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2019: West Coast Racers (Six Flags Magic Mountain, Valencia, CA)
Using electro-magnetic propulsion, two trainloads of passengers on opposing tracks will rev up to 55 mph on a straightaway and chase each other around a course filled with inversions, pops of airtime and overbanked turns. After an indoor “pit stop,” during which the famed car builders from West Coast Customs will cheer the riders on, the trains will take a second lap, but on the opposite tracks. The three-minute experience will include 14 “near-miss” crossings.
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2019: Maxx Force (Six Flags Great America near Chicago)
Instead of electro-magnetic propulsion, Maxx Force will use a compressed-air launch system to catapult its trains from 0 to 78 mph in two seconds flat. That’ll be the quickest acceleration of any coaster in North America. It will then soar an attention-grabbing 175 feet and deliver two high-flying inversions. The third time Maxx Force sends its passengers tumbling heels-over-head, they’ll be hightailing it at 60 mph, which Six Flags contends will be the world’s fastest coaster inversion.
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2020: BOLT: Ultimate Sea Coaster (Carnival Mardi Gras cruise ship)
A giant new ship on order for Carnival Cruise Line will boast a deck-top roller coaster. To be called BOLT: Ultimate Sea Coaster, the attraction will be 240 metres long and feature twists, turns and drops with riders reaching speeds of nearly 65 kilometres per hour.
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2019: Taiga (Linnanmäki Amusement Park, Helsinki)
Dubbed Taiga, the new ride is a launch coaster that will have a top height of 52m and a track length of 1,104m – the longest in Finland. It will feature two launches and four inversions, reaching a top speed of 106kmph. “We are very excited to finally announce that Linnanmäki is making its greatest ride project ever in co-operation with ride manufacturer Intamin,” said Pia Adlivankin, managing director of Linnanmäki. “This most unique high-profile launch coaster can be described as a coaster enthusiasts’ dream.”
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2019: Harry Potter’s Forbidden Forest Coaster (Islands of Adventure, FL)
Universal has been mostly mum on the new coaster that is taking the place of its Dragon Challenge dueling coaster that used to be part of the original Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The theme park resort is promising that it will become its most highly themed coaster. That’s saying a lot, considering that Universal already offers Revenge of the Mummy and Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts, two of the most sophisticated and richly themed coasters on the planet. The construction site for the project includes a large building, so it is virtually certain that the ride will weave both indoors and outdoors. There is strong speculation among Potter-philes that the coaster will feature Hagrid the half-giant and that the attraction will take muggles on a journey through the Forbidden Forest.
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2019: Polercoaster (Atlantic City, NJ)
The New Jersey Economic Development Authority approved Thursday $38.4 million in grants to help pay for a 350-foot-high vertical Polercoaster, The Press of Atlantic City reports. The funding will come in the form of tax breaks for the developer, ACB Ownership. Overall, the project is projected to cost $138 million and would occupy space where the Sands Casino once stood. The area is area bordered Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, and Mount Vernon and Kentucky Avenues. The 52,000-square-foot attraction will also host a bar and restaurant, a food court, retail shops and video games. The Polercoaster, designed by U.S. Thrill Rides, transforms a traditional roller coaster design into a vertical amusement ride. The track hugs an observation tower and features loops, dips and twists.
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2020: Twisted Tigers (Busch Gardens, Tampa, FL)
During a press conference to release the all-new Tigris, Busch Gardens may have revealed a bit too much, “with Gwazi’s existence it’s always been a little bit of a Rocky ride, so we decided we’re going to go ahead and revamp Gwazi into a new attraction. Now I can’t give anymore information than that, but I can tell you that your going to be holding onto your seats. It’s going to be an awesome ride, it’s going to be thrilling, you’re going to love it.” Busch Gardens Project Manager, Andrew Schaffer said. “More information is coming on that in the coming months.” This statement, with the words “rocky” and “revamp,” almost 100% confirm the transformation of the Gwazi coaster into an RMC creation. RMC ibox track is known for its smooth ride that features twists, turns, and inversions that transform wooden coasters into steel rides. The name “Twisted Tigers” was also filed for trademark with the names “Tigris” and “Uproar” back in late March , so we can assume this will be the name of the new Gwazi coaster, and that it will still feature two dueling tigers. Whether the track will be Mobius or kept as two separate tracks is unknown.
