robbalvey

No, it's fantastic! There is nothing for kids to do in that corner of the park. Elissa and I are a perfect example. Do you know how many times one of us has had to wait with Kristen while the other rides Terminator and there isn't anything for us to do with her in that corner of the park. I think it's a great location for the ride and gives parents a kids options where there currently isn't one. --Robb

Same. When there is a link to a real news source or a press release issued by the park then I would consider it "official." The URC article comes off like a "well written rumor" and without anything backing it up, not even a quote from someone at the park, it really is just that. I mean, I spoke to Jay Thomas at IAAPA today and he said nothing about a press release going out. --Robb

Amazing. I can't believe what I'm reading. You guys *just* got a brand new woodie not even 6 months ago and now you want something "on par with Ninja???" Do you even hear what you sound like? Selfish bastards. That's what. Be happy you have 17 roller coasters to ride and stop your obnoxious whining and complaining. Six Flags Magic Mountain doesn't dissapoint me, many of YOU do! --Robb

This sounds very reasonable to me. I'm just wondering if there is an official news release about it. And it's a fine line because I can tell you that I would MUCH rather take Kristen on this coaster than some of the more rougher kiddie coasters out there in the world. --Robb

^ Is there a link to an actual press release? I don't consider URC a credible news source. --Robb

Hey TPR Peeps! Robb and Hanno are in Las Vegas and getting ready for the start of the big IAAPA Expo Show 2009. For those of you unfamiliar with this event, it's basically the biggest Amusement Park Trade Show in the World. There are booths from companies that range from giant roller coasters to churro stands! They are all trying to sell their next big thing to the Amusement Parks, Water Parks, and FEC's out there. We will keep live updates going in this thread today and tomorrow as Robb & Hanno walk the show floor, and be prepared for some video segments as well! It's that time of year again...IAAPA! ...or the quest for yummy churro. And it's a very good reason to make a trip out to Las Vegas for! Oooh! This looks like a place for us to hang out at! Here's another look at it. Hooray! Magical Midway! (not so much magic though!) The show is about to open... Oh the excitement! Premier Rides. Not sure what a drifting coaster is but it looks cool! Hey look! Elissa makes an appearance at the show! (Grr, Elissa is actually sitting in Valencia!!!) REPRESENT!!! TPR footage everywhere! A very nice model of Boardwalk Bullet. Robb interviews Chuck Bingham from M&V who shares some awesome stores from Fireball's construction. S&S was showing off a new sleek and sexy IAAPA booth! Stan Checketts, Hanno, and Hanno's photo all lit up on the wall of S&S' booth! Look at that! It's Tranan and more TPR footage at IAAPA! "What was that you said about my mother Mr. Robo???" Robb and Chris Gray rockin out the Millennium Flyer! Friends from Grona Lund attack!!! "Proven" Here we are at Mack Rides... Mack Rides has some kind of sit and spin! Will Koch from Holiday World checks out his new Timberliner train for The Voyage! Blue Fire car...measuring my heart rate...it says I'm dead! We will have a more "IN DEPTH" look at the Timberliner trains later in the update. HUSS rides... Zamperla showing off the Beach Shack. Is this the next Rockin Tug? Hanno and John give the Beach Shack thumbs up! Zamperla had some of their roller coaster hardware on display. The Intamin booth always goes for the "minimalist" look. (Should make Wes very happy...) Check out my sexy new Intamin lanyard. B&M had a little bit of Behemoth with them. Another look at the Behemoth train. SKLOOSH!!!! B&M was really pushing the flying coaster at the booth. Bob's Space Racers was showing how to win a Giant Ass Monkey. Here you can see what the show looks like. All the redemption games you can possibly imagine. White Water West is showing off Nessie or what we called the musical water worm! Yes!!! It's the looping water slide! We will see you in the Dells in 2010! My very first employer was representing at IAAPA. OMG! We need this for the next TPR party! Do NOT let KidTums see this!!! We would never see her again! Now THAT...is a lot of plush! At MagicQuest