fraroc

1989 The time has come....to finally unveil what Riverwood Theme Park got in 1989....And trust me, it's big...it's really big....how big is it? How big does NEW COASTER AND FLAT RIDE PACKAGE sound?! The first attraction is known as the Himalayabahn/Thunder Bobs. A little bit of a discrepancy occurred with this ride. The ride was built with a lighted sign which read "Thunder Bobs", yet the ride on the park map and advertisements is known as "Himalayabahn" No matter what name it is, this ride, built by Chance Rides should prove to be an invaluable collection the the park's strong flat ride lineup! But be honest, you don't care about this ride...... You care about THIS ride! RATTLESNAKE an absolutely monstrous Charles Dinn wooden roller coaster and Riverwood Theme Park's second wooden roller coaster....With a height of 141 feet, a top speed of 62 mph, and a track length of 4,566 feet, Rattlesnake will break three records for the park as the tallest, fastest, and longest coaster in the park! Conicidentally, when it opened, it was the tallest wooden roller coaster in the entire world! Immediatley after the 141 foot tall lift hill, you turn and do a twisted nosedive down 138 feet of pure first drop! A series of three serious ejector airtime moments follow the first drop. After the third hill, you reach a second twisting, force-filled turnaround drop! The lack of any mid-course break run means that the train just BLAZES through these ejector air hills! You think the ride is over? Not on your life, bud! Immedialtey after the hills, you go down a small, sudden drop which leads you into a convoluted mass of twists, turns, and helices which leave you completely disoriented! The grand finale....is two airtime hills, which gives us a grand total of EIGHT separate airtime moments on this coaster! Overall, Rattlesnake is unmitigated proof that even with the steel monsters coming out in the 1980s, the wooden roller coaster is still going strong! Coincidentally, I, the narrator, was born around the time Rattlesnake opened in 1989! Which means that soon enough...I'll be able to document my own firsthand experiences with this park and how this park made me into the coaster freak I am today... The advent of Thunder Bobs/Himalayabahn and Rattlesnake also means that the ten-year plan of Riverwood Theme Park has successfully been fulfilled...The zoo got it's expansion, the park got three fantastic roller coasters.... And three thrilling flat rides! It's amazing what ten years difference can do to a park....Compare this skyline shot of the park taken around the same time in 1979.... To how the park looks like just a mere decade later....A small family-oriented park turned into a thrill-seeker's haven....And it can only get bigger from here..... Or can it? STAY TUNED FOR MORE!

Wrong Harry

I'm looking at some gameplay footage right now...and all I gotta say is that I now have a TON of faith in this project and Planet Coaster. After TPS dissapointed me, I'm happy to see we have two, maybe THREE new games to fill the void that the lack of a proper RCT4 left us. Parkitect, once new building options come out and more track styles come out, could potentially be not just a newer-generation RCT2, but I'd even go as far as to say the 2D No Limits. And if the modding community gets their hands on this game, there could literally BE "no limits" to what we can do.

1988 You might figure that having just built a massive Arrow Dynamics looping coaster that has been a massive success for the park, that Riverwood Theme Park might be taking a break from adding new attractions for a while, right? WRONG!!! Towards the end of the 1988 season, people noticed that yet another huge plot of land was cleared adjacent to Cobra in the same area that the new paths were built. http://s26.postimg.org/ge15308x5/Shot1138.png' alt='Shot1138.png'> The size of the dirt patch is absolutley massive, much bigger than the plots of land cleared for the other roller coasters and expansions...Almost half the size as when the land for Riverwood Zoo was built. That should give you an idea of how big this new attraction (or attractions) is going to be. All I'm going to give away is that what is to come in 1989 is going to be impressive....

I could see Hershey's Wildcat or Gwazi being the next RMC'd GCI's OH YES OH YES OH YES PLEASE LET THIS BE THE CASE. There would finally be an RMC within reasonable driving distance!

Do you think the fact that I305 has OSTRs as opposed to the T-bars have anything to do with the fact that the first generation Intamin hyper cars are not big-person friendly speaking from my experience with MF?

1988 The instant success of Cobra at Riverwood Theme Park brought in another massive amount of revenue for the park....In 1988, half of the huge sum of money was used for general improvements, a small expansion, and a new ride.... Seeing as how Riverwood Theme Park has three themed areas, The Main Midway, Old West Towne, and The Snakepit, it was only natural for Richard Riverwood to decide to link these areas together. To the far left of the park around where River Rush is, The Snakepit was extended to Old West Towne and a new path upwards links up The Main Midway with The Snakepit. The amount of empty space indicates that there will be new rides and attractions built in those areas. Perhaps the most preeminent addition resulted from the removal of High Flyer, the aging Intamin barnstormer ride...In its place is another attraction by Intamin, Spire, a double decker observation tower. at 210 feet tall, it became Riverwood Theme Park's tallest attraction. Quite a relaxing ride after hours of riding spinning rides and roller coasters. The cabins are air conditioned, which makes for great relief in the dog days of summer! The sights your see from this tower are amazing, giving riders a full view of both the park, the zoo, and the surrounding grasslands and forests! 1988 also marked the ten year anniversary of the first looping roller coaster at Riverwood Theme Park, the Anton Schwarzkopf shuttle loop Serpent! Ten years after it's opening, it's still regarded as one of the best attractions in the park!!!

