KINGS ISLAND’S 40th ANNIVERSARY – PAGES 19-22 TM Vol. 16 • Issue 4 JULY 2012 Cars Land turbo-charges DCA New Manta attraction surfaces to New gateway, themed applause at SeaWorld San Diego area refuel Disney Mack Rides, Falcon’s Treehouse, ThemeWorks California Adventure all contribute to coaster’s crowd-pleasing appeal STORY: Dean Lamanna STORY: Dean Lamanna “Manta is a ride at- Special to Amusement Today Special to Amusement Today traction, but it’s really a lot more,” said SeaWorld San ANAHEIM, Calif. — Af- Diego Park President John ter months of publicity en- SAN DIEGO, Calif. — It Reilly during the coaster’s gine-revving, the Disneyland glides. It dives. It flies from Memorial Day weekend de- Resort finally gunned the mo- the depths of its oceanic en- but. “It delivers exactly what tor of Cars Land, the intensely virons with swooping, twist- our guests want: a fun fam- anticipated new themed area ing and sometimes startling ily coaster complemented inside Disney California Ad- maneuvers. Meet Manta, a by an incredible hands-on venture (DCA), on June 15. new roller coaster attraction animal experience. Manta The peppy, well-oiled at SeaWorld San Diego. not only tells the story of the park-within-a-park, which Named ray, it gives you the sensa- impresses in every aspect of for the tion of being one — soaring, its production, is designed to whip-tailed, diving and skimming the help quell the fits and starts DCA’s new Cars Land, a 12- gracefully ocean’s surface.” of the resort’s 11-year-old sec- acre themed area inspired rippling At the ribbon-cutting ond gate and give it an aes- by historic Route 66 and giant ray ceremony on May 26, Reil- thetic veneer — and a level Disney-Pixar’s hit Cars films, known for ly gave a shout-out to AT of attendance — more in tune caps a five-year, billion-dol- bursting Reilly Publisher Gary Slade, with with adjacent Disneyland and lar-plus expansion and reno- from the sea whom he had shared sev- the Disney brand. vation of the park. and going momentarily air- eral preview rides on Manta Cars Land, based on the COURTESY borne, Manta – incorporat- DISNEYLAND RESORT earlier and who was im- popular Disney-Pixar Cars ing a 100,000-gallon aquari- pressed by the attraction’s films and sprawling across 12 um and shallow touch pool relentlessly twisting, low- acres, is the largest piece of – handily and quite spectac- to-the-ground track layout. the Disneyland Resort’s five- ularly fulfills the SeaWorld “Gary told me, ‘Thank you year, property-wide renova- mandate that all attractions for putting the ‘fun’ back tion and expansion (see AT provide interactive, ma- rine conservation-themed in the roller coaster,” Reilly February 2012 for a complete 4See MANTA, page 4 overview). The bulk of the edutainment. effort and $1.1 billion invest- ment have been lavished on DCA, with Disney’s promo- tional push highlighting Cars Land and the revamped DCA entrance area, Buena Vista Street, as key features of the park’s “grand reopening.” The two new lands follow several major additions to 4See CARS, page 7 SUBSCRIBE TO Dated material. material. Dated AMUSEMENT TODAY RUSH! NEWSPAPER POSTMASTER: PLEASE June 26, 2012 Tuesday Mailed (817) 460-7220 PERMIT # 2069 # PERMIT SeaWorld San Diego guests riding the new Manta coast- FT. WORTH TX WORTH FT. com er are all smiles over the new family friendly ride. The PAID amusementtoday LSM coaster opened on May 26. US POSTAGE US PRSRT STD PRSRT AT/GARY SLADE 2 AMUSEMENT TODAY July 2012 NEWSTALK OPINIONS CARTOON LETTERS AT CONTACTS EDITORIAL: Gary Slade, [email protected] CARTOON: Bubba Flint California tidbits Random thoughts from some of Southern California’s newest star attractions at the parks: •Disney California Adventure: What can a $1 billion makeover get you? Anything you want. The much needed icon that DCA needed has arrived. Radiator Springs Racers, Slade based on the Cars movie lineup takes the proven technology from Epcot’s Test Track by letting rid- ers now race each other on side-by-side tracks through a desert landscape. And this is just one portion of the entire new Cars Land. This is Disney’s best work yet. •Legoland California: When I first heard the news for a junior-sized Shoot the Chute I thought Merlin had lost it. No need to worry. Pirate Reef delivers all the fun and splash as the big chutes rides. Thanks to Legoland’s master model builders, this ride has more wet factor than many waterslides can create. And, thanks to two entry/exit points, this Hopkins Rides jewel of the Pacific waterway is accessable to both theme park and waterpark guests. Waterparks owners/operators should take a close look at this