Electerik

This one.... (Stupid Cedar Fair. ) The Tampico Tumbler (formerly) at Knott's Berry Farm.

In 2001, I lived in Augusta. And although I did eat at Carraba's, I never did ride the nearby wacky worm--both because I am a law abidding citizen and because I am so *not* a credt whore. I really like the Pavillion. I'm seriously bummed that it's closing. It is, after all, home to one of my top 10 coasters....

Every year, the Attractions departments at USF and IOA have awards shows/video contests, and each ride (usually) submits a video. Many of them are quite good, since there are lots of creative types at the parks (not to mention some nice equipment). I am a bit surprised that one ended up online, though. I doubt UO would be too excited about that, since many of them reflect internal struggles and contain seriously-inside jokes. Erik "My ride's video won IOA's for 2004" Elness

Wait, SheiKra has no airtime? What the hell did I ride?! Seriously, though, I wonder if this is one of those definition-type things. Because I definitely got (what I would call) air on both vertical drops.

I suppose the elements (2) combined with the layout (1). While I don't mind short rides, any real dead spots usually do hurt a ride in my eyes. (For example, I would take Carowinds' Top Gun over BGA's similar but longer Montu any day of the week.) That's one I struggle with a lot. I think I tend to do sort of an average. Like, how many good rides have I had on it versus poor ones? On the other hand, I've had a lot more great rides on, say, SFMM's Revolution than bad ones--but that's only because I don't ride it much now that it has OTSR. Still, I can't very well continue to rate it highly, now can I? On the flip side, I still tend to rank GhostRider rather highly, despite the increased roughness of late. So perhaps the degree of deterioration (or improvement) is a factor, as well. I've also noticed that my personal top 10 seems to have a certain balance to it, with similar rides not being ranked all that closely to one another. For example, Voyage knocked Shivering Timbers from my number 7 spot all the way off the list. Does that really make sense? Probably not. But it does seem to be the way I do it. I have seen some folks' top 10 lists that are completely dominated by one particular manufacturer. You know, which is fine--it's their list. But I can't imagine mine being like that. Mine's all over the frickin' place. Heck, I don't even distinguish between wood and steel! Well, I suppose I should just post it now (for illustrative purposes only): 01. Millennium Force 02. GhostRider 03. Apollo's Chariot 04. Cornball Express 05. Goliath (SFMM) 06. SheiKra 07. The Voyage 08. Top Gun: The Jet Coaster 09. Mad Mouse--Arrow (Myrtle Beach Pavilion) 10. Top Gun (PKI) Weird, uh?

I thought that was done perfectly. Jarvis' is my favorite of the contest, mostly due to sure-handed, offbeat choices like that one. Although the song is terrible, I've decided to believe that its use is ironic. The rest of my top four: Julian Johnson's Don't Look Down Justin Saxe's Silverwood Nick Collin's USA Trip

This one: Photo: Jeremy Murphy / Lone Star Thrills

Arrow's Mad Mouse. I believe there are only four of them, but they're darn good--airtime and everything. Photo from RCDB.

Actually, no. The turkeys are all hidden, and you have to aim your "turkey caller" at different things they're hiding behind to get them to come out. Though there aren't really any more of Gobbler Getaway, higher resolution (and additional) pictures from the trip can be found here: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/electerik/my_photos

Actually, I'm glad to hear that you had some good rides on Raven. I loved it when I first rode it in 2000. But both last year and now this year, it was really ordinary. I thought it might just be the new train last year. But now I think I may just be unlucky. Um...which is better, I guess. As for my nice blue skies...well...they weren't that way the whole time.... From the highway. In the foreground is the employee parking lot.

