Theme parks get ready to rev it up in 2012

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

An artist's rendering of the new "Superman: Ultimate Flight" at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, Calif.

By Rob Lovitt, msnbc.com contributor

Theme parks are looking to lure potential visitors with an array of stomach-turning, gravity-defying coasters and rides in the coming year.

The hottest attractions were being showcased on Tuesday at the annual International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions? annual convention in Orlando.

The goal for theme parks, said John Gerner, managing director of Leisure Business Advisors LLC, is to move beyond the economic challenges of the recession -- park attendance had slipped in recent years.

?Long-term growth depends on periodic improvements,? he said, ?and new thrill rides have traditionally been the best way to boost attendance ever since the ?coaster wars? of the late 1970s.?

Gerner also noted that extreme rides are a strong competitor against alternative forms of entertainment.

?Their visceral thrills still can?t be duplicated at home, even with today?s sophisticated video-gaming equipment,? he told msnbc.com. The following six rides, for example, offer experiences you won?t find on that video-game console.

Manta: Opening on Memorial Day weekend, this launch coaster at SeaWorld San Diego takes its cues from the bat rays in nearby Forbidden Reef. Riding 20-seat, ray-shaped trains, riders will experience three to four Gs, speeds of up to 43 miles per hour and, in an appropriately aquatic twist, a swooping turn that has the train?s wings skimming through the water.

Skyrush: The 12th coaster at Hersheypark will also be the park?s longest, tallest and fastest, rising 200 feet, plunging down an 85-degree first drop and hitting speeds of 75 miles per hour. For an even more heart-pounding experience, grab one of the outer seats on the four-across trains: Unlike the inner two, they?re floorless so there?s nothing between you and the ground.

Superman: Ultimate Flight: It?s a bird, it?s a plane; no, it?s you and your fellow riders taking to the skies on the first DC Comics-themed attraction? at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, Calif. Hitting speeds of 62 miles per hour, it?s like a bulked-up version of Superman rides at other Six Flags parks, although riders sit in cars rather than ?flying? prone. Still, with its 150-foot inversion, two upside down loops and two vertical rolls, holding on to your lunch may require superhuman strength.

Verbolten: Your brain says you?re at Busch Gardens Williamsburg in Virginia, but you could be forgiven for thinking you?re in southwest Germany on this autobahn-inspired ride. Combining two launches, high-speed turns and a full arsenal of environmental effects, riders are taken on a harrowing journey through a ?forbidden? Black Forest. Fortunately, the park?s Oktoberfest Village is nearby so you can soothe your nerves when you?re done.

Wild Eagle: Think of prey clutched in the talons of a massive bald eagle and you get a sense of Dollywood?s the newest thrill ride at Dollywood in Pigeon, Forge, Tenn. Sitting four abreast in winged, floorless trains, riders climb a 210-foot lift hill, plunge down a 135-foot first drop and swoop through four inversions, including a giant loop, ?zero-G? roll and giant flat spin. Maybe they should call it Screaming Eagle since that?s what most riders will probably be doing.

X-Flight: The 12-story first drop at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Ill. will put your heart in your mouth; the five inversions will put your stomach in a twist and the 55-mph speeds will bring tears to your eyes. But all that is merely preparation for the X-Flight?s most hair-raising element: a vertical, keyhole-type flythrough that you approach horizontally ? think rectangular peg, square hole ? before making a last-second vertical? pivot to pass through, presumably intact.

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Rob Lovitt is a longtime travel writer who still believes the journey is as important as the destination. Follow him at Twitter.

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Source: http://itineraries.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/15/8821694-theme-parks-get-ready-to-rev-it-up-in-2012

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