You can learn what it takes to maintain a roller coaster or make perfect cotton candy if you place the winning bid in one of 15 auctions to benefit flood relief efforts in Nashville. Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari theme park in Southern Indiana has launched the auction packages, with bids open through Monday, May 17.
Each of the packages gets you four (and in some cases, more) tickets to the Southern Indiana theme park, $20 in “Holibucks” to spend in the park and two hours with a park executive, along with activities related to the executive’s job. The auctions include:
Two hours with Director of Entertainment Sandi Fortune, who promises audition coaching for aspiring performers, including feedback over Skype from producers in Nashville and New York City.
Two hours with Director of Training and Development Samantha Ramsey, who is offering a behind-the-scenes look at the coaster maintenance routines at the theme park.
Two hours with Director of Values Pat Koch, the matriarch of the family-owned park, who promises lunch and a personal tour.
Two hours with Director of Food and Beverage Jason Martin, who is offering a behind-the-scenes tour and a cotton-candy making lesson.
You can bid on the auctions online now through May 17. Holiday World says all of the proceeds will be donated to the American Red Cross for Nashville flood relief.
Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari will be open daily for the season starting May 14.
Whether you’re an avid thrill seeker or just looking to have a little fun, thrill rides and roller coasters offer riders endless good times and plenty of excitement. With the economy on the forefront of most American’s minds, many amusement parks have scaled back or delayed production of new rides. Luckily, not every park is afraid of the economic downturn, and these eight new rides opening this year offer entertainment that refuses to disappoint. Time to strap in and enjoy the ride!
Wildebeest
The longest water coaster in the world, the Wildebeest, is opening May 14, 2010 at Holiday World in Santa Claus, IN. Riders splash through the 1,710 feet of yellow tubing at 36 feet per second in just 2 minutes, and 30 seconds on a four-person raft. The Wildebeest has a total of 7 drops, the tallest of which is 38 feet, and features 2 underground tunnels. With no access stairs, this family friendly ride is easily accessible to riders.
Shoot the Rapids
Cedar Point Theme Park in Sandusky, OH will show off this new log flume ride in 2010. Shoot the Rapids features an 85-foot first drop, and a 49-foot second drop. Unexpected special effects advance the playful backwoods, moonshine theme. With enough thrills to get the heart racing, but without the speeds that eliminate certain riders, Shoot the Rapids is a family thrill ride.
The Intimidator
Opening in the Spring of 2010 at Carowinds Theme Park in Charlotte, NC, the Intimidator boasts speeds in excess of 75 mph. The red track and checkerboard patterned landing are in honor of legendary Nascar driver Dale Earnhardt, who was the inspiration for the coaster. The tallest coaster in the Southeast, the Intimidator is 232 feet tall with a staggering first drop of 211 feet at a 74 degree angle. Open-air seating, modeled after Earnhardt’s famous Monte Carlo, allows the rider a clear view of the ride’s eight dips along its 5,316 feet of track for the duration of the 3 minute 33 second thrill ride.
Sky Rocket
Accelerating to 50 mph in only 3 seconds, the Sky Rocket is expected to open in May of 2010. The Sky Rocket is the seventh coaster to be erected at Kennywood Theme Park in West Mifflin, PA. The 2100-foot blue track features a 90 degree drop, two separate G-force pullouts, a traditional corkscrew, an inverted top hat, and a barrel roll. The orange flame accented cars reach the end of the track in 65 seconds. Scorpion’s Tail
Noah Ark Waterpark in Wisconsin Dells, WI will set a new standard in water slides in 2010. The Scorpion’s Tail is 10 stories high, and 400 feet long. Shooting a single rider through a blue tube at more than 50 feet per second, this thrill ride “might sting a little.”
Intimidator 305:
Kings Dominion in Doswell Virginia will introduce the new giant coaster uses Nascar legend Dale Earnhardt’s nickname Intimidator. The name suits the coaster that towers at the intimidating height of 305 feet at its tallest. The first drop is 300 feet down at a terrifying 85 degree angle (nearly straight down!). The roaring ride hits amazing speeds of 90+ mph and will leaving the rider gripping their seat for the entire three minute journey in the fast lane.
