Disney has announced a new themed coaster called Expedition EVEREST.

The ride will be at Disney's Animal Kingdom in the form of a new high-speed train adventure that combines coaster-like thrills with the excitement of a close encounter of the hairy kind.

Walt Disney World guests will discover for themselves the legend of the yeti when Expedition EVEREST opens in 2006 at Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park. The new thrill attraction was announced on April 22nd during the park's 5th anniversary festivities at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.

"Expedition EVEREST adds a new dimension to our storytelling in Disney's Animal Kingdom," said Joe Rohde, executive designer at Walt Disney Imagineering and lead designer of the park. "It's a thrilling adventure themed to the folklore of the mysterious yeti."

In Expedition EVEREST, guests board an old mountain railway destined for the foot of Mount Everest. The train rolls through thick bamboo forests, past thundering waterfalls, along shimmering glacier fields and climbs higher and higher through the snow-capped peaks.

But suddenly the track ends in a gnarled mass of twisted metal and the thrills intensify as the train races both forward and backward through mountain caverns and icy canyons and guests head for an inevitable face-to-muzzle showdown with the mysterious yeti -- known to some as the abominable snowman.

At nearly 200 feet high, Expedition EVEREST will be located in the Asia section of the theme park. Expedition EVEREST will feature Disney's FASTPASS, an innovative system -- offered at no charge to park guests -- designed to reduce wait times at popular attractions in all four Walt Disney World theme parks.

Disney's Animal Kingdom is a 500-acre theme park located in Orlando, Florida.

Walt Disney in conjunction with HP have announced a new ride slated for Epcot in 2003.

Mission: SPACE will offer guests a one-of-a-kind "astronaut-like" experience, launching them into a simulated space adventure -- from pulse-racing liftoff to the sensations of traveling through space.

In association with former NASA advisors, astronauts and scientists, Walt Disney Imagineering created Mission: SPACE with new technologies, making it the first-ever ride system created to take guests straight up in simulated flight. Guests are transported in time and place -- decades into the future to an International Space Training Center where they encounter simulated challenges faced by real astronauts.

"The combination of Disney magic and HP technology will create a truly one-of-a-kind guest experience," said Al Weiss, president of the Walt Disney World Resort. "Epcot is the perfect setting, continuing the park's dedication to 'the explorer in all of us' with its unique attractions that inspire us to discover new worlds."

With a career in the NASA space program that spanned more than 30 years, six-time NASA shuttle astronaut Story Musgrave is an ongoing consultant to Disney's Mission: SPACE project. Musgrave describes the new attraction as "a place where guests can imagine our future in space and their role in it, walking in the footsteps of heroes and building on the wealth of technology we've developed to date."

Mission: SPACE will be located in Epcot Future World next to the popular attraction Test Track, presented by General Motors.

Florida's oldest theme park, Cypress Gardens has closed as a result of dramatic drop in visitors since 9/11.

The theme park located south of Orlando opened in the 1930s and is famous for its water-ski shows. In 1995 the park was purchased from Anheuser-Busch by a group which included park managers.

The park had 42,000 fewer visitors in March 2003 than it did in March 2002.

The transformaion to Six Flags New Orleans from Jazzland was complete with the opening of the newly renovated park on Saturday Arpil 12th, 2003. The transformation is the result of over $20 million in capital improvements by Six Flags, Inc. Six Flags New Orleans, with its two new roller coasters, new rides, live shows and some new attractions, will feature something for everyone.

BATMAN: THE RIDE, based on the legendary DC Comics Super Hero, is a suspended looping steel coaster that send riders on a 50 mph journey 105 feet into the air along 2,700 feet of twisting steel track. With only air beneath their feet, riders experience hairpin turns, vertical loops, corkscrews and a one-of-a-kind, zero gravity heart line spin. Batman: The Ride resides in the DC Comics Super Heroes Adventures area along with 3 other new rides: Lex Luthor's Invertatron, Catwoman's Whip and The Joker's Jukebox.

The Jester, a 1,936-foot steel roller coaster is located in the Mardi Gras area of the park. The Jester travels backwards and has a 360-degree vertical loop and 79-foot drop.

The park will also feature more shade and cooling water elements, including 50 mature live oaks and southern magnolias, strategically placed shade structures providing 70% more shade along the midway, and Pop Jet fountains shooting refreshing streams of water high into the air. "We are now ready to claim our place as the region's premier family entertainment destination," said Terry Prather, general manager of Six Flags New Orleans. "We are truly proud of the transformation that is Six Flags New Orleans and we look forward to providing Six Flags thrills and entertainment for years to come."

Gary Story, president of Six Flags, Inc., adds, "The opening of Six Flags New Orleans heralds a new day for family fun and will enhance a destination that already knows how to 'pass a good time.' The transformation is nothing short of phenomenal!"

Six Flags New Orleans is open weekends only April 12 though May 18. Park hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sundays. Hours will vary when the park opens every day from May 23 to August 17 and then returns to weekend operation August 23 through November 2.

Six Flags, Inc. is the world's largest regional theme park company. Through its subsidiaries, it owns and operates a total of 39 parks in North America and Europe. Six Flags parks serve 35 of the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the United States.

PAX Design Company has announced plans to erect a 200 meter (656') tall ferris wheel in Moscow, Russia. Such a wheel would by far exceed the height of the current world's tallest wheel. The wheel's planned location is on Sparrow Hill, very popular tourist attraction near Moscow State University. The behemoth wheel will also be one of the first Restaurant Wheels, an ingenous PAX design in which each of the wheel's gondolas is a restaurant, and passengers can consume a meal during their stay on the wheel.

