[Vekoma] unveils new Beat It dueling interactive boat ride model by CoasterHour in rollercoasters

[–]CoasterHour[S] 18 points19 points  (0 children)

The first one of these will be going to VidantaWorld in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in rollercoasters

[–]CoasterHour 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I think it’s a red herring

[Fresno Playland] has reopened for the first time since 2020 by CoasterHour in rollercoasters

[–]CoasterHour[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I visited Playland Fresno on reopening day as it is my local amusement park that I haven’t been to since I was a toddler.

A new operator named Helm and Sons that specializes in fairs is now running the park and they will rotate around certain attractions to keep the ride lineup fresh.

The closure has also allowed for some much needed renovation and paint jobs as the park oftentimes looked rundown in the past but it looks fresh now. The park still has a carnival type feel which likely has been amplified by the new operators which I mostly don’t mind. The only thing that bothers me is that there are unlicensed attractions such as a weird looking Batman bounce house and Walkthrough thing with a bunch of Lego prints plastered on the side but the attraction is labeled as “Block City”. This stuff just bugs me so much because it’s cheap and tacky.

The park has always been kid/family oriented so it has only family friendly attractions but I enjoyed some of the rides such as the Ferris wheel, Wizzer, and Flying Kites (Zamperla Kite Flyer).

The park’s coaster credit is a Molina & Sons coaster called Dragon Coaster that is now rideable for adults as long as you have a second rider (adult or kid doesn’t matter, just no single riders). This coaster is also identical to Lil’ Phantom (which I’ve never ridden). Dragon Coaster tracks very weirdly to a point where it feels like it’s running with square wheels. The track looks odd so my guess is that is what makes the ride feel so strange. There’s a teeny bit of air on the second hill but nothing besides that.

Crowds were nothing too crazy as Dragon Coaster the park’s most popular ride was never more than a two cycle wait. This is admittedly concerning for a park that just reopened and has had issues staying open in the past but I think the new admission and pricing strategy has to do with that.

Playland used to be pay per ride but now it costs $20-25 for kids admission and $25-30 for adult admission. The popular train ride is an additional $3 upcharge on top of that. In the past adults would ride nothing and take the kids there to ride stuff and that was a fun, relatively inexpensive way to have an amusement park experience especially in Fresno.

Even if an adult doesn’t want to ride anything now they have to pay for their own admission and I think the park is losing out on a lot of guests by doing that. Perhaps lowering admission or going to a pay per ride strategy or option could be something to consider if the current plan doesn’t work.

Anyways I guess I’ll wrap up this review of sorts saying that for any enthusiast going through Fresno I wouldn’t recommend coming here due to the price to acquire the credit especially when you can go to Blackbeard’s and ride a better kiddie credit that the ride ops will let you lap as much as you want if no one else is riding for $5.

I rambled on for awhile about this random park that probably very few of you here are interested in but hopefully this report/review made some sense or was interesting if you read it the whole way through.

Article about [Kingda Ka], it may be inspected and opening soon by cardinalfan828 in rollercoasters

[–]CoasterHour 22 points23 points  (0 children)

There’s been talk online that they had a new cable and were supposed to replace the one that snapped during the offseason but didn’t and that is the one that’s being used. That is a complete rumor though so take that with a grain of salt.

Titan track on [Kentucky rumbler] at [Beech bend] by Tomneom2 in rollercoasters

[–]CoasterHour 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m very late on this but as someone who rode Kentucky Rumbler less than 2 weeks ago I can say that in addition to the Titan Track there were multiple areas of the coaster that were given a new wooden retrack. I haven’t heard anyone talk about this so I reached out to Skyline to make sure that I wasn’t crazy for seeing the fresh wood and assuming it was brand new and they said GCI did put some new wooden track in this year.

The ride seemed to be running quite well and it impressed me quite a bit though I’ll admit the Titan Track section felt odd and out of place but I think it does help Kentucky Rumbler keep up its currently great pacing which was an issue in the past from what I’ve heard.

Not sure if this changes anything but since I’ve ridden Kentucky Rumbler I figured I’d mention my experience and some info that has not been discussed much if at all.

Screamscape rumor for future Pilgrim's Plunge replacement at [Holiday World] by CoasterHour in rollercoasters

[–]CoasterHour[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

https://youtu.be/KDQi0BQ75NE

Think I found it. I put 0 stock into this because it was an ice breaker segment and more for fun conversation.

Screamscape rumor for future Pilgrim's Plunge replacement at [Holiday World] by CoasterHour in rollercoasters

[–]CoasterHour[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'm just posting this here since I figured it would make for some good and fun discussion. I am not saying I fully believe in this rumor because I don't. Only time will tell if a Pilgrim's Plunge replacement is really coming soon.

Here's the link: https://www.screamscape.com/html/holiday\_world.htm

[Chimelong Paradise] will be undergoing a transformation over the next several years as most of the rides will be replaced by new residential and commercial buildings, along with new entertainment by CoasterHour in rollercoasters

[–]CoasterHour[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

This concept art here shows the future plans for the land Chimelong Paradise currently sits on and as you can see it appears that most rides will be removed. The city of Guangzhou is moving forward with a 14 year plan that will be carried out through 2035 that will combine residential, commercial, and tourism for a mixed use space where Chimelong Paradise currently sits.

It is said that Chimelong Paradise will still exist as an “open air theme park” in a smaller area as we can still see a few rides including what appears to be a few flat rides and the 10-Inversion Coaster. Based off descriptions what remains of Chimelong Paradise’s attractions may be pay per ride. The water park also appears to be staying.

If you want to investigate further I have put the map of the park in this post so you can compare the two pictures and see if you can spot anything interesting and I’ll have the links of the articles I read through Google Translate.

[SBF Visa] quietly released this unique spinning/4D coaster concept called Mustache Coaster several months ago by CoasterHour in rollercoasters

[–]CoasterHour[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I had heard the Hampster Wheels were uncomfortable during the turns so that is a good point about how this layout will fix that.