ginzo

^There's a search button at the top. Alternatively, you can use Google to search TPR.

^I keep a running list of high end steakhouses that I need to visit around the country. My most recent visit was Peter Luger in Brooklyn. Amazing steak. I haven't heard of this place. Do they serve USDA Prime?

^But coasters are definitely the focus to the exclusion of many other things. Nobody goes there for the theming, great food, dark rides, etc. Call it what you want. It's not an exceptionally well-balanced park like, say, Europa Park.

Don't tell Bill!

Going by the numbers of installations, the steel coaster market is at least 10x bigger than the wooden coaster market. And there are already three very strong players in wood: GCII, Gravity Group, and Intamin. I'm not really sure what B&M would have to add to this as it has become very apparent that high end, over-engineered woodies, like the Intamin woodies, do not sell all that well. And I can't see B&M doing anything other than some sort of pre-fabricated system because you can't get the same quality control with traditional carpentry methods.

Wasn't mocking you, just this absurd story. As much as I'd like to see something nice happen in NO, I'm very skeptical that this park would succeed even if it does get rebuilt. But hey, if they can sell 9-figures worth of bonds, then more power to them. Personally, I wouldn't hire this guy to wash my car.

Don't think we'll ever see that since AT is trying to sell ad space to these same parks. This poll seems to be more about chest thumping and back slapping than a serious attempt at ranking or criticism.

I'm pretty ambivalent towards this poll anymore. My only real gripe is the half-assed nod to European parks/coasters that they give. They really should just be honest and make it a US-only poll. Having Diamondback almost beat EGF and no Balder in the top 10 is just a joke. When you view the Golden Ticket Awards through the lens of "US-only", they become sort of reasonable.

Baited breath here on this one. Everyone book your plane tickets!

It's pretty standard to give some sort of "failure to maintain control" citation when someone drives off the road, etc. It's just a charge though. The guy might be able to talk the prosecutor into converting it into a lesser offense/fine considering the circumstances.

Wow. I have barely been paying attention to the Chinese parks, but I must say this new Happy Valley park is off to an amazing start. Opening with a Mega-Lite and a high-end woodie AND a B&M. I wonder if Freestyle-Hard-Rock-Music-Go-Denmark-Cafe-Park would have had better luck in its early days if it opened with this amazing of a coaster line up. Seriously, this park opened up with a better coaster collection than the vast majority of established parks. Anyway, I need to get to China! Actually, Asia in general.

If that's not a photo for the Fail Blog, I don't know what is.

http://www.amusementtoday.com/2009gtainfo.html

FYI: Greyhound is pretty terrible. Their buses SMELL and you won't like most of the clientele. Not sure I'd want to bring a nice young lady on Greyhound if I could help it. Also, you're going to smell like bus all day if you take Greyhound.

I preferred IB when the Spackman family ran it because they put on a REALLY good enthusiast event. The one offered now looks like a major downgrade. As for the park getting more professional and organized, I think the laid back way they ran it added to the charm. Very nice escape from the "WELCOME BACK BLAH BLAH BLAH RIDERS, HOW WAS THAT RIDE???" obnoxiousness of many big corporate parks. Are the changes a big deal overall? Nope. IB is still one of the better parks in the midwest and that isn't likely to change any time soon.

Celebrating 900 alpine slides!

It's quite bare on the inside because the Nazis took all the furniture. Otto Frank wanted to keep it this way to demonstrate that. Also, keep in mind that this wasn't a house per say when they were hiding there. It was an office building/warehouse. It wasn't supposed to look like a house at all. Nobody was supposed to know that people were living in there. Not sure if it was modified after the war or not. This was not the Franks' real house. This was where they actually hid out. Complete with fake bookcase leading to the secret living area.

You should have gone inside the Anne Frank house. We did it back in May. The line moves fairly quickly and it's totally worth the wait because they do not overcrowd the inside of the house. You have lots of room to take your time and read all the display signs in the house. A very powerful experience if you actually take the time to slow down and read everything.

Intamin Mega-Lites are amazing little coasters. Even the slower morning rides on Piraten were better than most anything out there. And the one afternoon ride we scored was right up there with EGF and Bizarro. Think my top steel looks like this now: 1) Insane 2) EGF 3) Bizarro 4) Piraten Can't wait to ride the two Asian Mega-Lites!

Alpine slides are NOT credits.

Wow, I didn't know there were this many board certified psychiatrists on TPR. Thanks for the science-based opinions everyone.

This could be good for the UK trip. Bring a psychiatrist on the bus and get everyone declared ADD. It wouldn't be a stretch for many of us.

Nice "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka" reference.

But, like I imply above, they'd really gain nothing by building something taller than Steel Dragon 2000. It wouldn't be "tallest coaster". It wouldn't even be "tallest full-circuit coaster". It would be "tallest, non-launched coaster". Not a very impressive or marketable record. I guess "tallest gravity-powered coaster" would have sounded a little better, but it still reeks of equivocation.

I'm curious why they went with 305 feet. I guess "tallest, non-launched full-circuit coaster" isn't much of a record these days.