Chang:
It has been reported by Screamscape that Chang will NOT go up in SFGAm as planned, and instead there will be a water park expansion, and Chang will go to Six Flags Great Adventure instead (replacing the Great American Scream Machine). I'll let the article speak for itself...
2011 - Waterpark Expansion - Semi-Confirmed - (6/22/10) Screamscape sources have confirmed that Chang is now no longer being planned for the park in 2011. New expansion plans are currently in the works and seem to involve the same basic plot of land… but with a focus on expanding Hurricane Harbor instead. Nothing has been finalized yet it seems, as all the plans are still in the air, though we have heard of one plan to add a water-coaster style slide to the park, possibly similar in style to the Wildebeest slide added to Holiday World this year. More as we find out.
(6/21/10) A new rumor has come up over the weekend at SFGAdv (New Jersey) that claims that the park may now be planning to replace their Great American Scream Machine coaster with CHANG. Up until now Chang has been all but confirmed for Six Flags Great America, with even a few pieces and the trains already spotted on site. The meetings to obtain the needed height variance permit are all but over... with the final approval meeting expected to take place today... Monday, June 21st.
While I haven’t seen it myself, I’ve heard a rumor that the Six Flags issue may have been unexpectedly removed from the agenda for tonight’s meeting, which only adds fuel to the fire that Chang could now be looking for a new home. Of course the online version of the agenda still shows it there, waiting to be finalized. I had been told that as soon as Al Weber took control of Six Flags, he began to made huge and immediate changes to the plans set in place for the 2011 season by Shaprio. I guess we’ll know more once the Monday meeting is over if the proposal to add Chang has been dropped or not. Stay tuned!
2011 - Chang - Semi-Confirmed - (6/22/10) Screamscape sources tell us that the rumors from this past weekend are true and that not only is GASM set to end it’s life at Six Flags Great Adventure on July 1st, but Chang will indeed be coming to the park to take up it’s place in 2011. As for that mystery 5D project... it’s dead for now.
(6/28/10) Anyone have an update about Superman at Six Flags Great Adventure? As of last week, so far the ride had yet to reopen for the season. In other news, the rumors about GASM coming down continue to hold true, however there is apparently a bogus ‘reason’ being handed down from park management to the lower-end staff.
I’ve heard from a few insiders who have been told that the ride’s time was simply up because it had become impossible to buy spare parts for the old Arrow coaster anymore. Nothing could be further from the truth as S&S purchased Arrow several years ago primarily for their lucrative ‘spare parts’ division and checking into this rumor I’ve been assured that there was “no truth whatsoever” to this crazy rumor.
(6/21/10) A new rumor has come up over the weekend that may anger more than a few fans of Six Flags Great Adventure. If there is any truth to it, the new management calling the shots may be considering removing the park’s infamous Great American Scream Machine coaster. While at first the move seems shocking… keep in mind that GASM’s sister ride, Shockwave at the Chicago park, also met with a similar fate a few years ago. Of course it’s also well know that Shockwave, the first of the three Arrow made Six Flags Megaloopers (Viper at SF Magic Mountain was the final one) did suffer from a fair share of problems that the other two did not.
So the next question would obviously be to ask what reason there would be to remove such an iconic ride? According to the discussion going on at CoasterFusion, plans have been spotted at the park that now place CHANG… the B&M Stand-Up Coaster from Kentucky Kingdom, as possibly going into GASM’s spot. Up until now Chang has been all but confirmed for Six Flags Great America near Chicago… with a few pieces and the trains already spotted on site. Meetings have been taking place with the local government as well to get a height variance permit to build the ride there as well, with the final approval meeting expected to take place on Monday, June 21st.
While I haven’t seen it myself, I’ve heard a rumor that the Six Flags issue may have been unexpectedly removed from the agenda for tonight’s meeting, which only adds fuel to the fire that Chang could now be looking for a new home. Of course the online version of the agenda still shows it there, waiting to be finalized tonight. I had been told that as soon as Al Weber took control of Six Flags, he began to made huge and immediate changes to the plans set in place for the 2011 season by Shaprio. I guess we’ll know more once the Monday meeting is over if the proposal to add Chang has been dropped or not. Stay tuned!
Great American Scream Machine's removal has been confirmed by SFGAdv (through Facebook) on July 5. The removal date will be July 18, and there will be a send-off event. From SFGAdv Facebook:
Hey guys, Scream Machine will close July 18 to make room for a major new attraction in 2011. We'll offer double rides on GASM July 11 & 18. We'll host an ERT (Exclusive Ride Time) event on July 18, 10 p.m.-11:30 p.m. to invited guests; to be invited, see this contest>>http://ow.ly/27be9 [see more below]
Date:
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Time:
10:00pm - 11:30pm
Location:
1 Six Flags Blvd., Jackson NJ 08527
•WHO: 25 winners will be chosen; winners may bring a guest.
