Weekly Rewind 1.19.13

Quassy Amusement Park has announced the details of their third annual Wooden Warrior Day.  The event includes exclusive ride time, a picnic meal, shirt, and more.  Registration details here.

While currently in the middle of a huge expansion, Fun Spot America has announced that they have purchased another 8 acres of land directly across the street from the park for future expansion.  Quite interesting!

Conneaut Lake Park is facing a possible sheriff's sale of its assets if they are not able to pay a substantial tax debt, according to this news report.  If it happens, the sale would take place in September of this year.

Silver Dollar City has released a new video about Outlaw Run, this time documenting the arrival of the coaster's new trains. Check it out above!

Ohio's The Beach Waterpark is gearing up to reopen this Summer after being closed for all of 2012. The park has new owners that are spending $5 million on the park to get it in tip top shape.  Guests who had bought passes for 2012 and did not receive refunds will be able to use them this year.

In other water park news, a giant Kalahari indoor and outdoor water park could be built in the Poconos, located in Pennsylvania.  The company has submitted plans for a large resort that could eventually be home to a 15 acre outdoor water park as well as an indoor one.

Check out this new photo that Kings Island has shared of the former home of Son of Beast!  You can't even tell there was any ride there at all, with all the footers gone.  Looks perfect for redevelopment!

Sounds like the race to have the first huge observation wheel in Vegas is going to go to Caesar's Entertainment.  The SkyVue Wheel hasn't been worked on in months, and has many lien's filed against the developers for lack of payment.

England's Blackpool Pleasure Beach will add Wallace & Gromit Thrill-O-Matic this year, what sounds like a large new dark ride.  Based on the characters of the same name, the ride will chronicle the amusing adventures of the park.  For more and some art, check this out.

Weekly Rewind 1.12.13

WhiteWater has completed their first SilkGel slide resurfacing project at the West Edmonton Mall.  The photo on the left shows the before slide on the left, and after on the right.  The technology allows slides to be resurfaced and brightened, offering superior protection and resistant color fading.

Michigan's Adventure has given a name to their new Larson Flying Scooters, the Lakeside Gliders.  According to this story, the new ride will be set up near the park's main lake, hence the name.

Disney Parks had quite a management shake up this past week, with many executive level positions changing jobs.  The leader of Disneyland will now oversee the entire Disney World resort, and the former leader of Animal Kingdom will take over Disneyland - among many other switches.  Read the full details here.

The heavy work is now underway to Fun Spot America, as seen in many recent photos that the park is sharing.  The work right now is focused on the park's new Skycoaster and the White Lightning wooden coaster, as well as some of the park's other buildings.  Looking good!

The ground is exploding at Six Flags St. Louis.  But on purpose!  They're blowing up the ground as part of the foundation work for the new Boomerang roller coaster.  Check out video of that here.

Down with big vacations, and forever live on the Staycations!  That is the future, or at least a big part of it, so says Cedar Fair CEO Matt Ouimet.  And he should care, considering that his kingdom of parks are all regional and perfect for staycations.

Kings Island does a great job with their social media presence, and has introduced yet another neat feature on their website.  The park is now cooking up a photo of the day, the first week of which has featured some neat looks back at the park's history.

More expansion seems to be on the agenda for Legoland Florida, where many believe that a Pirate themed area will be added this year.  The park is not saying anything official on the new, however, so we will have to wait to see if those rumors are true.

Pointbuzz has up a new video about recent developments at both Cedar Point and Cedar Fair, including an early look at GateKeeper's keyhole element being fabricated.  The interviews with Matt Ouimet and Rob Decker are definitely worth a watch.

Weekly Rewind 12.2.12

A new way to spend time on your phone!  SeaWorld has launched their first mobile game, Turtle Trek.  The free game has players "guide an adventuresome sea turtle on a quest across the beach and into the water to find friends," and I must admit looks rather cute.  Look for it in your favorite app store.

