Jhcbiinoc

I can think of a few things offhand: -Many times when I post photos of a new coaster being built that I want to ride, or photos of one I love, my non-enthusiast friends are always responding with comments like "OMG just looking at that makes me want to hurl, that would make me so sick" without knowing anything about the ride experience...there seems to be this assumption that all coasters are designed to make people sick or scare them to death. (In reality, I have always found that the scarier and more insane that a coaster or a ride looks, the better and more fun it is!) -A lot of people-myself included at one time-had this fear of a launch coaster like Xcelerator going too fast and shooting off the top and derailing. -And of course, there is always the "It doesn't look safe, how do you know it won't fall out?" meme. -Another one I have heard is "What do all of the forces do to your internal organs over time? Can intense G-forces cause of create permanent damage like a brain aneurysm?" -And last but not least, my favorite is "Coasters always go faster at night." I would love to see some research as to why most coasters seem more intense after it gets dark. I know for a fact that a few coasters just seem to move faster or become more intense; is it the track cooling off at night, or the wheels warming up all day, or is it just an illusion? That is all I can think off offhand, if I think of any more I will add them. This could be a really interesting show!

These are just my favorites by state as of now: California: X2 (SFMM) North Carolina: Intimidator (Carowinds) Georgia: Goliath (SFOG) Tennessee: Wild Eagle (Dollywood) Missouri: Outlaw Run (Silver Dollar City) Nevada: Canyon Blaster (Adventuredome)

Thanks for all of the great photos/TRs! The park looks amazing, with what appears to be a focus of quality vs. quantity on the rides. FOTR looks to be one of the better Wing Coasters thus far, and the theming on the park looks top-notch. I would imagine they will eventually move forward with the planned mega-wooden coaster and ferris wheel they had in the original plans, eventually.

I am actually thrilled at the prospect of something like Leviathan at Carowinds...B&M is by far my favorite steel coaster company, and the thought of being able to ride a giga coaster by them within a few hours' drive is something I look forward to!

Seriously giving thought to making the 7-8 hour drive up for Media Day in April and then staying a night and going to the park on the 18th to get a ride on Diamondback and the other coasters. Will reach a decision sometime in the next few weeks as I complete the planning and budget for 2014 trips.

Actually, I am a little bit of all of the "Categories"-but more of a "Coaster Rider" than anything.

I can see Valleyfair getting a B&M Invert or maybe a floorless, but I would imagine that it will end up being more on the scale of Patriot or Talon rather than something like Banshee (or something like Hydra if a floorless.)

I would love to see SFOG get this...they need a new "big" coaster. I suspect there could be an RMC in Dollywood's future as well in the not too distant future, so you never know what SFOG might do in a move to compete!

Great trip reports! I might actually get to ride this in July.

As one of the minority who really loves the B&M Wing Coasters (the one I have ridden, Wild Eagle, is my favorite coaster at Dollywood and in my top five steel coasters), I personally think this one looks great! The drop looks alike a bigger version of Wild Eagle's first drop, the Dive Loop and Zero-G look fun, and I like how they seem to have figured out a good mix between inversions and really enhancing the "flight" aspect of the ride. I don't base my enjoyment of a coaster on forcefulness; great coasters to me (personally) are fun, enjoyable and re-rideable, and the Wing Coasters seem to have this down. I actually really appreciate the engineering they did on these. I really don't think that the full potential of the design has been exercised just yet, and I think that due to the train design that we may not see any of these over 200 feet; I would like to see them evolve this into their own take on the 4D coaster concept but would imagine it will take some time. This park looks amazing; as I recall they had plans for a giant wooden coaster as well.

I am going with #2 on this one. I know most people are voting for #1, but what I like about the second is that big image that immediately catches the eye. While the Twitter feed on #1 is a nice touch, I feel that you already have all of the social media icons right there at the top and it might be better to have the Twitter feeds in a different section lower on the page after the main site content. The only other suggestion I would have is to consider getting rid of the scrollbars on the lower section, as they really make that section seem crowded to me. Maybe just have the 5 or 6 most recent Official TPR Updates and News and Updates with either a link at the bottom that goes to a "See All" page listing all of them, or a link that says "See More" that loads the next 5 updates via an Ajax call: www.jquery4u.com/function-demos/ajax/ (I probably suggest this mostly as one of my previous employers would constantly ride me to "do whatever you have to to get rid of those scrollbars!" ) I did find the headings slightly confusing at first of "TPR Updates" and "News And Updates"; I would probably rename them something along the lines of "TPR Site Updates" and "Theme Park News". Either one looks great, # was just the one that caught my attention better; one of the fantastic things about TPR is the coverage and the excellent photo updates and to me for there to be a big image that immediately announce the unique feel and style that really sets TPR apart is why #2 was my choice.

