CoasterEricHP

Wow this is really interesting to read! I love seeing different parks in different cultures. Especially when the photo's are as good as yours! Im looking forward to the Thailand section. When I worked at Universal we had a group of international students from Thailand and I would always talk to them about their parks! Should be cool to see! Keep up the awesome work.

Great TRs and pictures! I've always wondered about these parks but when it comes down to it I always end up going to the other larger more established parks in the areas. Its good to know I didnt miss much driving past Wild Adventures on the way to SFOG last year. Plus I've always been avoiding Carowinds just out of a "Meh" feeling I've been getting from reports about it for years. I have that same TV! Makes an awesome computer monitor too!

Yeah the lapbars having almost no resistance is a real issue! The new trains do wonders for the roughness factor, but now you have to try to avoid having the lapbar amputate everything for the waist down! The bad thing is even if the attendants dont crush you with it in the station, it still will keep clamping down more and more throughout the ride. Lightning Racer has always had the same issue.. but its a less intense ride so its not quite as bad.

Exactly! It's a great ride during the day.. but once the sun goes down its INSANE!! Definately a top 5 wooden coaster IMO. Im still not sure about those new pelvis cracking lapbars though.

Geez.. for not being THAT tall.. Fahrenheit really looms over that one shot of Tidal Force! So cool looking! Great TR! Im happy someone else out there shares my love for the Wildcat!

That and the technology for MILF and Turtle Talk allows the animations to interact with people in an amazingly lifelike way! I do miss the Timekeeper robot though. Sigh.... I completely forgot about the flashlight feature! I wonder why that idea got cut out of TSM. Sounds like its a lot more geared to a Monsters Inc ride though.

I answered Yes... but I think the question should be.. "Should Imagineers really give a crap about what the 1% of enthusiasts and hardcore Disney people think?" If I was an Imagineer I would look at what is working in the theme parks and build a ride that fits within the budget limitation and what kind of people we are trying to appeal to. Obviously Disney is all about families and Toy Story, 3D effects, and Interactivity are some of the big things in the industry right now. So yes.. I would ignore the over the top nitpickers. If their constant complaining got to me, I'd go sit at the end of Toy Story Mania and watch all the happy families coming off the ride. I used to work on Expedition Everest, Dueling Dragons, and Flying Unicorn and I dont think I ever heard any normal guest complain about the bird on the stick or the view from Dragons lift hill not fitting with the theming! The normal guests dont really care! They are just happy they are there like many of you have pointed out. But at the same time, it's fun to complain about some things! But if any enthusiast is going to bed at night stressing out about Toy Story Mania accoustics.. then.. uh.. get a life!

^^ See that'd be cool! It'd add a little depth to the ride and make it less of tv hallway. Plus between booths you could have some kind of carnival scene going on in the background.

Heck yeah! Even though Universal would never beat Disney in total attendance (and it would suck if they did because a 30k day at IOA and USF is insanity) it looks like '09 and '10 are going to be absolutely HUGE years for both those parks. Then down the road you have Seaworld which will have Manta or whatever open up. Down further in Disney.. well.. not too much going on as of now. Except for that high class, $300 a person "Night Kingdom" thing. Which just seems really.. MEH... that's a whole new topic though. Poor Walt. Oh yeah.. TSM.. not to beat a dead horse but I was also a little baffled by the video. What happened to this being the "Spiderman killer" that it was hyped up to be a few years ago? I don't mind the screens as long as they get the job done.. but it seems like the whole ride is missing transitions! In Spiderman you'd spin around and seamlessly be in the next scene. TSM is a hallway.

Ooooh. Fox News. Yes, there's probably much more to the story here. Hey now.. just because its aired on Fox it doesn't mean it has any affiliation with the national FOX News! I work for Fox43 News in my town. It's a local news station and airs on the Fox network.. but we're owned by Tribune Broadcasting (who most likely owns this station too) not Fox News!! Believe me.. I wouldn't be anywhere near that place if it was Fox News!! lol. But yeah.. It doesnt seem like the whole story is being told. In the modern age of the internet.. and things like Google Earth and Virtual Earth, terrorists don't really *need* to be out there taking pictures!

