NewsPlusNotes

Apparently next year Laser's spot will be used for new entertainment (not the ice show), but as for the future after that we'll see. Mike

^ That's awesome, I got my last rides in during the morning event. I heard that the park let the last train go twice? That's pretty cool of them! Mike

Great photo report. Vegas is always a great time! How did you get that photo with Penn? That's cool. Mike

I was at the event that Dorney had as a small good bye to Laser on the park's last day. It was a nice turnout of people who wanted to get in some last rides. The ride is supposed to start to come down this week in order to be shipped to Germany. There's also a history of the ride here with older photos and the like. I'm going to try to put on a youtube video of the ride on it's last day too. Mike

Great to see all these different and new types of coasters popping up around the world again in 2009. The S&S Eagle Coaster looks like a lot of fun to me, does anyone know for sure if S&S is marketing this as a thrill or more family type ride? Mike

Another awesome video. And RonFrost's comparison to coaster porn was perfect as the video's music alone made me think in that direction... It was really cool to see onride footage of trains going through both loops at the same time. That was a first for my eyes! Mike

^ What do the blue arrows represent in the above image? Anyone know? Mike

I'm so happy that season 2 has started! This thread is one of the most interesting things on the net for me... thanks! Mike

Thanks for the trip report and photos! Busch Europe does some quality stuff... some of those props are awesome! Mike

Uhh that kid DIGGING in his butt in the photo of Hydra's sign is pretty hilarious!!! Mike

The park did put out a press release and they are playing up on the Talk Like A Pirate day! Here it is: ~~~~~ SIX FLAGS GREAT AMERICA ANNOUNCES NEW WATER ADVENTURE RIDE FOR 2009 Ahoy mateys! Tomorrow is International Talk Like a Pirate Day and to celebrate Six Flags Great America is announcing a new pirate themed interactive water attraction. To learn more about International Talk Like a Pirate Day please visit: talklikeapirate.com. Sept. 18, 2008 - Gurnee, IL - A mutiny is brewing at Six Flags Great America as work begins on Buccaneer Battle, the theme park’s new water adventure ride slated to open May 15, 2009. Buccaneer Battle is a pirate-themed water attraction that incorporates lighting, music, dialogue, costumes, set design and special effects – launching guests on a voyage through a three-dimensional pirate world. Manufactured by Mack Rides, Buccaneer Battle will be located in the County Fair next to Farmer’s Market. Ten ships, each with room for eight crew members, follow a 450-foot channel through waves of interactive fun for the entire family. As the ships navigate the waters, the battle begins for passengers armed with a powerful soaker gun as they take aim at each other and targets along the way. Some targets respond while others display a variety of special effects, creating surprises at every turn. Buccaneer Battle also engages landlubber park guests along the ride’s banks as the freebooters on the ship supply random fire and observers shoot back in ship-to-shore fun. “The addition of Buccaneer Battle offers our guests an interactive experience that will complement our already vast and diverse line-up of rides and attractions,” said Hank Salemi, Six Flags Great America’s park president. “This new super-sensory experience will put Great America in a class of its own when it comes to family-friendly entertainment.” 2009 season passes are on sale now at sixflags.com and include admission to the best water park in the nation, Hurricane Harbor; by purchasing now, guests will be able to visit Six Flags Great America for the remainder of the 2008 season including Fright Fest presented by Snickers®. At $69.99 each, season passes are being offered at the lowest price in five years. Season Pass holders will also receive a value-packed 2009 coupon book with more than $500 dollars worth of offers including six Bring-A-Friend-Free tickets. Here are some treasures from the pirate dictionary* if you want to impress your swashbuckling co-workers: Ahoy! - "Hello!" Avast! - Stop and give attention. It can be used in a sense of surprise, "Whoa! Get a load of that!" which today makes it more of a "Check it out" or "No way!" or "Get off!" Aye aye! - "I'll get right on that sir, as soon as my break is over." Arrr! - This one is often confused with arrrgh, which is of course the sound you make when you sit on a belaying pin. "Arrr!" can mean, variously, "yes," "I agree," "I'm happy," "I'm enjoying this beer," "My team is going to win it all," "I saw that television show, it sucked!" and "That was a clever remark you or I just made." And those are just a few of the myriad possibilities of Arrr! Beauty – The best possible pirate address for a woman. Always preceded by “me,” as in, “C’mere, me beauty,” or even, “me buxom beauty,” to one particularly well endowed. You’ll be surprised how effective this is. Bilge rat – The bilge is the lowest level of the ship. It’s loaded with ballast and slimy, reeking water. A bilge rat, then, is a rat that lives in the worst place on the ship. Lubber – (or land lubber) This is the seaman’s version of land lover, mangled by typical pirate disregard for elocution. A lubber is someone who does not go to sea, who stays on the land. Smartly – Do something quickly. “Smartly, me lass,” you might say when sending the bar maid off for another round. She will be so impressed she might well spit in your beer. *Source: talklikeapirate.com

