Aerial Antics: Dreaming of Summer...

Some seaside summer classics:

Casino Pier, Seaside Heights, NJ - Home of two adult and a kiddie coaster, a Skyscraper, and a massive roof-top mini-golf course!

Funtown Pier, Seaside Park, NJ - Home to a looping coaster, an S&S tower ride, a massive ferris wheel, a Sky Coaster, and a classic Wild Mouse coaster.

Steel Pier, Atlantic City, NJ - This classic features America's first spinning Wild Mouse, a Disc-O, and helicopter tours from the end of the pier.

Martin's Fantasy Island 2008

Martin's Fantasy Island is adding a 140 ft. tall StarFlyer from the FunTime Group to its ride lineup in 2008. I think that's awesome! These things look so fun. They're also adding a kiddie ride that goes in a circle.

But back to the StarFlyer, I want to ride one really bad, but I want to ride one of the 250ish ft. tall ones, like this. Oh yes I do.

Anyway, awesome move Martin's!

Six Flags' New Media Network

Media Daily News has this article published about Six Flags' new overall plan to build a network of media outlets through their parks that should allow them to sell even more advertising.

At first I was all who cares, but then I thought about it and it made me wonder: is this a smart move that will help with the bottom line, or are they going too far with the in-park ads?

Let's look at some of their 9 'channels' of advertising:
Six Flags Television - entertainment and ads on plasma tvs throughout the parks, specifically ride queues
Radio - already in the park, more ads on there
Print - Ads on "9 million" maps, guides and such throughout the season
Outdoor - billboards and ads in the park, like those mist-spraying ones we saw last year
Experimental - unique things like the Wii stations
Web - the Six Flags web site gets 34 million hits a year

Minus the new TV Network in the park, it sounds pretty much like the things we saw last year. It would be bad if they took it too far, and had ads in everyone's faces their entire visit, but this initiative has good sides to it as well.

We will have to see this coming summer how it all plays out.

Vote in January's Poll

Yes - another month has gone by, scary, isn't it? Please remember to vote in January's poll - today is the last day to do so.

Some Voodoo Thoughts

Looking at the Voodoo Webcam, I think you can now make out the start of the footings for the ride's station. You can see the image I captured and then I added my own little drawing of the station.

If this is correct, then the ride will launch toward Laser, and that will be the end with the spiral tower. The holding brake end would be next to Monster Grille. You can see there are five support footers on either side for the station. The original station for the ride used five column footers as well, so maybe they are using Geauga Lake's station for the ride.

BUT, I also noticed that Steel Venom at Valleyfair! also has five supports on their (what I think is) ugly and cramped looking station. So who knows.

Lastly, there are supports for the station/launch track that have been moved next to the construction site, so vertical construction must be very close.

Scream at the Parking Lot Coaster!

There's really no purpose to this post - but just look at it!

Everyone knows that Scream at Six Flags Magic Mountain is a well known 'parking lot coaster' - and is made fun of on a regular basis - but seeing it from the air is really funny. It's just gross! It's a perfect example of not caring much about the 'feel' of an amusement park when the coaster boom of the last decade and a half took place.

I hope the new Six Flags gang will never repeat something like this.

Flight Deck Again!?

Okay, this is just getting stoopid now. Suddenly Top Gun, er, Afterburn, er Flight Deck is once again called Flight Deck on California's Great America's web page.

What is going on? Did the park try to be a Cedar Fair rouge and change the horrible name that was picked for Top Gun and get put in their place?

I guess it's amusing during this boring time of the year anyway. Thanks for the off season fun CGA!

Knott's Pony Express Construction Photos

© Bear-ytales.net 2008

Bear-ytales has a new update from Knott's Berry Farm featuring many construction photos of the Pony Express as well as other goings-on at the park.

As you can see above, they have up a much better logo for the ride on the construction walls than what is currently on Knott's official website. I like it!

See all the phots at Bear-ytales!

Some Carowinds News

Carowinds has quietly announced a new ride for their park in 2008 - according to the park's website they will be featuring Geauga Lake's Yo Yo ride in 2008.

The park has a page for the ride, and even mentions that it's coming from Geauga Lake.

Also, the park has added to the Super Saturator description that the ride will only operate during the Boomerang Bay water park season. Thus, the ride is NOT being removed, but will have a more limited operating season.

New Thunderhawk Photos

You can see the full set of the progress of putting up the ride on Michigan's Adventure's website. The ride is quite colorful right now, there's some orange track, red track, yellow supports, and even a bit of teal supports in the station area.

Lookin' good though!

Morey's Piers 2008 Attractions

Morey's Piers has updated their new for 2008 page on their website. On that, we find the above image - and this is confusing to me.

