A Few Industry Notes

Running low on time today, so I decided to condense a few items I wanted to mention to one post:

Universal Orlando's Halloween Horror Nights website has been updated fully. Now you can get details on all the mazes and shows, and see each attraction's 'special' page without completing a puzzle. Jack's Carnival has also be updated one last time and appears to be open for business! Check it all out here.

Six Flags St. Louis seems to be starting some work already on their 2008 attraction. Previously strongly rumored to be a knock-off Cirque show like Six Flags Over Texas opened this year, it now appears that a new ride will be new for the '08 season. Several kiddie rides have already been removed to start the project. SFSTL.Net has pictures and all the info. Check it out here.

Cedar Point has announced their Season Pass details for 2008 as well, and I'm not liking what I'm reading. They are also selling a Premium pass for $140, and a regular season pass that does not include parking. And of course a separate parking pass. Since parking has always been included at Dorney I hope this doesn't mean that they'll charge extra for that. I think MIA and CP charged extra for parking in the past so hopefully these announcements do not mean ALL Cedar Fair Parks will be the same. PointBuzz has the park's press release.

Busch Gardens Tampa 2008

Busch Gardens Africa will be announcing their "most ambitious area enhancement in their history" on September 6th.

There will be a live announcement on the park's website at 10:30 a.m. that day.

You can access the announcement page though the park's official website.

Fiesta Texas' Holiday in the Park

It may only be the end of August, the Six Flags Fiesta Texas already has info up on their Holiday event.

Starting after Thanksgiving, the event will feature such merriment as several Holiday themed live shows, a meeting with Santa in his castle, street carolers, and of course tons of lights everywhere.

The show where Mary and Joseph sing and dance with live animals costs extra. Oh, and they'll have roasted corn. No, not Mary and Joseph, the park. But Mary and Joseph selling roasted corn would be amusing.

Check out Fiesta Texas' page for details.

Knott's Teasing Halloween Haunt

Knott's Berry Farm's Halloween Haunt, the grandfather of today's Halloween events, finally has some exposure on the park's website.

It's just a teaser, and promises more info to come, but it's exciting to see even this!

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Thinking About Geauga Lake

I stitched together LiveLocal's images of Geauga Lake and did some mapping of what maybe perhaps Cedar Fair has planned for the property. This is just a thought, and one of many possible scenarios that even I can come up with - and I have no idea what the real plan is for the property.

Basically, I see them selling off the ride side of the park. If these rumors of removing Dominator and Thunderhawk are true, this really looks like their intention. There's a lot of land over there with the parking lot and all, it's along a somewhat major road, and borders a lake. I'd think that someone would eventually step in and want to redevelop this land.

That would leave the former Sea World side as Geauga Lake. I'm taking the non-operational Wolf Bobs as the border for the new park. This does leave a somewhat nice area to develop with some of the rides from the former rides side.

Here is that area. I think this side of the park is the one in the governing area that won't let rides go up - so that may be a huge thorn in this plan, but I'm not sure. Anyway, just going off of how small the four or so flat rides that are already in this area are, there's a decent area for moving some stuff if they wanted to.

Plus, if you take into consideration the former Shark building over there and Dino Island as items that could be taken down for space, well there's even more room. Plus I'm not sure that the Happy Harbor net climb thing needs to stick around either.

The water park aspect can continue to expand into the area it was supposed to anyway.

You can see above, even with the wave pool being built, there's still substantial room for more slides and such. A nice flat area in front of the pool and along the water, and plenty of hill area to slap some slides into. They could develop this area for years without even having to be creative with the land use to fit anything.

There are problems with this theory I came up with:

· What about Big Dipper? It's a classic. I hate the thought of it getting trashed.

· What rides would be moved? Head Spin would be somewhat easy, and a space saver, as well as the family coaster. Flats like Twister, Dodgems, and the Carousel could move. A bunch of the children's rides could be grouped together - and hey - even retheme them to the Nick characters. Shipwreck Falls could easily fit into the water park area as well.

I don't know, this is all just an idea. But if more big rides are coming down then I'd think that more drastic changes must be on the way. I hate having to wait to find out what they're up to!

1986 Dorney Park Brochure

I decided that since there's a lot of rumors about the possible demise of Laser at Dorney (and a ton of other Cedar Fair roller coasters), I would put up the brochure from the year it made its debut.

