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Small News From The Theme Park Industry

JoshC. said:
Looopings are reporting that Walibi Holland's new Halloween attraction for this year will be themed around a slaughterhouse: https://www.looopings.nl/weblog/201...rdt-gruwelijke-slachterij-met-vleeshaken.html

The Walibi twist? You will attached to a suspended seat for the experience, to mimic being dragged around the facility on a meat hook.
Walibi's creativity and innovative ideas never cease to amaze me.
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Are you ****ing with me?! Looks like some people have breached a few NDAs :rolleyes:
 
Confirmed rides for Hyde Park Winter Wonderland 2022 include:
-Höllenblitz (NEW)
-Edelweiss Funhouse (NEW)
-'Avenger' KMG Discovery (NEW)
-Return of Dr Archibald
-Olympia Looping

And much more.

Avenger is in Brent Cross until September (or October, could be either) if you want a sneaky peek of what it's like.

hydeparkwinterwonderland.com

Hyde Park Winter Wonderland | Attractions, Experiences and Things to Do

Experience the world's ultimate festive destination at Hyde Park Winter Wonderland. Explore the best activities, entertainment, rides and food & drink, perfect for all ages.
hydeparkwinterwonderland.com hydeparkwinterwonderland.com
 
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Oh wow hollenblitz that is exciting always wanted to try this coaster just need alpinabahn now and we got the set of big European coasters in London.
 
Kolmården will in the coming years be removing their dolphins and the dolphin pools. They spin this as some kind of conservation issue and that bottlenose dolphins are not endangered and therefore Kolmården don't need to keep them. They say that they will instead expand their work with endangered species, though they don't mention anything about endangered aquatic species. The 12 dolphins will be rehomed in the coming years and untill all dolphins have found suitable homes they will keep doing the shows that they do today. This whole process will take years.

www.kolmarden.com

Kolmården fokuserar allt mer på hotade arter och kommer på sikt att stänga delfinariet

www.kolmarden.com www.kolmarden.com
Speculation:

Personally, I think it's a commercial issue. Either the dolphins weren't popular enough to justify the cost, the old dolphin house needed a refurbishment which they couldn't financially justify or they need that space for expansion. I think it's a combination of all three but I mainly think that they need the space to expand their thrill area. The dolphins house is right next to Wildfire and it's a perfect spot for another coaster. Ultimately I think Kolmården wants to become a European Busch Gardens and will in the coming years mostly expand their thrill offering and not the animal part.
 
Blackfish has had a huge lasting affect on the zoo/aquarium industry, and many people are not happy seeing orcas/dolphins in captivity/performing in shows, so I imagine the popularity has dwindled because of that. People are a lot more aware of animal welfare, and therefore zoos have to tread far more carefully when it comes to presenting animals on show.

It’s a very smart move to concentrate on preserving endangered animals, and is far easier to justify ethically than to keep animals that are abundant in the wild.
 
I get your point but Blackfish wasn't really a thing in Sweden. I know no other swede other myself who has seen it.

Kolmården had their own Blackfish incident but relating to wolfs. For decades Kolmården had tried domesticating wolfs to use them as entertainment. Basically turn wolfs into dogs. They did this by very violent alpha dominace methods. Where the keepers would physically fight the wolfs to make themselves dominant in the pack. Throughout the years this resulted in multiple incidents both with keepers and with guests who entered the habitat on guided tours to see the "tame" wolfs. One day a young keeper entered the habitat alone while having an illness and was weakened. The wolf pack immediately noticed that the "alpha" was compromised and killed her. Very tragic thing.

A blackfish style documentary was made which created a large scandal in Sweden. Kolmården got incredible amounts of hate for this and this is what led them to push hard in the thrills, family and conservation direction. The animal experiences seem nowadays to be a nonmarketable side thought. Therefore the dolphins were probably too expensive to keep and not marketable to bring in crowds.

Found a clip about one of the wolf incidents before the 2012 death. The last wolf was put down in 2018.
 
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Rob Coasters said:
Confirmed rides for Hyde Park Winter Wonderland 2022 include:
-Höllenblitz (NEW)
-Edelweiss Funhouse (NEW)
-'Avenger' KMG Discovery (NEW)
-Return of Dr Archibald
-Olympia Looping

And much more.

Avenger is in Brent Cross until September (or October, could be either) if you want a sneaky peek of what it's like.

hydeparkwinterwonderland.com

Hyde Park Winter Wonderland | Attractions, Experiences and Things to Do

Experience the world's ultimate festive destination at Hyde Park Winter Wonderland. Explore the best activities, entertainment, rides and food & drink, perfect for all ages.
hydeparkwinterwonderland.com hydeparkwinterwonderland.com
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Yesterday I got the tickets for Höllenblitz, Olympia Looping and the Ice coaster and they are some of the most expensive credits I've gotten until now
 
ChristianPalsson said:
I get your point but Blackfish wasn't really a thing in Sweden. I know no other swede other myself who has seen it.
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I think the same, aside from the impact of Blackfish, the animal rights topic has become an important topic across the world and that's why having shows with animals and the space animals occupy in theme parks, zoos, etc has become more criticized and more regulations have been imposed. It's true that documentaries are what bring some popularity to the topic from time to time, but I think that in the end it's more of a cultural thing.
 
Alton Towers ditched their sea lions thirty years ago.
They were deemed "Not the type of attraction a modern customer looks for in the park."
Used to be able to park on the lawns right next to them.
Big paddling pool nearby was fun after a couple of beers as well.
 
Parc Asterix got rid of its dolphin show last year because the French parliament was about to debate a law banning the use of captive dolphins. This definitely isn’t just a Kolmården thing.
 
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