Lagoon Park to add new family coaster – Bombora in 2011

by Joel Bullock on

Utah’s Lagoon Park is building a new roller coaster that’s set to debut in 2011. Little is known about the ride, but the park has revealed that its name will be Bombora. A Lagoon Park spokesman also confirmed rumors that it will be a family roller coaster. This means that it shouldn’t be taller than three or four stories and its top speed should be rather tame. Lagoon Park’s website shares little information, but thanks to construction photos popping up on the Web we know that it will have traditional sitdown-style trains and a blue steel track. Also, theme park fan site Lagoon Is Fun has posted a Christmas card that the park sent out as a teaser.

Lagoon’s last new roller coaster was the thrilling Wicked in 2007. The Zierer-designed launched roller coaster boasts two launches, a zero-g roll, and a 90-degree drop. I know that many coaster enthusiasts want every roller coaster to be bigger and faster than the last, but Bombora should serve as a reminder that amusement parks need to cater to families too. Not every new roller coaster can be an intense, white knuckle thrill ride.

[Photo Credit: Flickr user zaui]

Dare Devil Dive will drop into Six Flags Over Georgia in 2011

by Joel Bullock on

It seems like every new roller coaster these days needs a superlative. So with steep, beyond-vertical drops emerging as the hot trend, Six Flags Over Georgia is hyping up their new roller coaster as the “South East’s tallest beyond-vertical dive coaster.” It’s a bit of a wordy claim to fame, but at least it’s accurate. The park’s new Gerstlauer steel roller coaster, Dare Devil Dive, will boast a stomach-lifting 95-degree drop.

Dare Devil Dive will begin with a ten story vertical climb in rocket-themed cars. Then, in an attempt to raise the suspense level, the cars will be held right at the crest of the first drop for a moment. This dramatic pause is reminiscent of Busch Gardens’ popular SheiKra and Griffon dive coasters.




I haven’t ridden a Gerstlauer-designed roller coaster, but Dare Devil Dive’s layout looks pretty thrilling. The ride’s exhilarating succession of loops include: a dive loop, an immelmann, and a zero-g roll. Like, Canobie Lake’s Untamed, Dare Devil Dive will be another Euro-Fighter model. Its compact layout will occupy a relatively small footprint near Six Flags Over Georgia’s popular hyper coaster, Goliath. Dare Devil Dive will be Six Flags Over Georgia’s 11th roller coaster when it opens in the Spring of 2011.

Read more about Six Flags Over Georgia’s Dare Devil Dive.

Proposed Orlando Thrill Park Reveals 14 Extreme Rides

by Joel Bullock on


While Orlando’s already known for its world-class theme parks, a developer thinks that there’s room for one more. The Baker Leisure Group has proposed a thrill-focused park that would be located in the Tangelo Park area near the Festival Bay Mall. It would be just a short drive from Universal Orlando Resort and its two theme parks. Central Florida is also home to Walt Disney World, SeaWorld Orlando, and my favorite park in the state, Busch Gardens Tampa. If that wasn’t enough, Legoland Florida will be opening in 2011 as well.

Like many, I’ve considered Central Florida’s theme park market saturated at this point. However, Orlando Thrill Park will offer something different. The park’s success will hinge on whether they can communicate its distinction as the home of the most intense and extreme thrill rides in Florida. If built, the park would easily attract roller coaster enthusiasts like myself. Of the fourteen rides that the park has proposed, eight of them are roller coasters. And of the eight, five or so are either prototypes or rare in the United States.Roller coaster enthusiasts are a tiny niche group in the overall theme park visiting public. So, the developers are hoping Orlando tourists will spend one day out of their week long vacations at the park. They’re also aiming for those local adrenaline junkies that are interested in extreme thrills. Currently, Busch Gardens Tampa and Universal’s Islands of Adventure are the only places that you’ll find somewhat intense thrill rides in Florida. It’s an area that’s heavy on theme and light on thrills. Orlando Thrill Park aims to fill that void.

The LA Times has created a photo gallery of Orlando Thrill Park’s 14 rides. The gallery includes similar rides that are currently in existence and prototype renderings.

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Video: Inappropriate theme park photos

by Leigh Caldwell on

Consider this a public service announcement.

I have always felt like the costumed characters at theme parks had a pretty thankless job. My biggest aversion to the job used to be the thought of how hot it must be inside one of those get-ups.

But still, I figured, it must be fun to make all those kids happy.

Now, thanks to a video of theme park photos circulating on the Web, my eyes have been opened to a myriad of indignities that the people who portray characters at theme parks must suffer.

Besides the crotch-grabbing children — and wow, there must be a lot of crotch-grabbing children — there is always that chance that a camera will catch you at just the right second and make it look like you are ogling a tourist in a tank top. Worse yet, your prosthetic spindly fingers could get caught in a tourist’s tank top.

The world has Ellen DeGeneres to thank for this eye-opener. She asked viewers of her talk show to send in their theme park photos that “just aren’t right.”

Take a look before you apply for that costumed character job next summer.

North Korean theme parks: communism meets amusement park fun

by Joel Bullock on


I would imagine that there are few Gadling readers that have ever wanted to visit North Korea. The communist country that recently took hostile actions towards its neighbor isn’t on any top vacation lists that I know of. And, I would imagine even fewer would want to visit North Korea for its amusement parks. But, if you’re a huge theme park fan like the globe trotting Stefan Zwanger, then a trip to the strange, isolationist country is right down your alley.

Wearing his signature red hat adorned with a tangle of roller coaster track, Zwanger, also known as the Theme Park Guy, ventured into North Korea. He described his trip as a “time machine journey many decades back.” His trip report includes dozens of great images from Pyongyang’s three parks including an image of a roller coaster with the red star of the Communist Party on it. Zwanger also encountered a Zamperla flying roller coaster at the newest park, Kaeson. Kaeson has the distinction of staying lit at night when much of the rest of the country goes dark.

Asia has some excellent theme parks, but I was surprised to see that North Korea actually has three currently in operation. I guess even an oppressive government like North Korea’s must be open to amusements of some kind. The other two parks were Mangyongdae and Taesongsan. Most of the rides at these older parks look pretty neglected and the parks themselves look deserted, bleak, and devoid of a lot of color.

As I analyze the country’s theme parks I don’t mean to belittle or overlook the plight of its people. Theme parks are obviously way down on the list of quality of life improvements needed by the North Korean people. As a long-time theme park blogger, this is just what I do. I make observations about theme parks. See Zwanger’s North Korean theme park trip report.

[Photo credits: Flickr user giladr and Theme Park Guy]