Drayton Manor 2009

Drayton Manor Park, United Kingdom, will add a 4-D theater for the 2009 season. Designed by Simworx, "the theatre will screen the award-winning feature film Curse of Skull Rock, a family adventure that tells the story of Captain Scabb’s quest to find lost treasure."

Not only will the film be in 3-D, but the theater will feature plenty of physical effects to keep patrons guessing what may come next.

Drayton Manor is coming off of the massive success they had with their 2008 attraction, Thomas Land. Think the Thomas Town's that Six Flags has added to some U.S. parks times ten in terms of rides and theming.

Alton Towers 2010 Plans & Drawings

Alton Towers has started the process of filing for approval for their planned 2010 new roller coaster. In order to do so, they unfortunately (for them, at least) have to show off a lot of their plans during this process. Here is a link to a bunch of those plans that have been submitted.

Now, there is a lot of mumbo jumbo in there so I snapped some images and highlights:

^ This little snip is featured because it shows that the ride will be 20 meters from ground level high, and operate using hydraulics.

^ This one features some interesting items, like the fact that the facade will feature octopus tentacles, and the entrance will have bones and a skull. These give hints toward the theming of the ride...

Speaking of the entrance, here's the entrance to the ride's queue. Again, more hints at the ride's theming...

Here is the ride's layout from the air. Nothing to fancy, but you can see that a lot of the track is buried in the trees, and the station is a rather large structure. The two 'switch' areas are still present, used to reverse direction of the train.

As for the ride itself, here is a sight-line drawing that shows the ride's layout from a 3-D perspective.

^ A rather detailed drawing of the station structure.

Speaking of the station structure, here are some drawings of the building. These again give away a lot of little hints as to the ride's possible themes. I'll let you draw your own conclusions, though.

Still no word on who's manufacturing the ride, but it looks like quite an attraction is being proposed for the park either way!

Quassy and Gravity Group Teaming Up

Quassy Amusement Park, located in Connecticut, is going to propose building a small family wooden roller coaster from The Gravity Group to their local government planning officials in February, reports Amusement Today.

The 1,200 ft. wooden ride would be 35 ft tall and go 35 mph. How wonderful that a small park like this wants to contract the Gravity Group to build an exciting family ride.

The Amusement Today blurb isn't totally clear on whether this is a 2009 project or not. Stay tuned!

Prowling Progress

© Coaster Community

First Prowler update of 2009 is in, and Coaster Community has all the photos. Lots of progress has been made on Worlds of Fun's new wooden roller coaster since the end of last year. It looks like there's not a lot of bents left to go up, and work seems to have moved to the station area for the ride.

Check out Coaster Community's full update.

Magic Kingdom's Space Mountain Refurb

Walt Disney World in Florida has announced that the Magic Kingdom's classic Space Mountain attraction will close for refurbishment for most of 2009.

The ride will close April 19th, which will keep it open for the ever crowded Easter/Spring break period.

The large rehab is said to include removing and replacing all track for the ride (although the layout will remain the same), updating the queue, and replacing the roof of the attraction.

The ride should be opened again by the end of 2009.

Sabrina's Brochure Spotlight: Liseberg 2007

Ho, ho, ho! Yes, of COURSE I realize that Christmas has come and gone. But I'm not about to let that stop me from sharing what the jolly old man in the red suit deposited in my stocking this year!


Swinging high above the Gothenburg sky was Uppswinget, Liseberg's new attraction for 2007. Judging from the brochure cover, this S&S Screamin' Swing delivers quite a lofty ride experience.


Mercifully, this version of the brochure speaks my language! As much as I'd love to claim that I can speak beautiful, fluent Swedish, something tells me that reading Ikea catalogs doesn't count. [Updating Sabrina's to-do list for 2009: Learn to speak REAL Swedish. Check!]


Do you think you can dance? Put yourself to the test by visiting Liseberg and attending a jive or salsa lesson at their Polketten venue! Personally I'm torn between that and hanging out with the Liseberg Rabbits at Lilla Scenen. It's so refreshing to find a park whose mascots are truly unique.


Liseberg's pricing model includes both a gate admission and individual ride tickets. For those of you in the States who are eager to do the math, one U.S. dollar is equal to approximately 7.87 Swedish krona by the current conversion rate. So if you decide to jet over to Sweden and visit Liseberg today, you had better pad your checkbook first because each ride on Balder or Kanonen will cost you approximately $7.60!!


Okay, maybe our readers from Europe can help me out here. Was the word "pentathlon" simply lost in translation, or should I arrive at Liseberg expecting to compete against other guests in five sporting events? Either way, count me in!


One thing is for certain: Nobody is going to walk away from Liseberg hungry. Looks like nobody is going to walk away thirsty either, as you can find your favorite brew around nearly every corner of the park. The park also sports a nice selection of charming shops.


Liseberg is the largest amusement park in Scandinavia and is frequently hailed as the top overall attraction in that area. Its coaster count may not be in the double digits, but this park goes for quality over quantity. [Read: BALDER. Need I say more?] It also features some unique and increasingly rare attractions, including the House of Mirrors.


This detailed operating schedule lists all of Liseberg's happy opening days for the 2007 season. A schedule listing its sad opening days is available in the Bizarro Liseberg 2007 brochure, but I have yet to procure a copy of that one. Perhaps Bad Santa will hook me up next year.

Pssst... Would YOU like to own a copy of this brochure? Well today is your lucky day, because three are available from this lovely seller on eBay!