robbalvey

West Coast Bash 2009 is now SOLD OUT! We hope to see you in 2010! Hey everyone! First off I just want to send a big THANK YOU to everyone who has pre-registered for West Coast Bash 2009. The response was so overwhelming that we have now sold out of WCB 2009 tickets. We felt it was important to limit the amount of tickets to make sure ERT lines didn't get too long and the quality of the event remained as awesome as it has in the past years. If you have already pre-registered for West Coast Bash either online or via snail mail you will receive an email in the next day or two about event details. If you have any questions, feel free to email me! Thanks again to everyone who registered and we will see you on Sunday morning! --Robb Alvey http://www.themeparkreview.com

This is TPR! We say worse things about each other in our trip reports! Congrats on making to FG! --Robb

Hey there, Have a search around the site as we've just recently answered this exact same question for someone else. Have a great trip! --Robb

^ I'm not sure the reason exactly why, but this does seem to be something common in Korea. I can tell you we had a number of people turned away from Atlantis Adventure at Lotte World who were "right on the line." --Robb

Yeah...and I think I try to put most dark rides at the end to seperate it out a bit more. Been thinking about doing a whole "crazy coasters of Asia" disc that JUST has footage of all the bizarro-O coaster we've been on. Something a little different than "RAW" since raw is like each coaster station to station including lifthills, etc, but maybe a 2-disc set chock full of every strange coaster from Japan, China, and Korea. --Robb

LAST CALL FOR WEST COAST BASH TICKETS!!! Hey everyone! The response to this year's West Coast Bash event has been so overwhelming that we may actually NOT have tickets (or not have many) on the day of the event. We already have more than 500 people registered! (but don't worry there will still be enough ERT that you won't be waiting in any lines to ride) If you haven't registered for WCB 2009 yet, I strongly reccomend you do it now and pay with PayPal. Here's how to register: http://www.themeparkreview.com/store/index.php?categoryID=9 See you on the 22nd! --Robb Alvey

Hey everyone! Here is some information about our "informal" trip to Shanghai China this year. We say "informal" because this is being limited to a very small group (no more than 30 people) and is being treated more like a 'group of friends' hanging out in China than an official TPR trip. That being said you will still get almost all the same perks you would get on a TPR trip, just on a smaller scale. This trip includes: All ground transportation (Including Airport Transfers), Internal roundtrip flights to/from Shanghai/Chengdu, Admission and rides at Eleven Parks, private coach, personal English speaking guide, eight nights of accommodations in luxury hotels, breakfast every day, some lunch and dinners, culture, Panda Admission, and more! $2075 based on sharing a room, $2795 for private room. Thursday September 3, 2009 Participants Arrive Shanghai PVG anytime! Stay overnight at a 4 Star Airport Hotel with Airport Shuttle Friday September 4, 2009 Fly to Chengdu around 9am Visit Chengdu Amusement Park Spicy Sichuan Dinner and a Cooking demonstration (This region is the most famous in China for food!) Stay overnight in a 5 Star Chengdu Hotel (on the main river, tons of stuff to do!) Saturday September 5, 2009 Visit Happy Valley Chengdu Amusement Park all day (Great new park just opened, check out some pictures here: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=696074#696074 ) Stay overnight in a 5 Star Chengdu Hotel (on the main river, tons of stuff to do!) Sunday September 6, 2009 Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding (The only place in the world where you can hold a panda and see them so close!) Traditional Tea House Culture! (Or bonus time at any parks if we need it due to weather or operations) Evening flight back to Shanghai Stay overnight in Shanghai at a 5 Star Hyatt on the river! Monday September 7, 2009 Visit Happy Valley Shanghai Amusement Park Visit Zhongshan Park Stay overnight in Shanghai at a 5 Star Hyatt on the river! Tuesday September 8, 2009 Visit Suzhou Amusement Land Visit Suzhou Giant Wheel Park Stay overnight in Suzhou Garden 5 Star Hotel Wednesday September 9, 2009 Visit Harborland Theme Park Visit Hangzhou Amusement Park Stay overnight in Hangzhou Sofitel 5 Star Hotel Thursday September 10, 2009 Visit Jin Jiang Le Yuan Visit Gongqing Senlin Park Visit Space City Stay overnight in Shanghai at a 5 Star Hyatt on the river! Friday September 11, 2009 Morning Transfer to PVG Airport for departing flight, or feel free to extend your trip on your own. Please email robbalvey@aol.com if you are interested in this trip! --Robb

There wasn't any coaster POVs of Kings Island, Kentucky Kingdom or Great America on the Expedition disc for the midwest trip either! We include ALL the footage we have on those footage discs, but some stuff just isn't available. --Robb

^ You'll just have to go to the event to find out! --Robb "I wouldn't leave early...." Alvey

I have heard that the trains are NOT onsite yet. --Robb

Deja Vu is not included for morning ERT, sorry. --Robb

Really? What do you think it shows? IMO, even if the new owners didn't think it was a good part of the lineup, it doesn't seem to make ANY sense to close a ride when you already have a limited amount of attractions and almost nothing for a kid to ride. Now granted, I say this not have any idea of the attractions they plan to add, but I have to think that anything they are going to add won't be major since they plan to open in 2 months. So what is a kid under 42" supposed to ride at this park if the dark ride is closed? Seriously...WHAT?!?!? I think the park has like 3 rides for under 42" and only like 5 rides for under 48". (Not counting the play areas, or upcharge ropes course) And yeah, the theme may be a bit "odd" to you and me, but I would think to a kid under 48" inches they will be happy to be able to actually ride SOMETHING at this park. IMO, if they don't like the theme, fine. Open it for this season to add it to the roster of things to do, and then make it a first priority to re-theme it for your 2010 season. THAT to me seems to make the most sense. --Robb "I pesonally think Elissa is right in her comments." Alvey

