In a traditional roller coaster the lift hill is the source of energy to power the train throughout the course. This is essentially the conversion of potential energy into kinetic energy. The lift hill builds anticipation for the ride to come and is also vital to making the more often written about aspects of a roller coaster possible. This article will be part trigonometry and part physics to help describe this overlooked part of one of the world’s best roller coasters.
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The Lowndes County Board of Commissioners declared May 9th, 2026, as Wild Adventures Day, a local holiday in honor of the park’s 30th Anniversary! This great event included a talks from the park’s Marketing & Sales Director, Adam Floyd, and the park’s General Manager, Donald Spiller. There was also a reading of a proclamation by the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners declaring the day Wild Adventures Day. Additionally guests had the opportunity to enjoy new and fan-favorite menu items including lemon pepper wings, churro bites and boba lemonade.
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For the 2026 season Dollywood is making a change to one of its oldest and most popular rides, the Dollywood Express steam trains. Both of Dollywood’s engines are being converted to run on oil instead of coal. This is for the comfort and safety of patrons, but also eliminates the risk of an errant cinder causing a fire in dry seasons. Dollywood has two engines, No. 192, named Klondike Katie, and No. 70, known as Cinderella (which ironically will no longer have cinders). Both these World War II engines actually previously ran on oil, but were converted to coal before being acquired by Dollywood. So the renovation will return the locomotives to closer to how they were historically without impacting the experience for riders.
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Busch Gardens Tampa Bay has named Jon Vigue park President (as first reported by @SaxOnTracks). Mr. Vigue formerly served as Vice President and General Manager of Wild Adventures Theme Park in Valdosta, Georgia. At Wild Adventures he was part of several major projects including the opening of the Safari Campground and developing the park’s 10-year master plan. Mr. Vigue replaces Brian Bacica who left Busch Gardens in late 2025 to become park president of LEGOLAND Florida Resort. Mr. Vigue is the park’s 3rd president in as many years, but he’s potentially a great long term fit for the park. There are many similarities between Busch Gardens and Wild Adventures given the mix of animals, rides and adjacent water parks, so the fit is obvious. Mr. Vigue is also very active in IAAPA, serving as the Chair of the Food & Beverage Committee. We wish Jon tremendous success and look forward to seeing him at the park.
Disney is famous for being built on former Florida swamp land. Given that Florida is known for being a mosquito mecca, how does Disney assure you’re not spending your vacation swatting away bugs? It turns out it’s not just one thing, but a combination of things in an eco-friendly comprehensive program. The heart of the program is a barely detectable liquid garlic spray coupled with constant water circulation and design considerations to prevent standing water. Disney also uses mosquito natural predators like bats along with traps as part of a comprehensive control strategy to target the whole mosquito life cycle. There are even chickens involved in Disney’s mosquito strategy, but more about them later!
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Six Flags is bringing back Holiday in the Park to Six Flags Over Georgia in 2026 after cancelling it for the 2025 season. Six Flags President and CEO stated, “We heard our guests loud and clear, Holiday in the Park has long been a cornerstone event at these properties, and we’ve taken everything we’ve learned to thoughtfully evolve the experience.” In addition to returning to Six Flags Over Georgia, Holiday in the Park will also be returning to Six Flags Great Adventure. The concept art below that Six flags released for this new incarnation looks ridiculously awesome.
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The “Splashville” sign is up at the new water park at Hamilton Crossing in Bartow County. It looks sincerely great with “Bartow County” in small red text and then a big blue wave. The sign also has a great internal lighting package that the crew was showing me pictures of from a test the night before that looked stunning. This sign will pop both day and night and lights on both the front and the back.
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Catapult Falls at SeaWorld San Antonio is an Intamin flume coaster which opened in 2024. The ride is themed around camping and national parks and is the world’s first launched flume ride. In addition to the launch, riders will experience North America’s only vertical flume lift, two airtime hills and two splashdowns. For hot summer days in Texas Catapult Falls could be a fun way to cool off.
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The Boomerang roller coaster by Vekoma is an amazing ride that is probably underappreciated due to its commercial success. Boomerang installations are numerous with over 50 operating locations worldwide with most using Boomerang in its name. However, just because something is common doesn’t mean it isn’t good and with a Boomerang you’ll experience some of the most intense forces possible on a steel roller coaster. One of the best and most well kept is the Boomerang at Wild Adventures Theme Park in Valdosta, GA. It even received some upgrades making it even better for the 2026 season.
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Six Flags America in Maryland closed forever on November 2, 2025. There was much talk about which, if any, rides would be relocated to other Six Flags parks. The trains from Professor Screamore’s SkyWinder (formerly Mind Eraser) were quickly shipped to Canada’s Wonderland to upgrade their Vekoma SLC, Flight Deck. Also, Some of the rides were briefly listed for sale and quickly removed, but there hasn’t been much information since. Now it appears that Ragin’ Cajun, one of the rides thought most likely to relocate, will be headed to Six Flags Great Adventure for its newly reimagined Shoreline Pier Boardwalk area. This wild mouse coaster has gotten a new paint job and will now be called Barrels O’ Fun.
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BGT Safari 