Arnolds Park is giving their classic Legend roller coaster some love.  As a result of a survey done by GCI, the park is replacing 575 feet of track and adding several new concrete footings on the coaster.  The project will cost $250,000 to complete.

While the devastation felt in Coney Island as a result of hurricane Sandy is quite serious, there are a few bright spots in the story of recovery and rebuilding.  This article details some of those, and one that has my interest is the plans for Spook-a-Rama to be back better than ever, complete with new props.

The official numbers have not yet been released, but reports are coming out that Hong Kong Disneyland will see 2012 as its first year of profitability.  Under performing since it opened, the park has seen two expansions open in the past year, which has probably led to the improved results.

The terms of the sale may not have been announced by Cedar Fair and SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, but the price of Soak City San Diego was a cool $15 million.  Just checked the Cedar Fair 2000 annual report, and it was originally purchased for $11.6 million.  Not bad!

Six Flags New England has been given formal approval to build their 2013 attraction, called the Bonzai Pipelines.  The new slide tower, featuring six different slides, will be built in a space currently used as employee parking - expanding the overall size of the water park.

Mt. Olympus is wasting no time at all on turning Hades into Hades 360!  The park has already removed the former turnaround section, and currently has new structure in place for some of the new elements.  A full inversion and highly banked turn will be installed for 2013.

Proslide's success as one of the water park supplier industry leaders continues, with strong sales growing over seas.  The company is also still planning their own water park, Alottawata, and it seems that the plan will move forward soon.  They've been talking about it for several years now.

If you want even more photos of the recently topped off GateKeeper at Cedar Point, Pointbuzz has a extensive gallery of shots taken on site.  I must say, the ride looks really great standing along the beach, they have indeed opened up that area nicely.

Weekly Rewind 10.13.12

Surprise!  The majority of the New Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom has opened for previews.  This includes the Beauty and the Beast area, along with the Little Mermaid darkride.  Check out video and photos.

Six Flags Over Georgia has announced that in order to make room for their new 240 foot tall SkyScreamer attraction, the park's Wheelie ride will be retired.  Wheelie has been inverting riders at the park since 1977.

Not many folks will miss the Son of Beast at Kings Island, but if you are one who will you can purchase some unique memorabilia directly from the park.  Section of the ride's track, bolts, and even a framed plaque can be yours.

© Busch Gardens Howl-O-Scream / Matt Marriott

Last week 14 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers cheerleaders faced the 13 sinister haunted houses featured at Busch Gardens Tampa's Howl-O-Scream.  Oddly that is exactly how I dress when I go through haunted houses, too!  Looks like they had a blast!

The removal of Perilous Plunge from Knott's Berry Farm is complete, though crews are still on site carefully removing portions of the ride area.  They're keeping the ride's lagoon intact thus far, as expected. But for what?

Lo-Q, the company behind several virtual queue devices, has put out a press release stating they've signed a major contract with a U.S. theme park company to add its system to two of their parks next year.  But they're not saying what parks.  I'm curious.

Dollywood was quite please at how quickly Wild Eagle reached one million riders in its inaugural season.  The event took place early this month, and with a bunch of season still left the ride's numbers will only climb higher.

Track pieces for Cedar Point's new GateKeeper wing coaster from B&M have shown up at the manufacturing plant.  Do you love the colors?  I sure do - I think this is going to be one impressive looking coaster!

While I thought all properties for amusements in Coney Island were full, this post on Amusing the Zillion points out that there is one more plot currently planned for development.  It is also rumored that Zamperla has a major coaster planned for the location... sounds interesting!

Weekly Rewind 9.15.12

Disney has announced that alcohol will be served at the Be Our Guest restaurant in the Magic Kingdom's new Fantasyland.  The news has gotten quite the reaction from some fans - alcohol was never previously sold in the Magic Kingdom.  I'll keep my thoughts to myself!

The chain of Hawaiian Falls water parks in Texas just opened their Waco location this year, and are already reporting that it has exceeded their attendance projections.  Owners are already planning new attractions.

