B&M Dive Machine Coming to Cedar Point in 2016?

Well, it would appear that the rumors are circulating something fierce on this one thanks to a memo that was leaked/uncovered by the Sandusky Register. It would appear that a communication from the famed Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M) coaster design firm is firmly hinting at a new coaster coming to Cedar Point in 2016.

So, just what is in the uncovered document? Well, it would seem like one of the design firm's dive machines will be coming to the park. At a price tag of around $15mil, it does seem like a likely fit and the park already has a healthy stable of coasters from B&M, as do many Cedar Fair parks around North America.

One of the things that makes this rumor a little more concrete is that the area the park has currently marked for redevelopment isn't that large. By design, most dive machines are compact in nature thanks to steep lift hills and their typical 90 degree first drops, allowing for a much smaller space to be utilized by them.

Given the fact that demolition has started on the Good Time Theater, the area around it could be a good fit. This is in spite of a couple of other rides in the area. I'm sure that they could work around them if they wanted or possibly go in other directions with the layout as well.

Interestingly enough, the proposed ride from B&M also included specs as well. According to the report, the coaster would feature a height of 223 feet with a total length of 3,625 feet and a top speed of 80 mph.  The ride will feature several elements including a vertical drop in a tunnel, an Immelmann, a 270-degree roll, a banked curve, a “looping,” an Immelmann with a half-roll exit, a second drop, a camel back and a spiral with a total of four inversions.

If those stats are anything to be believed, it would not only make it the tallest and longest coaster of its type in the world, but also with the most inversions and tallest. The tallest currently, Busch Gardens Williamsburg's Griffon at 205'. The only other coaster of its kind in the United States is Sheikra at Busch Gardens Tampa.  Curious what it's like to ride one of these beasts? Got ya covered from our ride on Griffon earlier in 2014.


Now, this is only one proposal the park is looking at for 2016, and we won't know for sure if this is exactly what's coming, but it would make sense if they wanted to get another record breaker for the Cedar Fair family of parks.

Stay tuned for more info out of Cedar Point and what could be coming in the future and everywhere else across the globe right here and follow us on Twitter, Google+, Tumblr and Facebook for all the latest!

Rumor Alert- Kennywood Getting Something New in 2015?

Rumor Alert for Kennywood Park! Could something be in the works for 2015?

 A few weeks ago everyone was sure that in 2015 Kennywood would be 'bringing back' the 'Turnpike' flat ride which was removed to make way for Sky Rocket. When the picture of one of the Tunrpike's Cars surfaced online with the number "15" on it, fans went crazy and one of them nearly blew up on phone in the process.

Image from Screamscape

 While Kennywood did promise to return the Turnpike to the park during it's removal, I'm not sure 2015 will be the year for it.

 Simply because, no work has begun with anything for a new area the size an attraction like 'Turnpike' would need. No woodland has been cleared out, No new walk-ways or work on that very expensive piece of property they had to buy has happened. Simply put, nothing is visible that could hint at the classic rides return.. other then they mystery appearing car.  So, I can't say this is really a good lead.


 However, another rumor has popped up from Screamscape! Rumor has it that a 4D Ride/Movie attraction may show up in the park for 2015. Located in the old arcade building near the "Old Mill/Garfield's Nightmare", The Playdium. I can't admit I'm pleased to hear this, it seems like more of 'Classic Kennywood' is disappearing each season.

...again, this is simply a rumor until confirmed by the park!

Rumor Alert- Universal Studios Orlando May Remove Attractions in 2015

 Rumor Alert- Universal Studios Orlando May Remove Two Attractions in 2015!

  While this is rumor only many are believing the final park of Universl Studios Orlando's 'face-lift' may be coming to pass.

   Rumor has it that "Woody Woodpeckers KidZone' may be removed and completely re-themed.  This area has been a sore spot with many fans of the parks who've hoped in the past that great things would move into the sad kids area. Some believed that DreamWorks would take over the area while others yet wanted more 'Universal' themed characters involved.  Well, the rumor is going about that in the next year or two the area will be closed and bulldozed, making room for new construction. 

