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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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Universal Studios Singapore could be on the way
Genting consortium reveals Universal Studios theme park project
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© Universal Studios
Another Universal Studios masterpiece in the making: Revenge of the Mummy: The Ride is one of many attractions that could end up being built at Universal Studios Singapore.
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If Genting International-Star Cruises consortium gets approval, the integrated resort project for the next Universal Studios theme park will be off and running.
The city of Sentosa in Singapore, Asia will be home to the brand new Universal Studios project, which will include a casino and resort along with the Universal Studios theme park, which will hold at least 16 customized attractions.
The park is said to be a "first-of-its-kind theme park in Asia", and physical design of Universal Studios Singapore will be larger than its California counterpart, Universal Studios Hollywood. It is also estimated that this new Universal Studios resort will draw five million visitors each year.
About 1 billion US dollars will be invested to build Universal Studios Singapore, which will include 6 themed areas that circle around a lagoon, as well as new rides based on movies like Madagascar, King Kong, Revenge of the Mummy and Waterworld. There will also be live entertainment shows and educational features about computer-generated animation and the art of making a hit movie. Genting is one of four bidders vying for the Sentosa integrated resort project, and each company’s proposals will be submitted on October 10th.
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Six Flags dare causes uproar with cockroach lovers
PETA asks Six Flags to cancel Fright Fest promotion
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Six Flags Great America, Gurnee, Illinois, USA 09/24/06 - By: Cory Gross -
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© Josh Davidson
Fright Fest: The Fright Fest is an anual celebration of Halloween that is presented at most Six Flags Parks.
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An attempt by Six Flags to create entertainment by having guests eat a cockroach has created uproar. PETA is calling on Six Flags Great America, and other Six Flags Parks, to cancel the cockroach-eating challenge.
Twelve Six Flags parks have the following promotion: Anyone who eats a live cockroach gets to skip the lines at the haunted houses and selected rides. The type of cockroach is a three-inch version of the Madasgar species, the Blattodea.
"We have been flooded with calls and e-mails from all around the country about this," said PETA spokeswoman Jackie Vergerio, who studies issues related to animals used for entertainment. Vergerio also stated that PETA is asking Six Flags to cancel the contest and replace it with a less cruel gag. PETA stated that killing cockroaches as entertainment is cruel and barbaric. It also said that doing this is front of children takes away the feeling of safety at Six Flags.
Six Flags responded saying that they have received no letters saying that this idea was cruel. They said it is no different from any other animal that is used for food at the park. Six Flags also stated that eating cockroaches is not forced upon guests, so no guest should feel they have to eat a cockroach.
The idea was presented at Wild Waves and Enchanted Village, a Six Flags- owned park near Seattle, and they actually ran out of cockroaches.
Opening day for Fright Fest at Six Flags Great America is October 7th.
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Kentucky Kingdom plans to make a splash in 2007
Six Flags park will expand its Hurricane Bay water park next season
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© Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom
Hurricane Bay: Kentucky Kingdom amusement park originally opened the Hurricane Bay water park in 1993.
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Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom has announced that they will be giving their Hurricane Bay water park a complete makeover along with an expansion for the 2007 season. New lounge chairs and a new interactive play area for children will be added as part of the expansion. Eight new “fun-brellas”, canvas shades 30 feet in diameter, will be added, and the expansion will also include private cabanas that can rented by park guests for the day.
This multi-million dollar expansion will also include a brand new water ride. The new water attraction will be “a first of its kind in the region” and will use “cutting-edge technology.” It was also mentioned that this water ride isn’t in use at any other Six Flags park.
“We’re going to give the water park a whole new look,” Jay Thomas, the general manager of Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, stated during the announcement. Construction will start next month and the expansion will be ready by Memorial Day of next year. All of Hurricane Bay’s existing structures will be repainted, and Hurricane Bay will also be renamed as part of the makeover for next season.
When all is said and done, Hurricane Bay will be 10 to 15 percent larger. This expansion will also be the largest investment in the park’s 16-year history. Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom’s most recent major investment came in 2005 when the Tornado water slide was added to the Hurricane Bay water park.
