Storm Chaser Going Up at Adventureland

© Adventureland

Iowa's Adventureland theme park is adding a towering new thrill ride for the 2014 season, named Storm Chaser.  Costing the park around $3 million to construct, Storm Chaser is being built by Mondial Rides of the Netherlands.  The attraction will take guests up a 250 foot tower in chair-swing seats, legs dangling freely.  At the top, the arms will swing riders at speeds of up to 35 miles per hour.  For those familiar with the set of WindSeeker rides at Cedar Fair parks, Storm Chaser will be a similar ride.

© Adventureland

Just this past week Adventurland set the base piece of Storm Chaser into place.  The park picked a bold yellow color for the whole tower, making it stand out among the park's other rides.  Storm Chaser will have a brilliant light system, making watching the ride at night an attraction of its own.

With vertical construction now well under way, Adventureland is planning a June opening for Storm Chaser.

Legoland California Tops Mt. Cavora in Water Park Expansion

© Legoland California

The giant Mt. Cavora was recently lifted 40 feet into the air at the Lego Legends of Chima water park expansion at Legoland California.  The new section will have a selection of water based activities for families, including the large Lion Temple Wave Pool.  The wave pool is where Mt. Cavora has been placed and will released 400 gallons of water per minute onto park visitors below.

© Legoland California

The enormous 'floating mountain' was created by Storyland Studios in Lake Elsinore, CA and took a team of 20 builders more than four months to design and construct.  "The floating mountain, known for providing the great energy source “CHI” to the eight animal tribes, is 23-feet tall, 13-feet wide and weighs more than 11,000 pounds.  An animal from each tribe is represented on Mt. Cavora: a lion, an eagle, a crocodile, a gorilla, a bear, a rhinoceros, a wolf and a raven."

Legoland California also released some great footage of the mountain going into place.  The film also gives us an aerial perspective on the expansion, showing off all the additions.  While not complete, you can see above that a great deal of work is underway, including new attractions, food, and open spaces to play or relax.  In the background of this shot is a new concrete pad that might be for Cragger's Swamp, a "hands-on water play area that invites you to ride water slides, blast water cannons and jets and slide through the head of a massive crocodile."

This view shows off the surprisingly large Lion Temple Wave Pool.  Since the pool is aimed at families it won't feature massive waves, but I did not expect it to be quite so large when complete!  Other new additions to the Legends of Chima water park include Explorers Forest, a "lush and tropical forest where you will be greeted by Gorzan the Gorilla in his 15-foot tall mech suit" and Rhino Beach, "a sand filled oasis that offers you a place to get some shade, lounge and rest."

The Lego Legends of Chima Water Park will open to Legoland California guests on May 24th.

New Wonder Mountain's Guardian Photos Show Ride's Coaster Side

© Canada's Wonderland

Canada's Wonderland has released a few new photos of Wonder Mountain's Guardian, and they're making it pretty clear that the new interactive dark ride will have some roller coaster aspects to it.

The shot above is of the ride's lift hill, which takes place outside the mountain.  The track being installed starts to turn back toward the mountain where at some point the cars will enter it.

© Canada's Wonderland

If I had no idea Canada's Wonderland was building a dark ride and you showed me this photo I would be excited because of the new coaster going up!  From this angle there is little that does not make this look like a traditional roller coaster lift hill!

© Canada's Wonderland

Here is the finished lift hill and first turn - how I wish that tree on the left would get out of the way!  I really want to see what happens next... it looks like the track may be starting to dip but it is a bit hard to tell due to the angle of the photo.

Having never been to the park these photos have also helped me place where the ride is going, I think.  Well, duh, obviously in the mountain but I mean the lift and outside track.  I did the above in 30 seconds so please don't make fun, but that's what I'm gathering from these new photos.  I would think that the track will head into the mountain before encountering the lift hill for Vortex, but I can't be sure.

I'm as excited as ever now for this project... especially because it may eventually be built at other Cedar Fair parks.  Can't wait to see more.

Route 76 Coming Together at Valleyfair

© Valleyfair

Finally the blanket of snow has disappeared, and under a sunny blue sky Valleyfair has started to make some major progress on their new Route 76 themed area.  The area's largest new attraction is seen above, named Northern Lights.  The ride is a Disk'O Coaster from Zamperla, and while some may consider it just a flat ride the park is advertising it as a family roller coaster.  I'll stay out of that debate!

