Dorney Park Adds New Webcam Featuring Seaside Splashworks Construction

© Dorney Park

Dorney Park's new fun for 2020, Seaside Splashworks, is starting to take shape, and the park is now able to show off just where the construction process stands via a new webcam.  Available from the park's official webpage, the aerial view of the construction site shows that plenty of progress has been made on the multi-level play structure to date.

Also of note, the concept art up top here reflects a slightly different look of the structure than when it was first announced, that art can be seen in our original announcement post.  Both show an exciting structure filled with fun interactive activities, though the current art shows a more polished, and probably final, look.

© Dorney Park

Here is a view of the webcam from earlier today when the park was in the middle of a very significant concrete pour.  As the park notes in a recent blog post update, there is a ton of underground work to do when building a massive water play structure like this.  That work seems to be complete since concrete is going on top of it.  If you look closely at the image you can also see how much more concrete there is to be poured, as the footprint of Seaside Splashworks extends out much further onto the island than Island Water Works did.

Also on that blog post is some footage of Island Water Works being demolished, which is pretty neat to see.

In 2020 Dorney Park is celebrating not only the addition of Seaside Splashworks in Wildwater Kingdom, but also the return of the super popular Grand Carnivale celebration from July 25th through August 16th, and the brand new Summer Nights event which runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings from June 20th through July 12th.

Want To Be One of the First to Ride Orion? Kings Island Has an Auction for That.

© Kings Island

If you're looking for the ability to ride Orion, Kings Island's new giga-coaster, a couple days before any one else, AND raise money for a great charity, then the park has the perfect fundraiser auction for you!

The theme park is holding a First Riders Auction that will take place on April 9th, two days before the park's 2020 opening day, from the hours of 6 pm until 9 pm.  Interested parties must sign up and raise at least $150 for A Kid Again, and the top 32 fund raisers will obtain a seat on the first train out of the station at the start of the event.  However, everyone who makes it to the $150 mark will be able to get a certificate of participation, food, a first rider shirt and unlimited rides for three hours on April 9th.

© Kings Island

If interested in the auction, you can sign up via a link on the park's website or through A Kid Again, and fund raising will go through April 3rd.

A Kid Again is a "a nonprofit organization which exists to foster hope, happiness and healing for families raising kids with life-threatening illnesses through fun-filled group activities and events. A Kid Again families are invited to participate in these adventures from the age of diagnosis until the child reaches age 20 through funds raised from events such as" the Orion First Riders Auction.

Screaming down a 300 foot first drop for an excellent cause - before all your friends - doesn't seem like such a bad idea!  The auction has already raised more than $20k for A Kid Again, and there's still months of fund raising to go.

Universal Studios Hollywood Updates on New Secret Life of Pets Dark Ride Experience

© Universal Studios Hollywood

Universal Studios Hollywood is starting to build buzz around their latest attraction, The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash, by finally announcing some details about the dark ride attraction.  Located on the upper level of the famous theme park in Pets Place, formerly Baker Street, the ride has been announced to be featuring the same vocal talent as in the feature films The Secret Life of Pets and its sequel.

"The film’s talent and their alter egos include Patton Oswalt as Max, Kevin Hart as Snowball, Eric Stonestreet as Duke, Jenny Slate as Gidget, Tiffany Haddish as Daisy, Lake Bell as Chloe, Dana Carvey as Pops, Chris Renaud as Norman, Hannibal Buress as Buddy, Bobby Moynihan as Mel, Jessica DiCicco as Princess and Tara Strong as Pickles."

Planned to open this Spring, the new ride is set from the perspective of riders being a stray puppy that's on the "ultimate quest to find their forever homes." The ride is said to blend "live, dimensional and animated characters with hyper-realistic media and projection mapping to fully immerse guests in a bustling New York City landscape."  The ride vehicles will resemble cardboard boxes that travel along a track toward the festive Pet Adoption event.

Other highlights of the experience include "technological firsts that combine sophisticated facial recognition with enhanced gesture tracking, which helps to identify each guest as a unique stray puppy for the duration of the ride."  Exactly what type of puppy each guest will be characterized as will change each time they ride, adding a level of repeatability to the experience.

