Proving once again that late is better than never, Pennsylvania's Camelbeach Waterpark recently opened a brand new water slide, named High Noon Typhoon. The ride is one of Proslide's standard Tornado slides, which stand around six stories tall and utilizes four-person clover leaf shaped tubes.
As with these types of slides, the passengers sail down an enclosed section of slide through a turn and then fall into a large, steep drop into the funnel. The tubes sail up and down the sides of the giant funnel, reaching high up the sides at first providing a moment of a weightless feeling. As they oscillate back and forth they come to a rest in the middle of the funnel and then slide out at the bottom into the catch pool.
While these Tornado-style rides have been around for many years now, this debut at Camelbeach Waterpark is noteworthy. This is actually the slide's second home, as it was originally located at Geauga Lake's Wildwater Kingdom where it was built in 2005 and named Liquid Lightning.
This past fall the Tornado slide, along with the tall Thunder Falls slide complex, and other remnants of Wildwater Kingdom (which ceased operations after 2016) were for sale via a third party. It looks like Camelbeach saw an opportunity to pick up a large slide at a fraction of the cost of a new one, and now the rest is history.
So fans of Geauga Lake's Wildwater Kingdom who have ridden this Tornado slide in the past still have an opportunity to ride it once more, now as High Noon Typhoon at Camelbeach!
This past weekend saw the first visitors to Kennywood's newest expansion, a fully themed area named Thomas Town. Featuring the famous Thomas the Tank Engine and all his friends from the Island of Sodor, the new area features multiple new rides, attractions, a live show and play areas. Thomas Town is aimed at families with smaller children, though parents can ride most of the attractions with their kids.
Kennywood's Thomas Town is the second largest permanent Thomas & Friends area in North America, and the park is also celebrating the grand opening by showing Thomas & Friends 4D: Bubbling Boilers in their 4-D Theater now through August 3rd.
The main attraction in Thomas Town is a trip on the park's classic train ride, which has seen one vehicle totally made over into Thomas himself. Pictured above, the journey takes riders out to the edge of Kennywood park and back, offering magnificent views along the way.
There are additional new rides in the area as well, above is Diesel Drivers, a smaller train ride that features the characters Diesel and Iron Bert. For kids feeling a bit more adventurous, Cranky's Drop Tower will lift them up above the area for a great view, only to have them gently fall back to the ground.
For young heroes in training, Thomas Town features Flynn's Fire Training, seen in the photo above, where kids can shoot water to put out fake fires as they rotate around the center structure. Lastly, Harold's Helicopter Tour is a circular flat ride that allows kids to slowly move their helicopters up and down as they spin.
Thomas Town also features a live stage show named Steel City Adventures! which takes place several times per day. The area has a large indoor play space as well, named the Thomas & Friends Big Adventure Zone, filled with interactive features and play areas. Rounding out the offerings of the new area are a special Thomas & Friends gift shop, and a birthday pavilion that can be rented.
For more on Thomas Town at Kennywood, check out the park's website.
SeaWorld San Diego has filed plans to build what is described as a new roller coaster for the park's 2019 season. The plans, which can be viewed at this link (while the agenda is live at least), describe the addition as follows:
The proposed new 22-foot high coaster will cover approximately 800 square feet, and includes the new coaster, two 250 square foot loading ramps sited on the east and west ends of the new attraction with attached open shade structures not to exceed 19 feet in height, and a new 300 square foot building housing the controls for the roller coaster. New landscaping and hardscaping improvements are also proposed. The ride is designed to conform to the aquatic and educational nature of SeaWorld by incorporating elements of its “Rising Tide” program which promotes sustainable aquaculture and protection of coral reefs.
The planning document also contains this look at the ride, and its location. As you can see the attraction is small and the layout is a figure eight when viewed from above. The ride will be built along side an existing tide pool, on the far Eastern edge of the theme park, below the Cirque Stadium and tucked next to one part of Shipwreck Rapids.
Here is a comparable view of the park to go along with the plans. The area in red will be cleared to allow the new ride to go in. I'm not sure what is there currently, it looks like just landscaping and perhaps a small retail location - either way not much of a loss there.
