Weekly Rewind 11.6.10

Michigan's Adventure has hinted on their Facebook and in an e-mail newsletter that they hope to announce a new attraction for 2011 next week.  No idea on what it could be, but hopefully something significant!  Looking forward to the news, the park is really due for something.

Six Flags New England's new coaster continues to go up, fast.  The ride will have a full name of Gotham City Gauntlet: Escape From Arkham Asylum according to SFNE Online, which also has revealed all the photos they took of the ride's drawings. 

Belmont Park has posted a letter on their main website about their relationship with the city and their current lease problems.  The park is on leased land, and currently the city increased the rent 700% - which makes the park pretty much unable to be profitable.  Read more here.

Holiday World's Voyage has had its first human riders in the new Gravity Kraft Timberliner trains.  The ride looks speedy as ever, and it is said that it's even smoother than before.  Check out Holiday World's video here.

The 2010 World Expo held in Shanghai China closed at the end of October after hosting 73 million visitors during its six month run.  The Expo has been deemed a grand success, and the huge attendance is a new record for any World Expo.

No full details on Luna Park's addition - Scream Zone - for next year, but the park has started to give the development a presence on the internet.  You can sign up for a newsletter, which hopefully will soon reveal all the rides planned for the area.

Sea World Parks and Entertainment has condensed its multiple blog efforts into one main source.  The new Blog debuted a little while ago, and now covers news from both the theme and animal parks.  A new bookmark for me!

The Gravity Group posted the above photo of the new Twister coaster at Grona Lund going over one coaster and under another - they couldn't have picked a better name for this ride!  See the whole gallery of photos here.

Another wooden coaster project is taking shape rather quickly, the Zippin Pippin.  The first drop, first turn, and now the lift hill are already reaching for the sky.  Take a peek at the latest construction photos from the official website for the coaster.

Weekly Rewind 10.10.10

Happy 10-10-10 everyone!  It only happens once in a lifetime!  Anyway, on to the news.

Here's another first for NewsPlusNotes - this is the first thank you letter we've received from a ghost!  After Scott and Carol's review of both Cedar Point's Halloweekends and the Boeckling Banquet we received the above message from Master Boeckling himself.  Both creepy and kind at the same time!

S&S Worldwide, maker of tower rides, thrill coasters, and more has announced that Larsen MacCoil Partners has purchased a majority ownership of the company.  Stan Checketts will no longer be involved in the operations of S&S Worldwide.  

Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi has announced its opening celebration to be held on the evening of October 27th.  The massive indoor theme park, with it's many Ferrari themed rides and attractions, includes the world's fastest launched roller coaster.

Lots of construction photos of the Zippin Pippin continue to roll out.  Here's two recent sets that show how much of the ride's second hill are now in place.  There are also some photos from the family event that was held where donors were able to sign one of the tallest bents on the ride.

A 34 year old killer whale, named Katina, gave birth to  a 7 foot long, 350 pound calf on October 9th at Sea World Orlando.  This is the seventh calf born to Katina, though the gender of the calf has not yet been determined.  How cute!

Screamscape posted a preview animation video of the new Texas Giant that shows off a lot of the surprises the ride has in store as well as the ride's full layout.  I don't know if the video came straight from the park, but it's worth checking out regardless.

The USA Pavilion at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai welcomed its 6 millionth visitor recently, already surpassing original estimates for attendance during the Expo.  Planners are now expecting around a total of 7 million visitors during the run. 

Disney California Adventure debuted ElecTRONica this weekend, and it's already getting great reviews.  Some photos from the event, which is somewhat like Glowfest 2.0 obviously has tie-ins to the movie that's coming out later this year, have already hit the web.  Looks like a fun party!

AXES Manufacturing sent us a release about their new Jolly Train, a trackless, battery powered children's train ride.  The attraction is perfect for indoor spaces, and I'm considering getting one to take to work each day!  Saves on gas!  Check out more information on the Jolly Train website.

RCPro has a new update featuring the new coaster project underway at Busch Gardens Tampa.  The park has started to rip up the water portion of Rhino Rally in order to start work there.  The new coaster will be announced this Wednesday.

