Zoombezi Bay and Jungle Jack's Landing Update

For those of you who haven't driven along the new Powell Road recently, there's quiet a bit of action going on. Since late fall waterpark towers have been going up left and right. More recently vertical construction has been climbing up over at Jungle Jack's Landing (the dry section between the two parks). The log flume lift and turn around is well into the air. Supports for some of the other new dry rides are up as well. One of which I can only guess (and hope) is the flying scooters.

Google tells me this is at the Columbus Zoo, in case anyone else didn't know.

Awesome. I might have to drive by this weekend and get some pictures.

Nice to see something going on, but it seems to me there is no way this park is going to be ready for guests until much later in the summer.

Anyone know more details, like who's supplying the flume and what the other rides are going to be?

matt: Good point to Joel's comment...and for further background, this is the former site of Wyandot Lake.

To see what it looked like when the Men in Red came through on 11/29/2006, have a look at the video on my site. Since then, the site has changed *a lot*.

Zoombezi Bay could potentially make Geauga Lake's water park look kind of pathetic by comparison...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

http://s209.photobucket.com/albums/bb185/ntweisen/Zoombezi%20Bay%20Construction/

Pictures taken on Friday. Video will probably be up tomorrow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIprxN0U-JU

Does anyone know if the coaster or any of the dry rides will be running this year? There's currently not any listing of them anywhere on the park's website. So far, they only list the waterpark attractions.

I haven't heard anything official but I don't see why they wouldn't open. Could be they just don't have names for all of the rides yet.

Probably, the reason they're not listed on the waterpark's site is they're considered part of the zoo.

I don't know for certain whether or not they'll be running, but when I renewed my zoo membership earlier this month, I asked a staff member what the deal was with the rides, etc. She said they are pay-per-ride, and did not seem to think there would be a POP wristband etc available. I was told that right now, there are the ride cards they've had ("punch" cards that are 15 punches for $10,) but that she believes they're working on new, reloadable cards. She certainly didn't indicate that the dry rides *wouldn't* be working, so I would infer then that they will be open. The last time I drove past (again, a few weeks ago,) the place appeared to be coming together.

To me, $60-80 (depending on whether or not you're a zoo member) is pretty steep for a pass that doesn't even include the dry rides -- especially when dry rides cost around $1/piece. I didn't mind the price too terribly much, as I figured that it was a small dry park in addition to the waterpark. But I have a feeling they're going to have a number of angry customers on their hands when people who purchase the passes find out that they have to pay again for the rides. (When the park was Wyandot, the handful of dry rides were included.)

Anyways, that's getting a bit o/t. Short answer, Brother Dave, is that I'm fairly certain they will be.

Carrie

Thanks, Carrie. I checked the Columbus Zoo's website, also. No mention of the coaster or any of the new rides yet there, either. So far, they only list the zoo's existing rides (train, carousel, pony track, boat ride, etc). Hopefully, they'll list them soon. We were thinking of possibly stopping there this summer on our way to Kings Island. *** Edited 4/23/2008 2:50:40 AM UTC by Brother Dave***

No problem. Based on what I saw a few weeks ago, the rides look to be coming along nicely (and quickly,) so even if they're not ready by the waterpark's opening Memorial Day weekend, I would think they'll be ready shortly thereafter.

Thanks again!

I swung by the zoo the other day and took some construction pictures. There is still a ton of work to do but the good news is it was 6:30pm on a Friday when I stopped by and they were still hard at work. It appears as though all of the major slides are done so the majority of work left to do is the ride side. Rides I could see: wooden coaster, swinging ship ride, flyers, and a log flume. Enjoy the pictures.

http://s209.photobucket.com/albums/bb185/ntweisen/Zoombezi%20Bay%20Construction/

I've been up there on the job and I've seen (as far as dry rides go) the swinging ship, the Flying Scooters, a Zamperla wave swinger (junior), frog hopper, flume, Tilt a Whirl, and Scrambler. My guess is the last two were left over from Wyandot, just repainted. Near the entrance is a large buiding that looks like a carousel pavilion, but I'm not sure if it will hold a ride or not. (The ride from Wyandot was one of the few pieces that sold, and the original Ilions machine was restored a few years back and is in the actual zoo itself.)

There was a news story the other night that had a fly-over shot of Zoombezi, and even though it looks like there's a lot to do, we were assured that everything would be ready to go on Mem day weekend. I think the emphasis for the first season will be on the waterpark, which looks great, ride-wise. It all came from Whitewater, and they've left the old Christopher Island dump bucket play structure, too. The new wave pool looks huge.

