© 2008 IOACentral
© Orlando Sentinel / Stephen M Dowell 2008
Here is a video of Hong Kong Disneyland's It's a Small World ride, which just had it's official opening a day or so ago.
I can honestly say that after watching this I sorta disagree with the whole "don't change Disneyland's Small World" effort. Yes, you can spot some of the Disney characters if you try, but really - the general effect of the ride is the exact same.
So then it just comes down to resisting change, and well, like I said in an earlier post I personally think that Walt wouldn't want his park to be a museum.
Bummer: Voodoo at Dorney Park will not be opening until "late May." Just wanted to post as an FYI since the park opens so soon.
This week's topic asks a fairly simple question: does theming on a coaster matter to you?
Obviously there is a spectrum of sorts involved in what constitutes the theming on a ride. A ride with no theming would be something along the lines of Steel Force at Dorney Park. There's no attempt at all of a theme, it has a nicely done sign but that's about it.
© Trent McClaskey via R.C.D.B.
Six Flags Over Georgia just put out a press release stating that from right now until the end of the season they are cutting $10 off their general admission price, from $49.99 to $39.99. This marks the lowest price for general admission to the park since the year 2000.
I have a feeling this is going to be a trend we'll see more of this summer as the tourism industry scrambles to attract customers. Yeah yeah, these kinds of parks are more 'local' attractions than say Disney World, but they still can be costly if you have a big family.
It's a smart move for press and such at the very least, discount coupons are probably available to let guests in for that amount anyway, so they're probably not going to hurt their per caps that much in the end - but they sure look good doing it.
Check out these new photos of Firefall at California's Great America. They did a really nice job on the ride!
There's lots of fountains in front of and behind the ride car, it looks like those volcanoes will shoot fire, and it's said that the front pond is laced with gas lines for more fire effects.
I'm really happy Cedar Fair took the time to make this ride look as nice as they did ... and with the new theming in the Crypt at Kings Island - perhaps my doom'n'gloom on Cedar Fair never theming anything was wrong!? I hope so!
Screamscape has published some layout renderings of Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit at Universal Studios Florida.
The ride looks awesome! Here's the link to Screamscape's photos. From these images we can gather that Rockit will:
• be 167 ft. tall
• go 65 m.p.h.
• be 3,800 ft. long (that's a long ride!)
• have a "doubletake" - non-inverting loop
• have a high speed upward helix, twisting camel back, freefall drop, over banked turns, sideways drop in a chasm, a sideways loop, and high speed ground maneuvers
• have multiple block breaks allowing 4 trains on the track at a time
I'm waaay more excited for this ride now that these renderings and additional info have leaked out!
Norton Auctioneers has the color brochure up for the Geauga Lake auction that's taking place June 17th and 18th.
Curiously, the Big Dipper is no longer mentioned in the brochure at all as a ride that is being auctioned. A lot of other rides that were for sale are no longer listed either, like the Beaver Land family coaster, a monster ride, some children's rides, Pirate's flight, El Dorado, and more.
The carousel and ferris wheel were never listed as for sale, and still are not. (both rumored to go to World of Fun) Same for the Boomerang coaster, that was never listed either.
I still do not understand why Cedar Fair isn't keeping some stuff, like the SCS Interactive foam ball play area, I mean they added one to Worlds of Fun and Valleyfair! - why not use another you already own? Who knows...
Today we have a special treat – an interview with Chuck Hutchison, the Public Relations Manager for Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom. Mr. Hutchison was kind enough to sit down and share with NewsPlusNotes plenty of information about the amusement park’s 2008 season. That said, let’s begin.
NewsPlusNotes: Let’s start with Voodoo. Did construction go as planned?
Chuck Hutchison: Construction went well, we worked with local companies as much as possible, and seemed to fly through the first phases.
When the first parts started arriving in September, our teams immediately started the shuffle of keeping the "paint shop" in good supply of work. As I talked about in the blog, they sand blasted each piece and sent it off to a secondary facility for non-destructive weld testing. That is an interesting process to watch. They essentially turn the piece into an electromagnet by running current through it, and then blow this magnetic dust over the welds looking for lines to form that would indicate a weakened or stressed weld.
After each piece passes its inspection it headed back to a huge paint chamber to receive primer, color, and top coat layers. The winter season was pretty nice to us, having caused only a week or so worth of cumulative delays. Steel went up in a matter of about two work weeks, and now I think we are all a bit amazed at how great the ride looks and what it does for Dorney's skyline.
