CGM

Here's your washing machine, or dryer, as the case may be: Nope, that's a washing machine. In the UK we don't tend to go for top-loading models, they're extremely rare here. Also, I don't think this video has been posted yet which has some excellent footage from opening day: All credit to Alton Towers Memories.

It doesn't. But you posted the argument, so what's your point? If you have one... My point is that it's not a traditional woodie as you suggested in your report and that I think it should be embraced as a modern and exciting new take on the wooden coaster. However, I'm not in the "El Toro is a steel coaster and shouldn't be on the Mitch Hawker wood poll" club. I'm just debating over the technicalities of what is a "traditional" woodie.

I wouldn't call it a traditional woodie at all, the manufacturing techniques for the track are a massive departure from the norm. It's true that wooden coasters normally run on sheet steel but they're nailed to wooden laminates which are glued on site. The steel acts to protect the wooden track beneath and to provide a low friction surface to run on, it's not really very structurally important. In the case of Outlaw Run, the entire top layer of track track is a pre-fabricated steel box section. This requires vastly different manufacturing techniques and a whole different set of skills to make. It's far more rigid than a wooden laminated top layer and will add a lot of strength to the track. It will also stay smoother for longer than a traditional woodie. I think you would really struggle to perform some of the elements that Outlaw Run has with traditional laminated track. Personally, I don't see why it's so important that it's seen as a traditional wooden coaster. As long as the coaster's awesome, why does it matter? I don't see Intamin woodies as traditional but it doesn't mean they're not great.

As someone who has actually ridden Shambhala, I think it's fully deserving of its high ranking. I preferred it to Nemesis but would put it behind Expedition GeForce, so these results reflect my opinion quite nicely. I think it's worth saying that I didn't expect Shambhala to be that great at all. Having ridden Silverstar and finding it forceless and boring I was expecting more of the same, but Shambhala pleasantly surprised me. It's not an intense coaster as such but the first drop lasts forever and the amount of sustained floater airtime it offers is incredible. And for people that say that B&M don't do ejector airtime, the speed hill has it in spades. Shambhala is like a refined cocktail of airtime. An Intamin coaster such as EGF is more like a hard spirit. If you don't go for cocktails, that's fine but that doesn't mean the people that do are wrong to do so. In any case, I'd recommend riding it before passing judgement, it definitely surprised me.

Furius Baco I'd heard mostly terrible reviews of the ride and I was expecting to be shaken to death and for it to be awful. It turned out to be one of my favourite coasters. The launch was fantastic and there's no other coaster I've been on that can match it for intensity. It just feels so much faster than anything else. I had no issues with roughness at all and I was genuinely shocked at how good it was. I suppose we got lucky getting seats in the front row. I hear it's further back that you get the vibration issues.

1. Balder 2. Expedition GeForce 3. Shambhala 4. Nemesis 5. Grand National 6. Dragon Khan 7. Furius Baco 8. Swarm 9. The Ultimate 10. Dæmonen

These are all of the launch coasters I've ridden best to worst: Furius Baco - I got the inside front seat and I have never ridden such a relentless coaster. The launch feels so much more intense than the stats suggest and the incredible sense of speed doesn't let up until it hits the brakes. It's just a shame that it can only be enjoyed in the front row. Rita - A very solid coaster. Great launch, nice pops of ejector air. It's one of the few rocket coaster with a proper layout following the launch even if it is a bit on the short side. I think it could be improved a lot if lapbars were introduced though. Kanonen - Its launch is more of a sharp push but it's so compact and twisty, it provides a ride like no other coaster. Stealth - It packs a punch and it has great views but it's just too short. Particularly if you've just queued an hour and a half for it. All you get is a launch, a top hat and half an airtime hill. Rock n' Rollercoaster (DLP) - Proof that Vekomas in the dark are a great idea. Velocity - It's bearable in the first few rows but towards the back, you will be rattled to death. Space Mountain: Mission 2 - Proof that Vekomas in the dark are a terrible idea.