Wildfire at Silver Dollar City is technically a floorless coaster with a floor and a zero car. The seats on those trains are pitched up like a floorless coaster unlike coasters like Hulk and Kumba, where the seats are lower and your feet are touching the floor at all times. On Wildfire, your feet dangle as if you were on a floorless coaster. Hypercoasters have a similar configuration where even though it's a floored train, your feet dangle like a floorless train.

I'm going to sound like such a contrarian and say that RCT3 is my favorite, simply because of what the modding community has been able to do to it...ultra realistic CFRs, No Limits imported CTRs that look like real coasters...

One of the beauties of going to parks and riding coasters you read about is that it'll allow you to formulate your own opinions on a coaster. So for all of you complaining, please for the love of God, Ride it first, then draw your own conclusions.

I really do not believe that the lack of new parks in the US means that the amusement industry is dying...I personally think the focus has been 100% put on adding new attractions to already existing parks.

1987 With the success that the Arrow corkscrew, Steel Sidewinder brought to the park, it was only natural for Richard Riverwood to consult with Arrow Dynamics again to build a larger, faster, and loopier Arrow sit-down looping coaster...Of course, the result was Cobra....He had some pretty high expectations for this coaster, so let's all see if it lived up to them. Judging from how absolutely massive the line is to get on.....It did! Another full house about to leave! One of the more unique aspects to Cobra is a curved ascent before the chain lift, similar to that of SooperDooperLooper at Hersheypark. For that curve, the train is powered by a pneumatic friction wheel system. Other than the inversions, the ride is also known for it's various headchoppers! The on-ride camera system was strategically placed on a headchopper so that everyone can see themselves freak out over it after the ride is done! The bowtie inversion has been described as very forceful and intense. Despite the fact that Steel Sidewinder was rendered obsolete, it still gets a lot of attention...In fact, it's even regained new life as a good starter/intermediate coaster for kids who don't want to ride kiddie rides anymore, but aren't quite ready for scream machines like Serpent and Cobra. Arrow's first coaster at the park, River Rush still gets a lot of love as a family-friendly coaster!

1987 The time has come.....to unveil the new scream machine for Riverwood Theme Park... A serpent so vile, so dangerous and fearsome that the mere mention of it strikes fear in people's hearts.... New for 1987: COBRA Cobra is a medium sized-to-large Arrow Dynamics custom looping roller coaster. This coaster, alongside Viper at Darien Lake and Fireball at Tennessee's Great America, is considered to be a precursor to the "big three" Arrow loopers (Shockwave at Six Flags Great America, Great American Scream Machine at Six Flags Great Adventure, and Viper at Six Flags Magic Mountain.) The coaster reaches a top height of 128 feet with a 117 foot drop, making the trains reach a top speed of 58mph, which at the time was the fastest of any coaster at RTP! After a large turnaround and second drop, the train travels through two consecutive and forceful loops! Up next is the most unique element of the coaster, instead of a Batwing inversion like most Arrow loopers have, Cobra features a "Bowtie" inversion, the likes of which has only been seen on one coaster, Dragon Mountain in MarineLand in Canada. Thus making Cobra's bowtie the only one to date in the United States. The final inversion occurs after the Mid-Course Brake Run, a simple, yet thrilling corkscrew. But the ride isn't over yet! After the corkscrew comes a large helix that hugs one of the coaster's huge support structures, causing a "headchopper" effect! The grand finale is a small dip which goes right into the final drop of the coaster before turning around and heading to the final brake run... It was quite an odd decision on the park's to position Cobra right next to Steel Sidewinder...However many people found it to be quite interesting to see a larger and a smaller counterpart in the Snakepit area. As if Cobra is the big brother and Steel Sidewinder is the little brother (despite being older)!

He's a coaster fan like any one of us.

I've always liked that logo for some reason though...Probably because it reminds me of when I used to go there as a little kid in the early 2000s.

we couldn't find a good coaster magnet, but did pick up one they have of the Ferris Wheel. . the not only rotates, but the individual cars spin too. . we love it. I still think that thing on the Ferris wheel looks like a hubcap to a Saturn.

