There’s no time for introductions in this week’s dispatch, there’s too much news
to cover!
Firstly, IAAPA.
The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions held their expo in Orlando
last week - it was seemingly a great success.
Lots of new things were shown off, or announced, at the expo, including:
Fun Spot Atlanta’s new RMC.
They revealed a trailer for their new ride, named AireForce One, alongside the coaster's
lead car.
Included within the trailer were all of the attractions stats, 3400 ft 1036m long, 154
ft 47m tall, 83 degree drop, top speed of 64mph 103km and 3 inversions.
The layout looks pretty neat, passing over buildings, and subjecting guests to lots of
airtime.
It also features North America’s longest zero-g stall, which is awesome!
The entire ride has a loose space theme, which is reflected within the train’s interesting
design!
Ride entertainment also unveiled a new ride of theirs too.
Palindrome, a Gerstlauer Infinity coaster, will be coming to Cotaland in Texas in the
United States.
The ride is expected to open in late-2022 and is truly a one-of-a-kind coaster.
Palindrome firstly completes its layout forwards, navigating two inversions and passing over
a busy road in the process.
Then, guests will climb a spike, allowing them to complete the whole ride again, but
backwards - hence the name!
Gerstlauer said “We are thrilled to be able to bring the first Infinity shuttle coaster
to the United States”, and very sure that when guests ride it they’ll be thrilled
too!
Next up, it’s Zamperla.
Zamperla had a huge presence at IAAPA, showing off their Lighting coaster trains, as well
as their new family thrill launch coaster model.
The company says this new model is capable of multiple launches, dead-end track moments,
reverse sections and even more.
The ride can also be paired with various train designs, including ones that resemble dune
buggies, a sidecar, or motorbikes!
Meanwhile, at Intamin, they launched a new model too, the Dome ride theatre.
Well, it does what it says on the tin.
It’s a dome theatre, with a ride inside.
Guests board a ‘unique ride system’ according to Intamin, a big circle basically.
This circle can tilt and spin, providing guests with a unique sensation of forces.
The ride utilises LED panels to provide a truly immersive 360 degree video, which means
that every seat gets a slightly different experience.
It also features 4D effects like wind, scent and vibrations - similar to your traditional
flying theatre, but you know, it’s a circle.
Some deals have been going on at IAAPA too.
Walibi Rhône-Alpes signed a contract with Intamin to build a new roller coaster at their
park in 2024.
This is part of an ongoing expansion and improvement of Walibi, which is set to continue until
2025.
Sadly we have no idea what the coaster will be yet, but nevertheless, it’s very exciting.
Amanda Thompson, the managing director of Blackpool Pleasure Beach, also signed a contract
with MACK.
The park plans to put spinning seats on Icon, their multi-launch coaster, for spring of
2022.
These will be placed on the final row of the trains, allowing a few guests to experience
Icon, but with a twist!
Rounding off IAAPA news is one more new roller coaster - Fireball is coming to Adventureland
in Long Island in 2022!
The ride is a Roller ball coaster from Ride Engineers Switzerland, and will become the
first-of-its-kind in North America.
Guests navigate a 2D layout, moving forwards backwards up and down, all while the seats
tilt from left to right!
Okay, breath, that’s one part done.
Now for some non-IAAPA news.
A few years ago Tobu Zoo, a theme park in Japan, announced that their Intamin wooden
coaster, Regina, would close permanently in 2019.
Well, it did close, but not permanently.
The park recently revealed that they plan to revamp and reopen Regina in 2023.
The coaster will get a new steampunk theme, as well as new trains which should provide
a smoother ride - at least according to the park.
The attraction will also be fitted with new safety features to bring it up to standard.
It’s honestly fantastic to see this classic coaster be given a second chance at life!
Some less normal news now.
Parc Asterix in France needs your help to choose the new underwear for Zeus.
Yes, just give me a moment to break that down for you.
Parc Asterix has a statue of Zeus, which currently if you look under his skirt thing, you’ll
see his underwear.
The park is giving people the chance to vote for their favourite underwear from a new selection.
These include a cherry design, a lightning bolt design, and a duckies design - I mean
it has to be the duckies right, that’s not even a question…
We’re nearly there people, just a bit more theme park news to go.
Right after / during the end of IAAPA, Disney began their D23 expo thing.
A whole list of things were shown off and announced throughout the expo, but here are
the most interesting parts.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout, you know that coaster Disney keeps talking
about but never opens, yeah that’s going to open in Summer of 2022 - finally huh!
Secondly, the Avengers Campus being built at Disneyland Paris in France is set to debut
in Summer of 2022 also!
The campus will open at Walt Disney Studios Park, the second and inferior Disneyland Paris
park, hopefully making it better for everyone.
The area will be home to a new ride, Web slingers: a spider-man adventure, as well as the revamped
version of Rock ‘n’ roller coaster which will be themed to Iron Man!
And finally, the most important news of all.
Disney has built a real-life lightsaber.
I mean I don’t know what defines real, but the light bit goes in and out by itself, so
that’s pretty cool.
Disney showed off their lightsaber on stage briefly, but sadly, guests won't be able to
get their hands on it.
Instead it’ll be wielded by characters about the Halcyon, Disney’s super immersive and
super expensive Star Wars hotel experience.
Sad times.
We did, what a week of theme park news it's been huh.
What bit was your favourite?
And why was it Zeus' new underwear because why wouldn’t it be?