I highly doubt they are looking for a US park and there was nothing in that article to indicate as such (unless something was lost in the translation). Efteling is very much a European park and I don't think that a European style park would work in the US market just as Six Flags demonstrated that US style parks don't work in Europe (Mind you, they can't seem to get their US parks to do too well either). I would expect them to be looking at parks in Northern Europe although none spring to mind that are being offered up for sale. However there are a number of parks over here such as Camelot who are struggling, hopefully they'll set up shop in the UK. We could do with some decent theming

Wow! Those maps are insanely detailed. I don't know how you can draw so precisely. This is one of the maps I've done. It's hand drawn but I coloured it on my PC. The park isn't huge. It only has 8 rides if you count the slides and the funicular and in real life it probably wouldn't keep you entertained that long but I couldn't fit any more onto the paper

I don't know about anyone else, but when I read "gliding experience", I immediately thought of this. http://www.rcdb.com/ig3457.htm?picture=10 Could it be that perhaps the flyer's just wishful thinking? I think it's a bit much to automatically assume that it will be a flyer just because of one word in the description. If seaworld are getting a Mountain Glider, I would hope that they've done something about the capacity

I went to Diggerland about a week ago and it's great. In fact I enjoyed it so much, I'll probably be back this weekend. That digger-based ride is insane, it is the most home made feeling ride ever but it's actually pretty good. The op spins you round in huge circles facing the ground then does a drop sequence or two where get some pretty good air. The best thing about it is that you're facing the op the whole time so they can see your reactions and psyc you out You can read a photo trip report I did of Diggerland on Towers Times here There's a video of the digger bucket ride on Youtube

Audi R8 A Carver 1 (Who doesn't secretly want one of these?) Aston Martin DB9 A Discovery 3 And this

Yes, I love Smart cars. To some Americans , you probably won't get them at all because you're used to your SUVs that take up 2 and a half lanes and do 0.5 miles to the gallon. If you were European, you'd understand that small cars are cool, and the epitome of small cars is the Smart car. In fact, over here big American cars aren't viewed in the best favour as they're just seen as pointless wastes of money as they are generally terrible, terrible cars. Why waste money on something like a Lincoln Navigator which is ugly, expensive, guzzles fuel, can't offroad and handles like an oil tanker when you could buy something much cheaper, more practical and just better. In terms of practicality, the Smart's about as practical as it gets. It's cheap, has low feul consumption and so is cheap to own, easy to park and despite what some are saying has adequate boot space. If you only need two seats in your car, why would you need the boot space of an SUV? It's also brilliant for city driving as it can sneak through little gaps and (with the old model at least) can be parked sideways-on. As for looks, it is by no means an ugly car. Although I prefer the old design, it's still much prettier than 99% of what comes out of the states. (Although it seems that Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge are finally getting their act together). Anyway, that's my view of the car. So if I were you, I wouldn't care what other people think of it, if you think it's the car for you, then go for it

Yes, that is quite worrying, looks like some guy came along with a circular saw and helped himself to a chunk of track. I hope that they get that sorted out but knowing Cedar Fair...

Yes but if the person in front of you gets the last cheeseburger, you can't tap them on the shoulder and say, "Hey the cheeseburger provides the best eating experience, as a burger enthusiast, I am entitled to take this from you as it is clearly wasted on you, member of the General Public." It sounds stupid in that context but that's what some people try to do when it comes to coasters

Annoying, claustophobic and very uncomfortable I agree but there is a very good reason for it. The clearances on most older Vekoma and Arrow coasters would not be anything like large enough to safely have open style trains. The most obvious example of this is on Vekoma Corkscrews, particularly the first turn after the drop. Now this is something that annoys me. Why should you have any right to choose which seat you want? It is not your coaster, you do not have any more right to ride in the front seat than the so called "little brat" who is also a paying customer. Just because you are an enthusiast doesn't mean that you are somehow above the other customers in the park. Just be happy with the seat you get and live with it, that's how queueing works. Plus while you're doing all you can to try to get your way to x seat; waiting off a few rides or asking the operators, you're holding up a whole load of people in the queue with your time wasting. Anyway, my gripe is when ride ops don't use the airgates properly. At Flamingoland, it is not unnusual that they don't use them at all but just open them and load you straight from the queue line. In Germany, they do the opposite; they queue people up behind each airgate which probably increases throughput but is really confusing and makes it difficult to stay in a group

