I don't understand why Geauga Lake's former Sky Tower (Intamin Gyro Tower) is listed on E-Bay, but it is.
I think that considering a scrap metal company purchased it for like $12,500 at the park's auction it doesn't make much sense to now try to sell it for $50k. If someone wanted it that bad wouldn't they have purchased it cheap at auction?
Well, anyway, here's a link to the ride's E-Bay listing: surprise, no bids yet.
And no, not like the place is so awesome it's 'on fire'... like it was literally on fire last night. A warehouse type structure that contains a haunted house for Fright Fest caught on fire last evening.
The park evacuated everyone including employees and closed for the day early. The news articles are reporting that the building is a complete loss.
Here you can see that the warehouse was located right next to the park's GCI wooden coaster, Roar. Thankfully the ride did not catch fire.
I know some people who have had such bad visits to this park that they'd probably wish the whole thing would have burned down... but joking aside at least no one was hurt at all.
The L.A. Times' Funland Blog has a post with more details about California's Great America's new Halloween Haunt to take place this fall.
The event will have 5 mazes, 3 scare zones, and two live shows, and plans on having 500 monsters at the event.
This Haunt will be separate admission, so your daytime tickets will not get you into the scares. Funland has a list of the location of all the mazes and scare zones, and also points out that the park's log flume will get a scary makeover as well in their article here.
Sounds great, can't wait for reviews!
File this in the potential bummer category, according to this opinion piece out of the Santa Clara Weekly, Cedar Fair might have to delay plans to build the GCI wooden coaster at California's Great America in 2009.
Even though the ride was approved, it seems that the Prudential building is still causing a fuss and now things are once again up in the air with the Planning Commission until mid-August, which the writer says is too late for Cedar Fair's taste.
Of course all this is wrapped in speculation that the Prudential building is trying to mess with Cedar Fair for their negotiations with the 49ers regarding that darn stadium. Personally, I still think that Cedar Fair would sell the park to them in a heartbeat and never look back if the price was right...
If this does end up falling through, could CA Great America's loss be Dorney Park's gain? We'll see.
Here's an article from MassLive.com about Six Flags New England that I think is really pretty hilarious. It's basically about how everyone in the local government wants to work with the park better in the future to make sure there's no repeat of the failed Dark Knight coaster - ever again.
But it gets funny where the Agawam Mayor is quoted as saying he's concerned that the park will move to another state. What!? It even says that someone at Six Flags told the mayor's office that the state of Connecticut was trying to 'entice' the park to their state.
Yes, I'm sure that Six Flags has the capital ready to go to pick up an amusement park and move it. Right.
© DBHockeyFanatic 2008
Laser, at Dorney Park, has had its listing on UsedRides.com updated to reflect that the ride has been sold.
That seals the deal for this being Laser's last year at Dorney Park. Go ride now while you can.
Been a while since I stopped by Dorney so I decided to head over and see what's up at the park on a busy July Saturday.
They were in over, over, overflow parking. Basically, it looked like it was one of those days where they had to park cars anywhere they could. Behind Laser, next to Steel Force, just everywhere. I rarely see Screamin' Swing with people on it, let alone a line!
Just two general views of how crowded the midways were. I don't personally always go to ride anything, and on those trips I love when it's crowded because of how alive the park feels.
Meteor's line was out onto the midway, White Water Landing had quite a line, too. Voodoo's line filled most of it's queue - I timed a few dispatches and calculated they were running at about 450 pph. Ouch. At least it was open!
And look, Laser had a long line! The only had one train on. I didn't time any dispatches here, because I didn't have the patience to even make it through on cycle, it takes that long.
I did time some Steel Force dispatches, though. With three trains the crew was doing a fantastic job and my figures put them at well over 1,200 pph. Kudos.
The Season Pass Super Saver program is in effect, I found these signs at some locations in the park. There's probably more but I didn't see them.
The building for Club Blood is up in the backstage area next to White Water Landing. Can't wait for The Haunt!
Noticed this new hearse in the backstage area also... I'm sure it's awaiting a custom paint job.
