You came back! Great to have you. It's that time
of the week again - time for some theme park related news.
The owners of an Indiana amusement park have purchased the bankrupt Clementon Park
and Splash World in South Jersey, USA. They bought the 52 acre lakeside site at auction
for $2.37 million which includes the park in its entirety - the lake, liquor license and rides.
Clementon Park shut down in 2019 for financial reasons after operating for 114 years. It was one
of the USA’s first trolley parks and debuted in 1907. The amusement park was also family run until
2011 when it was sold to Premier Parks. According to the president of Capital Recovery Group,
the group who conducted the sale of the park at auction, Indiana Park Holdings are planning
to reopen the park later this year. They did a similar thing in 2020 when they bought out
the closed Indiana Beach Amusement and Water Park after its then-operators said it would remain shut
permanently. They reopened the park in June 2020 with Covid restrictions, so hopefully
they can achieve the same quick turn around with Clementon Park to get it back operating soon.
Disneyland has announced proposed plans for an expansion to both the Disneyland park and Disney's
California Adventure. The park has said they would love to invest more in Anaheim and bring
new areas to the parks, much like the lands they have added to other Disney parks around the world.
At the moment there is no available space for a possible expansion, without removing areas
and rides they already have. This is why they are calling for a change to the zoning laws
preventing them from being able to expand. Disney are proposing to expand into space currently
being used for parking and transportation. If these zoning laws are changed by the state of
California, Disney would be able to build their proposed expansion, which could include a hotel,
dining, entertainment and retail, and also invest in new areas for transportation and parking.
So it turns out that this 'third gate' as people were calling it,
1: isn't even a new park, just an expansion, and 2: can't even happen yet. Sort it out California!
Tayto Park in Ireland have been granted permission to build
two new coasters. After a two year long planning battle, the park has been given
the green light for a new Vekoma suspended coaster and Vekoma family boomerang, costing €15.5 million.
Raymond Coyle, the park owner, fought long and hard for permission for the new coasters
after recommendations were made that the planning should be refused due to noise impact on nearby
homes. A number of noise reduction methods have been taken in the plans for the coasters to ensure
noise is kept to a minimum, such as reorienting the tracks to direct noise away from the houses,
as well as adding tunnels and underground sections. The board were happy with these noise
reduction measures and have granted permission for the two new coasters which will hopefully
be built by 2023. Being Ireland's only major theme park this is honestly fantastic news!
Plopsaland De Panne will no longer be re-theming their starflyer to two well-known Belgian
youtubers. Yes, weird headline, let me explain here. The park had planned to let a number of
influencers choose their favourite attractions at the park and theme it however they wished.
The first influencers were going to be Belgian YouTube duo Céline Dept and Michiel Callebaut, who
have more than 560 thousand YouTube subscribers and a combined 13 million followers on the best
platform of all time, TikTok. However, there have been a number of issues regarding online
bullying in response to this news. Therefore, the park has announced that they were shocked
by everyone’s response and that as a result they have put their influencer theming plans on hold.
What a shame! Do you think we were on their list? Coaster Bot The Ride anyone? Sounds good huh?
Construction of the Fujiyama viewing platform at Fuji-Q Highland
is well underway. The Fujiyama Tower will stand beside the Fuijyama roller coaster
and will feature a slide, a barrier-free sky walk and views of Mt Fuji. Photos of the construction
have been shared on Fuji-Q Highland’s social media. It’s set to open for the ride’s 25th
anniversary in summer 2021 but during the construction Fujiyama will remain shut.
But, the good news is that Fujiyama Tower will be located outside of Fuji-Q Highland
so you won’t need a park ticket to enter and enjoy the view. That honestly
sounds fantastic if you get one of the three days each year that Mt. Fuji isn't covered in clouds.
Dragon Slayer at Adventureland has been spotted testing.
The S&S 4D free spin coaster set to open in June takes the place of the Dragon coaster,
which was retired last year. It’s the third new coaster at the park in the last 3 years,
bringing their total up to 6. The ride is also a smaller version of the more well known free
spin layout, so it'll be interesting to hear the reviews once it does open!
Mistakes have been made in the design of a new water slide at Europa Park. The park is
currently expanding their water park, Rulantica, but have somehow got the placement of some of
the water slide supports really wrong in the new Svalgurok area. Basically they've built a ‘death
slide’. They shared this image on social media and wrote ‘Yes-we also make mistakes every day!’
Proof that nobody’s perfect - not even the gods at MACK rides.
We'll, that's all the news we've got time for today. I've got to quickly run off and
give Europa Park a call to see if they'll let me ride their death slide before they fix it.
If you don't see me next time you'll know I got the slide cred.