robbalvey

Colossus at SFMM...wow, I need to get out and ride something else!!! :shock: --Robb

Hey everyone! I finally got around to putting up the photos from the meet and BBQ last weekend. http://www.themeparkreview.com/sfmm2005/sfmm1.htm I just want to say thanks again to everyone who showed up, it really was an awesome time, as I'm sure you can see from the photos. If you didn't go, then next time you have no excuse! We have a couple of meets coming up and we'll post the dates for those soon. --Robb "We'll probably be doing another SFMM meet & party in September!" Alvey

Ok, everyone! I've added some new pics of RatTums to the following page: http://www.robbalvey.com/webcam/rattums2.htm Good luck with your avatars!!! --Robb

http://www.kake.com/news/headlines/1617781.html Here is the link to the Ebay Auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=15825&item=4387711556&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW Any takers??? --Robb "Perhaps we should buy it and turn it into Donkeyland!" Alvey

LMAO!!! These are great!!! We'll take some better pics of RatTums for you all! --Robb "And there will be some RatTums pics in the BBQ photo update too!" Alvey

Ok, time to unstick this. Photos are coming soon. If anyone else has anything to add to this please post your TRs! --Robb

These are great! Personally, I don't think you have to be a 'photoshop expert' to make these funny! Especially given that they will end up being avatar size. You can get away with a lot when the final image is small! No one is judging on their 'photoshop skills' really. Sure it helps, but if it looks like crap but still makes me laugh, that's good too! --Robb

Ok, everyone I have turned this topic into a chat. Obviously by now, everyone probably knows about the chat room. So far, it seems to be a hit! There's always at least 10-15 people in it during peak times, and we've had it up to 25 already too! The chat IS open 24/7 but I thought it would also be a good idea to set some scheduled 'general chat' times too, that way people know they can come to the room at a specific time and expect there to be some good solid discussion going on. I picked Wednesday and Sunday at 6:00pm PDT because Wednesday is a good 'middle of the week' day where not much is usually going on, and Sunday might be good if people were at parks that weekend and want to come home and tell people about it. What do you think? Are these good days and times to do it? Perhaps we should add a day in there for the European readers too? Like a 12:00noon PDT which is 20:00 in the UK? --Robb "Please give us your feedback so we can make the site better!" Alvey

OMFG! These are AWESOME!!!! If you want, please post the bigger versions of them before making them avatar size....if you don't mind I might even put them up on the RatTums page! --Robb "I can't wait to see more!!!" Alvey

Yeah, Thrill-Ville is fun. Show Ed some respect! --Robb "I got your back, bro!" Alvey

Hey everyone! This week's theme is simple - "RatTums Rides Rollercoasters!" Create an avatar showing off RatTums at his favorite theme parks riding his favorite roller coaster or other theme park ride. Basically, it can be whatever you want it to be as long as it's somewhat theme park related and has RatTums in there somwhere. While the site hasn't been updated in a while, there are plenty of photos of RatTums that you can use here: http://www.robbalvey.com/webcam/rattums.htm So post your avatars and we'll announce a winner sometime next week. Oh, yeah, and if you're new to this, here was the previous Avatar Theme Week: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1983&highlight=avatar --Robb

http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/623/623587p1.html I for one hope they can get thier differences sorted out. Thoughts? --Robb

http://www.hasbro.com/furby/ Wow....so will this be the 'must have' toy for Christmas? Again??? --Robb

No, I don't actually. Think about it. IMO, TTD was never really "completed." If you open a ride before it's "done" and then spend the rest of the year trying to band-aid the problems. What are you going to learn from that? Not to open a ride too early? Looks like the lesson was not learned. Again, I site SFMM's Superman: The Escape as a good example. Here was a record breaking, launched coaster built by Intamin. It needed extra time to perfect the system, and they took an extra year. When the ride opened, sure it still had problems, as ANY new ride does, but the problems were nowhere near what could have happened had they opened that ride up on time. It just seems to me that building these record breaking rides in a short amount of time isn't the smartest thing to do. But it sells lots of season passes, so go figure.... Anytime you "rush" something to open, it's never a good sign. Regardless of who's 'fault' it is. Which is another reason why we have stopped going on 'opening days' for new coasters. It seems that more often than not now, coasters need a bit of 'live testing' period and during that time they are probematic. KK has been open to the public now, what....3 weeks? That's hardly enough time to be calling "shenanigans" on either Six Flags or Intamin! --Robb "Which is why we waited until August to go ride Storm Runner" Alvey

Anyone stop to think that maybe it isn't necessarily Intamin's fault? Could it be that we've reached the limit of technology at this point, and it's not as much about the manufacturer's ability to produce a reliable product but more about what the parks are demanding? And perhaps that demand might be a little unrealistic? Think about it, it's not as though Intamin pushed TTD, KK, or even S:TE on all those parks. That's what the parks wanted, it just happened to be that Intamin are the only people out there crazy enough, and who have the technology to try and pull it off. And could it also be that when you are trying to push the envelope on technology, height and speed records, that perhaps 6 months of construction and testing just isn't enough? Look at rides like Storm Runner, XLR8R, Rita and Kanonen, they don't seem to be having the same volume of issues that TTD and KK have and they are based on the same technology. So why are TTD and KK having these problems? Maybe each of those rides should have had a 2 year development and construction cycle instead of just 6 to 12 months? Maybe Intamin is doing the best they possibily can given the short time frame they had to build these rides in? And once they are turned over to the park, all you are doing is playing 'catch up' from all the past issues. I'm not saying that Intamin is free from guilt, but perhaps pointing the finger at them saying it's an "Unreliable peice of crap" isn't totally the right thing to do. I can tell you, as someone who works with new technology everday, you don't get good results overnight. These things do take time! IMO, SFMM may have actually done something RIGHT when they delayed the opening of S:TE by a year when they were having all those problems in 1996 making it work right. Perhaps the same should have been considered for TTD and KK. Let me ask you this...what would you rather have....a delayed ride that works, or a project rushed to completion that could be forever problematic? --Robb "Just my thoughts on this...." Alvey

