American seaside amusement parks are in crisis. Their numbers have reached alarming proportions, as landowners whack up the rent and force operators to close in favour of new developments like luxury housing. Park World talks to several park operators on the eastern shore of the US to determine the causes and look for possible remedies. Like canaries in the coalmine, their stories are ominous warnings for many in the amusement industry. Paul Ruben reports.

US coastal parks are in danger. For those by water, the threat is particularly acute. In the 1920s there were over 1,500 authentic waterfront amusement parks in America. It was a given — where there was a body of water that people used as a gathering place for recreation, there was an amusement park. Out of those 1,500, there are less than 15 left. Gary Kyriazi profiles a survivor.

With India’s GDP now touching 9.8% and an increase in many citizen’s disposable income, the average Indian has now started thinking about entertainment away from home and active ways to explore and enjoy their free time.

Across the globe rates of entertainment tax vary greatly, but they need not always dip into a venue’s profitabilility. Some operators have attempted to secure a zero rate, and in a few cases they have even been successful, the Malaysian trade association MAAFTA recently succeeding thanks to a government that is clearly keen to encourage tourism development.

My first encounter with a Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M) Dive Machine was a few years ago at Alton Towers in Staffordshire, England, when I climbed aboard Oblivion. What a glorious idea, to ride a rollercoaster that dove 197 feet straight down into a black hole in the ground! We exited, of course, and returned immediately to the loading platform. Short and sweet, it was an inspired one-trick-pony of a coaster.

As it visited Thailand for the first time, numbers were down slightly at this summer’s IAAPA Asian Expo, but organisers were as optimistic as ever in their outlook.

The Flamingo Land theme park and zoo is to become the first park in England to provide guests with a mobile phone ‘virtual queuing’ application courtesy of Monkwood Technologies.

BRC Imagination Arts has promoted Scott Ault (pictured) to the position of chief operating officer, reporting to CEO Bob Rogers.

The SBF/Visa Group, in collaboration with Westech, recently supplied a customised suspended coaster to the Hyatt Mall in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Eye of the Hurricane, a new Superbowl slide from Whitewater West Industries, is bringing visitors to Splash Mountain Waterpark, Ocean City, Maryland.

The successor to Eclipse, the curtain rose on Pleasure Beach’s much anticipated new show, Forbidden, on Friday, July 6. In this, the biggest and most lavish production ever staged at the UK park, audiences are treated to a feast of sumptuous song, dance and glorious style.

Six Flags Over Texas, Arlington, has introduced Cirque Dreams Coobrila, a new stage extravaganza from Cirque Productions.

Following the two-year masterplan handed over last October, the Prater in Vienna, Austria, is to get a new entrance plaza celebrating the city’s golden era. Local supplier Explore 5D has been awarded the contract to develop the 16,000 square metre area which will carry the theme “Vienna in the 1900s.” Up to four new attractions, including a cultural exhibit, as well as shops and restaurants, are believed to be part of the plans. All will be designed and built by Explore 5D or one of its international partners. “The concept is content driven, which means that we have created a strong storyline which will run throughout the experience,” says Dr Gerhard Frank, Explore 5D’s CEO and also head of research & development. It is envisaged that the new area will fold seamlessly into the existing Prater.

Rob Norris, Seabreeze, USA: No, we have never seriously considered selling Seabreeze. Our family has been in the business for over 130 years; we started building carousels in 1876. We really hope the legacy continues but that's up to the next generation. We have a philosophy that we are the current caretakers of a great traditional amusement park. As long as we can continue to run a safe and profitable business, we have no desire to sell. But we've had great weather this year – if you ask me after two weeks of rain, you might get another answer!

Rob Norris, Seabreeze, USA: No, we have never seriously considered selling Seabreeze. Our family has been in the business for over 130 years; we started building carousels in 1876. We really hope the legacy continues but that's up to the next generation. We have a philosophy that we are the current caretakers of a great traditional amusement park. As long as we can continue to run a safe and profitable business, we have no desire to sell. But we've had great weather this year – if you ask me after two weeks of rain, you might get another answer!

