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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!

Riptide Bay: New for Hurricane Harbor
Six Flags Great America to add 3 acre waterpark expansion

Six Flags Great America 09/02/10 - By: Ryan Shrout -

The wait is finally over for those curious as to the new attraction coming to Six Flags Great America. And no it isn't Chang. Officially, Six Flags' Gurnee, IL location will receive a three acre water park expansion in celebration of the chain's 50th anniversary.

Hurricane Harbor, as the water park is known, was constructed in 2005 and is included with park admission. When it opened, it included a water play structure, wave pool, lazy river, and a plethora of slides from Proslide Technology Inc. ranging from mild to wild. This new addition, which will fill the space vacated by the old Space Shuttle America simulator, will be the first addition to the water park since the Tornado appeared in 2006.

The three acre expansion will be known as Riptide Bay and follow in the tropical theming already in place throughout Hurricane Harbor. Though not all of the details are known at this time, the key pieces of this upgrade to the water park will be a dual sided surf simulator, an activity pool, luxury cabanas, and a new slide complex, where allegedly one of the new rides will go nearly vertical.

Hurricane Harbor has been an integral part of Six Flags Great America since its opening five years ago, and was recently voted to be one of the Best Water Parks in the Nation. These new additions can only serve to enhance that image and bring more excitement to the already thrilling aquatic playground.

Knott's Closed to Public on Saturday
Park closed for private event

Knott's Berry Farm, Buena Park, CA 09/02/10 - By: Tyler Carlton -

© KNOTTS BERRY FARM

Knott's Berry Farm will be closed to the public on Saturday, September 4th. The park is being used for a private event by Sepmpra Energy, the owners of the Southern California Gas Company. It is expected that over 15,000 employees of Sempra and its subsidiaries will descend upon Knott's for the event.

Soak City will remain open to the public on Saturday between 10am and 7pm. Knott's is attempting to spread the word of the closure to avoid guests showing up and being surprised to see the park closed to them. Word is being spread through phone lines and websites. The tickets for Knott's are not dated, so a guest planning a visit for Saturday can delay their visit and still use the same ticket.

According to Meghan Gardner, a spokeswoman for Knott's, the park will occasionally host private parties and events in the evening during the off season. Events like this one on Saturday are rare and will not happen very often.

Dare Devil Dive in 2011
Gerstlauer Eurofighter coming to Six Flags Over Georgia

Six Flags Over Georgia, Austell, GA 09/02/10 - By: Brandon Bushman -

Six Flags Over Georgia has just announced that it will be getting it’s 11th coaster for the 2011 operating season, Dare Devil Dive. The new roller coaster will be a custom-designed Gerstlauer Eurofighter, with a vertical lift and a beyond vertical drop. While the park claims it will be the “First coaster in the US to drop beyond vertical,” however both Maverick at Cedar Point and Mystery Mine at Dollywood opened in 2007 with beyond vertical drops of 95-degrees.

The ride will start off with a vertical ascent up 100 ft in the air, before the train slows and pauses at the summit. After this, the train will plunge downward, beyond vertical, angling inward before reaching the bottom of the drop, and a top speed of 52 mph. While a clear image and description of the remaining layout is unclear at this moment, the park describes the remaining layout for us: “The ride then careens through a thrilling combination of diving loops while executing three inversions before riders catch air on a zero gravity hill and swoop across the dreaded Immelmann vertical U turn stretched high above the ground. The crescendo builds as the car dives toward the ground and up into a Heartline roll before being slowed by the magnetic brakes.”

Melinda Ashcraft, Park President of Six Flags Atlanta Properties, said of the addition, “We’re excited to welcome Dare Devil Dive as our 11th roller coaster…It will be the perfect complement to an already stellar coaster lineup.”

Dare Devil Dive is expected to open on Memorial Day Weekend in 2011, joining some of the parks other top thrillers like Goliath, Batman: The Ride, and Superman: Ultimate Flight.

Disney Fantasmic Dragon Off-Line
Broken dragon removed from the show indefinetly

Disneyland, Anaheim, CA 09/01/10 - By: Brandon Bushman -

©COASTER-net.com

Fantasmic: Disneyland’s dragon down-for-the-count.

