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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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Six Flags Great Adventure, Jackson, NJ, USA 09/29/04 - By: Joe Mueller -
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 Well here we go again, the next tallest and fastest coaster in the world was announced today by Six Flags Great Adventure: Kingda Ka. At 456 feet tall and 128 mph it dwarfs the current record holder Top Thrill Dragster by 36 feet and 8 mph. Kingda Ka is very similar to TTD in that it has a 90 degree twist on the way up and a 270 degree twist on the way down. It does have its difference though a 129 ft tall air time hill. It also appears it will have trains similar to the current ones on Storm Runner at Hersheypark.  Kingda Ka will have 4 trains each holding 18 riders. Kingda Ka is to be built by INTAMIN and open in the year 2005.
Kingda Ka is the main attraction in the new section of the park to be named the Golden Kingdom. Golden Kingdom will have 5 new kiddie rides and a 33, 000 sq ft theater. The theater will have a show with rare Bengal Tiger cubs. Kingda Ka and the Golden Kingdom are sure to bring many visitors from around the world to experience the world’s tallest and fastest coaster. The real question now may be: what will Cedar Point do to top it?
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Hersheypark, Hershey, PA, USA 09/28/04 - By: Devin Olson -
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 Turbulence is set to arrive at Hersheypark next year just one season after Storm Runner. The new coaster comes from Interactive Rides as the first 'Frequent Faller' steel coaster model from that company.
The concept of the Frequent Faller is that riders, carried 150 feet vertically on a pivoting vehicle, will descend a series of five vertical U-turns as it makes its way back to ground level. Turbulence's unique  track configuration will make the coaster the first in the world to ride on a track turned ninety degrees on its side for the entire ride, while the actual car remains upright.
Guests to Hersheypark next year will note not only the red, white, and blue structure of Turbulence as a change to the park's appearance, but also a complete revamping of the section it will call home. Currently named Carrousel Circle, the section will be rethemed into Founder's Circle, an area honoring park founder Milton Hershey.
Estimates put the expansion, including Turbulence, at a cost of $4 million.
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Bell's Amusement Park, Tulsa, OK, USA 09/26/04 - By: Paul S. -
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 Bell's Amusement Park's newest thrill ride began rising into the park's skyline last Tuesday. The new ride, Mind Melt, will carry twelve passengers 141 feet up into the air to then be forced back down towards earth. Mind Melt will go from zero to sixty miles per hour in 1.1 seconds.
Bell's Amusement Park hopes to open the ride in time for the Tulsa State Fair at the end of September.
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Universal Studios Florida, Orlando, FL, USA 09/23/04 - By: Carl F -
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 Wednesday, September 22nd, a man died after attempting to board a train on Universal Studios Florida's Revenge of the Mummy ride.
Jose Valadez was going to board the train that was stopped in the station when he misstepped and fell about four feet down onto the tracks in front of the car. When he fell, Valadez hit his head on the track. Afterwards, he said that he could not feel one of his legs and that his stomach hurt. He died after surgery at an Orlando hospital almost a day later. It is unclear at this time how he fell onto the track.
Like other coasters, Revenge of the Mummy has the boarding gate that will swing open when they are ready for people to board. It was reported that the gates were functioning properly at the time of this incident. Revenge of the Mummy was reopened around three hours later, after it was deemed safe to operate.
The park said they will be investigating the incident. This is the second death to occur in approximately a year at Universal Orlando. The first of which being last September when a woman died after passing out on the Incredible Hulk.
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Six Flags over Georgia, Atlanta, GA, USA 09/20/04 - By: Joe Mueller -
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 After the rain and storms cleared from Hurricane Ivan another Six Flags park was half underwater. This times the victim being Six Flags over Georgia. Large damage is very apparent in the few photos I have seen. Another beloved Schwarzkopf creation half under water and a classic John Allen out and back woody soaked in the high waters.
Mindbender, a two-inversion steel coaster, is now sitting in the middle of a river. The loops and hills peak out of the water and look in way worse shape than Shockwave at Six Flags over Texas did a few months ago. Considering that Mindbender weaves though the Gotham City part of the park I venture a guess there is minimal damage to the Batman: The Ride and damage in certain parts of the Gotham City area.
This is not all that is damaged the grand classic wooden coaster Great American Scream Machine, is also partially underwater. It does not look nearly as severe as Mindbender, but I recall the station being very low to the ground and it may have some damage. I am sure there is more damage around the park not yet seen by the public. This is not the first time Six Flags over Georgia has been flooded, it seems to take some damage due to flooding every few years.
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Dorney Park, Allentown, PA, USA 09/14/04 - By: Carl F -
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 Today, Dorney Park officially announced the statistics and layout of their upcoming 2005 floorless coaster, Hydra: the Revenge.
Here is a quick run-down of most of the statistics...
--Length: 3,198 feet
--Height: 95 feet
--Drop: 105 feet
--Speed: 53 mph
--Angle of Descent: 68 degrees
--Ride Time: ~ 2:35
--Weight: 1,368,000 lbs.
