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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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Pleasurewood Hills to add new Vekoma Boomerang
'Wipeout' will be 116ft tall and pull over five Gs
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Pleasurewood Hills, Suffolk, UK 02/22/07 - By: Cory Gross -
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© Vekoma
Boomerang: The Vekoma boomerang is found in many places around the world. |
A new ride at Pleasurewood Hills will begin its 15-week construction period.
Wipeout, the new ride, will cost more the one million euros.
The ride will be a Vekoma boomerang and will stand at 116ft tall and reach 50mph. It is said to pull over 5Gs will going through its inversion after its launch, then coming back and repeating the ride backwards.
The new ride, which can hold 760 passengers per hour is part of a new multi million pound redevelopment program which has been going on since the park was taken over by the French organization Compagnie Des Alpes two years ago.
Yves Delhommeau, the general manager at Pleasurewood Hills says that three million euros have been invested to improve the quality of the facilities and making a new maritime theme for the park. He also says that Wipeout will be the first ride of a long-term plan to bring in more exciting rides. The ride is set to open in May.
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Six Flags St. Louis takes a big spin with Tony Hawk
Another Tony Hawk themed spinning coaster coming in 2007
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© Six Flags Inc.
Tony Hawk's Big Spin: Six Flags St. Louis's newest family thrilling spinning coaster will be the park's first roller coaster since the Boss wooden roller coaster was built in 2000. |
Six Flags Fiesta Texas announced last December that they would be opening a new spinning coaster titled Tony Hawk’s Big Spin. The new family coaster will be themed after one of the best, if not the greatest, skateboarder of all time, Tony Hawk. Now another Six Flags park has decided to join with Six Flags Fiesta Texas in opening a roller coaster themed after Tony Hawk.
Six Flags St. Louis has announced that they would open there own version of Tony Hawk’s Big Spin roller coaster on April 21 of this year. This new spinning roller coaster is designed to give families the thrill of flying through the air and spinning through tricks as if the were riding skateboard. The ride even includes a large spinning figure of Tony Hawk at the top of the ride, and monitors in the queue lines displaying highlights of the history of action sports.
This also isn’t the first time Tony Hawk and Six Flags have worked together. Last season, the Tony Hawk Boom Boom Huck Jam tour performed at several Six Flags parks across the United States. This tour is comprised of several skateboarders and action sports athletes, including Tony Hawk himself, putting on a show for the park guests. This tour is expected to continue at numerous Six Flags parks next year.
Gerstlauer of Germany will design the ride and it will be very similar to the Mr. Six’s Pandemonium spinning roller coaster at Six Flags New England. Each skateboard themed car will hold up to four riders, and the coaster itself will stand 53 feet tall and spin at a top-speed of 31 mph. Also, Six Flags St. Louis will offer a number of new shows this year, and a Summer Concert Series, which will begin on June 21st.
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Johnny Rockets restaurants to be added to Six Flags parks
Dan Snyder acquired the restaurant chain for $500 million
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© Josh Davidson
Johnny Rockets: Johnny Rockets will join the many other restaurants found in Six Flags parks. |
Daniel Snyder, who is the owner of the Private equity firm RedZone Capital, is set to acquire the Johnny Rockets restaurant chain for more than $500 million.
Last year, Daniel Snyder bought the Six Flags amusement park chain, which is known for its extreme thrill rides and changed the park into a new direction by making it more family friendly. He is also the owner of the Washington Redskins football team
Johnny Rockets is a 1950’s style restaurant and is famous for its cheese fries, hamburgers, and old fashioned milkshakes. Its first restaurant was built on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles in 1986
Dan Snyder hopes to open more than 1,000 new restaurants within the next 5 years, some of them being placed into Six Flags parks. The 1950’s feel of the restaurant might attract families and boost the attendance of Six Flags parks around the country
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Geauga Lake looks in a new direction
Park begins the process of changing its image
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© Geauga Lake
Cedar Fair owns Ohio: Cedar Point, Kings Island, and Geauga Lake are now all owned by Cedar Fair, but Geauga Lake now plans to differ from these parks by offering a more family based experience. |
Cedar Fair Entertainment Company purchased Geauga Lake amusement park, formally known as Six Flags Worlds of Adventure, from Six Flags Inc. in April of 2004 thinking that the park would continue to be a popular tourists attraction. Over the past couple years, the costs of renovations, operating and maintenance costs, and a lower than expected attendance rate has caused the park to look into a direction and become a more regional based family-entertainment park.
With Cedar Point, also owned by Cedar Fair and known as the roller coaster capital of the world, being located not that far away from Geauga Lake. They have decided to give the park a more family based image to differ itself from the other major amusement parks in Ohio. This process of changing the park’s image has already begun with the removal of X-Flight and soon Steel Venom will be dismantled.
Both of these major roller coasters were located near the park’s main entrance, which Jack Falfas, Cedar Fair's Chief Operating Officer, stated made the park “not as inviting.” X-Flight has already been dismantled and will reopen this spring as the Firehawk at another on of Cedar Fair’s amusement parks located in Ohio, Kings Island. Steel Venom will be placed in storage for this season and it will likely reopen for the 2008 season at another Cedar Fair amusement park.
The park’s monorail, which runs through where Geauga Lake’s original water park once stood located near the park’s main entrance, will also be removed. Also, before the 2006 operating season, the park dismantled Mr. Hyde’s Nasty Fall freefall ride, which was located in the same area of the park where these rides that are being removed were located. So with these changes to the park, Geauga Lake has made it clear that they want the park to appeal to families and become regional attraction rather than be a destination for thrill-seekers.
