The Theme Park Archive blog contains a collection of editorials, theme park news and press releases.
On the heels of yesterday’s announcement by Indiana Beach that it is closing, today we have confirmation that Fantasy Island is truly closing as well. The news was released by operator Apex Parks Group. In addition to Fantasy Island and Indiana Beach, 2 family entertainment centers in Texas are also closing.
Sad news out of Indiana today as owner Apex Parks Group announced that it is shuttering Indiana Beach after 94 years of operation. The park was home to 3 CCI Wooden Coasters: the quirky Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain as well as the more traditional Cornball Express and Hoosier Hurricane. Indiana Beach also had a Schwarzkopf Jet Star ride and an S&S El Loco coaster. The park also had a unique walkthrough attraction named Frankenstein’s Castle and a dark ride named Den of the Lost Thieves.
It’s about this time of year I start composing all sorts of lists of the places I’d like to visit. Plans are typically influenced by a variety of factors ranging from checking off things off a bucket list, to visiting old favorites all influenced by travel deals. One of the primary things that I look at is what are the new theme parks and attractions that are opening in the coming year. In this article, I go through that list with you.
Things certainly are not slowing down in 2020 in the theme park world. This year there is so much happening in the US alone, that we’ll split our preview into multiple articles leaving the rest of the world for later. In no particular order, here’s what we have to look forward to next year:
The US is getting a brand new theme park in 2020!. Planned to open on the 4th of July, LEGOLAND New York will be the third park of its kind in North America. The park will be built on the largest plot of land for a LEGOLAND park ever, leading to nearly endless possibilities for future expansion. At opening, the park will be anchored by the unique LEGO Factory Adventure trackless dark ride as well as familiar LEGOLAND staples including the Dragon coaster, Ninjago: The Ride, Driving and Boating Schools as well as our personal favorite: Miniland.
Continue reading2019 is over and a new decade is upon us. It’s time for us to take a step back and review the new attractions that we covered this past year. Yes, there were indeed a lot of them! Without more introduction, here’s a brief rundown of what we got a chance to experience this past year.
Copperhead Strike is a Mack launched coaster that is the first of its kind to arrive in the US, following up Time Traveler (Silver Dollar City) and Mako (Sea World San Diego). The ride is clearly influenced by Icon (Blackpool Pleasure Beach). The ride is non-stop fun starting with a roll out of the station, to a themed pre-launch building, to two launches and 5 inversions through its custom layout. The ride sets itself apart being a trendsetter for featuring a launched airtime hill. Check out more photos of Copperhead Strike here. Copperhead Strike is a Mack launched coaster that is the first of its kind to arrive in the US, following up Time Traveler (Silver Dollar City) and Mako (Sea World San Diego). The ride is clearly influenced by Icon (Blackpool Pleasure Beach). The ride is non-stop fun starting with a roll out of the station, to a themed pre-launch building, to two launches and 5 inversions through its custom layout. The ride sets itself apart being a trendsetter for featuring a launched airtime hill. Check out more photos of Copperhead Strike here.
Sea World Parks and Entertainment announced today that it will rebrand its existing Aquatica waterpark in San Diego into its second Sesame Street themed amusement park. A causualty of the transition will be the Hoo Roo Run slide complex. In its place will be a new amphitheater.