Erm, Maverick, Renegade and every other recent coasters' videos are almost identical to the finished product. Of course the rides are like the video. I'll accept that these renderings are a lot cruder than the ones used by the likes of B&M and Intamin, but if the simulations are nothing like the rides that are being sold, what's the point of them being there? I'm sure that they would want it to be as similar to the actual ride as possible. The whole idea of the videos is so that you can judge the ride before buying/riding it, so that's exactly what I've done. You could clearly tell that the pacing was abysmal and as those are supposedly accurate simulations, I would expect the same on the finished coaster. Besides, most of my complaints were about the All-in-One train which has flaws which are pretty obvious I think. I personally hate this mentality that's sprung up in the coaster enthusiast world that states you can't have an opinion of anything that you haven't ridden or hasn't been built yet. What's the point of being an enthusiast if you can't speculate or form opinions of things? Can you imagine in say the gaming world if a new game was announced and everyone just agreed to say nothing about it until they had all played it? It simply wouldn't happen. Sorry to have a bit of an aimless rant, but it's something that really gets to me and I'm in a rant-ish mood

I don't really like those layouts, mainly because the pacing of them is terrible, they slowed down far too much. They all looked like they were about to stall. The extended periods of hangtime at the top of some of those inversions would be unbearable. Also, I really don't like the all in one concept. As others have mentioned, there's the heartlining issue but there's also the fact that the forces would be vastly different in each row due to the height differences. I reckon that you could only operate this type of train on a fairly forceless layout without any rapid transitions or airtime hills. Yes, it gives you a good view, but if the ride sucks, who cares? I hate the seating position in the first row, it reminds me of a Pinfari Toboggan and I'm not keen on the standing row at the back either. Then there's the horrible car bonnet like flappy things that lower down for no apparent reason and the overall tacky look of the thing. I think that I'd much rather put up with the obstructed view for now, as this is certainly not an elegant solution to the problem

Wow, those photos of Rock City, Ruby Falls and the incline railway brought back a few memories, I must have been about 7 when I went to those. It may of only been 8 years ago, but it still feels like a long time ago to me

