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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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Carowinds announces multiple changes for this season
Ticket prices drop for the first time in park history
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© Carowinds
Carowinds New Logo: Now that Carowinds has dropped the Paramount name from its title, it is expected that each of other Paramount Parks owned by Cedar Fair will eventually do the same.
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When Cedar Fair announced that they were purchasing the chain of Paramount Parks back in May of 2006, many people speculated that these newly acquired theme parks would one day lose the Paramount name from their title. Well Paramount’s Carowinds is now officially the first of the five major Paramount Parks to drop “Paramount” from its title. The park will now be called by its original name, Carowinds.
This is just one of the multiple changes that were announced recently by Carowinds. One of the major changes for this season is the park’s ticket prices. Ticket prices will be lowered for the first time in the park’s history. A regular one-day admission ticket into Carowinds will cost $44.95, which is a $5 decrease from last year. Junior and senior tickets, which are available to those older than 3 who are less than 4 feet tall and to everyone 62 or older, has dropped $13, to $19.95. Also, adult tickets can still be purchased online at a discounted rate.
Carowinds also announced a number of additions to the park itself for the 2007 season including the return of the Frenzoid. The Frenzoid was the park’s inverting, swinging ship ride before it was removed after the 2005 season to make room for part of the recent expansion to the park’s Boomerang Bay water park. Now the Frenzoid will return to Carowinds called the Southern Star and will be located in the Country Fair section near Top Gun: The Jet Coaster.
Other additions to the park for this season include an ice show called “Carowinds Endless Summers on Ice.” Also, the addition of a second catering kitchen should help the park’s ability to serve large groups of visitors.
Carowinds spokesman, Scott Anderson, says that the park isn’t adding any major thrill rides this year. However, he hopes that the park will add some major thrill rides in the years to come.
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Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom unveils its water park expansion
Hurricane Bay Water Park to become Splashwater Kingdom
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© Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom
Innovative Water Slide Technology: The Deluge will become one of the first water slides in the world to use the HydroMagnetic technology developed by ProSlide Technoligy Inc.
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Last September, Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom made it known that an expansion to the park’s Hurricane Bay Water Park would be its major addition for the 2007 season.
It has been four months since then and Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom has finally announced the details about this water park expansion project. Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom’s Hurricane Bay Water Park will be renovated and transformed into the all-new Splashwater Kingdom water park.
The centerpiece of the Splashwater Kingdom will be a state-of-the-art water coaster titled Deluge. Deluge will use HydroMagnetic technology and water to propel four person rafts through banked turns, tunnels, and a number of hills and drops making the riders feel like they are riding a real roller coaster.
The company that will create this rocket-propelled water coaster is ProSlide Technoligy Inc., which is the same company that designed and built Splashwater Kingdom’s Tornado water slide, which opened in 2005.
The second major addition as part of this water park development project is the Crocodile Isle. The Crocodile Isle will be a water-filled interactive play area for young children. Kids can get soaked by a giant tipping coconut and can ride the Crocodile Isle’s elephant and flamingo water slides. The Crocodile Isle will also include shark squirts and palm trees that will spray water all throughout the area. Some more of the water park’s additions will include a number of shade umbrellas, cabanas with misting fans, a new beach shop called Beachcombers, and Ben and Jerry's ice cream parlor. This expansion project will mark Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom’s 20th anniversary, and will be the largest water park expansion in the park’s history. Hurricane Bay, Kentucky Kingdom’s original water park, opened in the year 1992.
Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom will open for the 2007 season on April 6th, and the newly expanded Splashwater Kingdom water park will make its debut on May 26. Access into the water park is free with theme park admission.
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Six Flags and Nintendo announce marketing partnership
Nintendo’s Wii will become the official gaming system of Six Flags
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© Six Flags
A unique alliance: Six Flags will become the first park chain to offer guests the chance to play a household gaming system while visiting a theme park.
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Six Flags and Nintendo will join together to advertise each other’s company. Both companies just recently announced a marketing and sponsorship agreement where the Wii video game system from Nintendo will be the Official Gaming Console of Six Flags parks and Six Flags will give guest the opportunity to take a break and play the Wii gaming system at Wii Gaming Stations. These Wii Gaming Stations will be added to a selected number of Six Flags theme parks.
The agreement also includes various marketing strategies including a national sweepstakes promotion for Six Flags, which will be held at Nintendo.com. Nintendo’s Wii gaming system has been a popular gift this holiday season, and Nintendo wants to continue to build the Wii's leadership position in video gaming market. Nintendo America’s Perrin Kaplan thinks that the Wii’s popularity will only grow by making the system available to millions of guests who visit Six Flags parks every year.