Just got back from 2 great days at Holiday World. Voyage is definitely top 10 material. Not too sure about it being #1, though. Gobbler Getaway was great, even in its less-than-finished state. Legend was running mediocre, and Raven was down-right poor. Not sure why: It's not rough and it's not braked. There's just not as much air as there used to be. There were lots of school groups on day one. Annoying, but not unmanageable. Met and talked briefly with Will and Pat Koch outside the front gate on day two. At Holiday World, everyone is an A-lister. Okay, on to the pictures: Sadly, no word on next year.... Gobbler Getaway was in "previews." Still some effects not working, no score was collected during the first couple scenes, and the exit hallway is just black walls. Still, it was great. No MIB, of course, but very original and loads of fun. A great additio Oh, the wacky shananigans! Here I am pretending to be a complete coaster dork. Signature Shot The Plymouth Rock Cafe wasn't quite ready yet. (It's that pile of bricks on the right.) Still some work to be done on the station. "Why! That's outrageous! I want to speak to the manager!" On day two, we hit the water park. Zoombabwe (on the left) was the highlight, though the whole park was great. This woman is unhappy because she is married to me. The rapids ride floats through a flooded western town. Just a nice picture of the park's flyers. "Well, we're not at Six Flags." Frightful Falls with The Legend in the background. The Lewis & Clarke Trail and Hallo-Swings. Raven and the park exit. I really used to love this ride. Now it's just good, and I can't figure out why. Still pretty, though. "The Legend" cabins in the Lake Rudolph Campground. Nice view, eh? A history of the town and the park. Worth checking out. And free! (Although they do accept donations.) Cool minigolf course, where each hole is shaped like something Christmas-y. "Yo yo yo, I'm Santa--don't give me no sass. Stay at my lodge or get my foot in yo ass!" The great thing about Santa Claus is that just about everything in town is themed. Here's the sign for the shopping center that's across the street from Santa's Lodge and Frosty's Fun Center.

I find your ideas intriguing, and would like to subscribe to your newsletter. Bravo, sir! Great captions. And an interesting-looking waterpark. Perhaps I shall investigate it the next time I'm in the area.

Hey all, I've downloaded quite a few of Robb & Elissa's videos on this site since becoming a member. Just wondering if I've missed any really exceptional ones. So what's your favorite? Of the ones I've seen, I think I like the Hades "Burn in Hell" video the best.

I haven't been, but this picture of Montezum at Hopi Hari is just about the coolest thing I've ever seen.

I think "Permanent Tourist" about sums me up. I'd like that, if you get a chance.

Well...Orange County, California has three great parks within 5 or 6 miles of each other: Disneyland, Disney's California Adventure, and Knott's Berry Farm. Plus, some other pretty cool stuff within about a 2-hour drive, including SFMM (which I'm not too fond of--but it sounds like that's where you really want to go), Universal Studios Hollywood, SeaWorld San Diego, Legoland California and Belmont. Sort of on the far side from the UK, though....

For what it's worth, Ing.-Büro Stengel GmbH is Werner Stengel's engineering company, and has been involved with the design of what seems like almost every steel coaster built for the last 20 years, regardless of actual manufacturer. Just some of the companies they do engineering work for: Intamin B&M Premier Gerstlauer Zamperla Maurer Soehne Giovanola Zierer So seeing their name associated with a coaster doesn't really mean a whole lot in terms of indicating a connection between rides. Also, both B&M and Giovanola started out working for Intamin (and I'm pretty sure that Giovanola still does), so there are bound to be similarities between their rides. I'm just saying....

Thanks for all the replies. It's quite interesting to see different peoples' takes on this. I do like the Waterfront area at SeaWorld Orlando quite a bit. That park also has what may be my favorite park entrance area. Another neat area that's now (largely) gone is KBF's Roaring 20's section. I very much enjoyed it growing up, but I think I would like it even more now that I know a bit more about the history of amusement parks, and how significant that period was in terms of rides and their development. It's ironic that Knott's (again, largely) dropped this theme right before DCA took it and ran with it. Speaking of which...I do like Paradise Pier, but California Screamin' kind of ruins it for me. I mean, it's a good ride, but all those half tunnel things are just so weird and ugly. Props though for the Sun Wheel and the circle swing.

