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Last week at your amusement park...May 23, 2011

A digest of amusement park news and rumors...and a couple of rants...with a sense of humor...

From Jeff Elliott
Posted May 23, 2011 at 2:17 PM
Six Flags Magic Mountain – Green Lantern is assembled. Expect testing soon.

Busch Gardens Tampa – Cheetah Hunt should open this week. The sky ride has started testing again. The two featured live inhabitants of Cheetah Hunt attacked their trainers this last week in order show their displeasure of being displayed on that awful late night show…

Disney – Star Tours is now open…expect long lines….and geeks…
Coverage at Disney World - http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201105/2478/
Coverage at Disneyland - http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201105/2479/

Ark Encounter (Kentucky) – While the state still refuses to help out an existing park with an existing fan base near a large metropolitan area asking for a fraction of the amount of money, the state has given the Ark Encounter $43 million as well as an $11 million freeway improvement. It is not nice, but I am looking forward to seeing this one fail. Does anyone pay attention to the parks that failed and do the research to see why it happened? In addition to building the largest wooden frame structure in the States, they are also planning a Tower of Babel, a walled city, a middle eastern village, a walk through aviary, a petting zoo, etc. What they are not installing is any rides. The attendance levels that they are talking about are much higher than the nearby amusement parks of Kings Island and Holiday World, but for some reason no one is questioning it. The people selling this idea to the state have said that they will have all of their funding completed by the end of June, but a quick look at their website shows that they have only raised $3 million of $24.5 million. Topic of the theming completely aside, this looks very sketchy…

Universal Studios Florida – This is my formal public shaming….the only thing that USF is building is a Despicable Me ride to replace Jimmy Neutron….and they are reanimating Spiderman in high def……..I figured I would remind everyone, since a day later Star Tours opened and everyone forgot about this announcement…
Coverage - http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201105/2477/

Bert the Conqueror - Update. My wife had a great time doing the filming for the show. She actually recorded a sound bite on the program as the "coaster geek" talking about head choppers. If she got it wrong, it is probably my fault...


Everyone else did my work this week....I get to keep this short and sweet...

If I have missed anything (and I have, so no worries there) please post below. If you have some inside information, more news, more rumors, first rides, please share with the rest of us.

Sources: Screamscape, Amusement Today, and whatever else I happened to read this week...


Comments in chronological order. Most recent at the bottom. Scroll down to respond.

From Mike Gallagher
Posted May 23, 2011 at 5:29 PM
I rode Chang Lantern at SF GAdv Saturday..open only to season pass holders until Wednesday. I'm not a fan of stand-up coasters, and this one is no better than most. It beat my ears and head more than I remember from Kentucky. It LOOKS great, the restraints are semi-comfortable, and I think it'll go over well with the general public for a while. It's not as bad as Mantis or Iron Wolf, but that's not saying much.

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