robbalvey

^ Not really. People should just suck it up and vote in the poll.... HONESTLY. Wow, what a concept, huh? Actually vote for the roller coasters you like the best and *NOT* try to sabotage one or two rides because you fear that other people's opinion might make it so that *your* favorite coaster isn't #1. There doesn't need to be any hybrid list or anything like that, people just need to be HONEST. But we all know that will never happen, sadly, because humans can be horrible, horrible creatues. --Robb

^ Agreed. I always felt the biggest problem with Cypress Gardens is that it's so damn hard to get to! It looks so close to Walt Disney World because off I-4 it's just a few exits away, but it takes FOREVER to get out there once you do get off the interstate! And driving through all those little towns and everything is quite annoying. I just wish they would take this park off life support and just let it die. --Robb

I found someone with El Toro ranked as #75 out of 80. Interestingly, they've got Voyage as #1. Amazing. I just don't understand some people's creepy, fanatical hatred of the Intamin woodies. I just had someone on my Facebook tell me that they are "not real woodies." WHAT?!?!? Um, they are "made out of wood!" How are they not "real" woodies. The amount of creepiness some people have over this stuff really scares me. --Robb "It's one thing to be enthusiastic, it's another to be fanatical." Alvey

It wasn't that long ago Six Flags sold off all their international properties except Mexico, then later numerous properties in the States. And of course there was the stockholder revolt which put the new management in place back in 05... So its not like Six Flags has been unscathed the past decade. Just saying. I get what he's saying, though. Here in So Cal, the whole "possible sale of SFMM" was a huge, HUGE deal! I think he's just simply saying how 99% of everyone in So Cal really thought (and some still do) that SFMM was going to be sold and turned into a parking lot but yet somehow the park has managed to dodge the bullet while so many other major parks have now been sold or traded since then! --Robb

And with each Coaster Expedition DVD if there is an opening segment, then there must be a closing segment (well, with all volumes except one! Anyone know what Coaster Expedition DVD did NOT have a closing segment?) Anyway, if the goal of the opening segment is to set the mood for the rest of the DVD then the closing segment needs to wrap it all up! It's hard to create a segment that basically "caps" the DVD because you're not really telling a "story" throughout the DVD (well, I guess we kind of are) and the closing segment isn't really an 'ending' either. It does need to bring some sort of "closure" to what you've just watched. Traditionally the closing segment is one of the most difficult segments of the entire DVD to put together because it's the last thing the viewer is going to see and you want it to be memorable! The closing segment from our first TPR Trip in 2006 I think really captures this well: [coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=vol_8_closing_27hb[/coastertube]

The funny thing is that Valencia is actually quite built up now and very populated. While the park isn't built in the middle of the city, the city is right next to it. It just so happens to be that from the park, you can't really see the rest of Valencia, but if you look at this map, you can see that just down Magic Mountain Parkway, only about a mile away, starts the very built up area of Valencia (and our apartment!) --Robb

^ That was the only one I saw that really stood out, IMO, although I didn't really look at them for closely. It just stood out because, even if you're not into the Intamin Plug and Play style of coaster, there is NO WAY it ranks between Mean Streak and Rattler on anyone's list! It was done on purpose, and from what I can tell it looks like someone that was on the ECC trip to Korea this year. I know if someone from TPR did that, I would at least send them an "nice" email and politely tell them to not bother f**king taking the poll anymore if they are going to do that kind of childish, stupid crap that makes everyone else and the poll look bad. Like I don't care if *my* favorite ride is number 1 or not, but I care that other people are sabotaging the poll (and I'd feel the same if they did it for ANY coaster that deserved to be in that top tier section) when someone like Mitch works so hard to make it as "clean" as he possible can. --Robb

^ Especially when you consider that Cedar Fair bought Six Flags World of Adventure for $145 million... ...Just to close it down.

