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Everyone likes a good read from time to time, or even all the time. That's why our team of writers is constantly at work putting their opinions and insights into words, and this is the place to find their work: the Editorials & Articles section! We write about anything and everything, from the implications of the latest topics of news around the amusement industry, to the timeless topics of interest, to just plain satire. If you can think of a topic you would love to see in the form of an article, chances are you'll be seeing it in the future!
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2004: A Year in Review / By: Devin Olson, Friday, December 31, 2004 -
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Every New Years Day, the same question comes to mind: where did the year go? How did another 365 days get away so quickly? As we go on, we look back at the past year, specifically the angle of the past twelve months' significance to coaster fans around the globe.
January:
We started off the year slow in the coaster offseason, with not much major news other than a few exceptions. On the 14th, Magic Springs and Crystal Falls announced Gauntlet, a Vekoma Suspended Looping Coaster model originally slated to be erected at New Orleans' Jazzland before that park assumed Six Flags management. The next day, the coaster community received the second announcement of the year  when Paramount's Carowinds revealed plans to build BORG Assimilator as the first Star Trek-themed coaster at a Paramount property. BORG was another story of a relocated coaster, as it had come from Paramount's Great America in California where it had introduced the concept of a 'flying coaster' to the world as Stealth in the year 2000. On the same day, the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk's plans to add an S&S tower complex to the beachside park were rejected, but the park kept up their fight to build the ride eight years after it began. On the 23rd, Big Chief Carts And Coasters became known as Mount Olympus Theme Park and plans for the wooden coaster Hades were initially revealed.
February:
 Gaming coaster fans celebrated over the news of a RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 in 3-D on the 3rd when Atari announced the third version of the best-selling game five years after the original RCT. Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk finally won their case on the 11th, and would begin construction on the 125-foot tower several months later. The first theme park tragedy struck the following day as an employee of Florida's Disney World was run over by a float in the park's parade. Unfortunately, this event marked the beginning of a month of bad news for the recreation industry. Three days later, a roof would collapse at a Moscow waterpark, Transvaal Park, resulting in the deaths of two-dozen and number of injuries topping 100. On the 18th, the bad news came from Wonderland Sydney, as the Australian park revealed that it would close permanently just months before its twentieth anniversary and leaving three coasters homeless. The next story was environmentalists' objections to SeaWorld San Diego's construction of the Journey to Atlantis water coaster, citing a potentially hazardous location.
March:
More tragedy hit on the 14th when a woman riding a Zamperla Hawk at Tennessee's Rockin' Raceway slipped from the restraint and plunged to her death, resulting in the ride's removal. The news took a turn for the better the next day with the debut of one of the first new rides of 2004, the Mall of America's second  coaster with Camp Snoopy's Timberland Twister showing off Gerstlauer's spinning twister. On the 20th, Paramount's Carowinds' BORG Assimilator made its debut, and a new region enjoyed the Vekoma coaster's thrill of flight. Two days later, good news came in the form of the state of Deleware receiving its first coasters. Blue Diamond Park gave a Pinfari twister its fourth lease on life after being removed from Pennsylvania's DelGrosso's Amusement Park. That month, Six Flags began airing the theme park chain's first national ad campaign in the new millennium and 'Mr. Six' quickly became a nationally-recognized icon. Around the same time, the hit show CSI also brought amusement parks into the national spotlight by filming at Pharaohs Lost Kingdom in California.
April:
While one Australian park was lost in March, April opened with the reopening of Sydney's Luna Park after four closures since 1979. More positive news came from Tennessee's Dollywood when Great Coasters International and the park unveiled Thunderhead, a terrain twister wooden coaster immediately  received to rave reviews in the coaster community. Four days later, Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain experienced a minor collision only days after reopening following a half-year closure in response to 2003's death. More bad news came from California just two days later when an employee of Six Flags Magic Mountain was struck and killed by a train on Scream! while attempting to walk over the coaster's track during test runs. The same day, plans surfaced for the first time for the Stratosphere's fourth ride, a hyped-up swing ride taking riders over the edge of the tower slated to open in early 2005. Finally, the month ended with another park's success story of a long-fought-for approval when Waldameer Park finally won the right to construct the Ravine Flyer II wooden coaster after a battle tracing back well into the 1990's.
