Small News From The Theme Park Industry

[ECG]

The town council in Rapid City, South Dakota, approved plans for the Libertyland USA theme park project, which is slated to become the state's largest entertainment and residential development. The 300-acre project will include a theme park, resort hotel, retail center, RV campground, and residential district, creating up to 2,000 jobs and generating significant tax revenue. Source
Park website

 

[ECG]

Triple post Yay!
PokePark Kanto is a new outdoor Pokemon-themed area that will open in the spring of 2026 within the Yomiuriland amusement park in Japan. It will include areas such as Pokemon Forest and Sedge Town, where visitors can interact with more than 600 Pokemon through various activities. Source

 

[0rdinary-her0]

The town council in Rapid City, South Dakota, approved plans for the Libertyland USA theme park project, which is slated to become the state's largest entertainment and residential development. The 300-acre project will include a theme park, resort hotel, retail center, RV campground, and residential district, creating up to 2,000 jobs and generating significant tax revenue. Source
Park website

This is literally California Adventure-lite

 

[Thekingin64]

Unfortunate news out of the Hersheypark water park last night:


Source: Hersheypark FB

 

[JoshC.]

Walibi Belgium turned 50 years old today.

As part of the celebrations, they dressed Manneken Pis - the famous Brussels statue / water fountain of a boy having a wee - in a costume of their mascot...

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0r6iADBp9F2Za2bVRqf1u7ERyw9EwqLGWZoNhPebYs54ywNQ4VXcwyaRLYAHZyU6Gl&id=100064800965603

 

[MannekenPis]

Walibi also had a drone show and late opening. Park was busy and a lot of fast passes in use meant some long queues but still fun, and drones were impressive.

 

[KristofWB]

Walibi Belgium turned 50 years old today.

View attachment 38853

This photo is like...legendary! It has the actual general manager of the park on the far left. It is all thanks to him why Walibi has become what it is now. He is also is one of the nicest people for fans and enthusiasts. Beneath him (with the blue vest) is Dominique Fallon, who was promotion manager for Walibi since it opened in 1975 and was the confidant for Walibi founder Eddy Meeùs. For Belgian fans, he is concidered a living legend!

The woman next to Walibi is Viviane Paturel, who was the parks general manager during the Six Flags Belgium era.

 

[cookie]

Efteling’s Danse Macabre is currently out of comission due to a significant oil leak caused by a broken cylinder, according to sources to Looopongs. A new part has been ordered from Intamin, but it’s currently unknown when the acclaimed dark flat ride will be back up and running again.

Kapotte cilinder zorgt voor olielekkage bij Danse Macabre: Efteling hoopt dat attractie snel open kan

De onverwachte sluiting van Danse Macabre in de Efteling wordt veroorzaakt door een kapotte cilinder. Dat vertellen verschillende ingewijden aan...

www.looopings.nl

 

[cookie]

Efteling’s Danse Macabre is currently out of comission due to a significant oil leak caused by a broken cylinder, according to sources to Looopongs. A new part has been ordered from Intamin, but it’s currently unknown when the acclaimed dark flat ride will be back up and running again.

Kapotte cilinder zorgt voor olielekkage bij Danse Macabre: Efteling hoopt dat attractie snel open kan

De onverwachte sluiting van Danse Macabre in de Efteling wordt veroorzaakt door een kapotte cilinder. Dat vertellen verschillende ingewijden aan...

www.looopings.nl

And four hours after this post was made, Danse Macabre reopened:

Danse Macabre at Efteling queue times

Queue times, information and statistics for Danse Macabre. View historical average queue length by day, and view ride availability.

queue-times.com

 

[cookie]

The infamous Ring Racer has now been partially dismantled after standing still for close to twelve years, with the pre-launch section having been removed to make way for an access road for motorsport drivers. The launch and the figure-eight turnaround are apparently still standing for the time being.