 In additional rumor news- Twister. 
 Yes, rumor has it that Twister may finally be removed. According to a source from OTPN "As soon as Early 2015 for closure".  This attraction never went over as a fan favorite when it removed the much lamented 'GhostBusters' show, now it looks like Universal Studios may finally be listening and replacing the attraction with something new! 

 More details when and if they become available!
 

Hershey Park- New Dark Ride for 2015?

Image from All-American Thrills, User ShinyBloo

 Hershey Park Building a Dark Ride for 2015?!

 Something fishy is going on at Hershey Park and it involves blueprints!

 Spotted in the area of the park known as Midway America, where folks pointing at some of the kiddie-land rides and tents. The rumor mill has gone bonks since the images where posted by a user of All-American Thrills.

 Word on the ground right now is that this could be a large building, which may house either a dark ride or possibly some form of an indoor coaster. Which would mean removing and relocating several rides including the parks Music Express and Whip.

 On the parks Facebook page, they are also running a new teaser campaign for this new 2015 attraction. They will be posting up a new clue every Tuesday until August 12th.

 Now, I'm going to go out on a limb here and take a guess. From the teaser poster and the knowledge this is going to be a large, indoor attraction.. I'm going to bet we're looking at a shooter style dark-ride. Think about it, Neon Colors. Indoors and Darkride rumors all put together? Seems to scream 'indoor, shooter style dark ride' to me!

 Never fear, we'll keep on top of the rumors and let you know what's coming!

Rumor Alert- New Darkride at Knott's Berry Farm?

Rumor Alert- New Darkride at Knott's Berry Farm?

 Interesting new rumor coming from Knott's Berry Farm this week, could they be planning to add a new darkride in the park for 2015/2016?

 Well, According to Screamscape that's exactly what the rumor mill is saying. With the work nearly complete on Calico Mine Ride and the restoration of the Log Ride last season, they seem to be focusing on building the parks flat rides and dark rides back up. Not a bad thing considering many parks are missing the classic 'dark ride' style attractions in recent years.

  Rumor has it that workers have been seen in the area of the old "Kingdom of the Dinosaurs" building doing clean-up. During our recent visit to Knott's we didn't notice anything going on as they where still highly focused on Calico Mine Ride at the time, so this rumor must be very recent.

 However, it's still just a rumor until some more confirmation comes around!

Rumor Mill - Six Flags Great Adventure to get a New Coaster for 2015?

Rumors are circulating that Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, NJ could be preparing to build a new coaster for the 2015 season. This would fit in line with the park needing something new in the coaster end of things, especially with so many other parks opening new rides and attractions this year.

That said, it's hard to pin down just what they might do at this point. There's a lot of options a park like Great Adventure can go with.

Screamscape seems to be on the line of thinking that they could go with a Rocky Mountain Coaster of some kind, maybe similar to Six Flags Great America's Goliath. Would be interesting and with Rolling Thunder being gone, the park only has one wooden coaster. There's a ton of other options out there too which would work for the park. Since the departure of Batman & Robin: The Chiller, there hasn't been a launch coaster in the park for quite a long while either. Maybe something similar to Cheetah Hunt or something along those lines? It's definitely possible. Another likely choice would be a wing coaster like Gatekeeper at Cedar Point. Not sure I'd be 100% happy with that, but anything could happen.

The only other question would be, where to put it? Well, I'm kind of with Screamscape here on this one as well. The back of the park doesn't have a lot going on for it these days and it's been a really long time since new blood was infused into that area at all. Definitely could see something happening either towards Nitro or even near the old ski show area too. If the rumor of the RMC coaster that "goes under the lake" is true, it would have to be back somewhere in either area.

All we know right is that this is a rumor and until further details come out from Six Flags about this, all we can do is speculate. Hopefully we'll find out more concrete information on this in the near future!

Rumor Alert- Rhino Rally Undecided for 2014?