Weekly Rewind 6.26.10

Cedar Point has announced that as of today, Shoot the Rapids will be open to the public. The ride was delayed due to problems with the boats, but those have been taken care of. It looks like the minimum height for the ride has been raised to 46 inches with a responsible rider, or 48 inches to ride alone - which is probably disappointing for families with smaller kids.

The Disney Park Blog revealed a new video of testing going on for Radiator Springs Racers at Disney California Adventure. I love the smile on the front of the cars! Check it out here.

Kings Dominion has changed the restraints on Intimidator 305 to the softer straps that we've seen on a few Intamin rides before. Reports are that the change is being well received, and that there is no head banging to speak of now on those wicked, high speed transitions.

SeaWorld Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa are ready to celebrate the 4th of July in a big way. Busch Gardens will have a fireworks display on the 3rd and 4th after the park's showing of Kinetix, a high energy rock show. SeaWorld will make the celebration a part of their existing AfterDark event, which includes fireworks every night.

I still think that Glow Fest at California Adventure seems weird, but it continually gets positive reviews, like this one from the Funland Blog. I know better than to judge a book by its cover, and I guess that's what I did anyway with this one. It just looks so tacky during the daytime!

Here is a weird press release from Cedar Fair. They've promoted Lee Ann Alexakos but I'm not sure if her titled changed at all, which was Corporate VP of Marketing and Advertising. The release says she'll now report directly to Dick. Obviously they're not replacing Jack Falfas' COO position. But what's the point of a release telling us who a person reports to?!

For those of us who can't make it to the World Expo in Shanghai, the U.S. Pavilion has launched a fun virtual tour of the Pavilion. You can get a good idea of the offerings that are being presented there. Start your own tour here.

The American Coaster Enthusiasts announced during their visit to Conneaut Lake Park that they were doubling the $5,000 they pledged to restore the Blue Streak, making their total gift $10,000. The park still needs much more than that, but it's a big boost. Leonard Adams, known for the building of Twister at Knoebels, has been hired to perform the restoration of the ride.

Holiday World and Splashin' Safari has announced a new President, Dan Koch. The brother to the late Will Koch, Dan will takeover the responsibilities of running the theme and water park. This will give Will's three children time to finish their educations and decide their own future with the involvement of the park.

Well at least we've got the confirmation that Chang is not going to Six Flags Great America. The park's General Manager was quoted as saying those plans have been cancelled, and the coaster will not be coming to the park. Now we just need another park to confirm that it's being added there and the story is complete!

Weekly Rewind 6.20.10

In honor of the opening of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, this Weekly Rewind will feature some of the better press photos the park has released. Plus, check out some cool 360 degree images here!

Six Flags Entertainment Corporation is going to be re-listed on the NYSE starting tomorrow, the 21st. With bankruptcy behind them, the company is once again looking toward future growth - and hoping investors want to go along for the ride.

Now that it's pretty stinkin' hot out side, we're already dreaming of cooler fall temperatures... at least I am! Universal Studios Hollywood is already getting in the mood - sending out the first press info about this year's Halloween Horror Nights. The 2010 event will have more scare attractions and be open for more nights than ever before.

Can you believe that Manta at Sea World Orlando is already celebrating it's first birthday? It seems like only yesterday that Scott & Carol were publishing their great story on the brand new ride! The park has created a video of cool facts about the ride in order to celebrate the occasion. My, my how times flies.

Kennywood is planning on opening Sky Rocket this Friday, the 25th, and they are having a first rider auction to benefit the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. If you're interested in bidding, then head here. Update: the auction has been moved to June 29th or 30th!

Helping to cement the rumor that Busch Garden's Tampa's new coaster will sport a Cheetah theme, BGT has posted an image from a marketing survey (in Spanish) that you might want to check out. Looks like that "Cheetaka" trademark might be the coaster's name after all.

Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom's Sky Coaster is no longer standing at the park. It seems the ride was leased from a vendor, who has now asked to have it back since the park is closed. The other rides are still awaiting their fate.

