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World News:
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(5/23/13) Good news from down under as the 5-year old boy thrown from a flat ride in Australia last week has woken up from his coma (MORE...)
(5/20/13) An Australian news site reports that a 5-year-old boy was thrown 10 meters from a flat ride at a local carnival (MORE...)
(5/16/13) TheThemeParkGuy is back after taking a field trip to the Siem Reap Fun Fair in Cambodia. This infamous hole in the ground (MORE...)
(5/16/13) Opening on July 11th a new indoor attraction known as J-World Tokyo will open on the third floor of Sunshine City’s World Import Mart Building in Ikebukuro. (MORE...)
(5/14/13) ThemeparX has had some interesting updates posted on their site that seem to indicate that the Adventure World Warsaw (MORE...)
 Australia - (5/23/13) Good news from down under as the 5-year old boy thrown from a flat ride in Australia last week has woken up from his coma and is expected to be moved out of the intensive care unit sometime today. Hopefully he will make a full recovery.
(5/20/13) An Australian news site reports that a 5-year-old boy was thrown 10 meters from a flat ride at a local carnival. The ride was called the Frisbee, but it is not a Huss Frisbee style ride at all, but appears to more similar to a Trabant or Wipeout style ride. The boy is in critical condition and some witness reports claim that it looked as if he slipped out from under or over the safety bar, as he may have been too small to ride.
(1/23/13) The local news reports that the troubled Southern Star Observation Wheel is making an important step towards reopening this week. Workers have begun to remove the temporary support trusses put in place while the wheel was being repaired. The wheel opened back in December 2008, but was shut down just 40 days later when structural defects were discovered. Once the temporary support system is removed, they will begin the process of putting the ride cabins back at which time they should be able to choose a new opening date.
(12/13/12) Screamscape has been informed that the new park project proposed for Perth, Australia is being designed by RGH Themed Entertainment. The project is said to be more similar in nature to the Red Sea Astrarium project in Jordan than it is to a typical theme park. Much like the Jordan project, also designed by RGH, this is likely to be more of a themed mall with a few walk-through attractions and a couple of rides here and there. The artwork shown is said to be very misleading as to the true nature and scope of the project.
(12/12/12) I don’t know much about this project, as it’s the first I’m hearing of it, but looks like someone it trying to push through a new theme park resort plan somewhere in Australia. You can read all the details here.
(10/29/12) The Brisbane Times reports that the first of more than 160 dinosaur figures have arrived on site as part of a plan to build the world’s biggest dinosaur park at the Sunshine Coast.
(10/11/12) Ride Entertainment has announced that the newest Skycoaster design will be used within the new Wet ‘n’ Wild Sydney waterpark when it opens next year. The rider experience will be the same, but the tower structures themselves have been redesigned, strengthened and will actually require almost 40% less steel to construction. This new Skycoaster in Australia will stand 251 feet tall, making it the second tallest Skycoaster in the world.
The tallest Skycoaster is the 300 foot tall one at Fun Spot USA, near Walt Disney World. A 250 foot tall Skycoaster, the one that formerly stood in Las Vegas for years) will soon be built at sister park, Fun Spot America, close to Universal Studios Florida. There are currently 82 Skycoasters running at parks and attractions around the world.
(9/10/12) Village Roadshow has announced a new $115 million Wet ‘n’ Wild park is coming to Western Sydney (Australia) from Village Roadshow. Based on the animated fly-over of the new park’s layout, Wet ‘n’ Wild Sydney will feature a ton of great and very colorful new slides and attractions and a top of the line attraction. The new waterpark is expected to open in December 2013. After you check out the video below, you can visit the official website here.
Belgium - (2/9/12) Two small parks in Brussels, Belgium will be forced to close at the end of their 2013 seasons. According to NewsParcs the city has decided not to renew the land lease for Mini Europe miniature park and the Oceade waterpark, and will instead redevelop the area, including destroying the Bruparck stadium, to create a new neighborhood, mall, hotels, concert hall and convention center.
Brazil - (2/19/13) Pictures taken at theme parks around the world can be found over at ThemeParks.IE, where I’ve been told that photo albums from 10 different parks in Brazil have been added so far. A perfect place to preview what park you may want to visit if your travels take you there.
(1/21/13) According to this website, a new theme park project has been proposed for Brazil called Enerland: The Power of Fun. The project sounds like it may be more than a park, but described as a small sustainable city and theme park project that will produce it’s own energy through wind, solar hydro, biomass and kinetic sources. Very interesting… but my gut says that we probably wont see this one make it off the drawing board.
(7/20/12) Remember Terra Encantada in Brazil? The park has sat closed and silent ever since a rider was thrown and killed from the park’s Monte Makaya coaster in June 2010. According to this news report the closed park sits very close to where the future Olympic Village will be built. We wont see the park reopen for the crowds however, as developers are planning on selling off all the rides and building new hotels, hospitals and residential areas on the theme park site. They’ve also got some nice pictures taken inside the closed theme park not long ago.
(4/6/12) A reader has sent me a link to some pictures on Facebook showing off historic amusement parks that were once in Brazil. At one point in time Brazil had claimed the world record for tallest coaster around 1938, but over the years almost all of these old parks were shut down and removed.
