robbalvey

Again, not knowing what the original poster is into, it's hard to say if this is good advice or not. Sure both sets of these parks can technically be done in the same day, but unless you just wanted to run in, get the credits, do a quick photo lap, I wouldn't reccomend this. SFKK/HW is more likely to be done in the same day if you don't care about either parks water park and you don't mind riding everything just once (maybe twice) and you don't care about any of the flats or other rides. SFKK has a FANTASTIC water park with Deluge and Tornado and they do have 6 coasters to get in (not counting Twisted Sisters) and 3 of those 6 only run one train, and another one is a low capacity mouse. I would budget NO LESS than 4 hours at Kentucky Kingdom. And at Holiday World, if you are even the slightest fan of either of their woodies (and some people love all three!) you'll want to spend a lot of time there as I have seen the lines for those coasters get VERY long! HW also has a lot of "classic" flat rides if you're into that thing, and they have a very good water park. As for Knoebel's and Dorney, I would say the ONLY way to do both of those parks in one day is get to Dorney EARLY and try to get in all the credits as quickly as you can. But even still they have 8 credits you can get (7 if you're not sad and pathetic and don't count the powered!) and that's going to take you at least 2-3 hours. Dorney also has a FANTASTIC water park and if you're even slightly into water parks, I highly reccomend it. I think most people could probably spend 4 to 6 hours at Dorney and have a good time. And then there is Knoebel's, which IMO is one of the nicest traditional parks in the country and by all means you should NOT "blow through there" and do a credit run (unless of course that really is all you care about.) There is so much cool about Knoebel's - the coasters, the flyers, the bumper cars, the other flats, the haunted house, the brass ring carousel, the log ride, the various museums, the food...OMG, the food! But see, this is why you can't just post "Hey I've going from point A to point B, tell me what to do..." We need more information about YOU and WHAT YOU WANT **YOUR TRIP** to be before we can really give you some advice. Someone may post advice that is good for THEM and not good for YOU. See my point? Please give us more information, then I feel we can help more. --Robb

To be honest, I'm not sure we could provide that. The reason being is that for most dark rides, if we included a "walkthrough' of a queue, a pre-show, and the actual ride, you're talking about 10 to 15 minutes of footage per ride. That means we'd only be able to pack 4 to 6 of them on one disc and and the most we would do a 2-disc set. I may be wrong, but I think most people would rather have more content packed on two discs instead of just 8 to 12 rides. I figure if I do just a complete ride through, a shot of the outside, a shot of the sign, a shot of the ride vehicles, I could probably back more like 20 - 25 dark rides on a two disc set. --Robb "Do people really WANT a walkthrough of each queue???" Alvey

Heh.

Thank you to everyone for your response! If you haven't voted yet, please do so, even though I think I know the answer on the "footage" discs. It's always good to get feedback on what we produce that way before we consider making any changes to something we have enough information to make the right decision. In this case I think the Footage disc will remain the same for Volume 12 and future volumes. Well, it's not really flawed because this poll wasn't about the discs of bad music or park behaviour. Those discs will always be produced as they are the heart and soul of what we do here at TPR. So the 3 responses were exactly the information I was looking for regarding the footage discs. Whether you watch the "Expedition disc" or not wasn't important (although the assumption is made that you do), what was important is how much you watch the "Footage disc." And the poll has absolutely helped us with our future decisions, which sounds like it will be in your favor! Thanks again to everyone for the feedback. And remember, please post your thoughts, positive or negative, you can't offend us, we just want to make the best DVDs for you guys! --Robb

Well, usually what I tell people is do a little bit of research and map out the trip yourself first, pick the parks that would be more interesting to YOU based on what rides and attractions they have, then come back here with your schedule and trip plans for us to give you more input on. It's a little hard when you just get "I'm going from point A to point B...what should I do?" because there are so many different options and we know nothing about your preferences. Not only that, planning a trip is very time consuming! I wish we had the time to help plan everyone's trips, but we are so busy planning our own TPR trips that we just can't do this for everyone. But once you figure out your trip, we'll be more than happy to give you input! --Robb