As far as additional dry rides go, I think we were promised a DiskO and a spinning coaster of some sort. (The rendering has a coaster that looks a lot like a Gerstlauer back to back type ride-if that's the case I wouldn't look for it till next year.)

The grounds currently consists of giant mud holes, and they look like they will eventually become lakes, which will be nice. The footers for the flume and swinging ship are positioned over one of these lakes.

I'll post more if anything new shows up.

Looks like there are 10 major slides:
Sea Splash tower complex (7 slides): Slippery Seals 3 body slides (dark blue, aqua, and green all starting from the highest point)
Sea Snakes 2 bowl slides with one or two person rafts (orange and yellow and blue and yellow)
Sea Tubes 2 raft slides loading on same level as bowl slides (green and aqua)

Cyclone is the tornado slide (yellow and blue). Launching from the same tower is Tahitian Twister family raft ride (blue and black).

Dolphin Dash is the six person racer. Sounds like a pretty good line-up for a brand new park. Hopefully there will be an animal element in the future like the Dolphin slide at Sea World's Aquatica.

Oh, I forgot to say that Sea Dragon is still there, and they were working on the track that day, too. It looks even smaller now compared to some of those giant slides.

What an incredible difference between the old Gooding Zoo Park days and now!

There was an insert in the Columbus Dispatch today with a complete list of all of the rides as well as their names. I scanned in a few pages which can be found on my photo bucket site. Opening day is May 26th. I agree that it is a scam. Thirty bucks for admission and that doesn't even include the rides.

http://s209.photobucket.com/albums/bb185/ntweisen/Zoombezi%20Bay%20Construction/ *** Edited 4/27/2008 4:32:47 PM UTC by Amnesiac***

(Warning: rambling rant ahead...)

I'm really interested to hear how this pay-per-ride bit goes over... especially if it remains at $1/ride (which is the current cost for the carousel, boat ride, and mini train.)

Generally speaking, I'm a fan of the zoo and what they do, and although admission is steep, it's a *very* nice zoo and so I've never complained too much. (I'm also usually a member, so I shell out once and am able to get myself and a guest or two in anytime I need.) Paying for the rides in the zoo never bothered me -- after all, it's a zoo, not an amusement park -- but somehow paying for rides in a park feels a different story.

Selfishly, I'm looking at it this way: I run a small day care (six kids) and am in discussion with my clients to get season passes for the kids for the summer, figuring it's something we can do once a week or so and still have fun. However, I ASSumed that the dry rides would be included (particularly as they were when it was Wyandot.) Now I'm looking at probably $6-7 per ride, per visit (dependent on their polices on under-twos riding for free and whether or not they charge accompanying adults,) in addition to the already-purchased passes.

So the "value prospect" of the pass itself dims, especially furthermore when I factor in walking a group of little kids through/past the dry park on the way to the waterpark every time we go. They'll whine & beg to get on the rides, and honestly, I can't really blame them. While my personal solution will probably be to have a 'choose one ride' (or two) rule, and let them each ride one ride per visit, I just feel like it's not something that should be an issue after buying a pass.

As someone who is/will be both a zoo member AND a season pass holder to the waterpark (which I have no problem having separate gate fees,) I'll be interested to see if there's a discount on the rides... and if not, or if it's a crappy one, that's really upsetting to me.

Seems to me they could come up with a better plan... a $20 upcharge on the pass for those who want to include dry rides, dry rides free for passholders (pay-per-ride for those on day passes... sure would sell more season passes,) or a $5-7/day POP wristband. Just something that makes it more reasonable than 12 rides at $1/piece.

I'm not knowledgeable enough to know: is there another waterpark that includes the water attractions at the gate but is pay-per-ride on the dry rides? (I understand the uniqueness of the zoo/waterpark combo, but can't recall an instance of a waterpark that charged additional for dry rides. Definitely doesn't mean it hasn't happened though.)

Ah well... I should stop talking in the same circles in each post and just deal with it I guess. I'm just frustrated, as someone in the area, at having to pay then pay again for attractions that it seems should be included.

On the positive side: I'm glad to see lots of reasonable height restrictions on the rides. Sea Dragon at 42" (what did it used to be,) but the vast majority of the other rides at 36". Causes less drama for my teeny 4.5 year old, who is of course the shortest (at finally 39") but most thrill-seeking of my group.

/End ramble. (Ugh. I gotta learn to be more succinct.)

Carrie

I think Sea Dragon has always had a low height restriction. My daughter rode two years ago and she wasn't over 43 or 44 inches yet.