ginzo

Actually, it's the adrenal glands that secrete epinephrine (adrenaline).

The pictures below mean that you = owned.

With force?

That's what I was thinking too! Phoenix being better than her brother, Twister! I thought Twister had a better edge over the Phoenix last summer! Sad to say, the Phoenix is not what it used to be in the 1990's. It has lost it's luster, and the slam dunk on the 2nd to last hop into the brake run is gone. I've been riding the Phoenix every summer for the past 20 years and I have noticed the Phoenix becoming mellow in the past 4 years. Wow, I'm glad I didn't ride it "back in the day" then, cause I rode it for the first time ever this year and it scared the crap outta me! That's my kind of airtime! I look forward to riding the Phoenix for the first time ever this June.

I personally wouldn't call The Voyage an "old school" woodie considering that it has a hybrid wood-steel design. Although there are a few examples of this design from the past (Cyclone, Traver coasters), the traditional way is to use all wood. The Intamin woodies, of course, use mostly wood. They're just engineered to get around a lot of the problems that woodies suffer from.

I can see why some people would put Voyage as #1. I had some amazing rides on it, but also some bad rides on it. I went to HW three times this year, and I believe that Voyage had a bit of downtime on each trip. Though I'm sure El Toro was down a lot more in its inaugural year with the stories of "never open before noon". HW has created an awesome, but high maintenance ride. If they can keep up with it, they'll have a top 10 coaster for many years to come.

I voted. It was really easy for me, because I haven't ridden all that many coasters yet.

14" Oh, you were talking about height. Nevermind.

Will let you know about the world's finest steel coaster. $75 is one incredibly expensive parking pass. I guess it's worth it for some people though.

What new B&M? Mystery Mine is a Gerstlauer ride. Do you know something that I don't? Here's to hoping for that new B&M hyper at Dollywood. Doesn't seem out of reach considering what they shelled out for Mystery Mine.

It shouldn't make you feel old if you know the rules. Rule 1) Anyone older than you is senior citizen suffering from dementia in a nursing home wearing Depends and using a walker to get around. Rule 2) Anyone younger than you is a pesky kid, naive to the ways of the world.

Have you tried calling CP? That's usually a good place to start. $75 seems steep for my purposes. I already have a parking pass to PKI, because it was included with my Maxx Pass. I only have one trip to CP planned for 2007, and I'll most likely be staying in the park, which I believe gets me free parking. So, the only thing left would be Geauga Lake, which I might visit like once. Are you really going to be hitting CP/GL enough to make $75 worth it? Didn't you get PKI parking included with your Maxx Pass?

You know maybe Maine should consider having a more appropriate person speak on this issue, like an attorney. Maybe if they had someone other than a cop handling this they wouldn't be setting themselves up to get their asses handed to them in Federal Court. Most people who talk about doing things to "protect children" are full of crap anyway.

I rode Raging Bull twice in the very back row in August, and it had extreme airtime on both runs. The first drop was like more like being hurled into a freefall than anything else. My ass didn't touch the seat at all during the drop. And I got airtime several times out on the course, even a very strong pop coming down off the MCBR. I wasn't expecting much with Raging Bull, because so many people had called it "the worst B&M hyper". But I was utterly blown away by it. Maybe it was because it had been raining most of the day. Anyway, you should try the back seat next time you make it out to Gurnee.

Lame. I also noticed that the British call Sprite "Lemonade". WTF is with that? And how about some ice with my drink? My favorite root beer is Virgil's. It's a premium brand, and more addictive than crack. My favorite soda right now is Goose Island Grape Soda, another premium brand. It's amazing, and made with real sugar. I don't really drink much soda though, because I'm hypersensitive to caffeine. So, Coke is out for me.

Personally, I like KY rumbler better, but this is a minority opinion. Thunderhead is fun, but there is little airtime, which makes me subtract a few points. Back seat rides are fun, but they started to hurt my elderly back after a while. So, I think it's a good ride, but a bit overrated. Jarmor, thanks for the Mystery Mine pics. That mine house looks awesome. Dollywood sure has their act together when it comes to theming.

