ACE Western Great Lakes: No Coaster Con Goes Virtual for Second Year

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originally posted on 2/4/2022

Running the show at No Coaster Con was Perry Haugen, Renee Haugen, Jeffrey Peters, Marty Moltz, Bonne Heck, Scott Heck and Jeremy Wdowicki.
Photo: Randy Geisler. View full-sized image.

On January 15, 2022, 259 enthusiasts hailing from 26 USA states and four countries savored eight hours of coastering and amusement industry presentations at the 41st annual Midwestern-run ACE No Coaster Con — this year, offered virtually via Zoom.

After opening remarks by event organizer and overseer Western Great Lakes Regional Rep Jeffrey Peters, along with a welcome by perennial master-of-ceremonies and jokemeister Mary Moltz, the event kicked into gear with a presentation by ACE Youth Advisory Committee Chairperson Adam Napotnik, highlighting ACE Cares.

Welcomes came from Marty Moltz and Jeffrey Peters.
Photo: Mike Bare. View full-sized image.

Napotnik noted the ACE Cares initiatives, which focus on opportunities to give back to charities through events at parks, raised $19,178 via seven events last year and was able to grant three more wishes for the kids at Give Kids The World Village (Kissimmee, Florida). Napotnik would like to see an event held in every region this year.

Members who have questions, ideas or wish to volunteer can contact him at anapotnik@aceonline.org.

Screen shots provided by Randy Geisler. View full-sized image.

Next up was Wes Ramey, public relations director of Dollywood (Pigeon Forge, Tennessee). Ramey stated that the park was very successful in 2021, noting that the public came out and attended many of Dollywood’s festivals through the season.

Pete Owens, vice-president of marketing and public relations, joined in the discussion. Owens noted that Dollywood will have a major announcement coming in late summer concerning a new attraction for 2023, which will be for Wildwood Grove (the park’s kid-friendly area) and “will be the largest attraction of its kind we’ve ever built.” He thinks ACEers will be very excited about it. As for Lightning Rod, in October it had a rollback that caused damage to the lower part of the lift. The coaster was closed for a month. It was operating successfully for Christmas.

Up next, Don Helbig, area manager of digital marketing for Kings Island (Mason, Ohio), said that the park got off to a bit of a later start in 2021 but was able to get back to a regular operating calendar by July. Kings Island will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2022. The park will be offering new experiences that tell its story with live shows, culinary offerings and a wide variety of anniversary merchandise. For 2022, seven rides have been repainted (including the coasters Adventure Express, Back Lot Stunt Coaster and The Racer, which is red, white and blue again). Some work is being done on the second half of Racer tracks.

The Beast is being refurbished. The Gravity Group is working on two major sections of track. The woodie’s first drop will now be at 53 degrees, and the entrance to the helix finale is being redone. The Coasterstock event is on again for 2022, with the tentative dates being May 20 – 21.

Nick Paradise, director of communications for Palace Entertainment, appeared next to talk about Kennywood (West Mifflin, Pennsylvania) and then Adventureland (Altoona, Iowa), which Palace just acquired. Paradise stated that 2021 was a great and encouraging year for Kennywood. For 2022, the park is starting a two-year celebration of Kennywood’s 125th anniversary and is undertaking many improvements for 2022 and 2023. For example, the Old Mill (the oldest water/dark ride in existence) is being refurbished, and work is being done on the Jack Rabbit queue area. In 2022, the Kangaroo (Flying Coaster) is being brought back and will have a new look, design and lighting backdrop.

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Many festivals and events will be held at Kennywood this season, including ACE’s Coaster Con 44. Expect great ERTs, not only on all the coasters (which will be freshly painted, incidentally) but also on Kangaroo.

Paradise then spoke of Iowa’s Adventureland, reminding everyone that the park (just outside of Des Moines) already offers more than 100 rides (including six coasters), attractions and shows, as well as Adventure Bay water park, a hotel and campgrounds. For 2022, it will be adding nine new attractions (mostly family and children’s rides), with two more promised for 2023.

Pete Owens reappeared to don his National Roller Coaster Museum and Archives (NRCMA) hat to elaborate on what’s up with that important facility. Owens had ACEer Kris Rowberry join him to help in detailing recent developments. Last year the facility in Plainview, Texas, acquired a Loch Ness Monster Arrow ride vehicle as well as the first coaster car designed by Dana Morgan and Steve Okamoto for the West Coaster at Pacific Park. Last year the museum had acquired a track section from Knoebels’ Flying Turns, cars and launch track from Volcano: The Blast Coaster (Kings Dominion) and, amazingly, a 1918 Philadelphia Toboggan Company (PTC) coaster train from the former Rocky Springs Jack Rabbit coaster.

