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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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Disney housing problem deepens
Housing for staff at Disneyland gets worse
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Disneyland, Anaheim, California 04/28/07 - By: Zach Wik -
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On Thursday, the Walt Disney Co. announced that they are trying to buy land for a few hundered low income units for the workers at Disneyland. The announcement came on Thursday which was two days after the City of Anaheim approved zoning for 1,500 condominiums only a few blocks away from Disneyland.
Disney would possibly use the land to build a third theme park in the future and 225 low income units for employees.
© Disney Parks
Staffing Housing Problems Deepen: The problem for housing for Disney employees deepens. |
Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle made a petition that would stop all of the plans for the units. They would need at least 13,000 signatures within a month to stop the planning of the project until the February 2008 election. Housing advocates are supporting the construction saying they are desperately needed by workers who don't live near by.
Disneyland pumps 3.8 billion dollars each year into the economy and is the biggest employer in the Anaheim area. Disneyland spokesman, Rob Doughty said,"We support the referendum fully, It's important to the taxpayers of Anaheim because this is the largest single funding source in the city."
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Wave of upgrades hit Six Flags America
Total cost of upgrades over 5 million dollars
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Six Flags America, Upper Marlboro, MD, USA 04/25/07 - By: Ryan Blevins -
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©Devin Olson
New upgrades at Six Flags America: Six Flags America's most recent investment was made when the park introduced its Hurricane Harbor water park in 2005. |
Over the past year, more than $5 million has been spent to renovate and upgrade many different features at Six Flags America. Food services in the Gotham City area have been improved. Facilities within the water park at Six Flags have also been upgraded. Not to mention the new entertainment options that have been added.
The Gotham City area of the park is centered around "DC comics" super-heros. This section is one of the most popular areas in the park, and it also houses the parks largest roller coaster, "Superman: Ride of Steel." A brand new parade and several new shows will greatly enhance the amount of entertainment options this season.
Finally after guest's complaints about the slow food service at the park, points of service have raised 6 points. New food items offered this season will include Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, the Wow Café and Wingery, and Uncle Roy’s burgers and fried chicken.
Six Flags is also planning to build a new human resources building which will consolidate different staff training activities. Another new upgrade will include the reopening of the previously named "Typhoon SeaCoaster". The Typhoon opened back in 1997, built by Intamin. This coaster has suffered a bit of downtime but after modifications, it will be ready to reopen as "Skull Mountain" during the 2007 season.
The new "Skull Mountain" will be the newest attraction to be introduced to the park since the Tornado water slide debuted back in 2005. Overall, this wave of upgrades should really put a new experience into visiting Six Flags America.
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Universal Studios confirms addition of a new Simpsons attraction in 2008
New Universal Thrill Ride to be themed around the Simpsons
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Universal Studios, Orlando, FL, and Universal Studios, Hollywood, CA, USA 04/24/07 - By: Ryan Blevins -
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© Universal Studios
Universal Studio’s New Thrill Ride: After the recent removal of the “Back to the Future” attraction, sources have confirmed a new Simpson’s themed attraction. |
Nineteen years ago, this major cartoon creation shook up audiences everywhere and continually provides laughs and entertainment around the country. As of now, the Simpsons are preparing for their big summer movie premier. Not to mention that coming soon, 2008, the Simpsons will be given their very own, unique thrill ride on both coasts.
Both Universal Theme Parks now have plans to incorporate Homer, Bart, Lisa, Marge, and Maggie into a unique thrill ride at their parks in Hollywood California and Orlando Florida by next spring. Matt Groening, the show's creator, has clarified that the new attraction will have high speeds with lots of screming.
Universal Studio's Theme Parks in Hollywood and Orlando are set to open the, as of now untitled ride in both locations in the spring of 2008. The ride is also said to be incorporating motion simulator technology, more or less similar to the "Spider-man" and "Curse of DarKastle" attractions. The deal will also allow the use of characters from "The Simpsons" to be included into Universal theme park brand. Hired staff will dress up as the characters and roam the park as entertainers. Stores will also be selling Simpsons souvenirs at both parks.
In preperation of the new attraction, Universal had to shut down a crowd favorite the "Back to the Future" ride. But the new attraction is sure to bring joy to many when it is unveiled in Spring of 2008.
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Harry Potter may become part of Universal's Islands of Adventure
A new Harry Potter themed area may be coming soon
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Universal Studios, Orlando, FL, United States 04/23/07 - By: Ryan Blevins -
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© Islands of Adventure
Universal's Star Attraction: After a couple of years of negotiations, it looks like the Universal Corporation has won the rights to create a Harry Potter themed attraction. |
Back in 1997 he flew into book stores as the "New York Times" Bestseller. But in the years to come, Harry Potter may be flying into Central Florida, and he'll be there to stay.
J.K. Rowling, author of the ever popular series, is preparing to sign a major deal with Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida to create a multi-million dollar expansion for the Islands of Adventure theme park, which is part of the Universal Corporation.
After two years of negotiations, the deal with Universal came through. Rowling had talked with Disney first but turned them down due to the fact that they wanted total control of the project.
The Lost Continent section of the park is expected to be remodeled into what some are calling "Potterland". This new theme park experience could be built within as little as 18 months as soon as the deal has been finalized.