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2020: F.L.Y. (Phantasialand, Brühl, Germany)
Phantasialand will debut the world’s first flying launch coaster, named F.L.Y. It is also set to be the longest flying coaster in the world, a record currently held by The Flying Dinosaur at Universal Studios Japan. The new roller coaster will open in 2020, and will be located in a new steampunk inspired area of the theme park called Rookburgh.
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2019: Steel Curtain (Kennywood near Pittsburgh)
A mighty coaster based on the mighty Pittsburgh Steelers will punt passengers 220 feet into the air and rush them 75 mph before sending them topsy-turvy with nine separate inversions (which will be a North American record). One of the flip-overs, a corkscrew at a height of 197 feet, will lay claim to the world’s tallest inversion. The coaster will be the highlight of Steelers Country, an entire Kennywood land devoted to the beloved hometown team.
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2019: Zadra (Energylandia, Poland)
Energylandia in Poland has announced that Europe’s tallest hybrid roller coaster will open at the theme park in 2019. The new ride will be over 60 metres (196.8 ft) tall, 1300 metres (4265 ft) long and reach a top speed of 115 km/h (71.5 mph). Zadra (the Polish for splinter) will feature 3 inversions, including a Zero-G roll and an inverted airtime hill. The theme park opened as recently as 2014 and already includes 70 rides and attractions over 26 hectares.
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2019: Yukon Striker (Canada’s Wonderland near Toronto)
The world’s tallest, longest and fastest dive coaster, Yukon Striker will bring passengers to the precipice of a 245-foot, 90-degree drop, let them mull it over for a few agonizing moments, and then dive down at 80 mph before bottoming out in an underwater tunnel. Inversions and other mayhem will follow. The new ride will mark the 17th coaster at Canada’s largest theme park.
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2019: Sandia Peak Mountain Coaster (Sandia Peak, N.M.)
The ski lodge at Sandia Peak Ski Area was buzzing with curious residents, conservationists and enthusiastic families for an open house centered on a proposed alpine mountain coaster at the top of the mountain. The ski lodge at Sandia Peak Ski Area was buzzing with curious residents, conservationists and enthusiastic families for an open house centered on a proposed alpine mountain roller coaster at the top of the mountain. Engineers with the Sandia Peak Ski Area were on hand to show off the design, a project timeline and a POV video of a similar mountain coaster experience. The coaster is projected to cost $2 million and work will be completed by the end of summer 2019.
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2019: Unnamed ‘Eurofighter’ coaster (Nickelodeon Universe, East Rutherford, NJ)
One of the world’s biggest indoor theme parks, Nickelodeon Universe, is coming to one of the world’s largest malls, American Dream, and it will feature a “Eurofighter”-type coaster will climb up a vertical lift, bust through the top of the mall into a see-through tower, and give passengers a stunning view of the Manhattan skyline from its 141-foot perch, before plummeting down at a severely overbanked drop of 121.5 degrees – the steepest coaster drop in the world – and hitting over 62 mph. It will then zoom up into the rafters of the mall and deliver seven inversions. A second coaster will intertwine with the “Eurofighter” and include cars that will freely spin. At a height of 85 feet and a length of 2,247 feet, it will be the world’s tallest and longest spinning coaster.
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2019: Copperhead Strike (Carowinds, Charlotte, NC)
Another coaster that will forgo a traditional chain-driven lift hill, Copperhead Strike will feature two magnetic launches. The first one will get things cooking from 0 to 42 mph in 2.5 seconds, while a mid-course booster launch will goose the speed from 35 mph to 50 mph. After the trains leave the station, but before they launch, they will slowly roll passengers upside down in the first of Copperhead Strike’s five inversions.
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2019: Tigris (Busch Gardens Tampa, FL)
Florida’s tallest launched coaster will impel its train forwards and partway up its track where it will stall and roll backwards. A second launch will keep it moving backwards partway up the opposite side of its giant loop. Tigris’ third launch will give its train enough oomph to climb to the top of a 150-foot loop, slowly invert at the apex, and then descend down the other side. Tigris will be similar to Tempesto at sister park Busch Gardens Williamsburg in Virginia.
