Wednesday January 25, 2012
My father wasn't a fan of roller coasters. He was wary of tall escalators, let alone rickety mechanical rides. But he and my mother dutifully took my brother and me to the coaster havens of our youth and helped plant the seed for this crazy love affair I developed with amusement parks. While he steered clear of the rides, my dad nonetheless enjoyed his park visits around New England, particularly the delicious park food we both craved, such as homemade potato chips and onion rings at Salisbury Beach, chop suey sandwiches (you read that right: sandwiches filled with chop suey!) at Salem Willows, Joe and Nemo's hot dogs at Revere Beach, and the mounds of seafood at Rocky Point's massive shore dinner hall.
While we didn't share a love of coasters, we did share a passion for...passion. He had his own things about which he cared deeply, such as classical music, cars, opera, and Hunan whole crispy fish. He lived his life with gusto and a take-no-prisoners attitude, and he encouraged his children to do the same. While I don't think he quite understood my passion for parks (and I'm not sure anyone, myself included, really does), he did get a kick out of it and applauded it.
My dad died last night, and Friday he'll take his last ride to the cemetery. He crammed plenty of living into his life, but it seemed to end so suddenly. I've often shared my motto here at About.com's Theme Parks site: Life's too short. Enjoy the ride. In so many words, that is the advice that my dad gave to me. Please allow me to pass it along to you. Find your passion, whether it's crazy coasters, Szechuan food, or classical music, and pursue it. Enjoy the ride.
Tuesday January 24, 2012
The Nashville area has been without a major theme park since Opryland closed its grand ole' park a few years ago. In 2014, the Tennessee metropolis will still be coaster-less, but it will have a new water park and snow park. According to Dollywood, it will partner with the Gaylord Opryland Resort to develop a 114-acre property next to the Nashville resort. The first phase will feature an outdoor water park, to be open in the warmer months, and an outdoor snow park that will entertain guests during the cooler months. Details were not available, but it's likely that the snow park would include snow tubing trails and a snow play area similar to Snow Mountain at Stone Mountain Park in Georgia. The park would use snowmaking technology to supplement the natural snowfall.
With Dollywood in the mix, it would seem natural to expect full-fledged theme park as part of the plans, particularly because the area has been clamoring for one since Opryland left the building. A later phase may, in fact, bring roller coasters and other park rides. For now, perhaps, Dolly and the gang are testing the Nashville waters.
Connect with Arthur: Twitter | Facebook
Monday January 23, 2012
Like many grand dames from California, the Disneyland Hotel got a facelift. Soon after Disneyland opened in 1955, the adjacent hotel welcomed its first guests. Through the years it grew and evolved, but it had recently been showing its age, especially in comparison to the resort's elegant and upscale Disney's Grand Californian. Two years ago, the Mouse began re-Imagineering the hotel and has now taken down the construction walls. In addition to renovated rooms, the made-over Disneyland Hotel features new restaurants, a new courtyard, the themed Big Thunder Suite and Fairy Tale Suite, and evocative retro touches at the new Monorail Pool, which includes a water slide tower that pays homage to the original Disneyland sign and monorail.
Connect with Arthur: Twitter | Facebook
Photo: Disneyland, 2012. Used with permission.
Friday January 20, 2012
As if the 2012 season wasn't already chock full of incredible new rides, along come two more. La Ronde, the Six Flags park in Montreal, will debut Vol Ultime, a swinging tower ride. At 45 m (about 150 feet), it's not as tall as some of the more extreme swing rides (such as the 301-foot Windseeker coming to Carowinds in the spring), but it should play on our innate acrophobia to incite dread nonetheless. I have not had a chance to ride any of the newer swing rides, but just the sight of passengers spinning and dangling at insane heights from chains while secured to swing chairs with a simple waist/crotch restraint -- and daring to raise their arms with look-ma-no-hands bravado to boot -- is enough to give me the willies.
Legoland California, meanwhile, just announced that it will be debuting Pirate Reef, a buccaneer-themed shoot-the-chute ride. Because the park is geared to the pre-teen crowd, the drop will be a relatively tame 25 feet. The park will also expand its Star Wars Miniland, which features characters from the films fashioned out of Lego blocks. To see what else parks have up their sleeves this season, go to my Ride Guide 2012.
Connect with Arthur: Twitter | Facebook
Photo: Six Flags.
