Electerik

Well, since I'm really way more into actual rides than haunted walk through type dealies...I'm gonna go with Knott's Berry Farm's Timber Mountain Log Ride and Calico Mine Ride re-themes. Erik "Worked Halloween Haunt and Horror Nights" Elness

Yes, indeed, "Orlando's Best Half Day Attraction" still exists, and is doing just fine as far as I know. http://www.gatorland.com

Wasn't Ouimet supposed to be the Great White Hope for Disneyland? The guy that recognized the problems and was willing to spend the money to fix them? Maybe his bosses weren't quite as willing, eh? Interesting news, regardless. Thanks for posting it.

Just got my copy yesterday. (Thanks, Robb!) Here’s my review: It’s been a while since I’ve seen a full-scale TPR video extravaganza. In fact, I think the last one I saw was “Home Movies 2000.” (And it was on videotape, no less!) And though Robb’s work has always been impressive, time and experience (or maybe Elissa) have clearly resulted in a streamlined, fine-tuned, and superior offering here in the year 2006. Although it doesn’t quite cover as many countries as the title might suggest--sticking mostly to Asia, England, and the US as it does--the number and variety of parks is still quite impressive. And there are quite a few “non music video” segments sprinkled throughout (including random snippets of strange Japanese TV programs) to break up the format and keep things interesting. Of course, the “music videos” are still the heart of the presentation--chock full of theme park footage, coaster POV, Robb going “wheee,” and lots of random “WTF” moments. The musical selections remain esoteric, but entertaining. In fact, I was surprised at how many songs I didn’t recognize this time around. And though I didn’t intend to, I ended up blowing through the entire DVD in one sitting last night--and I’ll probably watch it again today. It’s that good. As always, this latest TPR offering makes you want to hang out with Robb, Elissa, the one they call “the Quaker,” Derek, and the whole rest of their wacky gang during the upcoming year, in hopes of becoming a big time DVD star yourself. But if you can’t quite afford that yet, these DVD’s make for a pretty darned swell alternative. Thanks, guys!

Okay, I was almost down with it...until this: WTF?!?

Wait, Shock Wave is green now?! Anyway, thanks for the pictures. SFOT is my favorite Six Flags park! (Or does that smack of faint praise? )

Can't we just accept that people have different opinions without having to concoct wild conspirarcy theories about why everyone else is lying? I think Holiday World is a very nice park. Top 10 for sure. You may not. But that doesn't make your opinion any more "honest" than mine, thank you very much.

This park definately needs a Volare Flying Coaster. What was the name of that stupid hat-thingy with the blades that drop down and cut your head off?!

^ At the risk of starting a philosophical debate, I'm not sure I would consider Strom Runner to even have a first drop! At least, in the context of the question. Which is to say, launching up and over the first hill sort makes the "first" drop not very much like a first drop at all, but more like a second hill (in terms of experience/sensation). I think that's sort of the idea behind the inclusion of the word "first" in the original poster's question. Otherwise, I'll take GhostRider's mid-course drop over Voyage's first drop.

The immelman, baby! And there are two, in particular, that I am extemely fond of: Top Gun - The Jet Coaster (also my favorite multi-looper) and SheiKra.

Wooden coaster? The Voyage, methinks. Although Millenium Force still has the best first drop overall, in my book.

About a year ago, I participated in a supervisor training program in which we were each given two hours to come up with a new ride for either USF or IOA and then pitch it to a panel of upper management types. Of course, it was just "for fun." Nothing that would ever get built. But it was still the coolest training exersize ever. Anyway, of the dozen or so people in the program, three pitched almost identical "dueling rocket coasters themed to The Fast And The Furious," and all placed them behind BTTF. Me, I pitched an indoor swinging ship with a Viking theme between Mythos and the Enchanted Oak, and emphasized how affordable it would be to build. I won, too. (At least, that part of the program.) I have no real point. Except maybe that the whole "dueling rocket coasters themed to The Fast and the Furious" thing is a bit pedestrian.

1. Men In Black: Alien Attack 2. Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye 3. The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man 4. (Disneyland's) Space Mountain 5. Dueling Dragons

Here's the best part:

The Voyage's "triple down" tunnel is my favorite. First, you drop into a tunnel. Nothing really special, but still fun. Then, it gets darker and you drop again. Now you're in complete darkness as the train drops out from under you yet again. I mean, it just doesn't get much cooler than that.

I agree that Mystery Mine is perhaps suspiciously a bit too much like Blazing Fury. Plus, all the rumors I've heard about connecting the two paths involved it happening "by Blazing Fury," and I can't really picture where that would be (with BF still there). Also keep in mind that Blazing Fury is just a tad wild/violent at the end, and there was a lawsuit involving it fairly recently. Of course, I'd hate to see it go, but that does seem to fit the pattern.

