AstroDan

Tonnerre de Zeus, Parc Astérix. This park has no idea on good throughputs. The ride has a terrible capacity, I waited 3 hours and it wasn't even in all the extensions. - I bet Europa Park isn't even coming into anyones minds in this thread haha!

Furius Baco is a great name for a coaster. Shame the coaster itself I find intolerable.

I agree about Limit - probably the worst looping coaster I have ever been on. Yes, worse even than Goudurix. It was shocking, an embarassment in fact. It's a pity that Heide Park is clearly starting to see the pinch from Merlin... the amount of street entertainment was very low for a major German park, and there were adverts for Express passes and Merlin Annual Passes everywhere - you don't get this at the likes of Phantasialand or Europa-Park. It is still pleasant, though. Wasn't quite sure what to make of the beautiful square to the right of the entrance street, which had a Mack Tea Cup ride in the middle? It was completely closed off with a fence... I also liked riding Big Loop. As an ex-Alton Towers ride host who worked on Corkscrew, it was great to ride inthe train again (if you didn't know, one of Corkscrew's trains went to Heide Park).

1. Nemesis 2. Black Mamba 3. Montu 4. Monster 5. Dragon Challenge - Chinese Fireball

See it's really weird... I find Black Mambas first drop REALLY intense, and the helixes at the end. So do most of my friends who have been on it, too. Nemesis is more forceful though, I agree - and Montu would be above Mamba too, for me. I do, however, prefer Mamba to both Dragons, Monster and Nemesis Inferno. Anyway, it's damn stunning which gives it a load of brownie points anyway! Perhaps my opinions are due to riding it in a snow storm??

Black Mamba forceless? Even if you find it forceless, the ride experience is pretty much unmatched in Europe and at most parks around the world. It's a masterpiece of design and presentation. I find it pretty intense, myself - although I know TPR as a whole don't much rate it. For me it's my #2 coaster.

The Intamin dominance frustrates me personally, as there's more to a good coaster than major airtime and so on, plus a bit of quality theming never went amiss. That said, EGF (the only coaster in the top 5 I have been on) is superb - particularly the first drop. I am glad to see Blue Fire remain high - I thought it could falter somewhat in its second season, but it's stayed at an impressive #14. A few more words for Nemesis though. Once again, highest looping coaster, highest non-Intamin Airtime etc. coaster, highest B&M plus it's far older than anything above it. Nemesis owns. Th13teen LOL.

Parking charges in the USA do seem extortionate to be honest. In Europe, most parks charge somewhere between $3 and $10 - with many parks still not charging whatsoever. The only exceptions to this is the two Paris parks - DLP and Astérix, whose charges are much higher. I was genuinely shocked at the prices for parking in Florida when I visited for the first time last year. It made Alton Towers (£6/$10) seem cheap and we all feel that is pushing it! That said, we pay far, far more for our fuel/gas here - around £6.00 per gallon ($10!).

The glorious, Knightmare at Camelot Theme Park. Nothing like a bit of Schwarzy!

If I found Believe rather vomit inducing in terms of its idealogy, will I find the same here? I couldn't stand all that schmultz about necklaces and such like in the old show, I guess it just wasn't my scene.

That coaster is awesome - couldn't believe how much better it was from the average Vek Roller Skaters when I visited last weekend!! Disappointed to see so few European rides in peoples rankings, although I guess it's just a case that a lot of people simply haven't been to European parks (yet!). I still get frustrated that rides such as Sonic Spinball and Dragons Fury don't get their own entries, though... As it is, here's my ballot - I did not include the new credits I have gained so far in 2011 (Heide-Park and Hansa-Park): Nemesis Alton Towers UK,y,y,1 Black Mamba Phantasialand DE,y,y,2 Montu Busch Gardens Afri FL,y,y,3 Kumba Busch Gardens Afri FL,y,y,4 Blue Fire Megacoaster Europa Park DE,y,y,5 Expedition GeForce Holiday Park DE,y,y,6 Favorite Wood Coaster Any Park Anywhere **,y,n,7 Monster Walygator FR,y,y,8 Dueling Dragons-Fire Islands of Adventu FL,y,y,9 Dragon Khan Port Aventura ES,y,n,10 Expedition Everest Disney Animal King FL,y,y,11 Dueling Dragons-Ice Islands of Adventu FL,y,y,12 Knightmare Camelot Theme Park UK,y,y,13 Euro-Sat Europa-Park DE,y,y,14 Silver Star Europa-Park DE,y,y,15 Stealth Thorpe Park UK,y,y,16 Incredible Hulk Islands of Adventu FL,y,y,17 Space Mountain WDW Magic Kingdom FL,y,y,18 Colorado Adventure Phantasialand DE,y,y,19 Oblivion Alton Towers UK,y,y,20 Revenge of the Mummy Universal Studios FL,y,y,21 Nemesis Inferno Thorpe Park UK,y,y,22 Speed: No Limits Oakwood UK,y,y,23 Rita - Queen of Speed Alton Towers UK,y,y,24 Air Alton Towers UK,y,y,25 Thirteen Alton Towers UK,y,y,26 Rage Adventure Island UK,y,y,27 Kumali Flamingo Land UK,y,y,28 Euro-Mir Europa-Park DE,y,y,29 Space Mountain Disneyland Paris FR,y,n,30 Rock n Roller Coaster Walt Disney Paris FR,y,n,31 Rock n Roller Coaster Disney's H Studios FL,y,y,32 Kraken SeaWorld Orlando FL,y,y,33 Manta Sea World Orlando FL,y,y,34 Fav Mack Supersplash Any Park Anywhere **,y,y,35 Velocity Flamingo Land UK,y,y,36 Avalanche Blackpool P.B. UK,y,y,37 Vogel Rok Efteling NL,y,y,38 Vliegende Hollander Efteling NL,y,y,39 Vampire Chessington UK,y,y,40 Winjas - Fear Phantasialand DE,y,y,41 Poseidon Europa-Park DE,y,y,42 Saw - The Ride Thorpe Park UK,y,y,43 Fav X SC2000/3000 Any Park Anywhere **,y,y,44 Mumbo Jumbo Flamingo Land UK,y,y,45 Shockwave Drayton Manor UK,y,y,46 Winjas - Force Phantasialand DE,y,y,47 Booster Bike Toverland NL,y,n,48 Big Thunder Mountain Disneyland Paris FR,y,n,49 Crush's Coaster Walt Disney Paris FR,y,n,50 Trace Du Hourra Parc Asterix FR,y,y,51 Matterhorn Blitz Europa-Park DE,y,y,52 Big Thunder Mountain WDW Magic Kingdom FL,y,y,53 Pepsi Max Big One Blackpool P.B. UK,y,y,54 Fav Vekoma Boomerang Any Park Anywhere **,y,n,55 Steeplechase Blackpool P.B. UK,y,y,56 Fav Intamin Bobsled Any Park Anywhere **,y,y,57 Schweizer Bobbahn Europa-Park DE,y,y,58 Goudurix Parc Asterix FR,y,y,59 Colossus Thorpe Park UK,y,y,60 Temple of Nighthawk Phantasialand DE,y,y,61 Indiana Jones et le t Disneyland Paris FR,y,n,62 Pegasus Europa-Park DE,y,y,63 Fav Vek Susp Loop SLC Any Park Anywhere **,y,y,64 Ultimate Lightwater Valley UK,y,y,65 G Force Drayton Manor UK,y,y,66 Le Vol D' Icare Parc Asterix FR,y,y,67 Space Invader 2 (S) Blackpool P.B. UK,y,n,68 X:\No Way Out Thorpe Park UK,y,y,69 El Diablo Port Aventura ES,y,n,70 Furius Baco Port Aventura ES,y,n,71