Is the ride's new name Fly? Or is it Fly - The Great Nor'Easter, or is it like a command, "Fly the Great Nor'Easter!" and not a name change at all? I thought it was getting a brand new name along with new colors (red, white, blue) and the awesome new trains.

Meanwhile, the Piers are also adding Cygnus X-1 - which looks a lot like a themed Gravitron. Additionally, a Zamperla Magic Bikes family flat ride will be added.

Here's a link to their page.

Cedar Point 2008 Brochure

Cedar Point's 2008 Brochure is now available from their official website. I think it's a good change of pace from the last few years.

At this point, it's somewhat safe to say that the coaster and thrill ride advertising angle was not helping the Point's ever sagging attendance.

So in my opinion, an approach of advertising to families could work. I mean look, they even wrote "families rule" on top of the main Cedar Point logo on the cover - it seems they're taking the family angle pretty seriously.

The following pages of the brochure also advertise toward families, with the thrill ride section taking up a smaller portion than any of their yearly brochures I can remember.

Check it out - anyone else think this approach could help?

New Official Voodoo Construction Photos

© 2008 Dorney Park

Dorney Park has updated their official construction blog and photo gallery for Voodoo. There's lots to see in this update, like:

· The electrical building for Voodoo going up
· A preview of a Haunt at Dorney Park logo
· The structure for the Voodoo sign being built
· The 'Drop Zone' store being redone
· Work on the launch track
· What looks like a new location for a basketball game

Check it out!

Silverwood 1995 Brochure

Here's a brochure from Silverwood Theme Park in 1995. This was before the park added Timber Terror or Tremors.

They didn't focus on rides back then, more on picnics and such.

Here's a map of the park at the time. Their big coaster of the time was the original Corkscrew ride from Knott's Berry Farm. Now they have two wooden coasters, more rides, a big water park, and for 2008 that big inverted boomerang from Six Flags Great America.

Flight Deck Gets Burned

Thankfully, California's Great America has already dropped the name Flight Deck as a replacement for Top Gun.

The ride is now being called Afterburn. Yes, Afterburn, not Afterburner.

It's certainly better than Flight Deck, though. Let's hope that the other former Paramount Parks follow Great America's lead...

Chinese B&M Dive Coaster Opening

Here is an article, translated in engrish, that's about the new B&M Dive Coaster opening soon at Chimelong Paradise in China.

Chimelong Paradise opened in 2006 and has classic rides such as the "10 Inversion Roller Coaster" and "Family Gravity Coaster," at least according to RCDB.

The article has links to a bunch of photos of the ride operating with passengers, like the one above.

Vote in the Steel Coaster Poll

Although I already missed linking to the 2007 Wooden Coaster Poll, the ballot for the 2007 Steel Coaster Poll is now open.

I've voted in this each year for many moons now, and you should too! It's by far the best, most unbiased poll out there for ranking coasters.

Here's a link to the Best Roller Coaster Poll page where you can get your ballot.

Aerial Antics: Soak City Palm Springs

Here's a Live Local image of Knott's Soak City U.S.A. in Palm Springs. This park is much smaller than I thought - well I guess I knew it wasn't a big water park but this is smaller than I would have guessed.

That red slide on the top right looks like fun, a nice combo of twisty and then a straight drop at the end.

Voodoo 1.26.08 Update

I thought I'd take a spin by Dorney Park to see what that white blob was I've been seeing on the Voodoo Webcam, and so I took some pictures. Here's the update.

Let's start in the parking lot. It looks like those are painted supports for the station and/or launch track areas.

Not too much new in this area.

Same here, but that track on the left is having stuff attached to it.

Closer view of some of the supports.

Here is that blob I mentioned from the webcam. It's a tent, if you will, that I'm guessing is for allowing newly poured concrete to dry. That way snow and stuff can't mess it up. It looks like it's covering the area for the ride's station or electrical room.

That was a guess about the concrete thing - if anyone has a better idea of what this is for please, let me know!

One last view. Steel has to start to go up soon!

Knott's Pony Express Logo

Knott's official webpage has been updated with the above graphic - including the Pony Express logo - I'm hoping this isn't the full logo as it's really rather bland.

Behemoth's Finished!

I just noticed that on Canada's Wonderland's official site for Behemoth they have pictures up of the ride's track being completed.

Here's a link to the photos. There are more of the station area and such as well.

Splat-O-Sphere at Nick U is Up

Hey look, Splat-O-Sphere at Nickelodeon Universe is up, too! This area is going to look pretty great once this and Avatar are open.

With Ripsaw - or whatever it's new name will be - going, Avatar and Splat-O-Sphere this little area will have lots of movement and such for visitors to take in.

Anyone know exactly what is on top of Splat-O-Sphere? That orange stuff?

Thunderhawk @ MiA Goes Vertical!