So now for the ride itself, as many other sites have pointed out (Screamscape, for one), the dimensions and layout closely match the Skywarp Horizon model, created by Skyline Attractions. Here is a snip of the manufacturer's website, showing this version:
The horizon is similar to the Skywarp that was added to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom this year, but obviously with a different layout. That said, these are powered rides that work much like a Larson Super Loop, so most put these in the "flat ride" category more so than the "roller coaster" category.
Either way, it's great to see SeaWorld San Diego expanding again after building a large roller coaster, Electric Eel, this year. Many parks have a very quiet year after adding a large ride, so it's nice to see SeaWorld San Diego continuing to push forward!
Dollywood has been hard at work on a massive expansion project for more than a year now, and we only have to wait until August 3rd to find out all the details.
Instead of the park just adding another ride, show, or attraction, Dollywood is going full steam ahead with a giant new themed land, recently revealed to be called Wildwood Grove:
Wildwood Grove is expected to contain several new rides and attractions, along with at least one restaurant, retail shops and more (I'm sure at least one show!). From some leaked plans it also appears as though a family roller coaster will be built, bringing the park's total up to nine coasters. The art in the teasers for the announcement contain very colorful leaves and vines - I'm interested to see how the overall theme of Wildwood Grove will play out.
Fans of the park can actually watch the announcement live on August 3rd, via this link.
The park's train ride has been giving clear views of the work site for the past year, and now work is really starting to pick up pace. This video, from Variety Entertainment, shows recent footage of the huge work site from the train. At least one building is now up (perhaps a service building) and some other footings can be seen as well.
Speculation about the details of the roller coaster Canada's Wonderland is building for 2019 has been intense since the park opened this year with a brand new tunnel (with coaster track installed!) already in place for the project.
As the summer has progressed many new clues have been discovered about the ride, but the park has remained fairly quiet on the subject. But now, according to the above tweet from the park's VP of Marketing & Sales, all will be revealed on August 15th. That leaves us with just over three weeks until we get all the details on the project!
The announcement date reveal is also on the park's website homepage as well, allowing us a closer look. Not much else to be found here, other than it's clearly the surface of a rock with the text carved into it.
The teasing for the new coaster, expected to be one of the largest built next year, has spread to other Cedar Fair parks. Above is a tweet showing a poster that has been displayed at Cedar Point, which by all accounts appears to be giving clues for Canada's Wonderland's new ride.
According to the graphic, the Cedar Creek Mining Company is moving up North with some new operations, and several of the chain's coaster's are featured by name. The bottom has some curious numbers, including 17, a connection to Canada's Wonderland as the new ride will be their 17th coaster. There is also 3,215 ft - track length? - 137 MCBR - height of the mid-course brakes? - and 3,501' - ehhh track length again? A bit puzzling but pretty awesome to see the folks at Cedar Fair sending out clues for other parks like this!
Also, this coming week will be very quiet on NPN as we will be taking a much needed vacation. Keep tabs on us on Twitter to see where we are headed!
Today was Kennywood's highly anticipated announcement of the amusement park's 2019 plans, and not only did the park reveal a massive new steel roller coaster, but also a brand new section of the park themed to the Pittsburgh Steelers football franchise.
Kennywood and the Steelers have teamed up to create a one-of-a-kind area that is "unprecedented in both the sports and amusement worlds." Known as Steelers Country, the area will bring to life the feeling of game day, complete with "exclusive merchandise, skill games and food locations including a themed tailgating experience."
“Being the first park to collaborate with a professional sports
franchise on not only a themed area, but also a pulse-pounding,
high-flying roller coaster is a great honor that fits in with
Kennywood’s longstanding tradition of innovation,” said Kennywood
General Manager Jerome Gibas. “For that franchise to be our hometown
Steelers, the most successful team in America’s most popular sport, it’s
a sure touchdown!”
Steelers Country will reside on the land that was formerly home to the park's log flume, Log Jammer, and make full use of the space. It will be the perfect location for Steelers fans, featuring several different activities, games and more - including the Steelers Experience, seen above. This area is described as a "one-of-a-kind indoor, multi-level training facility that puts you on the field and in the center of the action."
The Steelers Experience will feature interactive attractions such as the Terrible Tower, seen above, a 40 yard dash and a competitive 2-minute drill. Other activities include perfecting touchdown dances, and following live games on the area's giant video screen. Steelers Country will also feature plenty of new Steelers themed midway games, along with the End Zone Cafe, an indoor restaurant, and the Tailgate Patio which mimics the experience of tailgating at the Steelers stadium.