Cambodia - (5/16/13) TheThemeParkGuy is back after taking a field trip to the Siem Reap Fun Fair in Cambodia. This infamous hole in the ground with rides (because I can’t bring myself to call it an Amusement Park) made media headlines back in March when a Japanese tourist visited and ended up getting killed (along with her tour guide) when the roller coaster derailed. According to TheThemeParkGuy, since the accident the ‘park’ has been closed and shut down by the local authorities. From the look of the place, it never should have been allowed to open in the first place and would be more fitting as a background set for the next Mad Max film rather than as a place to take children.
(3/27/13) The news reports that a 21-year old Japanese tourist was killed while riding a roller coaster in Cambodia which derailed in mid-ride. She was riding in the front row along with a Cambodian tour guide who suffered serious injuries as well when the coaster car went “off the rails”. They were the only two passengers on the ride at the time.
The local police have detained three park employees and have initially said that they believe the accident was caused by a loose bolt. The park’s name is not given but it is located in Siem Reap Province, and there is only one park in that location listed on RCDB as Happy Land. They have two coasters (names unknown), both listed as from Sau Con, and both look like a death trap waiting to happen from the pictures on the site. Yikes… I love roller coasters but I’d have to think twice before trying out either of these rides. (Unknown Coaster 1 / Unknown Coaster 2)
Want to see more? Click here then… because this “open” park looks to be in worse shape than the now closed hurricane ravaged Six Flags New Orleans park.
Canada - (8/10/12) A reader was asked to take a survey for Clifton Hill where a number of attractions on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls are located. They pitched a few new attraction ideas under consideration which includes: A Spining Coaster (Maurer style pictured), Ghastly Ghost Ship (Haunted attraction), Go-Karts or a Soarin Eagle Zipline.
China - (5/11/13) Fun story from China this week as the infamous abandoned “Wonderland” park on the outskirts of Beijing, with architecture designed to look very much like a Disney park, is now being torn down. It was built back in the late 90’s before construction came to a halt when the money dried up, leaving an impressive but massive half-built castle and many themed buildings. Now the park is in the process of finally being torn down. You can see several pictures of the park’s haunted looking structures here.
(5/6/13) There is an interesting video on CBS that starts off talking about plans for a new park in North Korea but moved on to show off an interesting movement in China where whole cities have been built as replicas of other famous cities in the world, including a dead-on copy of a street in Paris with a scaled down Eiffel Tower. Check it out.
(2/25/13) Actor / Director Stephen Chow (Kung Fu Hustle) has announced that he will have a 25% stake in a new 173-acre amusement park to be built in Wuzhen (just outside Shanghai) that will be themed to his “Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons” feature film. The tentative name for the park is “Journey to the West Film City” and will also borrow themes from his “A Chinese Odyssey” films. Set to begin construction in the second half of 2013 and first phases are expected to open in 2015.
(1/21/13) I’ve heard about it, I wasn’t sure I believed it, but China opened Chocolate Happy Land, what they are calling a chocolate themed park that takes up residence inside eight of the former pavilion buildings from the Shanghai World Expo. This isn’t a theme park as we know it… think of it more as a massive chocolate themed environment and display… kind of like the ICE! sculpture attractions at many of the Gaylord Resorts every winter here in the USA.
There are exhibits showing off all kinds of massive structures, all made from chocolate including handbags, statues, city models, animated characters and more. This is a temporary exhibit however, which is only slated to remain open through to February 24th. A video showing off the exhibit has been embedded below.
(1/2/13) According to a listing in Park World magazine, S&S Worldwide will open a few more attractions in China in 2013 at park’s I’m not familiar with. They mention a new S&S Combo Tower ride going into “Fuzhou Happy World” and an unknown S&S Launched Coaster project going into “Shandong Bingsheng Sunwu Culture Park”.
(12/18/12) A new park in China has been announced for Chongqing with a $560 million budget. The new theme park hopes to open in 2016 and will feature an assortment of animated characters and themes from the Chinese produced 3D cartoon “Xiha Youji”.
It wasn’t long ago that the Chinese government was trying to curb the nearly endless development of new theme parks across their nation, but through various loop-holes, new parks are still popping up at a record pace. I do have to wonder how long it will be before we start to see the bottom drop out on some of these projects. Perhaps those built in areas that are unable to support them, or older parks left in the dust as guests favor the steady stream of new parks, rather than investing in the older parks to keep them fresh.
(12/14/12) Chongquing Safari Park in China is said to be adding their first coaster to the park in 2013. It will be an Intamin 10 inversion megalooper.
(12/12/12) VHCoasters has a new update showing off concept art for a new park in China called Romon World. The project which will feature an indoor / outdoor amusement park mixed with an indoor shopping mall appears to have been inspired by South Korea’s Lotte World. Already on the books are an indoor Intamin coaster and an outdoor launched coaster from Maurer Sohne, said to be similar to Freischutz at Germany’s Bayern Park.
(10/25/12) Wuhan, China is planning to build a 200 meter tall Giant Wheel in five years. It will be called the Hanjiang Eye, and stand over 65 meters taller than the London Eye in England.
(8/8/12) Reuters reports that DreamWorks’s China JV partners will not only produce Kung Fu Panda 3, but they also are planning on opening a Dreamworks theme park by 2016 as part of a over three billion dollar investment. The park, tentatively to be called “Dream Centre” will be built in the Xuhui district of Shanghai.
