Wig Stalls Coney I. Coaster Till Rescuers Pull Rug Out From Under Riders
"Coney Island Cyclone riders had a hair-raising experience yesterday when the world-famous roller coaster stopped dead in its tracks at the top of a hill after a woman's wig blew off and got caught in the wheels. The bizarre mishap had riders stuck in their seats for nearly 30 minutes. " From The New York Post.

Adventuredome goes vertical
"Casinos are constantly adding new attractions to reinvent themselves, and Circus Circus's [Las Vehas, NV] Adventuredome is no exception to that rule. Just in time for the Memorial Day weekend, the theme park has opened a new thrill ride that shoots riders up and down a 100-foot tower. Riders will experience the force of 4 Gs on the way up and 1 G on the way down, Unlike most similar rides, thrill seekers on the Sling Shot will be powered up and powered down rather than gently sliding down the core pole." From Las Vegas Business Press.

Roller Coaster To Reopen After Fatal Fall
"Four weeks after a Connecticut man was flung to his death from a roller coaster at Six Flags New England, the ride will likely reopen this weekend. Park officials said modified restraints are expected to prevent people from boarding who are too heavy." From nbc30.com.

Disney important for 3 Central Fla. counties
"As if most residents of Central Florida didn't already know it, Mickey Mouse and Walt Disney World are major components in the region's economic tourism engine. Disney is directly or indirectly responsible for more than 111,000 jobs, more than $2.9 billion in payrolls and more than $5.1 billion in spending in Orange, Osecola and Brevard counties annually. On Thursday, Disney executives, along with an Orlando-based economist, released a study to back up those numbers. " From Florida Today.

Pleasure Island throws open its gates
"Evening visitors to Downtown Disney [Orlando] can now stroll through Pleasure Island for free under a summertime experiment to lift the fee for entering the 15-year-old nighttime-entertainment complex after dark. The three-month admissions policy, launched Sunday, still requires guests to pay the $21.84 admission if they enter one of Pleasure Island's eight nightclubs, a Walt Disney World spokeswoman said." From The Orlando Sentinel.

Theme park's weighty ban
"Overweight thrill-seekers have been banned from top rides at the Midlands premier theme park. Bosses at Alton Towers have introduced strict weight restrictions on four of their biggest attractions as a safety measure. And the theme park has revealed that the obesity crisis in Britain means it is considering a re-design of rollercoaster seats to accommodate the overweight." From ic Birmingham.

Muslim sues over Disney's dress code
"Wearing a hijab has meant not being able to work at Walt Disney World, according to a former employee who claims she lost her job because she refused to remove her Muslim head scarf. Aicha Baha's civil-rights suit, served this week on Disney, may be the first-ever challenge of the employee dress code at the Central Florida attraction." From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Students bare all for record roller-coaster ride
"Over 80 British university students threw caution and their clothes to the wind Friday to set a world record for the number of nudes riding on a roller coaster. The naked joy riders spent a hair-raising one minute and fifty seconds swooping around the rails of the gravity-defying roller-coaster ride at a theme park south of London." From MSNBC.

Spain theme park runs out of cash
"Spain's biggest theme park - launched four years ago in an attempt to rival France's Euro Disney - has admitted it can no longer pay its debts. Terra Mitica, in the Costa Brava tourist trap of Benidorm, offers visitors a chance to relive ancient Mediterranean civilisations. But although it aimed for 3 million visitors a year, it has achieved less than one-third of that figure. Construction went over budget, and the park owes 161m euros ($193m). 'Stopping payments is the only way to guarantee the viability of the company,' said director general John Fitzgerald, who insisted that the park would try to keep its doors open. " From BBC News.

Cedar Point Puts Size Limit On Coaster Riders
"Some Cedar Point visitors may need to shed a few pounds to ride one of the park's most popular coasters. WEWS reported how new seatbelt positions on the Millennium Force may not fit some of the coaster's bigger riders. The ride has thrilled millions since it opened in 2000, but some riders who've been on Millennium in the past are now being turned away. " From channelcincinnati.com.

Boy Dies After Tree Branch Falls At Amusement Park
"A 5-year-old boy died Sunday night after a tree branch fell on him and his mother while they were walking at Lake Compounce amusement park, police said. Southington police Sgt. Lowell DePalma said the boy and his mother were walking from the park's trolley barn and were near the mini-golf course when a limb about 6 inches in diameter fell about 50 feet and landed on them shortly before 7:30 p.m." From TheBostonChannel.com.

Disney World Installs Security Barricades To Protect Theme Parks
"High-security, anti-terrorist barricades that can stop speeding trucks have been installed at Walt Disney World, an added level of protection of the theme parks' service entrances. Disney is not responding to any specific threats, choosing instead to make the upgrades as part of continually evolving security policies, park spokeswoman Jacquee Polak said Friday. " From TCPalm.