Anchoring the new area is a massive, unique and in many ways unprecedented roller coaster named The Steel Curtain... which refers to the Steelers directly in its name. Designed by S&S Worldwide, Steel Curtain will stand 220 feet tall, making it the tallest roller coaster in Pennsylvania.
The coaster will feature bright yellow supports with black track, Steelers colors, naturally. Just take a look at this art featuring the entire ride layout and let it sink in... we haven't seen many rides quite this unique or massive go up in the United States in recent years.
After the 220 foot tall lift hill, which is at a steep 50 degrees, there is a small dip before a corkscrew element that takes place 197 feet in the air - a world record for highest inversion. The trains then continue to roll and face back toward the lift and drop the rest of the way toward the ground.
The trains hit the top speed of 75 miles per hour and take a high banked curve to the left before climbing into this element, which is like a cobra roll but only gigantic and keeps trains more horizontal to the ground mid-element than a traditional cobra roll.
Flying back across the layout the trains swoops up and into an elevated pair of corkscrews, or also kind of a high-exit Immelmann and dive loop put together - think of the first element on a Vekoma SLC as an example.
Next the train leaves the Steelers Country area and does a large air-time hill over the park's midway, then climbs up into a twist-and-dive element located directly over the park's central lagoon. The trains cross back over the midway via a 180 degree stall element tucked under the air-time hill.
After another air-time hill, there is an extended corkscrew that leads into a downward into a ground hugging helix, with one more cutback/stall element left before a hop up onto the final brakes.
Steel Curtain will feature 9 inversions, which is the most on any coaster in the United States, and the 2 minute long ride will cover 4,000 feet of track. The trains will feature 24 riders at a time.
I'm fairly sure that my descriptions still leave a lot of the imagination as to Steel Curtain's layout, so thankfully the park released this point of view animation to clear up any lingering questions you have.
Congratulations to Kennywood on announcing such a massive project, this coaster alone would be a massive investment for the park, let alone a new themed area too! I can't wait to see this coaster go up! Be sure to check out Kennywood's page for the expansion here for more photos and information.
SeaWorld Orlando has sent out new photos of the dramatic lift theming that has been installed on Infinity Falls, which is set to open this summer at the theme park. As construction of the ride nears completion, the park installed the tallest piece of the 67 foot structure which surrounds the ride's vertical lift hill.
Rafters on Infinity Falls will head up the lift, which will also contain a roaring waterfall, and then plunge down a 40 foot drop. SeaWorld Orlando says that the ride's lift is capable of bringing the rafts to the top of the drop in just 5 seconds.
The dramatic blue and gray tower design hides the mechanics of the ride's lift and is described as "blending modern architecture with ancient ruins." Weighing in at 41 tons, the tower was made of 10 segments that were carefully lifted into place over the course of five nights (with work only occurring after the park had closed for the day).
Infinity Falls will "bring the thrill of white-water rafting into a new
experience the family can enjoy together. Aboard the rides 8-passenger
circular rafts, riders will embark on an adventure through a lush
rainforest environment inspired by some of the world’s most incredible
freshwater ecosystems. The new attraction will feature dynamic drops and
turns, interactive water elements, and allow visitors to experience the
feel of exhilarating rapids."
No opening date of Infinity Falls has been released just yet, but the park is clearly near the end of the ride's construction, with theming and landscaping already in place.
Until the ride opens, here is a new time lapse video of the tower's completion:
One of the most recent water parks to join the Six Flags family, Hurricane Harbor Concord has opened a massive new water play structure named Splashwater Island. Serving the market around Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, the water park embarked on its largest expansion in more than a decade with the addition of Splashwater Island.
The new attraction officially opened on July 6th, with families eager to explore the giant structure's many interactive features.
The new attraction is tropically themed, as seen in the various thematic elements present in the photo above. The structure has giant fish, gulls, surf boards and even faux palm trees lining the various towers. The theming matches the new decor that has been added to the park as part of its transformation in to Hurricane Harbor.
“As a world-renowned leader in thrills and innovation, Six Flags has
taken this park to the next level with the new Splashwater Island,”
said Park President, Don McCoy. “Our guest experience is greatly
enhanced by all the new improvements, brightly painted waterslides, and
fun, whimsical theming we’ve added all around the park.”