The robotic dragon used in Disneyland’s Fantasmic! Show has been removed from the show indefinitely after experiencing a technical malfunction at a show this past Saturday. The 45-foot dragon, modeled after the Maleficent character from “Sleeping Beauty,” collapsed during the early showing of Fantasmic! On Disneyland’s Rivers of America, and has since been removed from the show.

The dragon was the centerpiece of a revamped Fantasmic show, as it would rise 35-feet high in 17 seconds, and would climax its performance by igniting the Rivers of America for 25 seconds. At 40-feet tall, 28-feet wide, and nearly 10,000 pounds, the dragon is massive, much like the problematic Yeti from Disney World’s Expedition Everest.

The dragon was originally supposed to appear in the summer of 2009 as the centerpiece of Disneyland’s entertainment. Images and artwork of the dragon appeared on promotional materials as a new feature for the summer season, but technical difficulties delayed the dragon’s debut until September 1, after the summer season had ended.

Because of all the problems the park had in getting the dragon up in the first place, many Disney fans gave the dragon the nickname of Murphy, after Murphy’s Law, which states that “everything that can go wrong, will go wrong.”

Betsy Sanchez, a Disneyland spokeswoman, said “the dragon in Fantasmic experienced a technical issue last Saturday night…We are working to fix the problem.” She went on to say that while the dragon would no longer appear in the show, the show itself would continue operation.

Kentucky Kingdom to Reopen
Kentucky Kingdom is set to reopen in Spring 2011

Kentucky Kingdom, Louiisville, KY 08/31/10 - By: Kyle Ross -

Kentucky Kingdom, which formerly operated as Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom prior to February, is on track to open next Spring.

Ed Hart, who owned the park before Premier Parks purchased it in 1997, has nearly finished preparation of the business plan. "We have negotiated diligently to acquire the ownership of the rides and property, reached an agreement on that," said Harold Workman. The agreement will be approved by a bankruptcy judge on September 15th.

Kentucky Kingdom had prided itself on being the area's largest employer of teens during summers during Six Flags's ownership. One of the parks former coasters, Chang, became one of a number of rides to leave the park. In response, Kentucky State Fair added to its Midway to take up the slack.

Ed Hart's business plan will be presented to the Fair Board in October. More on this story will follow as it develops.

Space Mountain Updated
Walt Disney World ride gets new sound

Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, FL 08/31/10 - By: Tyler Carlton -

Space Mountain, one of the star attractions of Tomorrowland at Magic Kingdom, has recently received a brand new upgrade to go along with the new lighting and other improvements the ride added last year. The Imagineering crew at Disney has added sixty new speakers to play a musical composition unique to this ride. Named, "Starry-O-Phonic", these new audio features will add to the already fun ride experience.

A message from the Space Mountain Project Team reads, " Today, Tomorrowland in Magic Kingdom Park launches a new era in super sonic space travel! Now all flights departing from Space Mountain will zoom across the galaxies in the new dimension of Starry-O-Phonic Sound!

Space was once a silent void, but now, every twist and turn on your galactic journey will be accompanied by a zippy musical track, the whoosh of passing asteroids, and the rush of interstellar traffic, making your space voyage an all-encompassing cosmic joy-ride.

Space Mountain had a grand re-launch in November of 2009, but Starry-o-Phonic Sound is arriving a bit later, in the summer of 2010. We needed the extra time to test every aspect of this hyperspace audio technology, without disrupting the continued on-time departures and arrivals of this busy space hub.

We hope you enjoy this new amenity, brought to you by Starport Seven-Five. The future of space travel is sounding better all the time!

Enjoy!!! - The Space Mountain Project Team"

Family of Drowned Trainer to Sue SeaWorld
The bad news just keeps coming for the Park

SeaWorld 08/31/10 - By: Patrick Leaske -

We all remember back in February, when a tragic accident involving one of Seaworld's killer whales occurred. One of the whale's trainers had been drowned when the whale, Tilikum, pulled the trainer by her ponytail into the water. Normally, trainers survive incidents like these, but that was not the case this time. Initially, the family of the trainer did not want to press charges, and did not fault the park. But recently, government officials have decided that working conditions were NOT safe at the time of the incident, opening up the opportunity for lawsuit. Realizing that the incident could partly be the park's fault, the family has said that they may end up suing the park after all.