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2019: Tidal Twister (SeaWorld San Diego)
It will appear that two trains will be barreling toward and narrowly averting each other. In reality, the first-of-its-kind Tidal Twister will feature two sets of cars mounted on one long train with that will span the entire length of a 320-foot, horizontal, figure-eight track. Passengers will face both forward and backward, and the train will travel both directions as it revs up to 30 mph.
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2019: Batman: The Ride (Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, Vallejo, CA)
Similar to other “4D Free Fly” coasters, Batman will climb 120 feet and crisscross three undulating ribbons of track that will include inversions and beyond-90-degree drops. As if that wouldn’t be crazy enough, the trains’ seats will be on the outside wings of the track and will spin willy-nilly in both directions – or, as the ride‘s designer characterizes it, free fly in the fourth dimension.
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2019: Dragon Flier (Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, TN)
A suspended coaster (in which the trains hang under the track), Dragon Flier will be the featured attraction at Wildwood Grove. Like the rest of the new land that will open at Dolly Parton’s park, the ride will be geared to families with pre-teens and will keep its thrills in check.
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2020: Max & Moritz (Efteling, Holland)
After more than 34 years, the Bobsleigh Run makes way for a new rollercoaster: Max En Moritz. It becomes a double roller coaster. The current Swiss theming and the station building of the Bobbaan are retained. In September 2019, construction work will commence for the new roller coaster, which will cost EUR 15 million. The attraction Max En Moritz opens in the spring of 2020. The supplier of the job is the German manufacturer Mack Rides. Max and Moritz are two boys from the famous German poem from 1865, who make their village unsafe by removing a number of areas where the villagers become the victims. The Efteling uses this story as inspiration for the new roller coaster.
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2020: Unnamed hypercoaster (Hersheypark, PA)
Hersheypark will get a new roller coaster that officials say will be the park’s “tallest, longest, fastest and sweetest” ever. The Pennsylvania amusement park said Wednesday its $150 million Chocolatetown attraction will “unlock an all-new chapter.” The 23-acre area will include a restaurant and bar, a confectionary kitchen and an ice cream parlor. Patrons also will be able to shop at a 10,000-square-foot store. According to park filings with the Federal Aviation Administration, the ride will be classified as a “hypercoaster” because it rises over 200 feet.
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2019: Hakugei (Nagashima Spa Land, Japan)
According to Japanese Television reports, Nagashima Spa Land has named the RMC (Rocky Mountain Construction) I-Box track conversion of the park’s former White Cyclone wooden coaster Hakugei, which translates to White Whale. The steel hybrid coaster is scheduled to open in March 2019 and will feature a 180.4 foot (55m) 80° drop, three inversions, a double-up, an outward banking turn, a double-down, and a top speed of 66.5 mph (107 km/h) over 5,020 feet (1,530m) of track. Renderings and a model also confirm the removal of the iconic giant mid-course helix White Cyclone was known for. Hakugei is one of two RMC I-Box track conversions scheduled to open in 2019.
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p.s. Hey. ** kier, Hi, in-kier-edible! Fake PGL merch would be heaven and perfect and all that good stuff, so, if your muse heads you that way, trust that Zac and I will transfigure into fireworks. Yay about your full strength’s homecoming! Slow and steady. I’m procrastinating on about 15 things right now, so I share your stress, but hey, right? My day was all right. Got a long needed haircut, did a radio interview for some SF station to promo the PGL screenings there, procrastinated, ha ha. It’s Friday already, whoa. I hope yours lends you deserved mastery. Love, me. ** David Ehrenstein, Indeed he did. He was also a big flash-in-the-pan teen idol even earlier on. Thusly. Ah, fantastic about the new ‘RbH’ piece! Everyone, Mr. Ehrenstein has had published a new slice of his long awaited and legendary memoir ‘Raised by Handpuppets’ over on Gay City News, and it has the potentially raucous moniker ‘Kevin Spacey and The Sugar Plum Fairy, and join me in accepting this eyes-and-brain centric gift. Et voila!. ** Sypha, Ha ha, I mean, cool. Oh, yes, salvia. I have friends who’ve imbibed it, always with high marks. Yeah, that typo-driven confusion will work if confusion reigns. Whew. ** Steve Erickson, Like I said, I have friends who’ve done it, none of them 16, at least not technically. I’m glad you liked some of the gig entries. Yes, I used the CDJapan link literally because I couldn’t find any other route to her stuff. Odd. ** _Black_Acrylic, Oh, cool, yeah, that Teresa Winter LP is hot. I saw the pic of The Call’s cover on FB. It looks great. Everyone, Gawk at the cover of _Black_Acrylic’s forthcoming zine dedicated to art and speculative literature aka The Call, why don’t you? ** JM, Hi. I can’t get with James Blake, maybe for the reasons you mentioned. Everyone or almost says Beach House is big fun live. I’ve read some of the very mixed reviews of ‘Glass’, and the positive ones seemed far more convincing. It just opened here, so I’ll go find out. Oh, yeah, I mean I can’t say that handling the first copy of a new book of mine has quite the mind exploding bliss that it did when my first couple of books arrived, but it’s a singular and heady sensation for sure. Enjoy the heck out of yours. ** Okay. Today I indulge one of my abiding fascinations by delivering a new edition of my theme park newsletter and you are the … lucky, I hope, recipients. See you tomorrow.