How is the Voyage underrated? It was #1 in the In-Season Internet Wooden Coaster Poll, and could very well be #1 for the real one. If it doesn't make #1, it's almost guaranteed to be top 5. It's also one of the most talked about coasters right now. I'm going to go with Cornball Express for my underrated coaster. Sure it's a top 20 ride, but I never hear it mentioned much. The airtime is astounding in the back seat, especially on that notorious third drop. I personally feel it's better than at least 2 rides in the top 10. So, thus I say it's a bit underrated.

No. There's really no comparison there. McDonald's and MSFT combined don't have anywhere near the muscle that Walmart has. And I'm very familiar with Microsoft. Walmart has the clout to push P&G around. Who else can do that? I don't deny my own moderate greed. But, there are other values by which we can govern our lives than just getting rich at any cost.

I dunno what their arrangement with the builder/designer is. How do you even know that they did pay for it? The blog entry doesn't say anything about that. Your comparison to a car doesn't quite fit. Cars are mass manufactured by the thousands. Roller coasters are custom designed and contructed. The Voyage is a bleeding edge design that really pushes the limits of what wood can do. It's far easier to stress test something out in a lab like a CV joint than a $6.5 million roller coaster. They can't just build a test model or anything. The coaster IS the prototype.

It was just a partial retracking. http://www.holidayworld.com/holiblog/2006/11/and-for-this-we-give-thanks.html They didn't redo the entire ride. Remember that the Voyage is extremely massive for a woodie, and it has a lot of twists and turns at high speeds. I think Holiday World knew what they were getting themselves into with it, and they are more than capabable of keeping their flagship ride running in top form. I'm glad that they are willing to go to such lengths for the benefit of the ride. They probably would have gotten a much lower maintenance ride had they done one of those fancy Intamin woodies. But, that probably wasn't in the budget. So, they adopted a "pay later" strategy.

Actually, you'd be pretty surprised at the people who are aware of Walmart's shadiness. My boss, a pretty conservative Republican type, has surprised me a number of times by telling me various stories about Walmart. That's not exactly the sort of person you'd expect to hear bash them. Then there are the hardcore leftist types that hate Walmart for their union busting tactics, like shutting down a store entirely for organizing. Walmart is also notorious for firing anyone that even talks about organizing, which is illegal BTW. So, while I agree that most people might dislike Walmart for being a filthy dump full of white trash (the stores usually reek of poverty), I think you're wrong if you think that their shady practices aren't widely known. Isn't that why San Diego's city council is pulling this largely political move? Because they want to play populist politics? In case you don't know, they can never keep Walmart out by force. Walmart can just sue them in Federal Court for a trade violation, and they are nearly certain to win. SD City Council surely knows this. Well, I'd personally say that making a special trip just for soda would be a giant waste of time. That's why I typically shop at Meijer, where I can buy everything from groceries to DVDs to motor oil. I'm all about the convenience of one-stop shopping. Walmart isn't even really an option for me, because the closest one has a really lousy grocery section.

It's not really the success that is hated. It's their questionable labor practices and bullying of suppliers. http://www.fastcompany.com/online/77/walmart.html Walmart is a dump anyway. Target carries much nicer stuff. And if you're looking for a wholesale club, Costco is also far superior to Sam's Club in terms of the quality of goods that they stock. Oddly I'm currently a Sam's Club member. Costco is too damn far from where I live, and I hate driving.

No doubt the developers will find "document and destroy" as the most feasible alternative. This is a city where landlords burn their own buildings to get around rent control. If they want the Cyclone gone, it's toast. I'm taking a coaster trip to the east coast next June. The Cyclone is now definitely on my list, just in case the worst happens.

Nonsense. PETA is calculating and well-funded. They take money from idiots, which is something I've been trying to figure out how to do for years.