They are building a permanent structure for the time share sales people. I know that's what this is because I asked. Ugh.
Another view. At the very least the structure looks not horrible itself.
And, I just found it really odd that this game was closed with no prizes out or anything. Maybe it's broken? You'd think they would have it open with a gazillion people at the park today if they could!
© 2008 SDCFans
Yep - I was at it again ... if you want something to check out on this lazy, hazy summer afternoon - Live Local now has bird's eye views of Canada's Wonderland. This should get you there.
Behemoth was under construction, just about ready to be topped off when the images were taken. So late fall of 2007 or so.
Big pointy mountain.
Another one of Behemoth. I'd really love to visit this property!
© 2008 daveb86
Here's another gallery of photos from Kings Island of the 2009 coaster construction site. They've moved supports for the ride onto the site, and they are indeed a light brown, cream color. There's a whole bunch more track pieces on site as well.
Also, apparently the ride might be snake themed after all? I keep getting info going different ways on this one.
Kings Island has added a page to their site to tease about the announcement of their new coaster for 2009, which will be August 6th.
It's pretty confusing though. There's three videos on the teaser page, all of which start with what looks like a reptile or cat eye (or a Jaguar eye) checking you out, and then each has footage of either someone running or a POV of something running in different landscapes. Then at the end of each is a scream or something similar.
On top of that, the code for the teaser page is titled "BEHEMOTH."
Also, track for the ride has started to be set out in the construction area, as seen in the photos in this Picasa album and in this KIExtreme gallery. The track is a dark cherry red, at least that's how I would describe it. The supports for the ride (probably) can also be seen in a photo in this thread on KICentral, and they appear to be a light brown color, much like Maverick.
Here, kitty, kitty?
If you haven't been following, the Halloween Horror Nights 18 website for Universal Orlando has been updating regularly. This year's website is a lot of fun - they present the crazed psychiatrist's "case files" and then allow us some insight into the patients treatment. There is plenty of scary audio and video to check out.
IAAPA's magazine, FunWorld, has a nice article and interview with Hong Kong's Ocean Park about their immense expansion plans for the property. The animal based theme park has been giving Hong Kong Disneyland a run for their money lately, and these mega expansion plans will only complicate matters for the Disney operation going forward.
Silverwood Theme Park has finally opened their new used coaster, Aftershock. This is Deja Vu from Six Flags Great America, for those who didn't know. It's a massive ride for a park the size of Silverwood, so it should have quite an impact on the park now that it's operating.
Remy, from Pixar/Disney's Ratatouille has started making appearances at Walt Disney Studios in Paris. I'm not sure if he's a puppet or an animatronic (thinking puppet), but he's cute and shows up under a platter just like in the film. You can read more and see video here.
Cedar Fair put out a press release today to announce that they are going to try to start to do something that Six Flags has been doing for a couple years now: corporate partnerships.
The company will team with The Kempton Group, out of - you guessed it - Cincinnati, Ohio - to basically sell their 18 North American properties as big advertising pens for people.
Okay, that's a little harsh, but that's sorta what it is at time. Even Six Flags made a big fuss over how long they have a 'captive' audience when people are at the parks.
It makes sense, and Six Flags has brought in tens of millions doing it - and probably saving on food costs on some of the sponsored items. So from a financial perspective it makes sense, from a park atmosphere perspective? Well, if they do it like Six Flags, not so much.
But the company is getting backed closer and closer against that financial wall - so every penny counts right about now.
I just read a very interesting rumor in this thread over on ThrillNetwork about Valleyfair! *finally* adding a wave pool to their water park in 2009.
The rumor goes that the park's log flume will be removed in order to make this happen. In the aerial above you can see how the log flume does sit nicely next to the existing water park. I can totally see a wave pool fitting in part of the flume's footprint perfectly - but it looks like there will be room left over. Future water park expansion?
If this is true, well lord it's about time! With how amazingly popular water parks are, I can't believe that Valleyfair!'s has been left stagnant for so long. This is one rumor that makes good sense. Stay tuned...
Between getting back from Vegas, returning to work, and moving into a new house - well - these pictures took longer than I wanted so my apologies!
