Aquatica Orlando's Ray Rush Slide to Open May 12th

Aquatica Orlando, located near SeaWorld Orlando, has announced that its new family water slide, Ray Rush, will open to visitors on May 12th.  The innovative new water slide features a three-in-one combination of exciting elements that make it unlike any slide in the area.

© Aquatica Orlando

Ray Rush shares a slide tower with Walhalla Wave, another family raft ride at Aquatica Orlando.  As guests approach the tower they will see this colorful new signage, helping them know which way to head for the journey of their choice.

Ray Rush starts at nearly 60 feet above the park, and utilizes rafts that seat up to four passengers.  It has a 42 inch height requirement, which will allow younger visitors to ride with their family.

© Aquatica Orlando

One of the most interesting parts of Ray Rush is the start, which features a small uphill master blaster section, seen above.  Instead of starting with a drop, the ride will blast rafts out of the loading area and into the first enclosed tunnel.  The rafts then enter a giant sphere, then plunge down a drop into a halfpipe that resembles a Manta ray.  A couple more turns and splashes bring the rafts to the end of the thrilling ride.

For more on Ray Rush, check out Aquatica Orlando's website.

Fun Spot America Orlando Opens New Headrush 360 Thrill Ride

© Fun Spot America

Fun Spot America has experienced great success with the addition of Headrush 360 at its Kissimmee location (pictured above), so much so that park owners have added the attraction to their Orlando park as well.

The ride just opened in Orlando this past wekk, with guests already enjoying the spinning and inverting that they experience on Headrush 360.

© Fun Spot America

Here is the ride in its Orlando home, with the park's inverted family coaster seen in the background.  Headrush 360 is a Midi Discovery from Zamperla, which describes the ride experience as a "rush of land and sky meshing into one as riders fly head over heals through the dual swinging and spinning motions."  Headrush 360 packs a lot of thrilling ride into a small package, which is a perfect fit for the various thrill and family attractions that the Fun Spot parks offer.

In order to make room for Headrush 360, the Orlando park packed up their Paratrooper and is sending it to the family's newest park, Fun Spot Atlanta.

New Water Ride Coming to Life at ZooTampa at Lowry Park

© ZooTampa at Lowry Park

We first heard about the replacement of ZooTampa at Lowry Park's (formerly called Lowry Park Zoo) log flume at the end of last year, but the exact replacement was a bit of a mystery at the time.  We knew it was going to be another water ride, and named Roaring Springs, but the concept art left the door a bit open to different types of attractions.

Now that the ride is nearly completion, the park has sent out some updated images that video that confirm that the park has built a family-sized shoot-the-chutes, not unlike one that opened a few years ago at Legoland California.

The park is advertising a three story plunge on the ride, and the development also includes a new animal area named the Florida Trail, featuring black bears, Key deer, panthers and more.  The original announcement said that a "canopy walk" would go over part of the ride, so we will watch for that as construction finishes up.

Zoo Tampa at Lowry Park has also released the below video update on Roaring Springs, filled with great views of the new ride.  Take a look!

Merlin's Mayhem Opens to Visitors of Dutch Wonderland

Merlin's Mayhem, a brand new custom-designed family inverted roller coaster, has opened to guests at Dutch Wonderland.  Park visitors have eagerly awaited the ride's grand opening, which was originally slated to take place during 2017 - but was eventually pushed back to 2018.

Designed by S&S Sansei Technologies, the ride is suitable for a wide section of park visitors, requiring only a 39 inch height requirement.  It stand 60 feet tall and its track stretches 1,300 feet long, so it's a pretty decent sized family coaster - also a nice pair to the park's wooden Kingdom Coaster ride.

Merlin's Mayhem features a curving first drop that takes riders directly over the park's chair ride, then into a swooping turn above a pond.  Several more twists and turns, including a dive into a tunnel below ground, make up the rest of the ride's layout.  The coaster's inverted trains leave riders' legs to dangle freely below them as they take on Merlin's Mayhem.

Dutch Wonderland has shared an on-ride video of Merlin's Mayhem, embedded below.  Check it out!

New Sesame Street Themed Expansion Revealed for SeaWorld Orlando in 2019

Before even opening up their new for 2018 attraction, the unique Infinity Falls river raft ride, SeaWorld Orlando has already announced a major expansion for its 2019 season.  Known as Sesame Street at SeaWorld Orlando, the total renovation and retheme of Happy Harbor will no doubt delight families.

Taking a queue from the theming in place at Sesame Place in Pennsylvania, the expansion will feature an elaborate real-world version of Sesame Street itself.

© SeaWorld Orlando

Seen here in concept art, visitors will be able to explore "the iconic neighborhood as they walk through Abby Cadabby’s garden, visit Mr. Hooper’s store, stop by Big Bird’s nest, sit on the famous 123 stoop and meet their favorite friends from Sesame Street including Elmo, Cookie Monster and Big Bird."

The concept art contains many details that can be seen in the larger version.  In order to fit all these new structures, major work will take place inside Happy Harbor area that will include the removal of several of the existing structures and play areas.

© SeaWorld Orlando

It seems, however, that most of Happy Harbor's family rides will remain, at least according to plans that were located by Touring Central Florida.  I would expect that they will all be rethemed when Sesame Street opens - in fact if you looks close at the concept art (above) you can see what looks like a rough design for a retheme of Shamu Express into possibly an Oscar's Wacky Taxi theme.

The official release regarding the changes explains that the area will "feature exciting rides, wet and dry play areas and interactive experiences designed to entertain the entire family."

© SeaWorld Orlando

Finally, a big part of the announcement is that SeaWorld Orlando will feature their first-ever parade when the expansion opens.  The new Sesame Street parade will be led by Elmo and feature all of his friends, parade dancers, music and plenty of fun for all.

Watch for more details on Sesame Street at SeaWorld Orlando in the coming months - construction work has already started!

Luna Park Building Modern Thrill Version of Famous Astrotower

Luna Park, located in the famous seaside paradise known as Coney Island, has announced that they are opening a new thrill ride this month named Astrotower.

LUNA NEWSFLASH 🌙: Are you ready for more Luna thrills? Astro Tower is coming May 2018, grab your riding partner and make sure you join us! #mylunapark pic.twitter.com/FeGwukryLj

— Luna Park NYC (@LunaParkNYC) April 30, 2018

The ride is a sort-of replacement for the famous Astrotower observation ride that operated in Coney Island for decades.  That tower was closed when Luna Park opened, but one summer it started swaying a bit and the park had to be closed - the Astrotower was promptly torn down in the following days.

From the graphic it's clearly a freefall experience that is headed to Luna Park, that's why I said it is only a sort-of replacement.  More of a nod to the observation tower that fans of Coney Island loved dearly.

The new Astrotower appears to be a Flash Tower, manufactured of course by Zamperla.  The ride is advertised as both blasting riders up to the top of the tower, and then also freefalling them back down to the ground within one ride cycle.  The listed height for this type of ride is around 120 feet, but since Luna Park is much like Zamperla's showroom it's possible that it will be customized for this instillation.

I do not see the Astrotower listed on the park's website just yet, but when it does get added I'm sure we'll have more information on the ride's specs.