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There's another aspect of excitement in the world of thrill rides. There's the excitement of the latest announcements of upcoming rides from an industry as secretive as the military at times, and the excitement of all the latest happenings at parks around the world. Sometimes the news is good, sometimes the news is bad, but our aim is to bring you the fairest, timeliest, most accurate details on everything that concerns you. COASTER-net's team of journalists is hard at work around the clock to bring you the in-depth scoop!
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Knott's Berry Farm, Buena Park, CA, USA 08/29/03 - By: Joe Mueller -
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The park plans to remove the Hammerhead thrill ride sometime shortly after halloween on November 3rd. Be sure to take your last ride on this great attraction before it's gone for good.
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Paramount Canada's Wonderland, Vaughan, ON, Canada 08/29/03 - By: Joe Mueller -
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A 'minor' accident occured at Paramount's Canada's Wonderland last week on the park's Jimmy Neutron Brain Washer ride. Apparently, one of the capsules came free from the ride's main arms. There were no other details, except that no serious injuries were caused.
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Discovery Channel is airing their annual 'Extreme Rides' show on Thursday. The show includes footage for Cedar Point's Top Thrill Dragster, Knott's Berry Farm's Xcelerator, Six Flags Great Adventure's Superman: Ultimate Flight and other thrillrides. For your local showtimes, along with more information, please visit the Discovery site HERE
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Schlitterbahn Waterpark Resort played host to the annual Golden Ticket awards, sponsered by Amusement Today. The awards honor the top parks and rides with many categories including Best Park, Best Steel Roller coaster, and many more. This year brought some suprising winners as well as the usuals.
And the winners are....
In the parks Category
~Best Park - Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH
~Friendliest Park - Holiday World in Santa Claus, IN
~Best Landscaping - Busch Gardens Williamsburg, VA
~Best Capacity - Cedar Point
~Best Shows - Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio
~Best Food - Knoebels Amusement Resort in Elysburg, PA
~Most Beautiful Park - Busch Gardens Williamsburg
Rides
~Best Steel Coaster - Superman Ride of Steel at Six Flags New England in Agawam, MA
~Best Wooden - Raven at Holiday World
~Best Themed Ride - Dueling Dragons, Islands of Adventure, Orlando, FL
~Best Dark Ride - The Amazing Adventures of Spider-man at Universal's Islands of Adventure in Orlando
For a more complete list of winners, please visit AmusementToday.com.
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Nagashima Spaland, Nagashima, Japan 08/24/03 - By: Joe Mueller -
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During mid-day Saturday, the world's longest and second-tallest roller coaster came to a halt suddenly after loosing a wheel mid-ride. Later investigations found that several wheels had come off, flying in different directions.
One wheel struck and seriously injured a man standing several meters away in a pool, causing him severe spinal injury. Another woman was injured when the train came to a sudden stop, throwing her against the seat.
The ride was traveling at approximately 50kph when the incident occured. Reports say that nobody else was seriously injured.
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Paramount's Canada's Wonderland, Vaughan, ON, Canada 08/22/03 - By: Devin Olson -
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Following a recent string of announcements and confirmations from United States Paramount Parks, Paramount's Canadian theme park has confirmed the addition of a Zamperla Volare flying coaster, which will become Paramount's Canada's Wonderland's thirteenth coaster track when it opens next year.
Riders lie down in single-car vehicles before climbing a spiraling lift hill and gradually descending through two Heartline Rolls during the coaster's 1,200-foot long track layout.
A name for the flying coaster has not been announced yet.
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Paramount's Kings Dominion, Doswell, VA, USA 08/21/03 - By: Devin Olson -
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 Confirmed for next Spring at Virginia's Paramount's Kings Dominion is Scooby Doo and the Haunted Mansion, a new dark interactive family ride set to open in Spring of 2004.
The ride, which replaces Snagglepuss' Parachute School, will be located in the park's KidZville section, adjacent to the Avalanche bobsled coaster.
Created by the Sally Corp, the attraction will be similar to Scooby Doo dark experiences found at most other Paramount Parks, with riders traveling through themed scenes with the objective to score points by using 'ghost blaster' lasers.
Picture by Grunts Rock
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Paramount's Carowinds, Charlotte, NC, USA 08/21/03 - By: Devin Olson -
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 Charlotte, North Carolina's Paramount's Carowinds has announced that the park will be receiving a Vekoma Flying Dutchman coaster from California's Paramount's Great America, which formerly operated under the name Stealth after opening as the first ride of its kind in the world on April 1st, 2000.
Located in Carowinds' Paramount Plaza section, the coaster will swoop through 2,766 feet of steel track while riders lie prone to the track above or below and are sent through several inversions and half-inversions.