Not so fast however… this is NOT a new theme park. A quick peek at some concept art posted over at TheThemeParkGuy however shows that they are using the term “Theme Park” too liberally. Dream Center will be more of a waterfront entertainment and retail center that could offer an attraction or two, but not a true theme park as we know it. The press release from DreamWorks regarding the formation of the “Oriental DreamWorks” division in China also confirms this, saying that “Dream Center” will “incorporate a series of theaters, cinemas, creative enterprises, tourist attractions, restaurants and commercial facilities.”
(7/21/12) An amusement park in China has been making international headlines this summer when word of an interesting summer promotion leaked out. Guilin Merryland is offering any female guest 18 and over wearing a short mini-skirt a half price ticket. They call it the “Love Miniskirt” promotion and there are rules: the mini-skirt must be shorter than 38cm (no shorts) and will be measured by female park officials to qualify for the discount. Apparently the park has be holding this as an annual promotion since 2007.
(9/9/11) In an interesting news story, Shanghai OCT (owned by Shenzhen Overseas Chinese Town) is in talks with Universal Studios Japan over a possible joint venture which would give USJ a 49% stake in the partnership and allow for them to help better the performance of the Shanghai theme park.
(7/11/11) The LA Times has posted a new update about the Monkey Kingdom park coming to China from Thinkwell, as well as a ton of new concept artwork for the park. You can see a few more attractions, lots of themed buildings and landscaping, as well as an overview piece of the entire project site, along with a clear view of several coasters planned, including one that looks like an Intamin Wing Rider. .
(6/17/11) ThinkWell talks a bit about the new Monkey Kingdom park they are developing for Beijing, China over at InPark Magazine.
(5/30/11) Thinkwell has confirmed on their blog that they have been tapped to design a new theme park in Huairou, China called Monkey Kingdom, set to open in 2014. The concept artwork shows does indeed show off some amazing themeing as they mix modern technology with the retelling of Monkey’s Journey To the West story.
(5/17/11) In Park Magazine has posted an interview with Phil Hettema of The Hettema Group, where they chat all about the new Hello Kitty theme park being designed by his company to open in China in 2014.
(5/10/11) According to this article, China now has plans to build a theme park based on Hello Kitty in the city of Anji, in east China’s Zhejiang province. The project will cost an estimated $215 million, with construction to start later this year and open in 2014. The 150 site will contain the theme park and a hotel.
Denmark - (8/3/12) Sommerland Sjælland, located an hour away from Copenhagen, Denmark is launching a new and interesting promotion this month. The park has obtained 10 real verified gold nuggets (24 carat) and has buried them in a large field next to the park’s western themed land, Silver City. Every afternoon from 2pm to 4pm guests are allowed into field to dig under the hot sun with shovels or with their bare hands to try and find one of the gold nuggets. Find one and you can either keep it and the park will buy it back for “DKK 1000,-/133 Euro”. Check out the official website to find out more information on the park and about Guldbakken / The Golden Hill.
Finland - (3/11/13) Rovio Entertainment, the company behind Angry Birds, is looking to get involved in a deal to build a new office for their rapidly expanding staff along with a small Angry Birds themed amusement park in the city of Espoo in Finland.
(1/10/12) I’m told that Finish park, Tykkimakki, will add a Technical Park Loop Fighter in 2012.
France - (3/27/13) According to AMEWorld, Vulcania (a small attraction in France) will build a new dark ride featuring a trackless ride system from ETF and themed by Jora Vision. A preview video is below, followed by a longer “Making Of” video about the attraction themed all about Volcanos. They’ve got some very cool fotoage showing off the trackless cars making test runs around the ride with the lights on.
(3/11/13) Heading to France and want to hit up some theme parks, but not sure which ones? A quick read of the France Roadtrip blog may be in order, covering most of the parks in France other than Disney, along with a few lesser-known parks you may have never heard of.
(2/11/13) Disney and More has posted pictures and a brief video showing off “Pirates Paradise”, a heavily themed restaurant that opened a couple of years ago in the south of France that looks fantastic inside. Check it out.
(2/9/12) According to Gerstlauer, OK Corral (France) will add one of their new Junior Shuttle Coaster similar to the Gipfelsturmer that opened last year at Freizeitpark Ruhpolding.
(1/23/12) According to this article a new park (though seemingly without rides) is being talked about near Pais France that would be themed around Napoleon and his deeds. This includes a recreation of the Battle of Waterloo, watch the beheading of Louis XVI and even some kind of attraction that would have guests skiing around the frozen corpses of horses and solders on a battlefield. Umm… I wouldn’t count on seeing this one built just yet.
Germany - (4/2/13) One of our readers visited the huge Galaxy Erding indoor waterpark in Germany and sent in a link to their video showing off many of the park’s unique slide and attractions, as shot during a fairly crowded day.
(3/8/13) The various McDonalds in Germany are currently holding some kind of contest where people can design their own burgers, with the winner to have their creation sold at McDonalds throughout Germany. Apparently one of the players is a big coaster fan because he has submitted three creations... the McColossos, the McMatterbornBobs and a McExGeForce Burger. I think the McColossos may be a contender... since you can’t go wrong with Bacon... but you’ve got to remove the onions and lettuce, put another layer or cheese on top, a few onion rings, and then another layer of bacon on top. THEN maybe it will be deserving of the name McColossos.
