Sky Scream Opens at Holiday Park

Premier Rides President Jim Seay with Plopsa CEO Steve Van den Kerkhof and Holiday Park Manager Bernd Beitz celebrate the successful opening of Sky Scream.  © Premier Rides

Premier Rides has supplied a new roller coaster, named Sky Scream, to Germany's Holiday Park.  The thrilling ride recently opened and as a part of its dark underworld theming both the living and the "undead" were among the first to try out the ride.

Sky Scream is Europe's first coaster to feature three magnetic launches, which are needed to push the train to the top of the tower.  The ride sits in a small area, but extends to a maximum height of over 150 feet above the ground.  The three launches actually include two going forward and one in reverse, done as the train rocks along the track before heading to the apex.

Sky Scream © Premier Rides

At the top of the ride passengers are treated to a full heartline inversion before diving down vertically into several 360-degree horizontal twists.  Holiday Park worked with Premier Rides to ensure that Sky Scream would be open for the park's Aprill 11th season start, and those plans were followed through without a hitch.

Mr. Steve Van den Kerkhof, CEO of Holiday Park owner Plopsa Group commented that "our goal is to inspire and attract adrenaline fans to the park.  We wanted a signature attraction that would have impact and we are pleased to have partnered with Premier Rides to build Sky Scream.  This coaster is sure to satisfy even the most fearless thrill-seeker.”


For more information on Holiday Park, check out their official website.

Premier Rides' Latest Coaster Standing Tall in Germany

© Holiday Park

Holiday Park, located in Germany, has finished vertical construction on their new Premier Rides designed coaster, Sky Scream.  Seen above in all its glory, the launched roller coaster is a clone of the popular Superman Ultimate Flight at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.

Sky Scream will launch the trains out of the station both forward and backward until enough speed is gained to make it to the top of the 150 foot tower.

© Holiday Park

At the top the trains slow and then navigate a full heartline twist, 150 feet in the air, with no additional supports on that section of track to boot.  After the riders are back upright, they drop down and twist their way though a non-inverting loop before diving once more back toward the station.

The experience that Sky Scream will provide is quite different than most traditional coasters, it is certainly a ride that is all about the thrills of an intense coaster experience.

© Holiday Park

Holiday Park seems to have picked up on the fear aspect of Sky Scream, and appears to be theming the ride's plaza around some sort of monsters.  Perhaps vampires?  I'm not quite sure but if the actual plaza turns out like in the model above it's going to look pretty slick by my standards.  It's like a Halloween attraction year round with a coaster at the end... sorta.  If you check out the concept art and other photos posted by the park, you'll see what I mean.

Sky Scream will be Holiday Park's second large coaster, after having just retired a Vekoma corkscrew ride.  The park's other coaster is the highly regarded Expedition GeForce - the two will make quite a pair!

Holiday Park Building New Premier Launched Coaster for 2014

Germany's Holiday Park has announced the addition of a new $10.9 million roller coaster, to be supplied by Premier Rides.  The coaster, which does not yet have a name, is expected to open at the theme park in July of 2014.

Holiday Park will build a clone of the popular Superman Ultimate Flight coaster located at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in California.  The ride features 863 feet of twisted track that features an advanced forwards and backwards launch system to send trains up to the 150 foot maximum height in an extremely small space.  Like in California, the ride will feature a heartline roll 150 feet above the ground - seen in the concept art above.

"We are very excited to be building this signature coaster for Holiday Park," said Jim Seay, President of Premier Rides. "Plopsa is one of those park groups that everybody within the industry is watching at the moment.  We are impressed by their growth and their dedication to the quality of product and theming.  They are an organization that we are honored to be working with."

Holiday Park expects to see an additional 50,000 guests next year with the addition of the thrilling coaster, bringing the annual visitor level above 600k.  The park is well known for its Expedition GeForce, an Intamin creation that is highly regarded among fans and viewed as one of the best rides on the planet.  Premier's new coaster will continue to satiate the thirst of thrill seekers visiting the park next year!

Weekly Rewind 3.27.10

Cliff's Amusement Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico has announced the addition of a Super Fire Ball for the 2010 season. Standing 80 feet tall and promising to turn its victims--er, riders--upside down 13 times a minute, it should be a great addition to this small park. Based on what I've read, it sounds like the Super Fire Ball will actually be replacing a 60-foot tall "regular" Fire Ball which used to call Cliff's home? Perhaps one of you who frequents the park can clue me in!

