originally posted on 2/14/2020
POSTED FEBRUARY 14
Photo: Courtesy SeaWorld. View full-sized image.
SeaWorld Announces Opening Dates for Texas Stingray
The new Texas Stingray wooden coaster at SeaWorld San Antonio (Texas) will officially open to the public on Saturday, February 29.
Those who have purchased a SeaWorld season pass can ride it even sooner. SeaWorld announced that pass holders will receive “first sting” opportunities the weekend before the official debut, with exclusive ride times opening weekend, February 22 and 23. Platinum pass members will get the first rides starting at 10 a.m. on Saturday, February 22, followed by Gold and Silver members who can ride starting at noon. The coaster will be open to passholders the next day as well in honor of the park's Pass Member Appreciation Day.
Photo: Courtesy Great Coasters International, Inc. View full-sized image.
Also, all enthusiasts can look forward to ACE Day at SeaWorld San Antonio organized by ACE South Central to be held on Saturday, March 21. The event flyer is now online. Attendees will be treated to a full day of fun, including ERT on all the park’s coasters, breakfast, dinner and more.
Texas Stingray, built by Great Coasters International, Inc., features a drop of 100 feet, with 15 airtime hills and a 100-foot-long tunnel. The top speed of “the tallest, fastest and longest wooden coaster in Texas” is 55 mph. The new 3,379-foot-long ride will be SeaWorld’s sixth coaster.
Bosnia-Herzegovina Might Magically Receive Its First Coaster
It was recently announced that plans have been drawn up and approved for building one of the largest amusement parks in the Balkan region, all just outside of the town of Lukavac in the Tuzla region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As detailed by the chairman and CEO of Magic Land BH Amusement Park (“The Biggest Ever Amusement Park”), the 49-hectares (121 acres) project will be a joint venture with the overnment of Canton Tuzla, and will include the “Biggest Rides and Games for all ages, starting 2 years till no end,” such as a 100-meter (328 feet) drop tower, a 120-meter (329 feet) Ferris wheel, a 123-meter (403 feet) flying swing and “a huge coaster,” according to park officials. The last, as reported by Screamscape and CoasterForce, looks to be a Vekoma Bermuda Blitz model, like the Lech Coaster at Legendia park in Chorzow, Poland (currently the only one of the Bermuda Blitz’s to have been built — see RollerCoaster! issue #144 for “Lech Coaster Premieres a New Style of Coaster From Vekoma”).
Regrettably, there has been little official information available after those initial proclamations about the proposed Magic Land, and the park’s Facebook page has been dropped. Stay tuned for further developments, hopefully.
Shanghai Disneyland.
Photo: Mike Thompson. View full-sized image.
Coronavirus Outbreak Fears Close Three Parks in Asia
Shanghai Disneyland (Pudong, China), Hong Kong Disneyland (Lantau Island, Hong Kong) and Ocean Park in Hong Kong have been recently closed in reaction to — and in order to slow — the spread of the China-originated coronavirus. According to a report from the Orange County Register, the Walt Disney Company expects that it might be necessary to close the Shanghai and Hong Kong resorts for the next two months.
Just prior to the parks’ closure there were already rumors that the Hong Kong resort’s lower earnings, due to other instability issues in the region, such as the anti-government protesting that has taken place, may possibly have a more long-term effect on planned expansions for the Disney park, such as the Frozen land that had already started construction (along with its promised-for-2021 Wandering Oaken’s Sliding Sleighs coaster).
An additional issue for Hong Kong’s Disney resort could involve the local government’s need to quarantine all visitors coming in from the Chinese mainland for 14 days. Considerations are being given to the Hong Kong Disneyland hotels as a potential site. According to disneyandmore.blogspot, since the Hong Kong government is the majority owner of the park, it could theoretically insist on the use of the hotels for that purpose. However, while there is a medical need for this, a concern is that usage of the hotels as a virus quarantine location could also place a permanent stigma on the site, potentially resulting in many patrons considering it as a virus-contaminated and tarnished location for years to come.
Sadly, the death toll in China from this outbreak has exceeded 1,000, with one in Hong Kong, while the number of confirmed infections is more than 42,700 in China and about 400 in the rest of the world (according to reports as of February 11, 2020).
Scenic Railway.
Photo: Justin Garvanovic. View full-sized image.
