robbalvey

Larry knows that. That's not what he asked. He wants to know if Knight Valley Shenzhen is the same park as Happy Valley Shenzhen as there are many parks in Shenzhen! I honestly have no idea either and I'd like an answer to the question as well. We all know it's going "Knight Valley" and that Knight Valley is in Shenzhen.

Looks like our "Best of China Trip" is getting better and better!

Official discussion of this awesome new project here: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=54196 --Robb

Great Coasters and China OCT Partner for Major Woody February 16, 2010 Great Coasters International, Inc. has been chosen to design/build a 4,817 ft (1,468 m) wood coaster for China OCT's Knight Valley. This behemoth will be GCI's largest single track coaster yet and will feature a 147 ft (44.8 m) lift and a wild 131 ft (40 m) triple-down first drop. Beginning the ride with a castle fly-through, the ride also has an exciting station fly-through (often a GCI signature), a station fly-by, and 80 degrees of banking. All of this is experienced while riding two Millennium Flyer trains, which are now the gold standard for wood coaster trains. This amazing ride will open late this year, and GCI Coasters continue their reign as the biggest bargain in the business. Height: 147.0 Drop: 131.2 Top Speed: 61.2 Length: 4,817 Full news and photos: http://www.greatcoasters.com/?p=news&s=archive&id=6

I have to respectfully disagree. I would consider playing jokes on enthusiasts a high priority when it comes to theme park and attraction planning. If I was running a roller coaster or attraction design company I would pay an intern a decent salary to come up with ways to mess with the enthusiasts and keep them guessing while we all laughed our asses off at the office reading the resposnes!

The Season Pass Podcast interviews Robb Alvey & Chris Godsey about West Coast Bash 2010! (and other random stuff) listen to the show here: http://seasonpasspodcast.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=582918 --Robb

The Season Pass Podcast interviews Robb Alvey & Chris Godsey about West Coast Bash 2010! (and other random stuff) listen to the show here: http://seasonpasspodcast.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=582918 --Robb

Yes. Some info: http://www.showsys.us/projects/onboard.html --Robb

I'm telling you this makes a LOT of sense. SDC already has a GCI woodie that's been sitting there for 3 years now not doing anything. I can't think of any park they could move it to and it won't fit anywhere at SDC. But if SDC salvaged the most expensive parts of Ozark Wildcat to build a new woodie they will either be able to build new coaster fairly inexpensively or have more money in their budget to do more with the ride since they don't have to pay for trains, lift motor, brakes, PLC, station air gates, and everything else that you can move to use on the new ride. --Robb

^ Although just not having SoB would also be a huge improvement!

Tranan and its supposed lack of restraints. Huh? Tranan was a great ride!

Oh, man, that TR brings back memories of when I worked in the UK and would go to this and the Goose fair every year in the 90s! Glad to see they still have tons of INSANE flat rides!

