Space World to close after the 2017 season

[Rollertoaster]

Forget the roller coasters, what is to become of the majestic space shuttle? That is REAL, right?

[yay101]

We NEED a park to save Venus, and it would also be cool to save Titan and Zaturn as well. But I just heard of the fish rink now and all I can say is..."holy crap, holy crap, holy crap, and one more, holy crap." (Quote from Robb Alvey while riding Dodonpa)

[DBru]

Venus looks like a phenomenal, unique coaster, so I hope it gets picked up. Titan's layout, from POV's, looks incredibly bland. Is it even considered to be a good coaster (worth saving)?

[A.J.]

Venus looks like a phenomenal, unique coaster, so I hope it gets picked up. Titan's layout, from POV's, looks incredibly bland. Is it even considered to be a good coaster (worth saving)?

It got a nice new set of trains...last year? Considering the circumstances, maybe we'll see them on another Arrow hyper coaster? I wonder how they'd run on Phantom's Revenge. I realize that's technically a Morgan now, but still.

 

Or, on the Big One, maybe trains with shorter car lengths will make it oh so slightly less wonky.

[Intaman]

No!!! I really enjoyed Space World although the initial 2015 visit was a rain-out, we did get every credit but one. And there were plenty of rain-laden, memorable rides on Titan and Zaturn! Thankfully, we went back to get the Venus credit! Every now and then, I remember the musical styling from Titan (Come to the Space World!). Fantastic memories!

[TheCoasterKid211]

Michigan's Adventure, if you're listening, make a note.

[canadianparkfan]

Save Venus? Save Titan?

Don't forget Zaturn!

Hoping at least one can be relocated to North America.

[Canobie Coaster]

Venus looks like a phenomenal, unique coaster, so I hope it gets picked up. Titan's layout, from POV's, looks incredibly bland. Is it even considered to be a good coaster (worth saving)?

It got a nice new set of trains...last year? Considering the circumstances, maybe we'll see them on another Arrow hyper coaster? I wonder how they'd run on Phantom's Revenge. I realize that's technically a Morgan now, but still.

 

Or, on the Big One, maybe trains with shorter car lengths will make it oh so slightly less wonky.

 

I'd love to see those trains on Magnum to allow me to enjoy the airtime without pain, but they'd also be nice additions to Cedar Fair's Morgan hypers as well.

[Jcoaster]

If Venus somehow ended up at Knoebels I'd fully expect CoasterBill to buy a nice plot of land next to the park sometime soon after.

 

If Cedar Fair is "ride shopping" in Japan, Venus is one relocated coaster I'd be more than welcome to have at Dorney Park since its the closest CF park to me

[Canobie Coaster]

The ride kind of reminds me of their old Laser ride. Honestly Venus would be a great fit at most parks.

[Jcoaster]

Place that baby right in tbe field where Dinosaurs Alive is and watch me buy a season pass immediately.

[SteelForceless]

Place that baby right in tbe field where Dinosaurs Alive is and watch me buy a season pass immediately.

I'd buy a season pass as well (if I hadn't already done so). If they bought the giant rocket too that would be awesome. Even if they don't use it as decoration, maybe they can use the rocket to blow Dinosaurs Alive to smithereens when it's time to add Venus. If we're lucky, they'll accidentally blow up Stinger and those crappy flyers too.

[Canobie Coaster]

Hey I find Stinger a fun ride...when it's open. It's smooth and intense. The only downside is capacity, but that doesn't seem to be an issue at Dorney.

[Jcoaster]

Place that baby right in tbe field where Dinosaurs Alive is and watch me buy a season pass immediately.

I'd buy a season pass as well (if I hadn't already done so). If they bought the giant rocket too that would be awesome. Even if they don't use it as decoration, maybe they can use the rocket to blow Dinosaurs Alive to smithereens when it's time to add Venus. If we're lucky, they'll accidentally blow up Stinger and those crappy flyers too.

 

[Samuel]

I can see some of the rides being purchased for Asian parks (China, Led Zeppelin to Vietnam, etc.), where tons of development continues to boom, but I don't predict a shopping spree from a U.S. park or chain. The dispersing of Geauga Lake's rides was a unique situation for Cedar Fair, and while the chain has been buying fixer-upper flats, my bet is that Zaturn & Venus will reabsorb somewhere in Asia.

 

Even with the cool trains, I can't see any park being willing to take a large, hand-me-down, 1994 Arrow. A park that could relocate Titan would simply do better with something new from any number of manufacturers.

[canadianparkfan]

I can see some of the rides being purchased for Asian parks (China, Led Zeppelin to Vietnam, etc.), where tons of development continues to boom, but I don't predict a shopping spree from a U.S. park or chain. The dispersing of Geauga Lake's rides was a unique situation for Cedar Fair, and while the chain has been buying fixer-upper flats, my bet is that Zaturn & Venus will reabsorb somewhere in Asia.

 

Even with the cool trains, I can't see any park being willing to take a large, hand-me-down, 1994 Arrow. A park that could relocate Titan would simply do better with something new from any number of manufacturers.

What about Venus? Seems like that might be good for a mid-sized North American park looking to add something big to their lineup.

[Jcoaster]

Im am mostly sure that Venus will end up finding a new home. I've heard only great things and most parks looking for a fairly large steel coaster would be happy to take it. As for Titan I don't think it will be that lucky unfortunately. I can't see a park spending money and putting time in to relocate an old Arrow Hyper.

[boldikus]

Dorney should buy Kanonen and Zaturn!

 

MOAR Pennsylvania Intamins!!!!