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The NRCMA has an event space at the facility, and workers completed the “Buzz Bar.” The bar and stools around it and the chandelier above are made up of various coaster parts and woods.

The museum’s theme for 2022 is “History Is Riding on It.” The NRCMA has been working with Museum Arts out of Dallas for guidance on designing the museum space for the guest experience, so that the NRCMA can effectively convey the history of the amusement industry. The $150,000 donation from ACE has been extremely helpful.

Those who wish to help can go to the website at https://rollercoastermuseum.org/ and donate directly there.

Next, Moltz and Peters took a moment to acknowledge those in the amusement industry who had recently passed away. Remembered were (Charles) Hank Salemi, park president of Six Flags Great America, and Stan Checketts of S&S Power (who had been kind enough to attend No Coaster Con in years past). Sadly, ACE lost two fellow enthusiasts, Greg Legowski and Mary Ann Jaram. A moment of silence was observed in honor of their memory.

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ACE President Robert Ulrich presented some thoughts and insights on the state of the club and offered a 2022 update. He admitted that coping with the pandemic has been a struggle but reminded us that the theme for this year is “Connected by Coasters.”

2022 is an election year for ACE. Starting February 2 through March 31, individuals can be nominated to run for president, vice-president, treasurer and secretary. The election ends on July 15, and the new Executive Committee is to be in place as of September 15.

Rick Knoebel of Knoebels Amusement Resort (Elysburg, Pennsylvania) noted that 2021, which was the park’s 95th anniversary, was certainly better than 2020, and they loved hosting ACE’s 2021 Coaster Con.

As for 2022, 500 feet of track will be replaced on Phoenix. A Bayern Kurve ride will open this year, and the park will be adding a Kosmos’s Meet and Greet area, offering a photo op and gift shop where guests can hobnob with favorite park characters. Some attractions will be leaving Knoebels: 1001 Nacht, Wipeout and Ball Crawl.

Tom Crisci, vice-president of marketing, communications and social media for Indiana Beach Water Park and Resort (Monticello), came up next. He mentioned that IB Parks and Entertainment has also acquired Clementon Park and Splash World in New Jersey and the old Fantasy Island (Grand Island, New York), which is now named Niagara Amusement Park and Resort in New York. Niagara’s Silver Comet wooden coaster is having track work done and will open later in 2022. Clementon Park is also making progress in its retracking efforts of Hell Cat and plans on it operating later in the 2022 season.

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Silver Comet View full-sized image.

Indiana Beach had a good summer in 2021. Steel Hawg has been repainted.

New for 2022, the Cyclone Zyklon steelie will open, as will the Schwarzkopf Triple Looper (final name for that one has yet to be decided) — both coasters having been moved from Mexico.

Bryan Kopeck, general manager of Santa’s Village Amusement and Water Park (Dundee, Illinois), which is currently home to two coasters, Super Cyclone and Wacky Worm, said 2020 was a tough year but 2021 was better. Santa Springs waterpark finally opened, featuring the Lighthouse Harbor zero-depth entry pool, Caribbean Curl and Peppermint Twist body slides. The Blizzard, a 40-foot-tall pendulum swing ride that sends riders upside down, debuted. And the Magical Christmas Celebration drivethrough was a success, featuring two million lights and live animals.

In the future, Santa’s Village will feature a new dark ride for 2022 (acquired from Dinosaur Beach), offer an expansion to Santa Springs for a lazy river for 2023, reopen the Polar Dome ice arena as well as the Yuletide Plunge refurbished log flume by 2024— plus, it was noted that a new attraction that would be of interest to coaster enthusiasts could arrive by 2025.

Michael Graham, engineer and principal, The Gravity Group LLC, mentioned that 2022 will be the Gravity Group’s 20th anniversary.

Current projects for the company: multiyear reboot of the Tonnerre 2 Zeus woodie at Parc Astérix in France, the new Leviathan wooden coaster soon to open at Sea World in Australia and retracking The Beast at Kings Island. And Leviathan and Tonnerre 2 Zeus will have an interesting feature on their Timberliner trains — the last car on their trains will face backward.

The Gravity Group is using a new innovative product on its recent coaster work — engineered precut track. It was included on The Racer and The Beast retracking and the France and Australian coaster projects. This track is laid vertically rather than horizontally, increasing the strength.

Courtney McGarry Weber, the new director of communications for Carowinds (Charlotte, North Carolina), welcomed the chance to introduce herself to the enthusiast community. Carowinds’ main message this year is: continuing the fun in 2022. Carowinds is planning for a Coaster Camp this year. The biggest news on the coaster front is that the park’s Arrow Dynamics Carolina Cyclone steelie has received a fresh painted color scheme.