even you can be Harry Potter. Hot chicks and simulators. That's what IAAPA is all about. A four across X-Car train? COOL!!! Maurer Sohne has some pretty cool models on display! Hey look! I see some TPR members on that train! Our good friends at Lo-q. We will be using their Q-Bots at Mirabilandia, Six Flags, Dollywood, and more next year! IAAPA or Furry Convention? You decide. Hanno's photos and Robb's video on display at Gerstlauer! Pax has a giant elephant roller coaster! These guys make some crazy crazy stuff. Moscow will be getting the elephant coaster in 2010! Kristen from Wave Loch shows off the awesome Flowrider! (can't wait to ride the one on Oasis of the Seas!) KidTums would have a field day! The Mr. Men and Little Misses are AWESOME! OMG!!! I want!!! Wall of Domo's!!! Is it just me or have the Rudolph characters always been creepy? The successor to the mini donut machine... Mini pancakes! I LOVE THIS!!! Robb, get one for our house please! Six Flags Over Georgia's Deja Vu is bound for Brazil! Sorry Brazilians. Move over Elissa. It's all about Bette! Where's Piers?! It's like a Skycoaster meets Ferris Wheel! Ooh! Let's see what's new over at Proslide! Rick Hunter of Proslide showing off Holiday World's new Rocket slide. New Tantrum slide for Dubai 2010. New Rocket hotness comes to Iowa! That's a LOT of Proslide at Holiday World! A closer look at the Timberliner train. Is this "in depth" enough for you? How about this? How's this for in depth? Camera #1 Camera #2 Here is the ad. And so ends this installment of "In Depth for PKI JIZZ MAN". Join us again next time for In Depth at the Dippin Dots Stand! Good news! Vault ICEE is still available. Premier Rides offers new wheels! Oooh...Wheels... "in depth." And some new Premier Rides love for Kennywood in 2010. Indoor skydiving anyone? They even have an outdoor portable model! WTF??? Upside down zip lines!!! Dude! It's the Golden Horse company!!! We have been on at least one, possibly 12 of these Golden Horse spinning coasters! That's a ton of Chinese knock-off rides! Techincal Park. They made that crazy thing we rode at Tivoli Gardens. There it is! Flying Fury! Mini drop tower set up in the show floor. Drop Tower in action. Look, it's a full size X-Car on display! Or not. Portable ice skating rink. Not sure what frightens me more. The bronze staues or the guy in the top hat! Best new food product of the show. I didn't realize that Italian Ice was so big! The future of those balloon rides! One was testing on Oasis of the Seas but broke off and went flying away!!! These guys do the red light green light systems for water parks. Anyone else having elementary school flashbacks? Red Light Green Light 1 2 3!!! These guys do everything conveyer related! Remember the conveyer on Downhill Double Dipper? They did it! All waterpark fans that hate carrying those giant tubes should thank these guys right now! Something new from the Starflyer guys and equally insane! They built one in St. Petersburg!!! OMFG! (Note, St. Petersburg Russia, not Florida!) Moser always has some crazy looking machine that would kill Elissa! This is the 'Dead Bodies Floating in Hamster Balls' Attraction. It's all about the portable ropes course! More parks need these!!!! This park has the potential for awesome! It also looks like some sort of Ferrari Alien Space Ship. Sally Corp had a Jeff Johnson animatronic. Dark Rides Gone Wild!!! TOPLESS BABY!!! This is Sally Corp's new hotness. Insert random Hard Rock Freestyle Music Fail Park Joke Here! Awww pretty lights at night time. Thanks IAAPA, see you tomorrow for another fun filled IAAPA day! (And don't forget, Robb will be working on more IN DEPTH updates tonight!) That's it for Part 1 of our IAAPA coverage! Keep an eye on this thread for more LIVE updates coming today! --Robb Thank you to Hanno for tons of photos!

Agreed. On a Saturday you do not, I repeat DO NOT want to save X2 for any other time. There will never be a shorter line than first thing in the morning. --Robb

That one has been sold to a park in France: http://www.rcdb.com/4288.htm --Robb

^ Yes, but when they say "Working with Intamin" that could mean anything from getting new wheels for Superman to building a 500 foot tall looping suspended woodie. I wouldn't read TOO much into that statement. --Robb "I sent Intamin some footage for IAAPA, so technically I am "working with Intamin!" Alvey

Same.

