Electerik

I'm still not sure that I fully understand this topic. I guess the idea is that I can visit any park I want, but then I can only ride one thing there...? If so, I guess I'll go with Holiday Park and Expedition GeForce. Walibi World and Goliath would be good, as well.

I think this is a great addition to the park, and it looks like it will be a really good ride. It's interesting to me that nowadays, it seems like the way to get lots of positive attention for your park (both from enthusiasts and from the rest of the industry) is to build a good wooden coaster. And this could really put ValleyFair (back) on the map. I think it's a much better move than just about any steel coaster they could have built.

The problem is most certainly not that Knott's needs more thrill rides! It's that they need more concrete! Seriously, though: KBF used to be my favorite park, but Cedar Fair has really messed it up, both operationally and in terms of park infrastructure and "assets."

In my opinion, Holiday World has the finest collection of wooden coasters anywhere. Which, in and of itself, makes the park worth visiting. Yeah, there's some other nice stuff there. But, really, if someone told me that they just weren't into wooden coasters, I don't think I'd recommend Holiday World to them.

Possibly not along the lines that you were thinking...but Pteranodon Flyers has two chains on its lift, as well; They're just side-by-side. (This redundancy of chains acts as an anti-rollback.)

^ Where Rockin' Roadway is now, I suspect. Which I wouldn't be too happy about.

While I agree with Millennium Force, Desperado, and a few others, let me just add.... The Hoosier Hurricane at Indiana Beach. Bonus answer: The Flying Uniorn at IOA!

Millennium Force seems to be running away with it. I agree, though.

In this order: Space Mountain at Disneyland Revenge of the Mummy at USF Runaway Mountain at SFOT

Well, it's not very good...but here's a picture of Jack Sparrow sitting in the treasure room at the end of the ride.

^ Oh yeah? Did he look kind of like this?

I worked at IOA for four years. And now, here I was back as a guest for the first time in over a year. And I liked what I saw. The park looked absolutely beautiful: clean, fresh paint everywhere, and filled with fun and exciting attractions. Of course, for me, the park still lacks one thing: a coaster that I'm excited about riding over and over again (i.e., one with lapbars and airtime). Nevertheless, I was impressed with the park all over again. Perhaps nostalgia had something to do with it. Or maybe it was helped by the addition of a "new" attraction. Whatever it was, on this day, IOA became my number one park. Now it was time to see how the studio had fared in my absence.... Well, that's it for this trip report. I don't know about you folks, but we're exhausted. A shot of the USF lagoon, complete with big white things that make escape impossible. MIB also has the best on-ride photo of any ride. Clockwise, from top left: Tanya, Matthias, Olga, Kira, my-big-stupid-self, and Janis. Men In Black: Alien Attack. For my money, from start to finish, the best themed attraction anywhere. Fire is cool. The Jaws/Amity Boat Tours loading area. Mummy was running well, with two really good airtime moments. The Volkswagen placement out front is rather lame, though. City Walk in all its glory. Time for lunch, and the girls wanted to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe. Why, I'm not exactly sure, since there's one just a few miles down the road from us.

Day three found us at Universal Orlando. We started at Islands of Adventure, had a late lunch in City Walk, and then finished out the day at Universal Studios. The girls had enjoyed Disney, but it was Universal that really blew them away. Marvel and Toon as seen from Seuss Landing. Sneech Beach, with Mythos, Dueling Dragons, Poseidon’s Fury, and the Seuss Trolley in the background. The Green Eggs and Ham restaurant was closed, but it still looks pretty cool. One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish as seen from The High In The Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride. (That was fun to type.) The girls test their grasp of the English language with some Seuss twistiness. More Dr. Seuss goodness. I liked it. Even if it's not quite what it was originally supposed to be, it's still fun, and adds a lot to the ambiance of Seuss Landing. Finally, after years of waiting, McBean is open! (It's just not called McBean anymore.) Best theme park restaurant ever. But the girls wanted to go to Hard Rock, so we skipped it. The Mystic Fountain being all mystical and fountain-like. I'm not into games, but do like how they themed the games in the Lost Continent. As is customary, our free-spirited, no-hassle day was interrupted at Dueling Dragons. I would have gotten the trains in the picture, but I hadn't the patience. The Discovery Center, as seen from Port of Entry. The Jurassic Park River Adventure and its acceptable amount of wetness. Welcome...to Jurassic Park. Home of Pterannadon Flyers. Or, as park employees call it, P-Flyers. We skipped the super-wet water rides of Toon Lagoon, but here's a photo of my former home away from home, Ripsaw Falls. One more picture of Hulk, with Doctor Doom's Fearfall in the background. Looking back at the Hulk. Marvel Super Hero Island. We started at the Incredible Hulk. This would prove to be the girls' favorite ride of the trip.

That's Matthias. And I do believe that he is rocking. Thanks for the kind words. Parts 3 & 4 will probably have to wait until tomorrow.