Nürburgring-Achterbahn "Ring-Racer": Teilabriss hat begonnen

Die Achterbahn "Ring-Racer", die im Rahmen des gescheiterten Projekts "Nürburgring 2009" für Schlagzeilen sorgte, verschwindet in Teilen

www.motorsport-total.com

The removed section is this zig-zag track after departing the station, meant to simulate a leisurely drive before the launch (1:30 to 1:50):

First ride of the RingºRacer Nürburgring Rollercoaster! GoPro Hero3+ Superview

My first ride of the Nürburgring's 4.5 year-late-to-open "RingºRacer". The fastest rollercoaster in Europe!Thanks to: http://www.rent4ring-events.de and http...

youtu.be

 

[JoshC.]

Merlin has now confirmed they’re building clones of Minifigure Speedway on the site. The two tracks will be named ”Banana Juice” and ”Popcorn” after their team captains, Corn Cob Guy and Banana Guy.

Footers are in place and the coasters are expected to go vertical soon.

LEGOLAND® Billund Is Pushing The Accelerator All The Way To The Floor In 2026

backstage.merlinentertainments.biz

There's some further construction afoot. Not sure if it's really worthy of its own topic...

Themepark Magic

Het Deense Legoland Billund is bezig met de bouw van een nieuwe dubbele racecoaster. Het park opent in 2026 de rollercoaster "Minifigure Speedway". Deze Zierer coaster wordt een kopie van de...

www.facebook.com

I'm a little disappointed they're just going for a clone of Windsor's investment. I mean, I get it and it works for Billund, but given how their other coasters are unique in terms of Legolands, I was hoping for the same again. Heck, I'd have taken a clone of Maximus at Legoland Deutschland.

 

[ECG]

I don't think that's typical here in the UK. I think you'd be harnessed where height is a factor. ...

When I was filming 360 videos for Dollywood Thunderhead e-stopped on the lift hill. I wasn't on the train, so I had to harness up for the walk up the lift hill to remove my camera from the mount. Everyone on the train was evac'd sans harness, even though the train was stopped at the top of the lift hill, and simply told to be careful on the way down. SOP
As a bonus, I got to take this photo while on the way down.

 

[ECG]

23 people were injured when a Chinese-manufactured 360 pendulum ride at Green Mountain Park in Hada, Saudi Arabia, experienced a structural failure. Riders crashed into the support structure and counter-weight before hitting the ground after the swing arm snapped mid-ride. Source (with video)

Edit - The first article I read said it was made in China, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

 

[Boodangy]

That arm was way too spindly to hold up a gondola with that many seats. Poor riders, I hope as many of them as possible were spared the worst injuries. There's a certain 'look' to the illegally operating Indian/Chinese made ride companies (illegal as in they don't have the permission to operate from the local government but sell abroad for cheap) and this fills the criteria, absolutely, and of course I don't know much about this park so lack of appropriate maintenance could be a factor for all I know.

Annoyingly of course all the local rags have made a million articles here as well already about how many similiar pendulum rides exist in our parks.

 

[TPoseOnTantrum]

Chinese-manufactured

There's a certain 'look' to the illegally operating Indian/Chinese made ride companies (illegal as in they don't have the permission to operate from the local government but sell abroad for cheap) and this fills the criteria, absolutely

Believe it or not this one was actually Italian, it came from RidesAndFun/Tomasoni Group. They've provided a good handful of rides to that park and their company logo was on said pendulum. Still a third rate product.

 

[Boodangy]

Believe it or not this one was actually Italian, it came from RidesAndFun/Tomasoni Group. They've provided a good handful of rides to that park and their company logo was on said pendulum. Still a third rate product.

On the Tomasoni Meccanica website you can find in-progress photos of a similiar ride that also says 360 on the pendulum in the same font as the ride in said accident except with a smaller gondola, to where it seems for that park they just produced the same but with a much larger gondola and no other changes, which is insane. Meanwhile the RidesAndFun website has been completely unusable for years now so can't find much there.

Maybe there's something I'm overlooking but to me there's no logical way this could happen on such a new ride (at least visually looks almost new) from lack of maintenance, given it looked/sounded more like the metal straight up sheared.

On a lighter note, go read the RCDB page for Top Fun (now RidesAndFun). "Whether Top Fun is a ride broker, manufacturer or combination of both is a bit of a mystery."