Canada's Wonderland- Work Continues on Wonder Mountain's Guardian

Work Continues on Wonder Mountain's Guardian at Canada's Wonderland!

 On Facebook, Canada's Wonderland has posted up a few more teaser images of the heavy duty work taking place in Wonder Mountain. 

 Getting ready for the 2014 season, the work on their new dark ride "Wonder Mountain's Guardian" is progressing nicely. The ride is set to open in May, about on time with the parks opening. 

  Right now, not that many details are fully known about the ride. It will be interactive and has the ability to change formats with the season or the year.  Allowing the park to constantly keep the ride fresh and updated for guests.

 More information and teasers as they become available! 

"Rock Your Disney Side" with Disney's 2014 24 Hour Event!

Last year Disney opened up the doors to their parks for a full 24 hours in February, giving guests the chance to party and enjoy the park for complete day. Given how successful it was, it's no surprise that they've decided to bring it back in 2014.

This coming Memorial Day Weekend, you'll be able to enjoy either Disneyland or Disney World's Magic Kingdom from 6am-6am, May 23rd-24th.

Best of all, is that like Mickey's not so Scary Halloween, you're invited to dress up to join the revelry. Yep, that's right, another one of those rare occurrences where adults can have some fun in costume at the parks!

The official site for the event has a list of all the rules and restrictions on costumes, but also a bit more information about the events that will be taking place. One really cool thing, the villains will be out and about in the parks, which is always awesome to see. They seriously don't get enough love in the parks these days.

Also, no clue on what "select rides and attractions" will be open just yet, but it's safe to say (and expected) that not everything will be running in the middle of the night. Just what will be? No earthly idea right now.

Given that this is on a holiday weekend, expect the place to be packed and completely insane. Personally, I don't get why they decided to do it Memorial Day, as a slower time of year might be a better fit (like last year). Either way, if you're going or planning to go, just be prepared for lines and big crowds!

For more information head on over to Disney's official event page!

Abandoned Amusement Park For Sale?!

Image from ArtLurker

Abandoned Amusement Park For Sale- You really CAN buy ANYTHING on eBay!

 Even more proof you really can purchase anything on eBay, or sell anything for that matter.

 Popping up on eBay this week we found the abandoned "Spree Park" in Berlin, Germany. The park has been abandoned since 2002 and while not much is left today, there is still some remains left littering the property. The roller coaster "Spreeblitz", a ferris wheel and dozens of huge dinosaurs models are left on the property.

 The park was closed in 2002 because the owner was using the rides and ride parts to smuggle cocaine in and out of Germany. Over a decade later, the park has been put up for sale to the highest bidder. The Price? A cool $1.65 million Euros or about $2.2 million US.

 The property does have to be used as amusement or recreation space until 2061, which many hinder the possible buyers of the land. However, it's a still an interesting piece of history for sale. The park opened in 1969 while the Berlin Wall was still standing (the east side of the wall).

Don't believe me? Here's the Listing!
German Amusement Park on eBay

Info and Picture from "Buy an abandoned amusement park on eBay"

Seaworld Orlando- Double Update!

 Double Dose of News from Seaworld Orlando

 Good news for vistiors to Seaworld Orlando, for the next 50 days the famous Orlando theme park will offer "$50 Weekday Tickets" as well as "Two Parks for $99" to guests.

 Allowing guests to visit for a discounted price during the week, the park is actively countering other theme parks higher prices. The $50 weekday ticket is open to US residents and is only available online but only until May 5th. The $99 two-park ticket allows guests to visit both Seaworld Orlando and Aquatica for one day each- this deal is only available until March 31st. 

 The second dose of news is for the special event- Bands, Brews and BBQ!

 Seaworld Orlando has fully announced this weekend's line-up of artists which are playing the weekend event. I've got to admit, we really should thank the "activist" types because this new line-up for Bands, Brews and BBQ is truly superior to the original list Seaworld had!

Saturday March 1st- Scotty McCreery
Sunday March 2nd- Steve Miller Band 

 Also on the news of "Bands, Brews and BBQ" we've found out some new and interesting details. Behind the Thrills ran a little press news piece from Bruce Hall of REO Speedwagon who recently visited Seaworld Orlando. Not only did he enjoy his day at the park but he clearly stated he didn't want to cancel the special event the band was scheduled to play.

 This well written piece goes into detail about how the bands who did play had done their research and flaunted the armchair activist types who can copy-paste a petition online. More proof that people do believe in the good acts Seaworld Parks do.

King's Island: The Bat - Repainting

 

Hello all!!!

King's Island is super busy with construction on Banshee and redoing The Bat all in time for opening day this year.  We have found some updated pictures for everyone to enjoy.