Mark Shapiro, the President and CEO of Six Flags Inc. said, "This agreement with Nintendo enables us to partner with a company, and a product, that has major relevance in the lives of today's families. When this audience is not in our parks, more often than not they are at home playing video games -- and now they can do both in one place as we continue to build Six Flags into a supermarket of entertainment."
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Six Flags Magic Mountain to dismantle two roller coasters
Flashback and Psyclone soon to become part of history
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© Six Flags Magic Mountain
The "Xtreme Park" is changing: In the early 1990's, the Psyclone and the Flashback were both large, thrilling roller coasters, but now these two classic yet thrilling roller coasters will be dismantled.
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After years of building some of the most technologically advanced and thrilling roller coasters in the world, Six Flags Magic Mountain has decided to move in a different direction and removed two roller coasters from it’s collection of thrilling attractions.
The Psyclone wooden roller coaster opened in March of 1991 at a cost of $5 million, and will be one of the two roller coasters that will be removed from Magic Mountain in the coming weeks. The Psyclone is a cloned version of the famous Coney Island Cyclone in New York, and over 17.1 million visitors have taken a ride on the Psyclone wooden roller coaster before its closure. Now the park plans to have the Psyclone wooden coaster reduced to scrap wood within four weeks.
One year later in 1992, Six Flags Magic Mountain opened Flashback, which had previously operated at Six Flags Great America and Six Flags over Georgia under the name Z-Force, and features multiple steep roll-over dives. Flashback closed in 2003 because the noise it produced interfered with lifeguards at the neighboring Six Flags Hurricane Harbor water park, and it has been standing but not operating since then. Sue Carpenter, a spokeswoman for the park, stated that the coaster may be rebuilt at another location in the park, but it will not be in operation this year.
Six Flags Magic Mountain and Six Flags Hurricane Harbor have been for sale for months now, but Six Flags has decided to hold onto the two parks and try to create a more balanced and family-friendly amusement park. Removing these two ageing roller coasters for future expansion purposes fits the idea of giving the park a more balanced ride combination. Also, one of the park’s most thrilling roller coasters, X, has been closed recently due standard maintenance procedures and will reopen on February 3rd.
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Wiggles World coming to Six Flags parks
Three Six Flags parks will open new children’s area in 2007
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© Six Flags
Fun for the Kids: Six Flags wants to focus more on family entertainment, and the addition of these Wiggles World attractions fits right into that plan.
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The Wiggles has been a popular children’s entertainment show since 1991, and they made their television debut in 2002. Now the Wiggles are making a name for themselves in the amusement park industry. Six Flags Great Adventure, Six Flags New England, and Six Flags Great America will all open a new children’s area this year titled Wiggles World.
Wiggles World gives kids the opportunity to interact with all of the Wiggles characters, watch performances by the Wiggles characters, and rides and attractions, which incorporate the Wiggle World theme. Some of these rides and attractions that young children will be able to enjoy include The Big Red Car ride, The Big Red Plane ride, Dorothy's Rosy Tea Cups, S.S. Feathersword Pirate Ship, and the Wags Doggie-Copters. The area will also include shops selling Wiggles merchandise and a restaurant, the Yummy Yummy Café.
Six Flags Great Adventure will also open an all-new Wild Safari Exploration Station, which guests will be able to interact a number of different land animals. The Operation SpyGirl Stunt Show will make its debut at Six Flags Great America along with the Wiggles World area. After opening the Catapult and Splash Water Falls in 2006, the Wiggles World area will be the only addition at Six Flags New England this year.
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Marine World transformed into Discovery Kingdom
Six Flags park gets new name and makeover
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© Six Flags
A New Adventure: Six Flags Discovery Kingdom has changed ownership several times. In 1996, it was bought by Premier Parks, (Six Flags Inc.), and in 1999 was renamed Six Flags Marine World.
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Daniel Snyder, CEO of Six Flags Inc. along with Mark Shapiro have been altering the image of Six Flags parks over the past year by giving the parks a more family oriented atmosphere. Well now Six Flags has taken the idea of transforming an entire park and made it a reality.
Six Flags Marine World is now in the process of being transformed into Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. Yesterday, Six Flags Marine World officials announced the park’s name change and what will be included as part of park’s transformation into Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. Six Flags wants to attract families of all ages into the park by incorporating land animals, marine life, and thrilling rides and attraction all into one park.
The park will be divided in three themed areas: Land, Sea, and Sky. The Land themed section will provide guests with jungle-themed shows and children’s rides in Tava’s Jungle Land. The Land section also gives guests the opportunity to explore the park’s safari.
