PW SEPT08 P6-7.qxd 8/18/08 1:34 pm Page 6
Park News
www.parkworld-online.com
ParkHoppin’
Haunted hatred!
by Paul Ruben
Maple Leaf Coasting
Dungeon dispute gets dirty
It would appear the owners of a new haunted attraction in London have scared
I returned recently from Toronto where I visited Canada's
not only their own guests but also the operators of an established venue close by.
Wonderland and I rode their new mega-coaster, Behemoth, pictured
The London Bridge Experience opened in the English capital back in February,
here. I love Toronto. Bustling, clean, everything works; it's like New
and while part of the attraction is dedicated to the history of the famous bridge
York City run by the Swiss.
from which it takes its name, a large section is also given over to a haunt
I love Behemoth, too. It is over a mile long, 230ft high, drops
experience called the London Tombs.
riders at a 75-degree angle, and reaches a top speed of 78 mph.
That has angered Merlin Entertainments, which runs The London Dungeon
Don't you enjoy travelling at illegal speeds?
close to London Bridge train station. Opened in 1975, the attraction now pulls in
Behemoth features for the first time B&M's new staggered
three-quarters-of-a-million visitors a year. Merlin has taken the unusual step of
seating, so everyone can see where they are going. Half the
starting legal action against The London Bridge Experience, which it claims is an
fun of a coaster is visual, the other half is physical, caused
attempt to copy The London Dungeon.
by the quickly changing g-forces of the ride. Some people
“Merlin believes that The London Bridge Experience is transparently designed
who ride a coaster in terror close their eyes to lessen their
to mirrorThe London Dungeon’s concept and marketing positioning,” says a
fear. On previous four-in-a-line B&M trains, if they sat in the
company spokesperson. “Its location, just yards from the London Dungeon,
centre seats they could leave their eyes open and still see
compounded by its copycat marketing literature and promotional activity, are,
nothing.
Merlin feels, deliberately intended to confuse visitors and to unlawfully trade off
I know B&M did this to shorten the train in an effort to
the high quality, goodwill and reputation of Merlin’s long established attraction.”
equalise the variation in g-forces, but I always thought the loss
Merlin also claims that visitors queuing to enter the Dungeon have been
of sight lines versus better g-force control was a less-than-
deliberately targeted in an attempt to divert them away to the “inferior attraction”
perfect trade-off.
The new trains
restore the sight lines,
but also lengthen the
Ocean Park’s tunnel vision
train by more than
One of Ocean Park’s signature features is the spectacular cable car ride that
50%. To compensate,
links the Hong Kong facility’s lowland and headland areas. Yet this
B&M has elongated
breathtaking journey alongside the South China Sea is not for everyone, and
the camelback hills,
neither is it a quick way to commute from one part of the park to the other.
resulting in an
With this in mind, and as part of Ocean Park’s ongoing HK$5.5 billion
extended period of
redevelopment programme, a 1.2km tunnel is under construction which,
negative gravity, or
when opened in 2009, win run parallel to the cable car and link the renamed
airtime, over each hill.
Waterfront and Summit areas in less than three minutes. The tunnel will be the
Better sight lines, more
home to the Ocean Express funicular railway and feature four trains (two in
air time? That's a win-
each direction), with a maximum capacity of 5,000 park guests per hour each
win solution.
way.
Canada's
After the recent breakthrough of the tunnel, workers are now lining the
Wonderland
walls ahead of track laying, which is expected to start very soon. The Ocean
immediately seized
Express trains are currently being fabricated in Switzerland. “The tunnel
the bragging rights
breakthrough will go down as a pivotal point in our development,” said
for Behemoth being Canada's biggest, fastest and tallest
Ocean Park chairman Dr Allan Zeman (pictured below) at a ceremony to
rollercoaster. I'm not sure it's the biggest, since Marineland's
mark the construction milestone in June.
Dragon Mountain sprawls over more land, but clearly it is the
tallest and fastest.
According to the 2007 TEA/ERA Attraction Attendance report,
Canada's Wonderland now also has the distinction of having the
highest attendance of any seasonal theme park in North America.
That's because 1) the park is doing a fine job of bringing in new,
appealing attractions and 2) the Toronto region's population is
exploding because of immigration. What 20 years ago were cow
pastures surrounding the park is now mile after mile of houses.
And those houses are filled with families of thrill-seekers just
waiting to ride Behemoth.
For the young riders, I think they will find it very similar to going
through a haunted house. People always scream, then pretend
they were scared. But it's different for adults. I'm convinced that
what adults like most about rollercoasters is being able to sit down
after standing in line for two hours.
6
SEPTEMBER 2008
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52