Here is a little update from today. A couple of notes... - The park was fairly empty for a Sunday. - It still amazes me how everyone still runs to X2 first. - There was a "Lego Robotics Club" event going on or "Kids who will never get laid in high school." - We had an AMAZING random encounter with a guy wearing an ACE jacket who started complaining to some ride op on Colossus about the $1 lockers. And people wonder why that club gets such a bad rep. So here's me officially complaining about ACE members who hold up operations of coasters with their pointless nonesense! - To the kids we saw at Colossus - shout out to you guys! - To Duane from RCDB and Justin from the ECC who we chatted with prior to park opening - shout out to you guys! - And there were signs up about a "Family ride for 2010!" Let's see what it could be! Let's see a few pictures... "New Family Ride Opening Summer 2010!" What could it be? Awww...I miss this maze. Season Pass Processing has moved somewhere...you know, with this building gone could make for a GREAT water park expansion! Robotics club boys trying to joke with robotics club girls... "A neutron walked into a bar and asked, "How much for a drink?" The bartender replied, 'For you, no charge.'" This is like the "Green Room" area for the robotics club! ...here comes the Lego Robotics Club! Just when you thought that being into roller coasters was nerdy... Out with the M&Ms stairs, in with the jeans! You can see it a bit better in this picture. I'm really happy to see the park giving older rides some love. Can you see where the "old and busted" ends and the "new hotness" begins? We couldn't really either! New Paint Job Hotness! In case you missed the new Ben & Jerry's...here it is! I kind of miss "EAT OUT LOUD" but at least this is probably a bit better. "No one ever wins a Giant Ass Panda." Yay! New restaurant! Longhorns smelled FANTASTIC! Has anyone tried it yet? So is THIS where the new "Family Ride for 2010" is going to go? Hmmm.... The "Terminator Salvation Wacky Wobbler Bobblehead" was so freaking amazing...that we bought one! (and KidTums *LOVED* it!!!) As much as I DO like the pre-show, and think it's probably some of the best theming that Six Flags has ever done, I don't think it's a good enough show to make people wait an extra 10 minutes while half-empty trains are going around the track. But still...the ride itself is awesome! While they were cycling empty trains around the track. Terminator as a wooden coaster was running great, but there was no fire effect and the audio is VERY hard to hear now. Also to my dissapointment they were holding back people to watch the entire pre-show in all three rooms.... Hooray! Bench: The Ride got some much needed barrel theming! We were all "WTF is the FLL?" Looks like the parking lot sections are getting re-named to candy! Yummy! We've seen the M&M overlay on the parking lot trams, but what's this I see on the walls? Hey look! New sign! How special!

update

^ That's awesome! I also would have rather seen Snoop and Sarah Silverman over the Freeks & Geeks, but I'm glad I saw the Aquabats since I've never seen them live and I have no idea who that other band is...but now I want to go look them up!!!

But everyone can ride Canyon Blaster. I guess my question is more when do you guys think a small coaster stops being a "kiddie" coaster and starts being a "family" coaster? - A Miler kiddie? - A Zierer Tivoli? - A Vekoma Roller Skater? - A Tony Hawk Big Spin? - A Traditional Wild Mouse? - A Mine Train? I'm not sure I'd rule out any of those options as a possibility. Does Six Flags have any family coasters laying around at other parks? Maybe Kentucky Kingdom is getting rid of another coaster we aren't aware of? --Robb "Just speculating..." Alvey

And here is video of the ENTIRE Yo Gabba Live! Party In My City show! Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFFdLs9g2Zk Part 2: (This segment includes The Aquabats playing Pool Party) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lbjfs4XdRc Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InAPFPmqJ_o Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52nAMQEd10w Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOUeOfUa8w8 Part 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAoHqLXs-4k Enjoy! --Robb

When I was in China a year ago, at an outdoor mall in Ningbo, there were THREE Disney stores. Kid's Disney, Disney Sport, and an Adult Disney. The adult store even had lingerie with Mickey on it. They aren't real stores. They are Chinese knock-offs. It's very hard to tell the difference sometimes, but we also went into quite a few of these "Disney Stores" at a few outdoor malls around China. The merch inside is not officially licensed. None of it is. It's all very good quality, and may very well be made at the exact same place as the official stuff, but it's not a real Disney store. --Robb

While I could see this being a problem I also see two very simple solutions: 1. If people are playing the games and not moving forward in line, the people behind them will be all "Um, stop playing your game and move up." 2. If they continue to play the game, the people behind them will just blow right past them. Luckily where the games are located the only people that would be able to line jump are the people directly behind the ones playing the game. And IMO, if someone isn't moving up, pass them. I don't consider that "line jumping." Looking at it more though, these do look like less of "games" and more like "buttons to press while waiting in line." A little bit more involving than the pole room and rope in the Indy queue or the "stick your hand in the hole" gag in Mummy's queue. --Robb

^ Same. I kiddie or family coaster would be great back in that area. There isn't anything for kids ANYWHERE in that area. It would be nice to have something where parents could switch off while riding Deja, Terminator, etc... --Robb

^ The Intamin wheels were not thrilling, they were just another spin on the Ferris Wheel. The upside to them was capacity because you could load an entire arm's worth of cars at one time, instead of one car at a time like the traditional ferris wheel. The castle you are referring to is most likely the Wizard's Castle that was in the kids area, in fact, I believe that castle building is STILL IN the kids area and you can see it hiding behind the Frog Hopper. --Robb EDIT - there it is! You can see it in the sattelite picture below buried in the trees behind the Frog Hopper.