I am glad you enjoyed, although puzzled about Pegasus beating most coasters in England...? Euro Mir and Eurosat are always pretty violent.

I also rode KRAKE at the weekend, several times. I must say it didn't do a lot for me... The drop wasn't as good as either SheiKra nor Oblivion. It was "fun". The rest of the ride felt too slovenly to create any real thrill... That said, it looked fantastic. The queue could have used more theming, but the theming on the drop was nice and the ride was smooth as silk. I feel these dive coasters are just too short!

You can't really just waltz between Nemesis and Rita during ERT - they are miles apart and the Skyride does not open until 10am. My pathway on visits so far this season has been: Enter Park (9am) Oblivion (walk on) Rita (walk on) - maybe 2 or 3 rides if you have time. Then in queue for Th13teen at 9:45am ready for it to open. Following Th13teen, ride Hex which has no queue and then Skyride over to Forbidden Valley for Air followed by Nemesis. Using the above method, I would expect you to have done all the above by 11am. Also - a note - Th13teen is still attracting queues of up to 50 minutes in the mornings at the moment, but after around 2-3pm, it tends to go very short. So I would ride it in the morning at opening time and then leave it for a re-ride till later in the day (if you even want a re-ride!). Throughputs on it are very good, though (1,400pph ish).

Oblivion. Alton Towers.

No, they're calling it "Piccolo Mondo". As for all the new additions at EP this year - amazing - considering it's a "small" year.

So far... Europa-Park Alton Towers Thorpe Park

10-11 April is the School Holidays. So the park will be medium busy. Are you buying tickets on the Alton Towers website? If you do, you will be able to access the park at 9:00am for 1 hour of ERT. This includes Nemesis, Oblivion and Rita amongst other rides. During this hour, the queue times are very short (max. 10 minutes).

I think the most likely location is beyond Air in the car park (the car park will be removed). This ride will cater to thrill as a 1.4metre restriction.

I think it's because all the woodies in Britain are generally at old seaside resorts. It doesn't help that Big Dipper had an accident recently at PBB and that there isn't a proper modern woodie in England. Megafobia is about the newest in the UK but Oakwood is so far removed from most of civilization that nobody has been there to ride it. So all they know is G. National and co.

Apparantly us Brits think woodies are unsafe. That's what AT's marketing lot claimed when asked about a woodie in June 2010...

Ahem Air Car Park is very likely, I reckon. Then they remove the parking area, landscape the other car park as was in the long term plan - and bingo. More park area!

This isn't hot air. It was widely assumed that the follow up to Th13teen would be 2014, but I reckon that since Th13teen wasn't quite thrill puller we all expected originally, they have brought this forward. Also, they will be keen to avoid THORPE PARK stealing everything and Alton sitting in the shadows in terms of big, fat thrill coasters. As much as TP Is within the Merlin group, Alton's management are very keen to be top of the pile in the UK and want to beat TP as much as possible. John Wardley was sighted around the Air helix/car park area late in the 2010 season, and rumors have been rife for some time. Morwenna Angove initially announced it as a 2013 project in June 2010, but it is only now that the Divisional Director has confirmed it to the press.

Alton Towers today revealed the first, sketchy information surrounding the world first coaster - coming in 2013. The fifth Secret Weapon at the park will be a world first and be the most expensive coaster constructed at Alton Towers in its history. It was already known that the ride would feature a height restriction of 1.4metres - this was revealed at the Th13teen evening in June 2010 by Morwenna Angove and John Wardley. More news at www.towerstimes.co.uk and on other UK/European based forums. Exciting times!

I fail to see how the trains are any sexier than Blue Fire's... They're good but the BEST? Really? Raptor's at Gardaland's are also "sexier", i'd argue!