Test

New Coasters Delight Amusement Park Customers To the Thrill of S&S Worldwide Another major coaster project now in the works! LOGAN, Utah - (February 15, 2010) – Long recognized as the company that designed the 4th Dimension coaster, arguably the most technologically advanced coaster on the planet, S&S Worldwide, Inc. is pleased to announce plans for yet another 4th Dimension coaster. Known as “X2” at Six Flags California and as “Eejanaika” at Fujikyu Highlands in Japan, the next 4th Dimension coaster will amaze and thrill the people of China when it opens there in 2011. Unlike traditional coasters where trains only parallel the track, the 4th Dimension sends riders screaming around its 3,600-foot maze of steel track aboard massive wing-shaped trains. The seats extend off of the track to the sides of the vehicle, allowing the passengers to be independently rotated head over heels and forward and backward. The 4th Dimension’s large vehicles seat 24 passengers, two abreast in twelve individual cars, six positioned on each side of the train, with a state-of-the-art restraint system that adjusts to each rider’s size and safely secures the individual for the duration of the ride. The ride’s 360-degree rotating seats move the passengers independently, creating head-first, face-down drops, and unique “don’t know what to expect next” excitement. The passengers actually face backward as the train leaves the station, rounds a turn, and begins its 250-foot (76-meter) ascent to the crest of the lift hill. The passengers get an impressive sweeping view of the surrounding area and are not afforded the comfort of seeing what’s to come. Before plunging off the near vertical first drop, the seats suddenly flip forward, placing the riders in a totally unique and thrilling position facing the ground. The steep first drop is insane, reaching a breathtaking speed of nearly 80 mph (129 kph). As the passengers soar through the exciting elements of the ride experience, including raven turns, dives, and half-twists, the smooth rotation of the seats creates a surprise with every turn or drop, some beautiful air time, and an intensity that never lets off. “This amazing coaster takes riders on a journey to an unchartered dimension of extreme that only the 4th Dimension can deliver,” said Kevin Rohwer, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for S&S. “We appreciate yet another opportunity to build and install this incredible coaster, and we anticipate that the amusement industry will be very excited about its upcoming installation. Dinosaur Park (Changzhou, China) is already counting down the days until this great attraction will open to the people of China.”

That's the thing, the fireplace is not there to heat the building, it's there for "decoration." The building has a central heating unit. It was actually 85 degrees outside the day of the fire! WTF were they doing with the fireplace going in the first place?!?!? --Robb

^ Done and Done!

Thank you to everyone who voted! I'm happy to present "Lake Compounce" from Coaster Expedition Volume 13! You can now order Coaster Expedtion Volume 13 on DVD for $9.99 or as a Downloadable Video for $4.99 here: http://www.themeparkreview.com/store/ Enjoy the video! [coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=lakecompounce_wide_um8w[/coastertube]

^ I actually went out the emergency exit which leads right outside. Thank goodness that door actually worked! I mean, if the fire alarms were either turned off or not working, when was the last time they tested that exit? In retrospect, I probably wasn't in too much danger considering that the gym looked the least damage. It was more an issue of the smoke. And let's face it, if and when the smoke was getting a lot worse in the gym I'm sure I would have figured shit out pretty quickly and ran out that door! And what kind of freaked me out a little more was reading in that article about the fire that it was a GAS fireplace, which makes me think it's completely possible there *could* have been an explosion! Thankfully nothing that intense ever happened. --Robb "I just really don't like the idea that I was in a gym, doing my thing on the elliptical, and there was a fire going on behind me!!!" Alvey

West Coast Bash Update! Six Flags Magic Mountain have announced they will be giving everyone a "Backstage Photo Tour" and while they haven't given me too many details, it sounds like they will be taking us in groups to areas of the park where general public guests normally cannot get photo and videos. This should be awesome for those of you who love photographing rides or just the park in general. And hey, it's just cool to be able to see the park from a "behind the scenes" perspective even if you're not into taking pictures! Knott's Berry Farm have told us that everyone will be getting a FREE Knott's T-Shirt! In addition to the TPR/Rideworld WCB 2010 Event T-Shirt, Knott's has thrown in some extra swag for FREE!!! So not only do we have the group photo included, but also a shirt! Awesome! If you have not registered yet for West Coast Bash 2010 we highly recommend you do so before the event SELLS OUT! Register here: http://www.themeparkreview.com/store/index.php?categoryID=14 --Robb

West Coast Bash Update! Six Flags Magic Mountain have announced they will be giving everyone a "Backstage Photo Tour" and while they haven't given me too many details, it sounds like they will be taking us in groups to areas of the park where general public guests normally cannot get photo and videos. This should be awesome for those of you who love photographing rides or just the park in general. And hey, it's just cool to be able to see the park from a "behind the scenes" perspective even if you're not into taking pictures! Knott's Berry Farm have told us that everyone will be getting a FREE Knott's T-Shirt! In addition to the TPR/Rideworld WCB 2010 Event T-Shirt, Knott's has thrown in some extra swag for FREE!!! So not only do we have the group photo included, but also a shirt! Awesome! If you have not registered yet for West Coast Bash 2010 we highly recommend you do so before the event SELLS OUT! Register here: http://www.themeparkreview.com/store/index.php?categoryID=14 --Robb