As you can see, they used either a picture of Laser before it was moved and painted, or of another similar coaster.







There's Colossus! I didn't realize I had a copy of the logo for the ride when it had that name. Colossus + a snake makes no sense to me, but who cares. Also new was Playport, which I suppose was part of Chester Cheeto's? Also the go-karts.

That play thing in the water looks fun. The lawyers would never allow that now.

I tried to stitch together these two images and it did not work out well, so my apologies.

This image has lots to see - like the Wave Swinger in it's former location. Also, check out that guy just flying down that slide! Could you imagine that being in a brochure today!?

There's also the former body slides, surfing in the wave pool, and of course the Flying Dutchman.

A nice little walk down memory lane.

2008 Cedar Fair Season Pass Changes?

Alright, Michigan's Adventure already has their 2008 Season Passes on sale. They're giving away a free Cedar Fair V.I.P jacket to anyone who buys before Nov. 11th. That's too funny!

So anyway, they have listed that you can buy either a Michigan's Adventure Season Pass, or a Cedar Fair Platinum pass. It says that the Platinum pass is good at all the parks. Like I think even the water parks.

So I guess they've given up on their intensely tiered Regular, Combo, Max, Max Plus, breakdown for MIA? I wonder if they will make the Ohio passes make more sense as well.

Oh, and the Platinum Pass includes parking at the other parks!

Looks like Cedar Fair is buffing up the season pass benefits...

Edit: Just noticed that Canada's Wonderland is only selling regular season passes for Canada's Wonderland for 2008. No max, max plus, premium or anything as of now. They are however, doing the jacket promo as well. Odd.

More on Behemoth

Using this wonderful article from The Globe and Mail, I was able to add the height statistics for Behemoth to the track layout above.

The article lists everything in meters, so I just converted it to feet for better comparison to other rides.

Just for fun, here's the original render for Talon - do you think they're related? I'm thinking brother and sister.

Questor

I tried and tried to come up with some good info in the Questor simulators that were at Busch Gardens Tampa and Williamsburg ... but came up with almost nothing.

It's like the rides never existed! Well, not really. Someone was smart enough to record the ride. And now we can ride all over again! Enjoy.

© weatherguru76

New Hard Rock Park Webcam

I just noticed that Hard Rock Park has a new webcam view up on their webpage. It appears to be looking into the British Invasion section of the park.

Those creepy buildings that have faces seem to be pretty far along, though, so that's good. Still not sure about a spring opening. I guess the mild winter will help things continue to move along?

It's Behemoth!

After much anticipation, Canada's Wonderland has announced their new coaster for the 2008 season - Behemoth.


A B&M Hyper as many predicted, the ride will take passengers on a 5,318 ft. journey across the park's landscape. Starting with a 230 ft. lift hill, the ride will drop riders at 85 degrees, sending them on their way at 77 miles per hour.

The seating is different on the ride than on previous B&M 'mega coasters.' Much like the seating on the Deja Vu coasters, the two inside seats are moved forward with the outside seats set back - allowing unobstructed views for all riders.

A whopping $26 million investment, it's the largest in the park's history - not really a surprise with a price tag like that.

In traditional Cedar Fair style, the ride has a massive web page with tons of great Virtual Image Productions graphics and renderings. Check it out!

I'm Worried about Geauga Lake

I'm worried about Geauga Lake. I think it's really going to become a water park. Or at least a water park with a really small ride section. I know nothing has been announced and this is still rumor - but you can't ignore the rumors detailing the demise of the ride side of the park.

I wish if these plans were in motion the park would be more open about it. All parks for that matter. I hate the whole "surprise!" we're closing this ride and taking it down with no warning thing.

I guess we will find out soon enough - Geauga Lake ends it's super short season in less than a month.

Some Random Press Images

Here are a few images that I dug up in random order:

The Outlaw at Adventureland. A lot of people still say that they are surprised by how much they enjoy this ride.

The Alpengeist drawing from Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Notice that they even specify that the lift goes "195 ft. above ground" - a lot of people never understood that the ride's lift is not that high.

Shockwave at Six Flags Over Texas. Must be an older photo, judging from the people on the ride. Anton's old rides are awesome.

Kings Island Halloween Haunt

Well, yesterday I posted that Kings Island was still using the FearFest name, and then they suddenly go and make their Halloween Haunt website live.

So, they have changed the name. And their event is expanded as well. 7 mazes and 3 scare zones. I'm jealous!