Morey's next big coaster - a wooden one that's been planned for years now - is getting closer to becoming a reality. Many approvals have already been obtained for the ride, with more to come. The coaster will span two different piers, making it a rather large and twisted ride.

Knoebel's Phoenix turns 25 this year, another major milestone for any coaster. The park had a celebration for the ride and put some photos from it on their Facebook. I love when parks celebrate coaster birthdays.

This is pretty neat - real time attendance data from the World Expo in Shanghai. As of me writing this the Expo has had over 16.5 million visitors! That's just incredible. They're doing around 400k visitors a day now.

I totally missed this one last week, but Captain EO made it's return to Disneyland Paris on the 12th and excited fans lined up early to see the attraction. Early July will see the return of the attraction to Epcot and Tokyo Disneyland.

Weekly Rewind 6.12.10

What's sweeter than a Hershey's bar? Making it just as you like it, of course! Hershey's Chocolate World, located at the entrance to Hershey Park, has added a new attraction named Hershey's Create Your Own Candy Bar. The hands-on attraction lets guests select their favorite ingredients, see equipment in operation, and even design the wrapper!

Fun Spot USA, located in Orlando, will open a new spinning Wild Mouse coaster this Christmas. The ride, formerly Galaxy Spin at Cypress Gardens, represents a $1.3 million expansion. The park is proud to be adding their first large coaster - and it's always nice to see a ride saved!

Freestyle Music Park received another nail in its coffin this week when a bankruptcy judged ruled against the park, allowing creditors one step closer to seizing assets for liquidation in order to repay debts. It's not happening just yet - but the path has been cleared. Big B&M for sale on the cheap! Read the details.

Wake Nation, located in Cincinnati, OH, will try to break the World Record for most distance traveled on a wake board in 24 hours on June 25th. A group of top pro wake board riders will gather at the cable wakeboarding pond for the attempt. Admission is free, and all proceeds go to charity. Read more on the official site.

Luna Park has opened their new Air Race flat ride - the first of it's kind in the world. It looks thrilling and intense to me:

There's another video, taken from further back, available here. I'm pretty sure I'd come off of it green - and not with envy.

Interested in seeing the unique architecture of the pavilions at the 2010 World Expo? Check out photos of the 25 best here. While the U.S.A. pavilion is included in the list, I have to say that it's one of the least unique ones there in appearance.

Universal Studios Hollywood has been releasing some videos showing King Kong's path of destruction as he makes his way to the park for the new King Kong 360 3D attraction. This time he's made Vegas into his own kind of playground, and Speed: The Ride is on the list of casualties. See the video.

While this article was not updated to show that the ride was approved, Busch Gardens Williamsburg has received permission to build a 260 ft. (or so) tower attraction next year. Rumors are swirling that the ride could be heavily themed - or a bare freefall tower. But that's what you get from rumors, right?

Guests on Shoot the Rapids?! No, just some lucky employees who got to take a test spin - which Coaster Image caught on tape. You can see the video here - it looks like a lot of fun.

Six Flags AstroWorld was bulldozed and the land beneath it sold to real estate developers planning to make a killing off it's development. Five years later it still sits empty. Now the plot has been sold once again, and the new owner has no plans of building anything for at least another 5 years! Shame!

Weekly Rewind 5.8.10

Fun Forest, in Seattle, WA, is removing their log flume to the benefit of the new Luna Park in Coney Island. Luna has purchase the flume from the park, and will open it along with all the new rides and attractions later this month. Read more from Amusing the Zillion.

Just two weeks until you can ride the new Revolution 360 at Seabreeze Amusement Park! If you want a photo preview of the new ride, check that out here. Love the bright colors.

Ghost Town in the Sky may have a chance at reopening - the Judge in the park's bankruptcy hearings approved the plan for American Heritage Family Parks to purchase the property. No word on what happens next, but it's a step in the right direction.

Another Mother's Day Treat! Take mom to World's of Fun for a special brunch featuring an all you can eat buffet and an appearance by Snoopy and pals. Tickets must be ordered at the park's website.

