Tag Archive: amusement parks

Theme Park Crazy > amusement parks

Is the Reeses Cup Dark Ride Getting an Upgrade?

Author: July 10, 2018

Earlier today, Hersheypark teased a new attraction for 2019. Putting aside the 2020 coaster rumors, this new addition seems to be focused on their Reese’s Xtreme Cup Challenge dark ride. Here is the photo released by the park:

As of right now, the Reese’s Xtreme Cup Challenge is an interactive dark ride where passengers shoot targets and rack up points. The ride is manufactured by the Sally Corporation, though in my opinion, it is admittedly one of their weaker shooting dark rides. The animatronics and scenery are in desperate need of an update, and despite coming out in 2006, the ride feels like something that was built in the 1990’s.

The “rad skater” theme is admittedly outdated

With today’s announcement, it is entirely possible that this ride will be getting a retheming. Based on the released picture, it will likely receive a new spy theme. Perhaps passengers will have to thwart a chocolate and peanut butter heist in Hershey’s factory.

There’s no word on if the Sally Corporation will be involved with the possible refurbishment, but if they are, we can certainly expect to see their new state-of-the-art dark ride effects. Such effects could include screens that interact with the ride vehicles and more elaborate and colorful props like those found on Sally’s Justice League dark rides in the Six Flags parks.

While the park may not be adding a big, new, thrilling attraction next year, the idea of fixing up and modernizing one of their existing attractions is very promising. It shows that Hersheypark values the presence of a dark ride and is eager to make it more presentable to park guests. A refurbishment like this would absolutely get a big thumbs up from me.

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Georgia Cyclone to Close on July 30th. RMC Makeover Next?

Author: July 19, 2017

Big news out of Georgia. Six Flags Over Georgia announced this morning that the Georgia Cyclone will be closing for good on July 30th. However, rather than tearing it down, Six Flags may be looking to give this ride a certain makeover instead…

Originally manufactured by the Dinn Corporation, this wooden coaster first opened in 1990. It is a mirror image of the famous Coney Island Cyclone in Brooklyn, New York, but unlike that coaster, this one hasn’t exactly aged well. That’s why Rocky Mountain Construction installed topper track to 30% of the ride’s layout in 2012 to make for a better ride experience. However, it’s clear that Six Flags is interested in replacing it with something bigger and better.

Earlier this year, construction markers were found on the coaster’s footers, leading many to speculate the ride’s future. Considering Six Flags’ recent additions over the years, it’s almost certain that this ride is about to get the RMC I-Box treatment. Ever since the New Texas Giant opened in 2011, Six Flags has given the Iron Horse treatment to six different roller coasters, and pretty much made Rocky Mountain Construction the industry giant it is today. The Georgia Cyclone could very well be the next A-list attraction to come to the Six Flags chain.

At this point, an RMC Georgia Cyclone is pretty much confirmed, there are still a few unanswered questions regarding it. First of all, what will it be named and themed to? Although Six Flags has the habit of re-using ride names like Goliath and The Joker, Six Flags Over Georgia already has rides with these names. One is a B&M Hyper named Goliath, and the other is a Larson Superloop named Joker: Chaos Coaster. So what will this ride be named? Well it’s location in the park is completely opposite to the Gotham City area, so even if they didn’t have a ride named the Joker, it wouldn’t really make sense to put it here. In fact, the area of the park that the Georgia Cyclone is in doesn’t really have a theme.

Back in 2015, the old Cyclone roller coaster at Six Flags New England was re-named Wicked Cyclone when it got the hybrid treatment. Therefore, I’m going to make a pretty bold prediction and guess that this new ride will be named Twisted Cyclone. This name would be especially fitting if this ends up being one of Six Flags’ record breaking attractions for 2018. All this ride needs is four inversions to have the most out of every hybrid coaster, so a name like Twisted Cyclone would certainly be fitting. Whether or not this ends up being the case is still unknown, but once Six Flags makes their announcements in September, we’ll all find out. 

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Fun Spot Acquires a New Location In Georgia: Fun Junction USA

Author: July 5, 2017

Fun Spot may not be the biggest or most nationally-known amusement park chain out there, but they certainly are a force to be reckoned with. Just weeks after the opening of their impressive new Gravity Group woodie Mine Blower, the chain announced that they would be buying another park to add to their roster. In addition to Fun Spot’s two Florida locations in Orlando and Kissimmee, the chain will now have a new location in Fayetteville, Georgia.

