Electerik

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....

Liseberg! (Crap! Robb beat me to it!)

I don't know about any of that 2007 stuff--but I am so going on the Scandinavian trip! Erik "first name's Norse, last name's Danish" Elness

Bourbon & Alaska

^ Agreed. While what makes the environment "fun" can vary from park to park, it definitely needs to be there. They all pay pretty badly, in my experience. To my knowledge, Universal Orlando pays the highest starting wage for ride ops at the moment: $7.25 an hour (or $7.50 if you have 2 years of previous guest service experience). Of course, some places end up paying decently if you're there long enough. Some parks also have some pretty good benefits. Both in the traditional sense (medical, 401k), and in the more esoteric sense. For example, Cedar Point holds weekly employee ride nights during the summer, while Universal Orlando and BGA/SWO employees get into all four parks free. You also tend to get a fair amount of free tickets to your park, and free admission to all the other parks in your chain (as well as the park you work at, of course). Erik Allen Elness ("Been paid poorly by the best.")

1. The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man 2. The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror 3. Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye 4. The Timber Mountain Log Ride 5. Men In Black: Alien Attack Hmmm...all dark rides (by my wide definition).

Hrmmm, alright. So the closed off, boarded up stuff that's all flooded-mine-ish isn't where the flooded mine attraction actually was? Looks like I put 2 and 2 together and came up with 7. Oh well, thanks for the info!

Yeah. Actually, Dragons needs 9 just to open (1 train on each side, with no breaks or Express person). Um...you'll just have to trust me on this one.

Yeah.

Probably too easy, but I'll try it anyway:

Does anyone have any info on these rides? I know that SDC's still exists, but does anyone know the story behind why Dollywood's stands idle and boarded up? Here are some pictures of what you can still see of Dollywood's:

I sent 48. But I feel sort of bad about it. Did I just participate in a lynch mob? Oh well.

Last time I was there--about a week or two ago--I spotted a set of (extra) seats from Timber Tower sitting back by the Thunderhead maintenance area. Possibly that's what you saw...?

Actually, I didn't. And, I wouldn't trust that anyway. It is Lagoon, though, I'm fairly sure.

Well, I see the smiley face...but how did I "cheat"?

^ Lagoon

Another vote for "The Drop" on GhostRider! Not actually "The Drop," but what occurs immediately afterward. (Photo from Theme Park Review.)

Yeah, I agree with the choice of Six Flags Over Georgia. But help me out here: Where are the "ungood" Goliath's? Because the ones in Holland and LaRonde look pretty cool, and SFMM's is in my personal Top 10.

Nope. The goal is to see what you can come up with in tight quarters. And, yes, the name is from Family Guy.

Millennium Force This photo was taken by Urs, the Intamin electrical engineer who was with us for most of the ride's inaugural season. Sadly, I don't recall who/where I got this picture from. Apologies.

Here's screenshot of my completed park: "Bob's Funland" ending point.