Now available in North America 
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the theme park reigns supreme!! not sure if you ever heard about the dreamworld scandal that went down in australia maybe two years ago, where a few people drowned/got caught in the underwater machinery in the gold coast’s river rapids ride? i maybe even mentioned it at the time, only seems relevant because of the intentionally death-inching-designs these seem to be headed toward. or at least the illusion of death-inching-designs. i rode that one a grand total of six days before it malfunctioned and killed those people so that’s a bit heady.
j
These coasters are as gorgeous as the Watts Towers but my blood pressure prevents me from riding them
Take It Away Freddie !
Hi Dennis, wow, very much advanced coasters! Do you ever ride them? I never did. Too scary for me. Japanese White Whale one is gorgeous. I’d already faint for its beauty. Catching up on your music post from yesterday, yay. Have a nice weekend.
Oddly enough (or maybe not so oddly, what with my not being a thrill seeker) I’ve never really been on a roller coaster, aside from the less intense kiddie versions when I was a child… those log flume slide things were about as intense as I got.
In regards to the typo in question I showed it to another friend and he reminded me that salvia was also just another word for sage and that his first thought would be to think of that before the psychedelic plant. But that would work as well I suppose… couldn’t hurt to season the asshole with some herbs before commencing with the rimming, ha ha.
The psychedelic herb is actually a variety of sage, I think; its botanical name is salvia divinorum. It used to be widely sold at head shops in New York. I don’t know about its current legal status here, but I don’t see it around anymore.
Dennis! Hello. I want to go on everyone of those roller coasters. I love roller coasters and other scary rides. That whole roller coaster inside a giant mall in East Rutherford, NJ, has me super curious. Having grown up in Bergen County, NJ, which East Rutherford is part of, and that town being where we always went for large concerts at Giants Stadium or Brendan Byrne Arena, both of which no longer exist. Giants Stadium was replaced with a new stadium, and Brendan Byrne Arena became the Izod Center or some shit like that and then eventually closed a few years ago. I saw so many awesome concerts in both of those spaces, such as my first concert without adult supervision when I was 13 at the arena to see New Order, Public Image Limited, and the Sugarcubes in 1988 or ’89. My dad actually picked my friend and me up after the concert. It was nuts since it’s a huge parking lot and people everywhere afterward; I don’t remember how the hell he found us–and no cell phones then. Oh well. But anyway, that whole American Dream Mall or whatever they’re calling it has been stop and go in its construction since the early 2000s. I can’t believe the damn monstrosity is finally opening this year–and that it will include a roller coaster. I may have to take a bus from NYC there just to see the whole crazy thing, and of course ride the roller coaster. At one point they were going to call the mall/entertainment space Xanadu. I really wish they would have stuck with that because how much fun would it be to say, “I’m going to Xanadu tonight!” American Dream is so boring. Oh, and you had asked me a while ago which part of Manhattan I would move to if my boyfriend and I actually move there from Brooklyn. We’re thinking Lower East Side. He wants to be in walking distance from his job, and I wouldn’t mind living in LES, compared to the rest of Manhattan. It would be terrific if I was in walking distance of the New Museum. But we’ll see what happens. I’ve been slowly disposing of belongings since we’ll most definitely have less space than we do now–plus we’ve lived in the same apartment for nearly 8 years, so we’ve collected lots of crap. It will be nice to get rid of unnecessary belongings.
