Park News
parkworld-online.com
Mechanica comes to Liseberg
It’s a more modest investment than this year’s blockbuster coaster Helix, of course, but Liseberg’s new ride for 2015 should nevertheless provide plenty of screams for guests ofSweden’s no.1 amusement park.
Mechanica from Zierer will take 30 passengers at a time 30-metres into the sky on the end of a giant rotating arm. As the arm itself turns through 360°, the six individual 5- seater cars (or “fingers”) will flip and somersault, similar to a Mondial Top Scan. The 600 capacity per hour attraction will at the same time be both disorientating and rather graceful.
Opening late April, this will be the fourth Star Shape built by Zierer, the other three operating on the German and British fairground circuits and the ex-Blackpool Pleasure Beach ride at Skyline Park, Germany.
Accesso The new-look Qband
update The ticketing and queue management company Accesso has announced the next generation of its award-winning Qband for waterparks. As with the company’s handheld Qbot device, the wristband allows guests to buy their way out of line and for popular slides and attractions, but now comes with expanded RFID capability, a sleek new
design, larger screen, improved battery life and the ability to more readily facilitate integration with cashless systems. The wearable device will now also display ride/slide names. Accesso has also made enhancements to the Qband checkpoint scanner used by waterpark employees to validate guest entry at each attraction, including a more ergonomic and sleeker design, brighter LED indicator lights and improved charging capability. Operators will be announced soon. Meanwhile Merlin Entertainments has agreed to extend its current trial of the Accesso Passport suite of ticketing and e-commerce solutions to four venues in Central Florida – including its cluster of new attractions in Orlando. Beginning in spring 2015, the company’s Orlando Eye observation wheel, Madame Tussauds Orlando and Sea Life Orlando aquarium on International Drive will begin trialling the ticketing suite, alongside the existing Legoland Florida theme park in Winter Haven. Earlier this year Accesso signed a “master service agreement” with Merlin and Passport is already being tested at its UK attractions Thorpe Park and Sea Life Birmingham. Finally, Palace Entertainment (Parques Reunidos) has signed a three- year extension to its existing Passport agreement with Accesso, meaning the ticketing/e-commerce suite will continue to be used at 14 of its US venues through until 2017.
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Pleasureland
introduces Fun Card The British amusement park Pleasureland, Southport, introduced a new cashless payment system this season. The Parafait e-token system – marked on site as the Fun Card – was supplied by India’s Semnox Solutions.
Using RFID technology, it operates wirelessly, can be used in offline/online mode and provides Pleasureland with automatic reconciliation of all purchases. As an incentive to use the system and get to the park early, users are given bonus tokens if they arrive at the park and charge their card before 11am. “I originally looked at e-card systems in 1999,” explains Pleasureland operator Norman Wallis. “Since then, technology has moved on and after some research I decided that Semnox was my preferred system, and I have found that service levels and online support are extremely high. The feedback from our customers has also been very positive.” “Token-less systems are gaining in popularity, easy to install , cost- effective and help operators manage their day to day operations, maximise revenues and improves efficiency,” notes Semnox Solutions vice-president Umesh Prabhu. Wallis took over at Pleasureland in 2008, resurrecting the park deserted by Blackpool Pleasure Beach in autumn of 2006. Initially filling the site with rides from travelling operators, he has steadily acquired his own attractions, including several sourced from defunct parks around the UK such as Loudoun Castle, Camelot and Metroland. A handful of Pleasureland’s classic old rides, including its wooden Wild Mouse, River Caves and Caterpillar, are set to for a return at the Dreamland heritage amusement park project in Margate, Kent.
semnox.com
North America’s longest
Mountain Coaster Thunderbolt is now open at Berkshire East Mountain Resort, Charlemont, Massachusetts. From ADG, the 1-mile long (1.6km) Mountain Coaster rushes near exposed rocks and cliffs, dives through a mountain forest and descends into the resort. Passengers begin their experience by ascending 1,580ft (482m) of uphill track. Once there, they begin a 3,850ft (1,170m) downhill descent in their handbrake-controlled carts. The descent features dramatic twists and turns, sharp dips to steeply banking corners and two large 360° turns.Rider comfort is ensured on anti-collision proximity sensors that apply a brake automatically if carts approach too close to one another and a magnetic braking system that will slow riders to a stop at the off-load deck at the bottom of the coaster. Berkshire East is one of the last family owned and operated ski areas in New England. Run by Roy Schaefer, who purchased the mountain resort out of bankruptcy 37 years ago and helped by his two sons, the business is rapidly expanding from a mom and pop ski area to one of the most dynamic day resorts in the USA. It offers three zip line canopy tours, featuring two half-mile (0.8km) long zips and will soon introduce downhill mountain biking.
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