Zierer supplies new family fun to Calaway Park: Riptide Racer
AT: Tim Baldwin
tbaldwin@amusementtoday.com
CALGARY, Alberta, Canada — Since opening in 1982, Calaway Park has seen growth as it has maintained its tradition of providing family fun. This past season, the park has added a new ride and upgraded buildings to keep the park a fresh experience.
New for 2023 was a Zierer Jet Ski Ride. The nature of this attraction gives riders some interactive control to carve their path in the water pool as the arms rotate around a central hub in the middle of the reservoir.
“Riptide Racer was selected as Calaway Park’s new ride because the ride experience perfectly matches our demographic. It is a family fun ride,” said General Manager Bob Williams. “Members of our team traveled to Legoland New York to experience the ride for themselves, as well as observe its operation. After one ride, we were sold.”
For more than 20 years, Jet Ski Ride has been a perennial seller for Zierer.
“Zierer installed the first Jet Ski Ride in Carlsbad, California, at Legoland California in 1999,” said Bill Ossim, sales, North America, Zierer. “We’ve since installed about 40 units worldwide.”
Riders board from the center. Guests ride in a standing position and control their vehicle as it speeds through the water. Certain maneuvers can create waves that not only create fun splashes but also affect riders behind them.
“The Jet Ski Ride is one of those rides that is entertaining for those watching from the mall,” Ossim told Amusement Today. “The riders actually control their path by steering into or away from the center ring. Rides that allow the guest to control the experience are always very popular; adding the water element steps up that experience to another level.”
Calaway Park purchased the Jet Ski with nine vehicles, but it is also available in a six-unit model.
“Just after the ride opened, I had a mom approach me after riding Riptide Racer with her son,” said Williams. “They couldn’t have been more excited and proclaimed it was their new favorite ride at Calaway Park. Our guests are thrilled with this new addition to the park. It is simply a fun ride, and they are having fun every time they experience it.”
With the Canadian location, AT asked Williams if water attractions are still popular in the north.
“Though Canadian winters can be cold, our summers are warmer than many might realize,” he said. “We have been consistently adding attractions to the park to help our guests cool off during their day. Two of our most popular rides, the Timber Falls log ride and Bumper Boats, are water rides, and in 2019 we added CP Spray n’ Play, which has been a home run. In 2022, we had 74 days of our 100-day operation that were over 20 degrees Celius (or 68 Fahrenheit).”
Zierer supplies the attraction with various themed vehicles.
“The Riptide Racer uses our Rescue Boat theme,” said Ossim. “This theme is very fitting for the Jet Ski Ride. We have several standard theme options. However, our art and fabrication department has been challenged and effectively developed some great custom themes.”
Children between 40 and 52 inches must ride with an adult. Guests over 52 inches can choose to ride alone or with another.
“It is great to watch parents and children experience the ride together, while those single riders, whether a child or adult, get to create their own rider experience,” said Williams.
A Chaos ride was retired to make space for the new addition. Calaway Park had been in talks with Zierer for some time.
“We initially were working on a much larger project, but with the COVID interruption, the park decided to wait on that project and went with the Jet Ski Ride,” said Ossim.
In addition to the new ride, the park has done a major upgrade with new, whimsically themed buildings.
“Calaway Park’s Main Street buildings have had the same theme and façades since our opening in 1982. They had served us well but had reached the end of their life cycle,” Williams told AT. “It was time to replace the materials, and that gave us the opportunity to refresh the look with a new theme. Four buildings were completed in the winter of 2022/2023. They include Village Shop, our gift store; Sweet Toothe Candy Shop; Little Bucks bumper cars and The Burger Inn.”
Three-dimensional sculptures make the structures fun and inviting.
“Each building has its own theme,” Williams said. “This completes the west side of our Main Street, and there are plans to complete the remaining buildings in the coming years. We worked with JRA to complete the initial concept and then worked with a local studio named Studio Y to complete the building façades and installation. This is just the beginning, and we are excited for our guests to experience the area once the project is complete.”
More than 30 rides are offered to guests. In addition to the amusement park, Calaway Park has a 104-site campground within a short walking distance of the rides and offers views of the mountains. Calaway Park is the largest outdoor amusement park in Western Canada.
Super team of Six Flags,
Skyline Attractions debuts two family racing coasters
Kid Flash: Cosmic Coaster shines in Texas and Georgia
AT: Tim Baldwin
tbaldwin@amusementtoday.com
SAN ANTONIO, Texas and AUSTELL, Georgia — Anticipation built for the debut of new attractions at both Six Flags Fiesta Texas and Six Flags Over Georgia. The fall debut of Kid Flash: Cosmic Coaster brought excitement to the shoulder season.
Supplied by Skyline Attractions, the installation is a single rail-style track system that features trains on a pair of tracks that intertwine and cross over and under each other.
“We knew we were going to get an efficient and fun profile, because that’s what Skyline Attractions does,” said Park President Jeffrey Siebert, Six Flags Fiesta Texas. “Skyline does fantastic profiles for Great Coasters International all across the world. Having their expertise when it comes to profiles, we knew it would be fun, but it is great to see how broad an appeal it really has.”
