We’ve written before about the exciting municipal water park coming to Bartow County and the flume slides have now arrived! Work continues at the Hamilton Crossing site with construction of the stairs and structure to support the flumes. The fumes themselves are staged at the perimeter of the park awaiting install and currently there is one enclosed and one open flume. Pictures here were taken on Sunday, February 22, 2026.
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On February 20th during the 2026 ACE Preservation T-Shirt Gala it was announced by Alex Ramsey of Alabama Adventure that the park would likely be reopening their wooden coaster Rampage during the summer of 2026! Alex is Alabama Adventure’s Human Resources, IT and Marketing Manager (he wears many hats) and was presenting during a night dedicated to wooden roller coaster preservation. The night also featured a screening of the documentary, “Save the Wooden Coaster”. The park will be doing a traditional retrack as the ride has been SBNO “for too long”. Things like Titan Track and RMC were considered, but were just too expensive at this time. There are still plans to do a more durable and permanent retrack (likely Titan Track), but this will come later and in steps over the next 5-6 years.
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The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan are currently taking place and with it the bobsledding competition. For many watching Bobsleds scream at 80 miles/hour down an ice track is the highlight of the Olympics. Celebrities like Jason Kelce and Colin Jost are also taking their turns with rides down the track. It looks like a roller coaster ride with its intense turns and speed and the roller coaster industry even designed a special type of coaster based on the bobsled experience.
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SeaWorld San Antonio released footage on February 4th social media of the first test run of their new B&M family inverted coaster Barracuda Strike. This is the second consecutive year the park will be adding a coaster and it’s 3rd new coaster in the last 6 years. The park has put out a lot of great graphics and concept art related to the ride’s theme, so it will be great to watch in the coming weeks as some of these elements come more into focus. Anytime there is a new coaster test cycling, no matter if it’s a family coaster or a new thrill coaster, there’s still a ton of excitement in the air.
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While wooden roller coasters generally cost less to build, they generally require more maintenance compared to steel coasters. A park generally wants to keep a wooden ride in good condition so to avoid customer complaints of the ride becoming uncomfortably rough and potentially even unsafe. A major wood coaster is going to be $5-$10 million while a major steel coaster is probably going to be between $10 – $25 million. However, with wooden roller coasters the maintenance is greater with reports of some requiring $500,000 annually and costly rebuilds of well over $1 million. So it’s the classic case of lower capital cost with higher operating cost with wooden coasters versus the inverse with steel coasters. For places like Dollywood, maintaining Lightning Rod and Thunderhead is just a part of doing business, but for places like Alabama’s Adventure, large annual maintenance costs on their wooden coaster Rampage are a tension they’re actively grappling with today.
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We’re about a month away from the opening of Galacticoaster at LEGOLAND Florida and LEGOLAND California. Galacticoaster is an indoor launch roller coaster and these projects represent a $90 million investment by Merlin Entertainment. It was only April of last year that we were reporting on the ride building in Florida being enclosed and now we are less than a month away from opening day. Merlin Entertainment has recently begun to tease more of the details of the rides now both with media construction tours, website updates and advertisements in their LEGO magazine for kids. LEGOLAND is still finishing construction, but from what they’ve released this “family” attraction has some pretty cool specs and features that will appeal to guests of all ages.
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At IAAPA 2025 I had the chance to experience Wingz by Zamperla. Wingz offers passengers the ability to “Fly Like a Bird” by flapping their arms to make the gondola rise and fall as the central tower slowly rotates. Wingz is THE interactive family ride. In addition to the unique interactive feature, it’s designed to be fully accessible and has a specialized gondola that allows wheelchairs or scooters. It’s part of Zamperla’s ALL ACCESS and inclusive lineup of attractions.
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A Bluey roller coaster has nearly completed construction at Alton Towers in the United Kingdom for a 2026 opening. The ride is located in the park’s CBeebies Land and signage around the construction leaves no doubt as to what is coming. For Americans who may not know, “CBeebies” is a free British public broadcast children’s television channel owned and operated by the BBC. Alton Towers is leaning into the attraction heavily for its 2026 marketing as you’d expect and no doubt this will be a huge hit with families who love the iconic show.
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We attended the Lights of Life, a well known light display at Life University in Marietta, GA near Atlanta and they had a roller coaster. In addition to lights they also have a parking area with attractions that this year included a kiddie roller coaster called Runaway Train. It was the most simple coaster you could possibly imagine, but a true coaster nonetheless and the best surprise Christmas Eve gift.
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The station hums with festive cheer, The grandest ride of all the year! The tracks are iced in silver light, A ribbon through the frozen night. With wreaths upon the velvet cars, We’re climbing upward toward the stars.
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BGT Safari 