Plans for a 450 foot tall observation wheel on Orlando's I-Drive have been approved, the wheel will be a part of a Sea Life and Madam Tussauds wax museum entertainment development.  With approvals granted the project could open within two years.

The Gravity Group has shared this video of their racing coaster at Happy Valley in China.  This was the ride that featured the "high five" element that was highly anticipated.  Looks like an awesome ride!

Anyone who's ever been interested in the animatronics that are used in Disney parks should have this one marked as a must read - Garner Holt's Top 10 Animatronics as featured on MiceChat this past week.  Very good read.

Legoland Malaysia is now open, the most recent Legoland property to open.  The park looks like it has many traditional attractions found at other park, but some new things added into the mix.

Still in the very early stages, the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk has started to dismantle the Hurricane roller coaster.  The park previously announced the addition of a new spinning coaster for 2013, named Undertow.

Another new attraction for Fun Spot America has been confirmed, a classic Tilt-a-Whirl ride.  The park has posted photos of their very own ride being built by the manufacturer, Larson International.

Weekly Rewind 8.26.12

Six Flags St. Louis placed the above teaser on their Facebook page this past week, a riddle for what is coming to the park next year.  Most have figured out what it is between this clue and popular rumors, but we'll let the park make their official announcement this week with the rest of the gang on Thursday.

Clearing out the old to make room for the new, Cedar Point has almost removed all of Disaster Transport.  Only the lift and first turn (inside the building) are still standing. The park has just shared some new photos of the ride's removal, after which GateKeeper construction will quickly start.

It is not much, but steel has started to rise in the still unannounced Harry Potter expansion at Universal Studios Florida.  Orlando United has the photos of the next step of the massive project taking place.

Coming this November to Florida's the Magic Kingdom is a new nighttime show named Celebrate the Magic.  An all new sound track, special effects, and tons of projections onto the park's Cinderella Castle will be used.  Celebrate the Magic will replace the current show, The Magic, The Memories, and You!

In what has become quite the drawn out story, local democrats are calling for an independent audit of Rye Playland, claiming important park statistics are being withheld from them.  Playland has seen both revenues and attendance decline again so far in 2012.

Even the people quoted in this news article about a proposed massive entertainment destination - including a Spirit of California theme park - for Tracy, California don't sound like they believe it will ever happen.  I have to say I agree, but dreams are fun, right?

This shark's got quite a bite! Ride Entertainment Group is proud to show off the custom created Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter created for Galveston Pleasure Pier.

The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk has announced that September 3rd will be the last day of operation for their Hurricane roller coaster.  The replacement ride, expected to be a coaster, will be announced on the 27th.  The Hurricane will be moved to New Mexico's Western Playland amusement park.

The success of the Zippin Pippin at Bay Beach continues, as the park is now planning on revising their master plan which they will follow over the next ten years.  The plan could include additional rides, but will also focus on trying to bring lake swimming back to the property.

Weekly Rewind 7.28.12

Not really good news coming out of Rye Playland, so far this Summer season attendance and revenues are both down again from last year.  The park is still being evaluated for possible changes to its future use.

Universal Studios Hollywood has announced three big name mazes for this year's Halloween Horror Nights.  Alice Cooper Goes to Hell 3-D, Silent Hill (based on the video game), and the Walking Dead (based on the AMC tv show) will scare guests this fall.

Still no official word on the projects going on at Universal Studios Florida, but this update gives us some new views of the work.  Looks like they're digging downward at the non-Potter site, giving more credibility to the Transformers rumor.

Hawaiian Falls Roanoke, Texas, has opened SplashTacular's new Double BowlsEye slide, which sends two sets of riders down at the same time into the same bowl finale.  Looks wild!  Check out a video of the slide here.

Tomorrow is the last day for everyone to take a spin on Disaster Transport at Cedar Point before the ride closes forever.  There's still time to donate to one of the riders who are raising money for Give Kids the World, as of right now an astonishing $16,000 has already been pledged!

