Traveling the Globe for the Best Coasters and Theme Parks
This week we got the chance to visit what is my childhood theme park, where my love of all things thrilling began, Paultons Park. I can’t even begin to tell you how excited we were to be back at the park after nearly 15 years and to experience Tornado Springs. In this update I will take an in depth look at this latest expansion and what else you can get up to throughout the park.
Continue reading “Paultons Park, UK – Park Visit April 2021”
After visiting Kondaa, we couldn’t resist paying a visit to the other big coaster coming in 2021. The Ride To Happiness by Tomorrowland construction continues at Plopsaland De Panne. And yes, we saw it testing!
Continue reading “The Ride To Happiness Update – Plopsaland De Panne – May 2021”
The theme park season in Belgium officially begun May 8th! Definitely one to remember as we got to ride the amazing new Intamin coaster: Kondaa. Let’s spill the tea on this brand new coaster for Walibi Belgium, unlike anything you’ve seen in the park before.
Continue reading “Kondaa – Walibi Belgium – May 2021”
Today we’ll continue our series about the Spanish Theme Park History with the sixth article. Every two weeks we’re publishing one of eight articles about the history of thirteen Spanish amusement and theme parks. Some of them no longer exist, but some others are still operating and receiving guests nowadays. In this series, we travel in time through 168 years in theme park history, starting in 1853, to our days in 2021. In this article we’ll focus on Isla Mágica and Terra Mítica.
Continue reading “Spanish Theme Park History – Part 6: Isla Mágica & Terra Mítica”
We’re back with a follow-up to our Janfusun FancyWorld Throwback, featuring a relatively obscure park that boasts an impressive variety of Intamin rides: Leofoo Village!
Continue reading “Throwback Series: Leofoo Village”
In this series of articles the Coaster Kings teams look to share some advice that will help our readers plan their travel. This week Ian outlines the steps to prepare for a trip to a theme park in the United States. This article is specifically geared towards American theme parks in general. Look for articles on the Disney and Universal resorts in the future!
Continue reading “How To – U.S.A. Parks”
After a little break, today we’ll continue our series about the Spanish Theme Park History with the fifth article. Every two weeks we’re publishing one of eight articles about the history of thirteen Spanish amusement and theme parks. Some of them no longer exist, but some others are still operating and receiving guests nowadays. In this series, we travel in time through 168 years in theme park history, starting in 1853, to our days in 2021. In this article we’ll focus on PortAventura, the very first theme park of Spain and the only Universal park that has ever existed in Europe.
Continue reading “Spanish Theme Park History – Part 5: PortAventura”
Welcome back to part two of our culinary journey across Europe. We really hoped you enjoyed part one and are ready to find our some more of our favourite places! Myself (Emma) and James have been busy writing this article over the last month as there really is so much to chose from. Having to whittle places down means we could not mention them all, but if we’ve missed your favourite place or you want to let us know about a highlight, please leave a comment or find us on social media!
Continue reading “Our Favourite European Theme Park Food – Part Two”
In Part 9 of this series I briefly mentioned Six Flags ambitious expansion throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. A growing American economy made the expansion of the theme park market seem unstoppable. A series of park acquisitions and the acquisition of Six Flags by Premier Parks that was finalized in 1998 expanded the company’s portfolio to include European parks, movie themed parks, and animal parks. At the park level Six Flags unveiled park expansions and additions at a dizzying rate. From the years 1997-2003 Six Flags Magic Mountain received a brand new coaster every year. It is worth noting that with the exception of 1999 each one of these additions was a major, and in many cases record breaking coaster: 1997 saw the addition of the record breaking 400 ft tall Superman: The Escape. 1998’s Riddler’s Revenge remains the largest Stand-Up coaster in the world. 2000’s Goliath opened as the world’s tallest continuous circuit coaster. 2002’s X introduced the world to the 4th dimension coaster. And 2003’s B&M floorless Scream was built to be a reliable addition after X‘s problems. X was originally set to open in 2001 but was delayed significantly. Six Flags chose to open another major thrill machine from Vekoma. Unfortunately, this coaster would have its own set of problems. In August of 2001 Six Flags and Vekoma unveiled the world’s first “Giant Inverted Boomerang”, Deja Vu.
Continue reading “Lost Coasters of California – Part 10: Déjà Vu”
Hello and welcome to part one of our 2 part article on our favourite European theme park foods. Today myself (Emma) and James will be talking all about our favourite foods, snacks and restaurants. We want to dive into the best food in Europe and share with you, and find some more theme park gems along the way. We sadly haven’t visited all the theme parks in Europe (wouldn’t that be a dream) so these are our favorites that we have personally experienced.
Continue reading “Our Favourite European Theme Park Food – Part One”
In this new industry focused series, we want to highlight theme park related companies in who (help) create rides and attractions. Who works behind the scenes to deliver us some wonderful and memorable experiences? In this first post, we focus on a pretty new company: BoldMove!
