Geauga Lake Redevelopment Well Underway

© Fox8

None of this is new news or anything surprising, but I happened to notice a news article about the redevelopment of the land that was Geauga Lake (and the land around it) and thought it was worth sharing.  

Up top is a recent aerial of where Geauga Lake was, it's finally being fully flattened and beaten back down to just dirt.  For many years after the park closed most of the structures were removed but a lot of rubble and the like was still at the park.  There were a million urban explorer type YouTube videos of the park, along with drone flights over it.  Currently the park is being prepped for a large redevelopment which will include apartments, homes, retail, office space and other ameinities with a nod to the amusement park that once stood there.

© ICP

Here is a drawing of the redevelopment planned to surround the lake, most of which is on top of the amusement park proper but also wrapping around the lake (like when Six Flags connected the two parks!).  Industrial Commercial Properties is the developer behind the project, you can read more about it here.

© Google Maps

I also noticed that a separate project has houses already standing on the former parking lot area of Wildwater Kingdom, formerly SeaWorld Ohio.  That project even has a street named Dipper Lane.  So if you ever wanted to live in a development atop a former park's parking lot, here you go!  Also of note, the waterpark seems to still be standing, despite the development right next door.

Adventureland's New Fireball Coaster Heating Up as Construction Nears Completion

© Adventureland

One of the most surprising additions for the 2022 season is the new Fireball roller coaster at Adventureland on Long Island, New York.  The ride is right-sized for the smaller family park that Adventureland is, but the specific addition of a Roller Ball coaster form Ride Engineers Switzerland really came out of left field, at least to me.

The park has worked on constructing the ride during the winter months and the coaster is now topped off with its track complete - seen up top.  The ride stands around 69 feet tall, with a track length of 289 feet.

© Adventureland

© Adventureland

The coaster recently had its first car put on the track, complete with - you guessed it - fireball theming!  The coaster will utilize individual cars that seat 4 passengers, back to back.  Riders will have the choice of riding forwards or backwards as the cars climb the vertical lift and then rock and roll their way through the multi-level course. 

SeaWorld Orlando Coyly Shows Off Newly Arrived B&M Coaster Track

© SeaWorld Orlando

SeaWorld Orlando has a pretty hilarious social media individual running its Twitter and last week they really knocked it out of the park.  At least in my opinion.  The park decided to blatantly show new B&M coaster track arriving at the park but instead focus only on two palm trees in the photo - seen up top - and say nothing of the brand new coaster track.

 

The park has joked that they're working on a big landscaping project, which has involved clearing many acres of the park near the entrance down to just dirt.  The rumor of a new B&M coaster, potentially of a new design type, coming to the park have been around for years.  While not confirmed by the park, there's even been an online expose of the plans for this new roller coaster (obvious spoiler alert on that link).

The type and layout of this new coaster is still unofficial, technically, so for now we'll just be excited for a new B&M coaster coming to the park for what appears as 2023.  And hopefully for more laughs from the social team at SeaWorld Orlando.

Six Flags Fiesta Texas Completes Dr. Diabolical's Cliffhanger's Layout

© Six Flags Fiesta Texas

Six Flags Fiesta Texas has put the final piece of Dr. Diabolical's Cliffhanger track into place, completing the 2,501 foot long layout.  The brand new B&M dive coaster has already become an impressive addition to the park's skyline, with the lift hill standing 150 feet over the park.

The top photo shows nearly all of the ride's completed layout.  As is common with B&M rides the coaster was built in order of the layout, with the final helix being the last element placed.  The park has posted that with the coaster's track and supports now in place they will focus on instillation of the ride's electrical and mechanical components.

© Six Flags Fiesta Texas

© Six Flags Fiesta Texas

The final piece of track was secured in part with a golden bolt, seen in one of the above photos, to mark the occasion.  It's also worth noting that the ride's second-to-last element is an extreme air-time hill, and it certainly looks like it could give riders a nice floating sensation.

Dr. Diabolical's Cliffhanger features the steepest first drop on a B&M dive coaster at 95 degrees, 5 degrees past vertical.  The ride includes two inversions, an Immelmann after the first drop and a twisted zero-g roll as well.  There's a second steep drop off the mid-course brakes as well.  Can't wait to see the ride start testing, and the thematic elements the park has planned go into place!

Vekoma Tilt Coaster - Circuit Breaker - Coming to Cotaland

© ACE News / Cotaland

Earlier this week a local news station out of Texas did a report on the developments at Cotaland, which has already announced the plan to expand with a lot of rides including Palindrome, a Gerstlauer coaster.  The park is planning on having their kiddie rides open this Summer, while the bigger rides will come online more in 2023.  Palindrome was announced to open "late" 2022, so I'm not sure if that's still the plan or if that coaster will also open in 2023.

Regardless, in the article it is mentioned that Cotaland will open Circuit Breaker, a brand new tilt coaster designed by Vekoma.  The first of these opened many moons ago in 2002 in Taiwan, and suddenly there appears to be a resurgence of them.  Well maybe resurgence is too much but another one is also planned as Energialandia's next coaster as well.  Vekoma has also hinted that two additional Tilt coasters are in the works, so that's 4 new ones in total.

© Ace News / Cotaland

Soon after the article came out ACE News released the concept art for Cotaland's Circuit Breaker, seen here.  The ride looks bonkers in a great way.  Vekoma has been designing some amazing looking coasters in Europe and Asia in the past few years, and Circuit Breaker looks much more in line with those awesome rides than those the company produced in, say, the 1990s.

After the super-dramatic tilt mechanism points the train toward the ground and releases them, riders on Circuit Breaker will enter a twisted and kind of inverting first element, then into a downward banked zero g roll.  After more inversions and plenty of twisted track the trains will stop at the station.  No doubt that we'll all want another ride!  We're looking forward to seeing this coaster come to life.

Kings Island's Beast to Best its Own World Record in 2022

© Kings Island

It is not often that a roller coaster is able to maintain a world record for decades, and then beat its own record again... actually I'm not sure that this has ever happened before.  The Beast, located at Kings Island, has held the record of the world's longest wooden roller coaster since it opened in 1979 - so for more than 4 decades.  The park has revealed that the Beast will actually beat its own record by becoming two feet longer, from 7,359 feet to 7,361 feet, as a result of major off-season work.

Kings Island is showing some major love to the famous wooden coaster right now, and as a result of certain profiling changes the ride's total length will be extended by the two feet.  Sure, it's not much, but it's a pretty interesting record to hold.

The Beast is seeing a total of 2,000 feet of track upgraded and worked on during this off-season, and the first drop (seen up top) had some major changes as well.  In order to enter the tunnel at the base of the first drop at a lower height the drop was reprofiled and went from 45 degrees to 53 degrees.  Kings Island, along with the news of the record breaking, shared additional photos of the work, available here.  I'm sure everyone is excited to get a ride in on the renovated coaster this Spring!