© 2008 Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom, used with permission
Dorney Park's 2008 Billboard Ad
© 2008 Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom, used with permission
Possessions Gift Shop logo
© 2008 Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom, used with permission
© 2008 Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom, used with permission
© 2008 Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom, used with permission
© 2008 Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom, used with permission
The Niagara's Fury website has been updated with another teaser video for everyone to watch. They still give pretty much nothing away though, what the actual ride/attraction is shall remain a mystery for now.
The attraction is supposed to open in June, so I hope they kick this mysterious media campaign into high gear and start revealing stuff soon!
Knoebels has listed on their website that they're adding a Wipeout to the park this year in addition to Flying Turns. Well, that is if Flying Turns does open.
I'm glad that they are expanding their ride lineup again. Wipeouts are fun rides for a broader spectrum of the family, which means it's a perfect fit for Knoebels.
The real reason for me to go to Knoebels will always remain the Haunted Mansion, though.
Two news items from Ohio's Kings Island. First, Robbie Knievel is going to jump 24 Coke Zero trucks on May 24th at the park. His father did a historic jump of 14 Greyhound buses at Kings Island back in 1975.
The event is free to visitors for the day, here's the park's press release.
Also, it turns out that Kings Island did not only change the name of Tomb Raider to The Crypt, but did some significant retheming inside the attraction, and also is now running the ride on a more intense program. Kings Island Central has published some photos from inside the queue, which now looks rather like a haunted house, sorta.
Check out those photos here at Kings Island Central. Hopefully some video will surface soon now that the park is open for the year!
© CWMania 2008
Two new park maps to stare at today, the first is Carowinds 2008 park map. Take note that it was not Cedar Fair-ized for this season. That means that only Kings Dominion and Canada's Wonderland received that treatment this year.
Those were the only two Paramount Parks without maps done by Citigraph, perhaps the other parks had a multi-year deal? We'll see in the future I guess.
The other item is Dorney Park's 2008 map. Not too much different here ... aside from Voodoo, of course. Unless I'm missing something?
Thanks very much to one of our readers, Dave, I can share with you a photo of Voodoo at Dorney Park at night. I'm so very glad that they went with flood lights for the towers, this type of lighting is always very impressive at night.
Looks good, huh?
Behemoth at Canada's Wonderland had its media day today! The shot above and below are from this set of videos from CTV News. The ride looks like it's trims and mid-course were on pretty light and the train was moving at a good clip in the latter half of the ride.
The shot below is from the National Post, I just really liked the image - it's refreshing to see shots of a coaster that has riders with arms up while riding.
© National Post 2008
© CoasterCrew 2008
Mr. Cleaver's Bloodshed - doesn't sound like somewhere you'd want to visit, but I would! That's the newly announced name of the new haunted house at Valleyfair's Haunt at ValleyScare event.
The park held a contest and allowed fans to send in their suggested name for the new attraction, and Casey Nihart of CA submitted the winning name.
This will be ValleyScare's 7th haunt when it opens this fall. It sounds like it'll be gory, gross, and awesome!
This week's topic comes from A Walk In The Park Blog and is about Disney's Animal Kingdom's 10th anniversary. You can read their original post by clicking here.
This is another great topic for me, because I love Animal Kingdom. I'm fairly sure (sorta indecisive by nature) that it's my favorite Disney Park in Orlando. Like in the article at A Walk In The Park, I've had the chance to visit Animal Kingdom many times since it opened in 1998, and thus I've also watched the park grow and mature.
Even though the park was pretty bare when I first visited, in '99, I fell in love with the feeling, mood, and general theme of the park. To be honest, I'm not even a huge animal fan. Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful to see creatures I'll probably never see elsewhere in my life, but I'm by no means a fanatic.
Like I said, the theme and mood of the park are what hooked me in. Like in the photo above, if one had no idea the park existed I highly doubt they'd ever guess that this photo was taken in a theme park - aside from the crowd and tourist looking outfits.
The park themes itself on reality, and does not apologize for it - which is what I love so much. Stuff looks dirty, gritty, real - and not in the Haunted Mansion way, there's no fantasy element in most of the theming. Even an attraction like Everest that does feature a massive fantasy creature presents itself as a reality, the queue is used, abused, sometimes messy, but overall real feeling.
