California’s Great America to add swing ride, re-theme kids area for 2010

California’s Great America officials expect the Screamin’ Swing ride at Knott’s Berry Farm to be relocated to the Santa Clara theme park by summer 2010.

Knott’s is removing the pneumatically powered pendulum swing ride to make room for Demon Drop, a 26-year-old thrill ride being removed from Cedar Point and relocated to the Buena Park theme park.

Confused?

Think of it as a white elephant Christmas in which the California theme parks get regifted presents in 2010 as parent company Cedar Fair bestows the big prizes on Virginia’s Kings Dominion (a $25-million coaster), North Carolina’s Carowinds (a $23-million coaster) and Ohio’s Cedar Point (a $10.5-million water ride).

The rewrapping theme continues in 2010, as Great America will convert the Kidzville and Nickelodeon Central kiddie lands into Planet Snoopy, with the existing children’s areas repopulated with “Peanuts” characters and re-themed rides.

Meanwhile, Great America’s oft-delayed wooden coaster, announced in 2007 with great fanfare and much anticipation, remains in bureaucratic limbo.

Find the latest amusement and theme park news at the Los Angeles Times Funland blog: www.latimes.com/funland. Follow Funland on Twitter and Facebook.

— Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times staff writer

Photos: Screamin’ Swing at Knott’s Berry Farm. Credit: Knott’s Berry Farm (top); Screamin’ Swing coming to California’s Great America. Credit: S&S Power (lower)

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This entry was posted on Friday, October 23, 2009 at 5:55 am by Brady MacDonald and is filed under California, California’s Great America, Cedar Point, East Coast, Family & Kids, Knott's, Midwestern States, Orange County, Southern States, Theme Parks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.