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Kentucky Kingdom comeback New rides confirmed for Louisville park


Abandoned by Six Flags in 2010, Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville, Kentucky, has had several false starts in recent years. On 24 May, however, the park will reopen under the auspices of Kentucky Kingdom LLLP, a partnership consisting of Ed Hart, who originally ran the park from 1989-1997, together with Ed Glasscock, Bruce Lunsford and the Al J Schneider Company.


Lightning Run


Marketed as The New Kentucky Kingdom and Hurricane Bay, the amusement park/waterpark property within the grounds of the Kentucky State Fair will feature many new rides and improvements. Headlining will be a steel hyper coaster called Lightning Run. Chance is the manufacturer of this brand new coaster, model Hyper GT-X. The ride’s 2,500ft (762 m) layout promises a 100ft (30.5m) lift, 80° degree first drop, plus multiple high banked turns and moments of negative gravity. Chance has developed a new train design for the ride, featuring state-of-the-art passenger restraints. In addition to Lightning Run, the park has re- tracked the Thunder Run wooden coaster to make it run better. Besides many of the former Kentucky Kingdom favourites, visitors will also discover Prof John's Flying Machines (Larson Flying Scooters), FearFALL (Larson Super Shot), Frog Jump Around (Zamperla Jump Around), Rock-A-Bye Swings (Zamperla Happy Swing), Whirl-A-Round Swings (Zamperla’s Kiddie Swings), 5D cinema (SimEx-Iwerks) and some


Fun Expo is back (kind of)


Five years after absorbing the family entertainment centre (FEC) trade association IALEI, the FEC committee of IAAPA is launching a new conference this spring called FEC Las Vegas, taking place at the city's JW Marriott Resort & Spa from 23 to 25 March. Delegates will be able to take advantage of complimentary registration for Amusement Expo, which will take at the Las Vegas Convention Center from 25 to 27 March. Together the two events will provide all the features and more of the former Fun Expo, which Amusement Expo ultimately replaced in 2010. One way or another, Las Vegas is the place to be place to be for FEC operators this March.


iaapa.org/FECLasVegas amusementexpo.org


CNL picks up US rights to


Wet ‘n’ Wild brand Real estate investment trust CNL Lifestyle Properties has acquired the Wet ‘n’ Wild Phoenix waterpark in Arizona. The US$33 million deal with Village Roadshow (VR) signifies the Australian operator’s exit from the US market. As part of the transaction, CNL has also acquired the American rights to the Wet ‘n’ Wild brand name – not be confused with the Wet ‘n Wild (note the difference in apostrophe use) waterparks operated respectively by NBCUniversal and Palace Entertainment in Orlando and North Carolina.


CNL will lease both the Phoenix park and Wet ‘n’ Wild Hawaii, which it already owned but which was previously operated by Village Roadshow, to Premier Parks, led by former Six Flags executive Kieran Burke. Wet ‘n’ Wild Phoenix will be the 12th waterpark in the CNL Lifestyles Properties portfolio, which currently includes a total of 24 attractions in the US. A third waterpark, Wet ‘n’ Wild Las Vegas, will remain under the ownership of its existing investors.


JANUARY 2014


new Majestic bumper cars. Meanwhile the old Amphitheater has been converted into the Aqua Theater featuring the show Sea Lion Splash. In the adjacent Hurricane Bay waterpark, visitors will be able to enjoy a 12,000 sq ft (1,115 sq m) wave pool from the Aquatic Design Group, which is also supplying Adventure River, a fast moving river six times faster than a lazy river and Kids Cove, an interactive play area. ProSlide is providing a number of attractions including Plummet Summit, a Family Raft Ride, Wave Runner (Multi Bump Speed Slide), Kilauea (Explosion Slide), Wailele Run (Topsy Turvey), Waikiki Wipe Our (CannonBowl) and the Wiki Wiki Wai slide complex. Deep Water Dive is being promoted as “America’s Tallest Water Slide.” The inaugural season for The New Kentucky Kingdom will last just four months, closing on 28 September. From 14 to 24 August, the park’s regular rides and attractions will be joined outside by additional attractions as part of the Kentucky State Fair, when Hurricane Bay will remain closed.


Yas Waterworld enters


record books For many people, a swimming lesson is likely to be something they experienced at school together with a bunch of classmates. But how about learning to swim in one of the world’s best waterparks with over 800 other people? Back in the summer, as part of the World’s Largest Swimming Lesson (WLSL) initiative promoted by the World Waterpark Association and various other partners, no fewer than 777 people got together at Yas Waterworld in Abu Dhabi, making it the largest swimming lesson in a single location. The event took place on 18 June, but has just been recognised by Guinness World Records. In total, 32,450 swimmers new and old tool the plunge as part of WLSL at 432 waterparks and aquatic facilities in 13 countries – itself another record. Along with the fun and fanfare of the day, Yas Waterworld also used the opportunity to highlight the importance of water safety. Drowning is currently the second leading cause of unintended, injury-related death for children ages one to 14, an incident rate that can be brought down drastically through teaching young people to swim early in life. “As a waterpark and a family attraction in a country with a sizeable shoreline, knowing how to swim and having the ability to enjoy water-based activities is very relevant to us here in the United Arab Emirates,” notes Yas Waterworld general manager Mike Oswald (pictured right, in blue). “The World’s Largest Swimming Lesson was a great opportunity for us to spread this message.”


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