Holiday Park Okay, after weeks of grappling with different file types and formats, I've finally given up and decided that this is to be a photo and video-less trip report. Give me back the old fashioned tape camera over this new-fangled HDD whizzymajig any day. So, I was on a family holiday and I had somehow managed to persuade my family to drive across France and stay in Germany for a week in order to go to Europa Park. However, whilst passing a leaflet rack in my hotel lobby I spotted a Holiday Park leaflet and discovered that it was no more than an hour up the road. After even more begging and pleading, we were soon on our way. The park is very well hidden and it seems that they don't want you to find them either as there are no signs to the park on any major roads and despite the park having a bright red 180 ft coaster, you could still easily drive straight past it as it's surrounded by trees. We had to navigate using only the very crude map on the back of the leaflet but we found the park eventually. The park is really nice with lots of beautiful landscaping and planting and some pretty good theming in places for such a small park. There was lots of entertainment around the park. I particluarly liked the water-ski stunt show which was very camp in places but still worth making time for if you can. So, the reason for coming to Holiday Park was of course Expedition GeForce and it didn't dissapoint at all. I'm pleased to report that the trims were fully turned off and we were able to experience EGF at its full potential. I don't know what people are on about when they say that it's getting rough, it was silky smooth. Silverstar was rougher! Anyway, Expedition GeForce is an absolute airtime machine. There's not one weak hill in the entire layout and the airtime just keeps getting stronger until you hit the brakes. Unlike other coasters, it doesn't matter where you sit, it's awesome in just about every seat. But that's not even the best part, the highlight of the ride is the insane first drop which I doubt any other coaster in the world can match. Somehow, you're pinned to the lapbar all the way down until it bottoms out and then there's the insane twistyness that goes with it. If you can imagine driving a convertable off a cliff with lead weights strapped to one side, that's probably something like what it feels like, only you survive when you get to the bottom. Anyway, the point is that the drop's good. what adds a lot to EGF is the fact that it really interacts with its surroundings. There's a lot of interaction with the rapids ride and you are constantly flying past treetops and over walkways. It's pretty much the perfect coaster, the only thing they could do to make it better would be the addition of a few tunnels and complete removal of the trims so that there's no danger that they could be turned on if I return. There's also the fact that they were running it Six Flags style which meant very slow-moving queues. I had my doubts about EGF, but I'm now pretty confident that I've ridden the world's best coaster (well, the world's best steel coaster at least) as I can't see how SM:ROS can compare without the amazing setting or that twisted first drop. Needless to say that it's gone straight to my number one possition. The rest of the park is made up of pretty minor attractions. The only other coaster at the park is a Vekoma Corkscrew and this one's a bad'n. Honestly, I thought that Alton's Model was bad but this one just isn't healthy. Even in the back car, the only thing that you can do after MCBR is keep your head braced so that you leave the ride with your ears intact. Definitely a "once only for the credit" coaster. One thing that the park does have is a very good log flume with three drops, a reverse section and some really good dark ride sections. I'm still trying to decide whether I prefer this one or Terra Mitica's but it's definitely much better than most. The only other attraction of note is the Starflyer which provides some great views over the Black Forest and of EGF but is nowhere near as good as the Tivoli one as it's not as high, the program's too short and the view isn't quite as good as the one over Copenhagen. So overall, Holiday Park is a very nice park with a good atmosphere despite some moody looking staff and it's definitely worth the visit just for EGF. Europa Park The whole reason for coming to Germany was to visit Europa and it's one of the parks that I've always wanted to visit since becoming a coaster enthusiast. But to be quite honest, I can't see what all of the fuss is about. Yes Europa is a very good park, one of the best in Europe but it's certainly not the "Best park in the world, better than Disney, it will change your life" park that everyone says it is. The theming is very detailed in places but to say that it's better than Disney is a bit much. It's not even the best themed non-Disney park I've been to. The park didn't feel particularly atmospheric either. I don't know really, the park feels more like a giant culture festival than a theme park. Everything seems a bit too tacky and artificial to be taken seriously. However, that doesn't mean that I didn't have a good time, it is still an amazing park which I would recommend to anyone, just don't make it the only stop on your trip. First of all, I have to mention the EP staff who are just fantastic. They always served with a smile and seemed to speak most major languages. The ride crews at Europa are simply awesome. Never before have I seen queues move so quickly. I reckon that they go through queues twice as quickly as most parks. You hardly ever stand still for more than a minute in a Europa Park queue. As the park was so busy, they had extended the opening times until 8:00pm which is good because there would have been no way that I could have got all of the credits in otherwise. The first thing we did was head for Silverstar and even before the official park opening time, the queue was out the door. However, with this being Europa Park the queue was zooming along and we were soon at the station. I knew that Silverstar wasn't going to be up to EGF's standard but I thought that it would be a pretty good hyper anyway. But unfortunately Silverstar is one of those rides that looks awesome but in reality isn't. It does have a very good first drop and an intense twister section onto the final brakes but the rest of the layout is just forceless and dull. The only notable spot of airtime is coming off the MCBR. It's mainly due to those infamous trim brakes. If those were on any harder, I'm sure that the train would stop on the hill. They're really not needed and if they toned them down just a bit, Silverstar could be awesome. As it is it's just dull. You honestly wouldn't know that you're riding a hyper, it feels more like a large kiddy coaster. At the end of the day, I took a second ride on Silverstar and it has to be said that it improves vastly throughout the day. There was now good floater airtime all the way down the first hills and even ejector airtime off the helix and over the last hill. Because of this second ride, I only just rate it as the best coaster at Europa with Euromir not far behind but still, the coaster could be so much better if they just turned down those awful trims. Next up was Matterhorn Blitz, a fun little wild mouse with a crazy elevator lift and some good head-choppers. This coaster also has an amazingly well themed queuline through a Swiss farm house. After this, it was across to Schwiezer bobbahn which would be my first bobsled coaster. It's a pretty fun coaster with lots of gimmick factor and a good surprise helix at the end. We did Euromir next which is a very good yet very weird coaster. The lifthill alone instantly makes this coaster legendary. Those who have ridden it will know why. Waving at yourself in the mirror towers is fun and the last section of drops and helixes is surprisingly intense. I was certainly caught off guard, and facing backwards too. There's also lots of tunnels and head-choppers to make things more interesting. A very fun coaster, more like this should definitely be built. After riding the new shooting dark ride, it was over to Poseidon which had the longest queue of the day. Thankfully, the queueline theming was amazing so it gave us something to look at while we waited. The ride is okay, it's pretty fun but it's getting a bit on the rough side. I would say that you get slightly wet but hardly drenched which I would have prefered as it was a really hot day. Next we went back round to Pegasus which is the park's newest coaster. A very fun little family coaster. The first drop has better airtime than Silverstar (well in the back seat anyway) and the rest of the layout is really twisted and smooth. A good family ride. Eurosat was up next and it was not a particularly pleasant experience. You can't really appreciate the coaster as you're constantly being thrown left and right. The fact that you're in the dark only makes things worse. It's not Vekoma-esque painful roughness but it's not comfortable either. If you can imagine riding a ski-lift, in an earthquake, at night, then that's probably something like what it feels like. I say tear it down and build something that looks nicer. Epcot globes should be for Epcot only. After the log flume and rapids ride, we went to ride the two "questionable credits" (I count them both) which are the powered coaster and Atlantica Supersplash. The powered coaster and log flume interact really well in a huge dark ride bit with lots of fire which makes them pretty cool but apart from that, neither were particularly amazing. I much preferred Atlantica Supersplash to Poseidon. it was much smoother, the drop was more intense, the airtime hill had better airtime and it was quite a bit wetter too. It also has theming which is as good, if not better than Poseidon's and the queue seemed to be much shorter all day. So if you don't want to queue for Poseidon, I'd advise heading to Atlantica Supersplash instead. After stopping by the Haunted Mansion rip-off dark ride, getting one last ride on Silverstar and getting some photos on the observation tower, we left the park. Despite Europa not quite living up to expectations, it was still a very fun park with some excellent theming in places and a few decent coasters. A good park for the whole family. If you're ever in Germany, I'd highly recommend it

