's like Cedar Fair never really left!

Anyway, you can read the release here.

Six Flags Thomas Town

Yesterday Six Flags made Thomas Town official for Six Flags Discovery Kingdom and Six Flags New England.

Both areas will feature a Thomas train ride that takes passengers on a trip through "the mythical home on the island of sodor." Each will also have two additional themed children's rides. And don't forget the merchandise location on your way out!

Something I find VERY intersting is that New England's area is slated for "early summer" and Discovery Kingdom's is Memorial Day. Neither are when the parks open. Mark Shapiro clearly said a few times that he hated that Six Flags used to open rides and attractions late into the season and that would not continue to happen. Empty promises already?

I bet the areas will but cute though.