England’s Dreamland and the Scenic Railway Will Be Celebrating 100 Years
Dreamland (Margate, England) will be 100 years old in 2020. The seaside amusement and entertainment location was first used for rides in 1880, but the Dreamland name was not established until 1920 with the debut of its Scenic Railway wooden roller coaster. Designed by John Henry Iles (also the new park owner then) and using an on-ride brakeman to this day, the ride is among the five oldest coasters in the world.
Major international music concerts are planned for Dreamland, along with new art commissions, a series of large-scale events and festival fun to mark the landmark anniversary. As Kentonline reports, Park CEO Eddie Kemsley claims the 100th year will celebrate the future of Margate and Dreamland as well as its past. "Dreamland is one of the most important and striking attractions in the country, it is part of our cultural heritage," she said. "So much love and hard work has gone into preserving and celebrating this cherished seaside attraction over the past ten decades. We are immensely proud to introduce it to a new generation of Dreamers and to give them something sensational to talk about in 2020. Not only do we have a huge line up of events in the works, but we also look forward to sharing stories from our past — and celebrating our loyal customers — with the rest of the world. This year will go down in Dreamland’s history books as one of the greatest ever."
Photo: Cheri Armstrong. View full-sized image.
Dreamland Margate, which is home to three coasters among its 22 attractions, has teamed up with HemingwayDesign to create a striking new logo for the 100th anniversary. In a series of animations, the logo comes to life by reflecting the motion and energy of Dreamland’s rides: the drop of the Scenic Railway, the spinning of the Hurricane Jets, the drama of the Pendulum and the constant activity across the park. The brand celebrates Dreamland’s heritage with the slogan “1000 smiles per hour, 100 years, 10 decades, 1 Dreamland.”
Dreamland 100th Anniversary Logo
Photo: Alex Dickey. View full-sized image.
PowerPark at PowerLand Opening Its Seventh Coaster in 2020
PowerPark is the amusement center of PowerLand (Alahärmä, Finland), a large-scale resort which includes a restaurant, hotel, camping area with cottages, center for horses, and go-karting track (which previously hosted the Karting World Formula One-circuit Championship), as well as a hectare-large (2.47 acre — the largest in Europe) indoor track. The resort is now powerfully boasting about the newest PowerPark coaster, its seventh, coming in 2020.
PowerPark’s website reports a new steel coaster for 2020. PowerPark has not announced the particulars of what the ride will be, however. Informed speculation leans toward a Gerstlauer Amusement Rides GmbH Euro-Fighter or an Infinity-model steelie, which will apparently intertwine with the park’s already existing and adjacent Junker custom Infinity coaster, also from Gerstlauer, which features a linear synchronous motor launch (0 to 64.9 mph in 1.9 seconds), multi-inversions and a top hat maneuver.
The ride is yet to be named. PowerPark is running a name-the-coaster contest. The prize draw is open until February 16, 2020, and the park is offering three hours of exclusive park use (the entire place apparently) for the winner and his or her friends.
Finland’s PowerPark is also, notably, home to the 2006 wooden Thunderbird twister (by Great Coasters International, Inc. [Jeff Pike-designed] as well as an unusual Fabbri-made spinning-car Mad Mouse-style steelie (only seven in the world) called Neo’s Twister. Interestingly, the Fabbri model of this coaster is called Power Mouse, an ironic fit for Power Park. Finland is currently home to seven parks, offering 23 roller coasters (including two woodies), according to RCDB.com.
Here’s a teaser peek offered by PowerPark for its new coaster:
Video: Courtesy PowerPark.
Views of its construction can be seen here:
Video: Courtesy PowerPark.
— Compiled and written by Randy Geisler
POSTED JANUARY 13
Great American Scream Machine TLC
Photo: Courtesy Amuse Rides. View full-sized image.
The Great American Scream Machine wooden coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia (Austell, Georgia) is benefiting from some TLC, with retracking work being completed during the off-season. Amuse Rides is in charge of the refurbishment.
Courtesy Amuse Rides. View full-sized image.
Photo: Courtesy Amuse Rides. View full-sized image.
Photo: Courtesy Amuse Rides. View full-sized image.
