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!

New Disney's California Adventure Art

The official Disney's California Adventure Project Tracker over on MiceChat just posted some new concept images of the makeover that DCA is going to receive over the next several years.

Above is one I like, it's the show building for the Little Mermaid dark ride. It sounds like it'll be an awesome ride - and for those of us who felt sad watching the proposed Mermaid dark ride for Disneyland Paris video - well this may be even better!

Here's a link to the thread.

Aerial Antics: Knott's Soak City Chula Vista

Click for a much larger image of Cedar Fair's Soak City U.S.A. Chula Vista in California. To my knowledge, since Cedar Fair purchased the property in late 1999, they've added the water play structure, family raft ride, and the pink and yellow Tornado slide.

As you can see, they also have plenty of room to expand should the market ever demand it. The park seems to be doing well under the Knott's branding, it was only 2 years old when Cedar Fair swooped in and bought it while the property was in bankruptcy foreclosure.

Six Flags Great America Dark Knight

© rct2wizard360 / SFGAm World

Over on the SFGAm World website forums, user rct2wizard360 has posted some photos, like the one above, of Six Flags Great America's plans for the Dark Knight coaster.

I must say, I'm impressed. The Great America version is using the former Theater Royale as a queue, winding through the seating area of the theater and then leaving that building and heading out into the new building for the ride.

There's some cool photos of some of the theming, the cars (which look cool), the layout of queue and ride, and more over at SFGAm World. Go check it out!

Disney War: Book Review

I know it's not a new book, but I finally just finished my copy of Disney War by James B. Stewart. I think I got it for Christmas last year and it sat around since then...

Regardless, it's a really good book. Yeah it's like 600 (at times feels like 6,000) pages, but there's so much information contained in those pages it's incredible.

Everyone knows that Michael Eisner did some great and not-so-great things for the Walt Disney Company over the years, but if you're really interested in hearing exactly how he operated as a leader this is the place for that.

Be warned, though, if you're looking for theme park related juicy stuff, well, this isn't the book for you. It relies heavily on the movie studio side of the company, and the parks do not come up all that often.

Still, I found it to be a fantastic read. I always thought that current leader, Bob Iger was a good choice for the company with Eisner gone, now, I'm not so sure.

If interested, you can get a used Hardcover or Paperback version for like $3.00 though Amazon.

Michigan's Adventure 2008 Brochure

Well kids, it's January, and that means that it's new 2008 brochure season! Let's start this year off with Michigan's Adventure and their 2008 park brochure.

Nice cover. Much more eye catching than kids in a car ride or something along those lines. Also, the park's logo does NOT feature the Cedar Fair logo-image thing it had last year. Thunderhawk is depicted as orange and yellow, but then I noticed something about the ride's logo.

There's a significant more amount of red in the logo, which makes sense now that we know the track is being painted red. Here's a comparison. The top logo is from the announcement graphics, the bottom (sorry for the quality) is from the brochure:
'Reality' just posted a comment under the first Thunderhawk painting post that they heard that it will be red track and yellow supports. So that matches pretty well with what I'm seeing in the logo color changes.

I used to love Chose Your Adventure books! Uhh, but yeah, pretty generic page - this and the next two pages are the exact same "content" pages as last year's brochure.

Kids' page! Nothing much to see here also.

It's weird to me that the new for 2008 attraction is featured on the last page. Historically, covering new attractions is always done right up front.

I didn't scan the back page, but regular admission is listed as $25.00, up from $24.00 last year. Two day tickets are now also listed on the back cover, last year they were not. Finally, season pass prices went up just under five bucks.

For comparisons, here's last year's brochure.

Nice Steel Venom Video

I just came across this on YouTube, it's Steel Venom, now Voodoo at Dorney Park, at Geauga Lake. It gives a great view of the station area set up, which has become important in trying to figure out the ride's positioning at Dorney Park.

Plus, it's cool to see the ride launch!