- are Saturdays/Sundays bad days to be doing Disney things (or for that matter any other Tokyo park things)? I don't think it matters THAT much, but like any other parks, I'd say avoid the weekends if you can. - does anyone know if you can extend the 4 day Park Hopper tickets when in the park? I've never tried, and I'm not sure it's offered, but you can ask. - I get the impression that perservering and going on rainy days is worth the effort - is this a fair comment? It's hit or miss. Remember that it rains 300 days out of the year in Japan so they are used to it. We've been there an rainy days where the place is EMPTY (like in our last TR) and we've been there where the rain hasn't kept people away. - Shinjuku seems to be an excellent place to stay both for access to non-Disney parks and Tokyo in general - does this seem reasonable? Yes, very much so. Shinigawa is also a great place as it has direct links to the Shinkansen. - Staying on-resort at Disney seems well worth the effort in terms of ease of transportation to Disney - a fair call? Yes, absoultely.

Starting with Volume 12, all TPR DVDs will be in 16:9 format....and Volume 12 may have a few more dark rides on it. Who here would be interested in a "Dark Rides of the World" DVD? --Robb

I know I'm really anal when it comes to polls, but IMO if you aren't going to give all the options, what's the point in making the poll? There are TONS of wood coaster manufacturers you've left out: PTC RCCA Harry Traver Prior & Church S&S Vekoma Summers/Dinn NAD IAD Carl Phare Vernon Keenan Etc, etc, etc.... --Robb "Learn how to make better polls." Alvey

Hey everyone! With each new DVD Theme Park Review releases we want to make sure you all are getting the most out of your purchases. Now with Roller Coasters in the RAW as it's own series, we are trying to figure out what the viewing patterns are for those of you who buy our "Coaster Expedition" series. Traditionally we pack in a disc of coaster (and sometimes other ride) footage in our Coaster Expedition DVD set. But how much do you all watch this disc? That's the goal of this poll. And for those of you who don't watch the disc, what would you recommend we pack in place of it? Would you like to see maybe a DVD full of high res photos from the parks on disc 1? Do you even feel you NEED the second disc? Please give us your feedback! Any comments or feedback about our Coaster Expedition series would be helpful! Thank you! --Robb

Below are a few photos from the media day event that Craig posted in case you missed them.... The spinning blades of DOOM And seemed to run smooth. The ride was testing and looked very good. Its the ride sign! What more do you want? Dave is happy we can get close too see Saw. Over all a good time was spent at Thorpe Park even with Saw down.

This one is PERFECT! Thank you Wes! Honestly, that was kind of the idea. I actually didn't want to use anything originally, because I just wanted something simple, but I wasn't good enough with my photoshop skills to make just the lettering work. So in a way by never noticing it, that was the goal! (BTW, any idea what the coaster was?) See, I think almost EVERY coaster site has this. And IMO, do you really NEED it? Obviously you're at a coaster site, do you need to see a roller coaster photoshop montage to confirm it? For me, it was more about the title treatment. I wanted the title treatment to be "fun" which is why I chose the Gadzoox font (which I've never really seen used anywhere else). It was more important to me to have a "fun" logo that we own and could use on shirts, trips, DVDs, etc, than have a collage of coaster photos that we couldn't use anywhere else because we don't own the rights to them. Someone once told me that when it comes to video editing and photoshopping that "effects should be used sparingly, like salt and pepper, to add a little spice to your work...use too much and that's all you'll be able to taste." And that person was absolutely right! That's why even in our videos, you see very little "effects." I just don't think you need them. My other philosophy to building a website is "content comes first, functionality second, and then make it pretty." I think people are more willing to forgive something that doesn't look quite as "sexy" if there is a lot to do. I have visited so many sites where you go "Wow, this site looks GREAT....now what?" I think we have an amazing amount of content and I don't think most people mind that the look of the site isn't that "cutting edge." We are always trying to change things here and there, but I do like consistency...and if it ain't broke, why try to fix it? Technically, we just took a step BACK with the new logo and removed elements from it...and people seem to like it BETTER. See my point? --Robb

