fraroc

1994 New ownership brought forth several aesthetic changes to Riverwood Theme Park, now known as Six Flags Nebraska. Along with the obvious addition of new rides and attractions in a new DC comics themed area, many of the pre-existing roller coasters were given new paint jobs... The first thing people will notice is that the original Riverwood Theme Park entrance building was replaced with a brand new Six Flags themed entrance. Throughout the time the park was closed, the white paint of Bobs had begun to chip off. Instead of repainting it the same color, Six Flags decided instead to strip the entire coaster of it's paint and let it have a natural wooden color, like Rattlesnake. Serpent and Junior Serpent were both given a bright teal/aquamarine color scheme. Steel Sidewinder adopted a brown color scheme on it's tracks, which in my opinion does NOT look good at all next to Serpent. One of the most radical and noticable changes to the coaster collection is the repainting of Ninja from a grey color to a bright red/hot pink color. Also, metal rings were put up around the lift hill and in-line twist of the coaster, most likely for decoration. Of course, when the park re-opens in April, the most obvious difference would be the addition of the new area! The photographer that took this set of photos was able to get a nice shot of Batman-The Ride doing a test run. Unlike other Arrow suspended roller coasters like Iron Dragon that don't really have that much swinging action going on, Batman definitely does! While the park seems to have given new life under Six Flags, there were unfortunately, a few ramifications...The sale did not include the site of the former Riverwood Zoo. While the amusement park side is given new life, the zoo side remained completely abandoned with no sign of development....

Vortex at Carowinds. The strange part is, I like the coaster. I think it has a strong, forceful layout. Good inversions and nice twisty helices...The coaster is damn good as a matter of fact. Only one problem though, it's a standing coaster.

Okay...so it took a while for me to set everything up for the grand unveiling, but I promise you guys, it's worth the wait!!! 1993 In December of 1993, an auction took place in Kearney, Nebraska. The item for sale was not an "item" per se, it was a massive sprawling theme park that had been the crown jewel of the town of Kearney...Several large amusement companies participated in the auction, such as Six Flags, Herschend, and Anheuser-Busch. Surprisingly, Cedar Fair did not participate in the auction and possibly had no interest in buying Riverwood Theme Park...In addition to the amusement companies, a number of residential construction firms had an interest in buying the land the park sat on, razing Riverwood Theme Park, and replacing it with condominiums and apartments.... In the end...... Riverwood Theme Park was sold..... To Six Flags for 200 million dollars. Six Flags, being a respected player in the amusement industry, obviously had big ideas for the park and with the amount of money they invested in the park, they planned to deliver on these ideas as quickly as possible. Shortly after the sale, Six Flags confirmed that Riverwood Theme Park was slated to re-open in the spring of 1994 under the new moniker "Six Flags Nebraska" along with a brand new themed park expansion which included a brand new roller coaster... COMING 1994: DC Universe! This new themed area will feature attractions themed to beloved comic book characters from the DC universe such as Batman and The Joker! NEW FOR 1994: Batman: The Ride, a thrilling suspended "swinging" roller coaster built by Arrow Dynamics featuring high speed swooping turns and twists! At 130ft tall and with a top speed of 56mph, it is the tallest and the fastest suspended roller coaster in the United States! Joker's Jinx, a truly X-Treme experience, riders are flipped upside down on this Intamin-built swinging inverting ship ride seven times and are left to hang upside-down for several seconds! Gotham City Dodgems and DC Comics Theater round out the new ride collection with an assortment of family-friendly entertainment and fun! Also, with Six Flags taking over Riverwood Theme Park, the names of two roller coasters will be changed to coincide with attractions at other Six Flags properties. Cobra will now be known as Viper and Pipeline will now be known as Ninja

The future of Riverwood Theme Park will be unveiled tomorrow, Christmas day......

I remember back when I was ten years old, a county fair thingie that was going on at an old west style open-air museum had a few rides, which included a puny Wisdom Rides Dragon Wagon which I marathoned for a solid hour....The single most creditwhore-ish thing I've ever done...

Basically. I still say the Wacky Worm is unbeatable but if it has to be an adult coaster I'll say Farenheit just to annoy the Intamin fanboys. It's just as forceless as any forceless B&M you can name but much like the forceless B&M's I still enjoy it and see no reason to complain about it. You do get a few decent pops of air after the double corkscrew, can't forget about that.

