Here are some of the parks that added new coasters in 2013:
Six Flags Magic Mountain: The California park took out their log flume, an attraction that had opened with the park in the 1970s, and added a coaster with the largest loop in the world. It also includes backwards and forward launches. Apparently the coaster isn't all that great. I have not ridden it, as I've never been to California.
California's Great America: The bay-area California park added a much needed good wooden coaster called Gold Striker. The park's other wooden coaster, Grizzly, is considered one of the worst wooden coasters out there, and as the park has lost quite a few coasters in recent years, this was a good addition. It's gotten rave reviews from coaster enthusiasts, and it includes a curving first drop that goes around the park's sky tower. The coaster was meant to be built years ago, but office buildings surrounding the park raised hell about noise. Well, it was finally built and incorporated several tunnels to fend off noise accusations.
Six Flags St. Louis: They took out their bumper cars, which weren't great in the first place, and added a used Boomerang coaster that can be found in many parks in the USA. One they got from Six Flags over Texas. It's been repainted and given the boring Boomerang name. Enthusiasts hate these coasters, but the general public loves them. And it adds another coaster to a park that doesn't get them often.
Knotts Berry Farm: California park took out the much down-time plagued (and one that resulted in a death a decade ago) water ride Perilous Plunge and added some new flat rides and a wild mouse coaster called Coast Rider, creating a new area of the park. A big hit with the families, it's identical to Ricochet at Kings Dominion.
Elitch Gardens: The downtown Denver park added a kiddie coaster called Blazin' Buckaroo. The park doesn't have any room to expand, and they really need a good coaster. They don't have any that are considered exceptional, which is sad as they have 6 coasters.
Cedar Point: The huge Ohio park closed their much-made-fun-of enclosed bobsled coaster, Disaster Transport last year and imploded their sky tower to build the biggest wing-rider coaster in the world. It's called Gatekeeper, and is one I actually rode this year. It towers over the front of the park. It's a very good ride, though not my favorite of the new wing-rider style coasters (X-Flight at Six Flags Great America is better). It's very picturesque and is a good addition to a park that has 16 coasters though.
Six Flags Fiesta Texas: The San Antonio park completely re-did their wooden coaster The Rattler, which was at one point the tallest, fastest wooden coaster in the world. They had a company come in and turn it into a wood-steel hybrid, redoing much of its layout and adding an inversion. Instead of one of the most painful coasters on the planet, it's now a very smooth ride with much airtime and a first drop of 171 feet at a 81 degree angle.
Silver Dollar City: This park in Branson, Missouri added a coaster called Outlaw Run made by the same company that re-did The Rattler. However, this coaster is completely new and has 3 inversions... It's also not a hybrid. It's completely wooden. It's gotten rave reviews, and I can't wait to ride it one day. Now if only I wanted to go to Branson.
Family Kingdom: The Myrtle Beach park added a used Wild Mouse type coaster they call Twist 'N Shout. I've been to the park, and it fits the park's small footprint well.
Fun Spot America: This new small Orlando, Florida park added 3 coasters this year. A kid coaster, a family coaster, and a wooden coaster called White Lightning. It's made by GCI, which is one of the best wooden coaster companies out there. It's a smaller coaster, but knowing the company, it's got great airtime.
Besides these few coasters, only a few smaller parks added kid coasters. Many parks spent this year just doing general improvements. Charlotte's Carowinds theme park added animatronic dinosaurs similar to what other parks in the Cedar Fair chain have done the past few years. I'm not a fan of this trend, as the dinosaurs are very fake looking, and they charge you money to see them. Worlds of Fun in Missouri and Valleyfair in Minnesota also added the dinos this year.
Some additions were more fulfilling, though. Sea World Orlando added a new dark ride/exhibit that simulates a trip to Antarctica, complete with a penguin exhibit. Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey completely re-did their drive-through safari attraction so that it was included with park admission, and you no longer drive your own car through it. You now take safari vehicles driven by park employees. Universal Studios Florida added Transformers: The Ride, which I hear is amazing. It cost $100 million to make, and is a totally immersive experience that includes 3D-glasses, simulator seats that move along a track, animatronics, and many 60ft movie screens throughout the ride. If you've ridden Busch Gardens' Curse of Darkastle, it's like that, only 10x better, apparently. Another one I can't wait to experience someday. Six Flags Over Texas unveiled a 400ft swing ride, which is exactly like it sounds. Spinning around 400ft in the air held by only chains. This terrifies even me, but I'll do it. Six Flags Over Georgia added a 200ft model of the ride. A lot of parks just decided to add to their waterparks, which is what parks do now in a lot of their off years. They are cheap to build, and they are crowd-pleasers. Parks that did this were Six Flags America, Six Flags New England, Holiday World, HersheyPark, and the numerous Six Flags Hurricane Harbor parks. Of course, Kings Dominion redid their aging kids area, removing some rides that were nearly 40 years old, including Yogi's Cave, which was not up to code anymore. Everything is now Snoopy themed and it looks great. Six Flags New England also redid their kids area and renamed it Whistlestop Park.
I wasn't really that impressed with the additions on the eastern half of the United States this year. It seems most of the interesting stuff (besides Transformers) went to parks west of the Mississippi this year. In fact, no park nearer than northern Ohio to me added anything of interest. However, it was hard to beat 2012 in regards to park additions. It looks like next year will be a smidge better. Sadly, it looks like Busch Gardens will, again, get nothing.
Stay tuned Sunday evening for my thoughts on next year's additions, which should be much more interesting.
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