I've been to Las Vegas numerous times but as a non-Star Trek fan (just never really watched it, nothing against it) I never wanted to shell out the cash to check out the Star Trek Experience. Well, this time was different as it's now been announced that the attraction is closing Steptember 1st.
Considering it was 110 degrees the day we went to the Hilton to check the attraction out, we took the monorail:
... which I totally love and think that every town everywhere should have one. (why do they have to be so expensive to build?) The Hilton is way up and sorta off the strip, so walking there was not a possibility.
What's that I see? We must be in the right place, as the experience is advertised prominently on the Hilton's massive sign out front.
Star Trek the Experience is celebrating 10 years of operation this year. It opened January 3rd, 1998 as a $70 million, highly themed attraction that wet the pants of Star Trek fans everywhere. Designed by Landmark Entertainment Group and Paramount Parks, the attraction was a unique outside-a-theme-park themed experience that IMO only Las Vegas would have been a proper home for.
So the monorail drops you off and you enter the casino, and you actually end up in the Star Trek themed part of the hotel right away. As you can see above, the theming hits you right away as even the sign for the monorail is themed.
The casino located outside the entrance to the attraction is themed really nicely. As I said I don't know Star Trek so I'm not sure exactly what you're supposed to be in, aside from the obvious space ship of some sort, but it works. The lighting is really great on top of all the theming.
Sorry for the blurry, but you can still get a feel for the cavernous inside of the Trek casino. It's not just a static area, either, as the lighting is constantly changing and there's some props that move giving the area an 'alive' feeling.
There's a nicely themed bar in the casino section, as seen above. This is not Quark's Bar and Restaurant, though, that's located in with the attractions. Quark's is also apparently a huge hit with fans.
I really liked this 'window' that was behind the bar, obviously you can't get the feeling for it in a photo but the lights that are the 'stars' outside the window were great, flickering and changing.
The same bar, again. I can't stress enough how well done the lighting is in the place, whoever worked on that deserves much credit indeed.
Next I'll cover the two attractions of the experience, Klingon Encounter and Borg Invasion 4-D.
© 2008 IOACentral
Steel Hawg at Indiana Beach opened while I was in Vegas, I think. Above is a video of the ride in action. That's insane!
I'm not sure I would want to ride, those restraints have to hurt... anyone been on it that can comment?
© Disneyland 2008
Happy 53rd Birthday Disneyland!
Here is the 2008 park map for Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. As we already know, a big section of the park is closed for this year. It's just interesting to see the park - the map reminds me of the park's size back in the mid 90s.
Rumors persist that the closed area will not reopen next year, but will be gutted for something new, OR, that the park as a whole is on Six Flags' 'get rid of' list - which paints a much more cloudy future for the property.
I personally have no idea what the future holds for this park but I'm curious to find out. What do you guys think?
That debate, of course, is what is going to happen to the Busch Entertainment theme parks now that the InBev takeover of Anheuser Busch looks certain.
The foreign brewer upped their takeover price to a point where AB's board can't really say no, but everyone is speculating that the new owner will try to sell the theme park division.
With that sentiment pretty solid, the new question is who's going to buy them? Six Flags and Cedar Fair are both in trouble financially, so take them out. After that, everyone from Disney to foreign park operators are being rumored.
Kevin Yee over at MiceAge.com has a great article about these very possibilities that's worth checking out. Personally, I would love to see the theme park division spun off on their own, purchased by an investment group that would allow them to operate as they currently are. This way, these highly regarded parks could stay as they are now, well, maybe sans the beer - and act as a cash cow for whoever buys them.
Whatever will happen, it will probably happen fast - so we might not have to wait long to find out the fate of these parks.
© 2008 ffejie via GeaugaLakeToday
After my recent trip to Vegas, I began to wonder whatever happened to the Las Vegas Wet project that is supposed to be built. If you are not familiar, it is to include the largest indoor water park around, several hotels, a large indoor skiing facility, an outdoor theme park, tons of retail and food, and more.
I was wondering about the project's status because I noticed on this recent trip the number of families that are still visiting with children, and how the city has reverted back to really being only for adults.
