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Texas Summer Adventures The State Fair that never stops!
Held in Dallas each September/October, the Texas State Fair is a three-week celebration of live entertainment, livestock, sports, automobiles, amusement rides and gluttonous food and drink consumption.
But now locals don’t have to wait all year to
enjoy some of the fun of the fair. Summer Adventures, opening this May, is a new seasonal attraction encompassing approximately 18 acres of the Fair Park property and using some of the State Fair’s resident rides and infrastructure. Soaring over Summer Adventures will be the
new Top o' Texas Tower, a 500ft-tall Intamin observation tower. More than twice the height of the Texas Star Ferris Wheel, it will also be available for private events.
Outlaw captured in Orlando!
Eventually, the base of the tower will be home to a museum showcasing memorabilia from the State Fair and 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition. The Texas Star (pictured right) and the Texas Skyway cable car will also feature as part of the summer attraction, which runs until August 18, in addition to a SkyCoaster, log flume, boat swing, high-dive show, swan boats, various water features, a children’s aquarium and bird encounter, plus a variety of State Fair games and concessions.
Quite how the park will affect business for ride operators at this year’s State Fair remains to be seen, but as one the largest events of its kind regularly attracting over 2.5 million visitors, they shouldn’t have too much to worry about.
Schlitterbahn links Texas
Here’s a shot of the new train that will be used on Outlaw Run, the new 2,937ft-long (895m) hybrid woods/steel coaster being built at Silver Dollar City, Branson, Missouri. The ride vehicle was revealed on the booth of Rocky Mountain Construction at the recent IAAPA Attractions Expo in Orlando. Rocky Mountain is building both the coaster and the trains for th ride, which uses steel track supported by wood structure and will feature a series of unexpected drops, thrilling twists and rolling inversions. The two custom-designed stagecoach trains will each carry 24 passengers and use steel rather than polyurethane wheels.
waterparks Just one year after opening Schlitterbahn Beachfront Resort in Texas, its owners are to link the indoor waterpark to the neighbouring outdoor Schlitterbahn Beach Waterpark on South Padre Island (pictured below). Schlitterbahn’s Jeff Henry has confirmed that construction will start soon on a new water transportation system that will take riders between the two properties via a series of slides, rivers, conveyors and a 380ft-long underground cavern filled with fog, sound and light effects. “It would have been far easier to build a simple walk-through underground tunnel to connect our two facilities, but that’s not the way Schlitterbahn does things,” explains Henry. “Our guests expect world-class waterpark fun and we deliver by keeping them entertained even as they move from one section of our property to another.”
Access to Schlitterbahn Beach will be available in summer only, while Schlitterbahn Beachfront Resort opens year round, offering a 221-room hotel and heated indoor waterpark. South Padre Island is located near the city of Brownsville.
Severn Lamb
in India Located in the Gujarat capital of Ahmedabad, Kankaria Lake is a popular recreation spot for hundreds of thousands of Indian families. At the centre of the manmade lake sits an aviary, whilst along its shore visitors can enjoy a variety of simple pleasures including a
tethered balloon ride, water attractions, a cycle path and walkway. Top of many people's itineraries when they visit is a trip on the railway that circles the lake. The attraction opened in 2009 with a single Lincoln locomotive and four coaches courtesy of the British manufacturer Severn Lamb, whose local office operates and maintains the line on behalf of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. A second train, the Swarnin Jayanti Express (pictured), was added in 2010. Between them the two trains, each with a 144 passenger capacity, have ferried over three and a half million people around the lake. The 2km-long ride lasts 20 minutes, and during peak times queues of over three hours have been reported. The success of the Kankari Lake installation has encouraged several other Indian cities to open a train ride as a lakeside attraction. Severn Lamb has already got one such project up and running in Kota, and another will open soon in Baroda ()Vadodara).
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DECEMBER 2012/JANUARY 2013
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