Alabama Adventure Building New Family Coaster "Cheddar Chase" for 2022

© Alabama Adventure

As promised, Alabama Adventure has revealed another Christmas present this year for all their fans - this time in the form of a new family roller coaster named Cheddar Chase.  The reveal of the new attraction was done on social media via a video upload, you can check that out at this link.

Cheddar Chase is believed to be an L&T Systems Wild Mouse, specifically the one that ran at Lake Winnepesaukah up until this past season.  The given model of Wild Mouse stands around 48 feet tall and features just under 1,200 feet of track.  As a family ride, big thrills aren't the intention here - in fact Alabama Adventure points out in their video that they will now offer Rampage for thrill seekers, Cheddar Chase for families, and the Centi-Speed for little kids.

© Alabama Adventure

The park shows the location of the new coaster in their announcement video, a screen capture of which can be seen above.  The ride will be located up on the hill where Zoomerang, a standard Vekoma Boomerang coaster, once stood.  This will give the ride nice presence over the developing amusement ride part of the property, and certainly draw families over that way.

While this new coaster is pretty big for the park, they also mention that for their 2022 season they have a total of 4 announcements to make, and Cheddar Chase is just the first.  So stay tuned during the winter months for more news, the park says they have something to announce "4" everyone in 2022.

Adventureland Resort Iowa Purchased by Palace Entertainment

© Adventureland Resort

Iowa's Adventureland Resort has been purchased by Palace Entertainment, a subsidiary of Parques Reunidos, the company has announced.  Adventureland has been a family run business since the park opened in 1974, expanding greatly over the decades.  In recent years, especially, with the addition of several new roller coasters and attractions.

 

The park recently announced that they will be adding a slew of new family rides for the 2022 season, and it sounds like Place Entertainment will continue that momentum into 2023.

© Adventureland Resort

“We are excited about adding Adventureland into our portfolio,” said John Reilly, Chief Operating Officer of Palace Entertainment. “We specialize in parks and venues that create experiences to be enjoyed over a lifetime, from childhood to young adulthood to parenting and grandparenting. We are investing in Adventureland to expand its current lineup to include eight new family rides in 2022, plus two all-new attractions for the 2023 season.” 

 

Obviously there is no word yet on what the park plans for 2023 with its two new rides, but it is nice to see expansion continuing.  Palace Entertainment already owns and operates some exciting parks across the country including Kennywood, Lake Compounce, Idlewild, Dutch Wonderland and many water parks and family entertainment centers across the country. 

 

No purchase price was revealed for the transaction at this time.

Kings Dominion's New Tumbili Coaster is Going Up Fast

© Kings Dominion

Just before the holidays Kings Dominion posted a new photo update for Tumbili, the park's new S&S 4-D Free Spin coaster that will open in 2022.  The new coaster is a part of a new themed area, Jungle X-Pedition, which will feature all new theming, paint, a new Basecamp restaurant, retail and more.  The park's existing roller coaster, Avalanche, is also being repainted and will become a part of Jungle X-Pedition.

© Kings Dominion

As you can see from these photos that the park shared, Tumbili is well on its way to being finished!  The park has given the ride a unique look by making the support columns appear as if they're made of bamboo, which contrasts nicely with the green track.  It won't take long after construction crews return from holiday break for the rest of the ride's track and supports to go into place.

Tumbili will utilize individual cars that are flipped using magnetic technology, creating a wild ride that's rarely exactly the same.  Riders are located on each side of the track with a total of 8 riders per car.  The ride's station and queue are highly themed as an exploration site, and the finished product should be very cool looking.

Kings Island Making Major Improvements to The Beast This Offseason

© Kings Island

One of the industry's most beloved wooden roller coasters, The Beast at Kings Island, is receiving some major improvements this off season, the park has confirmed.  In their latest blog entry they detail exactly what the park is doing, with the help of The Gravity Group, to have The Beast running better than ever in 2022.

We actually had a pretty good idea that The Beast was undergoing some major improvements a few weeks back, when these photos of the ride were posted on Reddit.  At that time it was shocking to see such large parts of the ride stripped bare, but now that the park has filled us in on the plans it all makes a lot more sense.

Kings Island details that a total of 2,000 feet of The Beast's record-breaking track will be refurbished before the park reopens for 2022.  The Gravity Group is working on the coaster's first drop and the tunnel right after, and the turn toward the second drop, plus the 540 degree helix tunnel.  Kings Island carpenters are working on 1,090 feet of track on other parts of the ride.

The Beast's first drop will go from 45 to 53 degrees during the work, which is needed in order for the track to enter the tunnel lower for the "proper parabolic arcs" to be created in the renovated area leading to the 2nd drop.  The park also explains how the helix tunnel area will change as well, make sure to check out the park's official blog for more details!

