Park Thoughts

Despite seemingly countless delays, it appears Cedar Fair has decided to move forward with adding more “Windseeker“‘s to their parks in 2012.  Carowinds, being the first to announce. With the Wright Brothers creating the first successful airplane in the Carolinas, it is natural that the park will continue the theme of flight with Windseeker.

Reaching a maximum height 301 feet, Windseeker will become the talest ride in Carowinds.  Other facts about the ride include: 32 arms with 2 passenger swings for an hourly capcacity of approximately 960 guests an hour, the arms will reach an angle of 45 degrees at a top speed of 30 mph, an onboard audio system playing more than 18 different tracks, and the Windseeker’s now trademark LED light show on the ride’s structure all for a cost of $6.5 million.

Unfortunately Carowinds has appeared to have gone with the ugly and typical grey-blue-red color scheme used at the northern parks.  However, when Knott’s announced their Windseeker it also showed the same color scheme which was later changed to a far more attractive Orange, blue, purple and red color scheme.  Hopefully Carowinds also finds a more attractive color appropriate for the park.

Speaking of Knott’s Berry Farm’s Windseeker, the first (and so-far only) Windseeker on the west coast is finally open.  After changing locations, and the prototype nature of the ride, Windseeker was greatly set-back from it’s original early summer planned opening.  While the 3 other other Windseekers opened in late May or early June, Knott’s officially debuted their Windseeker early last week.

Windseeker is certainly not revolutionary for neither Carowinds or Knotts however, it’s a solid family ride addition that brings another ride to the park’s line up.  Nothing to complain about there.  If anything, Windseeker will create a more exciting skyline for each of the parks.

So far Windseekers are or are planned to be installed at Cedar Point, Kings Island, Canada’s Wonderland, Knott’s Berry Farm, and Carowinds.  Is this the end for Windseekers? I highly doubt it. Rumored parks to soon add Windseekers include both King’s Dominion and Worlds of Fun.

Have you ridden a Windseeker? Is it at your local park? Will it be at your local park? Leave a comment with your Thoughts below.

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After much anticipation, Canada’s Wonderland has pulled back the curtain on the park’s 2012 project: Leviathan. The 306 ft B&M giga coaster will reach speeds of over 90 mph, feature over 1 mile of track, and boast an L-shaped layout which will extend out to the park’s main entrance.

Unlike most other B&M hyper coasters, this Giga coaster will emphasize on speed with just 2 camel backs but several high speed turns including a 164 degree “barrel roll” (not the inversion, but an over-banked turn rather) after the first drop and a  115 degree, 147 ft high camelback over the park’s front gate.

The park has already launched a mini-site which includes concept art and other renderings for the ride.  Leviathan will be the park’s 16th coaster, putting it as one of the top 3 parks with the most coasters on the planet, just behind Cedar Point and Six Flags Magic Mountain.  Canada’s Wonderland continues to be the destination for family fun and thrill seekers.

Initial 2012 Thoughts:

My first thoughts when I saw the leaked concept art was “This is for Canada’s Wonderland?”  And I still feel that way.  By no means is this a bad addition, however I doubt this was originally intended for this particular Cedar Fair park. With Cedar Fair responsible for ride installations, not the parks themselves, I would assume this was intended for a different park, but changes in plans would later move it to Canada’s Wonderland.

And face it, is it a bad thing to have two nice B&M Hypers in one park? It’s similar to the style of thinking for Holiday World with their new addition of Mammoth. Yes you’re beating your own record, but it’s building a bigger and potentially better version of the park’s most popular ride. More than anything it’s nice to finally see B&M get into the giga coaster business as who knows what that means for the future (300 ft Dive Machine anyone?).

What are your thoughts on Leviathan? Wish it was at your park? Will you be riding it next year? Leave a comment with your Park Thoughts below.

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Today, I’m happy to announce that a Disney Park staple has been returned to it’s former glory and is now open to guests: Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room has now reopened at the Magic Kingdom.  After a fire in January of this year, Disney has been refurbishing the attraction to restore it to it’s original show.

