robbeal

Am I the only one who didn't find Bandit @ Movie Park Germany that bad? Okay, so it throws you around quite a bit, but its got good speed, and it's a fun ride in my opinion. Probably the best coaster in the park i reckon. I've heard very mixed reports of the one at WBMWM though. Some people say it was very average, some say it was quite good. I guess the only way is to go and find out. If it's RCCA though, I can see it having the same lateral problems that Movie Park DE's had.

Why couldn't they start construction a month earlier, then I could've seen track and stuff, not just holes when I was there! I does look like it'll be a great ride, especially after looking at the concept art. With Phantasialand's theming being to a very high standard generally, I think we can expect good things for the Mamba. Only problem is the Phantasialand's queues are usually a bit on the big side too, and with River Quest hitting 1 hour on a normal wednesday in July this summer, I can see the queues being massive through a lot of the season.

Not many outside the UK so far, but not bad considering i'd only been to 4 parks before last year, and had a coaster count of 7! UK: Alton Towers Thorpe Park Blackpool Pleasure Beach Pleasureland Southport Flamingoland Lightwater Valley Camelot Gullivers Warrington Drayton Manor Chessington WoA Non-UK: Liseberg Gardaland Port Aventura Heide Park Movie Park Germany Phantasialand Holiday Park Europa Park And that's the lot. The non-UK list should grow quite a bit over the next couple of years hopefully.

Yeah, looks like they're trying to get something to make up for not getting Turbulence this season. There's a rumour going round that this'll be a B&M Floorless, but am I right in thinking that space is at a huge premium at Hershey? Where would they squeeze a Floorless in?!

I'd rather KMG over either, but out of them 2, i'd probably vote for Huss. They have a wider range of good quality flats compared to Chance, in my opinion. All you've got to do is look at Huss Land at Heide Park! Best ride, got to be the classic Top Spin.

Hohh, trip to Liseberg, now that's something I might partake in. I've been wanting to get back there since I met you lot there this summer. Didn't get enough time there then, so an overnight stop to get all the day in would be ideal. See how things go on that front I think.

I'll probably meet ya here and there at various parks around the place, but I doubt i'll be joining the trip, as i'll most likely just had a week off work to go to Belgium & Holland. Might as well use it as an excuse to go to a few parks though.

Nice to see a bit more of what you got up to on your trip. Good to see the pictures from Liseberg again, brings back memories from god knows how many weeks ago. Time really is flying! Looking forward to seeing the German leg of your trip too, because that'll bring many memories of ours flooding back! Gotta laugh at my hairdo on the 'mutated Robb' photo too, I don't exactly look normal, but it does fade into insignificance when next to that!

I think Themeparkreview was one of the first sites I found, along with Coasterforce, when I first started developing an interest a couple of years back, and it's been one of those places i've popped back to every now and then ever since. I got the email through when the forums opened, and being a member of Westcoaster too, I saw the announcement there too, and thought I might as well join up. My commitment lies with Coasterforce, but TPR is my next port of call most of the time, plus it gives me an easier avenue for keeping track of US news.

The Music still rank as my favourite band, although i'm listening to a new english band called Hard-Fi a lot at the moment. Excellent catchy, hook-filled songs, and the debut album is full of classics.

I have just finished listening to Strange Condition by Pete Yorn, and now i'm going to bed...

Pic of me and my girlfriend Rach at her cousin's wedding last weekend. Ignore the monster plant, it just wants attention

DMP seem to be stating most days that G-Force won't open, to give them chance to do regular checks on the ride, and then they seem to open it about 3pm. It's happened before, and it happened today. Unfortunately Drayton was mad busy today, so there was a good 50 minute wait for it. Don't go on expecting anything too intense, because its not, its just fun, and very random and messed up. The lifthill is just an experience like no other, hnaging there with just a lapbar, yet feeling as safe as possible. Lovely restraints! The queue line visuals are extremely impressive too, with large video screens with digital patterns moving in time to some really good ambient dance music, and then at 5 minute intervals, the 2 telsa coils on the ceiling are activated and just add to the coolness of everything. 50 minutes passed easily with everything to watch/listen to.

Okay, so you stand in a big bin, get lifted up a tower, to be dropped into a rubbish chute that bangs so loud, you have to wear ear defenders to ride. I think there could be a couple of stumbling blocks somehow. Doesn't look awfully appealing really, and i'm on about the concept, not the actual current aesthetics. Sure, it's probably impressive to watch, once or twice, but riding's gonna be a bit rubbish, on your own and everything, in a bin.

This has to be the best layout for an accelerator yet. Inversions and airtime, what more can you ask for? Ohhh, and that first airtime hill-into sweeping drop-into Immelmann isn't a bad combination either!

This is one coaster i'm truly looking forward to. Phantasialand is one of those places that can do theming well, and seeing as it's rumoured to be slightly sub-terrain, it should be the ideal opportunity for them to have a field day, theming-wise. I'm at Phantasialand on wednesday, so it'll be a good opportunity to see quite how much groundwork is going into the preparations for this coaster.

I've always had it down as 'Shaye-Kraarrrr' to be honest, but I do tend to overpronounce things!

The Boomerang at Walibi Rohne-Alps looks like a laugh actually. The hanging moment when you roll towards the boomerang again would give a pretty cool feeling. If only the ride wasn't as painful as hell! As for the Pinfari at Nigloland, it looks like the same ride as the one at M&Ds in Scotland, and that only seems to have good reviews as well. Looks like Pinfari can do something right every now and then.

Hmmm, pity about Gardaland. It seemed okay when I went, but that was nearly 10 years ago, and before both Blue Tornado and Fuga d'Atlantide (and obviously Sequoia too). The rest of my family are off to Italy in a couple of weeks though, and were considering taking in Gardaland as they are staying in Como, not too far away, so i'll inform them of the difficulties. You've sure got round the continent quickly though, doesn't seem like over a week ago that I was in Gothenburg! Wish I was still there, but i've got Heide Park etc to look forward to in 9 days' time.

Cheers for the great day guys. Shame about the weather, but at least we still managed to make the most of it. Made for an interesting day to say the least, with the torrential downpours and all though, and despite us leaving early, we still missed the last bus back to the airport! I hope to make a trip back there sometime soon, as i've found a new love, and it's called Balder.

bocakey, quality! Oh, the old days! Listening to System of a Down - BYOB, or i was, it just finished and Everclear - Wonderful came on.

Well, Goliath's got a 'rather' intense helix towards the end of the ride, which has been known to help people black out, so I presume it's pretty intense. Giovanola seem to be able to get some rather intense layouts out when they do it themselves, shame they're not doing so anymore.

I guess i'd better post a better picture of myself, just so Robb knows who he's looking for at Liseberg! This is me and my girlfriend, Rach, on a night out in Liverpool. Apologies for blinking!

Tough one, I like both for different reasons, and there's loads of woodies out there i'd like to ride, but i'd probably say steel because my favourite coasters are all steel. Whereas wooden ones tend to rank a bit lower.

Your other option other than a big hole of course is using the terrain, but not a lot of parks have the kind of terrain available to allow a huge drop. A few parks have done it, and successfully, but it's not something that will happen often.