It appears as though "Club Blood" is going into the structure they built specifically for the Haunt. I wonder if the same maze will be in the similar structures that went up at Kings Dominion and Carowinds?

Canada's Wonderland 2008.

Well, we now know for sure that it's a B&M and it has Talon's colors!

CW Mania has the photo that tells all!

How to Compete with Potter

Image © Disney

I'm sure you all remember Beastly Kingdom, the section of Disney's Animal Kingdom that was never built, right?

Well, I got to thinking about what Disney is going to do with their Florida parks in order to compete with Harry Potter at Universal's Islands of Adventure. That park-within-a-park is going to open late 2009, or now rumored to be pushed back to '10.

Regardless, that's going to be a big draw for years after it opens. I think that Disney should throw down a whole new section of a park in order to compete with Mr. Potter.

Beastly Kingdom had the big Inverted Coaster themed to a dragon, and that obviously was built at Universal - so switch that out with another big E Ticket (you know Imagineering's shelves are lined with good ideas) and build the rest. You can still have the maze and the Fantasia-theme boat ride. And those Disney Fairies that are started to be pushed bigtime? Perfect fit.

Trying to pull off Expedition Everest as the "Imaginary" section of the park is lame. If that ride represents the imaginary animals of the world then that's a poor attempt. Great ride! But poor attempt at completing the park's original theme.

Just an idea.

Former Paramount Parks + Halloween

Cedar Fair is continuing to expand their fall events at the former Paramount Parks. Some details are being posted to the parks' websites, so I figured I'd try to condense their plans into one post.

Scarowinds' Halloween Haunt is being expanded for 2007. The park is building a permanent haunted house structure in one of the turnarounds of the Hurler roller coaster. The park is advertising 6 haunted attractions and almost 300 monsters prowling the park. Daytime plans for kids include the Howl-o-Fest, which is full of fall family activities.

Kings Dominion is also expanding their Halloween event. Now also named Halloween Haunt, the event will feature five haunted houses and four scare zones. Some former Knott's maze names are showing up for the event, such as Blackbeard's Revenge and Club Blood. Add to this some 200 monsters roaming around and you've got a great sounding event!

Kings Island is returning their Fear Fest event for 2007. Oddly, they are not taking on the Halloween Haunt name that the other former Paramount Parks are using.

While details for the event's haunted houses and scare zones have not yet been released, the park promises more monsters than ever before (see a theme here?) and the most intense Halloween event around.

Plus, the park will still hold the Nick-or-Treat event for children and families during the day.


Canada's Wonderland is also hosting Halloween Haunt this fall. They promise all new attractions such as The Asylum and Clowns at Midnight, as well as - you guessed it - lots of monsters all over the park.

Canada's Wonderland 2008?

Some tricky internet savvy fans of Canada's Wonderland decided to pick apart the flash animation on the park's site - ya know the one with the countdown to the announcement?

Well, they pulled out some images that are to show up as time goes by until they announce, and originally got the top hyper coaster looking image as seen above.

But now the animation ends in the inverted coaster image also seen above.

I love it! It's like a great thriller mystery movie with all the twists and turns (pun intended).

What *is* the park building? We will find out Monday!

Saturating No More

Carowinds has added a note on their webpage that the Flying Super Saturator will close for 2007 on September 3rd.

Everyone and their brother, though, say that it will be closing for good on Sept. 3rd - so I'd get some final rides in if you can.

Hydra Fighter was supposed to be moving to Hard Rock Park, but now is listed for sale again. Perhaps Super Saturator will be moving to this park instead?

I believe the ride was a maintenance issue - and Cedar Fair is clearing house of those rather quickly.

Here are the ride's stats from the park's website:

Nickelodeon™ Flying Super Saturator
It's the world's first high-flying water ride - that's more than a ride! Experience this suspended 'swing' coaster with the ultimate interactive water play. Zoom rightside up and sideways surrounded by spray stations, water cannons, geysers and water curtains through more than 1,000 feet of sheer thrills!

LOCATION: Adjacent to WaterWorks water park
MANUFACTURER: Setpoint, Inc., Ogden, Utah
TRACK LENGTH: 1,087 feet
HIGHEST PEAK: 42.4 feet
MAXIMUM SPEED: 44 feet per second
RIDE DURATION: Approximately 60.5 seconds
RIDE CAPACITY: 600 guests per hour
NUMBER OF CARS: 4 vehicles
NUMBER OF TURNS: 4
CAR CAPACITY: 4 guests per vehicle
OTHER FACTS: Every rider has the ability to release a 4-gallon “flash flood” at any point during the ride.