Fun Junction USA, formerly known as Dixieland Fun Park, is a smaller theme park that’s about a half-hour away from Six Flags Over Georgia. This is just like how Fun Spot Orlando and Kissimmee are located close to bigger Florida parks like Disney World and Universal Studios.

Also like Fun Spot’s other locations, Fun Junction has go-karts, bumper boats, and a few small flat rides. However, while the Fun Spot locations in Florida both have newly-built wooden roller coasters, the only coaster at Fun Junction is an E&F Miller Hi-Miller named Scream’n Eagle (not to be confused with the PTC woodie at Six Flags St. Louis).

Scream’n Eagle at Fun Junction USA

This ride is similar to a Schwarzkopf wildcat and was actually named Wildcat at its previous location at Nevada’s Wild Island. Considering that this is the only coaster at the park, would it be possible for Fun Spot to add an all new wooden coaster here? If this is the case, then we can expect the first Gravity Group woodie to come to Georgia. Though since the park was just recently acquired, we may not see a new coaster go there until Fun Spot decides how good of an investment it would be.

Either way, it’s exciting to see a small chain like Fun Spot grow. I recently paid a visit to their Orlando location and was very impressed with the staff, the late hours, and of course, White Lightning itself. Hopefully they can bring the same excellent service to Georgia, it could very well end up being a hit with the locals.

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Theme Park News, Uncategorized

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California’s Great America Teases 2018 Addition.

Author: June 29, 2017

Here’s some pretty big news out of California’s Great America. The park is already teasing there twenty eighteen attraction. A construction marker has what appear to be white tire tracks leading up to it. Also, the marker itself has “2018” written on one side and “SR1” written on the other.

So what exactly does SR1 mean? Well, according to the state of California’s DMV SR-1 refers to a traffic accident report. and this is a ride at California’s Great America after all. Moreover, there’s a couple of car models named SR1; one is a Peugeot convertible and the other is a small race car so this ride most likely has a vehicle theme. Is it possible that California’s Great America is going to install more souped up version of the Backlot Stunt Coaster? Well, so far the coaster is said to be around twice as tall as the typical Backlot Stunt Coaster, so if it is a similar ride, it will indeed be a lot larger.

Besides RMC Mean Streak and RMC Hurler, Cedar Fair has two other coasters planned for next year. One of which is a completely new type of coaster while the other one is made by a manufacturer they haven’t worked with in recent history. If this isn’t a new type of coaster, then which manufacturer is set to make a comeback with this one? Let’s think about this for a second…

Intimidator 305, Intamin’s last coaster for Cedar Fair.

On one hand, Intamin is a company many enthusiasts would like to see return to the Cedar Fair chain. The last time Intamin made a coaster for Cedar Fair was back in 2010 with Intimidator 305 at Kings Dominion. If Intamin is building this new mysterious ride, then what kind of coaster is it?

According to documents from the city of Santa Clara, the new coaster is said to be around 110 ft. tall which just happens to be around the same height as Maverick at Cedar Point, just five feet taller. So is California’s Great America actually getting an Intamin blitz coaster? In my opinion, it’s definitely the most likely possibility.

Official permit regarding the coaster.

Imagine if Intamin was able to make a bigger and better version of Premier Rides’ Backlot Stunt Coaster. Honestly ,I can already see it being named something like “Road Rage” or maybe it’ll be a more clever name like “Mean Street.” At the end of the day though, this is all complete speculation, and the only way to find out what the park is really adding is just to be patient.

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Mine Blower to open on June 23rd!

Author: June 16, 2017

 

Just in time for the first weekend of summer, Fun Spot Kissimmee’s newest coaster is set to open on June 23rd. The park confirmed this by sharing the image above on social media. 

This will be the park’s first roller coaster since 2012 and their first ever original roller coaster. Kiddie Coaster was re-located from Illinois’ Enchanted Forest, and the Rockstar Coaster was re-located from Legoland Florida. 

Mine Blower is a very impressive looking Gravity Group wooden coaster that was announced by the park last year. Its most defining feature is a unique corkscrew/barrel roll inversion. This will be the second Gravity Group woodie in America to have a corkscrew with the other one being located at Wisconsin’s Mt. Olympus Theme Park.

I got the chance to visit Fun Spot Orlando last year and had an incredible time. White Lightning was an immensely entertaining GCI and I’m confident that Mine Blower will be another home run for the company. Hopefully I’ll get around to checking it out soon.

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