Marine life will be the centerpiece of the park’s Sea themed area. The Sea area will be the home of a new killer whale show staring the park’s orca whale, Shouka. An additional new show, which will feature dolphins, can be found at Merlin's Dolphin Theater. Also, guests can get face to face with a number of marine animals.
Finally, the Sky section will be the home of Discovery Kingdom’s thrilling attractions, more family rides, and a couple of interactive shows. The Sky is where families will find Justice League and Looney Tunes characters and themed attractions. This area is also where guest can experience the parks thrilling roller coasters including Medusa, V2: Vertical Velocity, and Roar.
Six Flags Discovery Kingdom will open to the public on March 24, 2007. As part of this makeover some more minor additions to the park will be made. These include a newly themed entry plaza and giving the V2: Vertical Velocity roller coaster red and maroon paint job.
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Bell’s Amusement Park sells one of its most popular rides
Bell’s Sky Ride soon to be part of the Tulsa State Fair
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© Bell's Amusement Park
A Tulsa State Fair Tradition: When the Tulsa State Fair owned the Sky Ride, it brought in the most money, and they hope that it will do the same now that they own it once again.
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Bell’s Amusement Park is in the news once again. In November, it was announced that Tulsa County would not renew the park’s lease of land in Tulsa’s Expo Square, and Bell’s Amusement Park would be forced to move to another location. To raise money to help with the process of moving the rides to a new location, Bell’s has decided to sell one of their most popular rides to the Tulsa County, the Sky Ride.
The Sky Ride has been a staple at Bell’s Amusement Park, and now it has been sold at a cost of $600,000 to the Tulsa County where it will remain part of the Tulsa State Fair. The Sky Ride originally opened as part of the Tulsa State Fair in 1966, but was sold to Bell’s five years later. Bell’s has operate the fairgrounds and has been part of the Tulsa State Fair since 1951, but even though Bell’s will be moving elsewhere, the fair will remain in the Expo Square.
The amusement park's president, Robby Bell, openly stated that the price for which the Sky Ride was sold for was "very reasonable." He also said that the sale will help with moving the park out of Expo Square.
Bell’s was given 120 days to remove its rides and equipment off of the fairgrounds, but Bell’s has asked for an extension to remove their belongings. Multiple Tulsa-area suburbs have made contact with Bell about relocating the park to their communities, but Bell said Tuesday that he has hasn't made a decision about those requests yet.
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TN developer foresees new wonder of theme park world
Redevelopment proposal for Memphis Pyramid Arena revealed
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© Ericson Group
A Great Pyramid of Thrills: The proposal for a theme park inside the outdated athletic arena includes tentative coaster tracks, a water ride, and a freefall tower.
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What do you do when you have a hollow 32-story pyramid? Turn it into a theme park.
At least, that’s what marketing executive Greg Ericson wants to do with the Pyramid Arena in Memphis.
The original employment for the world’s third-largest pyramid was an athletics venue, with room for 21,000 and a prime setting on the banks of the Mississippi River. However, when the region’s major games shifted to the 29,000-seat FedEx Forum in September 2004, the city was left with a pressing need: redevelopment.
Of ideas thrown around calling for the pyramid’s transformation into everything from an aquarium to a casino, the favored concept has been Bass Pro Shop’s vision of a combined retail-lodging-entertainment center. Although still the front-runner of ideas, estimates have increased from $75 million to upwards of $100 million the past year.
Now, Ericson and his Memphis-based company, Ericson Group, want to work with Bass Pro to create a theme park on the arena’s 590-by-590 floor. Initial estimates for the Pyramid Adventure Park place the project at $150 million.
Concepts envisioned for the theme park proposal include a centerpiece 200-foot freefall tower and a 100-foot-tall water ride built into an artificial mountain -- along with a roller coaster track or two.
The city’s chief financial officer, Robert Lipscomb, questions the financial integrity of the theme park proposal, but Ericson remains solidly confident not only that investors will jump on his idea, but also that his company can collaborate with Bass Pro to deliver the park if necessary.
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Film star’s earring discovered in Blackpool lake
Construction in lake reveals a long lost earring
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© Pleasure Beach Blackpool
A Piece of History: Hollywood film star Marlene Dietrich lost her earring 73 years ago on Pleasure Beach Blackpool's Big Dipper wooden roller coaster.
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The construction of Pleasure Beach Blackpool's newest roller coaster Infusion, a Vekoma Suspended Looping Coaster, required that workers had to drain the lake in the amusement park because the new roller coaster will be built on top of it. When the workers recently drained the lake, they found a multiple amount of items, including an earring that once belonged to film star Marlene Dietrich.