WATER ELEMENT DESCRIPTIONS:
22 Spray Stations: Guests below have the power to saturate their neighbors. Some stations squirt water up to 50 ft. 3
Water Cannons: These water blasters spray up to 40 ft. high.
3 Geysers: See water gush to heights from 10 to 40 feet.
3 Water Curtains: These sheaths of refreshing water are 10 ft. long.
3 Giant Hose Nozzles: These giant hosess run water continuously, guaranteeing a thoroughly soaked rider.
3 Gondola Blasters: It takes two to make these blasters flow: one to pump the water and another to aim nozzel. The more teamwork, the better the saturating potential.
2 Pistons Blasters: These water play blasters require riders to pull back on a plunger that absorbs water and then shoots the H2O back out when pushed.
2 Pump Blasters: When the lever is pressed, water jets out of the nozzle that's aimed at the Flying Super Saturator track. How far the water reaches depends on how hard you press! RIDE GUIDELINES Minimum height requirement is 44”. All riders between 44” and 50” must be accompanied by a responsible person.

© emmy2302 via Webshots

Mr. Freeze at Six Flags St. Louis

The Mr. Freeze roller coasters were built at Six Flags St. Louis and Six Flags over Texas in 1997, but since they didn't work they really opened in 1998. This is a press fact sheet from the St. Louis version of the ride that I just found:

These rides were a big deal as they were back at the start of big launched coasters. Now it seems half of the new coasters each year are launched, but not so back in 1997!

I've never been on either of these rides, and CoasterCommunity has a nice video of it on YouTube. Check it out:

What is Wooden Coaster?

The Attraction R.C.S. blog, which is not in English, has photos of Everland's new Intamin Pre-Fab Wooden Coaster going up.

The South Korean park is building the 5,300+ foot ride on a hillside, which makes the ride's layout even more interesting.

With the rave reviews that previous Intamin Pre-Fab Wooden Coasters have received, I'm sure this will be one of the rides of 2008.

Check out the Attraction R.C.S. blog to see photos. Be sure to click to page 2 for more. On and the title of this post comes from one of the photos, because I love engrish.

Dorney Website Updated

Dorney Park has given their webpage a Halloween makeover. They've also added their information for this year's HalloWeekends event.

They must have the 2008 project on their minds, however, as on the News page they've listed news for "HalloWeekends 2008." I think they're getting ahead of themselves.

Click to check it out on their site.

Dorney Park Pre-Halloweekends Update

Went to the park today despite the bad weather to get some photos - thinking it would be empty. Even on a rainy day the park was using the overflow parking lot. I haven't seen Dorney have a summer like this since 2002 or so.

With the summer season slowly coming to an end, the park has put up a decent amount of advertising for Halloweekends.

Per usual, the hearse is outside the front gate as advertising. No real changes here, but they did do a great job with it when they changed its graphics a year or so ago.

These signs are up at the entrance to the park. New Dorney logo is used, and they have little logos for each of the haunted attractions on here. Notice that the Zephyr train ride is not on as it will be closed.

These signs are back up in a few places around the park. Nothing new here...

There are new banners up for the Halloween attractions. This shows some of the activities they have for kids.

Here is one for Doctor of Doom in 3-D. Kinda silly to put it behind a bench, but oh well. I don't remember these from last year but I could be wrong.

And here is one for the Fright Zone.

Lastly, here's one for ScreamWorks. I like how these are a little edgier and less family oriented.

And the billboard for Halloweekends is up as well.

With the light rain and cool temperatures, Dorney was rather crowded as it wasn't water park weather. Here's Hang Time's line around 1 p.m.

The Worlds of Fun blog mentioned these huge stuffed animals on their blog recently, and I took notice that Dorney does indeed have them as well. You seriously couldn't fit one of these in a car if you won one. I think it's taller than I am.

I know it's been mentioned a lot before, but Talon is really starting to look bad. There's so much black gunk on the track at this point that it takes away from the ride's look. The above photo is just one example, other parts are far worse.

I have no 2008 photos because there is nothing new to see from my last update. But Labor Day is just around the corner and that means construction starts!

