Park News
www.parkworld-online.com
Pier Hoppin’ Morey’s spectacular coaster plans
Morey's Piers in New Jersey plans to build a 1km-long wooden coaster that will link the Surfside Pier and old Hunt's Pier in the resort town of Wildwood. The $12 million attraction, which may be ready for 2013 but will most likely debut in 2014, has been designed by Great Coasters International and will be 3,300ft-long (1,005m) in length. The lift hill will stand approximately 110ft (33m) above the beach and feature a 100ft first drop, generating a top speed of 53 mph (85km/h). The section where the coaster bridges over the beach to connect the two piers will be constructed as a cantilevered bridge. The wooden coaster will be a custom twister type ride, with a twisting, diving first drop, two sections beneath SurfsidePier and plenty of elevation and banking changes, with high-speed pacing throughout.
The ride will be supplied with GCI’s Millennium Flyer train, while the layout will take maximum advantage of the surrounding attractions, buildings and beach to create a landmark structure that will be unique to Morey’s Piers. Brothers Will and Jack Morey are still debating the name, to be either Boardwalk Flyer or Wildwoody. Park World prefers the second option.
Third coaster in China for M&V
Martin & Vleminckx is to build its third wood rollercoaster in China. The recipient will again be for the OCT Group, unveiling the ride in 2013 as a signature attraction of its new Happy Valley park in Tianjin. Details concerning the attraction’s design and specification have yet to be announced. The wooden coaster follows earlier rides from M&V in Shanghai and Wuhan, set to open in early 2012. M&V has contracted The Gravity Group to be the design engineer for the project in Tianjin. This latest Happy Valley, which will be the sixth in the chain, is located in a major metropolitan area boasting 27,000 million people, just a half-hour high speed train ride from Beijing.
Antarctica comes to Orlando
Billed as SeaWorld Orlando’s biggest-ever attraction expansion, Antarctica – Empire of the Penguin will open in spring 2013 at this popular Florida marine park. Guests will be surrounded by the sights, sounds and encounters found in this frozen place as they embark on a one-of-a-kind ride and family adventure through the eyes of a penguin. During the ride they will enjoy real life animal encounters combined with state-of-the-art interactive ride technologies. But before Antarctica arrives in Orlando, SeaWorld will welcome TurtleTrek in 2012. Here guests will visit two massive naturalistic animal habitats before making their way into a domed theatre where they will experience a realistic 3D movie all around them.
At Discovery Cove, Sea World’s adjacent swim-with-dolphins resort, a new limited-admission, all-inclusive tropical resort will open next spring. Guests will be able to swim with dolphins, hand-feed tropical birds, snorkel among thousands of colourful fish and relax on pristine artificial beaches.
Clementon Lake sold
Clementon Park and Splash World, Clementon, New Jersey, is the latest park to be acquired by ex-Six Flags executives Kieran Burke and Gary Story via their Premier Attractions Management vehicle. They plan to improve the venue, which debuted in 1907 on the banks of Clementon Lake, but have revealed no specifics. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. “We are excited about the opportunity to enhance the entertainment value of this historic park that has always enjoyed a strong group-outing business and local market visitation,” says Burke.
Burke and Story have been buying parks since 2009, when they acquired Nashville Shores, a water park and RV resort in Tennessee. Their portfolio also includes Ocean Breeze Water Park in Virginia Beach, Virginia. According to Burke and Story, planned improvements will be announced before the 2012 season.
Lo-Q provides Instant access to the London Eye
A victim of its own success, the London Eye attracts huge queues of tourists keen to ride. Now owner Merlin Entertainments is to partner with Lo-Q to offer a ticket reservation system, allowing smartphone users to bypass the queue at the ticket window. A premium service will also be available allowing almost instant access to the ride, much like a fast pass. Lo-Q will pilot its new smartphone-based ticketing and queuing solution, Q-smart, at the Eye for a three-month period. An evolution of the company’s virtual queuing products, it will extend all of the same benefits, combined with mobile ticketing and payment. Importantly, the product is “cloud” based so doesn’t require customers to instal expensive infrastructure or hardware on site.
www.lo-q.com
RIGHT: Large crowds gather around the Eye
12 DECEMBER 2011/JANUARY 2012
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