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A new 'Renegade' on the way to Valleyfair
Great Coasters creation set for 2007 debut
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Valleyfair, Shakopee, MN, USA 09/21/06 - By: Devin Olson -
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© Valleyfair
Twisted Timbers: Valleyfair is receiving a completely unique layout with the wooden twister Renegade, shown here in artwork released this morning.
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Just two weeks after Cedar Point revealed details for Maverick, another park in the Cedar Fair chain has unveiled its own plans for a trip along coaster tracks leading back to the Wild West.
Salvation has come to fans of Valleyfair longing for a new, custom-designed ride to call their own with the announcement of Renegade, a Great Coasters International creation with the slogan, "Ride With a Vengeance."
Next season, Minnesota coaster enthusiasts will find a treat in their backyard when they discover 3,113 feet of wooden track twisting down an S-curving first plunge into airtime-inducing hills and winding, fast-paced fan curves to set this new ride apart from its traditional 1976 wooden predecessor High Roller, which features an out and back layout.
For a price tag of $6.5 million, Valleyfair is receiving the newest coaster from the industry's praised experts in wooden twister design, Great Coasters International of Pennsylvania. Renegade will sport that company's classic Millennium Flyer trains - open-sided, old-fashioned coaches designed to deliver the maximum sensual experience in riders' faces while flying along at 52 miles an hour.
Renegade is the first major custom-designed coaster to call Valleyfair home since Wild Thing debuted in 1996 as Cedar Fair's second hyper-coaster.
The park is in the process of receiving permits to construct the ride.
Look for a full preview of Renegade in COASTER-net's Ride Gallery!
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New indoor water park and aquarium
The resort is to be built in Branson, MO
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Yet another indoor amusement park is being built and this time it will be located in Branson, Missouri. The $250 million indoor water park will not only feature a water park but will also feature an aquarium and some shops.
Pinnacle Falls of Branson, the name of the new resort, will also feature a gushing waterway, nightly shows, and a talking fountain. It will also be themed as a European Village.
The main attraction of Pinnacle Falls of Branson, which occupies a space of 70 yards, is an engineered water way which will light up by special effects. The waterway will run through the water park.
"I've dreamed about what could happen on that land," David Cushman, the developer, said. "This is a perfect project for this land. It doesn't compete with what's here, but brings something new to the marketplace." Cushman is sure this new resort will be a big hit.
This new resort will hopefully widen the city’s appeal to tourists other than the elderly, which helped Branson become what it is today. It will target families and create a whole new image for the city.
The resort will not only create a new image for Branson, but also open 1,000 jobs for locals. This is one of the biggest projects so far for Branson and will hopefully be a hit.
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Neighbor wants Beech Bend Park closed for good
Baker files another lawsuit against Beech Bend
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© Beech Bend Park
New for 2006: Beech Bend Park opened the Kentucky Rumbler, a Great Coasters International wooden roller coaster last spring.
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Matt Baker, an ex-employee of Beech Bend who bought a home near Beech Bend, has filed a lawsuit against Beech Bend’s owner, Dallas Jones, saying that the land that Beech Bend sits on is zoned only for agriculture, not an amusement attraction.
The lawsuit says the Jones must “forever cease and desist all use of this property as an amusement park, campground, racetrack, concession or other entertainment facility.” Baker and Jones have met in the court before when Baker filed a lawsuit saying a country road that leads past his house is his private drive and was not open to the public. On crowded weekends, Baker says his driveway was block off because of the traffic leading to the speedway, amusement park, and campground.
Baker originally won this lawsuit in May 2005. However, the Kentucky Court of Appeals on August 18, 2006 said it is a country road and open to the public, and ordered the judge to revise his ruling accordingly. The judge hasn’t, and Baker is wants a hearing before the Kentucky Supreme Court.
Beech Bend Park has been in operation as an amusement park since the 1940’s. The park has expanded with many new rides and attractions in recent years including three roller coasters since 2001. However, all of the expansions have been on existing Beech Bend property, including the brand new Kentucky Rumbler roller coaster. The lawsuit situation was supposedly discussed in a closed session of Warren Fiscal Court on Friday.
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Cypress Gardens in financial trouble again
Park files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
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© Cypress Gardens Adventure Park
Long, Storied History: Cypress Gardens began in 1936 and has changed ownership on several different occasions.