Exciting: Hershey Park 2008

And now we have an announcement from Hershey Park to look forward to! October 2nd is the date for this one.

I would have bet a lot of money on an expansion for the Boardwalk for 2008, but it looks like I would have lost that cash.

The message in the teaser above hints to the fact that Hershey Park has 10 roller coasters at this point, so making that 11 and adding a new one seems to be the answer to the hint.

Anyone heard anything as to what kind of coaster this will be?

Exciting: Canada's Wonderland 2008

Canada's Wonderland is having their biggest announcement ever on August 27th. The teaser on their website informs us that whatever the project is, it required 18 months of planning and construction, is the biggest project in the park's history, and that Canada has never seen anything like it.

Depending on how specific they are in that last part that could rule out the popular B&M Hyper rumor. I mean La Ronde has already done that. Perhaps that dive machine rumor had some substance after all?

You can stare at the countdown clock on the park's website and ponder all this until the announcement.

Original Steel Phantom Concept Art

Back in 1991 Kennywood Amusement Park opened a monster of a steel coaster, the Steel Phantom. Arrow Dynamics designed the Phantom to include a 225 ft. drop taken at speeds of 80 m.p.h., as well as four inversions.

This was quite the big deal at this point in the history of amusement rides. The drop was the world's longest, and the top speed the fastest. Such a big ride deserved some big concept art, right?

Well, here's what Kennywood came up with all those years ago:

Pretty cool, eh?

As we all know, Steel Phantom is no more, and Phantom's Revenge now tears around this section of the park.

Universal's HHN Website Scares Me

Universal has once again updated their Halloween Horror Nights website. Now the Carnival is much more developed and you can click on the Blair Meats trailer, which I'm sure is serving up tasty goodies.

The puzzle to get into this one is much harder, and while I figured out the other two on my own I had to look up the answer to this one. Mainly because I have no idea how to operate a chainsaw in real life, let alone in a puzzle online.

The order for clicking the chainsaw parts is: turn the bottom power knob once, pump the gas button twice, hit the choke (red knob) once, pull the starter handle three times, and then hit the handle trigger once and enter by clicking "kill". That should get you in.

But beware: it's dark in there and a chainsaw-wielding maniac is after you.

Another Look at Six Flags Advertising

This article on Broadcast Newsroom gives a nice overview of the marketing efforts for Six Flags parks that were used this summer.

HomeNYC worked with Red Line Films to produce the TV spots for the park chain. There's a lot of somewhat technical info in the article, but a certain highlight is the fact that the company actually tried to make the commercials park specific.

I guess all those years of showing Six Flags Magic Mountain rides in Great Adventure spots are over. Thank goodness. I was getting pretty tired of seeing Goliath in all those commercials.

Cedar Point Bumps Up Admission

Mantis has nothing to do with this article, but I like this picture. Anyway, Cedar Point has raised many of their admission prices by a dollar as of today.

For the last several years many Cedar Fair parks have been raising the parking fee by a dollar around this time. Now it seems that is not enough, and so a gate increase is more in order.

I wonder if a few years ago they bumped parking to add just that little bit more revenue to the year's tally and now they're in a cycle where they have to bump something around this time each year. Who knows.

PointBuzz has the article.

Busch Gardens Tampa/Africa 1992 Brochure

New for 1992 was Myombe Reserve. They were also still advertising Questor as well, which opened the year before. I LOVED Questor.

I totally feel a Questor post coming on because of this!

Busch Gardens Africa has a pretty river rapids ride. Then again, a lot of the park is really beautiful.

Kings Island Water Park Open Longer

Kings Island is keeping Boomerang Bay open an additional 5 days this year. I know some of the Paramount parks used to just add weekends to their operating seasons, but I'm surprised this is happening under Cedar Far management.

Cedar Fair parks live and breath by their budgets in my experience - that's why I'm surprised. Either way, everyone can go get soaked one last time at Kings Island.

Zoombezi Bay at the Columbus Zoo

The Columbus Zoo has created a page with some press information and facts for their new water park, Zoombezi.

Looks to be a full day water park at this point. I hope it turns out as nice as the concepts. With this press I'll add it to the NewsPlusNotes 2008 Tracker page.

Here's the link.

Dorney Park 1996 Map

Remember when the park map looked like this? Looking back, I can't believe *this* was their official map. Some parts of it are neat though. Hercules, employee entrance is listed as open for the public on weekend, Monster before Dominator, undeveloped main midway, the list goes on. It's fun to take a look at.