May:
 The first day of the month was a mixed bag of progress and tragedy in the theme park industry. First, Ohio's Geauga Lake reopened with new management under Cedar Fair following a loss of attendence after three years of Six Flags ownership. At 3:45 that day, a rider on a prominent Massachusetts coaster, Superman: Ride of Steel at Six Flags New England, was thrown from the end of the coaster and killed due to a loose restraint, making international news. In Pennsylvania a week later, one new coaster debuted and another was announced with the opening of the first hydraulically-launched inverting coaster, Storm Runner at Hersheypark, and initial news of the floorless looping Hydra: the Revenge to take the empty space  of Hercules at Dorney Park in 2005. The 20th brought disaster to England's Blackpool Pleasure Beach when a fire broke out and destroyed several small attractions, while the following day brought the long-anticipated debut of Universal Studios Florida's Revenge of the Mummy heavily-themed dark coaster. However, the news turned negative the next day when a girl fell from Playland Park's Mind Scrambler flat ride and died. The next week, a flood hit Holiday World, temporarily closing the park's waterpark. Finally, May closed with the debut of America's first Intamin Half-Pipe coaster at Six Flags Elitch Gardens, the debut of SeaWorld San Diego's Journey to Atlantis, and the reopening of the Six Flags Superman: Ride of Steel coasters with restraint modifications and new safety procedures.
June:
While the Ride of Steel coasters reopened, the state of California requested the closure of two coasters with similar restraints to the New England ride: Intamin AG's Superman: the Escape at Six Flags Magic  Mountain and Xcelerator at Knott's Berry Farm to give the parks time to modify their lap bars. Another tragedy came to family-operated Blackpool Pleasure Beach with the passing of manager Geoffrey Thompson on the 12th, which was followed by the death of a maintenance employee at Six Flags Great America four days later after being struck by a car on the new Ragin' Cajun wild mouse. An unprecedented third tragedy hit Blackpool Pleasure Beach on the 25th when another member of the Thompson family, Geoffrey's mother and the park's chairman Doris, died in her sleep. The final major story to close out the month came when raging flood waters submerged Six Flags over Texas and temporarily closed the fourty-three-year-old theme park.
July:
 Coaster fans were left wondering when a third accident took place on Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad on the 8th, injuring three riders and further damaging a popular coaster's reputation. A second coaster accident left thrill seekers with injuries on July 12th on one of the world's most prominent rides, the year-old tallest and fastest ride in the world: Cedar Point's Top Thrill Dragster. During take-off, the launch cable attached to the train frayed, sending metal shavings into riders' skin at 120-mile-per-hour speeds and leaving the coaster closed for several weeks while repairs were made. At the end of the month, a new coaster concept made its debut with Vekoma's Booster Bike at the Netherlands' Toverland. Booster Bike put a new twist on coaster seating, seating riders on their stomachs on motorbike-themed vehicles before blasting off.
August:
The United Kingdom's Alton Towers came under fire at the start of the month when a judge ruled against the  park for operating the steel coaster Oblivion after neighbors filed complaints over noise. Plans for a new waterpark headed to Six Flags Great America were announced on the 11th, pleasing park locals and serving up competition for a nearby indoor waterpark. The next day, news came that would please coaster fans this time: new heavily-themed launched coasters for Paramount's Canada's Wonderland and Paramount's Kings Island. Similarly to the Revenge of the Mummy coasters, the Premier Rides-manufactured Italian Job Stunt Track coasters would launch riders three times during the movie-themed experiences. In the middle of the month, Hurricane Charley hit the East Coast of the United States, hindering construction work to revamp Florida's Cypress Gardens. On the 22nd, Minnesota's Valleyfair announced the second Floorless Top Spin ride from Huss, Riptide, for 2005.