Video is from Flightxpilot9

Raving Flyer II Progress

© Erie Times News 2008

Waldameer Amusement Park's new wooden coaster, Ravine Flyer II, just had it's bridge constructed that will support the coaster as it travels over a busy road.

The picture above, and it's accompaning article, provide the details - as well as a video of the bridge going up in the middle of the night.

This ride is pretty cool if you ask me. Here's some photos of the ride that the park keeps pretty current.

Celebration City 2008 Announced

Celebration City has added information to their web page about their new ride for 2008, Roaring Falls. Roaring Falls is a Chute-the-Chutes style splashdown ride, and is coming to the park from the former Geauga Lake Amusement Park.

I'm glad that this ride from Geauga Lake will have a nice home. Here's a link to the ride's page on Celebration City's website.

A Dorney Haunt Idea

I was thinking about what Dorney could do new for the Haunt this fall, and came up with a quick idea, which led to a quick sketch. Outdoor haunts seem complicated at the park ... there are several areas that could work well, but with most of them there's something along that section of the midway that would make it not work. (particular rides, games, etc) The park has such random midways because of it's development over such a long period of time.

I thought that the area down by the flume and go-carts could work well. As you can see, guests would flow through starting to the left of the Burger Barn, wind their way through the area, and exit on the right of the barn.

The log flume would be closed anyway, probably, and the Krazy Kars would have to close early. The go-carts would either close or remain open, depending on if it'd be worth it. It's an area with decent trees and it's off to the side with no major attractions or buildings. I think it'd be a little short but it could work...

I'm such a dork! Thinking about Halloween in January. What do you guys think?

Skyscraper Leaving Valleyfair!

Skyscraper has been removed from Valleyfair's website. Interesting. Rumors started a bit ago that the ride was headed for Cedar Point this coming summer. Now suddenly that appears as thought it may be true - or at least going to another park.

It looks like Cedar Fair is using this upcharge ride in a location for a few years, then moving it on to make new revenues elsewhere. Not a bad idea, I guess. It wasn't very popular at Dorney Park after the first year or so, and it seems the same happened at Valleyfair!

I wonder if they'll send the sign from Dorney's ferris wheel along with it again? (Dorney Park's ferris wheel was named Skyscraper before the ride was added, and they used the ferris wheel's sign for the ride when it opened)

Six Flags to Cut Costs in '08

In a recent filing with the SEC, Six Flags stated that they plan to reduce their operating expenses in 2008 by $50 million.

That is very ambitious of them. I'm guessing releasing this sort of information at this time of year means their 2007 year results are not going to be too pretty.

They say that a big chunk of the reduction will come from only using two marketing agencies, instead of three, and not doing as much radio advertising - but sticking to the internet to advertise heavily.

Also, they're going to cut costs by removing a lot of expensive to run and maintain rides - which we've heard of happening in bulk at many parks already. The company will also reduce the number of expensive, older employees through an early retirement program, and institute a seasonal labor tracking system.

If they can do it that would be nice, but only if the parks do not suffer as a result, and that I'm not convinced of.

Spongebob is Done!

Spongebob Squarepants Rock Bottom Plunge at Nickelodeon Universe was finished last night. What a fun looking ride! And look at that mini hop directly after the loop - the trains will have quite a bit a speed going over that.

Here's the webcam.

Thunderhawk at MIA Being Painted Red?

Thanks to our eagle-eyed friend James, who left a comment in the first post today about Thunderhawk - we've noticed that some of the Thunderhawk track in the parking lot at Michigan's Adventure is a bright red color.

That's pretty interesting, no? I didn't think it was being painted. It looks too not-faded a color to be old track that was never painted orange... I'm confused. Anyone know what's going on?

Another Six Flags Wedgie

Another Six Flags property has announced a Wedgie for 2008, this time Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom in the Splashwater Kingdom water park.

It's fun to write about these rides and call them wedgies. Anyway, this one, according to this article, will be a large bowl slide - which I think if I remember correctly we think that Great Escape's will also be.