Many amusement park enthusiasts may not be familiar with the Enchanted Tiki Room and assume its just some other theme park show. However, the Enchanted Tiki Room historical significance expands to all theme parks, as it revolutionized technology of dark rides, shows, and most every other themed attraction. So “Come to the Tiki Room! Hurry to the Tiki Room!” as its time for a short history lesson on Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room.

When it opened at Disneyland in 1963 (Behind the scenes video from YouTube user freedogshampoo), it was the world’s first introduction to Audio-Animatronics. What is an Audio-Animatronic?  The invention (and coined phrase) were developed by WED Enterprises (today known as Walt Disney Imagineering) and in a nutshell, Audio-Animatronics are robotic figures synced to music.  This allows the robots to achieve the effects of singing, dancing, and producing life-like sound effects.  Audio-Animatronics would later go on to be used in nearly all major Disney attractions including The Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, it’s a small world, and many, many more.

The show itself stars four charismatic birds, each with their own distinct colored feathers and accent.  Jose, Pierre, Michael and Fitz host a magical musical journey including sweet-singing birds, serenading flowers, chanting tiki totems, and drumming tiki gods.  The show concludes with a thunderous storm spontaneously appearing outside the hut’s walls due to all the celebrating. Music for the show was composed by the Sherman Brothers whose other projects with Walt Disney include Mary Poppins, it’s a small world,  and The Jungle Book.

 When Walt Disney World opened in 1971, a version of Disneyland’s Enchanted Tiki Room opened under the name “Tropical Serenade“. While the show remained almost un-touched from the original, the new Floridian version included a new wrap-around queue that surrounded a preshow.  Instead of an assortment of Tiki Gods around a courtyard, the new preshow focused on two birds who hinted at the Floridian location with mentions of Florida’s famous orange groves.

The show became a success in the newly opened Magic Kingdom, complementing the lushly themed Adventureland.  Tropical Serenade would continue to make a strong run until the park “re-imagined” the Tiki Room with The Enchanted Tiki Room: Under New Management opening in 1998 starring the shoe-horned in Iago from Disney’s Aladdin and Zazu from Disney’s The Lion King. Gilbert Gottfried’s blarring commentary did not mesh well with the sweet-singing birds of the Tiki Room creating a mostly-loathed show that diminished the charm and entertainment from the original

On January 12, the ill-guided “New Management” caught fire, and no guests were harmed, it did cause signifiicant damage to the attraction. The Enchanted Tiki Room would shut it’s doors for repairs for an unknown period of time.  4 months later, Disney announced it would be re-opening the attraction once again to become the Enchanted Tiki Room, inspired by both the Califorinia version and the original Tropical Serenade show.

Today marks the official re-opening of the Tiki Room at Walt Disney World.  The video above, captured yesterday during a preview by Inside the Magic, shows this latest incarnation of the attraction is a beautifully updated version of the original Tropical Serenade.  Removed is some of the unnecessary commentary from the California version, the enchanted fountain is replaced by a floral center piece, the windows now reveal the hut’s spectacular beach setting, as well as a number of fantastic lighting effects update the attraction while staying true to the original.

Enchanted Tiki Room is a refreshing break from the super-massive, movie based dark rides of today and goes back to the company’s roots in putting on an entertaining, original show that the whole family can enjoy.   If you’re in the parks be sure to stop by, and check out this refreshed, but still classic, attraction.

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In March of 2007, SeaWorld Orlando officially announced that they would be building an adjacent water park called Aquatica. With a South-Pacific theme, the water park which would open one year ...

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The 2011 summer season is hitting it’s final stretch over these next few weeks, and while most parks are contiuing to coast on their 2012 additions, some parks are just finally opening their new rides. Two parks in particular, Knott’s Berry Farm and Busch Gardens Williamsburg, have ...

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Recently I had the delight of riding the world’s steepest coaster – Takabisha (this apparently means ‘dominant’ in Japanese); a Gerstlauer Euro Fighter taken to the extreme at Fuji-Q highlands in Fujikyu Japan.

Firstly, Takabisha is an impressive looking coaster. Compared to ...

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The latest poll asked what was your favorite amusement park treat.  Options included a variety of classic amusement park sugar snacks including cotton candy, funnel cake, the corn dog, and ice cream. Emerging the victor ...

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