Everything else goes here, including discussion of parks outside of Carowinds and any off-topic discussion
#91580
$460M Skyplex nears 'theme park' status with 6th major attraction in the works

http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/news/2016/11/14/skyplex-nears-theme-park-status-with-6th-major.html
http://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2016/11/15/joshua-wallack-says-new-skyplex-vr-headsets-for-roller-coaster-and-skyledge

Recently announced is another new attraction for the Skyplex, The SkyLedge, which will allow guests to walk around the outer ledge of the Skyscraper with nothing between them and 600 ft. drop off except their single safety harness. The attraction is similar to one found at Toronto's CN Tower known as EdgeWalk. This will be the first attraction of its kind in the U.S. After being harnessed in guests will be able to explore the edge of the tower for 30 minutes. A safety railing above their heads connects to the harness ensuring that no one slips off the edge.

Toronto's EdgeWalk:
Image
Skyplex will include a tower restaurant/bar with 360-degree views, 450 room convention-style hotel, nearly 80,000 square feet of general retail, which will include the world's largest Perkins restaurant, and over 300,000 square feet of entertainment retail. Other attractions in the entertainment complex will include a 450 ft drop tower ride (SkyFall), a professional quality surf park ten stories in the air (SkySurf), a massive 600' zipline (SkyFly) and numerous attractions yet to be announced. Rumors point to a flying theater attraction, a walk-thru museum of some sort, and a state-of-the-art arcade similar to a Dave & Buster's.

Skyplex developer Joshua Wallack said of Skyplex "We have a lot more to come — we are not done with high-level attractions. We are looking at something else right now, in fact," he told Orlando Business Journal. "The [attraction operator] is here ready to sign another one. I can't say much besides this one is another sky-high attraction that will be terrifying and amazingly adrenalized — it's sick." Wallack said the next attraction in the works also will use the Skyplex tower. He said his architecture and engineering teams are hard at work finding more ways to maximize the tower's unique height. He hopes to reveal more about the new attraction by this week's end while tens of thousands of industry professionals are in town for the IAAPA Expo. He wants to have the new attraction signed on before this year's IAAPA convention's doors close on Friday.

The roller coaster, which also been confirmed to feature a magnetic lift system and a small indoor scene at the beginning of the ride, will have a virtual reality headset option featuring multiple themes, such as flying a jet plane or surfing a giant wave.

Safety will be the primary focus of Skyplex with confirmed safety checkpoints, similar to the ones at Universal Orlando, that all guests must enter through. The Skyscraper at Skyplex roller coaster will also see at least 4 months of testing before it opens to the general public. Other safety protocols include planned daily checks on all of the rides and escape pods.

Construction should go vertical by mid-2017 with a late 2018/early 2019 opening for most of the complex while the rides themselves should open by mid-2019.
#105622
Time to revive this thread. It appears they are still going to build it. The project has been scaled back however. They state it will still be 570 ft tall and plan to open in 2020. I'm still not holding my breath. It was originally announced in late 2013...lol


International Drive developer talks new coaster, more parking
World's tallest roller coaster to take up less space


There are now hundreds of new places to park in the tourist district of Orlando as developers see their vision for International Drive become a reality. Joshua Wallack, owner and operator of Mango’s Tropical Cafe, sat down with us on News 6 at 9 a.m. to talk about the progress being made and the plans for the future.

Wallack Holdings LLC opened Mango’s Tropical Cafe in 2015, in an effort to bring nightlife to the area. Since then, the developer opened the Hollywood Plaza Complex next door, which includes 900 parking spaces.

We also learned new details about the company’s Skyplex entertainment area which will feature the world’s tallest roller coaster, the Skyscraper. Wallack said the $500 million project was scaled back to $250 million in the last two years and will take up less of the 14 acres set aside for the project than originally planned. The coaster is still projected to rise 570 feet and include zero-g rolls. Wallack said that decision was made in part to leave room for a future hotel. Skyplex is scheduled to open in 2020.

The county is still working to making the area more walkable and safer for pedestrians. A proposed walking bridge is part of the I-Drive 2040 concept, a long-term effort to make the area more pedestrian-friendly and serve as the gateway to International Drive.
#105649
2019 - 2013 = 6

Anyway, this is exciting news, if it every does get off of the ground.

I don't quite understand some of the hate for polercoasters. Intamin's TTD and Kinda Ka launch coasters are one-trick ponies. The only element they really have is the impressive launch. Polercoasters, on the other hand, are essentially a standard coaster with loops, rolls, laterals, etc., but instead of being linear and taking up ground space, they are wrapped around a pole.

I doubt this will be an award worthy coaster, but it certainly should be fun from start to finish.
#105655
arby wrote:Some of the best coasters out there really don't claim to be the world's xxxxxx.

Most of those are already in a theme/amusement park. This one will need to do something to get people out of other places to come and do it.