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Posts Tagged ‘Zamperla’

Coney Island 2013: “Water Mania” Spin Ride to Debut at Luna Park

Posted in amusement park, Amusement ride, tagged Coney Island, Coney Island 2013, Luna Park, splash battle, SpongeBob, water cannon, Water Mania, water ride, Zamperla on January 18, 2013| 2 Comments »

Zamperla’s Water Mania to Open at Luna Park Coney Island in 2013

Last July, ATZ reported the news of Zamperla’s Water Mania, an interactive water ride that was under development and promised to open in Luna Park Coney Island. Alberto Zamperla had told Italian Wired about the new ride when the reporter asked what he was secretly working on. Now Water Mania is slated to make its world debut in Coney in May, according to a report last month in Park World. “The ride will feature a pirate theme with six four-seater spinning barrels on each of two rotating platforms, offering a total 48 passenger capacity,” says the amusement industry journal. “Each barrel will have its own motor, and riders will board from the outside of the platform without having to set foot in the water.”

Park World’s article “Splash Battle Continues” highlights the popularity of interactive water attractions from major ride manufacturers. Mack’s Spinning Tea Cups on Water debuted with a SpongeBob theme as Splash Bash at Blackpool in 2011 and will open this year at Etnaland in Sicily and La Ronde in Montreal. Also mentioned are Moser’s Corsair Battle and Preston and Barbieri’s Splash Battle.

Last summer, Zamperla debuted an interactive water ride called “Mediterranea” at Minitalia Leolandia, a beautifully landscaped park in Italy formerly owned in part by the ride manufacturer. The pirate-themed ride features galleon style boats sailing under the flags of the four Italian Maritime Republics of the Middle Ages. Riders splash each other as well as bystanders with water cannons. This video of the ride recalls the pageantry of a tall ship parade.

Coney Island Has a New Lighthouse: It’s a Beach Bar

Posted in Food & Drink, Redevelopment, tagged Boardwalk, Coney Island, Place to Beach, PTB Bar, Zamperla on August 29, 2012| 1 Comment »

Lighthouse at Place To Beach Bar, Coney Island. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

The Coney Island Lighthouse in the gated community of Sea Gate on the Island’s west end isn’t open to the public, but a cute new mini-lighthouse has popped up on the Boardwalk. It’s the beacon atop Zamperla’s PTB bar currently under construction on the Boardwalk at Stillwell Avenue. According to the inscription on the weathervane, “Every Wind Leads to PTB Bar.” Word on the street is that PTB – short for Place to Beach— will serve Tex-Mex food and open next year instead of sometime in the next few weeks. Will it be ready in time to ring in the New Year with the Polar Bear Swim? Who will be the lighthouse keeper?

Located on the former site of Steve’s Grill House and Beer Island, the new addition to Coney’s skyline is adjacent to Scream Zone’s Skycoaster and Go Karts. As we wrote in “Opening Soon? Zipline, Tom’s Coney Island, Place to Beach Bar” (ATZ, August 15, 2012), three Coney Island businesses originally scheduled to open this summer were hoping to get in what’s left of the season. The long-awaited Zipline is completed but still not open due to permitting issues. Tom’s and PTB are still “under construction.” After Labor Day, most of the amusement rides remain open weekends through the end of October. Nathan’s on Surf Avenue, the New York Aquarium and Coney Island Beach Shop are open daily year-round. Among the new or refurbished stores on the Boardwalk, Tom’s Coney Island, Ruby’s Bar and Brooklyn Beach Shop expect to stay open nine months of the year for now, ATZ has learned from the owners.

PTB Lighthouse Joins the Parachute Jump and Skycoaster on the Coney Island Skyline. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

Alberto Zamperla Talks Watermania for Coney Island, Cowboys & Aliens Coaster

Posted in amusement park, Amusement ride, tagged Alberto Zamperla, Coney Island, Interactive ride, Luna Park, new ride, roller coaster, water attraction, Zamperla on July 3, 2012| 1 Comment »

The July issue of Italian Wired has a feature story on Alberto Zamperla, president and CEO of Antonio Zamperla S.p.A and founder of Coney Island’s Luna Park. “Megagiostre: l’arte di trasformare adrenalina in soldi è italiana.” Translation: “Mega Rides: The art of turning adrenaline into money is Italian.” Two grafs in the article caught our eye. Since the conversation is in Italian, we translated the quotes with the help of Google, Bing and a dictionary. If any of our readers have corrections, let us know.

When reporter Riccardo Meggiato asked Zamperla what his company is secretly working on, he replied: “We plan an interactive water attraction, which will be built in Coney Island in a few days before being sold throughout the world. It’s called Watermania and consists of a madcap monorail in which the occupants can also shoot the water cannons against those who are there to watch.”

It’s not clear if Watermania was planned for this season at the time of the interview, which may have been done months ago. We’d be very surprised to see the ride this summer. Where will it go? With very little space for new rides, the ride will probably replace one of the other rides in Luna Park.

Zamperla also tells Wired that his company is developing a super coaster inspired by the sci-fi Western “Cowboys & Aliens.” In the 2011 movie, a spaceship arrives in the Arizona Territory, where a posse of cowboys and townsfolk do battle with the aliens. The description of the coaster, featuring a dark tunnel where interactive movies are projected and riders blast away at adversaries calls to mind Universal’s Men in Black or Disney’s Buzz Lightyear Ride.

Neither Coney Island nor a time frame for the coaster’s completion are mentioned in regard to the super coaster, but Zamperla’s intention is to have the latest rides that they develop in the park. The Air Race, a prototype designed by Mega Disk’O creator Gianbattista Zambelli made its world debut in Luna Park Coney Island in 2010.

Thanks to Coney Island photographer Bruce Handy for his portrait of Alberto Zamperla at Luna Park.