Batman arriving at Fiesta Texas

© bn_hearn 2007

The rumor was a strong one, and it's proving to be true. The pieces of Batman the Ride from the former Six Flags New Orleans are arriving at Six Flags Fiesta Texas.

Mark Shapiro said a while back that the ride was going to show up at one of their parks as a new attraction. Looks like he kept his word.

The ride was a Thrill Valley in Japan as Gambit from 1995 to 2002. It opened at Six Flags New Orleans in 2003 and closed in 2005.

Check out the SFFTnet.com forums for all the photos.

Disney's Hollywood Studios

Disney MGM Studios in Florida has officially been renamed Disney's Hollywood Studios as of Jan. 2008.

I'm glad they didn't slap Pixar on the name, however, Hollywood was rather unexpected as well.

You can find Disney's official release here.

They talk about new attractions coming to the park, but they do not list anything I didn't already know about.

Worlds of Fun Halloween Haunt 2007

Worlds of Fun has announced their line up for their Halloween Haunt 2007, taking place this fall.

It looks like they got some nice capital to work with, as they have two new Haunts to offer this year. Carnevil will have the usual selection of psychotic clowns and sideshow freaks, and Blood Shed allows guests to visit Old McDonald slaughterhouse to see what's cookin'.

The park offers a nice selection of Halloween themed entertainment as well.

Worlds of Fun is certainly standing out as one of Cedar Fair's larger Halloween events each year. I'm jealous.

Check out Worlds of Fun's Halloween Haunt Page.

Already Missing It...

I know it's still there but I'm not sure I'll get to visit the Lost Continent at Universal's Islands of Adventure before it gets the knife.

It was my favorite part of Islands of Adventure, and while Harry Potter will be neat (even though I'm not into the series), I'll still miss the old.

Anyway, this is from a Universal souvenir book shortly after the park opened. I'm sorry I didn't take the time to really edit out the seem in the middle, but it's still nice to look at.

© Universal Studios

New Jason Surrell Book!!!

It's been known for well over a year now that Jason Surrell's next book would be titled The Disney Mountains: Disney Imagineering at its Peak. But now it's almost here! It comes out the 28th of this month. I cannot wait.

Jason is an imagineer and Disney Park fan, and two of his other works, one on the Haunted Mansion and one on Pirates of the Caribbean are fantastic. If you haven't checked them out yet, I highly suggest doing so.

Imagineering at its Peak will feature tons of great rides - not only ones that were actually built either. Matterhorn Bobsleds, Space Mountains, Grizzly Peak, Everest, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder, Western River Expedition - it's all there.

And no, I don't know Mr. Surrell or work for Disney Publishing - just really love his books. They're perfect for a behind-the-scenes history fact loving nerd like myself.

Amazon's page for the book.

Busch Gardens Europe Press Images

These are from 1992 and 1995, when the park was Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

The above photo shows Loch Ness Monster, and says it goes 70 m.p.h. Interesting. It also shows Big Bad Wolf swinging over the Rhine River.

Here we have Drachen Fire flying through it's cobra roll. Rest in melted down pieces, Drachen Fire.

Just a couple classic shots I wanted to share!

Dreamworks Pushing Theme Park Partnerships

Dreamworks Animation has promoted Mr. Joel Ward to a new position created solely to head the studio's expansion into Theme Park and Location Based entertainment.

Basically, that means they are going to take getting their characters into theme parks and other entertainment facilities more seriously.

Not that they haven't before, Shrek is at Universal Studios for instance, but they intend to expand their relationships using their portfolio of characters such as the aforementioned Shrek as well as Madagascar and the upcoming Kung Foo Panda.

Mr. Ward actually has had a successful career at Universal Studios Hollywood so I'm sure we'll see an even stronger relationship with the Universal Parks in the future.

Animation World Network has all the details.

Led Zeppelin is Beautiful

User Kennywood!007 on Theme Park Review has posted some fantastic pictures of Led Zeppelin at Hard Rock Park under construction.

I thought Hydra's cobra roll was oddly shaped, Led Zep's is really oddly shaped.

It's still a wonderful white-tracked B&M beauty though.

Click here to check out Kennywood!007's photos.

Halloween Horror Nights Website Updates

The website for Universal's Halloween Horror Nights has been updated with some new puzzles and fun stuff to find.