While permits for the ride have been approved at this time, a fixed sate for installation has not been decided. The ride will most likely not be opened for several years. In the mean time, the first of PAX's Restaraunt Wheels, will open in 2004 in Eastern Europe. It will measure 103m (338').

PAX is quite well known for their Ferris Wheels, most notably the Eurowheel, a 90m (295') wheel at Mirabilandia Park in Ravenna, Italy.

The image available at left is a computer generated image of a PAX Restaurant Wheel. (Courtesey PAX Design Company)

The new Tower of Terror is the latest incarnation of The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror(TM), the 13-story thrill ride at Disney-MGM Studios that features high-speed ascents and descents within a haunted hotel façade.

For this ride change, Theron Skees and Michael Tschanz, "imagineers" at WDI were designated to make it reality.  As the WDI creative show producer for Disney-MGM Studios, Skees works with lighting and interior designers, conceptualists, writers and architects on every creative aspect of the theme park. Skees also has an extensive background in sculpting, thematic painting and design.  Tschanz, who has a master's degree in electrical engineering, found his calling in applied mathematics and started his career at a large technology corporation in Texas where he developed simulations and performed systems analyses on graphics supercomputers. As a principal software engineer for Scientific Systems, Tschanz works with three-dimensional simulations, real-time control algorithms and systems modeling.

"Some have called us a two-headed monster," laughs Tschanz, "but it is a great complement of left brain and right brain skills."

The combination of those skills produced what Skees and Tschanz call "Tower of Terror 4," signifying the fourth time (since its debut in 1994) that the attraction has reopened with a new ride and drop sequence. Each time, more thrills and special effects were added. This time, Skees and Tschanz actually placed the attraction in control, as the complex computer system randomly chooses which ups and downs guests will experience. In addition, more special effects were added, making Tower of Terror one of the most advanced multi-sensory attractions anywhere in the world.

While Skees and his team brainstormed ways to surprise guests like never before -- with ghostly apparitions, 3-D sounds, surprising smells and making the elevator vehicle move in different ways -- Tschanz kept his computer running non-stop, inputting data and meticulously measuring variables such as ride time, drop time and "air time." Tschanz's meticulous studies resulted in the technology and capabilities of Tower of Terror being pushed farther than ever before. Knowing Skees was busy pumping more surprises than ever into the attraction's storyline, Tschanz's mission from the outset was to create an out-of-this-world experience using digits and denominators to complement the illusion and effects.

"Through analysis, you want to push these systems and get as much as you possibly can out of them because you're going to get a better guest experience out of them. Also, creative (Skees' team) is going to be happier with the final product, and then our guests will be really happy," Tschanz says. "Everybody's going to win. It's certainly harder and takes more time to do that, but you end up with a much better product in the end."

Skees and Tschanz, along with their respective teams, spent approximately two years on the redesign of Tower of Terror, pouring through multiple mock-ups, computer models, creative designs and reams of data. Since the attraction was open to park guests during the day, the teams had to work around the clock, spending many late nights inside the dark elevator shafts. Skees and Tschanz often found themselves strapped inside the elevator cars for up to three hours at a time as new drop sequences were tested and studied. Tschanz estimates he rode the attraction nearly 3,000 times during the project.

The result, they agree, exceeded even their lofty expectations. Each ride has a new sequence of events. "As far as which one is next, the sequence does not go in any order and then just start over. The Tower actually has a random number generator that's based on modulo functions," he says. "It is a totally random set of numbers. We don't know and even the ride operators don't know. Really, only the Tower knows."

Bon Bond Land, an amusement park located in Holme Olstrup, Denmark, will be opening a record breaking roller coaster next month. The new ride, to be named "Grand Prix", will feature a first drop sloped at 95º. In other words, the drop will be five degrees past vertical, curving back under itself. The coaster is designed and manufactured by the German company Gerstlauer GmbH. It will also feature a single vertical loop right after the unique drop.

S&S Power, the people who pioneered compressed-air technology for both roller coasters and tower rides, have begun work on their first wooden roller coaster. The coaster is already under construction at Enchanted Village in Federal Way, Washington. Named "TimberHawk", the coaster will stand 30m (75') tall, 793m (2600') long, and will feature 12 drops. The ride will also include a ninety-degree turn directly after the first drop. It is designed to be very compact, and to incorporate dives through it's own structure into the ride as much as possible. (The park is claiming twenty crossovers!) Trains for the coaster will be supplied by the Phillidelphia Toboggan Company.

The TimberHawk will be the first wooden roller coaster built in washington in 68 years, the last one being Coaster Thrill Ride, a classic John Miller designed coaster at The Puyallup Fair.

Despite being an S&S ride, the TimberHawk will not be launched.

Conde Naste Traveler, February, 2003 has just published a reality check list of fatality statistics. Death from an amusement park ride is third lowest. The risk of dying from heart disease is 1 in 300, from a gunsthot wound is 1 in 9,450, from a small pox vaccine 1 in 750,000. In comparison, death from an amusement ride is only 1 in 70,000,000.

Cedar Point Park in Sandusky, Ohio has announced their latest Roller Coaster. Named Top Thrill Dragster, the ride will be similar to Xcellerator at Knott's Berry Farm. Ride designer Intamin AG will be using their hydraulic launch mechanism to accelerate passengers to 193 kph (120 mph). The trains will then travel up a vertical section (similar to Xcellerator's), reaching a maximum height of 128m (420').

The park is billing the ride as the world's first "strata-coaster", using the term to mean any coaster over 400 feet tall. A four-hundred foot coaster is better known to roller coaster enthusiasts as a "Teracoaster". This will be the fourth coaster at the park to have broken the height record, after Gemini, Magnum XL-200 and Millennium Force.