Hi!!
Hey, Dennis! How are you?
I was really glad to read that you could send the TV script to ARTE! That’s one big step forward, I hope! Do you know when to expect their feedback?
I need to go back to an earlier post for a second because I didn’t have the time to read what you shared about ‘A Sentimental Novel’ before I wrote to you on Monday and fuck, was that a thrilling surprise the next day! I ordered it right away – so now I’m waiting for that and Blake Butler’s ‘300.000.000’. Your January book recommendations are so on point I can’t seem to be able to resist them! (Not that I’m trying too actively, to be honest, haha.)
Do you have any special weekend plans? I’ll try and work on the next issue of SCAB, I think. That’s the plan, at the very least.
Lots of love!!
What do you mean by saying language in film? I studied linguistics at Cambridge. Do you mean “poetics” RE: film.
I’d buy fake PGL merchandise!
Looking at your list of music faves made me feel like my forthcoming Spotify playlist of the best music I’ve heard in 2019 will be very basic and practically poptimist by comparison. That said, today was a very impressive day for new releases, with fine albums from James Blake, Sharon van Etten and Malibu Ken. (I got a download of the Deerhunter album that I haven’t listened to yet, and I couldn’t make it all the way through Future’s new album.) The van Etten feels a lot like BORN IN THE U.S.A.-era Springsteen if his love of Suicide – he’s said they were a major influence on NEBRASKA and covered “Dream Baby Dream” 5 years ago – was reflected in its production and use of synthesizers, with dissonant electronics merged with arena-rock melodrama.
I left for an interview with director Ben Niles this morning with my backpack open, and consequently wound up dropping my recorder on my apt. floor without realizing it! Very fortunately, he was able to record our conversation on his smart phone and then E-mail it to me.
I’m reviewing SERENITY, the third film directed by EASTERN PROMISES screenwriter Steven Knight. The publicist and distributor want reviews and even social media opinions embargoed till the 24th (which is the day before it opens in the US). I’ll just say that I was totally surprised by the film, which starts out as a parody of ’90s neo-noir and erotic thrillers and gets much weirder: picture Brian de Palma adapting Philip K Dick. It’s not 100% successful, but it’s very entertaining and represents the kind of bugfuck genre film Hollywood often only releases theatrically during the winter doldrums.
Dennis, Yes, I agree re: the little bit of time each day. The daydreaming is such an important part. Hemingway was of the mind that you finish writing and immediately go to something else and not think about it until the next time you get to writing again. I believe he said to read something else right away. I can’t do that. All my shit gets done in that thinking in between.
So we’ve got a big decision looming. To give up guardianship or not?
See, every year, they send you a guardianship monitoring report, wherein you answer questions about the child’s physical and mental health, school, etc. At the end, you check whether you want to continue the guardianship or end it. This year, they go, “We see that the child is now 18 and an adult…” The enclosed termination papers.
We figured we had to stay guardians of LPS because a woman at the school -a secretary- told us that we had to because he’s still in school. My mom called the office that sent us the papers today and was informed that that secretary is 100% wrong. He’s an adult now, we can terminate it, and he can still live with us and all that. They won’t put him in a foster home or anything because he’s not required to have a guardian because he’s in school.
Frankly, he’s not even in school. He goes to homeroom, gets marked there, and then skips the rest of the day. They call every night -an automated call- to say he was absent from those periods. We ask him and he says he was there and that the teachers marked him absent anyway. Yeah, right. But hell, at least he’s getting to homeroom! Doh!
We’re thinking we’re going to terminate it. Might as well. He doesn’t do a thing we ask or advise. What’s the use? Besides, as guardians, we then have all these obligations for his fuckups and whatnot. I don’t know, I’m just kind of exhausted by it all. Ugh.
Three-day weekend this weekend! I’ll be chillin’ like a villain. Will be doing a lot of writing too. Hope you have a good weekend yourself.
“Newsletter” in that title just tickles me to death.