Personally, that's what hooked my interest. Oddly enough, I'd almost prefer another continent themed area to Beastly Kingdom (or whatever version of it ends up going in) - so as not to break the 'real' theme the park has.
But don't get me wrong, I'll scream with glee past all Dragons, Unicorns, and Mythical Creatures that Disney may want to throw at me!
It looks like they are finishing up construction work on the new water park area at Carowinds that includes the park's new wave pool, Bondi Beach.
The park has posted some new photos on their website. The expanded area reminds me of the water park at Kings Dominion, how this section is out of the way from the rest of the water slides.
Carowinds is the only former Paramount Park that has not posted their 2008 map yet. I'm just wondering if they Cedar Fair-ized it or not. Anyone know?
According to this article from NOLA.com, there has been a new proposal submitted for the redevelopment of Six Flags New Orleans as another mega amusement park. Southern Star Amusement Group has submitted a plan to the city of New Orleans the proposes spending $70 million to reopen the park by next summer.
The group also submitted a letter from Six Flags saying they are in talks with them to purchase the land and the lease they had with the city to operate the park.
Southern Star wants to have a water park opened on the site by 2009, which will be expanded upon for several years after that. Plans also included doubling the number of rides at the facility, adding an RV park, creating 5 new themed areas in the amusement park, and eventually trying to expand the property into a full resort.
These are some seriously ambitious plans, but if they can go through that'd be great! Another attempt at a theme park on the site would be better than it sitting and rotting like it is now.
Darien Lake Theme Park has renamed their new coaster for 2008, MotoCoaster. The park has teamed up with Orange County Choppers and will now call the ride the Orange County Choppers MotoCoaster.
The ride will be featured on the TLC show "American Chopper" and the park is having a special motorcycle designed for the ride which will premier at its grand opening on May 16th. The stars of the show will also make several live appearances at the park over the summer months.
While the name lacks in the creativity department, that's a pretty cool match up. And I must admit, I've totally watched the show before. Good news, Darien Lake!
Sesame Place's new carousel will be called Sunny Day Carousel and feature 36 horses that will look like Sesame Place style characters, as well as two Snuffleupagus styled chariot benches, according to this article from PhillyBurbs.com.
The ride replaces the huge Big Bird head that used to be the entrance to a sky path that connected two ends of the park, which was closed years ago. The park, and the new ride, open for the 2008 season on May 3rd.
I know this park is small, but it's quite popular in the area - I hope Busch Entertainment continues to expand it in coming years.
NewsPlusNotes has gone green in honor of Earth Day 2008. Why would an amusement industry news + notes blog go green? I'm glad you asked!
There's plenty that both the amusement industry and its patrons can do to help our earth. Here's some amusement park related ideas to try during your visits this year:
• Visiting a park you are familiar with? Take a pass on that park map pamphlet your next trip - they just lay around later anyway, right? The U.S. alone cuts down millions of trees each year just for paper - why add to that?
• Skip that bottle of water or soda! Many parks will provide free H2O if you ask in a paper cup, which won't lay in a landfill for all of eternity.
• Are you going to buy a t-shirt or a teddy bear when you leave? Say no thanks to that plastic bag the cashier will whip out, instead carry your items and save the bag: they take over 100 years to break down!
• Carpool on your way! If you're going with friends, don't take two or more cars, meet up before hand and go in a few vehicles as possible. Not only will you help the earth, you'll also save on parking fees!
• Want to remember your trip with photos? If using a disposable camera ... make sure you have it developed at a retailer that promises to recycle your camera. Sadly, a surprisingly large percent of disposable cameras end up at the dump. Better yet, go digital and share your photos online, save the developing fee and use no paper!
Those are just some things we all can do; but we won't forget about the amusement park operators - they can play a role too. Actually, some have already taken the initiative toward more environmentally friendly practices.
Disney started a while ago, and has even purposely modified some attractions to make them more 'green.' And we can't forget Animal Kingdom, which has been very enviro-friendly since the start. Speaking of, happy 10th anniversary to one of my favorite parks, Animal Kingdom!
Universal Theme Parks have made big steps, too, they have their current "Green Is Universal" program running, and the parks are specifically participating as well, they're making much progress with bio-fuels in park vehicles - Universal Studios Hollywood is even having their Eco-Fair again this year with plenty of green ideas to be shared.
If they big guys can do it, other parks can, too! Especially corporate ones with the financial backing.
Happy Earth Day!
