Theme parks across the country have been introducing new rides frequently this year to meet the challenges from their competition.
Walt Disney Co.'s (DIS) theme parks have lined up a series of new ride openings this year, as it on May 27 launched its Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind roller coaster ride at Disney World's Epcot in Orlando.
Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., is preparing to open its refurbished and reinvented Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage ride on July 25 after it shutting down in March 2020 due to the covid-19 pandemic. The original Disneyland submarine ride had opened in 1959 and closed in 1998 because of its age, ride capacity and outdated special effects.
After nine years of inactivity, the submarine ride returned in 2007 as the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, based on the Disney Pixar "Finding Nemo" animated film. The park has spent the last two years updating and improving the ride, adding new colors, new lighting, special effects, projections, 3,000 coral pieces and about 12,000 feet of seaweed, which measures out to about 2 miles of seaweed.
Six Flags Challenges Disney and Universal
Back at Disney World's Magic Kingdom, the park is getting ready to roll out its newest ride, Tron Lightcycle Power Run, which first debuted at Disney Shanghai China park in 2016. The ride is a semi-enclosed launched steel motorbike roller coaster that will travel upwards of 60 miles per hour.
Comcast's (CMCSA) Universal Studios parks have not had a big ride opening this year and it last launched a new ride in June 2021 with Jurassic World VelociCoaster at its Islands of Adventure park in Orlando. Universal has plans to introduce a new Super Nintendo World ride at its Universal Studios Hollywood park in 2023 and a whole new theme park in Orlando to be known as Epic Universe.
Six Flags Entertainment's (SIX) Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, Calif., on May 27 unveiled its new roller coaster ride Sidewinder Safari on the location of its former live elephant ride. The elephant rides, which sometimes finished with a person being thrown from an animal, ended in 2016 after talks with PETA.
The opening of Sidewinder Safari was originally supposed to occur in 2020, but was delayed by the shutdown of the park due to covid. Sidewinder Safari has a 1,378 feet track, and the ride includes multiple 360-degree sideways spins. The ride's attraction also includes displays of live rattlesnakes and other reptile species in a jungle-like setting.
Theme Park Has the Most Coasters in the World
Six Flags isn't finished launching new rides this year as on July 16 Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, Calif., opens Wonder Woman Flight of Courage, its 20th roller coaster ride.
Wonder Woman Flight of Courage is now the tallest and longest single-rail roller coaster on the planet with over 3,300 feet of track, 131 feet in height and soaring at speeds of 58 miles per hour. The ride will be located in the DC Universe area of the park, which also includes Batman The Ride and Teen Titans Turbo Spin.
