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Small News From The Theme Park Industry

I've never really followed Screamscape so I don't know how reliable they are or what their reputation is but this is something to watch for sure. I haven't ridden Kumba but it's been near the top of my bucket list for years and I would be pretty devastated to see something happen to it.

Busch Gardens Tampa

screamscape.com screamscape.com
So the next time you visit the park, hopefully sooner than later, give Kumba some love, because Screamscape has been hearing things…
Very bad things…
So ride Kumba while you still can.
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Oh dear; it would be very sad to see Kumba go, if that’s what Lance is hinting towards. I have been fortunate enough to have ridden Kumba (once, back in 2016), and from memory, it’s a great ride; I don’t rate it quite as highly as many, but it still sits solidly in my top 20, and in 2016 at least, I certainly wouldn’t have pegged it as a ride that was on the chopping block within the next few years. And I know most like it a lot more than me, so if it goes, there will be a lot of gutted people.

That does beg the question; if Kumba is being removed, how is Scorpion, which is 13 years older and somewhat less exciting in terms of ride elements and selling points in the modern day, still operating at 42 years old? I’m not complaining, as Schwarzkopfs are getting rarer, and from a selfish personal standpoint, Scorpion is one of 3 creds at Busch that I didn’t get on my first visit, but it is an interesting thing to consider.

However, Screamscape isn’t 100% accurate for things like this. I won’t deny that Screamscape is pretty reliable, but they have been wrong before.
 
Matt N said:
That does beg the question; if Kumba is being removed, how is Scorpion, which is 13 years older and somewhat less exciting in terms of ride elements and selling points in the modern day, still operating at 42 years old? I’m not complaining, as Schwarzkopfs are getting rarer, and from a selfish personal standpoint, Scorpion is one of 3 creds at Busch that I didn’t get on my first visit, but it is an interesting thing to consider.
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Cycles, intensity, and possibly manufacturing.

Schwarzkopf rides seem to be very stout when it comes to their build. Many of them have proven the test of time. That being said, Scorpion is not a very intense ride, so the track isn't being put through the works like Kumba. But more importantly, Scorpion operates one train. Kumba is pretty much always a multi-train operation, so the ride is seeing considerably more cycles than Scorpion is, and rides are designed for cycles not time. They might be designed to have a guaranteed 20 year life, but that life is calculated based on cycles.

I will be devastated if Kumba is removed. I love the ride so much. However, it is getting rougher and rougher and it never has a line of any significance which is truly a shame.
 
JoshC. said:
Some interesting news at Blackpool. Grand National's minimum height restriction has increased from 117cm to 132cm:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1503096951574773771

The ride has been receiving a fair amount of work this closed season, so one would assume there's a level of correlation there (even if it is just a H&S / risk assessment review)
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If the ride rides vaguely similarly to how it did before, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they imposed the higher height restriction as a result of some sort of risk assessment determining that people that small weren't able to handle the ride. Given that I, a fully-grown 18 year old of 1.77m, find Nash absolutely brutal, I can imagine that level of beating is rather a lot for a 1.2m tall child to handle.

My cousin hit 1.2m as soon as he turned 5. Would a 5 year old boy like him be able to handle the raw brutality of Grand National without sustaining some sort of injuries? I'm not so sure.
 
Bobbejaanland’s Indiana River, the Intamin indoor log flume, will be getting a major refurbishment and re-theme for 2023. The park is currently exploring three options for the new theme, including a Scandinavian factory village, a Polynesian volcano, or a medieval festival. These options will be presented in surveys to guests over the 2022 season before work begins next winter. The ride’s systems and layout will be unaffected, it appears.

www.looopings.nl

Bobbejaanland geeft waterbaan Indiana River na 31 jaar een nieuw thema

Eén van de meest iconische attracties van Bobbejaanland krijgt volgend jaar een nieuw thema. Komende winter ondergaat de overdekte waterbaan Indiana...
www.looopings.nl www.looopings.nl

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Only just realised it's part of the Rixos group whom own Land of Legends, too. Seems to be quite a nice relationship.
 
Bellewaerde are getting a spinning raft rapids ride next year. The investment will renovate the Western area of the park, including replacing their kiddie cred Keverbaan.
It features two lifts (of which, it looks like the second could be an elevator one) and drops, including a half pipe element.

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Plans can be found here: https://omgevingsloketpubliek.omgev...beslissing/projectuuid=3lpKnLZ0R2qH_dYII5fXZg

After going through 50 documents of Exodus plans yesterday, I did not think I'd be going through several Dutch documents for a ruddy water slide in bloody Bellewaerde...yet here I am. So have some fun facts...
-Capacity of Bellewaerde is 20,000 people. The park usually get "well below" 10,000 per day
-The new aquapark sees around 900 visitors per day
-This investment should see an increase of 5 staff members working per day

Annnnnnd finally...
If my Dutch is right (and it very likely isn't), part of this investment looks to install a larger capacity rainwater well. Within the justification for this, it is said that there is an average of 25 toilet flushes per customer per day at the park.
Please use this information however you please :)
 
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That to me looks very similar to the likes of Storm Surge at Thorpe, could it be a Whitewater West ride?

Actually, on second thought, it looks a lot like Mystic River Falls' ride system so it might be an RES rapids?
 
The halfpipe look very interesting!

I'm still confused about the 25 flushes. EDIT: Are they factoring in staff here? So you get an allocation of staff flushes to go with your customer count? 😂
 
Rupert said:
Wh… what are they eating?! 😦
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If it is that, I imagine it also includes water used from the flushing of urinals, which would add things up surprisingly quickly imo.

Then again, I've never thought highly of Bellewaerde's food, so......



Thinking about it, here's the document I found the info. Maybe we have a Dutch-speaker on the forums who can clarify whether what I've said is actually vaguely right or if my limited Dutch means I'm, ironically, talking out my rear end? 😂
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Some translations of this breaking news article;

Headline: Motivation deviation rainwater drainage

Deviating from GSV rainwater, we motivate the placement of a larger rainwater well.

And then they are making calculations on using rainwater for the toiletblocks and for the gardens.

I hope you all learned something today.
 
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