© Cedar Point 2008
© Meyerhaus 2008
© 2008 Busch Entertainment
© 2008 Busch Entertainment
I was looking at KICentral's photos of the construction area at Kings Island and then the graphic from First Drop magazine and decided to make a map to understand the whole thing better. Here's what I came up with quick:
It really does match up perfectly, I think. Those little footers that are totally like the ones for other B&M rides for station/transfer areas are right where they should be according to the First Drop image.
Also, that huge footer is located near where the higher portion of the ride's lift would be, which would explain why it's such a big footer.
The only part I'm not sure I agree with, and drew differently, is the track return into the helix. The First Drop image has the track crossing over in front of the entrance area to The Crypt - which would be odd and extremely ugly. So I have the return run come up on the other side of the Crypt's building, which makes a lot more sense to me. But I'm probably wrong, and they'll run the track right over the Crypt's entrance.
This construction schedule is even earlier than Hydra's was at Dorney Park - which should mean watching vertical construction all summer long while at the park.
Considering the park is already open for the 2008 season this is, well, rather late. But still let's take a look at it. That's a perfect example of a Cedar Fair brochure cover - half water park and half big ride. And of course 2 Great Parks For the Price of 1!
2nd Wave Pool is new for this year, another recent Cedar Fair trend that is a fantastic idea. Crowded wave pools are gross, not fun, and dangerous. (imo) This brochure also uses correct names for rides, like Nighthawk and Flight Deck.
Props for showcasing the Nickelodeon characters, please pay the licensing fee to expand the characters to the legacy parks, okay Cedar Fair?
And Scarowinds is equally important with so much attendance coming in during the fall for parks. Overall: not a bad brochure!
© Ronny Salerno / KICentral 2008
I'm sorry about the stupid papers on the right side - I decided that showing the image with the papers was better than never sharing it...
Built in 1996 by Premier Rides it's sorta like Great Adventure's Skull Mountain's cousin ... they were both developed by the company similarly, but then later in development both received different names and distinct themes.
Different names? Yes, Six Flags Over Texas' ride was to be named Skull Mountain early on as well. The fact that they were totally different coasters (Great Adventure's is Intamin) and different themes led to the different name later on.
You learn something new each day! Well, unless you already knew that...
© Lifthill.net 2008
© Coaster Crew 2008
And I'm just including the above image because I totally forgot how the station entry/exit, and queue were set up at Geauga Lake, so this makes for nice reference.
© Aaron Chimbel / Texas Cable News
© Jarmor 2008
Michigan's Adventure has posted some new photos of the construction of Thunderhawk. The station looks really nice! It almost reminds me of what Six Flags did for Goliath at La Ronde for that ride's station. I really like the colors and the use of stone - it's obviously not fully painted and I hope they continue to stay away from Cedar Fair bright primary colors... that'll be good.
The train looks good, too! I like the purple on the MacDonalds colored ride.
© Geauga Lake Today
Just for reference, here is a photo from Geauga Lake Today of the station the ride had at Geauga Lake. Overall I'd say it's an improvement at Michigan's Adventure.
MassLive has an article with some further details about the cancellation of the Dark Knight ride at Six Flags New England. Not only has the park confirmed that the ride will no longer be built at the park at any time, it does say that what was built will be taken down and stored for possible use (I'd call it probable use) at another park in the future.
There's also plenty of quotes from the park and local planning officials to point out that there are no hard feelings and no one is blaming anyone for what happened.
Next, here is a press release from Six Flags about their deal with Gulf Finance B.S.C. (an Islamic investment company based in Bahrain) to license their name and intellectual property for use in a park in China. There was no specific mention of where or when in China a park would appear - basically Six Flags will be paid for the use of their name and characters when Gulf Finance builds a park in China.
Not huge news, but news worthy nonetheless - Six Flags is really putting itself out there in ways the old owners never would have. Plus it's a check for them with little to no work on their end.
Finally, here is an article that has some interesting quotes from Mark Shapiro, CEO of Six Flags. He gave a speech at the National Association of Broadcasters gathering and said that Six Flags aims to be an entertainment content company much like Disney currently is.
Regarding their future approach to rides and attractions, he said "Approaching Six Flags is like building Disney, backward, the focus and the root of all and everything we do is the storytelling itself." He also said that now the company's "strategy was to "build the characters, build the story around it, build the emotion, the drama ... as opposed to just putting rides up on cement."