While the results aren't available yet, the completed ballots are. People gave us crap for ranking T-Express #1 last year in the wood coaster poll. Now I see that people have purposely ranked it #135 out of #146 this year in an effort to dethrone it. I find some people incredibly pathetic and childish. But it at least shows the amount of influence people think Theme Park Review and its members have in this industry! (Too bad that person missed out on Eagle's Fortress!) If anything, I think seeing something like that just speaks volumes for Theme Park Review and more importantly, our members. You didn't see anyone from TPR "rigging the poll", just us giving our honest feedback. And that earns my respect towards all our members. I have little respect for the people in those "other clubs" who rig a poll just because they didn't like that some of our members liked a roller coaster more than their favorite roller coaster. F**king pathetic and childish. --Robb

I have updated the first post of this thread with the official press release. --Robb

...and they have been since 1971 when Roy O. Disney, Walt's brother and business partner died. Again, I believe you're thinking about Roy *O* Disney...who was the "Roy" in the "Walt and Roy" that everyone pictures together as having started what we know today as The Walt Disney Company. Roy O. Disney passed away in 1971. If he were to have been the one who passed away today, he would have been 116 years old! Roy *E* Disney was the son of Roy *O* Disney and he is the one who passed away today. Just wanted to make sure you knew which Roy Disney you were talking about. --Robb

As said above..."Comet Express" [coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=cometexpress_6e69[/coastertube]

My beef is that they may have added "big rides" but they have really sucked some of the "atmosphere" out of Kings Dominion, Carowinds, Kings Island, and Great America, IMO. For whatever reason Canada's Wonderland didn't seem much differet, and I'd say probably the biggest offender was Kings Dominion, but all of these parks I used to frequent at least once per year (KD and CGA probably 4-5 times per year) and while they may have been lacking a B&M or other major rides, they really did seem to have a "pulse." Last year visiting KD and this year visiting CGA I found the parks to be more "lifeless" than ever before. Not sure why, but they really seemed to lack much excitement. And not with the rides, just with the entire park in general. Carowinds and Kings Island weren't as bad, but I've noticed this there too since the Cedar Fair takeover. --Robb

Its a not so big secret that Kinzel is likely retiring after next year. Hasn't he been "likely to retire" for the last 10 years or so now?

That's actually what I meant.

^ Agreed. However I have no idea of what Apollo's past actions have been with other entertainment companies. They have bought AMC Entertainment, Harrah's Entertainment, and Norwegian Cruise Line, for example. Did they de-comission any NCL ships? Did they close any Harrah's casinos? Did they shut down any AMC theaters? If their pattern with other companies has been to shut down underperforming venues in an effort to keep the thriving ones going, then I'd be a bit concerned if I was CGA or MI, but if this hasn't been their approach in the past, I'd doubt it's something they would do...at least not right away. --Robb

Here's the actual article from WSJ if anyone has a subscription: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704541004574600443362702668.html I find this VERY interesting and I'm not sure this would be a bad thing. And here's a little blurb about Apollo which I also found interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Management --Robb

Time to unstick this. If you haven't seen our Deep South update yet, start on page 1 of this thread! --Robb

Time to unstick this. If you haven't seen our Scandi Trip update yet...start on page 1 of this thread! --Robb

Ok, let's call it. Ryan in our winner. Send me your mailing address and I'll send you a big huge bag-o-crap!

Already posted. http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=53566 Please read the forum next time, or use the search function, before you post a new topic. --Robb "Thread Closed." Alvey

That's my favorite part of the video!

Awesome! So far the game has been VERY well received. We were #2 on Parents Magazine's list of games to buy your kids for Christmas and as of right now we have an average ranking of 81% across 30 different reviews! I'm glad everyone seems to like the game so far!

Artcile from CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/12/16/roy.disney.obit/ Sad news. As someone who has been in meetings with the guy when I worked on Aladdin and Lion King, he was very passionate about his animation studio. Probably one of the last people who seemed to actually want to carry out Walt's dream...

I'm actually not the biggest fan of Ch!pz. I find their stuff to be mostly an Aqua-Knock off with only one or two decent (and useable for a video) songs per album. Aqua on the other hand...every song they have is perfection! Toybox is pretty decent too. Same with Cartoons. --Robb