Even with the removal of these major roller coasters and rides, the park is currently scheduled to have new expensive paint jobs done on two of its major roller coasters. One of these newly repainted roller coasters will now feature cameras in every seat so now visitors will be able to buy a video souvenir of their ride. The Raging Wolf Bobs wooden coaster has now been completely refurbished, and the park’s movie simulation ride will be rethemed for this season. In addition to all of this, the park also plans to add some new attractions but it is not known what these new attraction will be yet.
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Camelot Theme Park announces the addition of the Knightmare
Schwarzkopf roller coaster relocated from Japan to England
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© Camelot Theme Park
The Knightmare is Coming: The Knightmare will be Camelot's fifth roller coaster, and it will be the park's most intense roller coaster yet.
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Kobe Portopialand amusement park in Japan closed forever on March 31, 2006 leaving the park’s seemingly unknown roller coasters either for sale as a whole to another amusement park or being sold as scrap metal. One of Kobe Portopialand’s three roller coasters has finally been sold, and now it has made its way all the way from Japan to England where it will become known as the Knightmare.
Kobe Portopialand’s BMRX roller coaster, originally known as the Bavarian Mountain Railroad, was designed by Schwarzkopf and constructed by Zierer. This compact roller coaster made its debut in March of 1987 and it became known for its heavily banked turns. The ride was rethemed in 1997 with a giant mountain, which enclosed part of the coaster, and a number of special effects. During this time is when the Bavarian Mountain Railroad was renamed BMRX.
Now the ride has been sold to Camelot Theme Park in England, and it will open under the name Knightmare some time this summer. The 2,601 foot long Knightmare will be replacing the park’s Gauntlet roller coaster, which was removed last season.
The Knightmare will cost Camelot Theme Park £3 million, and will be the single largest investment made for the park by Prime Resorts, the owner of the park. However, even with the addition of the Knightmare, the long-term plans for the park are to eventually demolish it and replace it with an indoor water park.
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Kings Island prepares to let the Firehawk take flight
Kings Island announces the addition its 14th roller coaster
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© Kings Island
X-Flight Relaunched: The X-Flight roller coaster from Geauga Lake will be transformed into the Firehawk, which will be Kings Island's first flying coaster. |
Kings Island, home to a number of thrilling roller coasters will let their 14th roller coaster take flight come Memorial Day Weekend of this year. In celebration of the park’s 35th anniversary, Kings Island will open a new thrilling roller coaster that will be known as the Firehawk.
The Firehawk is a flying roller coaster that will allow its riders to experience the feeling of human flight. This innovative flying coaster will be located in the park’s Coney Mall section where it will stand beside one of the park’s award-winning roller coasters, Flight of Fear.
Riders will begin by boarding the four-across red and yellow pilot seats, and then the passengers will be lowered backwards before there train begins to climb the 115-foot-tall red and gray colored lift hill. After about 2 minutes and 30 seconds, riders will have soared through a ½ mile of track and will have experienced five inversions and a top-speed of 50 mph.
The Firehawk, manufactured by Vekoma International, will join a number of world-class thrilling roller coasters at Kings Island, which include The Beast, Son of Beast, Flight of Fear, and the Vortex. The Firehawk is actually the X-Flight roller coaster that will now be relocated to Kings Island from another Cedar Fair owned theme park, Geauga Lake.
Kings Island will open for weekend operation on April 21, but will open for daily operation on Wednesday, May 23. The park will open at 10:00 am each morning, and the park’s Boomerang Bay water park will open Saturday, May 26. Also, Kings Islands is just the latest of the newly acquired Paramount Parks, owned by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, to drop the Paramount name off of the park’s title.
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SheiKra to have new floorless trains installed
America’s first dive machine will become floorless
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© Homer
SheiKra Goes Floorless: SheiKra open in May 2005 as Busch Gardens Africa's tallest and fastest roller coaster standing 200 feet high and racing at 70 mph.
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SheiKra, Busch Gardens Africa newest roller coaster open in May 2005, and was America’s first dive machine style roller coaster. Now just two years after it’s opening, Busch Gardens Africa has decided to make a major modification, which will enhance SheiKra’s ride experience.
This new modification will be the installation of new floorless trains, and they will replace SheiKra’s current trains, which have a standard floor. SheiKra’s new cars will continue to hold eight riders across and each train will still be three rows deep.
SheiKra’s track will remain unchanged, but the station will have to have a retractable floor and handrails installed to accommodate for these new floorless trains. The retractable floor will rise and fill the gaps across the loading platform so riders will be able to board the trains.
These new floorless trains will let passengers enjoy SheiKra while having nothing but open air around them and a shoulder harness holding them in. SheiKra will close beginning Memorial Day, May 28, so the installation process for the new floorless trains can begin. This dive machine, created by Bolliger & Mabillard, will remain closed for approximately three weeks so these modifications can be made. SheiKra is planned to reopen with its new trains on June 16.
Busch Gardens Africa’s northern counterpart, Busch Gardens Europe, will be opening the Griffon this spring. The Griffon will be a dive machine very similar to SheiKra, and the Griffon will also have floorless trains. SheiKra features a 200-foot vertical drop at a 90-degree angle, and now with the addition of these floorless trains, Busch Gardens Africa hopes to make this highly rated roller coaster even better than it already is.
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