Well, Last Vegas Wet certainly would give those families stuff to do together again, so I was happy today when I googled the project and found that a press release had just been issued an hour before.
Though no construction is underway, the project is still said to be moving forward. Wet Holdings, the company behind the project is now saying that they are looking to take on strategic mergers and acquisitions in the theme park industry that would allow market capital to grow, and provide a positive cash flow for the operation.
To me, that reads as they don't have the cash to start the project alone so are looking to expand in other ways in the meantime. They say they have made some offers to "very visible brands" in the theme park industry, so perhaps they'll end up with a Six Flags or Cedar Fair clunker, lord knows both companies need the cash.
It's an interesting direction for them to move in, I can't wait to see what they purchase. They should have tried to get Star Trek the Experience...
According to this news article, three separate bids on land that used to be Geauga Lake amusement park are moving forward, with one part already under contract. Each bid is for a different part of the property breaking it down to 100 acres on the western side, 11 acres with the Geauga Lake hotel, and 440 acres that contains the actual ride part of the park.
One bidder (there were 4, originally) has withdrawn, and from what the article says it's clearly the firm that wanted to keep the Big Dipper coaster in place and build a mixed use area around it. That bid had loose connections to ACE and with all that drama ... I'm not surprised.
It's rumored that most likely we'll see big box stores and some sort of housing development on the land that used to be the park.
© 2008 Roger via Picasa Web
The Funland blog from the L.A. Times has published the list of haunts for the 2008 Knott's Scary Farm.
There will be 6 brand new Mazes and 7 returning ones, bringing a total of 13 haunts to the event this fall.
The new haunts include one with a movie tie-in, this year to Quarantine (see full trailer here) which looks like a freaky movie so the maze could be pretty cool. Also new will be Slaughterhouse, Club Blood, and CornStalkers - all 3 of those already at other Cedar Fair parks - The Labyrinth, and Alien Annihilation.
That's sorta interesting to me, previously new mazes came from Scary Farm and then copies were done at other parks... now we have stuff that's 'new' to Knott's that's been at the other parks already.
Regardless, the event will still be awesome and I'll still be jealous of anyone who gets to go.
Thanks to one of our readers, Sabrina, we have some great photos of Belmont Park to check out. Belmont Park's famous Giant Dipper just celebrated its 83rd birthday on July 4, which is pretty amazing.
The seaside park has a very 'modern traditional' feel to it, one which it pulls over rather well. I've never been to Belmont, but it looks like a great time.
Here's a link to the full gallery of photos from Belmont Park. Thanks again to Sabrina!
While I was away the Universal Orlando Halloween Horror Nights website went live. If you read NewsPlusNotes last year then you already know how much I enjoy following all the clues and hints that are continually added to the event's website each year.
It looks like right now the story that's starting to be told is of a Psychiatrist that was denied grant funding for research about phobias due to his desire to have patients confront those fears head on.
Well, from what we can read thus far it looks like the good Doctor decided to carry on his phobia testing even without approval from his colleagues... I can't wait to see where things go from here!
Dayton Daily News has published photos of the blueprints for Kings Island's new B&M hypercoaster for 2009.
There's really no surprises here, though, as the layout is exactly what was leaked in First Drop magazine last year, the water splash was already assumed because it's built, and the trains will have seating like Behemoth.
The article that's with the photos says the ride is estimated at 4,200 ft. but they say that's off of scale drawings - but this article also has typos in it and says the ride will have "3 loops" so take that for what it's worth (i'm guessing not much).
I like the drawings of the station, though, looks like they'll lightly themed it and not just have a big concrete and metal blob like Behemoth's. Ride, Sally, ride!
So the American Coaster Enthusiasts have put out a press release to clarify their position on what took place with all the Big Dipper from Geauga Lake drama.
Apparently the company who purchased the ride, Apex Western Machinery Movers has now offered ACE both the Big Dipper and Wolf Bobs for free - well free so long as ACE hires the company to move the rides.