One of the most popular features of Splashwater Island is a giant tipping bucket that is perched on the top of attraction. Once filled it slowly tips, dumping an immense amount of water onto the ground below, seen in the above publicity photo. The various levels of Splashwater Island feature more than 100 different interactive water play features, including sprayers, net climbs, spouting geysers, fountains, jets and waterfalls. Located on various parts of the attraction are a total of nine open air and enclosed water slides, which together offer 600 feet of sliding fun.
For more on the new attraction at Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Concord, click here.
The Carowinds 2019 teasers are continuing to be shared by the theme park not only on construction fences, but also on social media as well. The park is keeping up with curious fans who want to know more about their big 2019 project, which still remains (officially) a mystery. The latest teaser is part of a weekly reveal that appears to be giving more information on the ride, which is very heavily believed to be a new roller coaster.
This is the information released on the first week. Before we look at that though, take notice of the words used in the Tweet above - roll, launch, maneuvers - all elements found on a roller coaster. Also, "packs a bite!" could fit in with the rumored snake theme.
The first two items on Granny's Secret Recipe are a cooking time of 2 minutes and 24 seconds, which seems like a pretty obvious ride time. Then we also have serves 16 people, which I take to mean that the coaster's trains will each have 16 people. Not a lot of roller coasters have trains that seat 16 people as that is a bit lower than average, unless there are many trains on the course at one time. Time Traveler at Silver Dollar City is one recent example, and Icon at Blackpool Pleasure Beach is another.
One other sign that the park posted on their construction wall can be seen above, which contains several amusing items. For one, the logo background is the same that was used on both Mean Streak at Cedar Point and Detonator at Worlds of Fun. But the funniest part is the use of Centurion, which was used by the park as the fake name for Fury 325 right up until the day of the official announcement. Very clever, Carowinds!
Standing an amazing 170 feet tall, which is taller than the majority of roller coasters out there, Six Flags Magic Mountain's new thrill ride, CraZanity, is now open to visitors. A ride of this magnitude is sure to draw thrill seekers to the park, which also offers a plethora of roller coasters as well.
“Six Flags is known world-wide for the biggest and best thrills bar none
and the record-breaking CraZanity ride delivers a crazy, high adrenaline
experience very different from anything else we have in our unparalleled
thrill ride arsenal,” said Park President, Neal Thurman.
CraZanity is a pendulum style ride, where 40 riders sit along a giant ring-shaped gondola at the base of the ride - facing outward with their feet dangling. The gondola then starts to swing left and right as it spins, gaining momentum and reaching higher and higher. Eventually the ride is swinging up to 170 feet in the air at 75 miles per hour!
CraZanity also features a brilliant light package for when the sun goes down, seen above. It is the main focus of a renovated Boardwalk themed area within Six Flags Magic Mountain. The area also includes all new shopping, games and dining along with refreshed attractions such as the popular bumper cars.
Opening this Saturday, July 14th, Harley Quinn Spinsanity is sure to give visitors to Six Flags Over Texas a thrill unlike any that can be found in the Southern U.S. Standing an impressive 70 feet tall, the giant thrill ride closely resembles a gyroscope that rotates on three different axes with riders in the center of the action.
Harley Quinn Spinsanity is the second ride of this type to open in North America this year, with the first having opened a few weeks ago at sister park Six Flags Great Adventure. The ride is known for its "unpredictable, gravity-defying flips, twists and turns." At Six Flags Over Texas, the new attraction is located inside the Gotham City themed section, along side rides themed to other characters such as The Joker, Catwoman and The Riddler.
“As the company’s flagship park, Six Flags Over Texas is home to a long list of industry firsts and we are thrilled to unveil our newest innovation,” said Park President, Steve Martindale. “Harley Quinn Spinsanity is like no other ride we have ever built, and our guests are going to be amazed by the height, the size and the incredible features of this attraction. We take great pride in continuing our legacy of one-of-a-kind thrills for all ages.”
The attraction's triple box design features a gondola with 24 riders at its center, seated back to back in two long rows. Shoulder harnesses secure riders in place with their feet freely dangling below them. The ride's movement along three axes creates the ability to rotate forward, backward and sideways simultaneously, resulting in a dizzying effect. As if the ride doesn't garner enough attention on its own, it features a brilliant light package that will make it the center of Gotham City once the sun goes down.
