coasterfreaky

My guess is that Kinzel et al are closely watching how the Texas Giant turns out. If its a success then i wouldn't be surprised to see SOB get the same treatment. If its not succesful then i would expect to see SOB go away as there are really few options left to fix it that i can tell. One last option that i can see would be to try a more articulated train like the MFlyers or the Timberliners - and that would be the least expensive fix too, if it worked.

And so now a new claim has come to light, and the swirling around the toilet bowl continues... "Questions about the credibility of developers of a proposed $750 million, 1,500-acre theme park development in Maury County intensified Thursday after a top company official said the group is in negotiations to relocate the Grand Ole Opry from Nashville to Spring Hill, among other claims about the project." www.tennessean.com/article/20110303/WILLIAMSON01/110303034/2275/RSS05 Wow, just wow.

Parts and a spare train.

"(Dennis) Peterson (CEO of BIG) said the two other similar projects were in the works in other U.S. locations, but did not disclose the other locations. He said all three projects would be built simultaneously." www.newschannel5.com/story/14170659/festival-tennessee-theme-park-proposed-for-spring-hill You know what Nashville doesn't need? Empty promises for another amusement park, or an ill-designed amusement lifestyle center sportohouse whatever, that ends up being left to rot after the developer laughed his way to the bank, this better be legit. Apparantly, three of these are being built at the same time...not sure i can fathom how that will happen. in todays economy. with how expensive something like this is. 1000 acres of fun do not come cheap!!!!!

I can't tell if these two projects are related to one another or not, both proposals seem similar from what i can tell....PARK!, SHOPPING!, SPORTS!, STUFF! Seems though if they were related then they would have used this same presentation to give better ideas of what's being proposed, rather than leave it with more questions than answers. I'm really getting the "Simpson's Monorail feeling" about this potential park.

I'm skeptical for a few reasons... Anyone ever heard of Big International Group of Entertainment, Inc., or know anything about them? They are based out of Nevada, but very little info online about this group and what they do and what they've done in the past. 15 to 20k jobs promised? Okay, I'd like to see something to explain this. Dollywood employs 2k to 3k at its peak level. Opryland, when i worked at the park, employed about 2k at the park and maybe another 2k at the hotel, which is being generous. So, about 10 times as many as employees - that just doesn't add up even when you look at their proposal of hotels, waterparks, stadiums, shopping....i'm perplexed by that and more concerned with the lack of details provided. Maybe the lack of info at this point is causing me to be skeptical. Believe me, i'd love to see this go through, but at the moment it seems a little snake-oil salesman-y to me....or a bit like the Hard Rock build-it-fast-fiasco.

King's Island just posted this photo marked "planning" https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150181780218368&set=a.226729858367.174830.155893938367&ref=nf Something's in the works East of The Racer and Windseeker....hmmm. I'd have to guess that's an area rather than a layout, as in the coaster/whatever may go into that area, which is a good sized area!

Makes sense to go over the skyride. There is no variation of height above the skyride supports/roller batteries, only below them based on the load weight of the skyride cars at a given time....so makes sense and its going to add another cool feature to the skyride and the new coaster. Busch seems to really put a lot of thought into their coasters....top notch parks indeed.

Coaster counts are important to the marketing departments, that's true. If it weren't then you wouldn't see Cedar Point tout the fact that they have THE MOSTEST COASTERS EVAR! and then the friendly coaster war between MM and CP (as evidenced by MM's press release noting that they will soon have THE MOSTEST COASTERS EVAR!). I'm a little bias though, i do love Invertigo at KI. Outside of the 'Deja Vu's', i think its one of the better Vekoma products. I think reasons that it could (not saying it will!) go to CP are the coaster count and also having another model right down the road could mean parts are more readily available and expertise & experience in fixing their problems are closeby as well....which could result in more uptime for both Vekomas. And CP has plenty of room for the small-ish footprint. The cost to move would be a bargain regardless of its final destination. Again, not saying i want it to go to CP, but there seem to be real reasons why its a viable option for a 2012 appearance at CP.

I have no insight into how Six Flags runs their Food Operations, but perhaps the liason(s?) between the chains and the parks was a job position that was cut? If that were the case, then i would guess that these empty chain vendors would be folded into the same procedures that Six Flags currently uses for its "in house" food service, i.e. the non-chain stuff. That is a great point though - food vendors would be excited about the prospects of selling their products to loads of guests.

I guess the cost-benefit-analysis is that these brands cost a lot, and the revenue in return wasn't worth it. Seems pretty obvious even without the C.B.A. I'm curious if they will replace the food brands with something run by the park, or hire a third party contractor to take over?

More coverage, with renderings! http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/nov/24/water-wonderland-water-magic-2013/ Press Release: http://www.prlog.org/11094903-one-of-kind-new-40-million-water-magic-attraction-will-make-huge-splash-in-pigeon-forge.html

Lots more details here! (Like a water-powered funhouse on steroids!)http://www.themountainpress.com/view/full_story/10413862/article--Joslyns-plan-Water-Magic-?instance=main_article

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/nov/23/titanic-museum-developers-plan-40-million-pigeon-f/?partner=RSS Here's a tiny bit of new info: For another comparison - Dolly's Splash Country was $20 million initial investment in 2000/2001.

www.wbir.com/rss/article/144136/2/Water-Magic-set-to-make-big-splash-in-Pigeon-Forge The creators of the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge (and Branson, MO) are planning to open a 'water attraction in Pigeon Forge in 2013. They are saying it is not a waterpark, but details are sparse. Attractions include "a 100-foot kinetic energy sculpture to the engaging Emporium Square presided over by "The Wizard," the attraction aims to live up to its motto of "Get Me Wet." According to the article this will be a $40 million dollar attraction. By comparison the Titanic Museum was $26 million, so this will be big whatever it is. It will be located across the street from the Titanic Museum.