Lost Island in Waterloo, Iowa, is currently just a waterpark, but a theme park is being built from the ground up on the property across the street from the water amusements. General Manager John McFadden said that construction is going well. The restaurants are being finished, as is the park’s interactive and heavily themed dark ride (from Sally Dark Rides) named Volkanu: Quest for the Golden Idol, which will be enclosed inside a large volcano.

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The park will feature 28 attractions, including a Vekoma suspended looping coaster (which used to stand as Cobra at the now-closed Ratanga Junction in South Africa) and an Intamin launch coaster (which used to run at Liseberg as Kanonan). Plus, the park will have a drop tower from S&S. Lost Island tentatively has an official opening date of mid-June.

Tony Clark of Cedar Point (Sandusky, Ohio) remarked that 2021 turned out well, as they finished off the 150th anniversary celebration and opened the Snake River Expedition boat ride.

Sadly, Wicked Twister closed. Clark mentioned that it was sad to see the demolition process but added useable parts have been sent out to sister parks with similar Impulse coasters.

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For 2022, the 150-year parade will be returning but this year as a spectacular summer celebration.

The Cedar Point Winter Chill-Out will be February 26 and Coastermania is June 3. For Coaster Con 44, Clark said lots of activities are planned, including plenty of ERT.

No updates yet on when Top Thrill Dragster might reopen; the accident (a small piece of metal came off the ride’s train and hit a woman who was waiting in the queue, injuring her) has the coaster closed and is still under investigation.

Leah Koch, director of communications and fourth-generation owner of Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari (Santa Claus, Indiana), sent in a video to No Coaster Con featuring her touring and talking about her park. The Legend woodie is being worked on again during the off-season — the helix, the spiral and a few other spots are getting some attention this year.

This year’s HoliWood Nights enthusiasts’ event is themed as “Honey I Shrunk the Event,” to be held on June 3 – 4. It has a limited capacity, so interested members should visit HolidayWorld.com/Clubs for more information about this event.

The park’s 75th anniversary commemorative book is almost ready. 75 Years of America’s First Theme Park is authored by Jim Futrell, with some chapters written by Ron Gustafson, Neil Hedge and Dave Hahner, ACE historian (and Koch wrote a chapter too). It will be out in May.

Chris Ozimek, director of marketing, stepped up next to talk about Six Flags Fiesta Texas (San Antonio). The park’s 30th anniversary season is being celebrated in a big way with Dr. Diabolical’s Cliffhanger, a new coaster. It’s a Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M) 150-foot-tall steelie, touting a face-first steep drop of 95 degrees (the steepest B&M in the world).

Fiesta Texas will feature a 30-year festival April 2 – May 30, for which they are bringing back the original “Rockin’ at Rockville High” show the park premiered in 1992. “Celebrate 30” will be the nighttime show (including quarry wall pyrotechnics) during the festival.

Fiesta Texas will organize more events — one will be Roller Coaster Rodeo June 10 – 12 as a mega-enthusiast event, including full-park ERT as well as behind-the-scenes tours.

President and CEO Tom Rebbie walked No Coaster Con attendees through his Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters, Inc. (PTCI) conference room, shop and offices. Currently, 12 parks (along with numerous outside orders) have sent trains to PTCI to be worked on.

Rebbie showed off the coaster car that PTCI built for ACE, which promotes “Connected by Coasters” on its front panel. Rebbie mentioned that some lucky person will win this. There were trains from Kemah Boardwalk’s Boardwalk Bullet out on the shop floor and Rampage from Alabama Adventure. Michigan Adventure’s Zach’s Zoomer is getting a paint job, as is Zippin Pippin from Green Bay’s Bay Beach.

Janine Rebbie Matscherz, PTCI administrator, mentioned that since last summer when they started taking rehabs, they’ve seen about 70 coaster cars in-house to be worked on.

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Back in the conference room, Tom and Janine were met by Mike Matscherz (ACE Eastern Pennsylvania regional rep and Janine’s husband). They noted that two of the PTC-built coasters whose trains are being worked on out in the shop currently, will be declared ACE Roller Coaster Landmarks later this year: the Cedar Point Blue Streak and Sea Dragon at the Columbus Zoo.

Moltz closed the day by thanking everyone for coming and hoped all had a good time. He wanted to especially thank Peters for setting up the event. Peters in closing thanked Moltz as well as all those who handled all the technical aspects of running No Coaster Con: Renee and Perry Haugen, Bonnie and Scott Heck, Mike Bare and Jeremy Wdowicki.

— Randy Geisler