Guests watching the planes at Linate Airport in Milan can now pilot one by boarding the new Flying Fury ride at Europark next door.

An adaptation of the same manufacturer’s earlier Ultra Max, the Jet Force from Mondial differs from other Frisbee-type type rides in two ways: The main arms turns right through 360 degrees and the machine requires no crane for assembly.

Riders experience unpredictable movements on the Heartbreaker, one of two new rides produced by recently by Mondial with a previously unheard of small footprint.

Is it bird? Is it coaster? No, it’s a Mountain Glider! Walibi Belgium has finally opened its Vertigo ride, giving guests a bird’s eye view of the park and the closest experience they will get to flying like one. Park World profiles the latest attraction from a name that will be new to many within the amusement industry – Doppelmayr.

A ride on Griffon, the world’s tallest, floorless dive coaster at Busch Gardens Europe, Williamsburg, Virginia, is like being pushed off the edge of a cliff. You’re 205 feet in the air. It’s 90 degrees straight down. Paul Ruben was Park World’s guinea pig, or rather lemming.

Now in its fourth year, the renamed China Tourism & Attractions Summit took place last month in Shanghai, attracting developers, operators, suppliers and consultants of entertainment venues in this

fast-growing market.

Taking time out at the start of the summer is always difficult for attractions operators, but those that did were rewarded with quality debate and discussion, good company and beautiful surroundings at this year’s TiLE Forum, the first in Italy. Owen Ralph reports from Lake Como.

Attraction operators large and small from the UK and beyond travelled to the Oxford Centre in the English city of the same name for a one-day ”experience conference” on July 3. Park World joined them.

Leading UK park Alton Towers will host a ‘Thrill Laboratory’ this September, analysing the behaviour of guests as they ride Oblivion and giving them a personal insight into their own psyche.

Wild West World, the recently opened western-themed park in suburban Wichita, Kansas, declared bankruptcy on July 9, two months after opening, and has now closed.

Walt Disney Studios has unveiled a new zone for 2007 as part of the Disneyland Resort Paris 15th anniversary celebrations. Toon Studio, which opened in June, is highlighted by two new attractions based around animated Disney Pixar productions.

After last year’s excursion to the Benelux, the British Association of Leisure Parks, Piers and Attractions (BALPPA) held its annual Summer Conference outside London this year, from June 11 to 13.

Mongolia’s first theme park moved a step closer recently. A design concept by Forrec has just been approved and the project is now moving into the next phase of design development, with opening scheduled for 2008/9.

Representing a € 6,500,000 investment, Troy at Toverland is one of the Dutch park’s most extravagant additions ever and a far cry away from the facility’s beginnings as an indoor entertainment centre.

Knott’s Berry Farm, Buena Park, California, recently introduced a coaster that not only offers speed, but spin. The Sierra Sidewinder, by Mack Rides, consists of two four-car trains equipped with on-ride video cameras to record the action.

Thomas Town is now open at Six Flags New England, Agawam, Massachusetts. Centred around a train ride on a Thomas the Tank Engine replica, the new area takes guests on a journey through Thomas’ mythical home on the Island of Sodor.

Darien Lake Theme Park Resort, Darien Center, New York, is marking its 26th season with the introduction of the new Le Grande Cirque show from Spirit of the Dance Productions.

Three months after it was installed, the new Xtreme Cyclone (pictured), a Technical Park Street Fighter, remains idle at Playland's Castaway Cove, Ocean City, New Jersey.

Trimper Rides, a 117-year-old iconic park in Ocean City, Maryland, has added two new rides from Zamperla this season, however the Flying Tigers (pictured) and Speedway could be the last new additions ever. Soaring property taxes and other increased costs are forcing the Trimper family to consider closing.