It's good that Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom is expanding their water park in 2008, but didn't Holiday World just add a way bigger bowl a couple years ago? It'll still be fun though, and help ease lines in the water park.

Thunderhawk Pictures

Michigan's Adventure had updated their construction photos of Thunderhawk. From the photos, it looks like the lift will run out toward the water on the side closest to Wolverine Wildcat.

Here's a link to the pictures.

Dorney Park Fun Facts #20

Let's take a look at the Dorney Park 1983 Brochure!

1983 was the park's 99th year of operation. Some nice pictures on the cover there, like the Flying Dutchman and some rockin' 80s singers. Oh yeah.

Lots of really great stuff to be seen in this spread. Upper left you have a happy family entering the main entrance, which is now the employee entrance. There's the Flying Dutchman in all its glory, a nice pic of a sorta scary looking Alfundo character, and Thunderhawk with it's striking gold paint job. Journey to the Center of the Earth, the Sky Ride, kids with ice cream, it's all there!

This map that was in the brochure was a big reason why I wanted to feature this brochure. So much to see on here too.

Castle Gardens was still standing, The Mandarin House, parking lot tower, "The Coaster's" station with the Alfundo sign, miniature golf, and about a thousand groves that are no longer standing.

The park's 'second' entrance had already been built, and the "Roaring 20s Midway" was still pretty new. Apple Butter Village was hidden in the trees near the bottom of the park, and Zoorama was still out where Laser is today. All that, and lots of other neat things to take notice of in that image.

Here's some more information they had on Apple Butter Village - it sounds a lot like areas you can still find at Knoebels today. And, of course, the price and directions part of the brochure is included as well. Isn't it weird how that Dorney logo is somewhat similar to the one they're using now?

Anyway, hope you enjoyed.

Clementon Park Begins New Era

Here's a link to an article from the Gloucester County Times about the changes going on at Clementon Amusement Park in South Jersey.

The park is heading into the new season with new owners and management, made up of a team of long time Six Flags executives.

Changes are taking place all over the park property already. Many cosmetic improvements are being made, several older rides are gone (including the destruction of the Jack Rabbit coaster late last year), and a new water park expansion is under way. Laguna Kaguna is a large water play structure, complete with slides and a tipping bucket.

The new management hopes to have 350k-400k in attendance this year, and will host the park's first Halloween event this fall.

Darien Lake 2008 Coaster

We've heard the rumors before, but now ParkWorld Magazine has confirmed that Darien Lake will add the Zamperla MotoCoaster prototype seen above.

Joining it's sister Zamperla MotoCoaster at Knott's Berry Farm in 2008, the ride has been running outside the Zamperla plant in Italy for some time now.

I'm glad Darien Lake is adding this ride - good for them. Perhaps the park can thrive under it's new PARC ownership.

Nickelodeon Universe Update

Huge update of photos of all the construction going on at Nickelodeon Universe has been posted to Webshots by user cwsr.

Check it out - lots of great pics of Spongebob, Avatar, new buildings, paint jobs, and lots more.

Voodoo Aerial Construction Photos

Flyin Phil's Photos has new pictures of Voodoo under contruction, taken from the air, from December 30th, 2007.

You can see that almost all the footers were poured at that point, aside from some of the larger ones from the towers on either end of the ride.

Sadly, because of the design of the ride, we still can't tell which side will be the vertical tower and which will be the twisting tower.

Still, the photos are awesome and give a very complete understanding of how the ride sits along the midway.

Here's a link to Phil's gallery of Voodoo pics.

2007 Disney Annual Report

The Walt Disney Company's 2007 Annual Report is now online, if you'd like to browse. I didn't see any stand-out info published in it, certainly not like last year when they released all sorts of concept art for way in the future attractions.

But still, it's always interesting to see what Disney has been up to. For instance, I didn't know I could make my own Disney Fairy online! Ha...

Here's the link to the online version with .pdf available.