This is a terrible poll. If you're not going to list ALL the coaster trains, don't make a poll. --Robb "Where is Intamin? Where is Vekoma? Where is Gerstlauer?" Alvey

^ You tell me, does that look any better: http://www.themeparkreview.com/ --Robb

^ Too busy. The background fights with the text which fights with the colored shadows, etc. There's coasters, there's text, there's effects, there's just too much. Keep it simple. That's my preference. --Robb "Look at Google's home page...I prefer that." Alvey

You would actually have to ask Elissa! I personally don't keep a count, but she keeps one for me. I'm pretty sure my coaster count is over 1,000 but I don't know for sure what it is. --Robb

^ MrSkyWhirl, you have been warned about your creating drama in this thread in the past. It's not wanted here. --Robb "BANTRONED!" Alvey Ps. Theme Park Review absolutely endorses everything that Big Mike does. We encourage our readers to create on-going articles, videos, trip reports, etc that would be of interest to our readers for months or years to come! I realize not everyone is going to like Big Mike's thread. Not everyone likes TPR's coaster videos. But do those who are fans, we thank you, and do those who are not, please refrain from viewing this content. It's that simple.

I'm not sure about tickets, but I do know we had a good time there! Be sure to ride the very back seat of the Pinfari POS! --Robb

Looks like more ERT news for the Scandi trip should be coming very soon....

LOL! It makes it look like they've re-named either the park or the roller coaster to "Paradise Pier" to anyone looking at it from the outside. I can see it now. People will be all "Let's go ride Paradise Pier!" --Robb

^ I always like to say you can see the differences CLEARLY in a group photo from ACE and a group photo from TPR. See if you can guess which one is which.... One group is more fun, one group is more serious. Not that there is a right or wrong to either of these, it's just a difference, that's all. Also keep mind, you will find some of the SAME PEOPLE in both groups, so it's not like we are saying you are either in one group or the other. But I would say there is a difference overall in the groups. IMO, TPR has always stressed that theme parks and this hobby are "fun" (it's part of the three things the site offers...Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, and FUN!) and some times you gotta just stop counting the bolts and talking about who designed what footers and DAMMIT just go RIDE and have a GREAT FREAKING TIME! And no hoops or hurdles if you have to leave early, but we'll miss you! --Robb ps. HEREwas our group photo from WCB 2008 to give you an idea.

yeah, i got that, but, uh, why? i just think it's kind of stupid… damn i'm in a bitchy mood today! i think it's my cold, or whatever it is… It's just the way the terminology is. Not even the ride manufacturers will call it "testing" usually until they've "dropped a train." Seriously, it's not like *we* made up these terms, it's industry wide. --Robb "Looks like they may be doing a "pull through" which is not the same as 'testing.'" Alvey

We will ask for your name. Normally we don't need any kind of ID, but it wouldn't hurt to bring it just in case. The event packets will be under the name of the person who registered, so if you registered, for example, you and 3 guests, it will be under your name. --Robb

Sure

It should have stated the fees in your checkout cart (see below). We've had to add this because we have just been eating so much money in PayPal fees that we either had to add this or raise our prices. We are also not even charging 100% of the PayPal fees, it's only about 75% of the total fees we pay. If you'd rather pay with a check, you can always click the "Proceed to Checkout" link and it takes you back to the beginning where you can choose "check" and then obviously the PayPal fees are not added. --Robb

Test Track and Journey do use the same ride system, but they are completely different rides! It's like saying Aquatopia and Pooh's Hunny Hunt use the same ride system....