Continue reading “Industry Highlight: BoldMove Nation”
Paramount Park’s 13 year foray into the theme park business resulted in a significant number of successes and industry oddities. The application of Paramount theming in existing regional parks gave us two significant B&M Top Gun inverts and the world’s first major linear induction motor launch coaster, Flight of Fear. However their tendency to experiment and take additions in different directions also resulted in a string of failures and disappointments. Kings Dominion opened the late Volcano, The Blast Coaster in 1998, a prototype Intamin inverted catapult coaster that never seemed to run reliably throughout its 20 years at the park, and the ill-fated prototype air launch coaster Hypersonic XLC in 2001. Carowinds opened a Setpoint suspended water coaster in 2000 called Flying Super Saturator which lasted less than 10 years. Canada’s Wonderland still has an odd collection of mid-size coasters for the world’s most popular regional park including 1995’s SLC Top Gun and 2004’s Zamperla flyer Tomb Raider, The Ride. The chain’s flagship, Kings Island, received one of the most notorious failures of them all, 2000’s wooden hyper coaster, Son of Beast. That same year the chain would add a unique prototype to Great America, the world’s first major flying coaster, Stealth.
Continue reading “Lost Coasters of California – Part 9: Stealth”
Boysenberry Festival is in full swing at Knott’s Berry Farm through May 2 and it is a sanitized finger lickin’ good time!
Continue reading “Knott’s Taste of Boysenberry Festival – March 2021”
Today we’ll continue our series about the Spanish Theme Park History with the fourth article. Every two weeks we’re publishing one of eight articles about the history of thirteen Spanish amusement and theme parks. Some of them no longer exist, but some others are still operating and receiving guests nowadays. In this series, we travel in time through 168 years in theme park history, starting in 1853, to our days in 2021. In this article we’ll focus on Parque de Atracciones de Madrid, a park with lots of history, an interesting variety of rides and attractions, that is constantly evolving to offer the best experiences to its guests.
Continue reading “Spanish Theme Park History – Part 4: Parque de Atracciones de Madrid”
In this new series of articles I want to take our experiences and share them with our readers to better prepare them to conquer the (theme park) world. I sat down and started with day-by-day reliving of trips around the world and things we learned along the way that would have been useful to have known beforehand. I think the perfect destination to discuss first is the People’s Republic of China. Whether you’re there just to hit theme parks, or plan on spending time visiting major sites, the tips in this article may really help!
Continue reading “How To – China”
In a time where most of the theme parks in Europe are uncertain about opening in time for the 2021 season, we decided to do a little throwback to last year’s trips and especially to a little park in the north of France, Dennlys Parc. It may be the hidden gem of the north of France, come with us as we recall our visit to Dennlys Parc!
Continue reading “Dennlys Parc – A Little Gem Hidden in the North of France”
Last week we focused on Windjammer Surf Racers and how it was a product of Knott’s Berry Farm’s attempt to navigate the space between the family and thrill market. It faced the problem of Magic Mountain dominating the thrill market with major coaster additions, many of which we’ve discussed here, and Disneyland’s hyper detailed themed experiences. Northern California in the late 90s had a far less competitive theme park market. After the construction and runaway success of Tidal Wave in 1977 Marriott’s Great America, eventually Great America in 1985 and then Paramount’s Great America in 1993, had remained consistent with coaster trends. In 1986 they opened the wooden Grizzly, 1991 saw the addition of the B&M standup Vortex, and 1993 saw the addition of the still-beloved B&M invert Top Gun. These consistent additions, despite changes in ownership, resulted in a solid coaster collection any regional park could be proud of.
Continue reading “Lost Coasters of California – Part 8: Invertigo”
We’ve had a busy month but found some time for a quick trip to Universal Orlando Resort. Of course we couldn’t visit and not get some VelociCoaster testing footage! Enjoy this new VelociCoaster update!
Continue reading “Jurassic World: VelociCoaster Update + Testing – Late March, 2021”
You can’t build new old coasters – any park could conceivably build a new ride from scratch, but there’s something about a relocated coaster that feels unique. A ride on its 2nd or 3rd location is also on its 2nd or 3rd lease on life, or even its 2nd or 3rd identity. Parks with multiple relocated coasters dedicate themselves to continuing the stories of these rides – many of which whose narratives were thought to have already ended.
Continue reading “2nd Hand Coasters”
Today’s roller coaster landscape is becoming increasingly international. With the rise of streaming video, social media, and even Google Translate the coaster enthusiast community and industry is more connected than it’s ever been. With the recent rise of Chinese theme parks and Chinese ride manufacturers it’s easy to forget a time when Japan seemed second only to the United States as a thrill ride destination. The undisputed king of the Japanese coaster manufacturers was “Toyo Goraku Ki Kabushiki Kaisha” or TOGO. TOGO opened their first roller coaster in 1953 at Hanayashiki park in Tokyo and soon began building rides all over Japan. In 1983 their stand-up coaster model was opening at Kings Island as King Cobra, bringing TOGO to North America. Over the next two decades TOGO would try to capitalize on this success and expand into the American and European market. They eventually opened a subsidiary named TOGO International headquartered in Middletown, Ohio. While there was some success an ill-fated 1997 project at Knott’s Berry Farm would mark the end of TOGO’s presence as a leader in the coaster world.
Continue reading “Lost Coasters of California – Part 7: Windjammer”