Universal Orlando's 'Project Rumble"

For the past few months, many rumors have popped up that Universal Stuiods Florida is going to add a coaster to the park, much like Universal Stuidos Japan did with Hollywood Dream.

Well, IOACentral just broke the news that Universal Orlando has filed permits with Orlando stating that Maurer Sohne will be developing the ride system for "project rumble." I believe Screamscape had reported that earlier at some point.

Regardless, how exciting that they're adding a coaster to the park? Purists will hate it, but I think it's a grand idea. It's weird that Maurer Sohne is doing the ride, but then again they've come up with some rather interesting rides in the past few years, so I guess they deserve the chance to prove themselves.

Oh that's not cool at all...

The above image is from an ad on amusementtrader.com for the former Geauga Lake's Black Squid 'Monster' style flat ride.

We already know that many of the park's rides are for sale, so no big deal, right? Well... then consider this:

This is a screen shot of the page that Geauga Lake Today has up for the same ride. And yes, that's the same picture! Just with the watermark removed! (and not very well, for that matter, it's sloppy)

It feels very, very wrong to be using photos from the last standing Geauga Lake fansite in order to sell the park's last rides! Cedar Fair should really have the decency to stop this ... but I doubt they will.

Voodoo and Behemoth Updates

Dorney Park has posted a new set of Voodoo construction photos and a new blog to match. There's lots of pics of track and car pieces, as well as the cool pics of work the Sign Shop (one of my favs) is doing to start the ride's entrance sign.

Here's a link to that.

Canada's Wonderland also has some new pictures up of their 2008 addition, Behemoth. They're getting close to finishing steel work on the ride. It looks like they just started to build the supports for the block break area this past week.

Here's a link to those photos.

Planet Snoopy Article

© 2008 Sandusky Register

The Register has an article today about Cedar Point's 2008 announcement. There's not really any new information, but they do have some photos, like the one above, of Planet Snoopy under construction and of the former Geauga Lake rides sitting in Cedar Point's parking lot.

Here's the link.

Cedar Point's Planet Snoopy

Today Cedar Point officially announced its 2008 addition to the park, Planet Snoopy. And they even put out high-res concept art! Yay!

The children's area will have 7 rides, and take over the former Peanuts Playground area as expected. The seven announced rides are indeed all from Geauga Lake. The "Planet" part make sense to me now, since the theming of the rides from Geauga Lake can be minimally changed with the theme of 'Snoopy's worldly travels' being used.

Elsewhere on the property, 4 new live shows will debut, including a new Peanuts/Snoopy ice show, also, the aquatic stadium will have an extreme sports show for the first time.

Macaronies will also be changed into a Snoopy themed family restaurant, with a small "adult only" menu.

Rounding out the $5.2 million expansion is the continued renovations of the Sandcastle Suits hotel that is on park property.

Here's a link to Cedar Point's release.

Here's a similar view of the concept art of the area from this past season, or so. You can see how they will work the area over into Planet Snoopy.

Lost Kingdom of Adventure Sketches

The Los Angeles Times' Funland Blog has posted a series of concept art sketches for Legoland California's new interactive darkride, the Lost Kingdom of Adventure.

It's a Sally dark ride, and it looks pretty awesome. Click here to go to the Funland Blog entry with the concept art.

More Spongebob Squarepants Rock Bottom Plunge

© 2008 Looty

User Looty over on the Thrill Network boards posted a bunch of pictures they took of the now very under construction Spongebob Squarepants Rock Bottom Plunge at Nickelodeon Universe.

It looks fantastic! Click here to see all the pics.

© 2008 Looty

It's Flight Deck! (again)

Top Gun at California's Great America has been renamed Flight Deck, just like the similar ride at Carowinds, according to the park's website.

Eeek! Still a really poor choice of coaster name if you ask me.

Kings Island and Canada's Wonderland also have a Top Gun ride each, which I'm sure will also be renamed Flight Deck. Boo!