Yeah, exactly. It should be a monster (Apollo's Chariot not withstanding). I like it.

Yay, ice cream! "Caveman Chocolate" at Toft's, in Sandusky "Winter White Chocolate" at Baskin Robbins "Truffle In Paradise" at Baskin Robbins Not really a flavor, of course, but as far as I'm concerned, Denny's only exists for their Banana Split!

Something like this: 01: Indiana Beach 02: Busch Gardens Williamsburg 03: Islands Of Adventure 04: Knott’s Berry Farm (Easily my #1 a few years ago.) 05: Disneyland 06: Holiday World 07: Kennywood 08: Disney’s California Adventure 09: Dollywood 10: Six Flags Over Texas All rankings subject to change without notice.

My understanding is this: By making you go around, there can be no doubt that you are agreeing to go again, and are in a proper state of mind to consciously make that decision. If that sounds a bit extreme...well, it is. But here's a hypothetical: You go on the ride and have a stroke (or something). When the train comes back in, you're conscious, but you make no move to get out. The op asks if you want to go again, and you either answer yes (not really understanding where you are or what's going on), or you make some noise (or say nothing) and the op takes it as acquiescence. Perhaps an unlikely occurence...but it only takes one.

Magic Mountain in late 1978. Colossus before its first reprofiling, Revolution with lapbars only, Mountain Express, the world's scariest Sky Ride, and the whole host of non-coaster rides the park had back when it had some non-coaster rides. Sweet....

Jack Rabbit at Kennywood, opened in 1921.

^^^^^ The boats are not free floating, no; they're powered by wheels sticking up from the track. ^^^^ I only took one "on ride" photo, for a couple of reasons. One was that I knew there was going to be some small amount of wetness, and I didn't want to risk my camera. Another was my desire to not be too obnoxious with the flash, since there were other people on the boat. And finally, I didn't want to miss anything while I was futzing around with my camera. ^^^ The ride opened about nine months ago, and I'd heard nothing but bad things. Honestly, though, I thought it was fine. Not that this is any excuse, but maybe it was more that the animatronics weren't entirely finished yet when you rode, rather than that they were "already broke." But everything appeared to be working the way it was designed to as far as I could tell. ^^ I'm sure that the ride was based entirely on their own original ideas--much like the same company's Earthquake ride in Gatlinburg.

New this year in Pigeon Forge is the Jurassic Jungle Boat Ride, a stand-alone “old mill” style dark ride. It’s a decently long, but slow-paced, “boat with wheels on a track” type ride, with frequent stops along the way to admire the show scenes. It’s also rather expensive at $12.00 plus tax for an adult ticket. If you fall into the “any dark ride is a good dark ride” camp, you’ll probably enjoy it. If, on the other hand you’re more of a “the only worthwhile dark rides are at Disney or Universal” type, you’ll probably find it cheesy and lame. Personally, I enjoyed it, and would rank it on par with, or slightly better than, Knott’s Berry Farm’s defunct Kingdom of the Dinosaurs. Fair warning, though: thar be spoilers ahead. So if you’d rather be surprised, scroll down to the pictures. While most of the ride consists of stopping in front of animatronic dinosaurs that growl threateningly and then moving along, there are a couple of other interesting gags along the way. One involves a Plexiglas “skylight” that reveals a deluge of water falling towards the boat. And while this is in no way executed convincingly, it is a cute idea. Another is a reptilian body that slithers through a wall of foliage. Really, it’s just a big circle that turns continuously, but again I liked the idea. And, finally, right when you think the ride is over, comes the big WTF moment, as the front of the boat is lifted up at about a 45-degree angle so that a big T-Rex head can pop out and menace you. Perhaps if this occurred in darkness, so that the unexpected upward movement was more disorienting, it might amount to something. But as it is, it’s just odd. Still, the Jurassic Jungle Boat Ride is a worthwhile diversion if you’re a fan of this sort of thing. And, of course, it’s a rare example of a stand-alone dark ride--which in and of itself makes it sort of interesting. Another group of confused riders about to disembark from their thrilling time travel adventure. "Derivative? I'm sure I don't know what you mean." "Oh no, you're going back in time!" "We're whalers on the moon...." The station and most of the only "visible from the outside" portion of the ride. The show building and parking lot. The ride's placement on the Parkway. (It's that beige box right in the center of the picture.)

While I still feel midly stupid for taking pictures in the wrong place, I'm now kind of glad that I did, because I'm learning all kinds of cool stuff! A crooked house? That rocks! Too bad I missed it. In any case, it's a pretty cool looking building, so I hope they'll do something with it again....