Clementon Park just unveiled a flashy (no pun intended) new web site, and I must say it looks great. I can't help but wonder if their "Something Hot is Coming" promise is really a teaser for a future ride or attraction, but for now it would appear that they are simply referring to their 2010 season pass deals. Nevertheless, better keep an eye on that one just in case...

We've grown delightfully accustomed to Six Flags President and CEO Mark Shapiro's regular blogger conference calls. This past Monday he took that concept to a whole new level by hosting the first ever "super fan" conference call--also slated to be the first of many. Although we didn't do a formal write-up on this one, we did listen in and Mike has posted some of the highlights on our Facebook page. Should there remain any doubts that these calls actually make a difference, let me erase them right now by pointing you in the direction of the March 25th entry on Six Flags' official blog. Among other things, you can thank the "super fans" for bringing Houdini back to Great Adventure this year!

On a final Six Flags note, the L.A. Times has posted a piece of concept art for Mr. Six's Splash Island, which will open at Magic Mountain this year along with the previously announced Mr. Six DanceCoaster. The addition of this family friendly interactive water play structure was first revealed during Monday's call.

© 2010 California's Great America

In other left coast news, America's favorite beagle continues his quest to take over the world. Or at least, all the parts of the world belonging to Cedar Fair. California's Great America has posted a whole slew of new photos in their latest Facebook album which showcase the progress being made on Snoopy's new lair. Everything looks so fresh and bright!

I don't know who Peppa Pig is, but apparently she's a big hit in the United Kingdom and she's on her way to Paulton's Park. The park has released a flyer announcing the addition of Peppa Pig World in 2011. The brand new 120,000-square foot themed land, advertised as a "UK Exclusive and World First", will feature seven new rides, various Peppa-themed attractions, and both indoor and outdoor play areas. More details are forthcoming, as the park plans to launch a web site for the project in the very near future.

Something new is coming to Germany as well, and you won't have to wait nearly as long to experience it. Holiday Park (not to be confused with the States' Holiday World) opens for the 2010 season today, and has announced that a new family coaster called Holly's Wilde Autofahrt is on target to open sometime this spring. According to the news post on the park's web site (which most of our readers will probably want to view in the English translation!), this Maurer Söhne Wild Mouse will anchor a brand new area. Holiday Park will also be introducing some exciting new shows this year.

According to this article, Darien Lake's proposed $7 million water park expansion has not only been approved, but will be completed by May 2010. As in, a couple months from now. Perhaps I'm overestimating the amount of time required to install water park rides, but that seems like an awfully quick turnaround to me!

© 2010 Kennywood Connection

Then again, some things do go up pretty fast. Just take a look at Kennywood's Sky Rocket! Kennywood Connection posted a great construction update this week showing off the many supports that are already in place and the various track pieces that are about to be attached to them. At the rate they're moving, the new coaster should be blasting off in no time.

Spring has sprung, and that can mean only one thing for Conneaut Lake: It's time to spruce up the park! Conneaut Lake Park and the Hotel Conneaut have put out a call for volunteers who'd like to participate in this annual spring clean-up event, which will be held on April 24-25, 2010. For more details, refer to the park's web site.

The arrival of spring also means the return of thrills, tasty food, entertainment,and much more to Puyallup, Washington--if only for a few days. The Spring Fair, held at the Western Washington Fairgrounds, will run from April 15-18, and I'm sure our friend John Hinde and his crew have been hard at work ensuring that the historic Coaster Thrill Ride will be in tip-top shape (not to mention all in one piece!) for the occasion.

On a related note, remember that great web site I mentioned in my Coaster Thrill Ride construction article called Roller Coasters of the Pacific Northwest? Well I happened to notice that the site now has its own Facebook page as well. Check it out!

Not sure if you'll make it to Singapore this summer? Well have no fear, because you can take a virtual ride on at least one of Universal Studios Singapore's new attractions thanks to the Sentosa Theme Park Blog. They've uploaded the video above, which provides a POV ride on Revenge of the Mummy, to YouTube and I must say it looks like a great ride. While it's too dark to make out exactly what's going on during some parts, this video certainly gives you a sense of the level of theming you can expect.