When it first opened in 1973, this ACE Roller Coaster Landmark was the tallest, longest and fastest roller coaster in the world, and also one of the best named (in the opinion of many fans). Designed by John C. Allen, Don Rosser and William Cobb, the classic style out-and-backer (built by Philadelphia Toboggan Company) was also the first wooden coaster for a Six Flags park.
Pantheon Speeds Up for a World Record
ACE Communications Director is excited for Pantheon.
Photo: Luke Reynolds. View full-sized image.
According to a new video from Busch Gardens Williamsburg (Virginia), the park has decided to boost the speed of its new Pantheon coaster to claim the world record for the fastest multi-launch, with a new top speed of 73 mph. For those wondering how much of a boost it took, it seems just one extra mile per hour was needed to bump Pantheon from being the fastest multi-launch coaster in North America (which the park did claim at its previously announced top speed of 72 mph) to having the world-record instead, which it can claim with the newly announced boast of 73 mph. The international record up until now has been held by Taron at Phantasialand (Brühl, Germany), which has a top speed of 72.7 mph.
Other than explaining that the gods themselves assisted (Pantheon is themed as an ode to the most powerful Roman gods), Busch has not explained in a more earth-bound manner how the speed was increased by the needed 1 mph (and why it didn’t occur to them to do this before), but one might assume they were able to goose up the launch sufficiently, technically and precisely just a little bit, to accomplish the task.
The Intamin steel coaster, with its four launches, two inversions, 95-degree descent, 180-foot drop, as well as forward and backward movements over its 3,328-foot course, is set to open in the spring 2020.
Check out the goddess Minerva’s spin on the issue:
Video: Courtesy Busch Gardens Williamsburg.
Furuvik Park Set to Release a Dragon
Photo: Steve Gzesh. View full-sized image.
A new family-style coaster to be known as Draken — the Dragon — will open later this year at Furuvik amusement park (Gävle, Sweden).
As reported by Interpark magazine, Draken will enable families to experience a fun ride together. Per Nina Tano, CEO of Furuvik, “We are so pleased to be able to present a brand new and beautiful roller coaster to our younger guests next year. The Draken will be a perfect addition for the families of children who visit our amusement park.”
Made by Zierer, Draken (which is a version of their Force One-model) will be 420 feet long, 15 feet high and offer a speedy flight of 18.6 mph. The ride has a capacity of 12 people, with riders arranged two across in six rows sitting in each train.
Draken is set to open on May 16, 2020. Furuvik is already home to two other coasters, including the Rocket, a steel Schwarzkopf coaster, which, before it was moved to Furuvik in 2011, began its life as the enclosed Jet Star 2-model Black Hole at Alton Towers in England.
Soon to be the Prancing Mindbender at Galaxyland?
Photo: Jim Winslett. View full-sized image.
As reported by licenceglobal.com business reporting service, West Edmonton Mall (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) has partnered with Hasbro Inc. to retheme its Galaxyland indoor amusement park, creating the first Hasbro themed amusement park in Canada.
My Little Pony was just a yearling when West Edmonton Mall opened its amusement park in 1983. Now the prancing plaything will be one of many products featured in 2020 at the mall’s indoor park. As reported by CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Centre news), West Edmonton Mall General Manager Danielle Woo remarked, "We're really excited to be partnering with a company like Hasbro that shares the same values we do as far as creating a dynamic and fun family environment."
Hasbro owns trademarks for the likes of Kenner, Parker Brothers and Milton Bradley, and has what Woo called a "multi-generational portfolio" — brands and characters familiar to most everyone, which also include Nerf, G.I. Joe, Mr. Potato Head and games like Monopoly, Battleship and Operation.
Photo: Randy Geisler. View full-sized image.
According to a Mall news release, the 165,000-square-foot park will be transformed with Hasbro products featured on 25 existing rides, games and attractions, as well as themed food service outlets. The park will remain open throughout. Woo said the rides will be closed down for short periods of time to be "rethemed." The construction will begin this month and take about a year. The name of the reopened park will be "Galaxyland powered by Hasbro."
Galaxyland is home to the world’s tallest and longest indoor roller coaster, Mindbender, a Schwarzkopf-made (Ing.-Büro Stengel GmbH-designed) triple-looping, 145-foot-tall, 4,198-foot-long steel legend. Plus, the park features three other coasters. No word yet on what changes, theming or rebranding any of these will fall prey to.