This has actually been an interesting 2009 for me! We were at Disney World for the first three days in January...but we didn't ride a single coaster! I've been to Magic Mountain almost every weekend now since early January...but I actually don't think I've ridden a single coaster there yet this year either! I think my first coaster ride of the season wasn't until we went BACK to Disney World in Feb and I rode Space Mountain. --Robb "Does this make me a BAD coaster enthusiast?" Alvey

This has all been great feedback! Please keep it coming. --Robb

Hey everyone! I have some great news about the Scandi Trip! 1 hour of ERT on Lynet and Falken at Faarup Sommerland! There are still spots open for the Scandi trip, so if you are interested, please EMAIL ME NOW!!!! robbalvey@aol.com --Robb

Is that good for a Saturday, though? I spoke to someone today who said they waited 90 minutes for X2. 30 minutes doesn't sound THAT bad off for the ride! --Robb

^ The address is on the event flyer. --Robb

Because I wasn't really interested in people who JUST watch the footage discs. The information you've given me though is great! --Robb

^ It's The Ultimate...back on topic please! --Robb

Hey everyone! I have posted a new Terminator update here: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=715260#715260 It also includes a few other park updates like Flash Pass, Deju Vu opening etc. Once again, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE keep your Terminator discussion in THAT thread and any other general park comments here. --Robb

Mental note - if this guy shows up to WCB...NO TERMINATOR TOUR FOR HIM!

^ PATIENCE!!!!!!! March 15th Update! Here is today's signature shot! While it doesn't look too much different that a couple of weeks ago, there are some notable changes going on. For one the first drop looks complete and the turnaround from the lift hill is getting worked on. And those are some VERY big popsicle sticks sitting down there ready to be installed! Not much left in the staging area. Yup...still all looks very familiar. Mr. Small Crane is hanging out waiting for the crew to come back on Monday morning. Looks like some work is about to be done on the bridge. Hmmm...something looks different here... From this angle the ride is getting much bigger now! You can clearly see the top of the lift and the turnaround in place. Not much different here. Same. OMG! EXTREME ANGLE!!! For those of you slab enthusaists...here you go. Remember that alien transmitter from a few updates ago? It's well hidden now so that MiB will never be able to find it! Woah! I spot STEEL! Somehow I have a feeling they won't be cycling trains for us next week at West Coast Bash! Abrupt ending? Random close up. Another angle of the recent progress. TRACK SPOTTING! Some more different angles for you guys. Yup, this ride is DENSE! It looks so ready to open! Terminator...THROUGH THE VU! THROUGH THE TREES! One more look at this week's progress. It was a beautiful day for track spotting! And yes, Deja Vu is back open! So thanks to that we were able to get all these cool angles of Terminator! SEE! I told you it was open. It looks very sexy. How's it going Great America fanboys? Looks like the single rider line has been removed. We haven't given you a shot of "Arrow Junction" in a while. *Resist making comment* *Resist makeing comment!* Helllo Lo-Q (and helllllo ladies!) Prices and availability. Yup $10 to add X2! Just in case you were wondering.... The old Flash Pass/Stroller area has some new signage. If you're lost come here. If you need a stroller or one of these electric karts, come here! Kids! Watch out for that random attacking barbed wire monster! Royal Caribbean was here. You could win a boat! (well for a few days at least!) That's right. If you are a smoker you can light up as long as you're within these lines...that's right, stay within this small space...smoke within these three inches, right in here...that includes the chicklets, but not the erasers... (Know what movie that's from? EMAIL DAN! mrt0ad13@aol.com)

LOL! Do you honestly think I don't already know this???

While we wouldn't ever offer the "Coaster Expedition" discs without music, we will continue to do more "RAW" discs. A couple of things you have to remember, as an editor, I have to create something that *I* like, otherwise I feel the end product would suffer. So for the music videos, we choose music that we prefer and styles that we like. If the music isn't your taste, that is understandable, but it's also part of our product. We understand not everyone is going to like it, and that may even mean a few less DVD sales, but I'd rather have a product that I personally am satisified with and want to watch, than trying to please everyone, because I think I know that's nearly impossible. Another thing to keep in mind is that when we go out and shoot video in a park, it's normally just a couple of people with small handheld cameras capturing that days expience. We aren't going out with lots of equipment, a film crew or a sound crew. So the music helps hide what is usually pretty BAD raw audio. I also feel the music helps keep the "flow" of the segment moving and without it, the segment could be quite boring. Here's an example...below are two version of our Fuji-Q segment. One with the music and one without any music or audio editing at all. Personally, it pains me to even post the one without the music but just to give everyone an example of what it would be like. I think it's horrible and I couldn't even get through half of it, but is this seriously what people want???? If people would rather have this, hey, it's a LOT less effort for me to put together! Fuji-Q WITH music: [coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=fuji_q_highalnd2008_3yxq[/coastertube] fujiq_nomusic.wmv This is what a Coaster Expedition segment "RAW" would sound like...

They didn't. Both Voodoo and Laser operated together last year. Laser was sold to one of the traveling fairs in Germany at the end of last season. Had nothing to do with Voodoo/Possessed. --Robb