 Rhino Rally May Not Return in 2014

 This is still a rumor at this point but it's making enough waves that we've decided to report on the situation.  

 Rhino Rally at Busch Gardens Tampa seems to be in a bit of a flux, rumors going around are stating that the attraction may not survive to see the 2014 season. Instead rumor is suggesting that the area may be used to enlarge the current elephant enclosure. 

The park seems to be interested in an elephant breeding program as rumor suggests, they may or may not be looking to increase their herd at this point. The only current known fact is that the Asian Bull Elephant- Spike, is now a member of the Busch Gardens Tampa family. He was moved to the park in September but has yet to join the herd fully. Elephants, especially to have a successful breeding population require massive amounts of space. Not only for animal comfort and happiness but also for animal and human safety.

 Another rumor suggests that Rhino Rally may face being cut back and watered down to provide more room while others state this simply isn't true, the ride will re-open in 2014 as normal.  As it stands now Rhino Rally is a seasonal only attraction, running roughly during peak seasons from April-August.

 More information as it becomes available.

Canada's Wonderland- New Waterslide Arrives?

Image from the great people of CWMania

 Today over on CWMania I spotted this. Now, it's not hard to deduct that this is.. A Waterslide!

 The interesting part of this is- Canada's Wonderland wasn't slated for a new waterslide this year. Not a peep about even improving their Splash Works water park. When someone reported spotting these, it caught my interest!

 So I went digging to find out what this was all about. Also by browsing around on CWMania (seriously, those folks know!) and discovered many people believe this is the 'Slide that Never Opened' at the failed Soak City in Ontario, Canada. Another rumor I've heard for a few months now says that Splash Works may be in for a 2015 overhaul and this used slide could be part of that.

Image from CWMania

 It's really rather a smart idea on the part of Canada's Wonderland. These things cost upwards of $100,000 each to build. With many Water Parks disappearing and other just removing slides they can't either maintain or want removed for something new- this is a great way to add to you park without busting your budget.  Remember- Something.. Anything new will get people through the door!

Image from RadarContact on Flickr

 This is an image of what may suspect this mystery slide might be. The 'Built but Never Opened' also called 'Tospy Turvy'.  The downside is no one can seem to 'find' the red, orange and yellow sections of the slide. Perhaps they are being stored inside or elsewhere.

 Frankly, I can't tell you. Either way, it still appears the Canada's Wonderland will receive from for of new waterslide in the near future!

Rumor Alert- Busch Gardens Tampa considering a Hyper Coaster?!

 Today Screamscape has reported an interesting new rumor coming from Busch Gardens Tampa. It seems that members of the parks engineering department made a little visit over the weekend to Canada's Wonderland amusement park.

While normally this wouldn't be interesting, it's worth noting because Canada's Wonderland has something very famous sitting in their park.  It's something very tall, very fast and deliciously fun that's also built by B&M coasters. A company that Busch Gardens has an excellent working relationship with.

 Canada's Wonderland is home to Leviathan, a B&M answer to Cedar Point's Millennium Force. It stands just 4 feet shorter and 1 MPH slower then it's Ohio cousin.  Could Busch Gardens be considering a B&M Hyper Coaster for their Tampa park? 

 There is also another possibly which Screamscape didn't address in their rumor.  Canada's Wonderland is also getting "Wonder Mountain's Guardian" which is an interactive dark-ride shooter style attraction. While Busch Gardens Williamsburg has a dark ride in "Curse of DarKastle" a shooter would be an interesting addition to the Tampa property which doesn't currently have a dark ride style attraction.

 Personally I don't think we'll see this rumor come to light before the 2016 season simply because at the moment Busch Gardens Tampa is currently building "Falcon's Fury" a new style drop ride which will open in Spring 2014.  Could this be the supposed replacement for when Gwazi finally goes offline in the future?




 While these are just rumors and some speculation on my behalf, we'll have to watch Busch Gardens Tampa closely to see what they have planned for the park's future.