1993 RTP Press Conference: June 1993 Richard Riverwood: "Hello everybody....I wish I was speaking to you under happier circumstances, but it seems that is simply not the case...Back in 1964, after my father was arrested, I bought this theme park from him for one reason only...I didn't do it for the money, I didn't do it for the glory...I did it because I wanted to see this park be what it always was before my father took it over...A happy place where everybody goes to have hours and hours of fun and excitement...And my dream was realized. Within a matter of a few years, Riverwood Theme Park was put on the map as a prime location for family fun and thrills, especially after Riverwood Zoo became a reality in 1970. The addition of Serpent, an Anton Schwarzkopf built launched looping roller coaster brought in the adrenaline junkies, which brought in a completely new wave of success for my park...Over the years, I watched this park blossom into something big...Which is why it pains me so much to go through these tumultuous times...Last year, I made the extremely difficult decision to close down Riverwood Zoo due to serious financial issues in the park...I didn't want to close it down, but I felt I had no choice..It was the only thing that could save Riverwood Theme Park as a whole....Unfortunately, that wasn't the case...........Ladies and Gentlemen...It is with a heavy heart that I must announce....Riverwood Theme Park has been put up for sale...The park is scheduled to close indefinitely after Independence Day weekend...My only hope is that another buyer or theme park company with a great vision for the future will carry on my work...As I can no longer do it...." July 6th was scheduled to be Riverwood Theme Park's very last day of operation...Quite fittingly, the weather that day was a gloomy overcast.... For the first time in quite a while, the park had a decent crowd with long lines on each of the major roller coasters...However, just like with Riverwood Zoo, the large crowds were simply too little too late...The guests tried their best to have fun, however the thought constantly loomed in the back of their minds that this could very well be the last time they ever go on coasters like Rattlesnake and Cobra ever again.... And after July 6th....The dream was officially over....The main entrance to Riverwood Theme Park was boarded up and the big entrance marquee simply displayed the words "Park Closed Today". Everything at the park was suddenly frozen in time as Riverwood Theme Park became classified as an "abandoned property" If the worst case scenario were to come true and RTP were to never reopen...Steel roller coasters like Cobra, Steel Sidewinder, Serpent, Junior Serpent, and Pipeline would most likely find new homes in theme parks across the globe... As for roller coasters such as River Rush, Rattlesnake and the Harry C. Baker legend Bobs, which aren't quite as movable as steel roller coasters...They would most likely be immediately demolished or be fated to waste away in silence with the rest of the park as vines creep up the wooden supports and warp the track layout to the point where these coasters can NEVER operate again. Future generations would look at the remains of what was once a great American theme park and ask their parents, "What happened to that amusement park? Why isn't it open? Why did they close it?" Questions that will bring back sentimental memories for those who spent their summers at the park.... As the remainder of the summer of 1993 rolled on with Riverwood Theme Park closed, it seemed more and more likely that this scenario would take place... However...One final hope lied over the horizon..... The auction.

1. Opened in 2001. 2. Went under extensive modification following complaints about a height ordinance. 3. As a result, it's the only Intamin Impulse coaster with an inversion. Patriot at WOF.

1993 By the end of 1992, Riverwood Zoo had officially closed down. The animals were brought to different zoos across America as planned and instead of immediately demolishing the zoo, it was instead left standing defunct. The park then attempted to "cover up" any and all traces of the zoo's existence. The pathway leading to the long-abandoned transfer tram from the park to the zoo and the pathway leading to the bridge between the two parks were both broken up and large trees were planted in order to obscure the guest's views of these abandoned relics of Riverwood Zoo. Riverwood Zoo was closed in order to save Riverwood Theme Park...However, in the long run it seemed to have done little to no good. Crowds were still incredibly sparse around the park with major roller coasters receiving little to no riders days on end.... Being situated in the rear of the park, Rattlesnake was affected the worst by this. In 1993, it wasn't uncommon to see multiple empty trains stacked up on this ride. By 1993...Hope was virtually gone for Riverwood Theme Park. The zoo needed to close down in order to save the park, but it soon became evident that it did not help one bit...Only time will tell what will happen to the park, but it seems like time is running out....

Talon at Dorney. Nothing compared to what I'd experience on Alpengeist and Afterburn, but it's still a solid ride.

Even though it's a themed ride, I love how you can see the hydraulic pistons so it look like it could be a real ride.

1992 CLOSURE OF RIVERWOOD ZOO CONFIRMED After months of observation, it became quite clear that Riverwood Theme Park's money troubles were mostly coming from the expenses made to keep up the zoo...Riverwood Zoo was the pride and joy of Richard Riverwood right from the beginning of when Terrell's Pleasure Park/Fun World was bought by the then-young entrepreneur, Richard Riverwood in the mid 1960s...As a 49 year old man in 1992, he had lots of pride in the fact that his park had become a prime vacation spot with a theme park an a zoo located directly next to each other.... It nearly killed him to make this decision, but like how an injured wolf chews off it's own leg to survive...Richard Riverwood needed to permanently close the zoo at the end of the 1992 season... The zoo had become extra crowded after it's closure was announced but it was simply too late to save it... The zoo's various animals were to be given to different zoos around the U.S and given new homes...Even the smallest of animals in the Nocturnal House and Insect House will be given new homes... The outward goal of the zoo's closure was to save the park...However, it seemed that this park was exiting one nightmare and entering another....

