Posts by Ethan

The Windseekers Rise

JAN
24

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Whether you like it or not, Windseekers are taking over the Cedar Fair chain; Six of out of the twelve theme parks currently operate or are building one. Cedar Fair is hooked on these 300 (excuse me, 301) foot swing sets, and it’s understandable why; simply put, it’s a gimmick, and the general public eats them up. I can already hear “Dude, did you hear some guy fell out of that thing?” “No way! Lets go ride it!” on the midways of Carowinds.

Anyway, the two Windseekers currently under construction are making decent progress. Both just hit the milestone of their first piece of tower being installed and have “gone vertical.” With the theme park season just around the corner, it’ll be fun to watch these things fly up. Hopefully they’ve worked out the kinks from the last set and these two will have a smooth season.

So, here are some pictures of the “30 or so feet of OMGs”:

Carowinds (via Carowinds Amusement Park on Facebook)

Kings Dominion (via @KingsDominionVA on Twitter)

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Track complete on Dollywood’s Wild Eagle, new animation

NOV
2

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Dollywood’s Wild Eagle is one of the most anticipated attractions for the 2012 season. The B&M Wingrider has been quietly, andcertainly quickly chugging along with construction and, what may come as a surprise to some, track work was recently completed. The final piece was lowered into place last week. These B&M’s seem to fly up in no time!

Photo: Dollywood

Along with the milestone, the park has also released some beautiful new animation of Wild Eagle:

 

 

Leave your Park Thoughts below!

Carowinds buys 61 acres with plans to expand; teases for 2012

AUG
2

Cedar Fair has announced the purchase of 61 acres adjacent to Carowinds parking lot, which will “enable the Company to achieve future development and expansion of the facility.” For anyone familiar with the Carowinds area, according to the Charlotte Observer, the land is located between the season pass parking lot and I-77.

There are a long list of possibilities for the land, from the obvious, park expansion, to hotels, additional campgrounds, or parking. Due to the lands location, largely cut off from the park by the parking lot, it seems like a resort hotel would be the most realistic. But, its a definitely possibility the land could be used to relocate the parking lot to allow for new rides and other park expansion. Anything is rumors at this point, but this is certainly exciting news for any fan.

In other Carowinds news, the park has begun teasing for the 2012 season. Posting QR codes throughout their website, when scanned give an image. Fans have put all of these images together creating this:

The obvious answer to this Riddle is another Windseeker, a giant swing ride which have been popping up all over the Cedar Fair chain, despite the markings which have been seen in the park labeled “HUSS GF” which of course points to a giant frisbee. Anything is possible and we definitely can’t wait for the announcement on August 24th!

What do you think about the large land purchase? What could it be used for? What about the 2012? Windseeker? Giant Frisbee? Leave your comments and Park Thoughts below!

Knott’s Berry Farm and Canada’s Wonderland announce Windseeker

AUG
24

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The first 2 Cedar Fair parks out of the gate with their announcements today, Knott’s Berry Farm and Canada’s Wonderland have both announced “Windseeker”. The two $5 million rides are pretty much exactly the same, both 301 feet tall, spinning its 32, 2-seat swing arms at 8 rotations per minute. They even share the same blue/gray/yellow pain scheme.

Windseeker will be...

“SCarowinds X” details announced

AUG
8

Carowinds has just opened up the website and released details about this years SCarowinds Halloween Haunt event, officially dubbed “SCarowinds X”. The biggest announcement is the inclusion of a new maze, “Defex”, described as a “disassembly line” for defective toys, will be replacing “Final Summons” in the picnic pavilion next to Intimidator. As always we can probably also expect improvements to the...

Dollywood announces Barnstormer along with new area

AUG
2

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After building two “challenge” attractions, SkyZip and Adventure Mountain over the last two years, Dollywood will be getting back into the thrill ride game in 2011 with “Barnstormer” an S&S Screamin Swing that gives riders the sensation of 1920′s stunt pilots. The $5.5 million ride will send its 2, 32 passenger swing arms 81 feet in the air with a...