September:
 A fourth and final tragedy in 2004 came to Blackpool Pleasure Beach at the start of the month when a second fire started. Luckily, the park escaped any major damage, less than the first fire. On the 6th, no miracle saved Florida's 1963 amusement park Miracle Strip from permanent closure, as the park was sold to developers and the classic Starliner wooden coaster faced an uncertain future. The Rocket Coaster craze from Intamin continued with the announcement of Kanonen for Sweden's Liseberg, set to provide guests  with a smaller but more twisted ride than other Rocket Coasters in April, 2005. Word also surfaced of Paramount's Kings Dominion's 2005 Tomb Raider: the Ride, the third Floorless Top Spin from Huss and third Paramount ride to use the Tomb Raider theme, then came details on Dorney Park's Hydra: the Revenge several days later. Another hurricane in 2004's active storm season, Ivan, made landfall in mid-September, resulting in major flooding at Six Flags over Georgia. But the hurricanes were not the only bad news in the Southeastern United States; on the 23rd a rider attempting to board Revenge of the Mummy fell from the coaster's platform and died. Yet, September would end with positive stories as Hersheypark announced the first Frequent Faller coaster from Interactive Rides with Turbulence on the 27th, and Six Flags Great Adventure acheived international attention by announcing the world's new tallest and fastest coaster, Kingda Ka, a 456-foot tall, 128-mile per hour Rocket Coaster.
October:
 More than one park would be lost in 2004; on October 9th, South Africa's Ratanga Junction announced an upcoming permanent closing in June of 2005, putting the future of the park's three coasters into question. On the 22nd, Legoland put the chain's five theme parks around the globe up for sale, which includes locations in Denmark, England, Germany, and the United States. RollerCoaster Tycoon fans finally got what they had been waiting for on the 26th when RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 hit the shelves and once again brought top sales marks to the popular computer gaming craze of RollerCoaster Tycoon. Busch Gardens Tampa would then hit coaster enthusiasts with the announcement of SheiKra for the next season: the first Bolliger and Mabillard Dive Machine model since initial prototypes featuring a full layout complete with an inversion, 200-foot heights, and heavy Busch Gardens-style theming.
November:
Six Flags Great America's Shockwave learned its fate after sitting at the park in pieces since its disassembly in 2002 when Six Flags decided to scrap the steel looper instead of relocating. But aside from the one loss, November would be a month of coaster announcements and debuts. Cedar Point's next expansion focused on winter business with a new reason for guests to visit all year when the indoor waterpark Castaway Bay opened on the 5th after months of construction. More 2005 plans were announced  on the 7th with the confirmation of Powder Keg for Missouri's Silver Dollar City, an S&S launched coaster uniquely combining elements of the defunct Buzzsaw Falls water coaster. Another announcement came from the Stratosphere Tower with the naming of the 2005 thrill ride on the 18th: Insanity: the Ride. Then, Superman el Último Escape would bring hypercoaster thrills to Mexican parkgoers for the first time at Six Flags Mexico when the Chance-Morgan steel coaster finally made its debut after years of approval and construction delays. And the story was the same for the new Cypress Gardens Adventure Park when the newly improved and rideified Florida attraction finally redebuted after construction hindrances caused by three major hurricanes: Charley, Frances and Jeanne. Then, on the 28th, Thorpe Park confirmed a new Rocket Coaster set to debut in 2005 to join Alton Towers' Rita as the United Kingdom's first hydraulic launch coasters.
December:
 The final month of 2004 opened with the announcement of Cedar Point's maXair, a Huss Giant Frisbee for the next season, then came one last park-related tragedy for the year. Pakistan's Suzu Water Park was operating a flat ride in poor conditions and beyond capacity on the 5th when structural members of the ride's structure broke free, leaving riders crashing to the ground for a total of five killed and dozens injured. On the 7th, Knott's Berry Farm debuted the last major coaster of 2004: Silver Bullet. The inverted coaster took  flight as the Cedar Fair's third and largest ride of its kind from Bolliger and Mabillard. But two days later, Hersheypark would reveal that 2005's addition, Turbulence, had been called off due to concerns over the ride's cost and misunderstandings with Interactive Rides. The state of Pennsylvania lost another coaster with Knoebels' Whirlwind as the disassembly of that steel looping coaster began. One of the most anticipated ride announcements arrived when Busch Gardens Williamsburg pulled the wraps off of plans for Curse of DarKastle: the Ride, a heavily themed dark ride experience.
As we speed into 2005, we anticipate everything that the next year has in store... Stay tuned for the picks for 'Most Innovative Rides of 2005,' and prepare for another year of great coaster thrills. Despite the bad news that inherently comes with each year, we look forward to the good times, and we look ahead to another year packed with them!
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