Small News From The Theme Park Industry

[ECG]

Excuse me.
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Silver Dollar City announced plans to invest half a billion dollars over the next decade on the construction of new family adventures, including the development of 1,200 acres adjacent to the Ozark Mountain theme park. The strategic plan represents the company’s largest investment and begins with the debut of the 262-room Silver Dollar City Resort set to open in late 2026.

 

[CanobieFan]

"Aqua Slidecoaster" hybrid roller coaster and waterslide by Wiegand,

Oh. I mean, they've been trying to sell one for the last few years as seen at IAAPA, I'm just surprised someone actually bought one.

 

[cookie]

After being closed nearly all year due to unspecified technical issues, Parc Astérix’s Mack Rides Madhouse Le Défi de Cesar is set to re-open in time for the park’s Christmas event, but without its impressive pre-shows in operation due to the space being used for a holiday-themed maze.

En tête à tête avec Delphine Pons, la directrice générale du Parc Astérix

Préparez votre gourde de potion magique et partez à la découverte du parcours de Delphine Pons, directrice générale du Parc Astérix,...

just4funwebradio.fr

 

[The_bullgod]

After being closed nearly all year due to unspecified technical issues, Parc Astérix’s Vekoma Madhouse La Défi de Ceasar is ...L]

It's a Mack Rides madhouse, not a Vekoma one.
But it's great to finally have it open again.

 

[cocoa]

Silver Dollar City announced plans to invest half a billion dollars over the next decade on the construction of new family adventures, including the development of 1,200 acres adjacent to the Ozark Mountain theme park. The strategic plan represents the company’s largest investment and begins with the debut of the 262-room Silver Dollar City Resort set to open in late 2026.

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ah yes, my favorite giga. a hotel

 

[VonRolland]

Looks exactly like the new suspended top spin mounting points

https://twitter.com/x/status/1850155661989949764

 

[CrashCoaster]

Looks exactly like the new suspended top spin mounting points

https://twitter.com/x/status/1850155661989949764

They are indeed, it's pretty much a confirmed top spin at this point, however I think it'll be a scaled-down model, about the same size as this one but as a suspended model.

 

[Hixee]

Got shared by a friend-of-a-friend, and haven't bothered looking for another source:

Passengers 'rescued' on rollercoaster after beam falls onto track

The incident happened at 3.25pm on October 25, 2024, on the Monkey Mayhem ride at West Midlands Safari Park.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Rob Coasters]

Goodbye to Funplex at Myrtle Beach.

The Funplex Myrtle Beach

Encounter amusement park thrills at The Funplex Myrtle Beach. Enjoy our park while embraced in the vibrant atmosphere of the Myrtle Beach Boardwalk & Promenade.

thefunplex.com

 

[ECG]

Goodbye to Funplex at Myrtle Beach.

The Funplex Myrtle Beach

Encounter amusement park thrills at The Funplex Myrtle Beach. Enjoy our park while embraced in the vibrant atmosphere of the Myrtle Beach Boardwalk & Promenade.

thefunplex.com

That's the seventh park I've been to in or around Myrtle Beach that has closed and that's not counting any of the other stand-alone attractions that have come and gone.

 

[TPoseOnTantrum]

Goodbye to Funplex at Myrtle Beach.

The Funplex Myrtle Beach

Encounter amusement park thrills at The Funplex Myrtle Beach. Enjoy our park while embraced in the vibrant atmosphere of the Myrtle Beach Boardwalk & Promenade.

thefunplex.com

Fun Spot America confirmed in a staff memo that they've taken on five of the seven rides (drop tower and the coaster excluded). Not sure what's going where, but Kissimmee's Yo-Yo has been recently removed and the site actively being torn up. Teacups and the Tower Plane rides are sitting in the Orlando overflow lot for all the world to see.

That park also had problems. Location, appeal, and the decline of Myrtle Beach were the more questionable factors. Allegedly they also just didn't have a maintenance team and aged those rides a lot more quickly than they should have been.

 

[roomraider]

As a non American I'm not sure on the history of Myrtle Beach (although bizarrely I have been there to ride swamp fox)

But it seems parks open and close there with alarming regularity.

Anyone have insight onto why these places keep opening (I assume expecting to make profit) but seemingly inevitably eventually fail?

 

[cookie]

Gröna Lund is adding an RES Super Swing called Pumpen (”The Pump”) next year. The new flat ride will be located where the Fiesta restaurant currently stands on the smaller side of the park.

Pumpen

www.gronalund.com

 

[Thekingin64]

Looks like Bear Grylls Adventure is to close in December:




Source: email from MAP received this morning. Same info also on attraction website.

Was a fun attraction but was never busy on my 2 (off-peak) visits, shame to see it go.

 

[ECG]

Gröna Lund is adding an RES Super Swing called Pumpen (”The Pump”) next year. The new flat ride will be located where the Fiesta restaurant currently stands on the smaller side of the park.

Pumpen

www.gronalund.com

One of only two.

 

[Dan Nguyen]

As a non American I'm not sure on the history of Myrtle Beach (although bizarrely I have been there to ride swamp fox)

But it seems parks open and close there with alarming regularity.

Anyone have insight onto why these places keep opening (I assume expecting to make profit) but seemingly inevitably eventually fail?

My educated guess is that Family Kingdom pretty much has a lock on the amusements in Myrtle Beach. It has a great location, bigger rides, and its relatively affordable for everyone. Funplex was a tiny little park that barely filled a city block and had 6-7 rides. Why pay for 6-7 rides when you can get double that amount for the same price on the other side of town?

There's also Broadway at the Beach, but that's attached to a shopping mall so they have regular steady traffic to draw from.

 

[cookie]

Bit of a wild story: Apparently a terminated Disney World employee hacked into the third-party software Disney uses to print restaurant menus and altered the text to make dishes containing peanuts appear safe to eat for guests with allergies, when in fact they could potentially be fatal. The alteration was caught before the menus could be handed out to the resort’s many restaurants, and a criminal complaint has been filed against the employee.

Apparently the former employee also hacked staff servers to attain personal details of numerous current employees, and reportedly broke into one employee’s home in the middle of the night.

Fired Employee Allegedly Hacked Disney World's Menu System to Alter Peanut Allergy Information

The employee separately changed all menu text to Wingdings, the complaint says.

www.404media.co

 

[Boodangy]

^ Jesus christ, that is deranged to say the least. If you really have to terrorize somebody to take out your anger why the innocent public and not the company?

 

[Hixee]

I mean, that's attempted murder, right?

 

[JoshC.]

I mean, that's attempted murder, right?

Bit of a weird one legally, as it could be argued that the intention wasn't to murder, but rather to cause disruption. Could just be seen as a more complicated form of vanadlism. But it certainly can be argued that it's attempted murder too.

Certainly an interesting legal case regardless.