Here is some promotional footage of Harley Quinn Spinsanity that was released by Six Flags Over Texas:
Running July 16th through July 22nd, Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom will celebrate Autism Awareness Week - benefiting the Autism Society of America (ASA) through Cedar Fair Charities, Inc.
The park holds the annual event to focus on "community integration, equal access and as a fundraising initiative for ASA." Special tickets can be purchased for the event through this link, and for each ticket redeemed the park will donate $2 to the ASA. The park will also offer additional opportunities to donate while in the park, with donation boxes placed throughout the property.
During the week Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom will hold special sensory friendly shows that stay within a consistent decibel level of 85-88 and feature no flashing lights. These shows include Charlie Brown's Jungle Journey, Schroeder's Sing-along and Franklin's Dance Party in Planet Snoopy, and the 4 pm showing of Cirque Imagine will also be sensory friendly.
A special Autism Awareness Week guide to the park will be available at guest services, which outline the park's sensory-friendly shows, rides and attraction, along with first aid and quiet/calming areas and gluten-free dining options.
Dorney Park also has a Multi-Sensory & Calming Room located in the Family Care Center inside of Planet Snoopy. The space has "tools for family members, or care-givers, to intensify or reduce sensory stimulation in a controlled environment. Dorney Park also offers free Sensory Packs, which are available to sign-out, daily, from Guest Services and the Family Care Center. Dorney Park’s Sensory Packs include items that will reduce stress or sensory triggers such as noise reducing ear-muffs, shoulder weights, fidget toys and more."
The amusement park also offers Autism training to members of its staff each year through Lehigh County to ensure quality services are provided to all of their visitors.
Hersheypark has been pretty consistent each summer with giving some sort of tease about their plans for the following year... and 2019 is no exception. No puzzles this year, just a website for the "top secret" project for 2019, which allows visitors to enter to win all sorts of prizes including season passes.
The theme of the page and some of the text are where most of the hints are. Those who enter the contest will be a part of the "agent trainee program," due to their "love of chocolate and peanut butter." All very secret mission sort of graphics as well.
There are also these little characters strewn about the page as well, which looks like the residents of ... whatever the new ride is.
If I had to take a guess I'd say that this looks like some sort of interactive dark ride, but Hersheypark already has one! So that would lead me to believe that Reese's Xtreme Cup Challenge, a Sally designed shooting dark ride that opened in 2006, may be rethemed for 2018. (here's some video of the ride from Sally)
In the ride, teams themed to chocolate and peanut butter (links to the text on the teaser page) battle it out for the highest points during the extreme sports themed ride.
I also noted that the image at the bottom of the page is titled "phasers," which seem to most commonly refer to "pulse energy" blasters used in the Star Trek series. Would make sense if the new ride continues to be a shoot-at-targets-for-points style of ride! Luckily we only have to wait until August 2nd to find out!
Moving on to 2020, we already knew from recent planning meetings that Hersheypark wants to use the former golf course land to start a big expansion, with a whole new entrance gate going in. Today Pennlive released some plans that give a good look at the 2020 expansion, and appear to include a pretty big new roller coaster.
Above are the plans. If you're familiar with Hersheypark, you can see how the new entrance will be very close to the tram drop off, just below Chocolate World, and North of where it is currently. The much more open area (which is badly needed) contains all the buildings you would need along with a circular one that looks like it could have a ride in it. You can even see the old Hersheypark pinwheel logo in the pavement!
But at the bottom of the expansion is the outline of what looks quite like a roller coaster path, and the image also has a footer plan that lets us see even more.
Here is the plan that Pennlive released with my markup, showing the path of the coaster. The station building is clearly visible, even with transfer tracks located right next to it as we would expect. The ride appears to go out for a long way in a straight path, cutting through the middle of the former golf course land and passing over the creek a few times. There's a turnaround, more straight track, then a helix. The track then curves off toward the new entrance, and appears to swoop around a giant fountain that will be just inside the new turnstiles. The ride then meanders over the new midway before a turn back to the station.
This second image Pennlive published is a zoomed in section of the new entrance. This is the image that was just clear enough to make out some text, which is how you can be sure that the fountain is a fountain, etc. If you look close you again can see the new ride's footer path through this area.
