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Looks like some great additions! Kite Gliders are actually awesome rides, and the spinning coaster looks like loads of fun judging from the IAAPA video.

It's actually now suposed to open the day after the Olympics games starts. It's a bit odd, because it said in Theme park magazine that it was a summer opening. Hopefully the weather will be in favor for them. You need to stop comparing it to the situation that was in Myrtle Beach, as it was unique. Myrtle Beach is located in the US, a market that is absolutely packed with theme parks all over the country, and people in Myrtle Beach was just not looking for a theme park, as they could do it anywhere else in the country. This park is one of the first ones in Russia, and it is located in one of the popular summer resorts. The standard in Russian household has risen very fast the last decade, and lots of people are no able to afford vacations and activities like these. If you stumbles on Russians traveling out in the world, you will soon realize that they love this kind of entertainment, so I have no doubt that this park will be successful. Only time will tell however. I feel really bad for the people building this place though (and the rest of Sochi). About half of them have been sent home without salaries, after the Russian Government/Police made them confess to breaking rules such as stealing from the building supplies etc.. The most notable case in the last days was a poor guy who's been made to confess he's stolen electrical cables by the police, using the rather new method of sticking a iron spit up his anal. That case is now going to be trailed by the European Court of Justice. Still the park is there now, and even if I would never visit it, it's good for the honest people of Russia to have it there.

It says calculated by Stengel, which means that Gerstlauer has designed the coaster, and then Stengel have been calculating it so se if it's realistic, or if something has to be changed. So mostly done by Gerstlauer, and maybe a few changes made by Stengel.

So yet another water park is in the works for Thailand! This one will be up in the north east, in a small city called Khon Kaen. It's not one of the biggest tourist destinations in the country, and that is probably why someone wants to build this park there. The park will be called Dino WaterPark (at least that's the project name). It says that the park will open this spring, which I believe is a bit to optimistic, or outdated, but I would hope for it to open before next christmas as I will do a big round trip of Thailand then. The whole park looks to be from Polin, which is a very good thing! Out of two planned Polin water parks in Thailand, one is now open, and one almost completed. Compare this to Whitewater, who has announced 5 water parks, all of which have not been built. Sure it's just a coincidence, but still. Here are some renderings of what to except, if the park actually opens up. Overview of the park. Awesome looking body slide complex, with tube slide with the chambers as well. Octopus racer, with the trademarked Polin "not so step and airtime-less" drop. Family raft slide, and tube bowl slide. Also Polin will do there first real inverting loop slides here. This is a family boomerang, and a Magicone, Polin's version of the Tornado. They have both been available for years, and hopefully this park will open up so they finally get built. Will most likely deliver the same experience as the Tornado, only slightly different look. There is also a gigantic play structure planned. Another angle. The loops again, along with two regular speed slides. Dirt has started to be moved. I'm not sure when though, so it's hard to say where they are at. Source

There would be no rehabilitation needed. When taking an existing tower, and making it a drop tower all the equipment is removed, and new one is installed. They have to follow where the equipment for the previous cabin was located but that's pretty much it. The only thing you re-use is the tower itself, which saves a lot of money. Intamin could probably even remodel the tower into a Falcon's Fury copy, with 90 degree tilting seats, if they are asked. The most important thing is that the new vehicle going up and down the tower have to weigh no more than the tower was built for. At heide park they opted for a gyro drop, which have some pretty heavy machinery that rotates the gondola on the way up, so that one weighs pretty much the same as the previous cabin. At Liseberg the "settled" for the ring drop, without spinning, and the new vehicle weighs a lot less than the previous cabin did. If you had a weakened tower, like the now removed one at Coney Island, then it's another thing, but the one at Hershey is still going, so I see no problem if they wanted to do it.

And another air race is sold for Zamperla! I think it has to be the most successful thrill flat ride since the Tops spin was introduced. Some fretting up of the parks current rides is also taking place. Source

This made me laugh for myself!

My extreme love for Champagne might actually warrant a visit to the area and visit some of my favorite wine houses. This park would be perfect the combine with that trip!

They most certainly can, but you cannot convert the old cars to them, because they use a unique system with their restraints than most other ride vehicles. So my guess is that we will not see any lap bars on any El Loco that is not sold from the start with them.

Both Lynet and Anubis are totally awesome, and Karacho looks just as awesome as well. I don't really mind a clone of any of them, or a fully costumed layout.

Hmm, interesting. Can't wait to go back to our lovely neibourgh country again!

I can't imagine they having any more weekends of until the ride is done. It's to much to do, in a not to long timeframe

According to this site, who has been known in the past for being pretty reliable, this park is rumored to get a 35m tall Gerstlauer LSM coaster in 2015 with 4 inversions. I really hope this is true, and if so I can't wait to se how it turns out. The park really needs another high quality coaster.

I wonder if Van Egdom is the one doing the play structures here?

Looks like fun, but not to intense. I do think however that all the low to the ground maneuvers will make this one of the best wing riders.

I think It's a permanent, non moving weight. Tall structures, that is very exposed to wind (think skyscrapers), always have one at the top. It's to prevent to much swaying on the structure, as this cause a lot of stress that will weaken the entire tower. Counter weights for the "up and down" movements is not of this size. I can't find a picture of one, but next time your up close with a Star Flyer you can watch inside the tower, and you will see it going up and down.

Awesome! I really love Cambodia and it's ancient culture! I'm really surprised that more parks have not used it as a theming.

I actually like the colors It's way better than the standard white most drop towers have.