With very many thanks to Jon Roost and Cedar Fair Village I am able to present new pictures of Thunderhawk at Michigan's Adventure going vertical. All images are © Jon Roost and Cedar Fair Village.

It looks like some rather snowy conditions did not stop the park from placing the ride's first supports and even some track today.

Supports are up!

Here you can see lots of construction vehicles and some of the track that has been painted red.

They put up the first piece of track, though it hasn't been painted yet.

Here's a view with some of Shivering Timbers in the photo to give some perspective.

A closer view.

Cedar Fair Village also has up a special podcast that covers this new construction at Michigan's Adventure. Click here to check it out!

Thanks again to Jon and Cedar Fair Village!

Disneyland Paris Resort Strong Again

Disneyland Paris Resort has announced their first quarter fiscal year 2008 results - and they are looking good again!

The resort with such a troubled history posted a 20% increase in revenues for the quarter on strong park attendance and hotel occupancy.

This streak of growth is going to do great things for the resort. This continues and I'm sure we'll see some more amazing attractions get built in the fields outside Paris.

Here's the article.

Silverwood's Deja Vu

Oh poor little Silverwood Theme Park - what have you done?

Today Silverwood Theme Park announced their plan to purchase the Deja Vu roller coaster from Six Flags Great America and have the ride open by July. This will be the park's largest and most expensive ride ever, with the instillation of the ride costing $3 million alone. (though if they are smart they probably let Six Flags pay them to get ride of the thing)

But really - if Silverwood can make the thing work regularly it'll be a stand out attraction for them. It's tall, it's fast, it's fairly unique - it's certainly a ride that has the potential to give the park a lot of press and attention.

Here's the article about the announcement.

Former Paramount Park Sites Down

If you go to one of the former Paramount Park's websites ... you'll see the above image. I read that it was mentioned at a recent coaster event that these parks would have new sites "soon" - so it must have been really soon!

I'm hoping at least this means the new sites will debut on Friday - that could be pretty cool... they're way past due for new websites.

Knott's Berry Farm 1977 Brochure

Here's a Knott's Berry Farm brochure from 1977 - and boy you can tell it's from that decade - just look at those drawings on the cover!

Here's some of the general park information as well as places to go eat while visiting. Check out those crazy drawings! They're pretty hilarious if ya ask me.

Here's the park map from that year - it's a really large file. There's lots to see on there, for instance, I had no idea there was a lake across the street from the park with a boat.

Here's a breakdown of the different rides, attractions, shops, food shacks, and "free attractions" that the park offered.

Knott's really has changed so much since a few decades ago, eh? (like most parks, I guess, it just feels so dramatic at some parks, like Knott's)

Darien Lake Makes It Official

Darien Lake made their new Zamperla Motocoaster for 2008 official today. As of now they are just calling the ride a Motocoaster from Zamperla, so I'm guessing they will pick a name for the ride later.

The info is right on Darien Lake's main page.

Want to Save the Golden Nugget?

© MrBoardwalk.net

So as we sadly are all aware, the Golden Nugget Mine Ride is still sitting on the former Hunt's / Dinosaur Beach Pier in Wildwood. The Morey's are still the owners of the pier and the ride, but still have not decided what to do with this historic attraction.

The ride was built in 1960 by John Allen / Philadelphia Toboggan Company, and was a unique coaster type dark ride hybrid. The ride incorporated Bill Tracy props and gags into the action, these alone would make the ride worth saving (not that all are left, though). (Click here for awesome photos)

The ride was incorporated into the failed Dinosaur Beach park that was on Hunt's Pier in the 1990s, and since that closed the ride has sat idle.

I think it would be fantastic for a new generation of riders to experience this piece of history.
If you feel the ride should be saved, please take a few minutes to send them an e-mail expressing that: webmaster@moreyspiers.com

Ya never know, maybe we will all get to take a ride into the mine again some day!

Worlds of Fun 2008 Brochure

Worlds of Fun's 2008 general park brochure is now available to download from the park's official website.

As you can see above, the park has yet another new logo. Cedar Fair should really let these parks pick the logo they want and then stick with it. I don't think it helps brand name recognition to start each season with a new logo.

Anyway, the park has no new rides, but is celebrating their 35th anniversary this year, and Mamba is celebrating its 10th. The park will also expand their Haunt event yet again, celebrate an official Oktoberfest this September, and feature a new "Celebrate America" Festival series weekends during the summer.

To close, here's Mamba's cool 10th anniversary logo:

www.newsplusnotes.com!

If all the parks can have something exciting to advertise as their new for 2008 attraction, why can't I?

That in mind, I decided to take the next step for NewsPlusNotes and grab www.newsplusnotes.com, which was surprisingly available on the cheap.

Nothing is really changing, though, but it'll be easier for people to remember how to get to NewsPlusNotes without using their bookmarks.

Yay for NewsPlusNotes!