Hey everyone! It's BLACK FRIDAY!!! You know what that means? That's right! FREE STUFF!!! Have a GREAT holiday weekend everyone! The FREE DOWNLOAD period is over, however you can still order this downloadable DVD for only $2.99 here: http://www.themeparkreview.com/store/index.php?productID=77 PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING BEFORE YOU DOWNLOAD!!! Click "Add to Cart" and check out from the TPR store. When you have completed the form you will receive an email with the URL to download the file. You will need to use a valid email address to download the video. Please use your TPR Screen name when filling out your order. If you are not a registered member of Theme Park Review, you can easily register here: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/profile.php?mode=register **NOTE** You will have up to 7 days to download the video, but the free DVD **MUST** be ordered by 11:59pm (PST) on Friday, November 27th, 2009. At 12:00am (PST) on Saturday, November 28th, this video will return to it's normal retail price. This file will download as an .mp4 file and can be dragged into iTunes to play on your iPhone or iPod. You may also play this file on your computer in QuickTime Player. If you have DVD burning software like Nero you may also try to burn a DVD of this file and play it on your TV. If this file downloads as anything else BUT a .mp4 file, this is a setting in YOUR BROWSER and you will need to address this. I'm sorry, but Theme Park Review cannot offer any tech support with this download. The file has been successfully tested and it works just fine. If you are getting an error, it is most likely on your end. The file size is 1,306,834 Kb or about 1.3 gigs. Please note that a lot of people are going to try to download this file so it might take a WHILE. DO NOT STOP THE DOWNLOAD! If you cancel the download you will have to start all over again. Remember, you have 7 days from the time you order to download the video. Under normal bandwidth conditions and a high speed internet connection, it should take about 30 minutes to download, however it is not unusual if it takes 2+ hours when there is a lot of sever traffic. If your file stops downloading before it is about 1.3gigs this probably means your download has timed out and stopped. The file will not work unless it is completely downloaded to a file size of 1,306,834 Kb or about 1.3 gigs. If you are still having problems, remember that you have SEVEN DAYS TO DOWNLOAD THE FILE! Try downloading it again in a day or two, or maybe setting it to download before you go to bed tonight. We want to send a big **THANK YOU** to everyone who has supported us over the years and we hope you enjoy this free download. Please know that any purchase you make in the TPR store goes back into the website to keep it running AD FREE! We also will continue to upgrade the site to make it better! (This year we saw the introduction of CoasterTube and next year we have a few surprises that will make you all very happy!) BUY MORE TPR STUFF!!! If you haven't picked up a copy of Roller Coasters in the RAW Volume 4 yet, do it now! Also, we now have 18 downloadable videos for your iPod, iPhone or other .mp4 player. Don't just get the free one, get ALL of them!!! And don't forget your TPR Hoodie! We have a very limited amount of hoodies left, and when they are gone, they are GONE! All of this stuff can be purchased in the TPR Store when you download your free DVD and remember, it helps keep Theme Park Review going! Thank you again for all your support! --Robb Alvey www.themeparkreview.com

^ I'm really trying to remember how it worked, but I thought that the station platforms were turntables, like Jet Stream, there were multiple cars (you can see them in the pictures two pages back) and there was a second track that I *thought* was on the other side of the trees. I am like 99% sure there was a second track, but to be honest I think I took it up the hill way more than I took it down so my memory is not totally sure. --Robb

^ She is! I worked with her on our catering for West Coast Bash last year! --Robb

This is just a reminder to get your TPR Hoodie order in before they are all GONE! I believe we still have some Large, Medium, and Small hoodies left. We have **ONE** XXL Zip Up Hoodie in stock and just a couple XL pull overs. Order now! http://www.themeparkreview.com/store/index.php?categoryID=3 --Robb

Please make this stop.

^ Is that Guy Fieri??? In Space Mountain?!?!?