Forgive the blatant "favorite _______" thread, but I'm very excited about Holiday World's new Thanksgiving section and that's got me thinking about the allure of specific areas of parks. About a million years ago, I worked at Knott's Berry Farm. And almost every day, I would cross the railroad tracks into the heart of Ghost Town and be struck by the sight and sounds of the Haunted Shack on my left, the Timber Mountain Log Ride to the right, and the Calico Mine Ride straight ahead. I never did get tired of that. (Or of any of those rides.) The new area around SheiKra at Busch Gardens Africa is often cited as being particularly nice, but it's worth mentioning again. Not only is the area itself beautiful, but the coaster soars over, under and around it on all sides, giving that entire section of the park a real vitality and excitement. The "boardwalk" side of Indiana Beach is alive with amusements of all types, and is another--somewhat larger--area that I especially enjoy. And I'm hopeful that the High-In-The-Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride will finally give Seuss Landing at IOA the visual and aural kick in the pants that it needs to really put it over the top. Does anyone else have any particular favorites?

Just a completely random (and uninformed) thought...but maybe it isn't a coaster at all--but a drop ride. After all, they did copy Spidey; maybe it's time to copy Tower of Terror. How cool would that be? On the other hand, the prevailing "SheiKra" theories are perfectly fine by me, as well.

An interesting post. Though it's hard to argue with Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, and maybe even Space Mountain--the subs neither lasted (their upcoming resurrection notwithstanding) nor were copied much. They just don't seem to be in the same class. Some other possibilities: The Coney Island Cyclone is both historic and oft-copied. Not to mention, famous in a way that perhaps no other coaster ever has been. The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is simply one of the most amazing rides in existence. That it has yet to really be copied (as opposed to cloned) is probably simply due to the fact that few other parks could afford to build anything akin to it. The Timber Mountain Log Ride at Knott's Berry Farm was not only the first heavily themed log flume, but also the clear inspiration (and near-blueprint) for rides such as Splash Mountain and Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls. And, for my money, it has yet to be equaled.

Okay, Cedar Point versus the rest of the world: Millennium Force: Currently my favorite rollercoaster, so I'll give this one to CP. Raptor: Not bad, but I strongly prefer Top Gun at Carowinds. Mantis: Riddler's Revenge is better. So is the Georgia Scorcher. Blue Streak: Pretty good. Not in the same class as, say, Shivering Timbers, though. Corkscrew: A better arrow looper? How about Tennessee Tornado? Top Thrill Dragster: It's a pretty good ride, but I haven't been on any other Intamin rockets, so I'll call this one a tie. Mean Streak: This doesn't beat too many woodies out there. But just to make it official, I'll go with Cornball Express. Wild Cat: Fun, but not much better or worse than any other. Tie. Woodstock Express: Does this run two trains? If so, then I give it the win for the on-ride photo. If not, then the Flying Unicorn trumps it. Gemini: Better than not riding a rollercoaster. Not too sure what to compare this one to. Tie. Magnum XL-200: Props for historical importance, but I honestly can't think of a proper hypercoaster that I like less. Heck, even among Arrow hypers, I prefer Desperado. Iron Dragon: I really like these, but this one is dull. And certainly no match for, say, PKI's Top Gun. Jr. Gemini: Never been on it. Tie. Disaster Transport: Not actually bad. I'll go easy on it and beat it with Runaway Mountain at SFOT. Wicked Twister: I think I actually prefer the standard Impulse coasters. Cedar Creek Mine Ride: It's okay. I'd take either SFMM's Goldrusher or SFOT's Mine Train over it, though. Okay, so giving CP the benefit of the doubt on Woodstock, that's 2 wins, 4 ties, and 10 losses. And the winner is: Rest of the World.

Revenge of the Mummy at USF would get my vote. Other contenders: Space Mountain, Disneyland. Alpengeist, BGE. Top Thrill Dragster, CP. ("Sunday, sunday, sunday!" Even with the loss of the "rear wheels," TTD is still a triumph of minimalist theming.) Erik Allen Elness