I'm all for it, and I'm eager to see what they come up with in the next few years. I'd call rides like Tony Hawk a "light" approach to his ideals above, but Dark Knight certainly fits in with his plan.
This week's topic comes from The Coaster Critic (link to read the original article) and is about the classic debate over wood vs. steel roller coasters. The Coaster Critic added a twist, though, if you had to choose to ride only one type, which would it be?
I choose steel! All the way, I honestly didn't even have to think about that one. Really, I have two reasons...
The first is that I just find the rides they give much more enjoyable. I honestly don't enjoy a 'rough' steel coaster, so you can imagine how I feel about most rough wooden rides. Sure, some new ones are significantly more smooth than their older cousins, but I'd still get in line for a steel ride first.
And it's not all about inversions for me, while they are interesting aspects of steel rides, they really do not weigh too heavy in my choice. It's an overall comfort factor for me; when I am riding I'd rather sit back and enjoy what the ride has to offer, not work on bracing myself a certain way, or trying to keep my back off the seat so my spine stays as nature intended.
The second reason? Well, steel coasters lend themselves toward being themed much more than wooden rides do. And you could probably surmise from reading NewsPlusNotes that I'm a huge fan of theming. Even modest attempts at a theme make a ride vastly more interesting to me, so since most themed rides are made of steel they score some big points there too.
But don't get me wrong - I'll certainly step up and say that there are some wooden rides I love - I'll admit I'm a big fan of The Great White at Morey's ... but if I were forced to make a choice I'd take steel any day.
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We're halfway through this month's poll, so I must ask, what's it gonna be?
Is it Shockwave at Six Flags Over Texas?
Maybe The Whizzer at Six Flags Great America?
But what about Superdooperlooper at Hersheypark?
Mindbender at Six Flags Over Georgia?
Or, last but not least, Revolution at Six Flags Magic Mountain?
Remember to cast your vote in the upper right corner!
Well, today Six Flags New England made it official that the Dark Knight coaster will not be opening this summer as planned. They park is not saying yet if it's being pushed back a year or not happening at all.
Instead of the new coaster, the park has announced that they will be adding a Glow In The Park Parade this summer. When Six Flags announced their 2008 plans last year, the Glow In The Park parade was headed to two parks, Great Adventure and Six Flags Mexico.
Now this begs the question: are they really developing a third parade for this summer or is some switching going on? It seems like all this took place too late in the off-season for an entire third parade to be created. Take notice of the official Glow In The Park Parade logo:
And then take notice of the logo of the parade that's taking place at Six Flags Mexico:
Not the same, huh. And if you check out the video that's playing on the front page of the Six Flags Mexico website, you'll notice that the floats look nothing like those in the concept art for the Glow Parade.
It looks like Six Flags Mexico got some sort of lesser parade - almost like they took floats from the parades several parks had last season and added lights - and Six Flags New England is getting the 'real deal' at their park this summer.
Well, regardless, that's a big superhero sized let down for Six Flags New England fans, but at least the parade looks promising!
Also - if you want to see a nice gallery of what was up of the Dark Night at Six Flags New England on the park's opening day head over to SFNE Online!
We've discussed this before, but Kings Island has posted their 2008 park map and they've made for former pond in the middle of the park into a grassy area. This confirms rumors that the pond was being removed and leveled out so that work can eventually start in the area for the station of 2009's rumored B&M hyper coaster.
Here's a link to the site so you can download the map.
I noticed that on Screamscape today they're reporting that from a sign that was seen in the Dark Knight building at Great Adventure a 'viral marketing' website was discovered for the new Batman themed rides.
Go to GothamCab.com and you'll find a live website:
Which has some, but not a lot, of information posted about the fake Gotham City company.
The pooey part, though, is that this website is a part of a much, MUCH, larger viral campaign for the Dark Knight movie in general that has been going on for almost a year now.
If I'm correct, it all started last year with whysoserious.com, and has, over time, blossomed into many other sites such as gothamnationalbank.com, gothampolice.com, and gothamcityrail.com. There are at least a half dozen other as well.
It would have been awesome of Six Flags to have planned ahead and join in on the viral marketing the movie guys were already doing, but I think this new discovery is just the ride's tie-in to the existing effort.
Here's a great link about the movie's viral efforts.
Speed Monster, TusenFryd
Just looks like such a fun ride. I never necessarily thought that the top hat element was the best for after a launch, and this one takes rides right into that awesome looking Norwegian Loop. Plus it has a very nice color scheme, at least one that I personally enjoy.
