Weekly Rewind 10.17.10

The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions announced this week that their President and CEO, Charlie Bray, has resigned.  Bray has been with IAAPA since 2004, first serving as the CFO.  His tenure saw the expansion of IAAPA offices across the globe, and the plan to hold the annual convention in Orlando for 10 years.  No replacement has been named.

Screaming cheerleaders in a Busch Gardens Tampa haunted house?  Indeed.  Several members of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers stopped by the park before a game to visit the new My X: Revenge Rocks haunted house at this year's Howl-O-Scream. 

If you're looking for a new high in Vegas, then check out Fremont Street's new zipline attraction.  On the Fremont Street Zipline passengers "will leap from a platform 60 feet high and glide 800 feet down one of four lines at speeds of up to 25 mph to a 14-foot-high landing near the performance stage."  More information on the official website.

Developers want to build the Orlando Thrill Park on 70 acres of empty land at the north end of Orlando's International Drive.  The organization behind the plan is the Baker Leisure Group, who's also been involved in Freestyle Music Park.  The park would include a 425 ft. launched ride, probably much like Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure.  Another proposed looping ride is seen above.

The Wizarding World of Profits - Universal Orlando has posted some amazing revenue and attendance numbers for the last quarter.  Attendance at the Florida parks is up one million guests, and profits have doubled.  The gains are pretty much completely attributed to the opening of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Islands of Adventure.  Be jealous Disney, be very jealous.

Congratulations are due to Legoland California's new water park for receiving the World Waterpark Association's Industry Innovation Award.  The award is judged based on how the organization set itself apart from others in terms of moving the industry forward or to a higher plane.  The water park was the first to open at a Legoland park, and is expected to appear again at Legoland Florida next year.

Even more Planet Snoopy is planned for Worlds of Fun in 2011.  The official Blog for the park confirmed that the development's price tag has gone up to $6 million, with some changes being made to the area since the announcement.  They promise more details to come soon.

Now these are Halloween fans:  April and Adam Cochran got married at Universal Orlando's Halloween Horror Nights on the front steps of one of the haunted houses.  After the vows the couple celebrated with a trip through the maze.  Is a wedding filled with death and monsters bad luck?

More progress was made on the Zippin Pippin this past week at Bay Beach Amusement Park.  The first drop looks pretty complete at this point, as well as the climb to the second hill.  You can see that plus the children's day the park recently had in this gallery.