Now two of the items at the Carnival being set up are clickable, however, both require a password to view more.

The fun is that the password for both are in the website, just mentioned elsewhere.

Universal is so smart to utilize their website like this. It not only builds excitement for the event, but keeps people coming back to their website.

Click here to check it out.

Rt. 222 / Dorney Traffic Concerns

The Morning Call ran an article today by their Road Warrior, Dan Hartzell, concerning the long-time issue of people crossing Rt. 222 near Dorney Park.

Anyone who's driven this stretch of Rt. 222 during the months that Dorney Park is open knows what this article is talking about. People cross the road all day long, many families with strollers, also many are groups of teens.

In 1997 a 14 year old boy was killed when he was hit by a car crossing this stretch. That threw the problem into the spotlight. There was a lot of discussion back then about Dorney Park and Penndot coming up with a solution to the problem.

Well, nothing ever happened. People are still darting across rt. 222 like crazy in 2007. That's 10 years people. Mr. Hartzell points out in this article that the best solution is probably a shuttle that would stop at Dorney, the hotels, the LANTA bus stop, and Ice Cream World, all of which are right across from the park.

Who's to blame for no solution ever being reached? Everyone. From the businesses involved to the public for not demanding action, everyone gets a piece of the blame pie. It's sad, really, that the world works that way.

Tokyo Disneyland Pirates

Pirates of the Caribbean has reopened at Tokyo Disneyland with the Pirates movie make-over.

I had no idea the Tokyo ride was even in rehab let alone receiving the same makeover that the Florida and California rides receives.

Joe's Tokyo Disney Resort Photo Site has a lot of nice pictures of the ride, as well as a video.

You can click here and check it out to compare to the Florida and California rides.

Joe's site is a great place if you ever want to explore the Tokyo Disney Resort. I highly recommend.

Knott's Berry Farm 2008?

© Westcoaster 2007

I haven't covered this yet, but Knott's Berry Farm has been working on ... something for a while now. They cleared out a bunch of buildings from Ghost Town and now, as seen in Westcoaster's picture above, they have a foundation down for something.

I haven't a clue what it is. Screamscape is saying a coaster is coming, but who knows. That could be a foundation for a building or anything, really.

Check out Westcoaster for the entire update.

Canada's Wonderland 2008 Construction

© CWMania 2007

CWMania has updated with some great pictures of the construction going on at Canada's Wonderland. The 2008 coaster appears to have quite a lot of footers already completed for what looks like a station area.

Click here to go to CWMania's page to check it all out.

The announcement for the 2008 attraction is *rumored* to be on Aug. 27th so stay tuned!

Dorney Park Fun Facts #16

I came across a bunch of discount coupon slips for Dorney from many years ago and wanted to post them. Fun Facts seems like the perfect place for these. Here's two of them.

Here's the 1994 one:

Yes, that's a photo of Cedar Point's rapids ride. Notice that the park closed for the season on September 25th in 1994. We're lucky to have the park open as long as we do now!

Here's the 1987 one:

The full price to get in was $16.95! Notice that Laser is just called the Double Looper.

Memories...

Cedar Point Halloweekends 2007

Cedar Point has launched their website for Halloweekends 2007.

New this fall visitors can watch the Monster Midway Invasion Celebration parade, each Saturday and Sunday at 4 p.m. Their website says that the parade is family oriented, so expect more goofy than scary.

You can browse around CP's Halloweekends site on their official page.

Love on the Sierra Sidewinder

© 2007 The O.C. Register

Knott's Berry Farm was the home of a unique wedding yesterday. Mr. and Mrs. Vanderweit, as they're now known, had their marriage service performed in a Sierra Sidewinder coaster car inside the station, and started their marriage with a spin - literally - by taking a ride on the new attraction.

The couple went on their first date at Knott's during their Halloween Haunt, so their marriage location is only fitting. Snoopy and the gang were part of the wedding, of course, and they even had a coaster themed cake.

Check out the O.C. Register's site for pictures and video.

Six Flags Purchases Discovery Kingdom

Six Flags has formally purchased Six Flags Discovery Kingdom from the city of Vallejo as of yesterday.

The park operator paid the city $55 million for the property.

The sale came amid controversy raised by animal rights activists that wanted the park's elephants to not be part of the deal.

Apparently they failed and Six Flags now owns the elephants.

You can read the Vallejo Times Herald's article on the subject on their website.