Here's RCDB's facts on the ride.
© RideOp90's 2008
Worlds of Fun opened for the 2008 season yesterday, and apparently they had horrible weather (it was very very cold) but a poster over on the Coaster Community forums took a spin on the park's train ride to see all the markers that have appears for the park's 2009 ride.
The markers cover a very large area. That does not mean that the ride will cover the exact same area, but it does leave me thinking a larger, not a smaller, coaster will show up in '09. The debate between a GCI wooden ride and ... something else rages on, meanwhile.
A park representative said that during World of Fun's coaster enthusiast event, Coaster Mayhem, the park should be ready to have a special announcement that will please the enthusiasts. The event is in mid-August so it looks like we will find out by then.
© HPCrazy / Coaster-net
© sros1fan 2008
Sorry for the double YouTube video posts ... but this one is worth sharing as well. This is the promo video for Schlitterbahn's new attraction, Dragon's Revenge:
Pretty awesome if I say so. The start reminded me of something, then I realized that it was the promo video that Kings Island did for Italian Job. Jeffrey Siebert was the PR guy at Kings Island when they announced that ride, and now is the PR guy for the Schlitterbahn water parks. Hmm curiously similar. No really though, the Dragon's Revenge appears to be a 3DVIP video just like Italian Job's.
For good measure, there you have the Italian Job video. Ahhh yes, memories...
And one more: This is the video that Screamscape posted of the projection effect inside the tube that I think the dragon will be created with: (its the 2nd half of the video)
Also be sure to check out Technifex's website to see another awesome video of the capabilities of their Tunnel Vision effect. Technifex is known for their "faux fire" special effect, and considering that is listed in Dragon's Revenge press materials, I think it's pretty safe to say that the company will be handling the ride's special effects.
Hard Rock Park Blog has posted this video of Hard Rock Park's nightly firework/laser/fountain show which is set to Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody.
It's a pretty nice show for a non Disney/Universal size theme park. It's not like ground breaking or anything but I'm sure that it's very nice in person.
Hard Rock Park Blog has lots of interesting info about the park, which enters its full preview mode on the 15th of this month. I can't wait for the photos to start coming in after that!
© Dorney Park Online 2008
Isn't it weird how they list that the Big Dipper's sale must be approved by the seller? What's the deal with that... I don't know much about auctions so I'm not sure if that's a standard thing for the 'big ticket' items or if Cedar Fair just wants to be picky about who could purchase the ride.
Six Flags has removed all references of the Dark Knight coaster at Six Flags New England from its website. In the pic above you can see that the new ride is now only listed at 2 parks, Great America and Great Adventure.
The ride is also no longer listed on Six Flags New England's individual website as a press release or coming attraction.
Because of the problems with the local and state government in getting the ride approved and restarting construction the ride would be delayed, but now it's worth wondering if they're going to push off the ride for a year.
That or it's going to be so delayed that they're just keeping quiet on it until they can firm up when they will have the ride opened.
All very interesting but potentially stinky for Six Flags New England patrons...
© Lagoon Is Fun 2008
Schlitterbahn Waterpark Resort, New Braunfels, TX, has announced their new attraction for the summer 2008 season: Dragon's Revenge.
The ride's official website has a pretty cool video animation, too. It looks like some of the special effects that were being shown off at IAAPA this past winter will be used in the ride. There looks to be faux fire, a rotating tunnel with projections, and that cool mist projection that will make the ride's dragon come to life.
So, today happens to be my birthday! Yay! That said, I firmly believe that everyone should get themselves a birthday present or two to treat yourself.
Since I haven't listed any of the books or magazines I've been reading lately as recommendations - well here's two that I recently purchased in honor of surviving another year.
Orlando Attractions Magazine - I decided to subscribe. The magazine was kind enough to send me a couple preview issues and I have to say it's really a high quality magazine.
Their coverage is far beyond what I call "press release journalism" - meaning magazines that summarize press releases that I read online several weeks earlier. They have exclusive interviews and content - and fully cover the Orlando area as their title suggests, not just Disney and Universal.
If you want to learn more about the magazine you can go here to see their website. They keep a great blog updated on there, too!
Amusement Parks of Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware - Jim Futurell's 4th book in a series covering amusement parks of certain states/regions. Previously (and yes I have these, too) he wrote about the parks of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York.
