Just like lip dubs last year, the amusement industry is now hooked on doing the Harlem Shake. Even though it’s the off season, a few parks have already jumped on the bandwagon, and made videos set to the popular song.
Dorney Park made a video, set in the Steel Force station. It starts of like a normal dispatch procedure, but things quickly get out of control.
For a nice contrast, some Six Flags Fiesta Texas employees made one in the quarry pit, with Iron Rattler under construction in the background.
Update: SeaWorld San Antonion has joined the party, with a video featuring live animals to build up hype for the upcoming opening, when the park will reopen to guests daily, instead of just on the weekends.
Six Flags Great America’s video continues this trend, this time having the video set in the maintanence shop.
Overall, it’s nice to see parks staying on top of what’s hot, and using social media to the fullest.
Six Flags Fiesta Texas is receiving a great iron horse remake on the park’s old woodie Rattler, and it’s not afraid to show it.
The park has publicized another construction photo, (via the parks Facebook page,) showing off one of the attractions now completed over banked turns. A little while back, the park showed off a photo of the ride’s first laid track section.
Iron Rattler will transform the old and rough Rattler wooden coaster, into a modern hybrid with wicked drops, interaction with the cliff side, as well as a barrel roll. This wil all being done by the manufacturer Rocky Mountain Construction, this is the 3rd coaster by them, and the second “iron horse” remake.
Over the past month or so, we’ve heard plenty of rumours of where we’ll see new coasters for next year. But some coasters that have become very evident are some new wooden coasters. Lets take a look at some of the new RMC and GCI projects for next season;
The first, and by far the most obvious one is the Rocky Mountain Coasters project at Silver Dollar City. The rumoured name for this coaster is the Outlaw, as hinted to in the attraction’s teaser site: http://silverdollarcity2013.com/ From what we can see so far, this ride looks like the New Texas Giant’s successor, with a super steep drop, intense banking, and the one thing that’s got everybody talking: the zero-g roll.
What was originally looking like an extreme over-banked curve, is now looking like the first inversion on a wooden roller coaster since Son of Beast’s loop! Plus, this particular inversion continues after inverting, because it has a pullout in the same rolling fashion!
I don’t know why the park doesn’t just announce the ride officially, because the gargantuan lift structure is visible from the nearby steam train. But, on the upside, it gives us websites easy access to construction photos! This coaster is definitely one to watch!
On a lesser note, when Cedar Fair opted out of selling California’s Great America, they promised, and we all knew that they would be adding new rides and roller coasters to replace the ones that were removed in the past decade. So, for the 2013 season, it looks like they’re finally pulling the trigger on the planned GCI wooden coaster! The planned coaster would be located at the park’s entrance, and wrap around the Star Tower observation ride. The layout sort of reminds me of the recent Wodan at Europa Park.
We’ve already seen land clearing for this ride, plus some rather obvious signs, so we can pretty much guarantee seeing this ride open next year!
Check out the leaked layout, and I think that the first drop curving around the observation tower will create some great photos in the future! (Image by Screamscape)
Finally, Six Flags recently announce that the Rattler at Six Flags Fiesta Texas will be closing on August 5. Is this leading to a Iron Horse treatment to turn this ageing woody into the Rattler: Reborn? Hopefully this will reopen with a new track profile next year because the New Teas Giant transformation looks fantastic, and I can’t wait to see what RMC might have in store for the Rattler, especially with it’s unique terrain.
That’s all we know about wooden coasters for next year, so far. So far, which project sounds the most intriguing?
PureCoaster 