(12/31/12) The local news reports that Eifelpark, a small park in Germany, has filed bankruptcy and has been unable to make their payments. It is not known if the park will be able to reopen in 2013 or not at this time.
(9/17/12) According to this news article a car on a Breakdance ride (Huss) in Frankfurt (Germany) broke free from the rest of the ride, and flew into the crowd, injuring two 22 year old men standing in the crowd. The two passengers, two 12-year old girls appeared to be mostly uninjured, but in serious shock.
(8/6/12) According to a German news site, a local waterpark has been forced to enforce a gender specific rule and no longer allow women to ride one of their high speed slides after “six women had reported injuries to the genital area” last year after riding the “X-treme Faser” slide, some severe enough to require a trip to a hospital. While women are banned for now, the park says they are “working on building a protective suit for women to use on the slide.”
While the article doesn’t name the park, a quick search online reveals a "X-treme Faser" slide at an indoor waterpark called Galaxy Erding, where the slide appears to be an enclosed speed slide with a steep drop and enclosed splashdown exit pool. Though in German, the listing last line at the bottom does confirm the policy is that the slide is only for men, “due to the female anatomy.” Though the park’s own promotional video for the slide online shows a woman in a bikini taking the plunge with no ill effects. This seems to be quite the wild waterpark site, as they offer special Slide & Party Nights which look like waterpark version of a Rave party with dance club lighting, foam, music pumping by DJs and more. In the words of an eyebrow raised Mr. Spock, “Fascinating!”
(7/21/12) A new interesting coaster has opened on the German fair circuit this week, with the Wilde Maus XXL premiering at the Hamburg DOM Fair. One of our readers was lucky enough to catch a ride on one of the first cars of this mutant creation where they took an older regular portable Wilde Maus coaster and increased the height of the lift hill and added in two extra huge drops before you hit the ride’s normal layout. Check out the POV video of action below… and be sure to watch all the way to the end as for some reason the cars were slamming into each other, stacking up just outside the station. Too many cars or a programming glitch? Either way this looks like a fantastic way to add some great new thrills to your typical Mouse coaster and I applaud the creation.
Grand Bahama - (1/21/13) According to this article a “mega” waterpark project is planned for Freeport (Grand Bahama Island) that will create 100 new jobs and begin construction in the first quarter of 2013.
India - (4/10/13) The latest update on the Zoomerang coaster heading to India is that it will actually be going to a park called “Wonder La”. According to RCDB, there are currently two Wonder La parks in India, one in Ernakulum and one in Bangalore. No one seems sure which of the two parks will get the new coaster.
(4/9/13) One of our re
aders came across a truck hauling a section of old yellow Arrow / Vekoma style track across Georgia (USA) this past week. One of the dark colored support pieces below it had some interesting words spray painted on it as well... “Mumbai” (as in India) and what looks like “Wonderland”.
The identity of the track was a mystery to me for most of the day. At first I could only think of two old retired Arrow coasters that had yellow track and dark supports: Double Loop at Geauga Lake and Python at Busch Gardens Tampa, both of which were torn to pieces and sold for scrap.
With a little help the identity of the coaster was discovered as being the Zoomerang, a Vekoma Boomerang, at the former Alabama Adventures park, since renamed Splash Adventure when they closed the amusement side of the park after the 2011 season. This coaster has some serious miles on it… and may be the most well traveled coaster in the world. It started out at World Expo Park in Australia back in 1988 where it was known as Titan, then it moved to Wonderland Sydney as Demon from 1992 to 2004. From there it make the journey to America to become Zoomerang from 2005 to 2011.
As for the new destination of the coaster... while there is a Wonderland park in India, it is located far inland about 850 miles to the North-East from Mumbai. Mumbai however is just the port city and Nhava Sheva is the largest container port in all of India. In the meantime… if you are traveling the highways of Georgia, keep your eyes peeled for more track. Another piece on a different truck was spotted again just a few hours ago.
(8/23/12) A section of a waterslide in India collapsed under the weight of too many sliders this week, many of them minors, when instructions by the park staff were ignored. At least 15 to 17 sliders fell 20 feet to the ground and sustained injuries. Apparently refusing to accept the obvious explanation that the accident was self-caused, a mob descended upon the park causing more damage and accusations of improper maintenance. Maintenance issues, if any aside, no water slide was designed to hold up the weight of a log jam of 15 sliders, plus the weight of all that water. The accident took place within the Wet-o-Wild waterpark inside of Nicco Park. Currently Nicco Park is said to be shut down pending the accident investigation. This accident sounds familiar to the famous waterslide collapse that occurred at Waterworld in California back in 1997, where over 30 students intentionally jammed up a waterslide, and then fell 37 feet to the ground, resulting in one death.
Italy - (1/2/13) According to an update at TheParks.it, the proposed Motorcity theme park planned to go in near the existing Veneto race track has been dropped. Make the jump to learn more about the proposed park attractions and see an overhead layout of what it may have looked like.
Japan - (5/16/13) Opening on July 11th a new indoor attraction known as J-World Tokyo will open on the third floor of Sunshine City’s World Import Mart Building in Ikebukuro. The indoor attraction will feature three large themed areas to three very popular Japanese Anime shows from Shonen Jump: One Piece, Naruto and Dragon Ball. In addition to games and themed food items there will be five attractions: The One Piece Soldier Dock Adventure Ride (dark ride), The One Piece Carousel Ride, a Naruto challenge maze, and two Dragon Ball interactive attractions.