Each park had one junior coaster in its arsenal, but the debuts of Kid Flash: Cosmic Coaster brought in newer family fun in a spectacular way. As the name almost implies, it was flashy.
The racing coasters use an Aurora light package that makes for a fun visual during the day, but at night the transformation into something captivating truly comes to light.
“The Kid Flash Cosmic Coaster installations capitalize on the Aurora LED lighting package by transforming the intertwined tracks into kinetic strands of lightning, perfectly matching the speedy Kid Flash comic character. But the lights have limitless potential,” said Tyler Mullins, design engineer, Skyline Attractions. “They can be used for holiday overlays, private events, paid sponsorships and more. The pixels are all mapped in 3D space, meaning that animations are not restricted to a linear path along the track, but can instead treat the full ride as a huge, twisted canvas.”
Staying with the DC Comics IP, Six Flags will continue to feature the electronic pulse to go with the theming, although background colors could change with the season. As with outdoor billboards, the lighting intensity reduces at night to adapt to the suitability of the time of day.
In the event a lighting panel goes out, that component can easily be replaced.
“Skyline is supporting the warranty for this new prototype experience,” said Siebert. “Our team has learned to interchange panels and troubleshoot. We anticipate that it will hold up very well, but Skyline has components and replacement panels ready to go.”
“Integrated into the track’s top and sides, the Aurora LED lighting package transforms the roller coasters tracks into a kaleidoscope of lights and colors, creating a dynamic ride experience to be enjoyed by riders of all ages,” said Jamie Sebastian, public relations, Six Flags Over Georgia.
While parks are still installing high-profile, skyscraping roller coasters, an industry trend is to focus on younger riders.
“There's been extremely limited innovation from American manufacturers regarding children's coasters over the past two decades, and P'Sghetti Bowl Children's Coaster addresses this. It introduces a single-rail, weld-free track design that streamlines fabrication and makes the product ideal for parks, zoos and FECs of all sizes,” said Mullins. “It uses an incredibly inclusive train design that allows children and adults to ride together. And the ride is ideal for any location, with its low price tag and compact footprint. The ride experience also caters to all ages, with its zippy transitions and dueling nature offering a fun, exciting ride without being too intense for younger riders.”
“Kid Flash satisfies one of the strategic initiatives that we’ve had, which is to offer multi-generational attractions,” Siebert told Amusement Today. “We’ve been known for big thrills, exciting thrills — the bigger the thrills the better, but we want to make sure we are building rides and attractions for everyone in the family. And everyone has a different thrill scale and what they enjoy. In selecting Kid Flash, it really hits that multi-generational approach from Mom and Dad to Grandpa and Grandma to enthusiasts and thrill seekers. Hopefully it hits all those sweet spots, and everyone will like it. The profile of the ride and the excitement and the way the ride looks really appeals to a broad audience.”
“Racing is one of the most exciting parts of Kid Flash Cosmic Coaster,” added Mullins. “The two tracks have 12 crossover moments and a mixture of dueling and racing action. You'll be able to see the other train throughout the whole ride, and the racing element will make the exciting ride even more re-rideable.”
“The profiling and racing and dueling aspects of the ride hit spot-on, just like the animation [we had provided],” said Siebert. “If you have family members or friends at opposite ends of the train, you are truly seeing them face to face as you duel or go through the crossovers and flybys. You have great sightlines seeing your other family members smiling and screaming.”
Six Flags has programmed the ride to offer two laps per ride.
“The P'Sghetti Bowl train design is incredibly inclusive and can comfortably seat children and adults,” Mullins told AT. “Each rider has their own T-shaped restraint bar with a large foam covering, which has a large surface area to comfortably restrain them. The cars are also very roomy and easy to transfer in and out of. We fabricated a mock-up of the seat and restraint system and were able to test it with riders of all sizes to ensure a satisfactory design.”
“With a 36-inch minimum height requirement, the new coaster expands ride offerings for families and young thrill seekers,” said Sebastian.
“Each side is different, so you get off one side and say, ‘Gosh, that was fun! Now let’s go ride the other side,’” said Siebert.
The queue tells the story of who Flash and Kid Flash are. Panels explain the nature of their origins and the cosmic treadmill, which the ride is themed after.
Each park retired one ride to make room for the installation of Kid Flash: Cosmic Coaster.
While all partners involved were hoping for a ride debut earlier in the season, the end result has wowed guests.
“As with any prototype attraction, there are challenges along the way, but the great news is it is open and guests love it,” said Siebert. “I really do believe our most ardent thrill seekers enjoy it just as much as our little thrill seekers just because it does offer great coaster aspects in a very small space. It has off-axis airtime hills and double downs, double dips, quick maneuvers, crossovers, head-choppers — you name it; it’s all packed into this very compact space. You want to do it over and over again.”
Skyline Attractions has various-sized models of the P’Sghetti Bowl. Six Flags purchased the largest model, which is the racing version. In addition to the layouts already engineered, Skyline can create custom designs as well. From an operations standpoint, the company’s website states that the coasters operate with VFD logic, removing the need for a complex PLC.
In addition to these fall debuts, both Six Flags parks have new attractions to be added in the 2024 season.