The Dragon Challenge:
New roller coaster ride in Universal Studio’s Island’s of Adventure in Orlando Florida. The ride is a part of the parks newest themed section, Wizarding World of Harry Potter and actually two separate coasters. Riders must choose a ‘Dragon’, the red ‘Chinese Fireball’ or the blue ‘Hungarian Horntail’, each ‘Dragon’ offers a unique riding experience. The coasters seem to battle each other with tracks laid closely to one another simulating near hits to thrill passengers along for the battle ride. The mean ‘Hungarian Horntail’ hits top speed at 55 mph while the wicked ‘Chinese Fireball’ reaches 60 mph.
Revolution 360:
Seabreeze theme park located in Rochester New York will open the revolutionary ride in the summer of 2010. Riders board a giant disk and sit on pedestal seats facing outward. The track is 123 feet long and u-shaped, the disk is shot up to a height of 5 stories and rotates the entire time it coasts up and down the half pipe track.
— The above was written by Rikki Dahl, Seed contributor.
A Turkish archaeologist is campaigning to have the bones of St. Nicholas, the model for the legend of Santa Claus, returned to the saint’s hometown in Turkey.
Saint Nicholas was the bishop of the Roman town of Myra, modern Demre in what is now Turkey, in the 4th century. He came from a rich family and was famous for giving money to the poor. People would leave their shoes out for him to put money in. This tradition is still kept in many Christmas celebrations today. In Spain it’s the Three Wise Men who bring presents, but they leave them in shoes. Another story has Saint Nicholas throwing gifts down the chimneys of poor young women so they would have enough dowry to get married.
He was buried in a local church, pictured here, but Italian sailors took his bones away when the Arabs invaded in the 11th century. Now the Turkish Ministry of Culture is considering the archaeologist’s request to put political pressure on Italy.
Do we now have a Turkish Zahi Hawass, fighting to get archaeological treasures returned to their native land? It’s too early to tell, but I bet that archaeologist got some nice presents in his shoes this year.
Tonight’s the night that every kid, big or small, has been waiting for since this time last year. It’s the night that Santa takes to the skies and delivers toys to the world, and this being the 21st Century, it is now easier than ever to track the jolly man in the red suit. A host of high tech gadgets will be employed to make sure you know exactly when he’ll be paying a visit to your neighborhood.
The ever vigilant team at NORAD will once again be keeping an eye on the skies this year, tracking Santa and his sled as he makes his way across the globe. They’ll be using a combination of radar, satellites, fighter jets, and special “Santa cams” to keep track of his progress, and capture ole St. Nick in a variety of famous locations around the world. Of course, they’ll be posting updates all day long on the NORAD website, so check back often to see where Santa is at.
That’s not the only way you’ll be able to follow Santa’s epic ride however. You’ll be able to get updates via Facebook and Twitter of course, and photos from the Santa cams will be uploaded to a special Picasa web gallery as well. And if that wasn’t enough, you’ll be able to follow the sled’s trajectory on Google Maps and within Google Earth too, making it easier than ever to know when the Big Guy will be paying you a visit.
It seems Santa, and his eight magical reindeer, won’t have an easy time eluding all of the high tech surveillance devices that will be keeping an eye on them through the his journey, but something tells me he still has a trick or two up his sleeve. And no matter how sophisticated our tracking systems get, he can depend on Christmas magic to quickly and quietly slip in and out of our houses, delivering the gifts in the blink of an eye. So keep your eyes peeled. You just might catch a glimpse of the man himself. That is, if you don’t blink at the wrong time.
When I saw this photo last week while looking for Santas from around the world, I knew I’d found today’s Photo of the Day. Although this fellow appears among the other Santas, here he is again– center stage.
The cultural mix of this Santa shot is superb. Taken by Carpetblogger in Azerbaijan, this is an excellent look at how elements of culture travel. As Carpetblogger explains, although the country is predominately Muslim, some aspects of secular Christian culture are celebrated. Santa is one of those boundary crossers.
If you have an interesting shot of cultural boundary crossing, send it our way at Gadling’s Flickr Photo Pool. It could be chosen as Photo of the Day.