(11/19/12) TheThemeParkGuy reports that the once proposed Paramount Park Osaka appears to be completely dead, and the site may be reused for some kind of new Entertainment/Educational project concept, staying in line with the old Expo ’70 theme, which the site was used for originally over 40 years ago.
(10/26/12) A great article about how Japanese culture has really taken to the Halloween season over the past decade thanks to Halloween events at Tokyo Disneyland and Universal Studios Japan has been posted to Kotaku and is worth a read.
(9/11/12) A maintenance worker at Dream Land park in Japan died this week after he became wedged between a running roller coaster and the rails. This did not happen early in the morning, but rather at approximately 1:55pm in the afternoon, so the Police are investigating to find out why he was trying to perform work on the ride while it was still in operation. According to the RCDB, the park only has a single coaster called Jet Coaster.
(7/26/12) A video taken from a Japanese news show briefly shows off the new Veil of Darkness coaster, which it seems is actually an entirely new coaster inside Joypolis from what was there before. The new coaster, make by Gerstlauer features a launch and an in-line twist inversion, which I believe is the first inversion ever on a spinning coaster.
(7/16/12) Kotaku reports that Sega’a Tokyo Joypolis has finished an extensive remodeling plan this past week. Many classic attractions in this merger of an arcade and theme park are still there, such as the Ring inspired haunted house, but they also mention a new roller coaster was added called Veil of Dark. According to RCDB, this appears to be the same coaster that was formerly known as Spin Bullet, but with new outward facing cars.
Malaysia - (2/21/13) Sunway Lagoon in Malaysia will open Vuvuzela, “the world’s largest water ride”, in March. Designed by WhiteWater West, this is a Tornado style multi-rider tube slide that stands 11-stories tall, 152 meters long, and will end with a drop into the world’s largest water funnel, 22 meters in diameter. According to this report guests will be taken up to the top via elevator to board either 4 or 6 passenger rafts.
(1/21/13) Strange things are afoot in Malaysia it seems. First they mention a Six Flags park is on the way, then backtrack out of the “Six Flags” park, and now this article tells us that there are no plans at all to open a third theme park in the region, as “Our hands are quite full right now with legoland Malaysia and Puteri Harbour Family Theme Park.” The only things they seem to be looking into are a possible marine attraction (aquarium?) and a water park at the Desaru holiday resort.
(1/10/13) According to this article, a Six Flags theme park may be coming to Iskandar, Malaysia. Unlike the two parks in the area, Legoland and Puteri Harbour which are marketed mostly at young children, a Six Flags park would lure in an older crowd. According to the Iskandar Investment Bhd, an announcement to be made by an investor involved with the project is expected within the next six months.
However, the Iskandar Investment later reported to the media that they have no connection with Six Flags, and essentially backtracked out of any mention of Six Flags at all. They still expect an investor to announce a third park for the area within 3-6 months however. So did someone slip up and mention Six Flags a bit prematurely, or did they simply mean to imply that the new project would be a Six Flags style park that would attract an older crowd. Time will tell…
(11/28/12) The 101-meter tall Eye on Malaysia giant wheel is now under construction and is expected to open by April 2013. When it opens, it should be the 13th tallest giant wheel in the world. The site work and footing work has begun and the 54 cabin wheel itself is expected to start going up by February. The wheel itself is coming from an unnamed Chinese ride manufacture.
(11/9/12) First Legoland Malaysia, and now Malaysia has opened the Puteri Harbour Family Theme Park, a multi-level indoor fun zone featuring Hello Kitty Town, The Little Big Club which offers an inflatable playground park, daily performance by Barney the Dinosaur, as well as Bob The Builder and a Thomas & Friends attractions. There is also a themed restaurant called LAT’s Place, themed after the world created by a famous local cartoonist. Check out the official wesite here.
The Netherlands - (7/16/12) Freizeitpark-fotografie reports that Sprookjesbos will now not reopen until 2013.
(6/11/12) Pictures of what may be Europe’s cheapest amusement park style experience have been posted to Freizeitpark-Fotografie this week. From what I’m told the entrance price is only 9.50 Euros and the park is located next to the currently closed Sprookjesbos park in the Netherlands.
(6/8/12) I’m told that Sprookjesbos, a park in the Netherlands (in Valkenburg) was closed in late 2011. The park has since been sold to a new owner who hopes to have it reopen by August 2012. You can check in on the progress at the new Sprookjesbos.nl website. A few pictures of the park taken before it closed in 2001 can be found at Freizeitpark-Fotografie.
(5/30/12) A new Alpine Coaster has opened in The Netherlands this past week. You can find pictures of it posted to Freizeitpark-Fotografie.de.
North Korea - (5/6/13) While Kim Jong Un has been hitting the headlines more lately for North Korea’s nuclear efforts, previous it was known that he also shared an interest in theme parks and wanted to see more in his native country. Now it seems that he is moving ahead for a new park project that will feature miniature replicas of famous world landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and Big Ben.
(8/8/12) Apparently the media just loves stories of Kim Jong-un’s love of theme parks, rides and good times. The latest story this week claims that Kim Jong-un has “big plans for mini-golf” and has suggested that he has people working on finding sites to build more of them in North Korea.
