NewsPlusNotes

I actually e-mailed MiAdv to ask if they were building a path to connect the two ends of the park and they simply wrote back that there is no new path being built. Bummer. Mike

NPN had coverage at the Diamondback announcement, and we now have all the press materials published as well as a picture of the now-famous TRP guys wearing their awesome logo shirts... Too bad I couldn't be there but at least we had a reader who could go cover the event! Mike

^ Oh yes indeed, magic will always be loved by all. But... Isn't the Harry Potter dark ride supposed to be highly themed to the stories of the books? That concept art that was leaked showed all stuff that is story specific to the Potter series. That said... the Jurassic Park River Adventure is only tied to the Jurassic books/movie plot lines in the fact that there are dinos and something goes wrong. So people can always relate to 'Ooo pretty dinos, ahh! scary bad dinos! then big drop and splash' once the movies are forgotten. But I'm not sure the same can be said for Potter. Yeah, magic will always be loved it just seems they are going very, very story specific with the Potter stuff. That'll make it amazing, but also date quickly. Mike

^ That's true but I doubt that our fascination with Dinosaurs will ever end... so in that regard Jurassic will always be relevant, even if the movies are forgotten. The old comic book characters ... not so much. Dudely is done in a way where back stories aren't totally necessary so it can stand on its own (classic hero saves the girl from bad guy) and Popeye is somewhat the same but slightly more involved in story line. Regardless, that area won't last the test of time IMO. I've never read any of the Potter books and never seen any of the movies (OMG!!!11) so when I see something like new art for Three Broomsticks I just thought it looked like a well themed place to eat, and not much more. (which Enchanted Oak was as well) You have to wonder if in 15 years there will be more people like me and less fans who can tell you all about Three Broomsticks and what they serve. So my point is that does it really matter what's relevant now, won't it all essentially be the same after x number of years? I know that Terminator is back on TV and a movie is coming out, but last time I was at Universal and was in Terminator all the kids around me had no clue at all what the thing was about. It's just a big cycle, I suppose. Mike

Wood Dragon is correct - this is by no means confirmed at this point. Do I trust the source? Yes. But for instance Americana was said to be heading to Worlds of Fun for a while now to replace their ferris wheel - so who knows. If the trio does show up at Kings Dominion next year I'd be happy, that area of the park would support these rides well. IMO Cedar Fair does not have the cash these days to build 4-5 big, new coasters each year. So used rides have to work for now. Mike

Indeed, Head Spin will sit right where Flying Super Saturator is now. There's a bunch of .pdf files on here that show the plans for the ride. I also have some bigger jpg images over here if you don't want to mess with the pdfs. The top is from the Saturator demo documents, and the bottom is the Boomerang in its place. They're keeping all the trees!

I've been to Vegas several times and wanted to check it out (not a Star Trek fan) just cause they are well themed attractions, but never did because of the price. Now I'm leaving for Vegas in 48 hours and plan on checking it out - and getting a photo tour of it. I heard you can get cheap tickets a few places in time so that'll make it easier to cough up the cash. The hotel probably wants to use the space for something new, but I highly doubt that Cedar Fair has any real interest in keeping it either. Mike

^ Looks like probably for parts of it. Though I'm sure they'll have to work to get the correct depth and then line it and such. The whole 'upper part' will have to be dug out though since lazy rivers don't have a lift. I think it would be awesome to keep the waterfall section they added years back for the lazy river! Mike

I don't love the idea of the water park inside Hershey Park expanding, but it's really what the general public wants. They love water parks, and they're a huge draw 'round these parts. Everyone knows that at places like Dorney the amusement side is a ghost town all day while 30,000 people pack the water park. As far as Hershey goes, the new area will be pretty interesting, as far as I can tell it'll be a mix of old and new buildings, some use of the rapids trough and basin, and some totally new parts. I did up an aerial comparison. Mike

I'd say that on most days I'd rather ride a really great dark ride than a really great coaster. Even though some are of lesser quality I'm excited that more and more parks are adding dark rides of some sort. Kennywood's new one looks amazing! Mike

I guess that varies from day to day, I just read that last night Voodoo's queue was almost all the way full after the waterpark closed! Mike

I don't agree that the popularity of the water park makes DP fair game for a comparison to Geauga Lake. For one, DP's attendance is at least double what Geauga Lake's was. Second, it's a smaller property so operating costs are in line. Third, when the water park closes on summer days the amusement park is flooded and packed in the evening and into the night. It's just really ... not the same situation. Mike

Voodoo, about an hour ago. Mike

Wow they totally Hercules-ed that first drop. That stinks! First you slow it down so it's easier on one hill, then it turns into needing it for another and soon they tear it down! Mike

It was under 30 mins for the afternoon, from what I've heard. (I had to leave shortly after my ride) Mike

Voodoo actually opened yesterday! I happened to be there and took some pics. I'd never been on the ride at Geauga Lake, so it was new to me. I really enjoyed it... the launch is pretty good and I actually loved the holding brake. It was operating again today but Dorney had a park buyout for Girl Scouts. Hopefully now that we know it's operating more people can ride next weekend. Mike Important park people and happy riders. It's a fun ride to watch at the park. Holding brake in action. Wish the sky was a nicer shade of blue... The launch.

I think a lot of people used to give DP a hard time because of the changes Cedar Fair made after they purchased it ... but now that a lot of time has gone by those changes have "grown in" (literally with all the trees they planted) and the park is a different place. Mike

^ Yes the flags are very similar to Dragsters... CF Corp P&D must have done the 'new' part of Voodoo's station hence the similarities. All of the rest of the station is the same from Geauga, far as I can tell. Mike The ride's station from Geauga, grabbed from YouTube videos.

I'd have to go back through different forums to read the story again ... but it was along the lines of Geauga Lake was doing their normal morning testing and the ops kept hearing a weird noise. They did more tests and on one launch the LIMs were misaligned and the ride sorta crashed ... not like horrible but it did major damage to the lims and the first part of the train. Because of this the ride never reopened at Geauga, and that part of the train is now totally new at Dorney. Mike

The first part of the train is new because of damage caused when the ride had a whoopsies at Geauga Lake and never opened again. As for why it's not open ... I've heard everything from problems with the electrical hook ups, problems with Intamin's people, to something being wrong with the stoppers at either end of the track. What the truth is, I'm not sure. Mike

Dorney Park opened today for the season. Here are some pictures of voodoo. There are more photos of Voodoo and the park but these are the cool ones. Too bad the ride isn't opening for two weeks! Mike And the launch track. The station area. The trains. The cool looking sign for the ride.

As far as I've heard Voodoo at Dorney and ThunderHawk at Michigan's Adventure will both open with the park this season. Not sure if those fit into the "major coaster" category, though since they are recycled. Mike

^ That photo looks like it's of the footers for the transfer track area for a B&M hyper! Mike

Has anyone seen any recent pictures of Firefall? I haven't seen any since week after opening. I'm still very curious to see if Cedar Fair took the theming on this one to any real extent. Mike

Those pictures are awesome! I had never even heard that Arrow had messed around with a Flying Turns style ride. There's something to be said for how cool it was to actually *build* little prototypes instead of just using computers. Mike