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On December 9, 2004, the 70-year-old Cypress Gardens Adventure Park reopened to the public with great fanfare.
The park closed early 2003 due to declining attendance and financial problems, and it was assumed that Cypress Gardens would be gone for good. Yet on February 22, 2004, Kent Buescher, the owner Adventure Parks Group, LLC, which includes Wild Adventures in Georgia, signed a very complicated deal to save Cypress Gardens, and began a $45 million investment project to rebuild Cypress Gardens.
The construction and opening was delayed due to the three major hurricanes, (Charley, Frances and Jeanne), that hit that area in the summer of 2004. This leads us to present time where Cypress Gardens is in financial trouble once again.
Cypress Gardens Adventure Park has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, claiming the debt was caused by the three hurricanes that hit the Florida area in 2004. Along with paying for the damages done by those three hurricanes, Cypress Gardens Adventure Park’s opening was delayed which caused losses in profit.
The park is about $70 million in debt, and the bankruptcy filing accounts for more than $50 million in debts, one of those being $1.1 million to an Atlanta landscaping firm. The park also says that its insurance company has yet to pay most of the $25 million it cost to repair hurricane damages.
The future of Cypress Gardens is very uncertain, but the park will remain open and running while they work through this. This will also likely delay or cancel the building of the Starliner wooden roller coaster that was relocated to Cypress Gardens from the now defunct Miracle Strip Park in Panama City, Florida, which was planned to open in the spring of 2007.
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Six Flags moving forward under new ownership
SFGAd and SFoT to get new general managers
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© Six Flags Inc.
New General Managers on the way: Six Flags Great Adventure and Six Flags Over Texas are two of the largest and most successful parks in the Six Flags park chain.
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Two of Six Flags most successful parks will receive new General Managers. This is just the latest in an incredibly long line of changes that Daniel Snyder along with Mark Shapiro have made since acquiring Six Flags Inc. in late 2005.
Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, NJ is the largest of all the parks in the Six Flags chain, and in the past two years has received the most expansion of any Six Flags park. Mark Kane, the General Manager of Six Flags New England in Agawam, MA, will become the new General Manager of Six Flags Great Adventure, Six Flags Hurricane Harbor waterpark, and Six Flags Wild Safari. Kane has had 30 years of experience in the amusement park industry, 19 of those years have been with Six Flags, and he has been the General Manager of Six Flags New England for the past two years.
The original Six Flags theme park, Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington, Texas, will be the second park in the Six Flags park chain that will receive a new General Manager. Six Flags Over Texas’s current General Manager, Steve Calloway, has been promoted to oversee special projects for Six Flags Inc. Calloway has been the General Manager of Six Flags Over Texas for 11 years, and his replacement will be the current director of operations at Six Flags Over Texas, Steven Martindale. Martindale has been the director of operations at Six Flags Over Texas since 1999, and has worked with Six Flags St. Louis and the defunct Six Flags Atlantis.
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Cedar Point finally puts speculation to rest
'Maverick' confirmed to be seventeenth coaster
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Cedar Point, Sandusky, OH, USA 09/07/06 - By: Paul S. -
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© Cedar Point
Confirmed at Last: The logo for Maverick is seen here.
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Let's go back to October of last year when Cedar Point announced that one of their three water rides, White Water Landing, would be removed before the 2006 session.
Right after this announcement, rumors began concerning what the park might be doing with the land White Water Landing was previously on. Cedar Point fans new that this location would be perfect for a new addition, especially for there next coaster considering that they haven’t gotten one since Top Thrill Dragster in 2003.
Then, in early March, footers begin popping up all around the area White Water Landing used to be located. So it was confirmed that this ride would definitely be some type of ride that makes use of a track.
Then in May track started to appear on site confirming that this will be their seventeenth coaster. Right away this track was identified as Intamin AG track, witch mad sense considering there last three coasters Top Thrill Dragster, Wicked Twister, and Millennium Force were also from Intamin AG.
But there were still many questions about the ride that remand a mystery. Even in August when supports and track were already going in place this ride was still a very big mystery, in some aspects the more that was built the more puzzling the ride became.