Day two of our three-day park-hopping extravaganza was spent at Animal Kingdom and Disney MGM Studios. Since Janis is, as a general rule, adverse to animal exhibits, we largely limited ourselves at Animal Kingdom to Expedition Everest and Dinoland USA. Matthias had never seen Fantasmic! I guess he liked it. I still think that it's just a bunch of randomness. A shirt in the Star Tours gift shop. This ride contains the single worst story point of anything ever: "But that just goes to show you that anything is possible in the movies." The best of about six attempts at this picture. The launch area (sans train). On the second ride, the girls asked if we had to watch the preshow again. The girls, on the other hand, seemed to prefer this one. And Tower of Terror is my favorite ride at WDW. MGM is my favorite of the four WDW parks. Obviously, it helps Animal Kingdom to have a big new ride. But, otherwise, I don't think that it really adds anything original to the resort. I love this photo. Everest, however, I found to be fun, but nothing really special. It just sort of cruises around for a while.

Upon learning that our three Russian roommates had always dreamed of going to Disney World, an expedition was quickly mounted in the short time we had left before they were due to head back home. I called my friend Matthias to arrange some things ahead of time and come hang out with us, and we headed down. The wife (Janis), Olga, Kira, Tanya, Matthias, and Buzz Lightyear. I may not be in the picture, but I got the highest score on the ride. The girls liked Space Mountain, but I miss Disneyland's version. This one is just too rough for my delicate sensibilities. Space Mountain and the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. "Welcome...to the world of tomorrow!" From left to right: Olga, Tanya, and Kira with Pooh Bear. Matthias and Kira on Peter Pan. Check out the guy in the control booth of "it's a small world." Big Thunder Mountain Railroad Am overview of the Magic Kingdom from high atop Splash Mountain. Having grown up with Disneyland, I tend to be a bit biased towards it. But Splash Mountain is the one ride that I can say is clearly superior at Magic Kingdom. I thought the changes to Pirates were well done, and I absolutely loved the Davey Jones water curtain effect. Since the girls had never been to any of these places before, we started with the Magic Kingdom.

Apparently, the original poster just made up a new (albiet strange) term for "family coaster." It's made for an interestingly wacky thread, though.

The closest thing to a "kiddie hyper coaster" that I can think of is the Santa Monica West Coaster. Photo by Wolfgang Payer / fotoreports.parktours.de

I guess that depends on your definition of "new" (although, technically, I never claimed that there weren't any new ones, just that there were far fewer being built than removed). At any rate, McBean/Suess Trolley was supposed to open with the park, so it's obviously a special case. But that does lead to another interesting question: What was the last already-existing park to add a (new) transportation ride?

On the whole "IOA needs new rides, not USF" thing, let me just say this: There are some very smart people high up the business world ladder who get paid a lot of money to think of things like the following: The general public is very aware of USF (as, say, an alternative or addition to a Disney-oriented Orlando trip), but not nearly so aware of IOA. Therefore, it makes more sense to entice people into USF with new stuff, and to continue trying to make people aware of what IOA already has. Which is to say that most Orlando visitors have either already been to USF or have no interest in going (based on what's currently there), but those same visitors simply don't know that IOA exists (or what it's all about). So, from an advertising standpoint, USF has gotten its money out of what's already in the park, but IOA hasn't. Which is why the new stuff goes into USF and not IOA.

That is a really strange sentence. Anyway, this seems like a good match, to me...as long as they can keep Bert away from the Budweiser.

Well, um, working all weekend. But wait! On the day after Labor Day, we're heading down to O-town (with our three adopted Russian students) for a week or so of park hopping and mom visiting.

Perhaps this is overly semantic, but I don't think it's a question of why transport rides have been taken out. Change, closure, and ride replacement are natural and even desirable for a growing park. The real question is: Why are so few new transportation rides being built? I suspect the answer is simply that most park patrons don't care about them, and the parks know it. Imagine this question (for example) on a survey: Which of the following attractions should we add next year? a.) a new rollercoaster b.) a water ride c.) a play area for kids d.) a train ride around the park e.) a pizza and ice cream buffet Of course, in my opinion, an aggressive campaign of giving people what they say they want leads parks on an Atkins-like, coasters-only diet that can only be maintained for so long before disease sets in. Erik Allen Elness Holiday World needs a Skyride.

Eh, I don't know...I hear that you snore.

Two days ago, I really wasn't seriously considering any of the 2007 trips. I mean, they all sounded cool, but I had enough stuff of my own planned, and was thinking more about the possibility of Scandanavia in 2008. But then I started reading this thread, filled with posts from people who really probably couldn't (or shouldn't) go, for whatever reason. And I thought: Well, why not? It sounds fun. I'm not 12. And I can. Probably doesn't make much sense, but...the (midwestern) check is in the mail. So...can I room with someone old?