I concur. And Wildcat's not even that bad of a ride, it just needs work. And badly.

1986 Around late in the 1986 season, fencing was put up around parts of the Snakepit, including Steel Sidewinder's queue to conceal the fact that track for their new steel roller coaster, due to open in 1987, had arrived at the construction site. There is no denying it....This is definitely Arrow-style track... Steel Sidewinder.....it's time to meet your new "little" brother Stay tuned for more!

A lot of rumors out there suggesting both KD and CW will be getting a wing coaster in 2017. Hopefully they can remove Anaconda and put it over what's left of the lake. That would be a nice upgrade. Or better yet, give Anaconda Vekoma trains with those headbang-free restraints and actually make it a rideable ride.

1986 Absolutely no time was wasted on construction once the expansion for Riverwood Zoo was confirmed....By opening day in 1986, The new area, SafariVille was more than ready for park patrons! The main draw for SafariVille was the acquisition of two absolutely gorgeous lions that were rescued from another zoo that was shut down due to animal mistreatment. Richard Riverwood jumped at the chance to give these beautiful creatures a new home! The giraffes were also given a new, and much larger home after the original giraffe habitat was removed to make way for this expansion. They're definitely much happier in this brand new habitat! In addition to the lions, two smaller animal exhibitions were built at Riverwood Zoo. Insect House and Nocturnal House both house animals in their respective environments. In the Nocturnal House, you can see animals that are only known to come out at night...Opossums, raccoons, hedgehogs, wombats, and owls... Of course, what's a nocturnal exhibit without that one flying animal that everybody associates the word "nocturnal" with? BATS. the top of the building houses and absolutley massive habitat home to 45 bats. Don't worry if you're afraid of bats, there is no way they can come down and bite you! The part where people go into is protected by two inches of glass...and besides, all the bats were given vaccinations. The Insect House is home to many different types of insect and arachnid... Here, you can see all different types of creepy-crawlies...giant millipedes, scorpions, wasps, tarantulas, grasshoppers, butterflies, moths... Don't worry, just like the bats, the spiders won't get you either! Also included in the zoo expansion....was a kiddie ride. The Dino-Go-Round. This would have been a good addition if Riverwood Zoo was just a normal, freestanding zoo with no other attractions nearby...however there is just one teensy problem I have with this ride.... Who thought it was a good idea to add a freakin' kiddie ride to a zoo that is a part of a large, sprawling amusement park with many different rides and roller coasters? I mean, to the right of the zoo, there is nothing BUT rides! But hey, I didn't make the decision... Speaking of rides...around mid-1986, rumors started to fly again...This time, rumors were about the possibility that Riverwood Theme Park might be getting the second of the three proposed roller coasters for the 1980s! I don't want to give away too much....but lets just leave it at this....Come next year, this particular view of Riverwood Theme Park will look a HELL of a lot different!

Ok...so where do I even start? This coaster NEEDS to exist, so someone better get Walter and Claude on the phone soon! lol This coaster had virtually NO boring parts whatsoever, it was just element after element after element with this one and as I said before, a lot of really unique elements and inversion sequences that you really haven't seen B&M attempt yet. The fact that this coaster is only 80 feet tall really proves that size ain't everything when it comes to coasters. Sometimes the short ones can be just as good, if not sometimes better, than the 200 foot tall monsters.

Dorney- Lazer King's Dominion- Shockwave Carowinds- Thunder Road

1985 Riverwood Theme Park seems to have really hit it's stride, especially since the zoo and the park were merged into one the year prior...The park patrons found the new prices to be an amazing deal for full access to the park and the zoo and 1984 became one of their most successful seasons, even though they didn't add anything else new! And in '85, they followed it up with the second of the proposed flat rides! This is Sea Monster, a new Huss pirate ship ride! These rides are great for both thrill seekers and families. The back sections of the ride give some damn good airtime! In addition to the new ride, a new restaurant, Adventurer's Cafe was built at the park! The new resturaunt sells all your fairground favorites, hamburgers, hot dogs, funnel cakes, corn dogs etc, but it also sells some pretty exotic foods such as kebabs and turkish delight! Also around that time, talks were beginning to occur about the proposed expansion of the zoo, which includes a few new exhibits! Perhaps this expansion will occur sooner than later!

I now support PLC 100%. I took a gander at their forums, and I really got the vibe that this game was made by enthusiasts, for enthusiasts, yet by the cartoony motif of the food stand and the peeps, it seems like anyone can enjoy it, whether they know every roller coaster name, make, and model by heart, or they're still calling Arrow and Vekoma looping coasters "Steel Corkscrew Roller Coasters" Frontier could potentially give Ole Lange a run for his money.

I think this is going to be the perfect blend between cartoony and realistic.