Just goes to show you that sometimes less is more.

Too bad KD scrapped Shockwave...Holy Land coudl have bought it and we could have really had the "Mount Golgotha Express" XD

Battlestar Galactica looks like a fantastic coaster and I really think Vekoma ought to consider that track style for new SLCs. They could really make for enjoyable rides.

I've been thinking for years that one day, GCI needs to do a remake of the Crystal Beach Cyclone, but now that you mention it, with those snappy and twisty transitions, RMC would also be a perfect candidate for it.

Dorney: 1): Getting Rid of Lazer: I know they've been wanting to sell it for a while, but I honestly don't get what they were thinking. Now America is down another awesome Schwarzkopf. I know Lazer is still operating in Germany, but still.... 2): Getting Rid of that little kids alcove when Lazer went: It was a cute little kid's area, it didn't really need to go. 3): Getting a dysfunctional Vekoma hang and bang in it's place: Stinger is an okay ride that replaced a great ride, but good luck having it open when you take your trip...

Kersplat

1992 1992 was set up to be a great year for Riverwood Theme Park with the park receiving it's first water ride and a unique, one-of-a-kind steel roller coaster....Unfortunately, that didn't happen....And what resulted was an absolute nightmare for RTP. The park opened in April for Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays...and Pipeline was open for those weekends...Just three weeks into the 1992 season. A massive stress fracture was found on one of the support beams, forcing the park to close Pipeline temporarily. The repairs took a long period of time to do, which meant that come time time when Riverwood Theme Park is open 7 days a week in May, Pipeline was closed. The closure, combined with no tentative date for reopening, dissapointed many park-goers. Pipeline reopened in late May. Unfortunately, the problems didn't end there. Critic reviews for the roller coaster were mediocre at best. Riders complained about Pipeline giving a jerky and uncomfortable ride and that it was not worth the weeks of waiting for it to reopen. As a result, the overall attendance for the park as a whole waned, where once the midways were full, now only few people were walking down the paths and riding the rides. The lack of foot traffic inside the park caused Riverwood Theme Park to lose copious amounts of money... In seasons past, lines for Rattlesnake used to be hours long, now barely anybody is riding it... For some odd reason, instead of the park, guests have begun to flock to the zoo and while this photograph looks like the zoo is experiencing a period of success, looks can be deceiving...At that point in time, Riverwood Theme Park wasn't just bleeding money, it was gushing money....Keeping the zoo open is one of the biggest expenses of the park, despite the large crowds. One of the most telling signs of how much of an expense it was to keep the zoo and the park running was how bad the stations for the old transfer tram system that closed in 1984 looked. By 1992, the consistent lack of groundskeeping in those two areas made it look quite worse for wear. Weeds and vines began to overtake the station, the queue and the surrounding grounds, and the bushes and trees were horribly overgrown. As much as Richard Riverwood didn't want to face it...His park was in extreme danger, a storm was looming over the horizon and he needed to act fast...

You say that you're not good at making parks. Judging by what you gave us, I say you're VERY good, much better than me for sure. The B&M Flyer is really good and I love the amount of detail you put into the scenery. Good job man! I really hope you continue this.

B&M flying coasters, however not all of these B&M flyers were as good as Tatsu or Manta...this lead to...

I expected a much wilder ride out of Afterburner...It seems very controlled. El Loco was definitely the better choice for parks.

I've noticed mostly in the past decade that some new-age type roller coasters have come about that people have predicted was going to be the next big thing, but ultimately don't go that far. The Screamin' Squirrel is an example of this, I remember browsing through various roller coaster forums back in the mid 2000s and reading people predicting that the S&S Screamin' Squirrel was going to be the next big thing and that multiple parks were going to buy one...As of 2015, only three Screamin' Squirrels were built in Italy, China, and Russia. Another example was the Aquatrax, people still talk about that type to this day, yet only one was ever built...And of course, Hersheypark fans remember the whole Turbulence saga. It honestly seems that out of all these "new age" roller coaster types, the Gerstlauer Eurofighter and the B&M Wing Coaster were the big winners out of all these various types. Why do you suppose that is? Is it purely luck, or are other factors a part of it?

For future reference, I think it would be a smart idea to keep multiple backup copies of your park so just in case it happens again, you won't lose all your work. This park is just too good to suffer from that kind of fate, keep up the good work man! Loving the megalite!

See if the place you saved Europa World to has a Europa World.dat.bak file. "Bak" is short for backup and all you gotta do is just erase the .bak part and your file should be safe. I distinctly remember one of my Riverwood Theme Park files (I save each individual major update to my park like a new coaster or a new flat ride) had gotten corrupted for some reason and I thought my only choice was to build Serpent over from scratch, but luckily it had a .bak file.