The catch is ACE has no where to go with the rides, and this Apex wants 2 to 3 times as much to move them as another company had already estimated for the club.
ACE also sites shady discussions and a court case filed against Mr. Woosnam (who's representing Apex here) after another auction as reasons why Apex's offer smells like a rat.
There are one too many crazies in this situation. The only way The Dipper will survive is if Cedar Fair picks the land use bid that involves using the ride 'as is' in a mixed use area - and I doubt that'll ever happen.
We're back! Exhausted, but back. Las Vegas is not a town to visit when you want to relax... but considering this is my 6th or so visit I guess I should know that but now.
Looks like I missed a lot while 'on holiday' - you can expect all that soon, as well as a photo report of Star Trek The Experience.
NewsPlusNotes is off to Sin City for a much deserved summer vacation. We'll be baking in the 108 degree weather, but I say bring it on!
Have a good week and we'll be back up and running on Saturday the 12th.
Looks like some sort of dangerous animal has been delivered to Worlds of Fun. Perhaps some sort of big, wild kitty cat?
Props to Worlds of Fun for starting a teaser campaign!
Source.
© 2008 MintCrocodile
© 2008 Robbie Zerhusen / KICentral.com
Geauga Lake's 1996 attraction will be Carowinds 2009 new attraction. I doubt the park will be pleased, but this link for a construction site has leaked all the plans for the new coaster. If you haven't already guessed, Geagua's Head Spin, a Vekoma Boomerang, is moving to Carowinds.
It will be replacing the Flying Super Saturator, as seen in the plans below. The top drawing is the demo site for the Saturator, and the bottom one is of the Boomerang.
The size of the coaster actually replaced the former ride rather nicely. Even the trees in the area will be spared.
Here's a look at the ride's location in the park:
And of course, an aerial view of the area so you can get a better idea.
Lastly, one of the station for the ride, nothing special here. I wonder if the ride will be red and yellow, or red and orange, or orange and yellow. Haha, oh Cedar Fair...
Go get your final rides on the Flying Super Saturator this summer!
Six Flags Over Georgia has pulled advertising off of Atlanta radio station Project 9-6-1 (what is with that name) after the station's morning show made "insensitive comments" about the accident that recently took place.
It's nice to see the park standing up for itself, especially since this accident was not their fault.
Robbie Knievel will attempt to jump 25 cars at Six Flags St. Louis today. The park has recently opened their new Evel Knievel themed wooden roller coaster, so it's fitting that Mr. Knievel would do a jump at the park. As we know, he recently also did a big jump at Kings Island as well.
Great Adventure History has published an amazing look back at the history of the Batman Stunt Arena at Six Flags Great Adventure. They've got more information in there than you can shake a stick at. I can only wish my updates were that complete and detailed!
Star Trek The Experience has officially confirmed that the attraction will be closing on September 1st.
What a bummer. I suppose it wasn't making enough cash for Cedar Fair to be interested in keeping it open. Perhaps there's more to the story but it really doesn't fit with what Cedar Fair does... so I'm not surprised they're closing it.
Here's the release:
Happily (for me, I guess) I'm headed to Las Vegas in 4 days for a getaway. I've never found the need to spend the cash to check out Star Trek on prior trips, but now things are different.
You can expect a full photo report of the attractions when I return.
Here's a link to a Flickr gallery from user Outside_Looking_In of Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. The photos were taken recently, and really show some sides of Kentucky Kingdom that I didn't know existed!
For instance, see above - I had no idea that any part of the park looked this peaceful and nice. Most photos have never really done the park justice I guess.
The park's operating wooden coaster, Thunder Run.
Again, check out the photos here!
This past month I asked what two Six Flags parks deserve the two Great Coasters Int. wooden coasters that the chain ordered for 2009. (still a rumor, not like Six Flags secretly told me ... but a rather strong rumor at that)
Even before the news about Six Flags Magic Mountain's rumored Terminator themed wooden coaster broke, the park was leading the poll. It ended up with 26% of the vote, significantly more than any other park. Clearly you guys want Six Flags Magic Mountain to build a GCI woodie!