The government agency that decided that the conditions were not safe, OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, is pressing charges against the park, allowing the family to follow suit. Their job is to make sure that workplaces are safe for employees. In their reports, the government officials said that whale trainers deserve the same safety benefits of other fields of work, and it is time for amusement parks to be forced to provide safe conditions - and make sure that parks are no longer be able to get away with statements such as 'working with whales is inherently dangerous'. The park is predicted to respond with a statement saying that you can't take humane care of whales in captivity without the close contact that creates these incidents.

It is still in question as to whether or not the family will sue, but OSHA will do so no matter what the family's decision ends up being.

Details About New Waterpark Released
Great Wolf Resorts planning a Garden Grove, CA location

Garden Grove, CA 08/29/10 - By: Tyler Carlton -

Details and information for a new Great Wolf Lodge located on Harbor Boulevard in Garden Grove, CA have recently been released by the Wisconsin based Great Wolf Resorts. If completed, this new location would be the company's largest indoor-outdoor waterpark in the United States. Great Wolf Resorts currently operates eleven locations within the United States and one in Canada.

The new park, which would be located about two miles south of Disneyland, would include a 12-story, 600-room hotel with 30,000 square feet of meeting space. However, the main attraction would be a 130,000-square-foot, indoor and outdoor water park. It is estimated that the location would bring in around $8.5 million a year and would also bring 600 construction and permanent jobs to the area.

One of the main waterpark attractions is the 6-story tall Howlin' Tornado. This ride is a Proslide Tornado model slide that will feature sections that are both inside and outside. Similar models of this ride are one of the favorite slides of guests throughout the Great Wolf Resorts chain. Apart from this slide the waterpark will offer several other attractions for the whole family.

"We won't be issuing day passes to the water park except on rare occasions when we have special events," said spokesman Steve Shattuck. "Keeping it exclusive gives our guests a level of safety and great value for the money."

Six Flags Great America Teases at New Attraction
Park uses Facebook to release clues.

Six Flags Great America 08/28/10 - By: Ryan Shrout -

Six Flags Great America has just started an interesting marketing campaign. Through the park's Facebook page, they are letting their fans know what their new attraction will be, one piece of the puzzle at a time. Literally.

One by one, puzzle pieces are appearing that will make up an announcement poster for the new attraction. With what little has currently been revealed, many surmise that this will indeed be the rumored Hurricane Harbor Expansion, perhaps featuring "chute-the-chutes" ride similar to Pilgrims Plunge, the record breaking ride which opened at Holiday World in 2009.

Of course some are still holding on to the hope that the park will get a roller coaster. After all, the park hasn't received a major coaster since 2003, when Superman Ultimate Flight replaced the old Arrow multi-looper, Shockwave.

But following the news that the B&M Stand-up formerly known as Chang will be arriving in at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, NJ rather than Gurnee, IL, the chances of a coaster coming to Six Flags Great America are becoming less and less.

Six Flags Announces New Presidents
New Presidents for SFMM and SFGrAm

Six Flags Magic Mountain, Valencia, CA & Six Flags Great America, Jackson, NJ 08/28/10 - By: Brandon Bushman -

Six Flags announced just this past week, amidst the storm of Cedar Fair WindSeekers, that it has replaced the Presidents of two of its parks, Six Flags Magic Mountain and Six Flags Great Adventure. Those new presidents are Bonnie Rabjohn and John Fitzgerald, taking over for Six Flags Magic Mountain and Six Flags Great America respectively.

Bonnie Rabjohn replaces Jay Thomas, who left his position at Six Flags Magic Mountain and Hurricane Harbor, having been president since 2007, for a position at the company’s corporate office. Bonnie has worked with Six Flags for over 25 years in marketing, promotions, sales, communications, and retails, and most recently served as Director of Worldwide Marketing for Warner Bros.

