The Riddler Mindbender Reopens at Six Flags Over Georgia

© Six Flags Over Georgia

The popular and classic Anton Schwarzkopf roller coaster, known as the Riddler Mindbender, has reopened at Six Flags Over Georgia.  The ride closed in 2019 to undergo an extensive refurbishment that went well into 2021 due in part to the ongoing pandemic.  But finally riders are able to soar across its bright green track once again.

 

© WSB Radio

The Riddler Mindbender first opened in 1978 and features two vertical loops along with a large horizontal loop that is often advertised as the ride's third loop.  It has 3,253 feet of track and hits a top speed of 50 miles per hour.  The ride was designed to take advantage of the park's terrain with a lot of the track swooping far down below the level of the station.

 

© WSB Radio

Six Flags Over Georgia's refurbishment of the coaster was extensive.   Several track pieces were re-fabricated and replaced, the whole ride got a new coat of paint, the queue was upgraded, and a new control system was installed.  Probably most noticable is the fact that the park purchased new trains for the coaster.  The new 5 car trains take 20 passengers on the coaster at a time, replacing the original seven car trains.  The shorter trains are sure to provide a new ride experience for guests.

You can check out a video of the new trains making their way through the course at this link on YouTube.  Kudos to the park for making the large investment to keep this classic coaster going!

Sesame Place San Diego to Open March 2022

© Sesame Place San Diego

Sesame Place San Diego has announced that it will be opening to guests in March of 2022, bringing the fun of the Sesame Place characters to the West coast in their own dedicated theme park.  The property is a conversion of Aquatica San Diego, which had its last season as a water park-only property this year.  The crews are now out in full force adding rides and attractions to round out the offerings of the new park.

© Bing Maps

You can actually see that a lot of work was started already for the new rides, as I believe the park was originally intended to open this year... but the pandemic pushed that back.  This aerial shows a lot of ground clearing taking place at the park, and there are even a couple ride foundations already in place.  Fun fact - this park used to be one of Knott's Soak City properties before Cedar Fair sold it to SeaWorld Entertainment.

© Sesame Place San Diego

Sesame Place San Diego will feature many of the park's existing water attractions but also a brand new Sesame Street neighborhood area near the park's entrance.  There will also be rides added, including Super Grover's Box Car Derby, a family roller coaster.  Other listed attractions on the still-under-development website for the park include Abby's Fairy Flight (a Wave Swinger), Elmo's Rockin' Rockets (circular ride), the Sunny Day Carousel and the Rub-A-Dub Sub (a camp bus style ride).

The park will also feature a full parade and other live entertainment, along with new food and beverage and retail options as well.  With work in full gear and an opening date announced, watch for more updates on the new park soon.

Troublesome News Continues for Conneaut Lake Park

© Conneaut Lake Park

The troublesome summer for Conneaut Lake Park has only gotten worse in recent weeks, and now it looks like the new owner's plan to slowly chip away at the park's offerings is continuing.  After limited operations, the removal of several attractions and a blatant refusal to speak about the future of the park, now some of Conneaut Lake's largest attractions are up for sale on a used ride website.

We've had this blog long enough to know that nothing in this industry lasts forever, and it's always sad to see a park close.  This one is especially rough since the park, before the pandemic, seemed to be slowly thriving on its own.  It was a story we followed here for years and years, and it was great to see them turning a corner.  The pandemic left the park with no choice but to suddenly sell to an owner that initially showed promise, but quickly changed everyone's mind on that front.  

Right now you can find several of the park's rides up on UsedRides.com.  For instance here is the listing for the park's classic Carousel, and here is an Octopus ride that I think was just added this year.  This news story also covers some of the rides that are listed, they're citing that up to six of them are on the website.  I can't say I'm surprised the park's Carousel is up for sale, the new owner probably realized what Carousels can sell for and that was that.

There's no mention of the Blue Streak on the used rides website, but if you look at the recent past of 'saving' or getting someone to purchase an old wooden coaster... there just isn't a market for it.  But let's all hope I'm dead wrong.

Adventureland Adding 10 New Rides and Attractions in 2022

© Adventureland

Iowa's Adventureland is expanding in 2022 with a new ride package that will see the addition of ten new rides and attractions at the theme park.  The additions are aimed at attracting more families to the park, with the new rides catering to the family and kid market.

© Adventureland

In order to add the new rides and attractions the park will be removing three of their existing rides.  Seen above, the park will be removing the Falling Star, Lighthouse and Lady Luck rides.  All are flat rides that have been at the park for many seasons.

The new attraction that the park will offer will be a relocated area for the Des Moines Renaissance Fair, which will move to open space just to the Southeast of the amusement park.  The fair will take play May 7th and 8th and May 14th and 15th, 2022.

© Adventureland

New rides shown in the park's announcement video include:

The Warhawks - looks like a Zamperla Flying Tigers attraction.

Bernie's Swing - a Super Happy Swing also from Zamperla.

The Lighthouse - a new ride from Zamperla called the Pump & Jumpz

The Revolution - a ship themed version of Zamperla's Rockin' Tug

Leap Frogs - a Zamperla Jump Around kiddie ride 

Circus Balloons - one of Zamperla's popular Samba Balloon rides 

The Clipper - a kiddie version of a swinging ship ride

Speedway Racers - a racecar themed kiddie whip ride

Rockin' Rainbow - a larger sized family swing ride

Adventureland hopes to have all the new rides up and running for the park's debut in 2022.  It has been on somewhat of an expansion spree in recent years, adding the large Monster coaster in 2016, the family spinning coaster Phoenix in 2019, and just this year Dragon Slayer - an S&S 4-D Free Spin coaster.