© Valleyfair

Northern Lights utilizes a spinning platform with riders facing outward on motorcycle styled seats.  As the ride gets moving the entire platform travels along the 300 feet of track, up to a height of 42 feet above the ground below.  The ride will feature colors that are designed to be reminiscent of those seen in the sky at night, hence the name Northern Lights.

© Valleyfair

Route 76 will also see the return of the Antique Autos, the "service station' for which can be seen above.  The autos' path will meander around the area, and head under the Wild Thing roller coaster as well.  Two classic flat rides, the Scrambler and Tilt-a-Whirl will also be moved into the new area after being totally refurbished.

Stay tuned for more updates on Route 76 - with how great Cedar Fair's recent "placemaking" projects have turned out I have high hopes for this one.

Six Flags Great Adventure Tops Off Zumanjaro!

© Six Flags Great Adventure

When the final track pieces, seen above waiting on the ground, were lifted into place today, Six Flags Great Adventure broke the world record for having the tallest drop ride at 41 stories.  Named Zumanjaro, the extreme thrill ride has taken up residence on the side of Kingda Ka.

© Six Flags Great Adventure

Finally the sun was shining and the winds calmed so that the park could finish the track instillation.  Here we see a seriously giant crane carefully lifting the final track segment into place.  There are three separate tracks running up the tower to the maximum height of 415 feet, each will have a gondola seating eight passengers.

© Six Flags Great Adventure

Can you image working up that high in the air?  I love all sorts of rides but extreme heights still make me a bit nervous - I think that's why I'm so looking forward to Zumanjaro!  The level of fear from up top, waiting to plunge downward, will certainly be palpable.

© Six Flags Great Adventure

And once the track piece was lifted into place the ride was completed!

“Today is special because we not only broke the world record by topping off the world’s tallest drop ride, but also because we battled through some incredibly adverse weather conditions. We had the coldest and snowiest winter that any of us can remember,” said John Fitzgerald, park president at Six Flags Great Adventure. “We appreciate the hard work by Shamrock Construction and the rest of the construction team in overcoming those conditions and getting the job done,” he added. “You would not believe how windy it can get up there in a snow storm.”

Now the park has to complete instillation of the gondolas and the lift system, so there's still plenty of work to do.  If all goes well Zumanjaro has a planned opening on Memorial Day Weekend.

Universal Orlando Opens the Cabana Bay Beach Resort

The ever-expanding Universal Orlando Resort has grown once more with the official opening of the Cabana Bay Beach Resort.  The new value-oriented resort welcomed its first guests yesterday, and officially became the destination's fourth on-site hotel.

Cabana Bay Beach Resort "evokes the classic, retro-feel of iconic beach resorts from the 1950s and 60’s" and does it well.  Above is a press photo of the hotel's main lobby, and very true to the original concept art that was released the design of the area is not what you would call shy.  The bold colors and airy atmosphere of the lobby will welcome guests as they check into one of the resort's 1,800 rooms.

As if being located just across from Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida wasn't enough, the Cabana Bay Beach Resort is also packed with amenities such as Galaxy Bowl, a ten lane bowling facility.  Any who wants to keep in tip top shape while visiting can head to the Jack LaLanne Physical Fitness Studio, and then later relax and have a drink at either the Swizzle Lounge or Atomic Tonic bars.  Filling hungry stomachs will be easy as well, the Bayliner Diner is the name for a large food court with tons of different food offerings.

You have to have a pool, right?  Named the Cabana Courtyard, the 10,000 square foot pool features a zero depth entry that's perfect for families.  There's also a water slide that exits underneath the iconic diving tower, seen above with water spilling over the side.  Later this summer the second half of the resort will open with another pool area and the first lazy river to be built at any of Universal's hotels.

Cabana Bay Beach Resort features different room types to fit every family's needs, including standard rooms and family suites.  There's some that are specially themed as well, such as the Minion infested kid's room seen above.  Those staying at the hotel also gain early entry into the parks, a full hour before the general public.

Universal Orlando has created a series of videos that introduce all that the Cabana Bay Beach Resort has to offer, from rooms to food to bowling.  Check it out above.