Mr. Futrell's books are real gems for anyone interested in some great historical and current information when it comes to all the parks in these regions. As you would expect, the books feature plenty of photos that you'd be hard pressed to fine anywhere else aside from possibly personal collections and historical societies. This new book, and his previous ones, are solid reads.
Here's the book on Amazon. Enjoy!
© Theme Park Village 2008
© Kent Online 2008
I know that I linked to some Great Adventure opening day pictures earlier today, but a reader was kind enough to send me a link to their photos.
In the picture below you can see that Houdini looks to be closed for the season, or at least for a while. But with the signs gone and it not listed on the map ... things don't look good.
This confuses me, Mr. Shapiro said in a couple conference calls that themed rides and attractions that were in the future of the parks - isn't closing one of the most themed ones at the park sorta a step backward?
I don't know ... these photos and some of the new policies that Six Flags is pulling, along with all the ads in the parks make me wonder if this wonderful turnaround is really so ... wonderful.
^ I had to post this one too, here are some signs they put up regarding the mandatory $1 lockers for loose articles for the big coasters. Can you say overkill? Those are all just for one ride!
See the rest of the photo report and make your own opinion.
© vekoma6382 / Coaster Realm Network 2008
© Six Flags Addict 2008
Thanks to one of our readers for pointing this movie out to me - after all the coverage I've done of Nickelodeon Universe and Spongebob Squarepants Rock Bottom Plunge, here's a video from YouTube of the ride from user ZFamilyHome:
Looks like fun!
Frontier City amusement park announced this past week their new attraction for 2008: Steel Lasso. A family inverted coaster designed by Vekoma and manufactured by Chance in the U.S.
The 49 ft. tall ride will have just under 1,000 ft. of track and hit a top speed of 30 m.p.h. Better yet, the trains will use Vekoma's new restraints that do not go over the rider's shoulders.
I like the direction that PARC Management is going with the former Six Flags parks. They're adding attractions aimed at the family more than the teens, and most of the attractions are different things that haven't been seen in the market before.
Amusement Today has the layout and more info on Steel Lasso.
I finally got my new camera this past week, so I wanted to go try it out today. After the sun finally came out I made it a point to go take some photos of Voodoo with a much better lens and zoom than I had before.
I must say, It may not be the camera of my dreams but it's certainly better than before - and it fit my budget which is tops ... so if any of you appreciate these pics and NewsPlusNotes in general those Paypal and Amazon boxes are still over in the side bar!
Voodoo's station - click for a much larger image. Still no sign of the train, but like I said last time I guess it could be behind the electrical room. It looks like the station is coming along, you can see that they have some queue rows up and such, and they are painted orange.
The left side of things - this new camera really captured the pink of those flags nicely.
The upper entrance Guest Relations office is now open for Season Pass purchasing and processing. That's how I got this view of how Voodoo looks from the entrance area.
I saw this new sign so I had to snap a pic! This is taken from the car from the parking lot - and it's at the front gate - me love new camera!
Dorney Park opens for the 2008 season one month from today!
Rumors - lots of those have been going around for quite some time now about Worlds of Fun's possible addition for 2009.
Well, now it looks like these rumors are receiving some more concrete backing, or should I say wooden backing?
Check out this thread over at Thrill Network - there's already pictures of markers in the ground along with an aerial of the possible site of the coaster.
For the record though I have no idea what the park is building. I've been told a GCI wooden coaster for a while now, but I've also been told that GCI is doing one a year for Cedar Fair - and California's Great America is clearly adding one in 2009.
So either they're adding two in one year, meaning Worlds of Fun will get one, or something else is on the horizon. The location of these Cedar Fair GCI wooden rides has changed a lot - I mean Dorney was supposed to be building one right now.
Anyone want to shed some light on the subject?
© MiceAge/MiceChat/PhotoMatt 2008
Canada's Wonderland's 2008 park map has been posted to their website and it's also been Cedar Fairized like Kings Dominions' was. That's great though, because last year's map for CW was horrible.
I still like the Cedar Fair style maps, I just can't help but think that it wouldn't hurt anyone to add a few trees here or there. Especially on the outside areas of the park - I know the point of these is to get people around but it sorta makes the parks look like they are in the middle of a field.
Here are some high quality images of some of the designed for Six Flags Great America's Dark Knight coaster. I know a lot of these have already been online but these were the ones that seemed cool to me.