A pretty boring update, but still an update! Source

This looks like a lovely concept, and I can't wait for somebody to buy it!

Il Tempo Extra Gigante will be the first coaster in Hunderfossen Familiepark. The coaster is inspired by the most succesful Norwegian movie of all time, Flåklypa Grand Prix (1975), more specifically the iconic race car "Il Tempo Gigante" The train was hand-built by car enthusiasts in Munich. Hunderfossen has been the home of the full-scale promotional model of Il Tempo Gigante for many years, so it was really about time to make a coaster out of it. Ride manufacturer: Zierer Ride length: 550 metres Ride height: 25 metres Ride duration: 1 min 30 sec Top speed: 65 km/h Max. G: 3.5 Max. banking: 72 degrees Steepest drop: 45 degrees Number of riders: 14 Opening date: May 24, 2014 Source

I can't wait to when I get to ride this thing, unfortunately it looks like it may have to wait until 2015. I'm very interested in the plans that the park revealed, that a family coaster is also in the makings, and not to far away in the future. I also find it strange that Geforce have still not gotten a proper station, I thought that was one of the first things Plopsa would address.

So, you're saying that when the lights go on at night, it's like an attraction in itself? Are there people (for example: couples or families) that come to the park at the end of the day just to see the lights go on? To my understanding, the park is very accessible for people to come and go as they please, being an urban park. Take christmas at Tivoli for an example, people go to Tivoli then for the christmas market, not the lights, but if the lights were not there then nobody would be going. It's the same for the rest of they year, the lights and the whole night atmosphere play a really big part in the whole experience in the park. You could say that they are an attraction in itself. The park is usually quite calm during the day, and then people are starting to flock in at the afternoon and then it's full for the rest of the evening. There is a year entrance card available quite cheap, that only gives you access to the park, and not the rides, and it is quite popular. I see that the food questions have already been answered, so I won't cover it, but as I said, I usually don't do any extraordinary dining at the park. The whole story about Walt Disney and the inspiration to Disneyland is pretty cool, but I much more like the story of how Michael Jackson offered to buy the whole park after his first visit, a deal he was denied though.

This fall the Happy Valley Shanghai opened up a water park, like so many of the other Happy valley parks. This one is the biggest of the bunch though, and the whole place looks great. It might actually be the biggest one in the world, right up there with Beijing Happy Magic Water-cube and Chimelong water park. Only thing it lacks is some thrilling speed /dropbox slides. To bad it's on the other side of the world. Here's the map for the whole park. Entrance plaza. Main gate. Here's the HUGE surf pool from Scottish Murphy's waves, the world's best wave makers. (note that the pool isn't even filled to the edge) It also have a smaller pneumatic wave pool on one side. If you count booth pool together, this might actually be the worlds largest wave pool, ahed of the one at Sunway Lagoon, The park have some big theming. Of course they have one of these! Love the look of the theme blowing a wind here. It has a nice kiddie area made by Proslide. And a kick-ass looking giant play structure from Whitewater. It's the same model that the rest of the Chinese parks have gotten. It sure is popular!!! I'm really glad our European water parks doesn't get this crowded. This looks to be a better day to visit this park. Whitewater also built a really cool looking 6-person Pythoon ride at this park. Along with there huge Abyss ride, instead of a Proslide Tornado. Whitewater sure have gone huge with there complex lately, like this one, the one in Dubai and the one at Nagishima spa land. There is also a lot from Proslide here, like this Tornado wave. A behemoth Bowl is also here. The whole complex looks really great! Proslide also installed a Mach4 complex here. Looks good, although the colors are a bit odd. Still people are having lots of fun! Whitewater also installed a smaller family slide complex, with a regular slide as well as an Constrictor. Here's more Proslide, the park sure is huge. It sure feels like China is getting all the cool new Proslide complexes lately. A really good looking Octopus racer. A Mammoth and a Mammoth Bubba, also from Proslide. One more look at the Whitewater complex. Some entertainment going on. Here's the parks river ride. It looks great! Really love the theme on this one. And here is some theming gone wrong.. There is also a pair of dueling Proslide 2-people rocket coasters here. I can only find construction pictures of these though. Source Source

Well, it's my homepark, so I visit it a lot. The main thing about the park is the charm. There is no park in the world who can compare to it. Parks like Gröna Lund, Bakken & Pleasure Beach have the same type of charm, but in a different way. It's the kind of charm you can't build, you can only get it by time. They tried to recreate the feeling at This Japaneese park, but it didn't work out. There is no park that is as beautiful to go to when the dark sets in (speaking of regular parks, and not parks like Disney Sea, they are different) as Tivoli, and this is extra highlighted at Christmas. If you have the chance to go there at that time of year, do it! Tivoli is a place for everybody, and the majority of the 4-4.5 million visitors annually don't go there for the rides. For an example on my last visit I did not do any of the rides, despite they all being open, I just walked around the place at night and enjoyed the scenery. I would say that it's a nice place to go for just a dinner, but the good restaurants is a bit to expensive compared to what you get IMO. When speaking about the rides in the park they have done a really great job at keeping the old iconic rides, as well as building new thrill rides. Also they are not afraid of new concepts like when they installed the Star Flyer or Flying Fury ride (which is also the best flat ride in the world). The are also very good at catering to people of all ages with their rides and attraction. It's a little bit a shame now though, as there isn't as much more they can do ride-wise, without starting to affect the atmosphere and charm of the place. Something the park is lacking though is a big iconic ferris wheel.