Magnus Colossus not too bad?!! It must be those new Intamin trains I've heard about, but it doesn't look as if the trains have changed! When I rode it, it was like Jackhammer: The ride. However, it does have an amazing view and I love the noise it makes for some reason. The double drop is pretty good too. Glad you enjoyed Terra Mitica as it's an absoluely beautiful park and very underated in my opinion. Great POV of Magnus colossus, the first one I've seen.

It could be the Bat at Canada's Wonderland. I'm pretty sure that it must have been repainted at some point considering its age as it's looking pretty new now. Could it have originally been white? How old is the photo?

Looks like a Boomerang to me not an Arrow Looper

Wow, that park must have been amazing back when it was in operation. It's almost up to Epcot standard. The Arizona section looks huge. Abandoned parks are always cool. I particuarly love the way that the whole park is completely hidden apart from the castle on the street. I'd much prefer it if it was operational though. I'm shocked that no one has ever heard of this park before. If it was in the US or Europe, everyone would know about it. It's a shame that this place isn't still going as it would recieve more recognition in the days of the internet. Great photos but that guy's sarcastic comments got on my nerves a bit towards the end. Great find!

You can see why it was banned though. It doesn't really put out the best conservation message particuarly with Animal Kingdom not far away. I'm surprised that it's been allowed to return even at Disneyland