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Small News From The Theme Park Industry

Something that kills me about the Spike is that it's a really cool angle on coaster design. It allows for all 3 axes of freedom at all times, you can accelerate and decelerate whenever you want, it completely ignores all physics limitations which means you can literally make the track do WHATEVER you want, it breaks conventions by being a powered thrill coaster (and being powered could allow for insane block zone programming too). The capacity of the coaster could realistically be "as fast as you can load a car/train".
But the thing is.
It's f**king Maurer. Which means they'll never get it right, it'll be plagued with problems and parks will be forever extremely skeptical on it because of how much of a disaster the two (park) prototypes have been.

They could be such an insanely cool coaster model if Maurer could just... get them to WORK. The insane flexibility of the track could be fantastic for parks with limited space as well. I kind of want to see this model built at least a little bit more, I am a bit of a "there's usually a reason why some coaster models aren't built as much as others no matter how interesting they may seem" but the Spike is something I'd like to see given another chance.
That capacity of six riders per train, though ...
 
Go home, Maurer, you’re drunk


I know everyone has already said their fun comments but I just have to add:

This really feels like a public release of a targeted ad for Emerald park. I feel like we're witnessing the drunken attempt of Friday-Night courting but in the rollercoaster industry. Like, who were they thinking would buy this when they made it? Obviously the only damn established park in Ireland.

What would be really funny, is if a more reputable manufacturer and model manages to replicate that element for an installation in Emerald Park instead.
 
The beach area at Thorpe gets a steady flow of people over summer. Lots of people ask about it too on social media.

I don't expect the area to be used for a ride. The area is not that big. Opening up the entrance area further and using it as an entertainment/event space would be the ideal scenario right now.
 
Do people actually use that area? I’ve been in Summer mainly and never see nobody in the beach
I've only ever seen it open a handful of days and about 200 per day use it. It is more often closed than open and is a relic of a bygone era.

Amity Beach is having work done, several holes have been dug on the larger side with diggers still on site. The old containment area has been empty for a while but it has now been cleaned up and turned into a picnic area, currently closed off.

Wonder if a redevelopment is underway.
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I am really hoping so, this space has sooooo much potential for a few different options.

Family Thrill Coaster
Flume
Multiple Family-Thrill Flat Rides
Combination of the above

I am particularly excited of the prospect of a flume going on the site - the park already has the isolated water system and it seems easy to convert the beach into a flume ride system. 🤩
 
Always thought the beach area at Thorpe is such a waste of space. I get that people use it on the 2 days a year it's open but doesn't fit in with the rest of the park at all and just makes it more of a ballache having to walk round it to get into the rest of the park. The narrow walkways aren't great for guest flow when it's busy either.
Such a large area of space that you could do loads with.
 
Fatal accident (a 20 year old worker) at the setup of Olympia Looping for Oktoberfest :(

Damn. Not good at all.

Begs the question of how did the person not hear or see the coaster train approaching and why on earth would they carry out a test run if the track was under maintenance works and being worked on.
 
Begs the question of how did the person not hear or see the coaster train approaching and why on earth would they carry out a test run if the track was under maintenance works and being worked on.
I'm sorry to say that I suspect the answer to both of those questions is "complacency".

Tragic nonetheless.
 
I went to Drayton yesterday and have some great news regarding The Wave, spoke to a staff member and they were saying that ART had been back out recently and altered some things with the ride.
The antiroll backs now don't deafen the locals, it was nice & quiet however the most important change is the lapbars, they now only need checking once and apparently its gone from 5 minute dispatches to 90 second dispatches: a vast improvement I'm sure you'll agree
Great to see ART & Drayton improving this
 
I went to Drayton yesterday and have some great news regarding The Wave, spoke to a staff member and they were saying that ART had been back out recently and altered some things with the ride.
The antiroll backs now don't deafen the locals, it was nice & quiet however the most important change is the lapbars, they now only need checking once and apparently its gone from 5 minute dispatches to 90 second dispatches: a vast improvement I'm sure you'll agree
Great to see ART & Drayton improving this
That is really good news, hopefully the next step is the 2nd train
 
Alton Towers evacuated the area around Wicker Man on Saturday after its fire alarm went off. The ride was reopened shortly thereafter but was once again evacuated when the fire alarm sounded a second time. The park has shut down the ride until further notice to conduct maintenance work. The incidents occurred about 90 minutes after the park opened. Source
 
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