Round Table: May the Odds
...Raise Hell? Something Epic?
Welcome back, this past month has been quiet and on auto pilot for a few reasons. For one thing, its been busy at work and the stress just wants me to take it easy. Second, I don’t have a chair at the moment as the chair that came with my desk when I was 5 doesn’t have a cushion-so I took a wobbly dining room chair and that broke its leg and I don’t feel like taking any more chairs so I’m usually watching stuff or working on the No.1 Sentai Gozyuger adaption from the couch or my bed. Also the top story out of this month did sap some inspiration from my novel (which I’m reworking), so that initially killed a lot of motivation. I also hope going to my new laptop fulltime will also resolve any issues with Substack, but I’m just burying leads at this point-lets excavate them.
Top Story-Capital News Network
The month opened on a bombshell in the theme park world, Six Flags was going to close Six Flags America just outside of DC. While a local’s park of the Maryland side of DC, Annapolis, and southwest Baltimore-it actually has struggled all 50 years its exisited, including the now 26 under the Six Flags name. It started off as Wild World Safari Park, then Adventure World. They tried to go water park only, but they barely broke even. Wild One came on the cheap because the saw what Knoebles did with Phoenix and thought it was feasible to save a ride in Massachusetts whose park had closed.
The saving grace for the moment is that the zoning for the land hasn’t changed and that management and Prince George’s County (PG) can talk with the community about alternatives. There are a few small water parks in the inner Virginia Suburbs such as the one near the Alexandria Yard on the DC Metro-which is the largest of the public water parks right now. It would be nice if PG can maintain the water park and sell the rest for redevelopment.
However, they also have another redevelopment site as the Washington Commanders will return to the district boundaries on the site of RFK Stadium, leaving a second hole in the inner suburbs. I could see RFK get some mixed-use stuff since its near Morgan Boulevard (but its still a hike for attendees to the stadium) and I assume the rec center in the one corner can stay. Basically, build on the rec center and have a greater mix of apartments, townhomes, and maybe a few mixed-use or taller buildings if the legislation can get past. Six Flags America is doomed to become Single Family homes if the land is subdivided. Even if Hurricane Harbor can be saved, I don’t have much hope for the theme park.
Apparently they want to relocate Firebird, the 35-year old stand-up turned floorless they got second hand from Six Flags Great America over in Chicagoland when Frontier City or Great Escape are very deserving on another Great America hand me down that would easily be transportable-Ragin Cajun.
The ride does have a decent flat ride hardware that is fairly recent. Parts and new trains for Superman (Intamin Megacoaster) and Skywinder (Vekoma SLC) will be put to good use. However, the lack of brand new coasters since the 2010 Bankruptcy leaves nothing salvageable coaster-wise:
Firebird is old and already been relocated before (although its compact)
Batwing is the last of its kind and problematic (it would also be another dumb move by the company to relocate after already axing the prototype, Nighthawk, over the off season)
Superman is too big to be salvageable (although there are parks that would love it in an ideal situation)
The park seemed to actually try and fix Roar’s reputation, but too little too late
Joker’s Jinx is an old Premier and there are more popular rides of that era (including 3 clones) that could benefit from it instead in hopes of seeing the decade out (or seek LSM conversion)
Skywinder is an older SLC, and these are passe at this point (they were still being built when Serial Thriller at Astroworld closed, but became dated by the time it reopened as Ednor at La Ronde)
Great Chase is a very small kids coaster-so it will only be used for parts
Wild One is lucky it got relocated once before but it won’t probably happen again unless someone is actually dumb enough to try; that only leaves
Paulton’s Park
The family-operated and family-oriented Paulton’s Park near Southampton has been on the rise since the Pandemic with the opening of Tornado Springs in 2020.
Recently, they opened up the second Mack Gameplay theater (Grand Prix Edventure at their own Europa Park being the first) Ghostly Manor. The concept is to provide a compact shooting dark ride where you spin into different scenes.
This proved well for Paulton’s since they had a seldom used 4D Cinema they could easily slot it.
2026 proves to be another game changer for the park as one of the last areas to get a refresh finally will as the area around Cobra becomes Valgard, a viking themed area featuring a Gerstaluer Eurofighter with 2 inversions.
It seemed Paulton’s may have been interested in the past with getting a more family-thrill ride in Storm Chaser (a modern clone of Sierra Sidewinder at Knott’s Berry Farm). I don’t think anyone would’ve expected a B&M wing at a Legoland park, but here we are.
Cobra will be rethemed to Raven, Magma (drop tower) removed, and Edge (Zamerpla Disk’o) will be relocated to a better location. Joining the line up will be a Wild Swing, a modern take on the Huss Top Spin.
Best part is that this is only phase 1 with a water attraction due in 2027-which could potential add dark ride elements, bringing this park technically up to two dark rides from 0 in just a few years.
This park seems to have nice gardens in the heart of the park and learning about all the Titanic stuff there from Steve Marsh’s Queen Mary 2 series, you could make a good short-break out of it.
Other Business
Zamperla on Rye
Rye Playland in Rye, New York-very close to the Connecticut Border, has been in limbo as its previous operator backed out. It seems the city has contracted Zamperla, who operate Luna Park in Brooklyn, to take over ride maintenance while they handle the remaining day to operations of hiring and management.
Clementon Ready to Raise Hell(cat) Once Again
Down since Gene Staples took over the park, it seem Clementon Park near Lindenwald has given RMC a call for their 208 retrack to help the park’s SBNO star attraction. Over 1000ft of the maintenance version of their hybrid track (in addition to some new wood track) is expected to be installed on the ride. It remains unknown if the ride will be ready to have some public runs this season. If it does open this year, I’m going to 100% PATCO to cover it.
El Diablo from Six Flags Over Texas (100ft Super Loop) also popped up.
Various kiddie coasters also recently showed up at sister park Indiana Beach.
Openings
The long-awaited Epic Universe at Universal Orlando Resort formally opened just in time for Memorial Day weekend, with previews with permitted recording starting roughly a month prior with an influencer sneak peak day. It’s been too much to handle, so I tried to take a step back from all the content as much as possible-but its nice to see a space already so lived in…even if this is in a theme park context vs a true urban environment.
On top of the news from Pulton’s Park, we have confirmed dates for though is that Legoland Shanghai is slated to open on July 5, with the Ninjago spinning coaster having recently opened at Legoland Korea.
SeaWorld also opened their flying theater, Expedition Odyssey to mixed reviews and sending someone to the hospital due to the sign falling off a day before opening. Big Bad Wolf is making its revenges now at Busch Gardens Williamsburg as well.
Festivals
In event news, Parque Warner in Madrid has announced they will be hosting a Pride event from June 30th to July 6 at an enthusiast event on May 17th.
State of the channel
I actually found out Google has saved my footage from the 2019 Worldwide Koasters Kids Day at Great Adventure (at least most of the raw footage) and Clementon Park, so these are now saved to my hard drive. All the photos from all the meet-ups and side promos are also saved.
Another cool find was the bracket we did the last night of American Music Abroad back in July 2016 in the Hotel Banana City in Winterthur, Switzerland. Not that I see it as something important that was lost, but how much of a mark I have for what little time I spent there and now its a Jetlag: The Game location lol.
As for June? I want to focus over here on the Substack again about some potential SEPTA bus route ideals whilst the agency is in its biggest crisis yet. Yeah, optimism in the dark.