Going to extremes, from Six Flags to Sea World: Theme park thrill rides go for adrenaline
"Faster, higher, scarier: These are the watchwords of the new attractions being rolled out at Southern California's theme parks this season. In an age when consumers lunge for anything labeled 'extreme' -- someone's even marketing extreme popcorn, for God's sake -- another tired whirl around the spinning teacups is just not going get those theme-park turnstiles twirling. So Universal Studios is trotting out what's said to be the fastest roller coaster west of the Mississippi, the Disneyland Resort is taking the wraps off its highest-adrenaline ride ever and the other coaster-oriented parks are upping G-factor loads at every opportunity. " From The San Francisco Chronicle.

Carnival ride operator arrested after 3-year-old falls
"MANCHESTER, Conn. -- The operator of a carnival ride was drunk when a three-year-old fell off and injured himself, police said. The boy was on the 'Yo-Yo' swing ride around 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Coleman Brothers carnival at the Manchester Parkade when he fell from the swing, landing on concrete pavement. " From Newsday.com.

Theme Park Ticket Scam Busted
"Authorities in Central Florida busted a scam of stolen theme park tickets being resold to unsuspecting customers for a large profit, according to Local 6 News. Investigators arrested Franklin Fox and William Landis Monday for the illegal resale of multiday theme park passes. It is believed that Fox and Landis sold the illegal attraction tickets at tourist ticket booths around Orange County." From local6.com.

Theme park land back on market: But this time it's likely to become another residential development
"A prime 62 hectare parcel of land at Palmview [Australia], once mooted as the future home of initially the Treasures Down Under Theme Park, then China World, is back on the market. Both proposals attracted a blaze of publicity, but also a healthy dose of scepticism, backers of the China World plan not even getting to the stage of lodging a development application with Caloundra City Council. The site is zoned rural, but has a development permit approved for material change of use for a theme park." From the Sunshine Coast Daily.

Six Flags to Improve Ride Restraints After Death
"Theme park operator Six Flags Inc. on Friday said it would improve a safety feature on its Superman Ride of Steel roller coaster after a rider was killed last weekend. The company said the Superman Ride of Steel attraction at its Six Flags New England park in Agawam, Massachusetts, had been examined by engineers and safety experts from the company, the ride's manufacturer and government agencies since a Connecticut man was flung from the ride and killed. " From Yahoo! News.

Disney theme-park ride sends some to hospital
"The complimentary barf bags provided the first clue that Epcot's 'Mission: Space' was an unusually intense Disney ride. The second clue came yesterday, when state theme-park safety records revealed that six 'Mission: Space' riders have been hospitalized with chest pains or nausea since the rocket simulator opened last summer... All six hospitalized riders were older than 55. From The Seattle Times.

Disney to offer West Coast cruises for Disneyland anniversary
"The Walt Disney Co. is hoping that a scary new ride that plunges passengers 13 stories faster than gravity will put the thrill into its 3-year-old California Adventure theme park. Disney will open its 'Twilight Zone Tower of Terror' attraction this week amid a flurry of announcements on how it will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its flagship park, Disneyland, next year.
One of those announcements will be that Disney will dock one of its cruise ships in California for three months next year and offer 12 seven-day Mexican cruises." AP Wire story from Mercury News.

Geauga Lake begins anew by returning to yesteryear
"As Cedar Fair opens the gates to a new Geauga Lake today, hopes are high that the Sandusky company's reputation for running successful amusement parks will bring in plenty of visitors. The question is, will they spend the night? Hotel operators from Beachwood to Macedonia are watching to see how the changes at the former Six Flags Worlds of Adventure -- most notably the loss of the former park's whales, dolphins and sea lions -- will affect their ability to fill rooms." From The Beacon Journal.

Kids' theme park plans proposed for 101/202 site
"A Scottsdale man is attempting to build a children's theme park focused on a pelican named PALican in the East Valley, probably in Mesa or the Gila River Reservation. PALican Place Theme Park would include such features as a train, roller coaster, indoor dolphin show, carnival-type rides, water games, miniature golf, rock climbing wall and perhaps movie theater, hotel, stores and about 20 other features, according to Mike Aloisi's vision." From The Arizona Republic. Link may require registration.

Man Dies After Falling Off Six Flags Roller Coaster
"AGAWAM, Mass. -- A 55-year-old man died on Saturday when he fell out of a roller coaster at the Six Flags New England amusement park. The man, whose name was not immediately made public, fell out of the Superman Ride of Steel roller coaster at about 3 p.m. as it was approaching the end of its run, according to a statement from park officials. Park paramedics responded immediately and the man was transported to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield where he was pronounced dead at about 3:45 p.m., according to the statement." From TheBostonChannel.com.