Park News
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ParkHoppin’ with Paul Ruben
Cedar Fair’s
Canadian Wonder When the Cedar Fair group purchased Paramount Parks in 2006 for $1.24 billion, many observers thought it had overpaid. It was believed the crown jewel of the purchase was Kings Island. For years Cedar Point and Kings Island had competed for customers in Ohio, and by owning both parks this competition could be transformed into cooperation such as offering inter-park season passes. With the benefit of hindsight, that purchase now looks like a steal, and not just because of the immediate truce in battle for the hearts and minds of park enthusiasts in Ohio. Besides Kings Island, other highly valued parks acquired included Kings Dominion, Virginia. Almost an afterthought, one of the parks Cedar Fair acquired was Canada’s Wonderland, just north of Toronto. Now, however, Canada’s Wonderland has become the highest attended and fastest growing park in the Cedar Fair portfolio.
While population increases slowly and steadily in North America, growth has been rampant in the greater Toronto area because of immigration. North America's fastest-growing city, the area adds more than 100,000 people each year, and that means more new customers each season for Canada’s Wonderland.
The park has responded by adding major new attractions to increase capacity. There were large new people-gobbling B&M rollercoasters added in 2008 and 2012. This year they have introduced what may well be the Ride of the Year, Wonder Mountain’s Guardian (see last issue). It’s an interactive 4D dark ride/coaster built for a reasonable
cost ($10m), but it delivers a spectacular finale. Let me explain. The coaster portion is family-friendly, fun but not overly aggressive. Ride time is a generous 150 seconds, during which riders wear 3D glasses like those seen here in my photo. Once the train enters the darkness of the mountain, riders find a cavernous world of mythical creatures. Armed with infrared guns, passengers navigate through five layers of a four-dimensional medieval world, then find themselves battling with guardians of the dragon’s treasure. For me, the pièce de résistance is the ending. The dragon rises before you as a fog envelopes the screen. There is no clue, no hint of what follows. It is diabolical. In the dark, the entire train drops. It doesn’t plunge downhill front car first. It drops. Straight down. 30 feet (9.1m). My 3D glasses nearly flipped off. People were screaming. No one expected it. World class. Best finale ever. Ever! I love dark rides. Love coasters. This was wonderful, and because of the affordable cost, expect to find similar attractions at other Cedar Fair parks in the coming years. And best of all, because all the action is on film, the media can be changed to create a new attraction. For its Halloween Haunt event, Canada’s Wonderland is already planning to replace the medieval dragon film with one filled with menacing zombies. Imagine coasting through darkness destroying the un-dead. And then being dropped 30ft straight down. I love my job.
6
The showpiece Hengqin Bay Hotel is now complete at Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in Zhuhai, China, following the opening recently of its 353-acre on-site waterpark. WhiteWater supplied a variety of indoor and outdoor attractions including three wave pools, a variety of waterslides and an interactive AquaPlay structure. WhiteWater is already the Chimelong group’s preferred supplier, have installed the bulk of attractions as the world-leading Chimelong Water Park two hours north in Guangzhou. Featuring the world’s largest aquarium and a host of other marine-themed ride, exhibits and attractions, Chimelong Ocean Kingdom is the anchor attraction of Zhuhai’s Hengqin Island tourist zone, just across the water from Macau. Read our comprehensive report of the resort at
bit.ly/1pyY0LF
Chimelong Oc Waterpark now open!
JULY 2014
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