I like the idea of launched woodie, but i think it would make more sense from a capacity standpoint to make it a full circuit. Maybe they have more tricks up their sleeve?, but the model isn't really impressive to me. It's not a junior woodie shuttle, right?

This is called "Mission Space" and is guaranteed for an "oh poo-poo!" moment! This will be coming to the European traveling fair in 2011. Looks very similar to Sky Hook, which was at SFOG and Dollywood and maybe SFOT before SFOG - 1970's & 80's.

Look at the photo on the previous page, there is plenty of clearance for a wider train....i wouldn't mind seeing an inversion similar to this on a dive machine however! Getting excited for this project, been a while since something genuinely new came along! Ah, yes, i see. thanks!

Hmmm, the support on the far right, not much clearance there for a wide train to pass by....or could it be the angle of the photo - i can't tell for sure.

This is a great event, it was our fifth year of going. We left Knoxville at 11:30a and due to traffic and thunderstorms we still struggled to make it to our hotel with enough time to settle in, walk the dog, eat and head out the door to get there by 6pm. In all five years of going there has always been bad traffic on the Friday going up, so next time you may want to consider leaving Knoxville earlier Sounds like your experience was about like ours. We were at the loading gate of Firehawk (they were running both trains on one side of the station - UGH!!! at this point) when the next train came in and there was a malfunction with the cars not moving into their upright position. Maintenance showed up right away, but we decided to leave the gate area, having already waited for 45 minutes at that point. I'm not a fan of Firehawk anyway, mostly b/c of the super-super slow load process, so i can't say i really missed this one, in fact i hate it so much i'm GLAD i didn't ride it! Friends of ours were evacuated off the Beast. One train was stuck on the 2nd lift and more friends were on a train on the 1st lift. That was late, like around 11 or so...I don't think the Beast opened back up after that point. Adventure Express and Flight Deck both had one train ops, but I didn't see a need for a 2nd train on either of those. Though Diamondback could certainly have used its third train, especially with the Beast down...Diamondback's lines could have been shorter. Last year they did run three trains on it, so that was a great experience. Anyway, great pics and nice TR!

Yes this was posted several days ago, on the 18th i think when it was published. As of yesterday's announcements, CP and three other CF parks are indeed getting the same ride from Mondial.

The problem with this, imo, is that Mondial would have an easier time building something from scratch, rather than trying to convert another manufacturers ride-inards...i just think conversion could add lots of complications and unexpected stuff. That would be a good recycling effort though!

I think this will be a great addition to CP. I'm betting this area will see a major coaster in the next season or two and this is part of their overall plan to revamp this area....first with WT and moving the wheel plus this addition. I would bet they raze the aquatic stadium to make way for whatever else is coming that will finish this area off nicely. Intamin woodie perhaps (yes please!) ?? Of course not everyone will be pleased, regardless of how impressive something is, that is nothing new. Though i don't get how some feel like they're entitled to a new ride every X years or so, especially during hard economic times. You should be thankful your favorite park hasn't gone belly up, seriously.

From the Sandusky Register.. “It’s almost like Mondial’s plagiarizing our idea,” said Mirfin, director of the Funtime Group and owner of Cottingham Agencies, which holds the patent for StarFlyer. “It makes us very, very angry.” "Almost" is not the same as "They Are". "Mirfin said his company planned to build a StarFlyer for Cedar Point that would be 400 feet tall — even bigger than the StarFlyer at Prater Park in Vienna, which stands 384 feet tall. Instead, Funtime learned Cedar Point was buying a similar ride from Mondial, Mirfin said “Now, not only do we not get the contract, now we’ve got to get into litigation,” Mirfin said. “The ones that we’ll be suing will be Cedar Point and not Mondial.” This is just wishful thinking on Mirfin's part. Likewise, i plan on being a billionare one day. Wishing doesn't make it so. And Mirfin even goes on to confirm that there was not a contract between Funtime and CF. And as far as Patent Infringement - Bradley and Kaye (if they were still around) could say the Starflyer is based upon an almost exact copy of their Barnstormer ride, the biggest difference is Funtime uses a seated swing and the barnstormer has a plane vehicle. Zamperla has an identical version of the Star Flyer and their "aeromax" is a near identical copy of the B&K Barnstormer too. Even Intamin joined forces with B&K on an Intamin version of the Barnstormer (Great Plane Race at SFOG, for example). Sounds to me like this is a big case of sour grapes. Funtime's product didn't meet CF's expectations and needs, and so they chose a different product- CF is entitled to do that. Anyway, good luck fighting that battle Funtime!

Thanks for posting the Goldrush Junction pics. It's just hard to fathom how that has turned into Dollywood. Its funny how some parks are truly organic, and they grow over long periods of time like this park, my home park, has done. I'm glad you've posted memories of it. And its sort of funny that Dollywood is celebrating 25 years of Dollywood, which is of course true and important in and of itself. But the park's history obviously dates further back than 25 years!, and that is worth celebrating too! The only things i recognize are the train, the log flume from the NY World's Fair, the yo-yo (swingamajig) and that's about it for the rides. I see the Robert F. Thomas Chapel! Great Stuff!