Here is the same image with markup of the ride's path, based off the footers visible. You can see how the ride will swoop and do a full helix around the water fountain, then cross over the midway before the final brakes and station (which would be just south of the image). You can also see the cutoff pathway that will lead to the ride's queue and station.
Granted we can't be sure, but this layout seems to feature an awful lot of design elements we've seen used on B&M hyper coasters in the past, but that's just a guess on my part. While the layout is pretty clear, the manufacturer is not, so that will remain a mystery for now. Exciting developments for sure!
A series of preview performances of Universal Orlando's Cinematic Celebration have started to take place at Universal Studios Florida. Since the performances are part of a technical rehearsal, there is no set schedule of when the show will run, but many lucky guests have already been able to enjoy the experience just before the theme park closes for the day.
The 19 minute long Cinematic Celebration features 120 different fountains in the park's central lagoon, some of which can blast water well over 100 feet in the air. There are 7 large water screen that feature projections of sequences from many of Universal's hit properties, including Jurassic World, the Minions, Fast & Furious, Harry Potter and plenty more. The fountains are capable of a plethora of color combinations, and the entire background of the park becomes a set for projection mapping during the performance. Plus, there's fireworks and other special effects strewn throughout the performance.
The official kickoff for the show will take place once these rehearsals are completed, scheduled to be during this summer. For now, if you can't get to the park to watch the show there are plenty of videos of it showing up on YouTube.
The below video, from Orlando Experience, features one of the performances where many of the special effects - including fireworks - were used. Check it out!
Kennywood has moved into the second phase of their puzzling teaser campaign for their new for 2019 attraction, this time offering up a word search that links to the earlier scratch card. With the new puzzle fans can look for words that explain the 9 numbers that were revealed in the first phase of the challenge.
It's a bit tricky though, as there are many more than 9 words to be found in the search, so obviously there are some fake-outs in here too.
Here is the actual word search, you can download a better version directly from Kennywood's website for the puzzle. I won't ruin it by sharing all the items that I've found (it seems there are more than 20 at least), but some of the more interesting ones are lift, columns, inversion, suspended, trex, and airtime. Remember though, only 9 of the words that are in here will correctly match up with the 9 statistics released previously.
So, why do we care? Well for starters because teaser campaigns are fun! And secondly, the first 12 people who submit the correct entry will be a part of the "ultimate new ride experience," which includes being one of the first to ride the attraction in 2019. You can submit an entry each day through July 16th!
Fenix, a part of the brand new themed area named Avalon, will see its grand opening this weekend at Toverland, located in the Netherlands. The giant B&M wing coaster, with brilliant blue track and beige supports, has been steadily testing at the park for weeks now, ahead of guests getting their first rides in.
Avalon features Fenix and also a boat ride with an indoor section, and as Toverland is known for, elaborate theming throughout the land. Riders on Fenix will be treated to three inversions, a 131 foot lift hill, maximum speeds of 59 miles per hour, and 2,667 feet of track.
Ahead of the opening, the park has released a new point of view ride on Fenix:
Fenix features a selection of elements that we have seen used on B&M wing coasters in the past, but definitely features a unique layout. The speed hill after the first twist-and-dive drop looks like it may give some air-time, but we won't know for sure until the first rides. The pacing of the ride looks strong, with little lag between elements.
It's amazing to see how much Toverland has grown over the past ten or so years, from an indoor amusement park to what is quickly becoming a sprawling outdoor theme park. Their attractions keep getting better with each addition, I can't wait to see what the future holds for the park.
Happy 4th of July, everyone! Hope everyone is out celebrating this Independence Day at their favorite amusement park! Today's story isn't about an American attraction, but this new coaster looks noteworthy enough that I think our readers will be quite interested in it.
Poland's Energylandia has finished up major construction of their new hyper roller coaster, Hyperion, and released some early test videos. Embedded below, the videos show off what looks like a top notch ride experience, featuring a great variety of elements and a ton of speed.
Here is the first video, which is all off-ride footage of one of the very early test runs. Hyperion is an Intamin designed "Mega Coaster," standing 253 feet tall. The trains feature 4-across seating like those on B&M rides, but with the two middle seats up higher than those on the outside. That's similar to Skyrush at Hersheypark, however the Hyperion trains have floors under the outside seats, while Skyrush does not.