Kings Island's New Sign is Up

© 2008 Kings Island Central

Kings Island has lifted into place their new sign, as we've seen Carowinds, Canada's Wonderland, and Kings Dominion do as well this off season. It fits nice with the sign that Paramount did before they sold the park.

Head to Kings Island Central to check out the pictures.

Some Cedar Fair News...

Cedar Fair just put out a press release, which I think is in response to yesterday's release by Six Flags, about... well their attendance for the year. Honestly, it was a puff piece press release - oh wow that rhymed nicely.

Anyway, the company entertained 22.1 million, up from 19.3 in 2006. Preliminary per capita has risen to $40.45 from $38.71 in 2006. Good news on the surface, at least.

They also talk of "exciting new marketing promotions" for this season, which is also fine by me, as I've thought that Cedar Fair's marketing has become pretty stale the last few years.

On another note, this Sandusky Register has an article today about how the company is reacting to their growing size.

They've added 20 or so new corporate positions since the Paramount merger, and now feel they might need more space for their full-timers. They're doing a study to evaluate the costs and need of an entirely new office building for the company headquarters.

They also talk of upgraded technology that would come with the new building, and since Cedar Fair is so slow at taking on new technology, the halls of this new office would probably be filled with "now we have that super fast internets on ours computers!"

Ok, that's all for now.

Take a Look at This Thomas Land

© DraytonManorPlus

Drayton Manor Park, Staffordshire UK, is building a new Thomas Town of its own for 2008. DraytonManorPlus has construction phtos of the new land, and it's quite impressive. It certainly puts the ones that Six Flags is doing to shame.

© DraytonManorPlus

The area looks to feature several rides, including a family roller coaster, and an antique car style ride that goes inside and through a Thomas gift shop.

You can check out more construction pics on DraytonManorPlus.

Water Country USA 2008

Today Water Country USA, Busch Gardens Williamsburg's affiliate water park announced its new attractions for 2008.

Rock'n'Roll Island will feature a variety of new water rides and attractions. A new slide tower, called Jammin' Juke Box, will have three separate body slides, Little Bopper will be a play area for children, and the whole area will be surrounded by a 700 ft. long lazy river.

Here's a link to the official release.

Great Adventure Safari Article

The Asbury Park Press has a nice article today about the goings-on at the Safari at Six Flags Great Adventure during the off-season.

The last time I went through the Safari at Great Adventure I saw a monkey break off someone's side mirror and let's just say that a monkey made my car 'dirty' to be polite - it's not my favorite place in the world. But the article is cute so who cares.

New Dominator Construction Photos

© 2008 CoasterCrew

Coaster Crew has some new photos of the construction going on at Kings Dominion for Dominator.

The site also promises a podcast update that was filmed at the park today as coming soon.

Hopefully the track colors will be revealed. You can see a guy pressure washing a support in one photos, but none of them look painted at all yet. We'll see.

Check out the photos.

Worlds of Fun 1997 Media

1997 marked the 25th anniversary for Worlds of Fun. Above is the image that was the cover of the press kit for the anniversary year.

What was new that year? Why Berenstain Bear Country, of course. And a laser light show.

A press image included in the kit. Obviously this isn't Berenstain Bear Country at Worlds of Fun, it looks like Cedar Point's. (which had that ghetto blow-up top to their tree) Oh wait, was that Valleyfair's? Both?

This is a section of the park's general brochure for the year. It has concept art, so of course I felt inclined to post it here. I love concept art.

Another favorite of mine, aerial photos. Here's another press image showing off Detonator and the wooden coaster Timber Wolf.

Another Carowinds Update

© 2007 hyperlink 27

User hyperlink27 on ThemeParkReview has a new update of some projects going on at Carowinds. Seen above is the new sign the park received, like the ones we've already seen for Kings Dominion and Canada's Wonderland.

Also featured is the new turnaround that looks complete for Thunder Road. It looks great.

Check it out in this thread on ThemeParkReview.