Help Kennywood Pick Phantom's Revenge's New Track Color for 2022

© Kennywood

It isn't often that we're able to actually pick the new color scheme of a major roller coaster, but that's exactly what Kennywood is letting fans do.  The park has confirmed that they are repainting the track on the massive Phantom's Revenge roller coaster in 2022, and letting us all vote to decide what color.

It was noticed recently that the park had put some test paint on a section of the track.  You can see a photo of it at this link on Twitter.  There were sections of purple, a teal, and a royal blue.  Parks do this to get a sense of what a new color will look like in natural light.  It was just a few days later that the park announced that they will let fans pick the final color.

© Kennywood

While there were three paint test colors, the park seems to have narrowed it down to two final choices.  The royal blue is out.  Left to choose from we have "Petrifying Purple" and "Terrifying Teal."  They can bee seen above.  Let it simmer a bit and then you can make your final choice at this link that the park has set up.  You can vote once per day through September 8th and please note that the ride's supports will remain black.

 

Also note that after you vote you can see the current results... I won't say which but one color is dominating right now.

© Kennywood

Phantom's Revenge is a highly regarded coaster in the industry, known especially for some wild "hair time" on the bunny hills it presents to riders.  It opened as the Steel Phantom in 1991 as a custom Arrow Dynamics ride that broke world records with its 225 foot first drop.  It was modified in 2001 by Morgan Manufacturing to remove the ride's inversions, add a few feet to the first drop, and extend the ride overall.  It currently speeds through the 3,200 feet of track at a top speed of 85 miles per hour.

Dorney Park Labor Day + Pre Haunt 2021 Update

© NewsPlusNotes

As the summer season winds down, Dorney Park is getting ready for Halloween Haunt in full force.  The annual scare fest starts in two weeks, so the park has a ton of the scare zones and haunted houses up all over the park.  It was a beautiful day for a stroll around the property during Labor Day weekend, let's check out how progress is going for the fall events.

© NewsPlusNotes

Haunt will start on Saturday September 18th and then run Friday evenings and Saturday nights through October 30th.  As in past years the Haunt activities will start in the evening on Saturdays, but during the day The Great Pumpkin Fest will be held - a family friendly event celebrating the fall and Halloween perfect for kids.

© NewsPlusNotes

The park is still looking for people who want to have some fun scaring the heck out of visitors, and are paying $20 an hour for them to do it.  There are many signs throughout the park advertising the hourly rate as the tough labor market rages on.

© NewsPlusNotes

Turning to Haunt attraction prep, there's a lot going on at the park.  Blackout will return this year, but since it takes place indoors and in total darkness there's not really much to see other than the sign out front of the building.

© NewsPlusNotes

A fan favorite, and a great favorite of mine, Blood On The Bayou will also be returning this year.  As a standalone haunt in its own building, this one stays up year round enticing visitors as they pass by.  The haunt's amazing sets and creative scares make it one of the most popular attractions at Dorney Park's Haunt.

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Hydra Plaza looks different this time of year as the park sets up a giant stage for Haunt and also a temporary food and beverage outlet.  Exactly what these will offer remains a mystery for now, as the park's only listed entertainment so far is Skeleton Crew, which is down by Possessed.

© NewsPlusNotes

CarnEvil is returning as well, a fun outdoor scare zone with plenty of clowns packed into a tight walkway that is closed off on either side by giant banners, with flags and creepy lights above.  Even walking through this area during the day and not even during Haunt season is funny as many guests appear on-guard as if a clown make jump out at any moment.

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Down by Demon Drop at the end of the midway the setup of CornStalkers is in full force, with plenty of cornstalks laying around ready to be set up.  This is another popular attraction that always has a bigger line, and is a combination indoor and outdoor haunt maze.

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Tourist Trap is one of the park's most original and newest indoor haunt mazes.  Set at the 1893 World's Fair the haunted house invites guests into a hotel where many never check out.

© NewsPlusNotes

© NewsPlusNotes

Down near Thunderhawk the outdoor scare zone maze mashup, as I call it, called The Lair has also been set up.  This one was a new attraction before the pandemic hit so it'll be great to experience it once more this fall.  And who doesn't love vampires?!

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Necropolis will be scaring visitors again this year in its giant outdoor graveyard of ghouls.  This one is hard to get photographs of as it's set back across from Steel Force's station, but you can see the facade for the entrance peeking through in the background of this photo.

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One of 2021's new attractions is a indoor maze named Enigma.  It will be located in the building above, which as of now hasn't changed much from when it was Urgent Scare in past years.  Inside however the new Enigma will be filled with optical illusions and other confusing settings that will distract while the monsters... pounce.

© NewsPlusNotes

© NewsPlusNotes

One attraction that was done several years ago is making a return this year, much to the pleasure of Haunt fans like myself.  The park is again using their awesome pirate ship prop to create and area that features the Skeleton Crew show and the Port of Call Pub bar wrapped up in a nicely themed section.  The area is blocked off while the prep is completed, but you can see most of the sets from the midway.

© NewsPlusNotes

© NewsPlusNotes

© NewsPlusNotes

© NewsPlusNotes

A brand new scare zone for 2021, The Hollow, is being set up on the park's lower midway just past the train track and near the Monster flat ride.  The park is taking great advantage of how much this area has grown in over the years, since it is mostly covered by trees at this point and has a secluded feeling all on its own.  The area is now filled with new pumpkin patch/gothic/outdoorsy decorations combined with some repurposed ones, plus pumpkins everywhere.  The Hollow is still being set up and it's already looking great and has much promise!  I can't wait to see what kind of ghouls set up shop here when the sun goes down.