Also in the great state of Ohio, the Beach Water Park has announced that they will reopen next season as The Beach at Adventure Landing.  A new operator will take over, add new slides, kiddie area, and revamp the wave pool. 

Six Flags New Orleans has momentarily come back to life to be used as a set for Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, a new movie due out next Summer.  It's weird to see the park look so alive (although creepy still) but know that it's deader than dead.

There's a lot of numbers in this story covering Six Flags' 2nd quarter earnings, but what can be taken away is that the company did well, really well, actually, during the period.  Looks like the new management is continuing to show how capable they are.

I missed this one a while back, but Waldameer Park has announced plans to bring a Musik Express to the park for the 2013 season, and possibly a large family restaurant in 2014.

Weekly Rewind 6.2.12

Galveston Pleasure Pier has opened the Iron Shark to customers.  The custom designed Euro-Fighter looks intense!  Check out a video from the park.

There will be previews of Luminosity at Cedar Point all this week, leading up the grand opening on June 8th.  Check out a new behind the scenes video of the production from the Point.

The Big Thunder Mountain Railroad has reopened after a rather lengthy six month refurbishment at the Magic Kingdom.  The ride looks great, like brand new.  Check out a report here.

The chain of Cedar Fair parks have debuted a new set of phone applications, and they're a vast improvement over the former ones.  Included are many handy tools for in park use, such as show times that are accurate.  The maps are also super detailed, the Dorney Park one features backstage buildings, correct coaster layouts, and even businesses across the street!

Hong Kong Disneyland is opening their new Grizzly Gulch area this Summer, which features the Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars coaster.  The area looks well done, and I'm sure the ride is going to be a blast... literally.

I love when Great Adventure History publishes a new story on a section of the park, and this past week they did that with Balin's Jungle Land, a kiddie area that had a short and weird life at Six Flags Great Adventure.

Check out the cute mini-funnel that is a part of Wet 'n' Wild Phoenix's new children's area!  The section includes small versions of the park's big slides.

Same name, different spelling - today Wet'n Wild Orlando opened their new Blastaway Beach interactive water structure.  I really like the sandcastle theming on it!  Looks like fun.

Six Flags Over Georgia is opening their new iLuminate show today, which features performers with glowing costumes set against a pitch black dark performance area.  Looks intriguing...

Weekly Rewind 5.12.12

WhiteWater West has created China's first Family Python water slide for Chime Long Waterpark, and released the photo at left.  Look at how amazing the lighting is inside the tubes!

Holiday World had a preview this week of Mammoth, the park's new hydromagnetic water coaster.  The ride looks like a lot of fun!  Perfect compliment to the park's other rides and slides.

Yeeeoow!  Skyrush at Hersheypark is testing, and boy does this one fly around the course.  Haven't seen a ride run this quick since Intimidator 305.  Cannot wait to ride!

California's Great America released another set of photos teasing the construction work they have going on.  It will be fun to watch the new wooden coaster go up this Summer!

Herschend Family Entertainment has filed a trademark for a new coaster named Outlaw.  Sounds perfect for Silver Dollar City, right?

Elitch Gardens is hard at work on their new water slide, named Tube Top.  The ride features a bright yellow and pink color scheme, sure to grab as much attention as the slide's name!

Sadly there really weren't many more details released as part of Universal Studios Japan's official Wizarding World announcement.  The park has a page for the expansion, but not much in the way of specifics!

Feel free to help out the Coney Island B&B Carousel with votes that would possibly help it win grant money.  You can vote one time each day!

Raging Waters, a part of the Morey's Piers family of parks, will debut their new River Adventure on Memorial Day weekend.  The highly renovated lazy river now features all new scenery, rockwork, and additional theming.

Weekly Rewind 4.15.12

A Universal Studios Russia?  If plans actually work out it sounds like it will be a reality, yes.  The indoor park would be much smaller than the other parks, but still have plenty of cool rides.  Read more here.

