[Axel]

Is Spike the Next Great Roller Coaster?

http://www.coaster101.com/2016/11/10/spike-the-next-great-roller-coaster/

Next week at the IAAPA Expo in Orlando, one of the attendees will be showing a very different type of roller coaster, the Spike Coaster. Spike is a new type of powered coaster developed by Maurer Rides, and the first prototype began testing in Germany earlier this year. When we first saw the pictures of the unusual single railed Sky Dragster at Allgäu Skyline Park near Munich, Germany, we knew we had to learn more about the innovative Spike Coaster.


The Spike Coaster is a powered coaster that is driven by a rack and pinion



The flexibility with speeds means that you can also use the same track for different levels of thrill. “Different track profiles can be created on the same track. One hour (can be) aggressive, (the next) hour is smaller kids. Or every ride (can be) different.” Steve Boney explained to us. It also means a ride could be updated over time so that each year it’s a “new” ride.

[Edwardo]

Supersoon November 2016 by C. E. Beavers, on Flickr

[Axel]

^ great shot Edward!

[Axel]

Picsolve’s ‘Theme Park of the Future’ Report: Guests Want AR, VR and Queue Line Entertainment

http://blooloop.com/articles/picsolves-theme-park-future-report-guests-want-ar-vr-queue-line-entertainment/

Theme Park of the Future: What do visitors want?

Queue line entertainment
– 45% of guests are demanding dedicated selfie photo points
Creating a virtual world
– 87% claim they’d be more likely to visit a park if VR was included on the rides
Importance of Intellectual Property (IP)
– 81% would love to visit a park if it was dedicated to one character
Wearable technology
– Guests want wearables to link theme park photography all in one place (88%), track their heart rate and adrenaline levels on rides (86%) and monitor the amount of steps they take throughout the park (84%)
Photography and video
– 88% would head to a theme park if it included digital images that used AR video technology to further bring moments to ‘life’
Retail experience
– 89% would prefer theme parks to include self-service checkouts

[cwgator]

Extreme Spinning Coaster from Mack:

http://www.screamscape.com/html/industry_news.htm#MackRides

Mack Rides - (11/16/16) Mack Rides has announced a new coaster design at IAAPA this year called the Extreme Spinnng Coaster. Last year we saw Mack testing a unique new spinning coaster car attached to the back of one of their launched coasters and now we know that it was a test for this. The layout is a unique and compact complete circuit coaster that starts with a launch backwards before rolling forward into a full speed forward launch through the circuit. Upon stopping, the station track is actually attached to a turntable so that a second train of riders was being unloaded and loaded while the first was making the run on the track. The turntable flips everyone around 180º to quickly swap the two trains for increased capacity and more speedy loading which is great. Mack first used the same idea this past summer on their prototype Power Splash flume/coaster concept that opened as Pulsar at Walibi Belgium to fantastic reviews.
Check out the video below from Mack below to see an animated preview of the Extreme Spinning Coaster concept, along with some real world footage of the test spinning car mixed in.

[aoriole19]

I have a question but I don't want to start a new topic for it.

Are there any amusement parks in Italy that are open in January? I'll be there Jan 8-31, but I don't know where in Italy I'll be yet, so tell me about any Italian parks you know. Thanks!

The only bigger parks I can find are only open the first week and last day is January 8th. Those are still open because they have holiday events.

Gardaland https://www.gardaland.it/en/
Rainbow Magicland https://magicland.it/en
Zoofari Fasanolandia http://www.zoosafari.it/
Fiabilandia http://www.fiabilandia.net/it/calendario-e-orari

This park is open on weekends but doesn't have many big rides (the water rides will likely be closed):
Italia in miniatura http://www.italiainminiatura.com/en/times_calendar.php

Thank you!!!!! I will look into all of these once I get assigned to a city and can think about flights.

Update on this: Gardaland is about an hour and a half from the school I'll work at (and the others are quite far), and I just bought a really cheap flight that puts me there a day early, so I'll probably try to find a way there! I'm so excited!

[tarheel1231]

Visited Biltmore Estate today. I wanted to stay for the tree lighting, but they mixed up the times on our tickets and we opted not to stay. Anyways, here's some pics:

[FamousAmos]

Tarheel...
I was there on the 19th too. We were there all day long. It was insanely crowded too unfortunately.

[Axel]

Schlitterbahn will close Verrückt water slide where 10-year-old boy was killed

http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article116542643.html

“Once the investigation is concluded and we are given permission by the court, Verrückt will be decommissioned — closed permanently and the slide removed from the tower.

[arby]

I'm a little late in posting this but here are the results for Cedar Fair's third quarter.

The most notable thing I found in there is that they are increasing their quarterly dividend distributions by 4%.

[Axel]

hey, maybe Carowinds could feature this new meal item at Harmony Hall !

Dutch restaurant serves up ‘My Little Pony Burger’ made from real horse meat

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2016/12/13/dutch-restaurant-serves-up-my-little-pony-burger-made-from-real-horse-meat/

or they could just serve dog...

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2014/09/05/countries-that-eat-dogs-and-cats/

[tarheel1231]

Meat is meat. I mean, pigs are far more intelligent than any of the animals mentioned in those articles, but no one important complains about eating them. You know why? Because bacon is damn good.

[Axel]

sounds like Disney's offshore outsourcing needs Trump to knock them around some...

Disney IT workers, in lawsuit, claim discrimination against Americans

http://www.computerworld.com/article/3149535/it-outsourcing/disney-it-workers-in-lawsuit-claim-discrimination-against-americans.html

[Axel]

Former Six Flags in New Orleans East gets $3.26 million purchase offer from a developer with aspirations of bringing back a Jazzland amusement park

http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2016/12/six_flags_sale_new_orleans_eas.html

[Axel]

This "Diggerland USA" place looks like it would be a lot of fun for kids AND adults...

"A New Jersey attraction takes playing in the sandbox to new heights"

story:
http://www.curbed.com/2016/12/20/14028538/construction-theme-park-usa

website:
https://www.diggerlandusa.com/