•WHAT: Show us your biggest SCREAM face! Post a photo or
video of you screaming as though you were on Great American Scream Machine at www.facebook.com/sixflagsgreatadventure. Guests that shoot a SCREAM video or include patriotic items are more likely to be chosen as winners. There is no limit to the amount of entries. Winners will be announced July 15, 2010. Be creative, have fun and keep it clean :)
•WHEN: 10 p.m.-11:30 p.m., July 18, 2010
•WHERE: Great American Scream Machine at Six Flags Great
Adventure.
•WHY: To make room for a new attraction in 2011, we’re
celebrating Scream Machine with the send off it deserves!
•Event Details:Guests invited to the event will receive ERT (exclusive
ride time) from 10 p.m.-11 p.m. Seats on the front and back row of the last train of the last ride (dispatched at 11 p.m.) will be auctioned off; other seats during the last ride will be $50 each—details TBA—and all proceeds will benefit the NRCMA (National Roller Coaster Museum & Archives)!
So with two Arrow Megaloopers gone from Six Flags parks... Viper's (SF Magic Mountain) the only one of those three left.
BGT 2011 Coaster:
The Skyride is now down to the end of the year, and both the temporary path behind the Clydesdale (June 16) and the path from Nairobi to Edge of Africa (June 29) are now open. By the second bridge of the EOA path (which is not technically a "bridge" yet as the trench hasn't been dug yet), you see footers like Maverick (which adds more fuel to the fire that this coaster's from Intamin). In the south side, the old path from KaTonga to Egypt is closed and demolished (but meanwhile the Clydesdale Hamlet is still standing...) and the old control booth of the monorail is removed, as well as half of the platform, as the old monorail station is starting to become a coaster station. Construction walls are also starting to go up in front of the Crown Colony (it is said that the whole Crown Colony section will get a face lift to fit the new theming). The old Edge of Africa Gift Shop is gutted out (I came up with the theory of that becoming the coaster's gift shop/on-ride photo booth). Meanwhile on the construction walls, teasers have gone up saying "Feel the spirit. Feel the speed." There is also a new website for the coaster project:
http://buschgardens2011.com/
It has some cool videos. =)
And Screamscape continues to update us with coaster rumors:
(6/28/10) Busch Gardens Tampa has launched a new preview teaser site for the 2011 coaster… aka: Cheetaka. As part of this the park is also posting QR codes on the construction walls that will lead you to this same site and a preview video. QR codes are those square digital barcodes your starting to see here and there that are readable by most barcode scanner programs you can load into your smart phones (Android & iPhones). If you want to view it on your PC, just go to BuschGardens2011.com.
Of course the latest rumors for Cheetaka are quite interesting, claiming that the ride may feature inversions after all as well as a new style vertical tower element. I’ve also heard that the trains put to use here will be a one car longer than what Cedar Point put on Maverick… offering 4 cars (4 seats each) per train.
You can also see some construction updates at RCPro
(6/23/10) A new construction update can be found at BGT Guide this week, but it was also pointed out last week on Johnny Upsidedown’s update that it looks like the first coaster footers have been poured. Now… about this Cheetaka coaster project itself… I’ve heard that perhaps we don’t have all the details on it yet. Perhaps there is a chance that it may have a buried inversion or two in the trenches… as well as a vertical plunge at one point. More as we find out.
(6/21/10) A teaser poster for the 2011 attraction has been posted in the park with the tagline, “Feel the spirit. Feel the Speed. Coming Spring 2011”. While this could very well still be a hint about the rumored Cheetah theme, another rumor coming in from BGT Guide shows off a piece of artwork said to have been designed as a proposed promotion for the ride in Puerto Rico which clearly shows off a Cheetah theme. Of course it also shows off a photograph of a wooden coaster as well, which this ride definitely will not be, so you can only trust this one so far. Still, the artwork used here does look professionally done.
Meanwhile you can also find some new construction pictures posted over at BGT Nation. More as we get it.
Why do I have this strange feeling that "Cheetaka" will actually be the name...? Okay let's see... buried inversions, a new type of vertical tower element, three launches, vertical plunge... yep, it's gonna rock. =D
Gwazi:
Screamscape also reported this:
(6/24/10) A few months back you might recall that Busch Gardens Tampa was testing a borrowed GCI Millennium Flyer train on one side of Gwazi. If the latest rumor is true, it must have impressed them (how could it not?) and the park is now rumored to have put in orders for all new trains to replace the current PTC trains. Don’t look for these to go online until at least the end of the year or next spring.
That's nice to hear! =D Now if they do that and keep the noise... I'll be happy (even though I didn't mind Gwazi's roughness).
Hulk:
Okay, recently the Incredible Hulk Coaster has been reported to get incredibly (pun) rusty and rough. I've seen pictures, and I felt like I was going to puke. But fear not Hulk fans, Screamscape has reported this:
(7/6/10) While most of the attention at Universal’s Islands of Adventure park has been focused on the Wizarding World lately, they did take the time to spruce up several other park attractions as well. Unfortunately, as this article points out, the Incredible Hulk coaster was the one high profile ride that apparently was left-off the list of things to be spruced up. On top of looking a bit ulgy, the ride is apparently rubbing some fans the wrong way with a rougher than normal ride experience as well.
