Gee… wonder if this guy got kicked out of the park.
Category Archives: Theme Park
Pirates of the Caribbean reopens
The Magic Kingdom has reopened Pirates of the Caribbean after it had been closed for refurbishment. Visitors can now look forward to newly replaced animatronics for more realistic looking scenes, plus new visual effects and scents in different scenes within the ride.
Man killed at Cedar Point
A teacher was killed at Cedar Point yesterday when he climbed a fence to get into the restricted area beneath Raptor to retrieve his cell phone that he had lost on the ride.
Slingshot ride cable snaps during ride
I’ve never ridden one of these, but have always wanted to. I’m surprised at this news because this is the second ride in the last month that I’ve seen in the news having a snapped cable. The last one snapped while it was on the ground so no one was injured, but this one snapped while it was in motion causing it to bounce over into a tower and breaking one passengers leg. They’re lucky it broke at the bottom of its’ bounce because that used up most of it’s momentum. If it had snapped at the top, gravity would have made it swing much faster. Below is the video of the accident.
Smiler coaster crashes at Alton Towers
The smiler roller coaster had some kind of a problem that involved a car train loaded with passengers to collide with a stationary empty car. Four were seriously injured and were picked up by helicopters to take them to the hospital.
From the sound of it, the computer stopped the second train, then was overridden. (I say this because witnesses reported that the train stopped where passengers could have been offloaded. This sounds like what normally happens when the computer senses something is wrong and stops the train.) For it to have started moving again, the operator would have to tell it to go and then it collided with the other car that was in the way. It’ll be a while before they say what happened officially, but that’s my guess.
More information is available from the BBC at http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-32980354
Busch Gardens Tampa announces closure of Gwazi
Busch Gardens Tampa has announced the upcoming closure of their dueling wooden roller Gwazi. February 1st, 2015 is the last day to ride Gwazi. They haven’t announced yet any details as to what they are going to do in that area of the park.
It opened in 1999, and I rode it for the first time in 2000. While not my favorite coaster since I prefer steel coasters, I’m still going to hate to see it go after 15 years in the park.
Deer decapitated by coaster
Now this is something your don’t see every day (fortunately.) A deer was decapitated after it wandered in the way of a roller coaster. Share with your friends:Tweet … Continue reading →
Hard Rock Park rides for sale
The defunct Hard Rock Park / Freestyle music park that closed in 2009 in Myrtle beach is selling off all of its’ roller coasters and other rides. It tried to find a buy and hopefully reopen, but I guess after … Continue reading →
Universal Orlando officially announces Transformers
Universal officially announced that Transformers: The Ride was coming to Orlando in the summer of 2013. This wasn’t a huge surprise based on the construction photos that were remarkably similar to the ride in California. Personally, I’m looking forward to … Continue reading →
Entering the world of Belle
Disney has released a new video of the entering the storybook world of belle. It will open as a preview November 19th, with the official opening of December 6th… Looks like they are extending the Mr Potato Head technology into … Continue reading →
Cedar Point announces Gatekeeper
Cedar Point has announced their new project for 2013. It’s a wing rider from B & M called Gatekeeper. It will pass right over the entrance to the park, so it will serve as a beacon for all those coaster … Continue reading →
Silver Dollar City to add wooden coaster with a twist
They are building a wooden coaster with a barrel roll, which is something that has never been done before. The closest thing to this was the now defunct Son of Beast at Kings Island in Ohio. Hopefully this will be … Continue reading →
Last day for Disaster Transport
Cedar Point is removing Disaster Transport after today to make room for something new. While I hate to see it go, I can understand why since it’s been here since 1985, but it’s relatively unique in that it’s a bobsled … Continue reading →
Shamu video from 2006
This video was released under a FOIA request in a case involving OSHA against Seaworld for the death of Dawn Brancheau in 2010. It’s a video of Ken Peters, who was grabbed and held by the killer whale Kasatka at … Continue reading →
Halloween Horror nights adds the walking dead
Universal is adding a new haunted house based on the AMC channel’s Walking Dead TV show. I’ve never made it to the Halloween Horror nights before because my wife doesn’t like scary things, but I’m going to have to drag … Continue reading →