Park News
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ParkHoppin’ with Paul Ruben
What’s new in New England
This year I started the Park Hoppin’ season with a visit to Six Flags New England, Agawam, Massachusetts, where I rode Bizarro, still this column’s Number One Coaster on the Planet. Built by Intamin in 2000, this 5,400-feet-long (over 1 mile/1.6km) monster has a 221ft (67m) drop and a top speed of 77 mph (124 kph). I keep waiting for a better coaster to be built, but so far it hasn’t happened. Would you like to know why I’m so enamoured with Bizarro? In a word, pacing. It’s the best-paced coaster I’ve ever been on. From beginning to end it provides non-stop action. There’s never a dull moment, a chance to regain your composure. It interacts repeatedly with onlookers, flying above, around and beneath them. It combines high speed, tunnels, darting turns and so much air time that seats are superfluous. Atop the lift hill there is even a picture-postcard view of the stately Connecticut River which is so serene while the ride that follows is so wild. A few years ago the park added facades close to the track to enhance the sense of speed and danger. During my recent visit I was pleased to find that Six Flags New England isn’t sitting on its Bizarro laurels. Over the winter it had done extensive track work on their big wood coaster, Cyclone. I had been to the park when they first opened the attraction in June 1983. It was called the Riverside Cyclone then, as the park was then Riverside Park operated by Ed Carroll. It was designer Bill Cobb’s masterpiece, a 112ft-tall (34m) 3,600- foot-long (1km) bucking bronco of a coaster filled with mischievous whoop- de-doos. It was arguably the best wooden coaster of its era, but over the
years it became rough and uncomfortable to ride. That’s changed now. With the latest track work it is again a top-ten woodie. The park has also painted Thunderbolt, its classic 1941-built wood coaster. It’s their anchor coaster, right in the middle of the park. The old paint was peeling, and a fresh coat of gleaming white paint makes this ride look like new again. Paint adds to any coaster’s appeal.
New trains have also been introduced on Goliath, the park’s
Vekoma Giant Inverted Boomerang coaster, a needed upgrade, and for young children there’s a train ride called Whistlestop Park. In addition, park president John Winkler took me on a tour of the construction site of Bonzai Pipelines, a 65ft-tall (20m) waterslide complex from ProSlide featuring six fast and intense drop hatch looping body slides. It is set to debut at the huge Hurricane Harbor waterpark later this month. After the floor drops out from beneath riders they will body surf at 40 mph (64kph) through 257 feet (78m) of twists and turns including a tight 360 degree loop. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?
I should mention that I visited Six Flags New England on April 16, the day after the bombing at the Boston Marathon, 90 minutes to the east. For all the craziness one finds in a theme park, it felt like an island of tranquillity in a maddening world. I didn’t want to leave.
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Worlds of Adventure IMG confirms name of Dubai park
The Ilyas & Mustafa Galadari Group (IMG) has confirmed that its indoor family entertainment destination at City of Arabia in Dubai will be known as IMG Worlds of Adventure and feature four themed zones.
The latest zone to be revealed, appearing alongside a Marvel Zone and Cartoon Network Zone, will be the The Lost Valley. This “immersive” environment will house the park's already announced Mack launch coaster, to be called The Velociraptor, meanwhile the latest technology and special effects are employed to bring dinosaurs
Velociraptor
back to life. While other zones are being developed with partners including Marvel Entertainment and Turner CN Enterprises, IMG believes it has developed a unique concept for The Lost Valley and hopes to develop the trademark and intellectual property for use in other attractions worldwide. “The project will ensure that the visitors get to witness life-like dinosaurs and experience the same thrill levels as if they were ever to see the dinosaurs for real,” said brothers Ilyas & Mustafa Galadari in a joint statement. “We are expecting the park to set a new benchmark in the industry locally and globally.” Scheduled to open later this year, the 1.2 million square feet (25.5- acres/111,484 sq m) IMG Worlds of Adventure will form part of the wider City of Arabia project at Dubailand. Situated adjacent to Sheikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Road, it is touted as one of the region's biggest new entertainment destinations, and the largest-climate controlled facility of its kind in the world, with capacity for up 10,000 visitors per day.
Over a quarter of the IMG component (350,000 sq ft) will be given over to the Marvel Zone, featuring retail outlets, dining facilities and a range of interactive experiences featuring much loved Marvel superheroes including Spider-Man, Thor and The Incredible Hulk. In the United Arab Emirates, Marvel’s The Avengers has broken 30 box office records and is the region's third most successful film of all time.
The Cartoon Network Zone, accounting for 200,000 sq ft, will deliver a number of world-first attractions including The Amazing World of Gumball, Adventure Time and Lazy Town. IMG Worlds of Adventure will also feature the world’s largest Ben 10 retail store and first ever Ben 10 5D ride, along with branded restaurants and other branded immersive experiences. The Cartoon Network Arabic TV channel and website were launched in October 2010. The Ilyas & Mustafa Galadari Group boasts a diverse business portfolio including real estate, hospitality, automobiles, luxury boat distribution, food storage and transport. A fourth and final zone for IMG Worlds of Adventure will be announced shortly.
imgwoa.ae
A rendering of the IMG project, showing the Mack coaster outside the building MAY 2013
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