--Ride Capacity: ~ 1,245 riders per hour
--Inversions: 7 (In Order: "Jojo Roll", Inclined Dive Loop, Zero-G Roll, Flat Spin, Cobra Roll, Flat Spin)
The "Jojo Roll" refers to the pre-lift hill inversion, which is basically just a zero-g roll. You can use the link below to see construction pictures, layout renderings, the story behind the ride, statistics, desktops, videos, a webcam, and more! This is definitely going to be one of 2005's top rides and one unique floorless coaster. Hydra: the Revenge has been dubbed as "A floorless coaster so twisted, it brought down Hercules."
Dorney Park's Offical Hydra: the Revenge Page
Look for a full Ride Gallery preview of Hydra: the Revenge to go up tomorrow!
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Paramount's Kings Dominion, Doswell, VA, USA 09/11/04 - By: Devin Olson -
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 It's official: next spring, Paramount's Kings Dominion will introduce its own version of Tomb Raider: the Ride, billed as a multi-sensory thrill ride experience.
The park has confirmed the attraction for next year following two seasons of speculation that a Tomb Raider ride would be introduced after the park removed its Diamond Falls splashdown ride, followed by the neighboring Freefallin' water slide complex and closing of the Safari Amphiteater, although ironically the ride will not be located on that site. Now it has been announced that PKD will introduce a Huss Top Spin model carrying the Tomb Raider theme, as sister park Paramount's Kings Island outside Cincinatti did in 2002.
Tomb Raider: the Ride will be the Doswell, Virginia theme park's fifth major ride carrying a movie or TV show theme. An in-depth preview of the new ride will be released soon right here on COASTER-net.
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In Liseberg Sweden they will be adding a new coaster for 2005. This new coaster will be a Rocket Coaster made from Intamin. But this will be a compact Rocket Coaster. There new coasters name is going to be called Kanonen with in Swedish is called cannon.
The ride is going to be compact it is going to have around 1,640ft long and also include many elements which are going to be very intense and those elements are Top Hat, Vertical Loop, In-Line Twist, helix and a few airtime-filled bunny hops. The Top Hat will be only 78.75ft tall and it will launch at 46.6 mph in 3 seconds.
Kanonen is scheduled to open in April 23, 2005.
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Stratosphere Tower, Las Vega, NV, USA 09/06/04 - By: Josh Thompson -
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 The Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas, which is home to Big Shot and X-Scream, has been denied the right to appea a decision made against the building of their proposed roller coaster.
The 510-foot Fishhook coaster was proposed a few years ago and turned down by the Las Vegas City Counsel. Local residents said the ride would increase traffic around the residential area. Stratosphere then tried to appeal the decision, but the Nevada Supreme Court upheld the previous decision.
The main protest was said to be because the tower did not express their plans to the public when the ride was proposed. The tower did that in 2003 and the public had little hesitation against the installation of X-Scream.
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 From none other than Stan Checketts comes the first swing to use compressed air. The rie has two four seated pendulums that are launched usng compressed air to an angle steeper than horizontal. Checketts came up with this idea while trying to figure out how to make his garden swing go higher. He recently invited the media and a group of high school students to test the new ride. The Screaming Swing was an instant hit. Three of these new rides are on their way to Florida, Europe, and South Carolina.
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Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Blackpool, Lancashire, England 09/05/04 - By: Carl F -
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 Blackpool Pleasure Beach experienced its second fire this year. The first of which was in May, that damaged the Grand National roller coaster and the Alice in Wonderland rides.
This second fire occured this past Thursday. The fire started in one of the park's buildings that housed a resturant on the first floor and a "House of Mirrors" type of attraction on the ground floor. Also threatened by the blaze was the Pepsi Max Big One roller coaster, one of Europe's tallest coasters.
Twelve engines and around 80 firefighters responded to the fire and brought it under control within hours. The fire was reported to have started around 100 BST on Thursday, September 2nd.
No other buildings are believed to be damaged by the fire and the Big One appears to only be smoke stained.
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The RedSkins owner has spent $34.5 million to buy 8.15 million shares of Six Flags. He said he want to make Six Flags great and by doing so he was to be on the broad. He also said that he want to be the new owner of Six Flags and change there advertising to be a part of the Redskins. This will help Six Flags with there 2.48 billion debt.
Also in other news on Six Flags is Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates is also in the plan to make Six Flags better. Gates owns about almost 12% of the company and said he is upset to see Six Flags down last year and so he said he will push to place another representative on the board of directors to help with the turnaround.
It sounds like Six Flags is getting a lot of help witch they much need to get out of the problum they are in with money. Could this be a sign of things to come for Six Flags?
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The Golden Tickets for the amusement park nation has been announced.
The best park in the world it would be for there 7th year in a row is Cedar Point.
The best steel coaster in the world was Millennium Force at Cedar Point.
The best wooden coaster in the world was Boulder Dash at Lake Compounce
There were a lot more winners and awards to have been given out.
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