New rides. New shows. New coasters. New thrills. Even new theme parks. There will be plenty of reasons to visit North American amusement parks and theme parks in 2011. Highlights include The Little Mermaid ride at Disney's California Adventure, part of the ongoing expansion of Disneyland's second park; wild, new coasters at Busch Gardens Tampa, Six Flags Magic Mountain, and Six Flags Over Georgia; and the snappy new Legoland Florida (which is being built on the stately grounds of Cypress Gardens). Please lower your lap bar, and keep your hands inside the moving vehicle at all times, as we discover what's new at theme parks in 2011.
The guide is arranged alphabetically by U.S. state. Canada follows at the end.
- This page includes what's new for the 2011 season at theme parks in U.S. states from Arkansas to Massachusetts.
- The next page includes what's new for the 2011 season at theme parks in U.S. states from Michigan to Ohio.
- The third page includes what's new for the 2011 season at theme parks in U.S. states from Oklahoma to Washington plus Canada
ALABAMA
Alabama Adventure Bessemer, Alabama
Buzzsaw Falls- New shoot-the-chutes ride will get boatfuls of riders soaked and send plumes of water shooting in the air when the boats hit the landing pool.
Find More Alabama Theme Parks
ARIZONA
Find Arizona Theme Parks ARKANSAS
Find Arkansas Theme Parks CALIFORNIA
California Theme Parks 2011 Ride Guide There's a whole new world of goodies awaiting California park fans in 2011. The expansion of Disney California Adventure continues with the opening of The Little Mermaid ride. And Disneyland visitors will be able to travel from under the sea to the far reaches of Tatoonie when the retooled Star Tours opens. Six Flags Magic Mountain climbs to the top of the roller coaster mountain by adding three (sorta) new thrill machines. Let's take a park-by-park look at these developments and more new California fun.
COLORADO
Find Colorado Theme Parks CONNECTICUT
Lake Compounce Bristol, CT
Rev-O-Lution The Mega Disk'O will send riders spinning on a large ride vehicle that will travel back and forth on a U-shaped coaster track.
Quassy Amusement Park
Middlebury, CT
Wooden Warrior
The small, traditional amusement park will add a new family wooden coaster that will climb 35 feet, drop 45 feet, and reach a top speed of 35 mph.
Find More Connecticut Theme Parks
DELAWARE
Find Delaware Theme Parks FLORIDA
Florida Theme Parks 2011 Ride Guide It's hard to top The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which debuted in 2010, but there's still plenty of big news at Florida theme parks for 2011--including a brand new park, Legoland Florida. Also, a sleek, fast coaster will debut at Busch Gardens Tampa, Discovery Cove has a new reef to explore, and Walt Disney World has some unique ways to "Let the Memories Begin." Speaking of memories, remember Star Tours? A new version of the groundbreaking, Star Wars-themed motion simulator ride is set to blast off as well in 2011
GEORGIA
Six Flags Over Georgia Austell (near Atlanta), GA
Dare Devil Dive A "Euro-Fighter" model, the sleek new roller coaster will lift single cars straight up a 95-foot top-hat tower, pause them at the top, then send them down a beyond-straight drop at 52 mph. A series of acrobatic maneuvers will follow.
Wild Adventures
Valdosta, GA
Splash Island waterpark expansion
Wild Adventures' water park will get two large family raft rides in 2011.
Find More Georgia Theme Parks
IDAHO
Silverwood Athol, ID
Ricochet Rapids A new family raft ride is coming to Boulder Beach, the water park at Silverwood.
Find Idaho Theme Parks
ILLINOIS
AZoosment Park at Santa's Village
East Dundee (near Chicago)
After a 47-year run, Santa's Village took down its colored lights and packed away its jingle bells permanently in 2006. It's not exactly a Christmas miracle, but the once-shuttered holiday-themed park will get a second chance when AZoosment Park at Santa's Village opens in spring 2011. The smaller, retooled park, which had a trial run for a few weeks in 2010, includes some of the original Santa's Village rides, such as Santa's Slide, along with animal exhibits and other attractions. It also offers classic rides, like The Whip and the Midge O Racers, culled from Kiddieland, another Chicago-area park that closed.
Six Flags Great America
Gurnee, IL
Riptide Bay
The water park, Hurricane Harbor (which is included in the general admission to Six Flags Great America), will be getting bigger with a new area that will feature a new FlowRider surfing attraction, new water slides, and and an activity pool with watery diversions for younger visitors.
Find More Illinois Theme Parks
INDIANA
Holiday World Santa Claus, Indiana
Safari Sam’s SplashLand, new
Timberliner trains for The Voyage, and a new spinning "sleigh" ride.
Holiday World's Splashin' Safari water park will get an eight-slide attraction for smaller splashers. Perhaps the bigger news is that the highly regarded wood coaster, The Voyage, will be getting new, sleek prototype coaster trains that should deliver a smoother ride experience.
Indiana Beach Amusement Resort
Monticello, Indiana
Zipline and Kiddie Land
A new zipline attraction as well as a spiffed-up Kiddie Land are part of major restoration plans at the park for this season.
Find More Indiana Theme Parks
IOWA
Find Iowa Theme Parks KANSAS
Both of the state's parks, Joyland and Wild West World (which lasted less than one season), are closed.
KENTUCKY
Beech Bend Bowling Green, KY
Tiki Island The water park at Beech Bend will be getting Tiki Island, a new interactive water play complex with seven slides, a bunch of sprayers and gizmos to soak others and get soaked, and a huge tipping bucket. The park will also be getting a new amphitheater and two (undisclosed at the time this was written) spinning rides.
Find More Kentucky Theme Parks
LOUISIANA
Find Louisiana Theme Parks
MAINE
Find Maine Theme Parks MARYLAND
Six Flags America Mitchellville, MD (near Washington, D.C.)
Zoomazon Falls New Amazon rainforest themed attraction at Hurricane Harbor, the water park that is included with admission to Six Flags America, will offer riders a choice of four body slides. Six Flags America will also welcome four new shows including two based on popular television programs, Survivor Live! and Bob the Builder Live.
Find More Maryland Theme Parks
MASSACHUSETTS
Six Flags New England Agawam, MA (near Springfield, MA and Hartford, CT)
Gotham City Gauntlet Escape from Arkham Asylum Transplanted from the shuttered Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, where it was known as Road Runner Express, the Wild Mouse-style coaster will climb about 50 feet, reach a top speed of 28 mph, and feature characteristic hairpin turns.
Also coming to Six Flags New England:
Survivor Live An interactive stage show based on the TV series comes to the park this season.
Find More Massachusetts Theme Parks
Next Page: The 2011 Season Ride Guide continues with parks from Michigan to Ohio.
No comments:
Post a Comment