Amusement park treat favorite Dippin' Dots has been purchased for $12.7 million, bringing the company out of bankruptcy.  That's some expensive ice cream of the future.

2012 is seriously turning out to be the year of the mat racer water park slide!  Lake Compounce is showing off their new one, named Riptide Racer, going up at the park.

Universal Studios Hollywood gave a bit of a preview of their new Transformers The Ride yesterday.  The inside of the 4-D attraction looks pretty great!

Check out the Funland Blog's preview of the Steel Pier's expansion.  They've detailed which rides will be added already this year including a Fabbri Booster.

The new AquaCourse going into Alabama's Splash Adventure water park will actually be the world's first, and be provided by WhiteWater West.  I have a feeling these are going to be quite popular quite soon.


Here is how to make the Magic Kingdom's Fantasyland expansion in 45 seconds.  Pretty neat, huh?

Clementon Amusement Park is making quick work of creating their new Big Wave Bay wave pool, the park's new attraction for 2012.  Lots of mud right now, but still moving along quick!

I'm still not quite sure what to make of Mirabilandia's new DiVertical hybrid water coaster.  Perhaps it's the colors or something, it just strikes me as a bit of an odd looking ride.

Six Flags Magic Mountain has started installing pieces onto the Superman tower for their new freefall, to be the world's tallest.  Photos can be seen here, and also at this link.

Weekly Rewind 3.4.12

Galveston Pleasure Pier is moving fast and furious toward their opening day, and making a lot of progress along the way.  At left is the park's kiddie area, complete with rides.  Check out more new photos.

No longer any need to worry that the Coney Island Cyclone will receive new cars that won't live up to those in use now - the City has cancelled plans for new ones.

He said, she said, doesn't really matter in the end - Dollywood has now taken over the operation of the park's SkyZip attraction - which is good news for park visitors!  Imagine the views of Wild Eagle from up there...

Nickelodeon Universe has started testing their new Ninja Turtles Shell Shock ride, and I have to admit I love the theming.  Check out the turtle shell cars!

Kings Island has a fancy new logo for their 40th season, and happy anniversary to them!  40 years is a wonderful accomplishment.

Looks like some general blueprints of the expansion of Potter at Universal Florida have been leaked due to some environmental filings.  Looks an awful lot like an [Diagon] alleyway with a giant ride at the end!

Dollywood has released the first image of the fully assembled eagle sculpture that's located in Wild Eagle's plaza.  Isn't it beautiful!

I was under the impression that the latest attempt to revive Jazzland was knocked down by the local government, but the proposal is raging on.  There is a meeting tomorrow before the city votes to rally support.

Jolly Roger Amusement Park will add a new thrill this summer to its Splash Mountain water park in the form of a Whitewater West Aqualoop.  I've yet to try one of these, bit it's on my list.

Islands of Adventure will soon reopen the Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, featuring all new digital images.  Anyone interested in seeing how the new film looks, check this out.

The SFNE Online blog has some photos from a tour the park gave today, featuring the recently completed Goliath.  As expected, the ride towers over Six Flags New England!

Whew, the Koch's and Bluegrass Boardwalk have a challenge ahead of them, this we know.  But now we can see it, courtesy of some photos taken inside the closed Kentucky Kingdom last summer.  We're rooting for them!

Weekly Rewind 2.19.12

Canada's Wonderland has shared some photos taken from the top of Leviathan's lift.  Take notice of the fact that the Drop Tower, which is really tall, looks tiny.  

Fare thee well Jaws.  Universal Studios Orlando has wasted no time at all in turning the former Jaws attraction into dust.  Check out how sad the sharks look sitting amid rubble!

Micechat's latest In The Parks column has a great interview with the new General Manager of Knott's Berry Farm, Raffi Karprelyan.  Check it out to hear about his plans for the theme park, and the possibility of a new dark ride!