[Samuel]

I can see some of the rides being purchased for Asian parks (China, Led Zeppelin to Vietnam, etc.), where tons of development continues to boom, but I don't predict a shopping spree from a U.S. park or chain. The dispersing of Geauga Lake's rides was a unique situation for Cedar Fair, and while the chain has been buying fixer-upper flats, my bet is that Zaturn & Venus will reabsorb somewhere in Asia.

 

Even with the cool trains, I can't see any park being willing to take a large, hand-me-down, 1994 Arrow. A park that could relocate Titan would simply do better with something new from any number of manufacturers.

What about Venus? Seems like that might be good for a mid-sized North American park looking to add something big to their lineup.

 

It's not about Venus being a viable coaster - it looks good, it's just about Asian parks doing most of the heavy investing around the world. By the time a NA park sees the opportunity, plans the budget and land, sets a project schedule, and gets its approvals to get started, it wouldn't surprise me if Venus would already be up and running somewhere in Asia.

 

There was already a domestic opportunity for NA parks to kick the tires on the former Hard Rock Park's coasters (the Vekoma mine & Premier carousel coaster seemed plausible for many parks), but they all went to Vietnam. For viable coasters already in Asia, I just have a hunch that one or several of the seemingly dozens of parks sprouting all over the place in that part of the world will jump first.

[Gutterflower]

With Space World due to close this year the park will hold an exhibition called "Space World The Final" in the Space Dome showing how the park has changed over 27 years.

http://www.spaceworld.co.jp/event/27ayumiten/

With that announcement here is a really interesting video of the park when it opened in 1990

The main star of this video is the song that plays for most of the video after about 1:30min it's amazing in its Japaneseness.

"Come to The Space... Come To The Space World"

[SharkTums]

^The Space World song is epic. There are even different versions of it. Once you hear it, you cannot get it out of your head for a long time.

[gerstlaueringvar]

Would be interesting to dig into the reasons why Space World failed. I was reading an article about why Mission Space at EPCOT was a bad attraction and the author pointed out that the outer space is not that unknown or fascinating anymore, it is where people send their cell phone signals to and Mission Space opened right at that transition time.

 

Is Space World suffering and ultimately closing down because the theme park/amusement park market in Japan is so dominated by Disney and Universal that smaller parks are hard to survive plus the space theme no longer interests people? Or is there any other factors out there?

[DirkFunk]

Would be interesting to dig into the reasons why Space World failed. I was reading an article about why Mission Space at EPCOT was a bad attraction and the author pointed out that the outer space is not that unknown or fascinating anymore, it is where people send their cell phone signals to and Mission Space opened right at that transition time.

 

Is Space World suffering and ultimately closing down because the theme park/amusement park market in Japan is so dominated by Disney and Universal that smaller parks are hard to survive plus the space theme no longer interests people? Or is there any other factors out there?

 

Japanese parks in general have been suffering for awhile now with far more closures than openings and new rides being less frequent than in the 90s. A huge part of that is likely demographic shift. Disneysea was constructed specifically with an older visitor base in mind, and obviously Universal being a Universal always had its talons into older groups. They don't have kids because the overwork themselves and socially are a sexual disaster and they have no immigration to speak of. They're literally dying out, and the aging process has also caused the country to basically be in a state of economic stagnation/deflation since 1991. Spirited Away actually uses this fact as the basis for the abandoned theme park that the characters wander into.

[Ccron10]

Would be interesting to dig into the reasons why Space World failed. I was reading an article about why Mission Space at EPCOT was a bad attraction and the author pointed out that the outer space is not that unknown or fascinating anymore, it is where people send their cell phone signals to and Mission Space opened right at that transition time.

 

Is Space World suffering and ultimately closing down because the theme park/amusement park market in Japan is so dominated by Disney and Universal that smaller parks are hard to survive plus the space theme no longer interests people? Or is there any other factors out there?

 

Japanese parks in general have been suffering for awhile now with far more closures than openings and new rides being less frequent than in the 90s. A huge part of that is likely demographic shift. Disneysea was constructed specifically with an older visitor base in mind, and obviously Universal being a Universal always had its talons into older groups. They don't have kids because the overwork themselves and socially are a sexual disaster and they have no immigration to speak of. They're literally dying out, and the aging process has also caused the country to basically be in a state of economic stagnation/deflation since 1991. Spirited Away actually uses this fact as the basis for the abandoned theme park that the characters wander into.

When you think about it, many Japanese parks really don't add much over time. USO and TDR of course do due to their popularity, Outside the major brands, Nagashima Spa Land, Fuji-Q, and Yomiuriland are really the only ones that come to mind. These parks also seem to always bring in the crowds with wait times longer than any other parks in the World. In these smaller parks, I wonder if the reason why they don't seem as busy as the others is the possibility that they don't invest in new attractions to bring in people and money? Could they may have just back themselves into a wall with no new attractions or crowds with no money to build said attractions?

[DirkFunk]

When you think about it, many Japanese parks really don't add much over time. USO and TDR of course do due to their popularity, Outside the major brands, Nagashima Spa Land, Fuji-Q, and Yomiuriland are really the only ones that come to mind. These parks also seem to always bring in the crowds with wait times longer than any other parks in the World. In these smaller parks, I wonder if the reason why they don't seem as busy as the others is the possibility that they don't invest in new attractions to bring in people and money? Could they may have just back themselves into a wall with no new attractions or crowds with no money to build said attractions?

 

Yomiuriland has closed 2 of their largest coasters in the last 6 years and replaced them with Twist Coaster Robin (ran for maybe a month in 2014, removed since) and a Gerstlauer spinning coaster. I've never seen a trip report of the place when it was packed. Not saying it has never happened, but never personally seen it in 20 years in the hobby. A lot of the parks look like they're struggling. Isn't Parque Espana on their second or third name now?