Waldameer 2009 News

^No more ridiculous than Vekoma doing the same. A weency bit less ridiculous, IMO, but not by much.

Ahhh, but Vekoma call theirs a Flying Dutchman. :)

I hope they don't remove anything for the new ride.

But, they done it in the past. Spider replaced flyers in '77.

Paratrooper replaced traver circle swing(rocketships) in'74. Old mill removed for thunder river'96. Bumperboats removed for RF3. Kiddie turnpike removed for bumperboats'83. Scrambler was moved for sky ride to it current location in '78.

Wow I never realized there was a swing were Paratrooper is now. Of course in 74 I was only 5 years old. And its hard to believe Thunder river is now 12 years old, how times fly. Thunder river in my opinion is still the best log flume around anywhere! I do remember the flyers and when the Spider was put in. I used to love the spider as a kid, now it makes me sick. My mom was so disappointed when the took out the flyers.

I agree with rsscbell PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE ANY RIDES!! I hope they find a new location for a new ride. I especially hope they never remove the wacky shack or the pirates cove, you just can't find those types of rides anywhere now.

Coasterfreakfromeriepa said:
I do not know what the deal is with not getting any more used rides. They have purchased many in recent history such as: Iron Dragon, The Ferris wheel, and the drop tower (X-scream). All of them have been been popular and reliable.

Wrong.

The last used ride to be bought by the park was the Sea Dragon from Conneaut during their auctioning. The Ferris Wheel was bought brand new from Chance, and X-Scream was purchased new from A.R.M.

Every ride since the Sea Dragon has been a brand new ride. (The Ferris Wheel, Thunder River, Wipeout, Ali Baba, Steel Dragon, X-Scream, and Ravine Flyer).

Lord Gonchar said:
Ahhh, but Vekoma call theirs a Flying Dutchman. :)

There ya go getting all technical again...

The ferris wheel was purchased used, I willing to bet money on that!

Yes you are right the Steel Dragon was brand new. The Sea dragon was used. I could have sworn the news said the Xsceam was purchased used.

My bad I actually said Iron Dragon in an earlier post when I meant Sea Dragon. The Iron Dragon off course is at Cedar point. And of course we also have the Steel Dragon.

Well, I didn't see it anywhere else, the Announcement was that there are 3 announcements. 2 of which we found out yesterday.

1. Ravine Flyer II won Best new ride of 2008
2. Paul Nelson won Person of the Year (He didn't even know it until they announced it)
3. They're checking out the potential new ride while they're in Florida and that nothing is definite yet.

The interview was on the Millcreek Township Channel in Erie, and it was a couple years before RFII. I remember him saying that he would never buy a used ride again as plain as day. I remember so well because I always wondered why they never got some great rides that were up for sale. It would be news to me if Gondola Wheel, Sea Dragon, or X-Scream were used.

Coasterfreakfromeriepa said:
But now when I ride the one at Kennywood I think to my self how boring! I guess when you grow up you can also grow up out of rides too.

Awww, the Kangaroo still gives me the giggles when I ride it. It's so simple and yet so fun. I love letting my legs go limp and watching them fly up on each bump! :)

I need rides like that to balance out the total park experience. It can't all be terrifying in my book. :)

Coasterfreakfromeriepa said:
The ferris wheel was purchased used, I willing to bet money on that!

You'd lose. It was one of the first Giant Wheel that Chance produced. It was the largest US-manufacturered ferris wheel. Hell, Chance-Morgan still use the picture from when it first opened in their Product Guide

The Sea Dragon was bought at an amazingly low price when Conneaut got desperate and starting frantically auctioning off all of their rides. It was bought while The Flying Coaster was in it's last couple seasons, which is when the main problems arose with the ride. After it was removed, Nelson made the comment about "never buying another used ride."

Once again, I know for a fact that all rides (post-Sea Dragon) are brand new rides.

The actual name of the ride is Flying Coaster, designed/built by Norman Bartlett. They were quite common- we rode the one at Cedar Point as kids, and there were many traveling models in the 60's and 70's as well. I think Kennywood claims to have the last operating original Flying Coaster, and they may be right. On my first visit to Waldameer theirs was laying in pieces behind the Wipeout which was already in place, new for that year I suppose. I seem to remember a sign there that told that their ride was the last, or maybe more accurately, 1 of 2 left.

Traveling European shows carry similar pieces, which go by a common name that escapes me right now. In the 70's Schwartzkopf had a ride called the Sprung Schantz with similar action (it looked similar to the Bayern Kurve or Swiss Bobs, but with wide cars that "flew" over the bump) and now Majestic has updated the Flying Coaster concept with their Catch'N Air.

2009 Plans have been released. Waldameer is getting a Mega Disk'O and they are extending the midway.

Cool. Not the biggest fan of the Disk-O ride, but it should fit nicely there. It's a nice family fun ride.

Ditto that. As in past years, Paul Nelson is displaying a great feel for what improvements are appropriate for the park. A Mega Disk-O will be a perfect addition.

It did seem a bit odd to me that he would reveal new attractions for 2010. Isn't that a violation of some amusement park cardinal rule?

These are great additions, hopefully he will be able to expand the waterpark soon as well, but that would require adding more parking spaces because the only spot to expand it would be into the main parking lot.

Pardon my ignorance...."Mega-Disk'O" is like KW's Cosmic Chaos, or like Avatar at KI and Survivor at CGA? I view both of them as expansions of the Disk'O concept, but not exactly sure what to call either one.

A Disk'O seats 24 people. A Mega Disk'O seats 40 people.

I wouldn't be suprised if Zamperla was where they were getting the Flying Carousel from also.

Ah, OK. So the "Mega" is the ride KW got, and the Survivor/Avatar ride is being called "Disk'O Coaster" (whether or not it actually coasts is another question, LOL)... ;)