A.J.

Honestly, I think a fairer comparison would be between El Toro's Rolling Thunder hill and Skyrush's last airtime hill where it's running directly alongside Comet's turnaround, the hill after the twisty one. Front seat, hands up, legs out over that hill is positively unreal. EDIT: The small but deadly hill over the pathway that's to the right in this photo:

So you're implying that Intamin knows more about what Wanda wants with their park than Wanda themselves?

We need to start a running count of how many times you've responded to a post with the instant Joker laugh.

Ugh. If this coaster ends up being phenomenal I'm going to be very upset.

My goodness, what I would give for forested theme-ish parks like Fårup and Djurs here in the States... I know Knoebels exists but it doesn't seem like exactly the same dynamic.

I mean, when the standard layout is short like this, "longest" isn't terribly difficult...

It's either the second or third, I don't completely remember.

But that's just it, fun factor is just as important to me as well, and it's why I consider Phoenix my top coaster, among other reasons. I (slightly embarrassingly) like to go "boing, boing, boing" on each of the hills on the last stretch. I like to take my non-coaster-riding friends on Phoenix because I know that they'll have as much fun as I do (and they do), and because they're not as intimidated by it. I know where all the airtime is on El Toro, yet Phoenix still always surprises me (likely due to slight variations in the non-pre-fabricated track). El Toro is absolutely phenomenal, and it's technically the "best" coaster I've ridden. But I hit that coaster's brake run catching my breath, whereas I hit Phoenix's laughing. El Toro is a coaster I walk to with respect, Phoenix is a coaster I run, skip and / or excitedly jump to. I would actually compare El Toro vs Phoenix to a McLaren 570 vs a Volkswagen GTI, if you know enough about cars to make that comparison.

I mean, that's fair. I put Phoenix above El Toro because of the fun factor. El Toro is certainly the best coaster I've ever ridden, but Phoenix is my favorite.

Here's something that's had me curious lately. We all go on and on about the "best" coasters like the Rocky Mountain coasters, Intimidator 305, El Toro, Skyrush, Nemesis and others. But are they the "most fun" to ride? When I think of the "most fun" coasters I've ridden recently I think of Lightning Racer, White Lightning, Firechaser Express, Phoenix and Kozmo's Kurves. They're the coasters that I always make a priority to get my friends to ride (except Kozmo's Kurves because credit whoring) because I know that they're re-rideable and that they make you laugh instead of scream "OMG" at the top of your lungs. Yet, Phoenix is the only one that's at the top of my coasters list. What do you think? Which coasters are the "most fun" to ride, regardless of how "good" they are?

Pretty much any coaster with trains that are open in the front (Skyrush, B&M floorless, B&M inverted, et al), I go straight to the front so I can ride hands up, legs out, like I'm flying. For others it depends on the coaster; I like White Lightning near the back, Phoenix on either extreme end and Rip Ride Rockit near the front, for example.

OR...like every other coaster with an unbanked turn after the station. Seriously, this isn't a new thing.

The B&M wing coaster car looks like it's just bulkier all around compared to the Intamin wing rider. I think that the point where the seats are anchored to the chassis (near the middle on the B&M vs at the bottom on the Intamin) and the ride height (below the track on the B&M vs way above the track on the Intamin) may have something to do with it as well. Maybe Intamin was attempting to keep the wing rider trains as light as possible, but there were consequences for the lightness in the long term.

If they are going to design new trains, I'd be willing to bet a couple of Goldfish crackers that the new trains would be a standard four-across design. It seems like the track is just too narrow for the winged trains to keep stable. I know that B&M can pull off six-across trains with the standard track gauge but their seats are much closer together than the ones here. Look at those, they're like sticks trying to hold gigantic boulders without breaking...

See, I never got to ride them when they dueled, and yet I still think that they're two kick-butt B&M inverted coasters. No sadness here, they're both incredibly fun.

Kentucky Kingdom I'll give you, but Dollywood is in a very different market. It should be noted that Valravn is the only coaster of its kind in Cedar Point's region, and the closest similar coaster west of the park is Cannibal all the way in Utah. Both Busch Gardens parks are in a different market to Cedar Point as well. I wouldn't say that Cedar Point is being "one-upped", but Valravn definitely seems underwhelming.

Y'know, thinking about it a bit, I wonder what would have happened if they decided to replace it with a similar attraction like a more thrilling Vekoma suspended family coaster or a B&M flying coaster.

Found this article when catching up on some websites I frequent. Dutch electricity supplier Qurrent is apparently looking to convert one of its wind farms into an amusement park, by building several attractions on...the poles and propellers of the wind turbines?!? The park is being developed and planned by Jora Entertainment / JoraVision, a design firm also based in the Netherlands. They use the phrase "the world's first sustainable theme park" in their marketing, which is kind of debatable because I would give Greenwood Forest Park in the UK that title. Still, this looks like a pretty cool project, if and only if it gets past that dastardly concept phase... Source Also, is that the Kings Island Vortex in that concept image?

Smells like Shibolai. Seriously though, if they could just make the ride experience relatively smooth, I kind of like the idea of the Volares - wild mouse flying coasters. They could make for some interesting dark ride coasters.

Is that a Coaster Expedition video?!?

Old roller coaster attraction at the end of its service life with rising maintenance costs, hotel that can make the park lots of money... I'm not a fan of big hotel developments but, in this situation it seems generally like a good idea.

That cool new Intamin 12-inversion layout hasn't been built yet, kind of disappointing really.

Pretty much any inversion, be it on a roller coaster or a flat ride, increases the apparent appeal - it makes you go "wow". I feel like part of what makes guests like rides that go upside-down isn't necessarily how "good" the ride is, but rather that they got to experience that ride that made them go "wow" in the first place. Less of a "look how awesome that ride is" and more of a "look what I got to experience".

To my understanding, that's the plan.

Kimi Räikkönen wouldn't make a good celebrity guest star on a Theme Park Review rider cam video.