Knott's History: Dreger Clock

I was recently contacted by Mr. Glenn Frank about a very interesting historical project going on that directly relates to Knott's Berry Farm, an obvious interest of this blog - and with my love of amusement park history, well even better.

Mr. Frank is working on the Dreger Clock Restoration Project. What is the Dreger Clock you ask? I'll let Mr. Frank explain:

"The "Dreger Clock" was built by my great-grandfather Andrew Dreger Sr. ... He was a watchmaker in his later years and built this amazing clock for the enjoyment of his community.

After His death the clock made its way to Knott's Berry Farm where it was enjoyed by thousands of visitors to Buena Park for over 50 years. But in the past year ... it was missing from its home in front of the ticket booths. It fell into disrepair and was removed, hidden from the public in a warehouse.

The Buena Park Historical Society wants to return it to the public view. We want to put it back in front of the eyes of the community! The clock has been purchased and awaits restoration cleaning and a new home.

Our dream is to see the clock restored, running and being enjoyed by visitors to the City again. We hope to place it along Beach Blvd in the city's historical park, across from the Buena Park City Hall."

It's a pretty cool historical project, if I say so myself. They're raising money to help with their efforts, you can check out that aspect and more by browsing the Dreger Clock website.

Thanks for the heads up, Glenn, glad to help get the word out!

Spongebob Going Up

Last night vertical construction on Spongebob Squarepants Rock Bottom Plunge began. I would expect the ride to go up rather quickly, so keep watching that webcam each night to check out their progress!

Former Paramount Park Name Changes

Kings Dominion already changed two of their ride's names on their webpage, Tomb Raider has become The Crypt:
And Italian Job has become Backlot Stunt Coaster:
But now Carowinds has updated their rides page with a couple changes.

Borg Assimilator will now be called Nighthawk, and Top Gun will be called Flight Deck.

The Crypt is fine with me, Backlot Stunt Coaster is generic but works, Nighthawk is taking the whole -hawk ride thing a teensy bit too far (Thunderhawk, Firehawk, Skyhawk) - but Flight Deck is straight up stoopid sounding.

For an inverted coaster themed (somewhat) to Jets - Flight Deck would probably be at the bottom of anyone's creative list of new names. Oooh well.

Dorney Park 2008 Ticket Prices

Dorney Park updated their ticket prices for 2008 on their website.

The big news of this is that all the Halloweekends dates are listed as "Haunt." I'm guessing from this that the park's event will change names like they did at all the other parks this past season, and, gasp!, perhaps we'll even get a new haunted house or something.

Regular ticked prices are up to $38.99, from $37.95 last year, Junior tickets are up to $18 from $15.95 last year. Two day tickets are $62 up from $58.95, and Starlight tickets are now $19.50. "Haunt" starlight tickets are up to$20.50, however, while regular "Haunt" tickets are up to $30.99 during the day.

I'm very excited at the possibility of the "Haunt" being expanded this year!

CP 2008 ... Leaked

The above image was on Cedar Point's website for a while today. Hopefully the announcement will be soon, like tomorrow.

December Poll Results

First task of 2008 - to look at the results of NewsPlusNotes' December poll results. The poll asked what the best Cedar Fair B&M Inverted coaster is.

We had 276 votes in December's poll. Not our highest amount, but considerable nonetheless.

So as for the results, Raptor at Cedar Point came in 1st place, with 107 votes. 2nd place was strongly held by Talon at Dorney Park, and Top Gun: The Jet Coaster at Carowinds came in 3rd.

Silver Bullet at Knott's Berry Farm came in 4th, with Patriot at Worlds of Fun scoring a 5th place finish. Last, in 6th place, we have Top Gun at California's Great America.

I'm not surprised about the top 5, to be perfectly honest. I am surprised that Top Gun at California's Great America came in last though. While I haven't been on it, I've heard that it's a great ride. NewsPlusNotes doesn't have a huge West coast readership, maybe that's why?

New poll coming soon!