For everyone who may have forgotten: The Bat is being recreated out of Flight Deck and so far it looks really neat.  

Here is a photo of Flight Deck cars being repainted.  I'm going to guess that they're going with the orange and gray color scheme like the track photos, but I haven't seen any finished pictures yet.

 

Here are two photos of the track being repainted.  I am really happy to see that King's Island is revitalizing Flight Deck rather then knock it down to build something else. I can't wait to see this finalized in April and hope to see more pictures soon.

As always: any comments made are to be polite and without malice.  If you're nice to us then we'll be nice to you.

You can find us on Google+, Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook.

*Pictures were found on KI's Facebook page.

Knoebels- New Steel Coaster for 2015

Image from Screamscape

 Knoebels Amusement Resort Announces New Steel Coaster as Project 2015.


 HOLY CRAP!

 Knoebel's Amusement Resort shocked fans when they just dropped their "Project 2015" plans on them out of the blue. No more rumors or speculation- the park has said "Impulse" (working project name) a new steel roller coaster is what the park's 4th generation is adding in.

 This new ride is a Zierer Tower Coaster, with a vertical  lift hill. The ride will have a full chain lift and not the launch as Knoebels has stated like they the "building of anticipation" which comes with a chain lifted roller coaster.

 Full numbers for the coaster haven't been released yet but we do know the ride will be 98 feet tall and have four full inversions, with a max angle of a full 90 degrees on the lift hill.

 More News has it becomes available!

Changes to Star Wars Weekends at Disney Hollywood Studios

 Changes coming to "Star Wars Weekends" at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

 Good news for Star Wars Fans and Folks who attend the highly popular "Star Wars Weekends" event at Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park in Orlando, Florida.

 Star Wars Weekends will now run nearly full month, four complete weekends for the 2014 season. Starting on May 16th and ending on June 15th the event runs Friday, Saturday and Sundays. The event is also getting a new upgrades for the 2014 season in addition to the extra time length but it comes with a cost.

  Symphony of the Stars- A New "Star Wars" themed firewooks show will be added to the parks schedule.

 The price you pay? "Hyperspace Hoolpa" is gone. Fans believe this move comes in light of the new movies hitting the theaters shortly, that Disney is now trying to reign in the "silly" part of Star Wars and force the series into more serious notes with both fans and newcomers to the genre. Many seem to believe this may also be part of the new "Star Wars Land" which is confirmed but still a great rumor among fans.

Disney World raises Ticket Prices

Image from Clint Gamache of ThrillGeek

Disney World raises Ticket Prices.


 Fans and Friends of Disney World have lost their minds in the last few days with the resorts newest ticket price hike.

 This is the second ticket price raise that Disney World has implemented in the last twelve months, unusual for the resort which normally only raises prices once per twelve months.  The last raise in ticket prices happened in June of 2013, just nine months ago.

 The new price, $99 per single day is a $4 increase in price. This has effected all tickets across the price spectrum. However, this increase only effects the "Magic Kingdom" park so far. It's unknown if this raise in prices will soon go resort wide. The other parks- Epcot Center, Disney Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom are still at the old price of $94 dollar per day.

 This new price increase came as a surprise. It wasn't announced nor did Disney warn their guests as they had done in the past, this new move was done quietly in the night only to be leaked by Orlando Sentinel. The Total Orlando Blog has estimated that in the last decade Disney World's admission fees have easily doubled, they also expect that by 2025 price will be over $153 per day if the current yearly (or twice yearly) increases continue.

 Fan have been speculating wildly as to the reasons behind the price raise. Many believe it has to do with the gross overspending on the "My Magic+" system which the Orlando park has been trying to implement in the form of "MagicBands" in the last year. Others believe that it's do to high levels of over spending involving the "New Fantasyland" project which is suspected to be behind schedule. Like most things involving Disney World, we'll likely never know the real reasons behind them breaking the rule of "one price hike on tickets per year".

Six Flags Great America- Alterations to New Goliath Coaster

Image from Screamscape

Six Flags Great America Alters New"Goliath" Coaster.

 Well folks, this new came as a surprise to most big coaster fans who've been watching the construction of Goliath closely.

 Six Flags Great America and Rocky Mountain Construction may have had this plan all along but the facts and reasons behind this change are still unknown at this time. The main changes to the ride involve moving the Zero-G roll which has moved from the original renderings, it's not located under the lift hill and seems to be added support.

Original Fact Sheet- From Screamscape

When comparing the new rendered images to the original fact sheet on the coaster you can spot the differences.

 SFGAM NATION has some really great construction photos of the ride and it's current progress. Their stating that this new rendering has been the plan and are the finalized plans for the ride. The lift hill is expected to go vertical in the new month or two.

 We'll keep you posted with any news!