A few of the Hasbro toy company's other forays into the amusement industry include a Transformers ride at Universal Studios, a Monopoly-themed hotel in Kuala Lumpur and Nerf family entertainment centers across the Asia Pacific.
Do You Want to Be in a Hamster Wheel on a Coaster?
Photo: John Robinson. View full-sized image.
One of the most popular and more intriguing creations introduced at the IAAPA (International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions) Expo held recently in Orlando was SBF-Visa Group’s new coaster concept, introduced via its rollover “hamster wheel” car. Show attendees were able to check out the operational-at-the-Expo “Big Air Coaster” modely SBF (See ACE News story “IAAPA Expo 2019 Was Alive With Coaster News and Much More,” posted on December 13, 2019) and many flipped for it.
Now, hamster wannabes will be able to check out this new experience themselves, as the first of these steel coasters has been sold to Craig’s Cruisers Family Fun Center in Silver Lake, Michigan. The as-yet-unnamed family-style compact coaster (with its rectangular layout, which features turns and bunny hops sure to send the coaster cars whirling) will debut sometime soon in 2020.
Fun Spot’s Newest Coaster Named Hurricane
Photo: Chris Kraftchick. View full-sized image.
Fun Spot America (Kissimmee, Florida), has chosen a name for its newest ride. Last October, the park asked fans to submit family-friendly, Florida-themed names for the new-to-the-state coaster. The name Hurricane was selected from those submitted. The 52-foot-tall, 1,300-foot-long E&F Miler Industries Hi-Miler steel coaster has opened and begun its daily operation on December 24.
Photo: Chris Kraftchick. View full-sized image.
That opening marked, interestingly, the final coaster to open in 2019 (of the 274 that debuted last year), bringing the year-long coaster celebratory debuts to a stormy conclusion.
Making a Coaster Project Less ‘Disturbing’
Photo: Cheri Armstrong. View full-sized image.
Tayto Park’s new coaster might be back on track again, at least if park-owner Raymond Coyle has anything to say about it.
As has been reported previously (see ACE News article “Ireland’s Tayto Park ‘Coaster 2021’ Plans Suffer Setback,” posted on August 3, 2009), although the Ashborne, Ireland, park had secured planning permission to build a steel coaster attraction set to open in 2021, an appeals board voted against the park’s new coaster intentions after four local residents claimed the anticipated screaming by passengers would increase noise disturbance in the area. Tayto Park said at that time the proposed €14-million development would therefore be substantially delayed.
Until now — as Coyle has just announced new plans for the coaster. His proposed now-€15.5-million roller coaster won’t be heard as much by neighbors, he contends, saying the ride will now come with a series of measures aimed at eliminating any noise for nearby residents. As reported by Breaking News, Coyle remarked, “There will be screams, but they will be drowned out.” The park’s Coaster 2021 project entails two separate Vekoma steel rides, with a 31-meter-high (101-foot) suspended thrill coaster and a 24-meter (79-foot) family boomerang ride. The new plan contains 14 noise reduction measures drawn up by Vekoma, which include three noise retention tunnels, as well as fencing and barriers to act in a way to reduce the noise to the surrounding areas. The new documents submitted to the council say that Vekoma is “confident that the proposed Coaster 2021 will not have a noise impact within the setting of Tayto Park.”
BREAKING NEWS — The Irish Times has reported (on Wednesday, January 8, 2020) that plans by Tayto Park to have its €15.5 million Coaster 2021 project operational for next year have suffered a major setback, as two of the local resident objectors who successfully blocked park-owner Raymond Coyle’s previous version of Coaster 2021 last year have now lodged an objection against the new proposal. The two have told the local council that the planned roller coaster “will have a serious negative long-term impact on our peaceful enjoyment of our home and the protection of the natural environment.” They contend “that aside from proposals to make some noise abatement modifications to the development, the proposed new development is the same as the previous application.” They state that the coasters’ proximity to residential dwellings would injure the amenities of property in the vicinity.
This set-back will cause more delays for the Tayto coasters. Even if the project secures planning permission this summer, eventually overcoming the objections, the decision to appeal the new proposal likely ends the prospect of Coaster 2021 becoming operational in 2021, as the roller coaster will take one year to construct and six months to erect. Coyle said that he is “disappointed” over the objection lodged.
— Written and Compiled by Randy Geisler
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