Happy New Year! It’s 2022,
how exciting, it’s finally the year all the roller coasters built for 2020 will open!
Anyway, thanks for joining us for the very special first theme park news round up of this year…
To kick things off, let's go big. BGW fans have leaked the plans for a roller coaster coming to
Busch Gardens Williamsburg they’ve dubbed “Project DarKoaster”. It’s actually a very clever name. The
show building to the old Curse of DarKastle dark ride has been used as an event space recently.
However, that’s apparently set to change. Busch Gardens Williamsburg allegedly plans to
construct a new Intamin family launch coaster, one with not one, not two, not even three but
four launch moments! The ride will take place completely indoors, and feature lots of twists
and turns - nothing too thrilling of course, it is a family coaster. If you want to learn more,
I’d recommend reading BGW fans' extensive (very extensive) article about the new attraction!
Moving on, to another Intamin ride now. Sydney’s Luna Park has officially opened their brand new
roller coaster named Big Dipper. The ride is actually Intamin’s first ever hot racer,
a new type of single rail roller coaster. It features two launches,
a multitude of inversions, and comfortable over the shoulder lap bar restraints!
The ride makes use of it’s slim single file train to navigate multiple tight turns and quick rolls.
Will we see more of these Intamin single rail coasters in the future? Time will tell.
Talking of launch coasters, Montezooma’s Revenge at Knott’s Berry Farm closed on the
10th of January to undergo major renovations. Not much is currently known about the refurb,
including what it means for the ride. All we know is that the historic flywheel launch roller
coaster will reopen to guests in 2023. Could we see the ride retrofit with a more reliable
magnetic launch system, or will changes be less drastic than that? Only Knott’s currently know.
On the other side of America, Orlando’s Revenge of the mummy has also recently closed
for refurbishment. Construction walls were put up around the ride a few days ago, with a sign
saying “reopening late summer 2022”. Sadly, no details about the refurb have been shared by the
park - so once again we’ve been left in the dark, just like the ride itself. Terrible joke I’m sorry
Revenge of the Mummy isn’t the only ride in America being renovated though. The Beast
at Kings Island is currently undergoing a large-scale refurbishment plan of its own.
This winter the ride is being upgraded with 2000 feet 600m of new wooden roller coaster track.
Some minute changes will also be made to the actual layout of the ride too.
The first drop will become 8 degrees steeper, changing from 45 degrees to 53 degrees.
The roller coaster's 540 degree helix will also be slightly altered, with new bents placed to
make the experience smoother for guests. For the few that love the Beast, hopefully these changes
won’t change the overall ride drastically. For everyone else, perhaps it’ll make it better!
Europa Park have also recently confirmed their plans to remove three of the park’s
rides. Europe’s second busiest theme park is closing their older attractions to make way
for new exciting additions. The biggest of the disappearing rides is Jungle Rafts, a slow raft
ride. The park also plans to remove Traumzeit-Dome (Dome of Dreams) and Flug des Ikarus (Flight of
Icarus). Despite these removals, Europe Park has yet to confirm their replacements - though
we do know the park plans to debut a new big dipper roller coaster in the future!
Sad news now. Amusement ride icon, Stan Checketts, sadly passed away at the start of the year. Stan
and his wife founded S&S, an amusement company that would go on to become one of the largest
in America. Stan pioneered the industry with his pneumatic air powered launch technology,
which first made its debut in the form of the space shot ride.
Since then it’s been used on countless tower rides and a handful of roller coasters.
Though Stan will be missed, his contributions to and love for the industry will never be forgotten.
And finally, some more big roller coaster news: Parque Warner Madrid allegedly plans to construct
a new large scale roller coaster, at least according to the rumours. Several areas of
construction have been seen at the park, including this photo of what looks to be a footer for the
new ride. Though, as per usual, the park has not confirmed any of this and remains very quiet. So,
perhaps it’s construction for something else. But hopefully it’s a coaster though because the park
are yet to build a new large scale roller coaster since they opened to the public back in 2002!
And there we go, that’s it for this episode, the first episode
of 2022! We hope you have a fantastic new year and that 2022 brings you all
the theme park and roller coaster goodness you’ve been longing for!