Al Weber, COO of Six Flags said of her, “Bonnie is one of the strongest, most talented and aggressive park marketing people in the industry, and has a proven track record of success in the highly competitive Southern California market.” Having lived in Santa Clarita Valley for 16 years, she said “I look forward to ‘coming home’.”

John Fitzgerald replaces Mark Kane as president of Six Flags Great Adventure and the Hurricane Harbor water park there. Fitzgerald, 47, has 28 years of experience in the theme park industry, and began his career working in operations at Six Flags Great Adventure. Most recently, he was a managing partner at Catchment Attraction Management and Consulting Services located in South Carolina. Al Weber, said of him that “John has an entrepreneurial background, high problem solving acumen and quality team development experience…We are confident that John's experience will enable him to take advantage of the myriad opportunities of this great park.”'

These moves come just months after Six Flags emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy and promptly removed Mark Shapiro from his position as President, Chairman, and CEO of Six Flags, Inc.

Future Not Looking Well for Freestyle Music Park
Entire board of directors resigned except for one

Freestyle Music Park 08/27/10 - By: Patrick Leaske -

© Freestyle Music Park

One Step Closer to Death: The park now faces both foreclosure and the resignation of it's entire board of directors

The bad news just keeps coming for investors in the Freestyle Music Park, formerly know as Hard Rock Park. As if the bad news of the park not opening in 2010 wasn't enough; now, facing foreclosure, the entire board of directors excluding one has resigned. To add the that, the only reason that the one person stayed was to possibly sell the park. Former President of the park, Steve Baker, says "The future looks grim . . . I don't think it's dead ... but I'm not real optimistic because I don't think there's anyone close to buying it."

The park hasn't had much good news in the past few years of it's life span. In 2008, after a lackluster-at-best season, the park went bankrupt. It was bought and renamed Freestyle Music park soon thereafter. However, a change in investors and management did not save the park from its inevitable downfall. Again, in 2009 after another bad year, the park went bankrupt and was forced to take the 2010 season off. Now, adding the foreclosure to the mix, most of the directors on the board have had enough. Dennis Speigel, an amusement park consultant, recently said in an interview that, "the park is dead and it is time to bury it". He also said that the problem is, no one in the industry is looking at buying the park.

Time is not on the park's side this time, Baker says. However, around 20 companies and individuals have filed for the foreclosure suit, and notifying them will extend the process. But from the looks of it, the parks official demise is inevitable, as no potential investors have been mentioned.

SeaWorld Fined by OSHA
Fines stem from trainer's death

Seaworld, Orlando, FL 08/26/10 - By: Tyler Carlton -

SeaWorld has recently been fined $75,000 by OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, for safety violations related to the tragic death of Dawn Blancheau this past February. Dawn passed away after an accident involving a giant orca . After investigations OSHA has determined that "willful" safety hazards were involved in the accident.

Part of the statement includes, "At the Shamu Stadium pools, animal trainers working with Tilikum, a killer whale with known aggressive tendencies and who was involved in the 1991 death of a whale trainer at a marine park in Vancouver, British Columbia, were exposed to struck-by and drowning hazards in that they were allowed unprotected contact with Tilikum while conducting "drywork"performances on pool ledges, slideouts and platforms, on or about 2/24/2010. At the Shamu Stadium pools, animal trainers working with killer whales other than Tilicum, were exposed to struck-by and drowning hazards in that they were allowed to engage in "waterwork" and "drywork" performances with the killer whales without adequate protection, on or about 2/24/2010."

OSHA determines adequate protection to be, "a physical barrier, or any other engineering solution that gives the trainers the same level of protection as a physical barrier." This could mean that the future of shows that involve whale-to-human interaction could be in jeopardy. Naturally, SeaWorld is trying to fight the rulings in order to save their ability to continue these shows.

The total of $75,000 actually comes from two different fines. The first and more serious fine is a $70,000 fine for the endangerment and death of Dawn. The second fine is a $5,000 fine for not having a stair railing on the "Believe" stage in Shamu Stadium.

