Small News From The Theme Park Industry

[Christian]

this coaster SOMEHOW manages to be a:

unique coaster
intamin knockoff
B&M knockoff

all at the same time...SOMEHOW

With the old Kraken colours.

Except for the obvious B&M track I like it, the layout is indeed original. Two Immelmans, a vertical loup, and the off axis airtime hill. This looks pretty decent. Going from SLC clones to this is a major step. If they continue at this phase I wonder where they will be in 10 years.

 

[Christian]

Part of a coaster train was spotted outside of Zamperla (Boonton, New Jersey location) and it may look a little awkward. This the exact train Zamperla revealed at IAAPA 2019. But they removed the 4 across and changed it to 2 seats per row.

Maybe they temporarily removed the outer seats to fit it inside a shipping container? A standard shipping container is 2352mm wide on the inside, so it should fit. Maybe to send it back to Italy? The mounts and screws are left for the outer seats.

 

[Jamesss]

Never ridden one of those slingshot rides and don't plan to.

I feel like I've seen more videos of them going wrong than any other ride type.

 

[RollerCoastersFrolicking]

With the old Kraken colours.

Except for the obvious B&M track I like it, the layout is indeed original. Two Immelmans, a vertical loup, and the off axis airtime hill. This looks pretty decent. Going from SLC clones to this is a major step. If they continue at this phase I wonder where they will be in 10 years.

for all we know jinma rides could be the next heavy hitter in the amusement industry

 

[Tomatron]

Not sure if this deserved its own topic, but being here when this happens is one of my worst nightmares.

Berlin's giant AquaDom hotel aquarium containing 1,500 fish explodes

Two people are injured as the Berlin aquarium, containing a million litres of water, bursts open.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Gavin]

^

On its website on Friday it said the attraction was temporarily closed and asked visitors to reschedule their tickets.

Ya think?

 

[Tomatron]

^

Ya think?

Yeah not so great to open an aquarium without any water in it.

But it's great if you want cheap sushi.

 

[CoasterHour]

Mach Tower closure confirmed:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1603824723321708544

 

[Lori Marie Loud]

Mach Tower closure confirmed:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1603824723321708544

Wait what

I literally did not know it was rumored to be closing. Apocalypse was expected. This perhaps less so.

It also makes me wonder about the future of Falcon's Fury.

 

[cookie]

Mach Tower closure confirmed:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1603824723321708544

https://twitter.com/x/status/1603827713214713856

So they plan to replace it with another flat, at least. BGW could use more of them, given how many have been removed in recent years.

 

[Ethan]

It also makes me wonder about the future of Falcon's Fury.

I imagine Falcon's Fury will be there for a while, don't think there's anything wrong with it, unless it's down a lot?

Apocalypse was on it's last legs, had been for years. I'm not sure about the reliability of Mach Tower but I've heard it, along with the other Moser towers, isn't great in terms of ride experience anyway.

 

[Munchy Road Hippopotamus]

I imagine Falcon's Fury will be there for a while, don't think there's anything wrong with it, unless it's down a lot?

Apocalypse was on it's last legs, had been for years. I'm not sure about the reliability of Mach Tower but I've heard it, along with the other Moser towers, isn't great in terms of ride experience anyway.

It was down when I was there in June irritatingly.

 

[davidm]

Saw this the other day, head creative of Universal (Thierry Coup) is taking / has been pushed into taking early retirement.

Universal Creative's Thierry Coup and Mike Hightower leaving company

Universal Creative's Thierry Coup and Mike Hightower and other executives are reportedly leaving the company.

blooloop.com

Strange, given how on the up and up Universal have been for the last few years - well apart from a few duds in Universal Studios Florida - but on the up on balance I'd have thought?

 

[Indy]

Strange, given how on the up and up Universal have been for the last few years - well apart from a few duds in Universal Studios Florida - but on the up on balance I'd have thought?

I have two guesses for the early retirement offers:

1. It's a savings game. These older, more tenured executives cost a lot of money.

2. Younger, potentially more creative minds. Most of the older generation in the amusement industry did not yearn to join the industry. Instead, they essentially fell into it. There are a lot of people who came over from non-related industries because they were looking for a change and the job sounded interesting. More and more, the industry workforce is being filled with people who dreamed of working in the industry and are very passionate about it. There are now a lot of people in this position who now have substantial work experience in the industry. These people can potentially provide a more modern, creative approach in all facets of the design, build, and operations process.