After a long wait today Cedar Point finally lifted the cloud of uncertainty around their new 2007 attraction when they announced maverick to the world.
© Cedar Point
Taking it a Step Further: The coaster will plunge down a first drop steeper than vertical at ninety-five degrees.
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After the unveiling its easy to see why it was so hard to figure out what CP was doing because this ride will defiantly be different they any coaster they currently have, and any other coaster in the world in some ways.
This ride will break the mold of Cedar Point recent coasters in many ways. First off this coaster will not be breaking any record. Second this coaster will only be 105 ft high, moving away from their super high coasters. Third this ride will be including inversions, for the first time since Mantis in 1996. Fourth this ride will interact with the terrain. Fifth this ride will be highly themed.
During Maverick’s 2 minutes and 30 seconds course of 4450ft of track it will future a 105ft LIM launched lift hill, a more then vertical 95 degree drop of 100ft, many highly banked turns, a 400 ft long tunnel which will in case a 70mph mid ride LIM launch, and three inversions Two 360-degree corkscrew rolls and one 360-degree heart line roll.
© Cedar Point
Wild Layout: The unique ride is seen in this aerial perspective showing the entire layout.
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Maverick will have six trains each having three cars and two rows per car equaling 12 riders per train, making for approximately 1200 riders per hour. Each car will have one of six cooler making each one unique. The coolers will be silver, gunmetal, iron, gold, copper, or brass.
Despite its size maverick is defiantly going to pack a punch that even extremes thrill seekers will be able to enjoy.
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Holiday World lets the turkey loose for 2007
The Turkey Whirl, the Bakuli, and a new restaurant to debut in 2007
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© Holiday World
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Holiday World floored us all last year when they announced that they were going to open an all-new Thanksgiving themed section for their 60th Anniversary season, which included the Voyage wooden roller coaster. Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari haven’t gone as big with their additions for 2007 as they did last year, the three new attractions will all improve Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari one way or another.
Splashin’ Safari will send us spinning next year with the Bakuli. Bakuli, (pronounced bah-COOL-ee), is Swahili for bowl; since this will be a "bowl" slide. After climbing seven stories, riders twist and turn through a couple of dark, banked curves before being dropped into a whirlwind of an adventure. This adventure will spin riders through a colorful bowl before being drop in a pool of water.
Holiday World will also send us spinning next year but without getting wet. The Turkey Whirl will fly into Holiday World’s Thanksgiving section next year. The Turkey Whirl is just a classic tilt-a-whirl, but with an all-new and mighty delicious, turkey theme.
Finally, we get to enjoy the Thanksgiving feast all year round when Holiday World’s Thanksgiving section will also open the Plymouth Rock Café in 2007. It’s sure to be a yummy treat for all of us.
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Sesame Street characters enter new culture
Busch parks sign agreement with Sesame Workshop
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Busch Gardens parks, USA 09/02/06 - By: Cory Gross -
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© Busch Gardens Europe
New Character: Busch Gardens Europle along with three other busch parks is recieveing sesame street attractions.
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The vast animals in Africa, the beautiful culture in Europe, and the many magnificent things in the marine world: make way for new Sesame Street characters appearing at Busch Gardens parks across America.
Busch Gardens has a new agreement with the nonprofit Sesame Workshop to bring the colorful, child-oriented characters to Busch Gardens Parks. It will bring more child oriented things to Busch Gardnes Europe, especially since a family ride was just removed in order to put in a new thrilling attraction.
This agreement also brings the characters not only to Busch Gardnes Europe, but also to Busch Gardens Africa, Sea World San Diego, and Sea World San Antonio. The first attraction will open at a park in 2008, but the actual park that it will appear in is not yet revealed.
The new Sesame Street characters introduce new attractions such as rides, specials effects theatres and live shows. The new Sesame Street characters are aimed at children from ages 2-6, which expands the amount of people who are targeted to come to the parks.
Busch Gardens Europe in Williamsburg announced that they are adding a new roller coaster to their park. It will be the world’s tallest and fastest Dive Machine at 205 feet and over 70 mph. This ride is only for people who are four feet and six inches or up, which means anyone below the age of six will most likely not be able to ride. The new Sesame Street characters, rides, and shows will bring entertainment for everyone.
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