Two Women Arrested at Carowinds
Charged with assault from line-jumping confrontation

Carowinds, Charlotte, NC 08/25/10 - By: Brandon Bushman -

We’ve all seen and experienced it before: the line jumpers. Some are innocent enough, maybe leaving a two-hour line for a bathroom break and catching back up to their family. Others had their friends hold them a place while they went on other rides, and rudely push through waiting guests to get ahead in line. For two patrons at Carowinds, the reactions got physical.

On Sunday night, two women were each charged with assault and battery as a result of a physical altercation which occurred Sunday night over an argument about line jumping. Apparently, a 21-year-old girl from York put her arm out to intentionally block another woman from cutting in line while waiting to ride Thunder Road. The line-jumper, a 17-year-old girl from Greenville, knocked her arm out of the way and the confrontation escalated into a fight. The battery charge was given as a result of the fact that both girls emerged from the fight with scratches.

Both women were arrested, charged, and banned from the park.

Quassy To Receive Timberliners
Quassy's 2011 coaster will feature Gravity Group Timberliners

Quassy Amusement Park, Middlebury, CT 08/24/10 - By: Kyle Ross -

© Quassy Amusement Park

Timberliners: Quassy announced Friday that their new coaster will feature Timberliner trains from Gravitykraft.

Quassy Amusement Park, in Connecticut, announced Friday that their 2011 coaster will feature state-of-the-art Timberliner trains.

The new trains will be manufactured by Gravitykraft Corp., a sister company of Gravity Group."This new generation of coaster cars is an ideal fit for our ride," said park President Eric Anderson. "We saw the prototype last year at our annual trade show in Las Vegas and it immediately grabbed our attention."

The Timberliner trains will be the first U.S. installation of the Gravitykraft units on a new ride. Engineers from Gravitykraft said the Timberliner trains' design will reduce track maintenance on the new coaster. "These cars will not only provide a smoother ride, but a more exciting ride due to their unique design elements," Anderson noted. "The train will actually consist of six two-seat cars, which will corner much easier than the traditional roller coaster trains in our industry."

"We are thrilled to be able to supply the trains on Quassy's new signature roller coaster," said Gravitykraft President Mike Graham. "A ride in the Timberliner train gives the rider a very smooth ride and short wait times, but most of all they safely enable very large guests to be able to ride beside very small guests. Countless hours were put into the design of the seats to accommodate this wide variety of riders, which is very important for the park."

Construction on Quassy's coaster, which is designed by Gravity Group, began two weeks ago. It is scheduled for completion prior to the Spring opening of the park's 2011 season. In addition to Quassy, Timberliner trains will be featured on Voyage at Holiday World in Indiana. The trains themselves feature a seperate seat for each rider and adjustable restraints, providing more comfort.

Cedar Fair Announces Quadruplets
WindSeekers coming to four parks in 2011

Cedar Point, Canada’s Wonderland, Kings Island, Knott’s Berry Farm 08/24/10 - By: Brandon Bushman -

As you probably read on here earlier, Cedar Fair already announced that Canada’s Wonderland was receiving a new WindSeeker towering swing ride by Mondial. As the day progressed forward, Cedar Fair had plans to make announcements for three of their other parks as well: Cedar Point, Kings Island, and Knott’s Berry Farm. At this point, all of those announcements have been made, and all three of those parks will also be receiving WindSeekers like Canada’s Wonderland.

All four models will be identical, at 30-stories (301 ft) tall and costing approximately $5 million each. For the WindSeeker swing-style ride, after rising up to a height of 301 feet, the ride spreads its metal arms, swinging riders at a 45-degree angle at approximately 31 mph. Each ride will have a capacity of 64 riders, with seating for two riders on each of the rides 32 arms.

It is clear now why Fun Times may be mad at Cedar Point and Mondial, as Cedar Fair’s choice to go with the Mondial WindSeeker over Fun Times StarFlyer is approximately $20 million that their competitor will be making instead of them. Further details have not yet been released as to why Fun Times is filing a lawsuit against Cedar Fair for their purchase of Mondial’s version of the ride. Unless Cedar Fair broke a contract which they had already been signed, it would seem Mondial, the company which made their model very similar in ride and function, would be the one facing a patent-infringing lawsuit.

There are several more Cedar Fair parks which have planned to release details for their additions in 2011, so keep watching the News & Releases page for updates.

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