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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Wild Adventures Theme Park & Splash Island Waterpark in Valdosta, Georgia are celebrating a big win for Paradise River as America’s “Best Lazy River” according to readers of USA TODAY in the 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards. The historic win follows four weeks of intense competition between twenty lazy rivers at parks nationwide, including Universal Studios, Disney, Aquatica and Six Flags. Wild Adventures and its staff should be commended for the impressive campaign they mounted to secure this great honor and you can read the complete press release here.
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During IAAPA 2025 I was struck by the number of virtual and digital attractions on display. What also surprised me was how exceptional most of them were in creating a totally immersive experience. Also, many of these attractions were of a size that could allow them to be used by any park, family entertainment center (FEC) or even arcade. Some would require a building, some a room and some were as small as a single chair. Some were purely ride experiences where others were enhanced versions of classic sit down arcade shooters and many combined both. The Rilix Coaster VR stood out as a compelling immersive experience in a traditional arcade format. The virtual theme park probably isn’t replacing your favorite roller coaster anytime soon, but it does offer operators another option to entertain guests.
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We had a chance to experience the Scouting America Adventure Weekend at Wild Adventures Theme Park, April 17-19, 2026 and it was an incredible scouting event. This has to be the best bargain in scouting events with food, 2-day theme park tickets and 2nights of camping for only $50. The execution of the event by Wild Adventures was spectacular as everything was obviously extremely well planned. For a scout spending 2 days camping at Wild Adventures couldn’t be more fun with its combination of rides, waterpark and animals. If you’re looking for a fun spring camping event it’s hard to imagine anything better than a Scouting America Adventure Weekend at Wild Adventures.
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The humble drinking straw appears to have become a political lightning rod and the controversy has extended to Walt Disney World. It almost seems like you can tell someone’s political affiliation by their straw preference, it’s the new “paper or plastic?” for this generation. In July 2018, Walt Disney World announced a major environmental initiative to eliminate single-use plastic straws in all their global parks and resorts by mid-2019. In 2023 Disney went one step further in no longer making any straws readily available at quick service locations and only providing paper straws upon request. However, Florida lawmakers are now trying to ban paper straws in the state starting in 2027 due to concerns over PFAS (forever chemicals) often found in paper straws. Scientists however point to similar PFAS chemical concerns with plastic straws as well the consumption of microplastics. It seems like the answer going forward may just be no straws.
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I had a chance to visit Skyline Park, a rooftop amusement park in downtown Atlanta. Skyline Park is perched on the roof of Ponce City Market, just east of downtown Atlanta, and draws inspiration from a former amusement park on the site 100 years ago. At Skyline you’ll find a slide, Heege Tower, roller skating, carnival games, food and spectacular views. The staff here is also noticeably excellent and their professional service is part of the nostalgia vibe you feel all over Skyline Park. My 9 year old son and I spent over 3 hours here and both found it to be great fun and a good value.
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Six Flags has launched its new rewards program that appears to be an improvement on the excellent previous program. The new Perks & Play program unifies the Six Flags loyalty programs into one seamless experience. If you held a Season Pass in 2025, you might remember the “visit-to-earn” model of Pass Perks where rewards were unlocked based on monthly attendance. This is now gone with no visit requirements or complex point systems to track with benefits throughout the season simply by being a member. Six Flags mentioned this type of program better fits today’s busy families and it also lets them dynamically use marketing and attendance info to push and pull attendance throughout the year.
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BGT Safari 