All is not lost however, as I have heard a few rumors being tossed around Universal campus claiming that there may be plans afoot to take what Universal has learned from the Hollywood Rockit and Hollywood Dream coasters (onboard lights & sounds system) and may apply it towards building some new themed trains packed with lights and sounds to take the Hulk to the next level. Cross your fingers…
Here's a similar rumor I've read from Screamscape:
2011 to 2014 - Island Refurbishment - Rumor - (10/16/09) Once the Wizarding World of Harry Potter opens next year, Universal’s next step for Islands of Adventure may be to begin a series of “refresh and refurbishment” projects to the rest of the Islands over the next couple of years. With the success of the light up panels on the Rockit coaster, there is now a plan in place to go back and add green lighting to the Hulk trains as was promised way back when the park was first announced. If the rumors about audio being added to Dragon’s Challenge are true, I would count on seeing it added to Hulk as well. There is also a rumored plan to “upgrade” Spiderman, by adding a new scene or two by replacing a couple of scenes that don’t work as well as the rest. Seuss may just get repainted, possibly some new scenic elements, and there has been talk about adding a new attraction to the Jurassic Park area for years. What about the remains of Lost Continent? I think we could see something happen here as well, though would it be an expansion of Potter’s Wizarding World or something brand new?
All I can say is... I hope this is true! Hulk would look so cool at night with LEDs (and possibly LED the outside of the gamma tube. Speaking of which, a new light effect is inside the gamma tube)! =D
Cedar Point 2011:
From Screamscape:
2011 - Thrill Ride - Semi-Confirmed - (7/9/10) According to this article the announcement for the 2011 attraction will take place in mid August. Dick Kinzel has hinted that, “It's going to bring back a lot of memories for people that follow Cedar Point”. Makes it sound like a throw-back ride… or a recreation of something popular long ago but lost. While one source tell us that it may actually be a flat ride coming to the park, it was also pointed out that The Point has seen a fair share of wooden coaster come and go over the years… 8 in fact according to RCDB. With our last leak claiming that Cedar Fair was looking more favorable at building new wooden coasters again… could this be a possibility? Certainly the early announcement date also seems to indicate that work on the project may become visible before the end of the season as well. More as we find out.
(7/7/10) The latest rumors about Cedar Point’s next big project claim it will be a coaster from Intamin once again… despite all the various technical problems The Point has had with rides from them. According to another source, this new Intamin creation may be a new prototype creation we haven’t seen anywhere else before. Stay Tuned!
An Intamin prototype would be incredible! =D Hopefully it comes true...
Hersheypark 2012:
I've heard that once again, Hersheypark will go with Intamin, and the project has been delayed to 2012. From Screamscape:
2011/2012 - New Coaster - (7/7/10) Some may be thinking back to the coaster project that got away from Hersheypark… Turbulence (aka: Frequent Faller), as a possible inspiration for the park to buy a ZacSpin coaster from Intamin. However it has also been pointed out that the overall project area contained within the known survey points is really far too large for a ZacSpin, so we’ve got to think bigger. Could Hersheypark be thinking of building the first Mega-Lite coaster in the US perhaps? We know they have been a huge hit internationally. Of course Intamin also has a few other tricks we have yet to see in the US like the Wingwalker coaster, the new Spinning Coaster or even the infamous AquaTrax system. So far all we have is very mild rumors and lots of speculation. Time to do some digging.
(7/6/10) While nothing more have been firmed up, the latest rumor going around the park does seem to indicate that the next coaster at Hersheypark will likely be from Intamin again.
(6/14/10) The latest rumors swirling around Hersheypark’s next big coaster project actually now throw Premier Rides into the mix with Intamin as well… and hint that B&M is now more unlikely. Many also seem to think that the project may not be until the 2012 season, though with surveying going on right now, anything can happen.
As for those markers, I’ve been contacted by a reader with some professional experience as an actual surveyor and was told that the markings we’ve seen so far have nothing at all to do with the layout of the project. All of the triangle markings found so far have a “Mag Nail” driven into the asphalt in the center and are actually “Control Points”, which are then usually number sequentially as they are created. These points mark the locations the surveyors use to work from... and not the location of the project itself. If people look hard enough, there should be more of these Control Points discovered around the site, as they are set up in a loop around the actual area where the work will be done. So once all the different Control Points are discovered, we should have a large loop surrounding the overall location of the new project area. However the loop could be quite large... much larger than the actual project itself, as I’m told that the permitter loop would also include any and all sites where other infrastructure work (electric, water, sewer, roads, walkways, etc) will also be modifed or tied into.
So really the best thing to do right now, other than to find more markers, would be to also create an overhead map showing off the location of each discovered and numbered marker as time goes on.
Something tells me that these "control points" are starting to get fun. =D
And if you scroll down this page, you can see a map of where the markings are located:
http://keystonethrills.megabb.com/hersheypark-happenings-discussion-f18/2011-2012-new-coaster-rumor-discussion-t157-30.htm
According to the second map, the lift looks to be behind Traffic Jam and Helicopters (right by Comet).
Guess this should be an interesting project to look at...
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