install and its use of Empex Watertoys. EDITORIAL: Andrew Mellor, [email protected] •SeaWorld San Diego: As I told park GM John Reilly following our first ride together, “SeaWorld brought the The magic of Harry Potter heads for Japan fun back to the roller coaster.” By that I mean no inver- We have all been hugely uled to open first of the two, in late 2014, with sions, an ultra smooth, fun and exciting coaster that lets impressed by the Wizarding California set for 2016, I understand. guests and coaster enthusiasts come back for more. In a World of Harry Potter (WWoHP) Some may well, of course, question whether day when many coaster are not re-rideable, Manta is just at Universal Orlando Resort and or not the Harry Potter phenomenon will be as the opposite — re-rideable a 1,000 times over. Kudos to since opening two years ago it popular in a few years time as it is now, but I don’t Falcon’s Treehouse for their outstanding preshow, Mack has entertained millions of visi- see that being an issue — and clearly nor do the Rides for designing the coaster gem of the year and the tors from around the world in a powers that be at Universal. Indeed, almost a Mellor unique, yes, dare I say it, “magi- whole generation has been brought up with the park for putting the new area together in such a profes- cal” way. joys of Harry Potter so it’s a no brainer. And when sional manner. I think it’s fair to say that almost everyone you look at some of the figures involved, they tell •Universal Studios Hollywood: For Transformers: who has been to the attraction has come away their own story. The Ride-3D, the Hollywood park took the success of this awestruck by the creativity and astonishing detail Each of the seven books by J.K Rowling has dark ride technology from its sister parks in Orlando and that has gone into bringing the books and films broken sales records, with the series to date hav- Singapore to rewrite the film action to fit the 1984 Hasbro about the boy wizard’s exploits to life, placing ing sold approximately 450 million copies glob- toy figure. This $100 million ride uses all the guests right in the heart of the action in a way, ally and been translated into over 70 languages. latest gadgets in film technology. Dark ride fans will I would suspect, few ever imagined possible. I The Warner Bros. Pictures produced films have know I for one was totally blown away by it dur- grossed over $7.7 billion to date worldwide at the now make this a summer checkoff on their to do list. ing my visit. box office, making Harry Potter the largest gross- —Gary Slade It’s great news, therefore, that further incarna- ing film franchise in history. In Japan, the Harry tions of the attraction have now been announced, Potter film series has earned $893 million to date Gary Slade is the founder and publisher of Amusement one at Universal Studios Hollywood and now at the box office and has been seen by more than Today. His love for amusement parks began at age six another for Universal Studios Japan (as reported 78 million people. in this issue of AT). Although revealed some Wherever the park attractions are built, there- when he first visited Pontchartrain Beach Amusement months after the announcement for the California fore, success is assured, now and in the long, long Park and Six Flags Over Texas. His long newspaper career venture, it is the Japanese WWoHP that is sched- term. helped lead to the launch of AT in 1997. AMUSEMENT TODAY STAFF Gary Slade, Founder Tim Baldwin Sammy Piccola Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Editorial Accounting / Circulation (817) 460-7220 [email protected] (817) 460-7220 [email protected] [email protected] Deliveries Member of: Pam Sherborne 2012 E. Randol Mill Rd, Suite 203 IAAPA, AIMS International, PAPA, Stacey Childress / Childress Media Editorial Sue Nichols Arlington, Texas 76011 NEAAPA, NJAA, OABA, WWA, TTIA, Web & Graphic Design [email protected] Advertising NAARSO and IISF (817) 889-4441 (615) 662-0252 Subscription rates are: 1 year (14 issues) $75 in the USA; $100 elsewhere; 2 years (28 issues) $140/$180; [email protected] Scott Rutherford [email protected] 3 years (42 issues) $200/$250. Send check or money order (U.S. funds only, drawn on a U.S. bank) to Amusement Today, P.O. Box 5427, Arlington, Texas 76005-5427. Your cancelled check is your receipt. Editorial Please allow up to six weeks for your subscription request to be processed and the first issue mailed. John Robinson / W.H.R. Inc. [email protected] Bubba Flint Daily E-mail Newsletter Cartoonist Amusement Today is an independent newspaper, published monthly by Amusement Today Inc., P.O.