Six Flags employees booted for pounding Porky Pig

Oink. Oink. Ouch.

Two off-duty Six Flags Great America employees were tossed from the park after they were seen beating the bacon out of a female coworker dressed as Porky Pig. According to Gurnee, Illinois Police Sgt. Jon Ward, the two perps posed for a picture with their 24-year-old swine-shrouded colleague before hitting her in the head between 10 and 15 times.

Park security pinched the punchers and held on to them until the real police came on the scene and issued local ordinance citations for battery. The alleged pig-poppers maintained their innocence but eye witnesses said otherwise.

The porcine victim was stuck with a stiff neck, headaches and something to post on fmylife.

[photo by bmayzure via Flickr]

Theme park news roundup: The word of the day is giga-coaster

The new Intimidator 305 roller coaster has opened at Kings Dominion theme park in Richmond, VA. The coaster, named in honor of the late NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, has ride cars that look like Earnhardt’s famous black Chevy. Earnhardt’s daughter Taylor visited the park last week to open the ride.


The Intimidator 305 screams along at 92 miles per hour, thanks to a 300-foot drop at the start.

Kings Dominion says that makes it part of a new class of giga-coasters – “complete-circuit coasters with a height of 300 feet or taller.” You can now check “add a word to my vocabulary” off today’s to-do list. You’re welcome.

Universal requires 4-night stay for Harry Potter packages (Orlando, FL, USA)

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter opens June 18, and if you want to book Universal Orlando Resort’s vacation package to go see the wizard, you will be staying in Orlando until at least June 22.

Universal tells the Orlando Sentinel that the package was designed as a 4-night experience when it was introduced in February, but the minimum stay requirement was just set this week.

The Orlando vacation packages include a hotel stay, Universal Orlando tickets, breakfast at the new Three Broomsticks restaurant and early admission to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.Coney Island Cyclone opens for 83rd season (New York City, NY, USA)

The landmark Cyclone roller coaster has re-opened for its 83rd season on Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York.

It costs $8 to ride the combination wooden and steel structure that cost $175,000 to build in 1927. Although the thrill ride is on the National Register of Historic Places, it is still listed among coaster enthusiasts as one of the best current roller coasters in the country – both for its great views of the Manahattan skyline and its 60 mph hairpin turns.

Nearby, the new Luna Park is set to open its 19 rides on the Coney Island shore on May 29.

Great Wolf Lodge tries for water-slide world record (USA)

3,651 miles. That’s the distance that bathing-suit clad visitors slid at 11 Great Wolf Lodge indoor water parks last weekend, in an attempt to set a Guinness World Record.

The Great Wolf Lodges each kept one water slide open for 24 hours and asked sliders to donate to the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization. The charity event/publicity stunt resulted in 47,660 trips down the designated water slides.

Guinness is still verifying the information before making the world record – which will be in the category longest distance water sliding in 24 hours in multiple venues – official. Oddly enough, there’s no previous record-holder for this very specific, new category in the company’s record books.

SeaWorld’s Aquatic water park opens new water slide (Orlando, FL, USA)

Orlando water park Aquatica has opened its new slide, the Omaka Rocka. The tube slide deposits riders in funnels designed to mimic the sensation that skateboarders feel in the half-pipe.

This is the third year for Aquatica, SeaWorld’s venture into the water park scene. Omaka Rocka is the first addition to the park since it opened.

Future questioned at Freestyle Music Park (Myrtle Beach, SC, USA)

The troubled Freestyle Music Park is facing foreclosure. The Myrtle Beach, S.C., park – which opened as Hard Rock Park in 2008 then underwent a brand change for the 2009 season – missed a debt payment deadline last week.

The Sun News reports that the theme park’s owners have not been able to find new investors and are facing bankruptcy or foreclosure. Owners are saying it is “unlikely” that the park will open for the 2010 season.

Six Flags releases iPhone app (USA)

The Six Flags Fun Finder, a free app, is now available in the App Store. Beyond the usual park maps and event listings, that app integrates with Facebook to help you find the exact location of your friends within any Six Flags theme park. The app is free.

Six Flags considering new theme park location – in Nigeria

When I read that Six Flags was actively working on a new park to add to their current 21 park lineup, I initially did not pay attention. Then I saw the location of this new concept – Nigeria.

The 250 acre Nigerian Six Flags is going to be built in Calabar, a city on the southeastern border, about 1000 miles from the nations capital.

A couple of things come to mind – the first is that Six Flags is currently in bankruptcy protection, but I’m guessing that expansion is one of the ways they plan to recover. The second is the location – Nigeria is a troubled country, and even the oil companies of the world are having a hard time keeping their investments safe. How Six Flags plans to keep its park and staff safe is bound to be source of major headaches.

I’m also curious how the Nigerians got the attention of Six Flags. Perhaps they emailed them out of the blue and told them the story of their previous president who had left them $250 million in a secret bank account, that could only be accessed if someone built them a roller coaster? (I kid, I kid!).

If the park does indeed become a reality, it’ll be the first theme park in Nigeria, and the first Six Flags park outside the US, Mexico and Canada. In the late nineties, Six Flags attempted to conquer the European market, but pulled out after a couple of years to focus on their home market.

Going to an amusement park? It’s probably cheaper than last year

Here’s a direct quote: “It would be crazy to spend full price to go to Disney right now,” said Mary Waring, founder of MouseSavers.com” I found this tidbit in a Practical Traveler article in the New York Times about cheap travel options for a Disney vacation and more.

Whether you’re looking for multiple night stays at a Disney resort or a one-day ticket to an amusement park, the deals have become cheaper than ever. Seven night stays can be had for the price of four. What I found interesting is how Disney’s price reduction is affecting hotels around Orlando. Three-star hotels are as cheap as $56 a night. For people who want to go to Walt Disney World for only one day, I’d check out this option. I’d rather stay at an outside the parks hotel in order to explore the area. There’s more to Orlando than resorts.

Other money saving deals include $50 off for swimming with the dolphins at Discovery Cove and child admission prices for adults at SeaWorld, Busch Gardens and Aquatica if you book online at the Worlds of Discovery Web site a week before you go.

The article also pointed out that Six Flags amusement parks will be cheaper this summer as well. Personally, I perked up at the $43.99 for Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. This is the end of the season price from last year and cheaper by $1 than the ticket price in 2005. We usually go to Kings Island near Cincinnati because it’s generally cheaper and the water park is included. This may have us rethinking our amusement park strategy. Maybe we’ll do both.

There are also similar deals in California. Bottom line. Do research before you settle on the price.

Man punches camel at Six Flags, goes to jail

When your friends dare you to jump a fence at your local Six Flags and punch a camel, do you A) laugh at them for being ridiculous and go wait in line for one of those giant turkey legs, or B) laugh at them for being ridiculous then actually do it?

Christopher Allen, a 24-year-old resident of Vallejo, California, went with option B, and was later arrested by local police after escaping from park security.

As the LA Times blog points out, he may have been impersonating Governor Schwarzenegger.

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