Hyperion's trains plummet down a 262 foot first drop into a tunnel, and hit a maximum speed of 88 miles per hour. The total track length is 4,757 feet. As we well know, Intamin hyper rides are some of the best on the planet, so Hyperion could be the next chapter in that legacy.
Just today Energylandia released this point of view footage of a ride on Hyperion. The air-time looks like it will be incredible on the 2nd hill, along with what looks like an extended slow-float hill after the first speed section. The ride's latter section is filled with fast turns and elevation changes, and there even appears to be some sort of splash element constructed for just before the final brakes. Also of note is the ride's twist and dive element that replaces a traditional helix as the mid-course turnaround.
Shouldn't be too long now until Hyperion opens to the public, then we will get an idea of how this coaster rides!
The Great Escape has added a thrilling new flat ride for 2018, named Pandemonium, to the park's line up of attractions. The new ride opened earlier in The Great Escape's season, so it has already been thrilling visitors to the park for weeks now.
The ride, which looks to be a Freestyle from Chance Rides, seats 24 passengers at a time, facing outward on a giant ring. The ring rotates quickly while it is elevated and spun at the same time, creating a wave-like motion that riders experience as they go. The motion can be a bit disorienting, but is perfect for thrill seekers! Freestyle rides are more common at fairs and other traveling events, so it's interesting to see one installed at a Six Flags-owned park.
This video of the ride shows Pandemonium in action, and by the looks of it the riders are enjoying it! This smaller, but still very thrilling, flat ride looks like a perfect fit for a park the size of The Great Escape.
At night, the ride really glows with an "electrifying light package that hypnotizes onlookers as they follow all the twisting, twirling motions" of Pandemonium.
It was just in the beginning of June that Kennywood started to tease their big 2019 attraction, sharing the above scratch-off card. At the time they said that one square would be revealed each week, however since then they have revealed double that amount, and now there is only one square left.
Project 412, as Kennywood is calling it, now has eight clues revealed, but why the advanced reveal schedule? Perhaps the announcement was moved up significantly, something that most fans of the park wouldn't have a problem with!
Looking at the "ride detail" clues that are revealed, let's take a guess at what some of them could mean. The project is expected to be a new roller coaster, so we will base guesses off of that.
220 - Perhaps a total height above the park, or perhaps the longest drop?
24 - This could be the total number of passengers per train? Six cars of 4 riders each.
50 - A tough one, the only thing I could guess is a height requirement of 50 inches?
9 - Another tough one, perhaps $9 million total cost? Might be a bit low, however, if this ride is as large as it sounds.
197 - Perhaps the total drop, or depending on if they use the park's hills the total height?
120 - Maybe the ride length in seconds, or a two minute long ride.
3 - Probably either three inversions or other key elements.
75 - The ride's top speed, which seems possible given the large height/drop.
It's fun to guess, and at the rate the park is going maybe we won't have to guess for all that much longer! While you wait, keep up to date with construction photos of Project 412 in this gallery from Kennywood Connection.
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and frequently updated sources of industry information. NewsPlusNotes--or
"NPN", as it is called by fans--now serves up content and commentary to
a global audience which continues to grow on a near daily basis, and its
reach has expanded to Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook.
NPN remained a solo effort until October 2008, when Mike welcomed three
new full-time contributors (Sabrina, Scott, and Carol) to the blog and the
"NPN team" was officially born. The team was again expanded in March of 2011 Kevin joined as a writer. Simply stated, we are a group of writers
who love the industry and it is our honor and privilege to share that
passion with our loyal readers and fellow enthusiasts. In so doing, we
strive to promote the enjoyment, celebration, and preservation of the
industry. We hope you enjoy our blog and welcome your feedback!
NewsPlusNotes is not affiliated with nor do we purport to represent
the views, interests, intentions, or policies of any park, corporation,
or entity. The opinions expressed herein are solely those of the
individual writers. While we strive to achieve 100% accuracy in our
news reporting, errors inevitably will occur from time to time and we
make no guarantees that the facts presented in any given post will
remain unchanged over time. For complete, up-to-the-minute information
on any park, please visit that park's web site or contact the park directly.
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all original written content, the NewsPlusNotes logo and all other static
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