1. Six Flags Over Georgia - About 2 hours 2. Dollywood - just over 4 hours 3. Carowinds - about 6 hours This was tough to get used to after 20+ years of being 25 minutes from Knott's and about 2 hours from SFMM when I lived In California...but I have to say, Dollywood is now my #1 park, and SFOG is a great park to be close to as well.

Facebook and YouTube are the only two Social Media sites I use daily, at least for the moment!

1. Outlaw Run - now my #1 wooden coaster. 2. Intimidator at Carowinds-first ride none of the trims kicked in and even with the trims, I thought it was good. 3. Afterburn at Carowinds-nice invert with a great layout, and that batwing element in the back row is awesome! Honorable mention goes to: Powder Keg, Thunderation and Wildfire at Silver Dollar City, Patriot and Prowler (at night) at WOF, and Batman: The Ride, Mr, Freeze and American Thumder at SF St. Louis. Also have to give a shout to Carolina Cyclone at Carowinds, which was my coaster #100. Those were just new ones for me this past year...also enjoyed some great rides on Goliath at SFOG, and Wild Eagle and Thunderhead at Dollywood.

Actually-Hershey operates a massive plant in West Hershey. The old plant that they are tearing down used to be a "bean to bar" factory-raw cocoa beans came in, were processed into chocolate liquor-and then that was processed into candy. Eventually, a new plant in West Hershey was built and gradually, more and more moved there. Over the years, Hershey then outsourced most of the chocolate making process, and (I just found this out last year) no longer roasts and grinds their own chocolate-they outsource the chocolate liquor from other companies and then process it into chocolate and candy bars. They just completed the process of moving all production to the new plant last year: www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Manufacturers/Hershey-opens-doors-at-the-world-s-most-technologically-advanced-choc-factory. I talked to a relative who actually DID tour the real factory-the one being torn down now, in the days pre-"Chocolate World", and they did have real tours up until the 1970's: blog.hersheyarchives.org/2012/04/09/touring-the-hershey-chocolate-factory/ There USED to be a video online inside of the West Hershey plant, the modern one they use now, but the video was apparently pulled from being online. I did find this one, of the classic factory, though: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP1_746b6ZM And as recently as 2008 when they started closing plants, you could actually tour the real factories in Oakdale, CA and in Smith's Falls, Ontario...the one in Ontario looked very interesting: www.biline.ca/Ottawa/content/hershey.htm

I know that this coaster and Banshee are the main two "big" new US coasters for 2014, but both look outstanding. I look forward to giving them a try next year if at all possible. And I really have my fingers crossed that SFOG might be considering something like this to replace Georgia Cyclone!!!

For me personally-I would have to say a B&M coaster with inversions, especially a zero-g roll. For non-coaster rides, I would say a good log flume that does not get you completely drenched!

That was an outstanding video, and I really prefer the format this time. Great editing job, too! The whole thing was very enjoyable, but the standout parts to me were: -I loved all of the questions, but the two that I thought were the most fun were the "Elephant or Cheetah?" and "Why do you think Hard Rock Park failed?" -The responses I liked the most: Everything Alan Schilke said, Fred Grubb saying that RMC is booked solid, Kevin from S&S saying that they are anxious to build more 4D coasters (although I hope to see more full size 4Ds than the smaller ones), and I thought it was interesting that Walter Bolliger mentioned Flying and Dive coasters first when asked what types of coasters they would like to see parks build. (He seems like a nice guy, I think he just does not want to divulge too much information; I get the feeling they are working on something else big besides Banshee, Heide's Wingrider and the Wingrider in China...) -All in all, I just liked the selection of questions - all of them fun and ones that got good responses-and the way it was edited. Thanks again for the great coverage, that had to be one long, busy and tiring day!

I enjoy both, but given the two, gotta be inversions for me.