Six Flags Great America came in second with 12% of the total vote. I can't say I disagree with you guys on this one, I think a GCI would compliment the park's current ride lineup rather nicely. Not sure if it's in the works too soon, though.
Six Flags New England and Six Flags Great Adventure came in third with 10% each. Six Flags New England now has rumors flying that they will be adding a wooden coaster so maybe those dreams will come true. Six Flags Great Adventure already has El Toro so I'm not sure another wood coaster will appear any time soon.
The rest of the Six Flags parks sorta fell to the bottom of the stack, though it should be noted that Six Flags Over Texas is also rumored to be the recipient of the other wooden coaster. I'm sure we'll all know for sure sooner than later...
Thanks for voting and the new poll should go up soon!
I watched the Podcast that Hershey Park has up about their new Boardwalk expansion and grabbed the above image of the new area.
I missed some details before, and wanted to cover those as well. The new area will also include:
• 27 cabanas for rent only be Hershey Resorts Guests
• Additional rest room and locker facilities
• A New Restaurant and 2 new food stands
• Two new retail locations
• The ability to accommodate 4,000 more guests in the Boardwalk
Also, the above piece of art was on a newspaper's page, and to my eyes at least, it doesn't seem to come from any of the other art released. How curious... looks like a new entrance area from back where the viewing area for the rapids was. Are they removing their Chance Wipeout, Rodeo?
Ok here's the guts of my little presentation.
I used a very similar view of the expansion area via Live Local and compared it to the concept art, and noticed that there are lots of similarities to be seen.
First, you can see Roller Soaker's first turn around in the concept art, so that let's us know where we are off the bat. (red square) Then I noticed that a lot of the buildings in the art already exist (orange, yellow, pink, teal, green squares) There's also a purple square on there that's my estimate of where there will be a new entrance down into the expanded area.
So what does this mean?
- Well it looks like they are using the former river rapids trough for at least some of the lazy river - especially the area that goes around the back of the wave pool and under Roller Soaker. It follows the same path.
- It also means that the part of the area, including lazy river on the left side of the image will be considerably below grade from the midway that goes along there. You can see walls in the drawing, but we're talking about the height of the river rapids lift difference, that's what, 15 ft?
- The base (deepest) part of the wave pool will be built into the retaining pond for the river rapids, which from a money and construction point of view makes perfect sense!
- The only new building that I see in this art will be located roughly where the river rapids' queue is.
- The 'mystery' concept art earlier in this post does show two buildings that are not currently at the park, though.
- The cabanas looks to have Sidewinder behind them, I sure would love to pay big bucks to 'relax' while hearing the Vekoma Boomerang rip at the antirollbacks all day!
Phew, okay that's enough. What do you guys think?
Hershey Park has announced an expansion to their water park, The Boardwalk for 2009. The $16.1 million expansion will feature a full sized wave poll, named The Shore, and a lazy river called Intercoastal Waterway.
The Shore will be over 22,000 sq. feet in size, and the lazy river will be over 1,300 ft. long. That means both of these water park staples are big!
Both attractions will replace Canyon River Rapids as expected, which is the park's river rapids ride.
Click here to see all of Hershey's coverage of their announcement.
AHG Group, LLC has officially purchased the former Wild West World theme park. Quick plans are underway to get the facility operating once again, which is a great sign for the park's future.
The new owners are not only looking for an operator for the amusement park, but also one for the Johnny Western theater that's attached to the park. They hope that shows can start again around Labor Day of this year.
The return of the amusement park would take place in the spring of 2009. That's good because weren't a lot of the rides sold and removed? I'm guessing they'll have to buy some more to fill in the gaps. Should have been at the Geauga Lake auction, that stuff went c-h-e-a-p.
As you can see in the aerial above Wild West World was never a mega park. The article also mentions that the park will be re-branded to move away from the park's former image.
© New Orleans Business / Frank AymamiThese guys have really big dreams! I know nothing about floodwalls, but the article says that private ones are hard to come by because of their immense cost.
I still hope things work out for Southern Star, but they're not quite there yet - another proposal for the park to be razed and turned into a sports field complex is still moving forward.