Get ready to splash! Six Flags America's Hurricane Harbor opens for an extra weekend on May 22nd. In 2010, Hurricane Harbor guests will enjoy even more thrills, with a new resort-style look at the Hurricane Bay deck and The Hurricane Bay Deck Party, a brand-new song and dance show, appearing several times daily on the Sunset Stage.

Orlando Attractions Magazine, something I've subscribed to since they started, is now available across the country at Barnes & Nobles, Borders, and Books-A-Million. If you're interested in learning more, check out their website - or head out to your local store and pick up a copy!

Idlewild loves moms, too. They're having a fun contest where Mom can win a VIP day at the park - simply explain why your moms life is sometimes a circus, and you could win! Enter here by June 7th.

The former Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom has no chance of opening in 2010, but the Fair Board is in talks with six or so potential operators about a 2011 reopening. No names were named, but they hope to have a firm deal by mid-summer. Read more here.

The St. Petersburg Times has an interesting interview with the General Manager of Busch Gardens Tampa, Jim Dean. He speaks of new changes to the park, including their big 2011 project and plenty more.

Here's some staggering attendance numbers: 33 million, yes million, tickets have already been sold for the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. It's said that when it's over some 70 million will have attended. The Expo started on May 1st, and will run through October 31st of this year.

Darien Lake's Viper roller coaster is back in black, as seen above. The new paint job has the entire coaster in black, like it was when it first opened. Check out photos of the paint job and other park changes here.

Beech Bend Amusement Park had a rough start to their season when massive flooding left parts of the park under some 43 feet of water. Despite that, they've made made an incredible effort to reopen this weekend. Now that's determination!

Weekly Rewind 4.10.10

Universal Orlando is keeping the press machine going as the opening of the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter nears. This week they've released a video showing off the queue for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. You can check out the video here.

In case you missed it, we've posted a gallery of Carol's excellent Intimidator 305 photos to our Facebook page. Head over and check them out, and why not become a fan of NPN while there?

Kings Island has debuted a fancy new website this week, packed full of great information and photos. The park, along with it's new Planet Snoopy area, opens for the season on April 17th.

The fallout of the Cedar Fair and Apollo deal has spurred another round of rumors that Six Flags and Cedar Fair could eventually be merged. Almost all in the 'know' seem to think the odds of that are a million to one, but could you imagine?

Looks like the former PTC trains from The Voyage at Holiday World have found a new home on the Predator at Darien lake. The park put photos up of the trains on their Facebook page. You can also see shots of the construction work starting on their water park expansion.

The Shanghai 2010 World Expo opens in May, and the American Pavilion is set to open in early July. The $61 million American pavilion will feature "The Garden" film as it's main presentation - for more information and photos check this out.

Cedar Fair has been quiet on the 49ers stadium planned to go in the parking lot of California's Great America for the past few months, but now that the Apollo deal is gone we can expect the park to once again speak up. They previously offered to sell the park to the team, and now I'd expect them to push that more than ever. CGA leaving the Cedar Fair family? I wouldn't be at all surprised.

If you want to see a preview of the new World of Color show at Disney's California Adventure park, then this video posted by Laughing Place is a must. Granted it's filmed form a hotel balcony, but even from there it's pretty spectacular!

Here's a link to an article covering the attempts at selling the Big Dipper from Geauga Lake. The ride is still available for $65,000, a steal in my book. Also of note is that Cedar Fair no longer has Colliers listing the land the park was on, instead they'll deal with inquiries directly.

It appears as though Schlitterbahn still has expansion on their minds - the company recently submitted a proposal to open a "water park/hotel/retail/sports destination" in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Things are in the earliest of early stages at this point, read more here.

Unique 4-D Show at USA Pavilion for 2010 World Expo

The designers of the USA Pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo are describing the 4-D film that will be shown as stunning as the film "Avatar." While it was known that the American pavilion would include a 4-D movie, details on the content are just now being released.

The 8 minute film, titled "The Garden," is being called a modern day urban fairy tale. In the story, "a 9-year-old girl plants flowers to turn an abandoned vacant lot in the city into a garden, and her passion and determination inspire her neighbors, who establish the flourishing garden together." The movie features no dialogue, so as to bypass language barriers, but instead relies on impressive visuals to tell the story.