It's official!!! http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/317296p-271224c.html Wow. Maybe ACErs do have a chance afterall! --Robb

Yes, RatTums cam will be back up while we are gone. --Robb

Does anyone know if the Pinfari Inverted coaster at Nigoland has re-opened after thier accident? Because, you know, we can't wait to ride a Pinfari inverted coaster! Thanks for your help! --Robb

Hey everyone! I finally got the rest of our Silver Dollar City weekend photos posted! http://www.themeparkreview.com/sdc2005/cc1.htm Check out some awesome photos of: - Ozark Wildcat - A Very 'interesting' horse statue - Spinning Dragons - "Credit Whores" Enjoy! --Robb "Please post your comments!" Alvey

Great photos and TR! I really like Asterix' bobsled ride also. It's the only bobsled I know that is NOT themed to be a bobsled! :? And yeah, that was cool how they can put two train on the lift at the same time. It shocked me when I saw them do that. How was TdZ running? Smooth? Rough? Tolerable? I'm glad we're not there on a Saturday, but I have a feeling that Monday 4 July will be bad also. --robb

^ LOL! Please also let them know that it's $30 for THREE dvds in the case of the last video! --Robb

Hey everyone! So the tests we did with the new chat room seem to be working GREAT! Thanks to everyone for your help and support. To enter the chat room, simply click on the "Chat Room!" link above. Now that the chat room is an official added feature of the boards, we would like to share our plans for it: - Chat open 24/7: One of our goals was to have a place that people could chat anytime they wanted to, not just at scheduled chat times. Of course, that doesn't always mean that a lot of people will be in the chat room at the any specific time, but it's a place where people could meet up that's always open. - Scheduled chats: I think it would be a good idea to have a 'reoccuring scheduled chat' so that everyone knows there is are specific times where they can talk to other members of the board. I am going to suggest Sundays and Wednesdays at 6:00pm PDT for starters, and see how that goes. - Special Events: Either during trips or other events I think it would be fun to do 'live trip reports' where we can give updates from a trip we were on, or a media event we are at, etc. Please feel free to post any ideas or comments you have about the chat room. And remember, the conversations in the chat room are only as good or bad as you make them! So if there is silence...SAY SOMETHING! Sometimes the most random comment can spark a great conversation! And most importantly...HAVE FUN!!! --Robb

Wow! That was one hell of a photo TR! Great stuff! Couple of questions: Where did IB put the flyers? Did they remove another flat ride to put it in, or did they build another platform out in the water? Was Greezed Lightning running ok or were they still having problems with it? So GL built a water park on the old Sea World site??? What's on the old GL water park site now? How many damn times are they going to move that water park!!! --Robb

Hey everyone! One week to go until our Europe trip! We are all so excited to visit the parks and meet up with our international members. The following is VERY IMPORTANT for people meeting up with us: Now that we are making our final plans, if you are meeting up with us, please email me ASAP at robbalvey@themeparkreview.com to confirm. I will respond giving you our international cel phone number so you can contact us in Europe if there is any problems. Once again, here is our schedule: 16-Jun Walibi Belguim 17-Jun Bobejaaland 18-Jun Walibi World 19-Jun Farup Sommerland 20-Jun Tusenfryd 21-Jun Liseberg 22-Jun Bakken + Tivoli 23-Jun Bon Bon Land + Hansa Park (maybe) 24-Jun Heide Park 25-Jun Movie Park Germany + Toverland 26-Jun Phantasialand + Klotten Park 27-Jun Holiday Park 28-Jun Europa Park 29-Jun Mirabilandia 30-Jun Gardaland + Movie Park/Aqualand 1-Jul Walibi Rhone-Alps + Nigloland 2-Jul Walibi Lorraine + Disneyland Paris 3-Jul Disneyland Paris 4-Jul Asterix + Disneyland Paris So please, if you are meeting up with us, email us again at: robbalvey@themeparkreview.com so we can confirm our meeting. And for all of you back home in the US, we are going to be doing photo updates as often as possible (if the hotel has a connection) and we'd like to have some chats giving you all a live update from Europe! See you all very soon!!! --Robb

If you only have 8 days and want to hit a lot of parks, that could be kind of tight. What I would reccomend is to stick to doing either inland or towards the coast. You might spend a lot of time backtracking if you do both. Here's what I suggest: Trip 1: Day 1 - SFOG Day 2 - Lake Winnie Day 3 - Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom Day 4 - Paramount's King's Island Day 5 - Cedar Point Day 6 - Geauga Lake Day 7 - Kennywood Day 8 - Hersheypark - then home to NYC Here is another option: Day 1 - SFOG Day 2 - Paramount's Carowinds Day 3 - Dollywood Day 4 - BGW Day 5 - PKD Day 6 - SFA Day 7 - Hersheypark Day 8 - SFGadv - Home to NYC --Robb