^ Some designs for the inside queue area.
^ Design for a scene with a loading truck that's being attacked by the Joker's gang and ends up 'fake' exploding.
^ Design for some pipe gags that will spray riders while they travel over the camel backs toward the end of the ride.
^ Batman shows up to take care of some business.
And look: Great America has photos of the ride's cars! They look pretty good!
© The Buffalo News 2008
© Orlando Sentinel 2008
My question for the March poll was what was the best Time Warner Era, Highly Themed Six Flags roller coaster. We had 375 votes, and while the winner wasn't a big surprise, I do feel it is quite deserving.
The Batman The Ride coasters came in number uno in this poll with 30% of the total vote. The reason I think this one deserved to win is that it's such a solid ride with some nice theming as well.
This one was surprising to me, I did not see this ride coming in second place when all was said and done. I've never been on it so I can't comment on the ride or it's theming, but aside from height and speed the ride doesn't seem to offer much. Is the theming in the queue and station cool?
Chiller was an awesome ride, I think anyway, but it was hard to visit the park and find both sides open. The theming was pretty good as well. It's nice that some of it will remain and be used in Great Adventure's new Dark Knight coaster this coming season.
© 2008 Disney
Here's a new ad I found for Dorney Park for the 2008 season. Thank goodness they used the logo with Snoopy back in it. I hope that one ends up on the website again as well.
I'm surprised they used a less digitally altered photo of Steel Venom at Valleyfair! for the Voodoo shot - that one they have used before has all the train colors changed and looked good, this one isn't that great. And the close up shot of the riders isn't altered at all!
Holy Moly - suddenly I see why Eagle Fortress at Everland in Korea ranked 3rd in this year's Steel Coaster Poll.
That looks like an intense ride! I would love to take a spin. After you are off the lift the thing doesn't let up.
Compare to Iron Dragon at Cedar Point and you'll really see how intense Eagle looks...
NewsPlusNotes will now be participating in a Weekly Topic discussion that involves several prominent Coaster/Amusement Park websites and blogs. One site will post a topic each week, the participating sites will then post a reply, and there will be a central place for discussion. It's a great idea and it's wonderful to have several sites/blogs come together like this!
This weeks topic was posted by Coasterdom and is titled "Cedar Fair, the New Company to Hate." You can read that article here.
My thoughts?
Well, Cedar Fair certainly isn't looked at by the fan community the way it was in the past. Sure, die-hard fans are still around, but there's been a general waning of support for the operator in the past year or so.
I think Cedar Fair started as such a fan favorite because of the obvious: they own Cedar Point - which has legions of fanatics that will defend the park till the end of time. The massive new coasters and exciting attractions Cedar Point added translated into popularity for the operating company, at least in a general sense. Past park purchases, such as Dorney Park, Worlds of Fun, and even Michigan's Adventure have led to new exciting rides at those properties, further enhancing the perception of Cedar Fair.
But then they purchased the Paramount Parks. Everyone wondered how they would handle the purchase, and what the former Paramount Parks would end up like. Well, it's human nature to resist change, and when these parks started to see name changes, reduced theming, lame ride names like "Flight Deck," etc. - the enthusiast community wasn't happy.
That said, it's also worth pointing out that like with any fan group - opinions tend to be pretty severe and criticisms rather harsh. I tend to take a lot of what I read with a grain of salt, however the overall 'vibe' toward Cedar Fair has turned sour.
Maybe it's their somewhat generic approach to the looks and feel of their parks? Is it really that there's too many trashcans? (joking) Is it just that Six Flags is finally picking up the pace after years of bad operations, horrid customer service, dirty parks, lazy employees, and even their own reduction in theming? Perhaps.
Whether a fan of comic books, stamps, movies, bugs, theme parks, or whatever, fans always have a favorite and least favorite - perhaps some of Cedar Fair's recent moves have made some of the amusement die-hards switch sides for a while?
Share you opinion on the matter here.
Read other site's replies to the topic:
A Walk In The Park Podcast
Theme Park Village
Flying Phil has once again taken some awesome aerial photos of Voodoo at Dorney Park. Here is a link to his latest photo gallery for Voodoo.
It looks like they are getting ready to start paving some of the area on the midway side of Voodoo, you can see that the moved basketball game where Laser's sign was is all ready to go, and they have a structure up for the queue line to pass directly under the holding-brake tower.
Things are really coming together at the construction site!