The experts think it is a great idea to incorporate this addition to Islands of Adventure, which is also home to areas themed on Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park and Marvel comic superheroes.
This could be Universal Studio's Islands of Adventure's first thrilling attraction since 1999 when the park made its debut.
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Hard Rock Park unveils details about its attractions
Two major roller coasters will be part of the park’s lineup of attractions
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© Hard Rock Park
Rockin' Myrtle Beach: Hard Rock Park will be a highly anticipated attraction in Myrtle Beach when it opens in April 2008. |
After more than four years of planning and financing, the Hard Rock Park’s developers finally released details about the park and its attractions. As part of this announcement, Hard Rock Park’s six-city promotional tour recently began in New York City, and this tour will give details about the park to people all across the east coast.
At each stop on the park’s promotional tour, the park developers will collect a piece of Hark Rock memorabilia that will be placed in the park. Memorabilia from this tour will include a graffiti-covered wall from the CBGB rock club in New York City, which closed last year, and a white studded cape owned and worn on stage by Elvis Presley.
This promotional tour will be taken on the park’s most high-profile piece of memorabilia, the Beatles Magical Mystery Tour Bus. The bus will visit six different Hard Rock Cafés in six cities along the east coast and will return to Myrtle Beach on April 18 for the opening of the park’s preview center, which will show people what the park will actually look like.
The park will have six different themed areas, which will feature different genres of music. These six themed areas include the All Access Entry Plaza, Rock & Roll Heaven, British Invasion, Lost in the 70’s, Born in the USA, and Cool Country.
The park will be home to a 10,000-seat amphitheater along with some other attractions such as the Roadies Stunt Show, an action-filled comedy featuring heavy metal musicians, and the Reggae River Falls, a Jamaican-themed water play area. The park will also include a number of themed shops and restaurants such as the Carnaby Street Café and the Mainstreet Gas and Gifts.
Hard Rock Park will feature two signature, thrilling roller coasters. One of these will be a Southern Rock roller coaster that careens through a creepy, abandoned lumber mill called the Midnight Rider. The second of these two roller coasters will be a convertible car themed roller coaster titled Maximum RPM! and it will race to the hits of the 1980’s. The park will have a total of five roller coasters including one branded by an undisclosed band.
The Hard Rock Park will be a 140-acre theme park complex, and it will cost $400 million to build. The park is scheduled to open in April 2008, and park admission tickets will cost $46.
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Alabama Adventure announces new attractions for this season
Additions include a new thrill ride and a water park expansion
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© Alabama Adventure
A New Adventure: Alabama Adventure is one of Alabama's only amusement parks and has continued to grow more popular each year since its change in ownership. |
Alabama Adventure has officially announced a couple of new additions to the park’s lineup of attractions for this season. Magic City USA’s new thrill ride and Splash Beach Water Park’s new children’s play area will be the main additions to this up-and-coming amusement attraction.
Magic City USA amusement park's latest thrill ride will be called Vertigo and will open later this year. Vertigo is described as a thrill ride that will turns riders head over heels as it spins and rises.
The Salamander Bay will soon become part of the Splash Beach Water Park, and will be the second of the two major additions to Alabama Adventure this year. The Salamander Bay will be a water filled children’s play area, which is designed for kids 6 years old and younger. This new activity area will feature colorful and tropical themed slides, gadgets, geysers and water activities.
Due to the success of the park’s summer concert series last year; Alabama Adventure plans to expand this year’s summer concert series from nine to 14 concert dates. Also, the park plans to expand its Coca-Cola Amphitheater by flattening a large hill behind the amphitheater, which will create a larger lawn seating area.
The Southland Entertainment Group bought this once bankrupt amusement park in June 2002 when it was known as Visionland and since then, the park has grown and has become more popular each year. In March 2006, Visionland was renamed Alabama Adventure and the park’s general manager, John Collins, expressed interest in continuing to expand the park. Alabama Adventure will officially open to the public for the 2007 season on Wednesday, April 18.
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Expedition Everest helps soar attendance rates
Disney’s Animal Kingdom has a 8.6-percent increase
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Disney's Animal Kingdom, Orlando, FL, USA 04/05/07 - By: Cory Gross -
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© Disney
Disney: Disney parks have been a leading amusement park chain for thier unique rides and highly-themed attractions. |
Disney World's Animal Kingdom attendance soared by an 8.6-percent increase, the largest increase of any theme park, according to estimates produced by TEA Inc. and Economics Research Associates for Park World and InPark magazines. Last year the park added a new attraction, Expedition Everest which most likely helped boost the attendance.
Disney along with Busch never publicly announces figures. ERA used to do the work of finding the attendance figures for the American Business magazine, but the magazine closed last year.
Expedition Everest, which opened in April 2006, is a highly themed roller coaster in a 200 foot mountain. It takes riders through the Himalayas and they even get an encounter with the Yeti. It is over 4400 feet in length and goes 50mph.
Disney parks have always had the most visited parks in North America. In 2006 Magic Kingdom had the most visits with 16.6 million visitors. Following behind in amount of visitors was Disneyland, EPCOT, Disney-MGM Studios, and Animal Kingdom - all being Disney parks.
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