Universal Orlando Announces New Coaster, Dinosaur Shut Down, and More!

Universal Orlando Finally Announces Fast n Furious Rollercoaster

Below is the advertisement for Universal Hollywood’s Fast and Furious rollercoaster which will open sometime this summer.

Universal Orlando released the theming for their newest rollercoaster, Fast and Furious: Hollywood Drift. Yes, for some reason they are naming it Hollywood Drift even though we’re in Orlando and even though there is a rollercoaster of the same name actually going to Hollywood…

This coaster will have a 170-foot vertical spike that will be nearly 17 stories tall! The spike will be outside the traditional bounds of the park which will make it a very pretty site for anyone in CityWalk to see. The ride will open sometime in 2027.

In related news, the park announced that their Fast and Furious: Supercharged ride will close in 2027 permanently. If you havn’t been on it, you arn’t missing much. Many say its the worst ride Universal has ever made here in Orlando. Hopefully they replace it with a Knight Bus attraction from the Harry Potter universe, that would be pretty cool.

Dinosaur Closes For Good at Animal Kingdom

The final attraction in the Dinosaur themed section of Animal Kingdom has just closed its doors for good. I went on the last day and can say I’ll miss it but I think anything that replaces it will be better. It’s a fun ride but there’s so much darkness in it that you can barely see the Dinosaurs that are there.

And seeing Dinosaurs is kind of the point right?

Also, the real feel temperature wise that morning I went was literally 15 degrees. I was bundled up out the wazoo. It was so freakin cold.

I filmed it on my 360 camera down below (shameless plug for my VR channel, go subscribe).

A brand new Indiana Jones ride will replace it. It will be a different story than what has been told at Disneyland. This new ride will open sometime in 2027.

Theme Park Stock Watch

From the last 5 days of stock changing as of Friday Night

From The Editor

Woooo! The second week in a row this year that I’ve published a newsletter! Many who took my poll last issue didn’t have that much faith in me. We’ll see if i can keep it up!

I was recently on two podcasts, talking about my experience at Six Flags Qiddiya. If you want to, give them a listen

The Drunk Riders Ep 357: Parkineer gives us the business

Coaster Cuzzies: Six Flags Qiddiya City with Parkineer

Both podcasts talk about rollercoasters and theme parks but in entirely different manners. If you want something more raunchy, listen to the Drunk Riders. If you want something chiller, listen to the Coaster Cuzzies.

Getting to Six Flags Qiddiya

Let’s talk about getting to Six Flags Qiddiya. For most readers, it’s on the opposite side of the world. The park is located outside of Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.

Sadly, there are barely any direct flights to Riyadh from the U.S., although that is slowly changing. Still, you’ll most likely be flying into Dubai or Abu Dhabi, and then connecting through to Riyadh.

The airport at Riyadh could use some work if you ask me. It’s no where near as nice as Dubai or Abu Dhabi. Once you’re at the airport though, you can rent a car from the airport, take the metro into the city, or get an Uber.

Speaking of Uber, they are insanely cheap! I would recommend this option immensely as the drivers over there are crazy. There are some downsides to Uber though that I’ll explain later.

The hotels at Qiddiya are not open yet, so you’re going to be staying in Riyadh. From here, you can take a metro line to Jeddah Station, and then transfer to the park via Free Bus(they have a fancy bus stand that is branded as Qiddiya, you can’t miss it outside the station). This option will probably take you around 2 hours.

Driving or taking an Uber into Qiddiya is relatively easy with one catch. The entrance way is still under construction so they don’t open it until 3pm I believe. You will have to sit either at the side of the highway or on the off ramp until that time. This might eventually change but this was our experience the first few days.

Getting back from the park is trickier if you’re taking an Uber. The normal Ubers are not waiting at the park currently for rides. There just arn’t that many people requesting them. Instead, only Uber Blacks are there. While that might sound rather pricy, it actually was just a bit more expensive. If for example a normal Uber to the park cost $20, an uber black leaving the park might cost around $50.

If you took the metro and the Free Bus to the park, you can take the bus back to Jeddah Metro Station. However, the metro stops running around midnight. So if you stay until park close, you probably are going to miss your train. Still, taking the free bus back to the metro station has its perks as you can now request a cheaper Uber.

Taking Ubers and the Metro always felt completely safe for me. Nothing about it worried me. In fact, their metro lines were some of the nicest I’ve ever been on! The above ground line you take out to Jeddah Station provides some great views of the city.

I’ll go over detail about Six Flags Qiddiya in future newsletters, so stay tuned!

News At A Glance

• Galaxyland has been rumored to be getting a new Vekoma coaster themed to nerf according to this reddit post.

• A Mattel indoor waterpark is coming to Bradley, Illinois.

• Six Flags Magic Mountain recently made a post highlighting the goats they use to eat the foliage around the hills of the park. In certain sections, it is far easier than trying to maintain the hills traditionally. It’s also really cool to see in action!

@sfmagicmountain

Saving the day, one blade of grass at a time. 🐐 Wildfire safety heroes spotted having fun at Magic. #GOAT

Vekoma Hosts The Craziest Cool Party

Kwybes from Reddit made a post about this. Vekoma took part of their track in their factory, added glass to it, and called it a table! How cool is that!

This is kind of the idea I have in mind when it comes to that wheel bogey I bought from Dynamic Attractions.

Earn Cool Stuff By Referring Friends to the Newsletter!

We will be revamping these rewards soon. Making them easier to earn and maybe cooler prizes.