For right now, I am going to have to say So Cal, for three reasons: Knott's, Magic Mountain and the fact that I called it home for 20+ years. My top 2 steel coasters-X2 and Tatsu-are both out there, as are a ton of friends and memories. Plus you cannot beat So Cal weather. Now-that being said: in all fairness, I need to make a new trip TO Central Florida before being able to effectively answer this. I have never been to Universal Orlando or Islands Of Adventure, and have not been to Sea World or Busch Gardens Tampa since they added all of the big coasters (Kraken, Manta, Kumba, Montu, Sheikra, and so on.)

I missed this one the other day. Probably one of the most difficult option of these for me...can I answer Herschend? Kidding aside...there are pros and cons for me of both SF and CF. I love what CF has done with Knott's since they took over; not only the thrill rides like Silver Bullet, Supreme Scream and Xcelerator, but also how they freshened up the Boardwalk, took the care to rehab Timber Mountain, and area doing an excellent job of making the park more balanced, adding new while taking the time to preserve the classic. That said, there have been decisions they made there which I was not fond of: I think they should have painted Silver Bullet something more like Wildfire at Silver Dollar City instead of bright red and yellow, and taken the time to maintain the lake with the boat ride around it intact as per the original plans, I think they should do something with the old Kingdom of the Dinosaurs space, and then you have the 300 foot tall derp, Windseeker, which IMHO was not a very smart decision for any of the parks that got them; when I finally got the nerve to get on Windseeker at Carowinds, it broke down. (These things just keep having issues...) Then there was the while debacle with Vertigo which failed, the great real estate they could use for a flat ride being used for an upcharge ride, and I won't even get started on how I think Pony Express was a great idea that did not quite live up to the execution with such a brief ride time and squeezed in location. As far as other parks-the only other CF parks I have been to are Carowinds and Worlds Of Fun; I thought both were very well put together. Worlds Of Fun's Haunt was almost up there with Knott's. As far as Halloween events, CF wins that contest hands down. I think the new guy at CF is doing an excellent job and I have to say I was very impressed with their latest coaster additions (Gatekeeper which revitalized the entrance at Cedar Point, and Banshee which was a very well thought out replacement for Son Of Beast). Plus, they seem to value the delicate balance between extreme thrills and family friendliness and are working on improving that at all of their parks based on what I see them doing. Six Flags...SFOG is my home park, and although to me the real standout is Goliath, they have a decent selection of coasters. The last few times I have visited, service and cleanliness have been above par, although operations have been hit and miss up until recently. I still love most of the coasters of SFMM (although I was not too pleased that they took out Log Jammer there). However, despite some shining examples of customer service at SFOG I have seen, overall as a chain, SF operations are not as impressive to me as the ones I have seen at CF parks, and the food options need serious work. I don't know how it is at SFMM presently, but it seems since Jay Thomas departed that operations and the park overall is not doing as well as it was for a few years. Having visited Dollywood multiple times this year and Silver Dollar City once and contrasting the experiences there with those at SF and CF parks, I have to say that both have some work to do still on multiple fronts. Given all of this, I would have to say that of the two, Six Flags and Cedar Fair I am going to have to at the moment say that although it is very, very close-I think the edge is going to go to Cedar Fair for the moment. I still want to visit some more of their parks and Six Flags parks before I can reach a definitive though.

I am late chiming in on this one, but for me the answer is Cedar Point, no contest. Nothing against Disney, as their quality, theming and service are impeccable, but I have just never been into the Disney Parks. I go to parks for the extreme coasters/thrill rides and although Disney does great family coasters, I have never found any of them to be very thrilling; I lived in So Cal for 20+ years and in that time, I went to Disneyland a grand total of three times and California Adventure once, whereas I went to Knott's/SFMM hundreds of times. I think some of it may also have to do with my earliest theme park experiences being at Six Flags rather than Disney.

Ideally-I would say it is a tie. However-given the two, I am going with Dollywood because it is only a few hours' drive for me, I love the location right next to the National Park, and they have a great coaster lineup. If Dollywood would get their own version of Outlaw Run (which I hope is on the horizon in 2017) then they would have IMHO one of the best coaster selections anywhere.

Yes...I had originally planned to ride Gatekeeper, Outlaw Run and Full Throttle this year but was unable to get to Cedar Point or SFMM. Out of those three, the one coaster of the 2013 crop that I did get to ride-Outlaw Run-not only met but fully exceeded my expectations, lived up to the hype, and is now my #1 wooden coaster.

Got mine today! Not only are these items cool because of the TPR logo, but they are practical as well. There has not been one that I do not use all the time. Thanks for another great perk of being a member!