(5/10/12) North Korea may be in for some interesting times, as the country’s new leader, Kim Jong-un went on a visit to the government operated Mangyongdae FunFair where he seemed fairly disgusted by the condition of the park, pointing out peeling paint on the coasters, calling the cracked pathways “pathetic” and while bending over to pluck out some grass growing through a crack in the pavement, he was heard to utter, “I had no idea the park could be so pitiful.” So he immediately appointed one of his vice-marshals from the People’s Army and tasked him with the task of brining the facility up to date and, “in line with the demands of the times.”
Philippines - (11/5/12) The Theme Park Guy has posted some new pictures showing off the Resorts World Bayshore project area as it looks now, still empty and overgrown, with little to no sign of construction just yet.
(10/29/12) TheThemeParkGuy Construction Board came across a good find, a new resort project partnership between Tan’s Alliance Global Group Inc. (AGI) and Genting Hong Kong Ltd., the later of which was behind Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore as well as the their successful Universal Studios park.
Much like in Singapore, this will be another Resorts World branded project, this time in the Philippines called Resorts Worlds Bayshore City in Entertainment City. It’s worth mentioning that there is different from Resorts World Manila, a casino resort project that opened back in 2009 next to the airport. The Bayshore City project, which hopes to open in 2016, will take up 31 hectares when finished, well over double the size of the 12 hectares Resorts World Manila. The first phase will feature two resort hotels (800 rooms total), a 3000 seat grand opera house, shopping mall, residential towers, and casino gaming.
Beyond this first phase of projects however, they envision a total of 3500 hotel rooms, more leisure, retail, gaming and entertainment options. It’s the later option that has caught our eye today, as concept artwork showing off a resort layout that seems to include a theme park element as well. You can make out at least three coasters, what seems to be a river rapids ride and a show arena and a large central volcano mountain. Earier this year there was some talk about a possible Warner Brother World theme park project involved with Resorts World as well, but I don’t know if it ever went anywhere. Since the latest news reports for Bayshore City don’t mention a theme park at all, I have to wonder if the plan may have been dropped or delayed. Anyone know more?
Poland - (5/14/13) ThemeparX has had some interesting updates posted on their site that seem to indicate that the Adventure World Warsaw park project is still moving forward, and new building permits are still coming out.
(2/6/13) Concern over the Adventure World Warsaw park project and other matters has sent the stock price of Royal Imtech, down to almost half of what it was previously. (Correction: Imtech is not the parent company behind Adventure World, but rather a multi-national construction company with a subsidiary who is a contractor on the project.) Read more over at InParkMagazine.
(10/16/12) I’m not quite sure what is happening, but a group of people in suits were assembled in front of cameras to sign documents in front a huge doorway for Adventure World Warsaw, that said, “Opening 2015” at the top. Could they be ready to begin construction? Check out the pictures over at The Theme Park Guy.
On a related note, BlooLoop reports that supplier contracts wit Mack Rides and Vekoma Rides were signed at a press conference with a new opening date of May 2015.
(8/3/12) A nice photo update all about Adventure World Warsaw (Poland), including pictures taken on site at the future park, has been posted to TheThemeParkGuy this week.
(12/30/11) InPark Magazine has posted an exclusive update regarding the Adventure World Warsaw theme park in Poland.
(7/29/11) According to BlooLoop, Poland will open it’s own theme park in 2014 called Adventure World Warsaw. Details and concept artwork for the proposed theme park can be found here.
Russia - (3/12/13) Time and again The Theme Park Guy has proven that he will travel to the ends of the Earth to get a story. Fresh from a visit to the site of the Sochi Winter Olympic Games, which will be home to it’s own new theme park, he ventured forth into Moscow to check on the site where the future Universal park in Moscow will be built in 2018 as part of Galaxy Park, which itself is planning to start construction in 2014. While there may not be a lot to see right now, he does give us a great look at the beautiful Moscow of the 21st century.
(2/20/13) The head of DreamWorks Animation, Jeffrey Katzenberg has announced to the media in Russia that they will open THREE DreamWorks Animation themed “parks” in 2015 (near Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg), pointing out that these will open about 3 years ahead of Universal’s project in Moscow’s Galactica Park which is aiming for a 2018 opening date.
These will be year-round parks (indoor) that will be built along with a 400-room hotel, concert hall, 4-D Theater, a retail mall and more in each location. The cost of building all three projects is estimated at $1.5 billion. Each park will have 5 of 6 different themed zones representing different popular DreamWorks Animation characters and featuring various rides, shows, attractions and character interactions.
(1/10/13) This is just crazy… but there is video proof of an accident involving a Zorb at a Russian ski slope that resulted in the death of one man, and the serious injury of the other. Two friends climbed into a Zorb and were strapped into place for an out of control run down a ski slope. The experience quickly went very wrong as the Zorb bounced off-course and ran right past the guy at the bottom who was trying to catch it. Out of control the Zorb continued down the slope, up a bank where it changes direction and shoots off down a rocky ridge and into a gorge below. According to the article, the two men were “ejected” from the Zorb and found in the snow about 30 feet apart from each other. I’m not sure if they were really ejected… or if the Zorb simply ruptured. Very sad new indeed, and according to the supplier of Zorbs in Russia, this particular Zorb run was in violation of all of their safety rules.