Blackpool’s famous Big Dipper sits just along the lake where the earring was found. The earring, which is a gold and pearl gem, fell off as Dietrich rode the Big Dipper at Pleasure Beach Blackpool in 1934.
Dietrich was getting a VIP tour around the beachside park by its chairman Leonard Thompson. She later realized the earring was missing, Dietrich wrote to the park and asked if they would search for the earring. Other items were found in the lake including a glass eye, a toupee, three dolls, hats, scarves, and 85 Euros in change.
A spokesman for the park said that, “It appears to have withstood the test of time quite well.” She also added that the earring was “of sentimental value” to Marlene, who died at the age of 90 in 1992.
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Six Flags chain shrinks again to reduce debt
Seven theme and water parks sold for total of $312 m
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Six Flags, Inc., New York City, NY, USA 01/11/07 - By: Devin Olson -
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© Carl F.
On a Different Track: Six Flags is selling many of the parks acquired during an April, 1998 takeover by Premier Parks, Inc., including Elitch Gardens in Denver, pictured here.
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This morning, Six Flags confirmed the sale of seven of the chain’s 28 properties in a move to continue lightening its $2.2 billion debt.
Six Flags Darien Lake of Darien Center, NY; Six Flags Elitch Gardens of Denver, CO; Enchanted Village of Federal Way, WA, Six Flags Splashtown of Houston, TX; Six Flags Waterworld of Concord, CA; and Frontier City and White Water Bay of Oklahoma City, OK are being sold to PARC 7F-Operations Corporation of Jacksonville, Florida for a total of $312 million.
The property sold off totals 1,317 acres containing a sum of over 200 rides and slides.
In June, Six Flags announced eight “weaker properties” that were under consideration for sale. That list consisted of the parks sold today in addition to one of the chain’s largest parks, Six Flags Magic Mountain of Valencia, CA.
Since Washington Redskins owner Dan Synder assumed ownership of Six Flags last year and appointed former ESPN executive Mark Shapiro CEO in a move to steer the chain away from its financial woes, the parks have seen continued attendance slumps. Last season, attendance slipped 14 percent. Meanwhile, the Cedar Fair chain, which acquired Paramount Parks last June, is reporting modest increases in attendance and guest spending.
Cedar Fair has fast become Six Flags’ number-one rival. At the start of last season, Cedar Fair owned 11 properties versus Six Flags’ 28. Now, with continued growth of Cedar Fair and continued shrinkage of Six Flags, Cedar Fair is almost level with Six Flags, with 19 properties versus 21.
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Tigger accused smacking a child at Walt Disney World
Disney character in trouble once again
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© Walt Disney World
Yet another incident: Over past couple years, Disney parks have been a part of a multiple number of incidents because of the massive amount of people that visit each year.
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Walt Disney World employee dressed as the character Tigger was accused of hitting a child while posing for a photo. Michael J. Fedelem was the man dressed as the Tigger character that day, and park officials have temporarily suspended him from working at the Disney parks. Zoraya Suarez, a Disney spokeswoman, has announced that an investigation for these accusations has begun.
Last Friday at Disney-MGM Studios, Jerry Monaco of New Hampshire videotaped his son, Jerry Monaco Jr., as he posed with the costumed character of Tigger. The tape only shows part of the incident, but according to the Orange County Sheriff's Office, it does confirm the accusations. It's now left to the county sheriffs to investigate what happened leading up to the incident.
Not that long ago in the year 2004, a Walt Disney World employee in the Tigger costume was accused of touching a young girl as she posed for a photo with him. In court, the jury found the man not guilty.
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Steel Pier to shine one final time
Boardwalk amusement park to remain open for the 2007 season
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Since 1898, the signature attraction in Atlantic City, New Jersey has been the Steel Pier. The Steel Pier has a storied history, but it was announced recently that the Steel Pier’s history had come to an end.
The Trump Entertainment Resorts, which are run and owned by Donald Trump, owns the Steel Pier, and they had planned to redevelop the pier after the end of the 2006 season. Trump had intended to dismantle the family amusement pier to build hotels, condos, and restaurants to give the area a livelier atmosphere. The family amusement park is still going to close after 109 years of operation, but those plans along with the plans to redevelop the pier will have to wait one more year.
Now this classic Atlantic City landmark has been temporarily granted the right to operate at least one more full operating season. The Steel Pier is planned to open April with an Easter Egg Hunt that is planned to kick off what looks like the Steel Pier’s final year of operation. Trump and his officials are not sure about when the redevelopment project of Steel Pier will begin, but they expect this summer, in actuality, to be the Steel Pier's one last time to shine.
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