^ People at work today were practicing talking like Pirates just for tomorrow... working in an office is weird. There's still nothing on the park's website, so perhaps they will do some sort of additional announcement tomorrow on that special day? The Six Flags parks that previously did announcements had stuff on their webpages the same day, so it is curious that Great America doesn't. Mike

Six Flags Great America announced Buccaneer Battle for 2009. It's a Mack splash battle style ride themed to Pirates. It will have 10 boats and a 450 ft. long course. Here's an article about the ride. Looks like Six Flags trademarked the name Buccaneer Battle. I hope that means they plan to do more of these at other parks, I think they're great (minus the somewhat low capacity). Mike Logo

They are listing a significant amount more rides than have gone in at the Wiggles Worlds at other parks. It looks like the area will be in a section of the park that already has kiddie rides and a Vekoma rollerskater - I'm thinking a lot of retheming will be going on. First Wiggles World in the US with a coaster, though. Mike

Coasterdude5 I think your reply might have been meant for the Great Escape thread... As for St. Louis - what a nice pair of additions! Those Proslide racing slides are wonderful additions. They are inexpensive, have a high visual impact, and a high capacity on top of that. The Glow in the Park Parade seems really popular at the parks it went into this year. Mike

I think it's great of the park to try to make improvements to the ride, so long as they do not accidentally take away from the experience at all. It is very surprising to me, however, from a business standpoint. X didn't work right so spending the cash to make it X2 really was needed. Aside from paint and regular maintenance, what did SROS need? I'm just surprised they'd get enough of a marketing punch, and then ROI out of a change like this. Unless there's something else to be announced for the park? Mike

I believe the next planning meeting is the 16th of this month and that will have the results of a noise study that the park and the office building owner's agreed to. I guess it could go either way at this point but I don't think the project is totally delayed to 2010 just yet. Mike

Excalibur is in the area that floods from time to time, right? I can't see anyone putting a wavepool in an area that has any chance of flooding. Cedar Fair is/was on a remove-rides-with-high-maintenance-costs kick - this probably contributed to the Flume's demise as well. Mike

Prowler looks like it'll be a fantastic ride, low and fast. $8 million seems high, though. Evel Knievel was said to be $7 million, and even Renegade's press stuff said $6.5 million - and Renegade is a little longer than Prowler. Mike

^ I'm not sure about Cedar Point. They seem pretty steadfast in not making Halloweekends unfriendly to families. I know it was in an article I read but can't recall where at the moment that CP wanted to keep it that way. I think it would be great though if they did go for it and do one awesome, scary Haunt! Mike

I guess I'm not as hardcore as I could have been, I threw in the towel at 10:30 last night and waited to check out the full website this morning. That said, I viewed the final Journal update, and after the video on the cell phone plays there is a Legendary Truth report with the Mary drawing that stays on the screen for a few seconds. And nothing else. But am I missing something? What happned to Boris? Did he have his appt. with Dr. Mary at 7 pm? What happened to this part of the storyline!? Mike

Yay for another 3D VIP animation! That lift looks like it would scare the heck out of me, but it would be worth it for that drop! Amazing looking ride - and how intimidating is it going to be in person? Very tall, very 'unsupported' appearing ride. Mike

I'm used to nets being under rides like that so this doesn't seem that big a deal to me. Fahrenheit's nets are really low to the ground, definitely lower at spots than the ones in those photos! I'd rather have a net over me than get pegged in the face by a quarter! Mike

I've been obsessively following the HHN18 website and all the fanboards for this year's event. I have to say, they're really outdoing themselves with this year's website. I'm so into it that I can actually say that I'm worried about what's going to happen to the detective! Will Mary get him? Will he end Mary and bring her into her full Bloody Mary status? So nerdy but they do such a good job with this stuff... kills me that I can't attend the event this year! Mike

Dorney's been getting ready and advertising heavily in park for their newly expanded Haunt this year. There's technically four new haunted mazes (Club Blood, CornStalkers, Dr. Doom (now clowns) and Magical House on Kill Hill) and two new scare zones (Terror Square and Headstone Hollow), along with two new live shows. They added a new building for Club Blood, which is pretty much done, and have started to build Boo Hill. I grabbed some shots of this and all the sings which are here. Mike The Haunt attraction logos on the back of the 2008 Hearse.