I love Pittsburgh because they have just about anything you want! Some great museums like the Carnegie museum of art and natural history, Andy Warhol, and the Mattress Factory. If you have kids check out my old place of employment, the Childrens Museum and the Carnegie Science Center. There's a ton of cool historical stuff too like the Inclines. Plus if you like baseball you have to check out the best ballpark in the majors!

Wow! Im REALLY impressed with how this turned out! I just assumed all along that it'd be a decision comparable to Garfield's Nightmare! But they really did an amazing job and looks like a really solid ride! Go Kennywood!

Can we all agree that this is Intamins first vertical lift with an actual several car train? Ball coasters only have one car at a time right? Anyways.. no excitement as we drove past yesterday. Aside from the amazingly good looking coaster the only thing I noticed is that the train was kind of just chilling at the base of the lift... half on and half off. Which is kind of odd I guess since there's a perfectly nice station there...

Obviously there will be a few issues throughout the year and testing and what not. It is Intamin's first vertical lift hill and stuff. It wouldnt surprise me if part of that testing is to simulate having the train stuck vertically on the lift hill for an extended time to make sure everything holds as it's supposed to in case anything happened. Sunday/Monday were both really crappy days up here so its not surprising it valleyed. I wonder what the deal is with the screeching though?! I'll be driving past Hershey in a few hours so I'll check out Fahrenheit! If it happens to be testing you can bet Ill be slamming on the brakes on Hersheypark Drive.. and getting out the camera. lol.

^^ Sadly this season for the Bears is now also in the history books Oh well... better than getting to the Calder Cup Finals and then suddenly playing like CRAP! (AHEM.. '07)

^^ I was just bored and added a random B&M hyper One's allowed to dream right? ^LOL.. would you want to incorporate some smells.. like how Soarin' does in that attraction? They still use Hersheypark Arena for some high school state championship events, especially if there's a game or other event at the Giant Center so it still serves its purpose. However, I read somewhere that they are moving the Hershey museum to a new location in downtown Hershey. Plus didnt they move the Hersheypark offices to a new building downtown too? Without them there.. most of the time the Arena will be just an empty building and I'm sure it costs a decent amount to maintain. I'm sure Hershey would do something to honor the building if they ever take it down though. I read in a book that Milton Hershey built it after he was turned away from a hockey game at the old facility! He showed them! haha.

Im really excited to see where Hershey goes in the next 5-10 years. I'm still surprised they haven't done anything with an indoor waterpark for one of the hotels. There's some talk going on about that though. It'll be interesting to see if the old Hersheypark Arena is still standing in a few years. I'll be sad to see it go.. but it would provide a perfect expansion area for the park. There have been some crazy rumors over the past few years! Anyone remember when the dolphin show was getting taken out for that Flying coaster? haha.. or the YEARS of the rumored stand up coaster. I still wouldn't mind an Apollo's Chariot'ish coaster running from back by the Coal Cracker and over the Comet and along the creek towards Chocolate World... if that's even possible! It would be very awesome though. Plus Hershey could always use some new flat rides.

^^ That looks awesome!! So pretty.. and ridiculous to see that at Hershey! I was pretty sure after the Boardwalk we'd be seeing a more tone down Hersheypark for the next few seasons... Awesome!

Coal Cracker was just removed as well.. hope no one minds the new replacement. Alright.. done playing with Photoshop and going off topic.

^Pshhh.. it can be dropping from the red color.. to the blue color.. its all symbolic Natalie!

Yeah.. the website isn't loading for me either! Weird timing for a website problem! I spent a few minutes and came up with what *I* would like for 2009.. lol The color scheme is much nastier than I envisioned But in reality... who cares about 2009!?! We got Fahrenheit in 2008!!

^ Intamin makes some awesome drop towers as well I dont think Coal Cracker is going anywhere.. Canyon River Rapids on the other hand is a huge attraction that would free up tons of room for a Boardwalk expansion.

^^^^ That HAS to be it.. makes way too much sense! Nice they took the time to screw around with us again!

^ That's pushing it a little bit I think. Most have been very obvious once you found them. That looks more like part of the coaster/sky or something. Unless I'm looking at it wrong.

Not sure.. I didn't think Robb was one of the 11.. but we never found out who all 11 were I dont think! I think everyone else has been one of the 11.