 

[Christian]

I have two guesses for the early retirement offers:

1. It's a savings game. These older, more tenured executives cost a lot of money.

2. Younger, potentially more creative minds. Most of the older generation in the amusement industry did not yearn to join the industry. Instead, they essentially fell into it. There are a lot of people who came over from non-related industries because they were looking for a change and the job sounded interesting. More and more, the industry workforce is being filled with people who dreamed of working in the industry and are very passionate about it. There are now a lot of people in this position who now have substantial work experience in the industry. These people can potentially provide a more modern, creative approach in all facets of the design, build, and operations process.

I don't think it's the first option, it just doesn't make sense. In the greater scheme of things the difference in salary is peanuts.

The second option is likely. Especially if they have already headhunted someone for the job. For that new person to be able to take the job they need to get rid of the old.

Third option I can think of is this executive needing to make an exit for whatever reason. Things such as inappropriate behaviour, personality issues, social issues, work issues, etc. If that's the case it's in neither of the parties interest to go public with the actual problems. Therefore early retirement is a briliant way to spin it.

Those are my guesses.

 

[cookie]

The revamped Ringsheim/Europa Park train stop was officially inaugurated yesterday, with a TGV train docking at the station at 3:30 P.M. As part of making the resort more accessible to visitors from France, a TGV train will run daily from Paris Gare d'Est at 12:49 P.M. and take 2 hours and 43 minutes to arrive at Ringsheim. This route will go into service when Europa Park re-opens for the summer season in March 2023.

According to Michael Mack, Europa draws about 25% of its annual visitors from France, and he hopes they'll grow that number to 30% with the new station. The park is looking to hit 6 million visitors this year, becoming the first European park outside of Disney to do so.

Allemagne : Le TGV s'arrête désormais près d'Europa-Park, à Ringsheim - ici

L'arrêt Ringsheim / Europa-Park inauguré officiellement en grande pompe le vendredi 16 décembre. Ce nouvel arrêt permet de faire le trajet entre Paris et le parc d'attraction allemand sans changement, en TGV, en 2h37.

www.francebleu.fr

 

[The_bullgod]

As part of making Europa Park more accessible for international visitors, TGV trains are now arriving at Ringsheim station all the way from Paris. The first train docked at the station yesterday at 3:30 P.M. A train will run daily from Paris Gare d'Est at 12:49 P.M. and take a little over 2 1/2 hours to arrive at Ringsheim.

Hopefully also the trains within Germany are being updated. It could be updated to IC or even ICE trains in Germany.
Now with on the last part only regional trains, it takes around 4hours to go from Cologne to Ringsheim.

 

[Efteldingus]

Today Toverland welcomed their 1.000.000th visitor for this year, a great achievement for the family owned park. Their previous highest number of visitors in a year was 862.000 (2019), so they absolutely smashed that record this year. Yay Toverland!

Mijlpaal: Toverland ontvangt miljoenste bezoeker

Attractiepark Toverland heeft zaterdag de miljoenste bezoeker van het jaar ontvangen. Dat is een mijlpaal: nooit eerder ontving het park in Sevenum zoveel bezoekers in één jaar tijd.

www.1limburg.nl

 

[VonRolland]

Today Toverland welcomed their 1.000.000th visitor for this year, a great achievement for the family owned park. Their previous highest number of visitors in a year was 862.000 (2019), so they absolutely smashed that record this year. Yay Toverland!

Mijlpaal: Toverland ontvangt miljoenste bezoeker

Attractiepark Toverland heeft zaterdag de miljoenste bezoeker van het jaar ontvangen. Dat is een mijlpaal: nooit eerder ontving het park in Sevenum zoveel bezoekers in één jaar tijd.

www.1limburg.nl

So happy for them hopefully Avalon expansion and a bigger winter event will push them significantly higher

 

[Matt N]

Good on them; Toverland looks like a great park that deserves the success!

I must admit, however, that I never fail to be astounded by how Toverland could afford a massive B&M and lavishly themed new lands with less than 1 million visitors per annum… what’s their secret, I wonder?

Although with that being said, I think the same about a number of smaller parks in mainland Europe… many parks over in Europe seem to punch well above their weight investment-wise, and I’m often surprised to hear how small the guest figures of some parks with really revered, well-themed rides are.