South Korea - (11/19/12) Curious what ever happened to the Paramount Park Korea? Previously, the walled off site had been sitting vacant with no activity for quite some time, even the security gates were no longer staffed. Now there are rumors about the site being bid out to a new owner or developer before the end of the year who may be willing to take on the theme park project. TheThemeParkGuy has also found and posted a great new animated aerial tour of the proposed park that is worth checking out, even though the animation is dated as being from early 2008.
There are lots of great little touches seen in there, like the giant Paramount mountain sitting in the middle of a central park lake that would have contained an indoor flume ride, along with a Bubba Gump restaurant, a strange looking neon lit SciFi area, what looks like a possible B&M Dive Machine built into a façade of the Roman Coliseum, a recreation of the Titanic docked in the port, a stunt show and what appears to be an onsite hotel that would serve as the themed entrance to the park itself, much like Disneyland Paris or Tokyo DisneySea.
(2/10/12) A huge mega-trip update has been posted over at Trips-n-Pics showing off almost all the major theme parks in China and South Korea. It’s all in French however, but you can either just look at the pictures, or use a browser with a built in translator (like Chrome) to read it.
Spain - (5/15/12) BlooLoop reports that the Valencia government in Spain is in talks with investors about building their own Ferrari World theme park very close to the site of the Ricardo Tormo racetrack.
Taiwan - (4/15/13) A 17-year old girl dropped dead after riding the Screaming Condor (Intamin Twisted Impulse) coaster at Leofoo Village Theme Park in Taiwan. The medics say that the terror of the experience seems to have brought on a deadly heart attack, as she turned very pale and collapsed right after stepping off the coaster.
Thailand - (5/13/13) ThemeparX has posted a new update showing off a layout of the new Ramayana waterpark now under construction in Thailand that will offer all the latest products fro WhiteWater West. According to the park’s official preview website, it is located about a 90 minute drive from the heart of Bangkok. They hope to open the park in early 2014.
(5/3/13) Polin reported on Facebook that they have almost finished installing the slides at the Cartoon Network Amazone Waterpark (Thailand), along with a nice picture of a unique looking slide complex. You can see even most over at the waterpark’s official Facebook page.
(11/27/12) BlooLoop reports that Polin will build the slides for a major new waterpark opening in Thailand in 2013 called Santorini Water Fantasy. The new waterpark will open next to the Santorini Amusement Park located near the Cha-AmPremium Outlet Mall and will feature a virtual catalog of Polin products. Check out the details here.
(5/29/12) Cartoon Network Amazone, a new Cartoon Network themed waterpark experience will open in 2013 in Bang Saray near Pattaya, on the East Coast of Thailand. According to the press release, the park is already well under construction at this point, but this is because the park was first announced as Amazon Falls and was to have opened a couple of years ago, but has been suffering from delays. With a new identity in check, and I’m assuming new funding in the accounts to complete the project at last, the park will finally open better than ever.
Turkey - (11/9/12) Take a virtual trip to Turkey with Malcom, checking out the tourist sites, markets and the various small parks (indoor and outdoor) spread all around.
(9/19/12) Today we get a rare treat… a look at the amusement parks of Istanbul. Make the jump over to this blog and you’ll see the day by day photos of a trip into Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey, stopping at some of the historic spots as well as checking out the local amusement park scene, featuring both indoor and outdoor attractions like Atlantis, Bayrampasa City Park, Bagcilar Lunapark, Bostanci Luna Park, VIA/Crazy Park, Star Park and more.
UAE News - (7/2/12) Remember a few weeks ago when the Real Madrid soccer team themed amusement resort was pitched for the UAE? Some great construction pictures of the island and other early resort projects nearby have been posted to The Theme Park Guy forums for those who are curious to see the site, which I believe was pitched for the ‘Island 3’ section of the map graphic. Honestly, I just don’t see this one happening myself, but we’ll keep an eye on it for now.
(5/7/12) Empire Industries has announced that their Dynamic Attractions unit has signed a contract to design, engineer and manufacture a “media based attraction for a theme park in the United Arab Emirates.” The contract is valued “in excess of $3.8 million” and “will be executed over the next twelve months.”
Just two months ago, the group also announced another deal worth $30 million to build another ‘media based attraction” over the next 2 years, which is assumed to be the new Harry Potter ride system going into Universal Hollywood. That said… I’ve got to wonder just who in the UAE is working on their own media based attraction to open next year? Any thoughts?
(3/26/12) I still personally find the idea a little odd… and I’m just skeptical about if it will actually happen, but according to the news reports the Real Madrid Football team (aka: Soccer here in the US) is planning on building their very own island resort about an hour away from Dubai. The $1 billion plan is to build a resort with a stadium with an open view to the Persian Gulf, a “hologram football show” and even an amusement park style rides area. I have serious doubts it will get built, considering just how many other big projects have been announced in the area which failed to even break ground. Check out the promo video below, which claims it will be ready to open in January 2015.
(12/27/11) A new park project has been announced for Abu Dhabi called Adventure World Abu Dhabi. From the sound of things this is an off-shoot of another Adventure World project on the way on Warsaw, Poland, but I’ve got to admit, I really haven’t heard anything beyond the initial announcement for the Poland back that I read over at BlooLoop back in July 2011.
UK News - (3/8/13) Haunt fans in the UK may want to make a note about this year’s ScareCON event taking place on June 20th for the sixth year at Islington Metalworks London. In addition to all the sights of the trade floor and seminars, there is a ScareBall in the evening and something new and very special. They describe it as a “Terrifying new overnight Experience” called The Vigil.