Although it's really a complete copy of the approach of Montu in regard to style of ride, color, and especially theming, I'm still pretty interested in Parc Asterix's Oz'Iris.  Airtimers has some new concept art showing off what the final product will look like.

Have you ever checked out Imagineering Disney?  If not, I'd recommend it for any Disney Park fan.  This recent post takes a hard look at the never built Rhine River Cruise at Epcot Center's Germany Pavilion.  Great stuff.

The amount of new photos being taken of Shambhala at PortAventura is amazing, but I'm not complaining.  The ride will be done before you know it, and be sure to pay attention to the one-of-a-kind turnaround.

Chance Rides recently delivered a brand new C.P. Huntington Locomotive, and refurbished two others, at the Toledo Zoo.  The trains are used on the park's Safari Railroad, and the refurbishments involved a complete disassembly and rebuild, new paint and brass trim.  Lookin' good!

Six Flags has released its 4th quarter earnings - a mix of both the good and bad.  Increased revenues and attendance, but a larger loss for the quarter than in 2010.  Here's some highlights.

Sounds like negotiations between Bluegrass Boardwalk and the Kentucky State Fair Board are going well, if this article is any indication.  Reports are now that the former Kentucky Kingdom could reopen in 2013.

Weekly Rewind 2.11.12

Been a little while since we checked in on Swarm at Thorpe Park, and while the ride has been testing a while now lots of additional theming elements are still going in.

Congratulations to Jim Seay of Premier Rides, who has been re-elected Chairman of ASTM Committee F24 on Amusement Rides and Devices, a 500 member global organization for amusement safety standards.

There's a lot of great Flickr streams out there, but if you're interested in both great in park and aerial photos from locations all around Orlando, then this one is perfect.  Check it out, for sure.

Elitch Gardens is planning on adding three new rides this year - great to hear as the park has been rather quiet this past few years!  No details on what is being added until March 8th, though.

Now that the ride has been topped out, construction is moving along at full force in order to complete Hersheypark's Skyrush track.  Won't be long until the ride is complete!

Sea World San Antonio has revealed its new park map for Aquatica, the park's highly renovated / new water park.  Check out all the details of the new park.

If you haven't taken a peek at the webcam for Six Flags Great America's X-Flight lately, be sure to.  The coaster has had a ton of track and supports go up recently!

The big theming object located in the center of Alton Tower's new 2013 coaster has been revealed - its a mechanical spider monster thing.  Looks like some interesting theming to say the least!

Weekly Rewind 1.22.12

Kings Dominion placed the first piece of WindSeeker this past week, marking the start of vertical construction.  Carowinds looks to be just about ready to start building, with ride pieces now on site at the park.

The newly announced Dollywood water and snow park for Nashville will be nice, but isn't expected to have the impact that Opryland once did.  Man, people really miss that park!

First rider auctions are a great way for parks to get press and a charity to get some cash - Canada's Wonderland has stepped up to give away the first Leviathan seats to those who bid funds to go to Sick Kids.  Check out the auction here.

Check out the size of the new Abyss slide, designed by WhiteWater West, that's going into Malaysia's Sunway Lagoon water park.  That's massive!

Legoland Florida is already planning a bunch of special events for the entire year, and getting the word out now.  Everything from a special girls' weekend to a new 4th of July celebration is included.

Darien Lake recently debuted a new logo, but they also just received a new General Manager, Bob Montgomery.  Bob comes from a successful run at Wild Adventures Theme Park, where he made a slew of improvements.  Congrats!

Morey's Piers has released another concept image of the new Wipe Out slide going into Ocean Oasis water park.  A great time of year to dream of Summer, indeed!

While construction of Manta roars along at Sea World San Diego, the park has put the coaster's train on display to generate some interest.  Even though we've seen it before it's still beautiful!

Things has seemed troubled for Indiana Beach this past year, but the current owner is trying to make it clear the park will reopen and that plenty of new changes will be made.