When it opens this Spring, The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash will be housed in a structure themed as a busy New York Street.  The wrapping just recently came down on that, as seen below in a Tweet from Inside Universal.  You can see more of the ride facade in this update from the site.

Walls are down around Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash @UniStudios pic.twitter.com/xQxL7yUGWu

— Inside Universal (@insideuniversal) January 23, 2020

SeaWorld San Antonio Releases Full POV of New Texas Stingray Wood Coaster

© SeaWorld San Antonio

With construction entering the final phases, SeaWorld San Antonio has released a full point of view movie of a ride on the Texas Stingray.  The custom designed wooden roller coaster has been created for the park by Great Coasters International, and features a 100 foot first drop and top speeds of 55 miles per hour.

SeaWorld San Antonio started working on the coaster early last summer, which means that progress on the ride has been swift and it looks like it will have no problem meeting a Spring 2020 opening date.  The park has not said exactly when that will be, but has a very short off-season and actually opens again on February 22nd.  That may be a bit early for the new coaster, but hey, you never know!

Enjoy your ride on the Texas Stingray below.

Kings Dominion to Remove 'The Crypt' Huss Suspended Top Spin? Plus New Restaurant to Open

© NewsPlusNotes

While I haven't seen an official confirmation from Kings Dominion, it is being reported that they are currently removing their HUSS Suspended Top Spin, named The Crypt.  The news was broken by KDFans.com on social media, and Kings Dominion actually replied to the tweet with the surprised owl meme, which I guess is kind of a confirmation?

It makes sense though, as Cedar Fair has removed HUSS Top Spins, both mega sized and regular sized, from their parks in the past.  Off the top of my head Knott's Berry Farm, Calfornia's Great America, Dorney Park, Worlds of Fun, Valleyfair and Kings Island have removed theirs in recent years.  In that sense it seems The Crypt at Kings Dominion has been living on borrowed time for years now.

The ride opened at Kings Dominion in 2005 as Tomb Raider: Firefall, but lost its franchised theming when Cedar Fair purchased the Paramount Parks.

© Google Maps

Taking into account that Volcano: The Blast Coaster has already been removed from the park, it is looking like half of Safari Village will be rather empty for the 2020 season.  Seen above, with both Volcano and The Crypt gone a big part of the land - whose theme makes no sense now more than ever before - will be empty space.  There's already rumors out there about the next big coaster for the park, which seemed planned for the area Volcano took up.  But perhaps there's more to that plan than first thought?  As always, time will tell.

© Kings Dominion

One additional item for the park that is not at all speculation, a new restaurant named Grain & Grill will be added to International Street, where Panda Express was formerly.  The location will offer grilled meats and a nearly endless combinations of sides that guests can choose from.  The park is proud to accommodate a variety of special dietary needs at Grain & Grill, and there will also be a full bar!  Read more directly from the park at this link.

Kings Island to Debut New Orion Giga Coaster on Opening Day - April 11th!

© Kings Island

One of the largest new for 2020 roller coaster projects in the U.S. now has an opening date!  Kings Island will open Orion along with the park on April 11th, 2020.  The park has posted their schedule for the year and also confirmed they plan to have the giga coaster ready to do for opening day.  This news means that riders only have less than three months of waiting until they can get their first rides on Orion.

© Kings Island

And speaking of the ride, if you haven't been following construction you've missed a great deal of the ride's 5,321 feet of track going into place.  The park has already flown through the coaster's second hill, turn around (seen up top in a recent image from the park), and more recently the third and fourth hills as well.  Orion will feature a 300 foot first drop (also seen above) that will send the trains roaring around the track at a top speed of 91 miles per hour.

© Kings Island

It has been fun keeping tabs on Orion from Kings Island's webcam - here is a shot of the coaster from this afternoon.  Crews are hard at work on the giant helix that comes near the end of the ride.  From this image it looks like they're almost at the halfway point of the element.  That only leaves a relatively small amount of track and supports to go before the ride is complete!

That should leave plenty of time for testing ahead of the planned April 11th debut.