Not quite...if you replace all the GCI's in your post with TGG's, then you would be correct. GCI existed about half a decade before CCI filed for bankruptcy. Skycoastin' Steve IS right that GCI was formed with one of the former CCI workers - Mike Boodley. I'm not sure if his two thoughts were actually connected, but I read them as two separate sentences: 1. CCI went bankrupt because they took on too many projects on the cheap and couldn't afford to keep open. 2. GCI was formed with one of the former CCI workers. He's right on both accounts. --Robb

I was only in the gym about 15 minutes. But in retrospect, when I walked in the building and saw the haziness and smelled the smoke I'm going to bet the fire had already started somewhere up in the chimney. Like I said I just didn't think twice about it because it pretty much always is like that when someone has the fireplace going. Trust me, I was more than a little shocked when I walked out of the building, turned around and saw smoke POURING out of the top of the roof! Being in the gym I was probably about as far away as one could get from where the fire was, but even still, that's only being like 20 feet away! --Robb

Theme Park Review's 2010 Trips & Events UPDATE! Hey everyone! We have some exciting news and update for TPR's 2010 Trips & Events! http://www.themeparkreview.com/events/ First off - **A NEW 2010 TRIP!** NEW! Oktoberfest 2010 - Sept 19 - Sept 26th. This is a VERY small, exclusive trip - only 25 spots available. Download the flyer for details and email us if you are interested! http://www.themeparkreview.com/events/oktoberfestflyer.pdf Europe 2010 - UPDATE! June 28 - July 5th Since we needed to add a 2nd bus to the Europe 2010 trip we have about 20 spots currently open. Email us now if you are interested! This trip includes: Mirabilandia (new iSpeed), Gardaland (new Mammut), Movie Studios Park, Europa Park (new Blue Fire), Holiday Park (#1 Expedition GeForce), and a LOT MORE! Trip Flyer: http://www.themeparkreview.com/events/2010_UK_Europe_Trip_Flyer.pdf West Coast Bash 2010 - TICKETS SELLING OUT FAST! March 20th - Magic Mountain, March 21st - Knott's Berry Farm Knott's Berry Farm is including an additional FREE T-SHIRT for West Coast Bash! In addition to your TPR/Rideworld WCB 2010 Event Shirt, Knott's is giving us more swag! Six Flags Magic Mountain has announced a Back Stage Photo Tour! Get photos & videos from locations where the public can't go! Register now: http://www.themeparkreview.com/store/index.php?categoryID=14 Bay Area Bash 2010! Take the TPR PARTY BUS!!! May 15th - Discovery Kingdom, May 16th - Great America The "Tony Hawk Water Challenge" is BACK! Plus backstage tours at both parks, lots of ERT, Park Presentations, and more fun! Party Bus Info: http://www.themeparkreview.com/events/bayareabash_2010_flyer.pdf Event Registration: http://www.themeparkreview.com/store/index.php?categoryID=15 UK 2010, Mid-America 2010, and IntimidaTOUR trips have all SOLD OUT. We are still accepting deposits for the wait list in case there are drops. Visit TPR's trips and events page for flyers and information: http://www.themeparkreview.com/events/ Thank you to everyone for your support! We hope to see you on a TPR event or trip in 2010! --Robb Alvey http://www.themeparkreview.com

Heh, some of my comments about the fire made the local news: http://www.the-signal.com/news/article/24667/ --Robb

^ Really? Having been to almost all of the major China parks I can't think of any of them that aren't almost totally flat. The only one that comes to mind is Ocean Park, but I'm not sure they have a ravine like this one.