The movie will also contain special effects such as wind and rain throughout the 500 seat theater. The USA Pavilion will be able to handle 2,500 guest an hour during what is expected to be a very busy 184 day long Expo.

Weekly Rewind 1.3.10

Seems the Knott family is Knott very happy about the sale of Cedar Fair to Apollo Management. When Cedar Fair purchased the park the family received about 2 million units of Cedar Fair. The buyout would formally cut all ties the Knott family has the park and they're not sure whether to vote for or against the sale.

Aqua Loops are certainly looking to be one of the hottest water park attractions of 2010. Another set is being installed at Wet'n'Wild Australia. This article claims that their version will have 4 loops - I'm guessing a big clover leaf shaped complex for added capacity. Awesome!

Legoland California had a fantastic 2009, coming off a very strong 2008 season. And the expansion continues, talk of a hotel is brewing and they're getting ready to announce the world's first Lego themed water park soon.

Heading over the pond we find that Alton Towers appears to be retheming their Spinball Whizzer coaster into a Sonic themed attraction. New paint is already on the ride, which can be seen here. The park hasn't fully disclosed the new name, but it's said that 2010 brochures are out and are calling it Sonic Spinball.


Speak French and looking for an update for the Monster, the Raptor clone being moved from Japan to Walygator Parc? Well, I think it may be a bit outdated at this point, but check out this video on YouTube nonetheless.

Coaster101 is holding the Attraction Awards for the recently ended decade - and you can nominate your favorites now. Just click on over to their site and get thinking. I've got a lot of possibilities for the "Epic Fail" category!

I still feel like I may be the only one interested in the 2010 Expo in China, but in case anyone else here I found an interesting article detailing the efforts that went into raising the cash to build the American pavilion. You can check that out here.

USA At Expo 2010 Update

"Six months before the opening of the Shanghai 2010 Expo, the team assembling the United States pavilion is racing to raise $20 million of the $61 million needed for the structure."

According to this article, it sounds like things still aren't going as one would hope with the USA Pavilion at the Shanghai 2010 Expo. Still, it's believed that the final amount of funding will be raised by the end of the year and the Pavilion will open on time.

The United States was pretty late in the game to sign up as an official participant in the 2010 World Expo, coming in as registrant number 191 out of a total of 192. The problem has always been with funding, as law states that no federal cash can be used for World Expo exhibitions.

The United States Pavilion will feature a 4-D theater that is being designed by BRC Imagination arts, who have a lot of Expo and themed entertainment experience - so the final presentation should be well done.

Daily Spin 7.20.09

Busch Gardens Tampa has started teasing the theme of their 2009 Howl-O-Scream event. Looks like this year the event will be themed to some sort of dark fashion designer... the website for the event is now live and has a video for you to enjoy.

Morey's Piers has launched a new book that looks back at the past 40 years of the seaside amusement piers' history. They quite literally launched the book at the park when they had David "The Bullet" Smith launch himself out of a giant cannon while holding two copies of the new book. The book is available for purchase at any of Morey's Piers.

Spongebob's 10th birthday has thrown Marriott and Nickelodeon's plan to build up to 20 resorts around the world back into the spotlight. The first property is still planned for San Diego next year, and will feature a 650 room hotel and a significant water park as well. I never really paid attention to news of this development when they announced it but I should have - it looks really nice! No relation to the Nick Hotel in Florida, however.

Looks like plans for a Paramount theme park in Osaka Japan, located on the site of the failed Expoland amusement park, are not dead. New reports have a local investment firm stating they will work with an affiliate of Paramount Studios to develop the park. Curiously, the company that owns the Expoland site says they have received no notification of the plan. Will it happen? You guess is as good as mine!

More Expo 2010 U.S.A. Pavilion news is pouring out now that the country's involvement has been made official. The pavilion will consist of three buildings, the main one will hold a large theatre that will present a 4-D movie experience created by BRC Imagination Arts, a design company with plenty of amazing theme park and world expo design experience.