Fun Spot America Atlanta Releases ArieForce One Animated POV

© Fun Spot America Atlanta

Fun Spot America Atlanta has released a brand new animated point of view ride on ArieForce One, the park's new Rocky Mountain Construction roller coaster.  We saw a lot of animated footage when the ride was announced during the IAAPA trade show, however the full POV was not released at the time.  Now we can take a virtual spin on the attraction, and really evaluate just how much we'll be out of our seats while on the ride - a lot.  Take a ride:

ArieForce Once will stand 154 feet tall and start with a 146 foot drop at 83 degrees.  Featuring a patriotic color scheme, the coaster is going to haul riders at 64 miles per hour across a total of 3,400 feet of track.  The coaster features a Raven Truss Dive, a Zero G Inverted Stall and two Barrel Rolls as far as inversions go, but is packed with other elements.  There will be a wild outwardly banked turn along with a quad-down that has coaster fans mouths' watering.

Hopefully the big parts of ride construction will start soon and we will be able to watch the coaster come to life!

Kennywood to Celebrate 125 Years in 2022 with Improvements, New Old Ride and Special Events

© Kennywood

Kennywood will start to celebrate the park's 125th anniversary with a variety of new events, a returning classic ride, and changes throughout the park.  A 125th anniversary is pretty special, and it is wonderful to see the park celebrating it in a big way.  As other parks have proven you do not need a giant new ride to mark a milestone such as this, and general improvements across the park are always a welcome addition.

© Kennywood

© Kennywood

The park will be celebrating their anniversary over two years, for the 2022 and 2023 seasons, and many of the planned changes will come online over that period.  The park's buildings and midways will be receiving various improvements, with new paint, signage, facades and more changing and being improved across the property.  The image up top and the two seen here are some concepts the park is kicking around - showing an improved entrance area along with a new facade for the Old Mill ride.

© Kennywood

As previously announced the Kangaroo flat ride will be making a triumphant return next year, featuring a state of the art ride operating system, new LED lighting and a bright new color scheme.  The park is working with Premier Rides on the attraction's total refurbishment.

Kennywood will also host a series of special events, some returning and some new, to give guests various seasons of fun to visit the park.  The park will hold an expanded Bites & Pints food festival next year, their annual Celebrate America party for the 4th, their Fall Fantasy Parades, Phantom Fall Fest and Holiday Lights.  They're also adding a Spring Kickoff to start the season, and in July the Summer Light-Up Festival which features the park after dark.

© Kennywood

To keep park fans involved Kennywood is holding another poll, this time allowing them to pick the theme of a giant historical collage that will be going up along the Jack Rabbit's queue.  Seen above is an example of how the finished product could look, but the content will be voted on by park guests.  You can check it out and vote at this link.

Soaky Mountain Waterpark Building Dueling Water Coaster for 2022

© Soaky Mountain Waterpark

Soaky Mountain Waterpark, located in Tennessee, will be adding a unique water roller coaster in 2022 named The Edge.  To be more specific, the park is actually adding a pair of dueling water roller coasters, not just one!

The Edge is appropriately named because it sits high up on the border of the water park, and will really tower over the nearby attractions.  Created by Whitewater, The Edge will fuse together the company's popular water roller coaster with their Boomerango slide ending.  Riders will start from a 70 foot tower and the two slides stay close to one another in layout for most of the path.  After a large three story first drop riders will encounter both enclosed and open sections of downhill and uphill slide.

© Soaky Mountain Waterpark

Toward the end of the ride the paths split somewhat and pass through another enclosed section that features aqualucent sections that create a plethora of colors as riders slide by.  Suddenly the rafts plunge down another large hill and then climb up onto a giant half pipe which gives them air-time at the peak.  The rafts then slide back down, over a gentle air-time hill, and end the attraction.

The end of the slide even features lights and other effects to announce which of the paths completed the course the fastest.  Soaky Mountain Waterpark will also increase its lounge space in 2022 with 1,000 more chairs, and will add large umbrellas throughout the park for additional shade.

Big Rivers Waterpark Building Big Rivers Fairground Amusement Area

© Big Rivers Waterpark

Big Rivers Waterpark, located in Texas, has announced that they are adding amusement rides to their offerings starting this month in a part of the park called the Big Rivers Fairgrounds.  The developers behind Big Rivers Waterpark have long planned to open a theme park within the Grand Texas development, but had chosen to add the water park first.  The theme park plans were first announced in 2013, but owners still want to open it some day.

However for now they're carving out an undeveloped part of the water park to add a selection of rides and attractions, eleven in total.  There will be thrill rides along with kiddie rides so that there is something for the whole family.

© Big Rivers Waterpark

It sounds a bit like the park went shopping at the IAAPA show and got some neat rides to take back with them.  The park's owner showed off Rolling Thunder, one of SBF Visa Group's spinning roller coasters that has the crazy hamster wheel seating on part of it.  The park purchased the ride that was at the IAAPA show, and it was to be shipped to the park shortly thereafter.  That's sure to get visitors' attention!

© Big Rivers Waterpark

While not all rides will be open in December, they all will be for sure by the start of the 2022 season.  Other attractions listed include SPINdletop, an inverting pendulum ride, a set of Flying Scooters, a Tornado ride by Wisdom, and as seen above, Lafitte's Fury, a swinging ship ride.  Since there are 11 rides in total, there are obviously more not yet listed.

The park's press release for the Fairgrounds area notes that these rides are not meant to replace the full 140 acre theme park they plan to build, noting that the park is still "forthcoming."