Calvin

This isn't technically a "backyard" ride but a few years ago when I lived on a horse ranch my friends and I found an abandoned horse walker thing. You tie the horses to one of the four arms and the arms all turn or something like that and it makes the horse walk around in little circles. I'm not sure if that's accurate because I've never seen one in use, but it sounds correct. Or maybe the horses pulled it around and it was an itty-bitty grain mill. Anyways, my friends and I took the swings off of his swing set and connected them to the horse walker thing. My friends would sit on the swings (which were on opposite sides of the newly converted horse walker) and I would push the big steel arms. It wasn't difficult once you got it going, whatever the arms turned on was nigh on frictionless. I could get that stupid thing spinning terrifically fast. Neither of my friends were as strong as I was so I always got to push the arms, which was fine by me. Soon after we discovered this joy I discovered that the arms had a braking mechanism. I tested it out while my friends were going around full blast, and found out that if I did it right I could get the swings to start moving like a Darton Hurricane or a Huss Swingaround. Until I moved away that was one of our many sources of fun at the ranch.

There are many rides that could easily be devoid of OSTR's. Many B&M looping coasters could simply have lap bars a la Chiller. Most Schwarzkopf loopers don't need OSTR's at all. I could see companies getting creative and making lap bars for inverted coasters. Maurer Sohner had a huge flop when they debuted the X-car coaster at Drayton Manor. The restraints were the main complaint. They hurt, and are uncomfortable. On top of that, the ratchet system only works one way so during the ride the lap bar actually comes down further, which is just a huge injury waiting to happen. While lap bars work for some coasters you can see that they do not work for all coasters. Mostly it just boils down to the safety regulations in the area. Revolution wouldn't have OSTR's if it weren't for the California safety regulations, for example.

Oh my god what are those people wearing!? AAH! My sense of fashion...it's ruined...now I only see things in neon spandex! Epcot seems like it was really boring in the 80's.

In other news, Magnum XL-200 is also sinking.

Fatty patch jacket Robb!

That's true. Although, I wouldn't be so tough on Calaway Park, they have a good collection of flat rides, and only twenty minutes away!

Yay, another credit to whore out.

Well, no. For one thing, I'm rooted in Fresno due to school and my parent's jobs. For another thing, I'm really fat and have put off theme parks 'till I've lost weight (a good goal, I suppose!). I suppose those two factors are pretty inconvenient. The fact that Fresno isn't close to any major amusement parks can be viewed as either a good thing or a bad thing. On one hand, we're only two hours from PGA, four hours from SFMM, three hours from SFMW, two and a half hours from SCBB, five to six hours from Disneyland and KBF, so on and so forth. On the bad side, we're not close to any major amusement parks so an offhand trip to one isn't possible, unless we want to go to the park downtown and ride a Rock-o-plane, kiddie coaster, freaky-ass teacups, and an Octopus. Inconvinent, yes. Partially my fault, yes. A lot my fault, yes.

About a year and a half now.

Freaky Moser spring ride > S&S Turbo drop

Silverwood doesn't have an Enterprise... And Magic Mountain indeed had an Enterprise, but it was removed to make room for Batman.

Ah, right. Thanks for the information.

The reason you were swaying was probably because you and your friend inadvertantly shifted your weight during the ride and because of the forces exerted on the cabin it continued rocking back and forth. Nothing to be alarmed about.

They're ok. I'm not a huge fan but they're ok. I listen to them sometimes, I like the sort of dreamy feel the songs have. I prefer The Killers, though, even if the song placement on their album sucks.

Annie Wilkes, the crazy woman in Steven King's Misery. Story's about a writer of a series of romantic novels starring a woman named Misery. He crashes his car on a mountain road, satisfied because his new book was just released in which he killed off the main character and therefore ended the series, which was a sort of burden. When he wakes up after crashing he discovers himself to be in the care of Annie Wilkes, a nurse. She's his number one fan, and just recieved the new book in the mail. A day later she rushes into his room screaming, YOU KILLED HER, YOU KILLED MISERY!! She then goes psychotic and makes him write a new novel in which Misery is brought back. All in all, it's not King's best book, mostly because the end sucks, but an interesting feature is how the claustrophobia the main character feels in the back of his mind is transmitted, almost subliminally, to the reader, by the descriptions of the surroundings (his room and the house).

The Enterprise is fun to ride with a friend, too. Overall, it's a good ride, defenitely an odd experience. The best place to ride would be at a big fair at night, but you don't see Enterprises that often on American fairgrounds.

You just know that there's an Annie Wilkes out there who's going to come to your house and break your legs and make you draw Elissa back to life.

You have to remember that those chains are immensely strong. They're the same chains that carry huge cow carcasses around slaughterhouses, and in most slaughterhouses the chains are never replaced because they don't show any wear or tear whatsoever. Also remember that parks and carnivals replace the chains every few years for safety. Next time you go on a Wave Swinger take a look at the chain and notice that there is next to no wear.

That's exactly how it works. Both the OC fair and the CA State fair are done by Ray Cammack Shows (their website sucks and has been "under construction" for about two years). RCS covers a huge amount of land, with large fairs in Texas, Arizona, and up and down California. They are noted for their clean fairground, sky ride, and massive ferris wheel, along with their spinning mouse and Hi-Miler.

I'm thinking those two V-shaped support bottoms are for the hill, and not for racing/dueling track.

What big flats did you notice? I'm just curious about what'll be at the State Fair. I heard rumours of a Mondial Swinger but I seriously doubt that. Haha, Cuckoo Haus. That's the one with the GIANT BOOB LADY and the floors that drop (scared the crap out of my sister with those).

Quick question, what is this "infamous Rolling Thunder" hill I keep hearing about?

Apparently it's pretty much just plain bad. I think this Coaster Kingdom review pretty much sums up most feelings about the ride.

Matterhorn Bobsledsis a defenite must. Do both sides, they're different. Space Mountain is also another must. However, I have yet to ride it, so I'm just going off of what other people say. Pirates is a must as well. Great ride, very atmospheric. Splash Mountain is my current favourite log ride. It's well-themed, exciting, and the last drop is great. Tip: fat people should sit in the back because the back seat is wider than the other five. Apparently Indy is really amazing, but I've yet to ride it. Big Thunder Mountain is pretty good, but don't expect too much (I was underwhelmed because my classmates constantly hyped it all five hours on the bus to Disneyland) And, of course, do Haunted Mansion, it's great. If you have time after that, do the Roger Rabbit ride. It's actually pretty good, and has an interesting effect towards the end where R. Rabbit moves a hole in the wall. Assuming that you're not creditwhoring, ignore Gadget's Go Coaster. If you are creditwhoring, go for it. If you still have time after that, go to Fantasyland and ride the dark rides (watch for a demon rat in Mr Toad's). Over in DCA, ToT is defenitely worth it. The airtime is very smooth but also very forceful. The sun wheel is worth it, and so is the zeppelin ride. Of course, I'm ignoring California Screamin', which is just amazing. Have fun on that. Sort of sucks that you have to rush Disneyland, which is best if you linger and let the magic settle in.

X's line tends to be a bit of a mess where it divides between right and left. For some reason people don't understand that groups of four cannot sit together "Like on Batman or Riddler or Scream".