Cedar Point is celebrating Christmas in July by helping out the Marine Corps' annual Toys for Tots program get an early start this year. Anyone who brings a brand-new toy to the park will receive a discounted admission ticket to the sprawling amusement park. Other activities will take place in the park, and Santa himself will appear to visit with the kiddies. The event runs this upcoming weekend, July 24th through 26th.

The United States Officially Joins Expo 2010

The United States has finally confirmed that they will participate in the 2010 World Expo being held in Shanghai, China saying that our Pavilion will be completed "on time and on budget." Unable to use Government funds per American law, about half of the estimated $61 million needed to build the American Pavilion has already been raised.

The World Expo is expected to attraction some 70 million people during it's run, and currently has 240 countries signed up to participate. America's Pavilion will be located across from China's on the central corridor of the Expo.

The theme of the American Pavilion will be "Celebration 2030, in which a guided tour led by an American Chinese will allow the visitors to experience the space of future and personally feel the US cities in year 2030."

On another note, I was looking at some of the Pavilion designs from different countries and check out the Switzerland one:

Its going to have a chair lift system like those that can be found on the Alps start inside the Pavilion and go up and onto the roof for a nice little ride! Neat.

Daily Spin 3.23.09

I'm getting a little dizzy from all these Daily Spins lately, but there's just so much news (and good news, too!) that I must condense! Let's start...

Legoland California will add a new ride... or I should say attraction to their theme park this year in the form of a giant slide. The 30 ft. tall attraction will open on the 4th of July and be called Dune Raiders. Located in the Lost Adventure section of the park, the slide will be heavily themed to fit in with its surroundings.

But wait there's more! Legoland California also recently received their next step of the approval processed for the new 250 room hotel they wish to build on their property. They're saying that the hotel is in their 10 year plans, so it's not something that's going to happen right away. Still, it's nice to see that further expansion is in their plans.

Yippie for more park openings! Silver Dollar City opened this past Thursday to a healthy crowd of 9,000 - more than the park was expecting. That's such positive news during these trying times. Hopefully more park openings will come with great results like this one.

Hard Rock Park is still not officially Hard Rock Park. Confusing, but true. The park is trying to work with Hard Rock to keep the theme park's name, but hasn't been able to come to an agreement yet. Although the park had a rocky start to say the least, most agree that a name change would make the park's recovery even more difficult.

Can you believe that Nickelodeon Universe at the Mall of America is already a year old? That went by pretty fast. To celebrate, the park is having a contest where 8 riders will try to outlast each other riding on the Spongebob Rock Bottom Plunge roller coaster in order to win a cruise for their family.

Although the rides and critters are gone, Cypress Gardens is ready to reopen this coming Saturday. Season Pass and daily admission prices have been set, and the article says that 40,000 annuals have been replanted and the water ski show will be ready for opening day.

Will the U.S. make it to the 2010 Shanghai World Expo? Still up in the air, sadly. I really hope that things can be pulled together in time for America to have a pavilion at the event.

U.S. Missing the 2010 World Expo?

The L.A. Times recently ran an interesting story about how it's shaping up that the United States might miss having a pavilion at the 2010 World Expo (aka World's Fair) in Shanghai, China.

The U.S.'s participation in these Expos (we also sat out the 2000 Expo in Germany) works as a great way to reflect a positive image of the country's people around the globe. Considering China is now an economic powerhouse, this would be a bad Expo to miss.

The U.S. Pavilion must be funded by private funds, meaning corporate sponsorships. As of now, the planners are having a hard time coming up with companies who will give millions of dollars toward the project.

It's estimated that the U.S. Pavilion could need as much as $84 million to be completed. Already designed, "The U.S. building would be about 60 feet high, encompassing 60,000 square feet, with wings on each side, representing a bald eagle, and a roof garden in the center. Burbank-based BRC Imagination Arts, a specialist in museum and exhibit designs, was brought in to create a high-tech, interactive show centering on sports heroes."

Here's the Expo's mascot, Haibao. He's pretty cute looking. There's still time for sponsors to step up, so hopefully the U.S. can be represented at Expo 2010 afterall! It's a shame that America has started to effectively turn it's back on these types of world celebration events.