A small group of people will take on The Vigil: “The ultimate overnight scare experience. Set in a genuinely haunted building, guests will be invited to try to contact the dead. All further details of The Vigil are a closely guarded secret, but only the very brave will be able to stand a whole night of this theatrical event!” For all the details, visit ScareCon.org.
(2/18/13) ThemeParks-UK mentions a plan to expand Longleat Safari & Adventure Park become an animal park with new amusement park rides mixed in. The plans shown so far include a couple of coasters, merry-go-round and other flat rides. Click here for more.
(2/13/13) CoasterForce reports that Turbo, a Pinfari Zyklon Looper coaster on Brighton Pier is undergoing refurbishment and is expected to be put back together and reopened in time for the Easter holiday.
(2/7/13) Haunt fans in the UK will be happy to know that a new haunt will open on Easter Weekend. They call it Ravenwood Manor and it will be located at Newark Castle. You can find out more at the official website.
(12/26/12) After a long drawn out battle for years, what should be the final verdict to determine the fate of Margate's former Dreamland site is expected to be made any day now. Click here to read the details and latest developments with the ongoing efforts to Save Dreamland.
(12/11/12) TowersStreet reports that Merlin will open a new SEA LIFE aquarium very close to their Legoland Discovery Centre in the UK. The new attraction will feature 30 displays, interactive touch pools and an underwater tunnel. Elsewhere, The York Dungeon is said to be on track to reopen in Spring 2013 after being forced to close in late 2012 due to rising flood waters that caused significant damage to the attraction.
(11/26/12) AirGates has posted a report on the new Tropical Cyclone waterslide complex (from ProSlide) that just opened at Center Parcs Elveden Forest in the UK. They even posted a POV video of the experience which you can see below. The slide combined a back to back encounter with a Bowl slide that drops out right into a Tornado funnel slide, though the entry into the Bowl portion is slow and controlled, lacking the typical high speed entry and multi-revolution spin around the bowl.
(10/24/12) SimWorx reports they have opened a new 4D Effects theater at the RAF Museum Cosford in the UK, which is showing Fly Me To The Moon and Dog Fight-Red Baron. The theaters include the standard array of special 4D effects as well as dynamic motion seating.
(7/21/12) ScareTours has some awesome news to share this week, as a teaser trailer for what seems to be the return of Alien War has been released. Alien War, perhaps the most infamous and popular walk-through fright attraction of all time first opened 20 years ago, and a new version seems to be coming to The Arches (Glasgow, Scotland) very soon. Check it out!
Editor Note: Why… oh why… has no incarnation of this attraction in it’s numerous forms ever made it to the US? Orlando would seem to be a perfect place for something like this. Or at the very least, a limited run in San Diego during the ComicCon through to the end of October.
(7/11/12) Theme Park Tourist talks about a unique new waterslide set to open later this year in the UK’s Center Parcs holiday village in Elveden Forest. The new slide is called Tropical Cyclone and will be a combination of a large bowl-slide experience that drops down into a Tornado style funnel slide for the second half, offering up two great and different experiences all in one slide.
Vietnam - (9/18/12) In a move that I don’t find surprising at all, it seems Joseph Jackson, father of Michael Jackson, is no longer involved with the Happyland theme park project in Vietnam. Despite earlier appearances, he was never an investor in the park, but simply hired on as a “consultant”, in order to lure in investors to the park’s hotel project. From the sound of things, the park is still in need of investor before they can finish the project.
(3/28/12) The Theme Park Guy is back from a trip to Vietnam where he checked out the early construction taking place for the Happyland Theme Park. Click here to see more.
(1/27/12) Five riders were injured at a park in Vietnam when the tower drop ride they were on suffered a cable malfunction and fell 16 meters. Four of the five riders were treated and released afterwards, though one is thought to have a more complex spinal injury. Click here for the details.
(12/27/11) TheThemeParkGuy took a visit to Vietnam, and checked out the site of the future Happyland theme park project, which is reported to cost $2 billion by the time it opens in 2014. In addition to the early site work pictures, he’s also got some concept artwork and model images to see, where it looks like the park’s basic layout has borrowed a bit from the Disney parks.
(5/2/11) The latest word about the Happyland theme park project in Vietnam is that the group has hired Sanderson Group to design it, who had previously designed the WB MovieWorld park in Australia. They claim that the group will begin construction on the new theme park this November, and shoot for a 2014 opening date.
(2/16/11) The Happyland Theme Park project in Vietnam just got a huge boost from Joe Jackson, father of Michael Jackson. Jackson was on site at the ground breaking and announced to be an investor in the 1000room five-star Happyland Hotel. A few other details about the Happyland complex did come out, as they report it will have a water park, film studio, theaters, riverfront boardwalk, restaurant and more when it opens in 2014, where they also hope to draw in 14 million visitors a year.
I do find it interesting that since it was first reported in late December the price tag for the resort has climbed from $600 million to over $2 billion now for the hotel / entertainment and theme park complex.
(12/29/10) Happyland Theme Park, a new $600 million project is reported to be on the way to Vietnam. The park will be located in the Long Ansouthern province and is expected to open in 2014 along with a 1000 room 5-star Happyland Hotel. No details were offered about what the theme park itself may look like or what kind of attractions it may contain.
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