A new name for PC's flying coaster will be made official before the beginning months of next year.
Artwork copyright Paramount Parks
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Paramount's Great America, Santa Clara, CA, USA 08/21/03 - By: Devin Olson -
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 Just three years after opening, Paramount's Great America will be removing what was once the only 'flying coaster' in the world. Stealth, which was the first lay-down-type steel coaster from Vekoma International when it opened in 2000, will be removed from the park to make way for a 5.5-acre waterpark, Boomerang Bay. PGA cites the removal of Stealth as caused by a lack of space to expand.
Thrillriders have until September 2nd to experience Stealth at Paramount's Great America for the last time.
Picture by Darkcoaster
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Disney's Animal Kingdom, Orlando, FL, USA 08/21/03 - By: Joe Mueller -
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Preliminary land-clearing and site preparation has begun on the Expedition Everest ride. The ride will be themed around a giant mountain (200ft tall) and the track will be produced by Vekoma.
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GalaxyLand, Alberta, Canada 08/20/03 - By: Joe Mueller -
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The park has finished installing two new rides for the season. A Sartori Techno Jump named Sonic Storm and a 'Swinging Inverter Ship' named Rock'n Rocket are both now up and running
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Universal Studios Islands of Adventure, FL, USA 08/18/03 - By: Joe Mueller -
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IOA has added fingerprint scanners to a new style of lockers near The Hulk. Instead of dealing with the hassel of a paper ticket, simply scan your finger, and when you wish to return, scan it again and your locker will open. This is a first in the theme park industry.
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Universal Studios Hollywood, CA, USA 08/15/03 - By: Joe Mueller -
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Track has arrived at Universal Studios Hollywood, taking far longer than the Univeral Studios Florida track took to arrive. Suprisingly, the track isnt that large compared to other track types. For a view of the track, along with a sneek peek inside the old ET building, click HERE
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Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen, Denmark 08/15/03 - By: Joe Mueller -
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It has been confirmed that Copenhagen, Denmark's Tivoli Gardens will build a compact B&M floorless in the park to replace the old Zierer coaster located in the China Section of the park. The Ride will feature a Vertical Loop, Immelman, Zero-G Roll, and high-speed helix in the 600m long, 28m high course. The coaster will run with two 8-car floorless trains.
The track will be painted red, and the supports will be silver, in its attempt to fit in with its asian theme. Although not confirmed, the working name is the Golden Lion.
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Heide Park, Heidenhof Soltau, Germany 08/15/03 - By: Joe Mueller -
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Heide Park has begun clearing land for their 2004 attraction, an indoor/outdoor Intamin Aqua Trax water coaster. Although details are still unknown, it has been confirmed that the coaster will be located enxt to Colossus. An announcement from the park is expected some time soon.
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Paramount's Kings Island, OH, USA 08/14/03 - By: Joe Mueller -
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PKI's Waterworks water park will close perminantly at the end of this season to make room for a new park expansion in 2004. The park operates on 15 acres, so this gives the question, "Whats going in 15 acres?" Time will tell.
See it HERE
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Bloomington, Minnesota, USA 08/12/03 - By: Devin Olson -
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Camp Snoopy has announced the addition of a spinning wild mouse coaster which will open next Spring at the indoor Mall of America park.
Named the Timberland Twister, the coaster will climb towards the top of the mall, to 50 feet, before plunging into 1,320 feet of twisting track and around hairpin corners, with passengers riding in cars that will spin in 360-degree rotations.
Timberland Twister will replace the 11-year old park's Wilderness Theater, which will be relocated elsewhere in the park and will become the first new ride at Camp Snoopy since 1998's Mighty Axe.
Construction on the coaster is scheduled to begin in early October.
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Hersheypark has made official the addition of an Intamin hydaulically-launched Rocket Coaster to become the first of its kind in the eastern United States and first coaster of its type to feature inversions.
The coaster will blast off to 72 miles per hour in two seconds to climb vertically to the sky 15 stories, twisting on the way up and then taking on the first straight drop on a Rocket Coaster, a plunge of 180 feet, before taking on three inversions - a 135-foot sidewinder Hershey is calling a 'Cobra Loop', an elevated Heartline Roll, and a diving turn inversion composed of a half roll and half corkscrew  called a Flying Snake Dive.
It will be located on a four-and-a-half-acre site (seen at right) where the track will interact with existing rides and encircle the Trailblazer mine train.
The only thing yet to be decided on is a name... Unlike last year's Roller Soaker, Hershey has narrowed it down to three names: Renegade, Steel Stampede, and Storm Runner, and voting is open at the park's site.
Voting ends on midnight, August 19th, so head on over to Hersheypark.com and get your vote in!
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