Cedar Fair Parks- Seat Belts Added to Rides.

Seat Belts on Diamondback from CoasterForce

 Cedar Fair is Adding Seat Belts to Rides.

 This is surprising, rides which have operated for years without 'seat belts' are now getting them. Rides which where never built or designed to have them, now have them. Likely cutting down on loading time and the riders 'air time' feelings.

 No one is entirely sure why Cedar Fair is going around it's parks and adding unneeded seat belts, but it's happening and fans aren't very pleased about it. Rides which have operated perfectly fine under manufacturer specification are now subject to added seat belts which where never required or needed in the past. The list of coaster effected is fairly wide and spread out all over the various parks which Cedar Fair owns.

Kings Island- Diamondback
Carowinds- Intimidator
Canada's Wonderland- Behemoth (Unconfirmed)

 Each of these coasters are considered 'sisters' meaning they have many of the same elements and much of the same set-up. Diamondback and Behemoth both have coaster trains with the 'stadium seating' (I can't speak for Carowinds as I haven't gotten there yet).  There is no word yet what other coasters may have been infected with Cedar Fairs newest madness but it's a likely bet that Canada's Wonderland's 'Leviathan' may also have been effected in this not-bright move.

 It seems silly. As I've learned about B&M coasters I've also learned it takes power to unlock their ride restraints. Without that power, they simply can't unlock as it isn't possible. If they can't get power to the ride (in event of a ride stop or power outage) they pretty much have to take the seat apart around you to remove you from the ride. Unlike others, there isn't a button or lever you can activate to simply unlock the seat, it has to have power plus those other items. You can't "fly out" of these things even if you wanted too. They cannot 'unlock' on their own. Once your in that seat- your in it. 

 That's why, to me, this seems a highly silly move.
 Plus if your dumb enough to TRY and get out of you seat while on a roller coaster..You deserve exactly what's coming to you.

Carowinds will recieve a New Coaster with their Expansion

Recently we talked about the 3 year, $50 Million Dollar expansion that is going into Carowinds Park.

 Well it seems like the local news has also been talking about the planned expansion of the Cedar Fair park, to the point we now know that Carowinds will receive a roller coaster with some of this expansion money.  Screamscape reported that the park will also get nearly another million from the county of Mecklenburg in tax rebates for upgrading the park and bringing in new jobs.

 The really interesting part of this is that a closed session transcript showed up online from the Charlotte Observer, which reports that nearly $30 million will be spent on a 'New Roller Coaster that is 70 feet taller then Intimidator". This means Carowinds will receive not only a new roller coaster but one that is over 300 feet tall!   However, there is no timeline or year for when this new coaster could open. Just sometime in the next three years.

 Also in that same article is a list of what Cedar Fair plans to spend their investment one, aside from one jumbo-size roller coaster. $2.5 Million will go to a new 'water slide' of some form, $7 Million will go to building the rumored new 'food' complex and finally $4 Million will be spent between ticket booth and parking lot improvements.

Carowinds to recieve $50 Million in Upgrades

 Cedar Fair is really out to spend money this season.

 On August 26th, Cedar Fair announced that over the next three years they will be investing more than $50 million dollars into their Carowinds park, a former paramount property. This is a long needed growth for the park which hasn't seen nearly as much attention as it's other sister properties. The investment project is to last over the next three years.

 This massive investment is to include:
 -Newly created full-time and part-time jobs
 -Significant investments in both the Carowinds park and their waterpark Booomerang Bay in the form of new attractions and ungraded infrastructure improvements and upgraded food locations.
-A new 'satellite' corporate office for Cedar Fair in Charlotte, North Carolina.

 Rumor is also saying that this large investment could see the acquisition of new land for the Carowinds park.  Screamscape is reporting this 61 acre area could even be a new resort hotel for the park.

 While all of this is excellent news for the park, the downside for this rumor is that $50 million doesn't buy a lot of new attractions of the roller coaster variety.  Carowinds hasn't seen a new coaster added to their pack since 2010 when they received a scaled down version of Intimidator.

Image from Screamscape