Noxegon

I can't answer all your points, but having been there recently I can help a little: - Dubai Airport *does* have luggage storage facilities. - The Burj Khalifa is at the Dubai Mall, which also has the best coaster in Dubai at Sega Republic. Don't miss it. I used a local tour company to provide car and driver, which worked well - though we were traveling around all the parks, which you are not; it might be too expensive for what you want.

Shame. Any idea when it was removed?

Er, what happened that one? Missed that completely...

Duane still has it as SBNO, and one of the pictures is earlier this year.

I'm not terribly upset at the loss of Linear Slightly Windy Day, though it was the original Intamin Impulse design...

Hili Fun City is a little to the north of Al Ain, about a ninety minute drive from Abu Dhabi city.

I've been on five Pax coasters including the Strasswalchen one, and you're right; they are pretty insane for the most part. Jungle Storm sits above the rest of them though, probably because it's the only one shoehorned into a ridiculously small space with lots of near misses. This is a ride where adults are not allowed sit in the front half of each car because the clearances are too small (seriously).

Shame we missed each other. My group was lucky with Jurassic Park, as it had been down all morning but opened as we walked past it, so we got on it in minutes. We got the $5 discounts too - though we arrived at opening, which made me assume this was normal practice?

I was there ten days ago - on a Friday - and the park was reasonably busy if not ridiculous. Wait times on most rides were fifteen minutes or less, except for Canopy Flyer which was running at 45. It's actually a really nice park; I was surprised how much I liked it (even without a working BSG, boo).

With apologies for being the geography nazi, Dubai is one of seven emirates that make up the UAE; the other six are Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Quwain, Ras al-Khaimah, and Fujarah. None of them are particularly large, but having said that you wouldn't travel to Nevada to visit a park in California would you? I was out there a few weeks ago, and tried to ride all the operational coasters. Right now the roster is as follows: - Abu Dhabi has Ferrari World, Hili Fun City, and a handful of shopping mall credits. I can't comment on those because the three full size ones were all down on my visit. - Dubai has quite a few credits, though the majority are utter crap. The only real worthwhile one is Spin Gear at Sega Republic, which is really good. The coaster at Stargate is so unspeakably bad that it's not even worth it for CreHos. There's a new ride under construction for the indoor Casper Theme Park which might be worthwhile; time will tell. - Ras al-Khaimah has Saqr Park, featuring a single powered dragon. - Sharjah has a handful of shopping mall coasters, the best of which is at Space City. For what it's worth, if you're in the area, it's well worth taking a short flight to Bahrain for the indoor coaster at Chakazoolu. That ride is truly insane; if I kept a top ten list it'd definitely be in it.

Er, Abu Dhabi isn't in Saudi Arabia?

Many of you will remember this rather memorable trip report from Hili Fun City in the UAE. The park has just reopened after eighteen months of renovations. I've just posted some pictures of what it looks like now to my photo album. Direct link

The thought of that has been on my mind, though doing so would involve trips next year to Indonesia, Brazil, China, the United States, and Sweden. One or two of those might be a possibility, but all five are probably stretching it a bit given that I'm now a student again...

I'm pretty close actually. I have five operating that I know about: - One in Brazil - Two in India - One in Indonesia - One in Austria (Auto BergBahn -- this is a kids only ride, I won't fit in it) Of course you can add to that the various new rides under construction, and I guess Jeremy Reid's backyard coaster...

Prior arrangement with park management; the group I was with were let ride it outside of regular operating hours. Oh yes; you can see some fairly rotten weather in some of those shots. In quite a few cases though I've been back to the park in better weather, and thus the really awful photos are confined to history. I can still feel the pain from riding Son of Beast in a torrential downpour; it was bad enough in good weather... From memory the only wood coaster I've had to make two trips for was Alabama Adventure, due to a dodgy sensor shutting down the ride on my first visit. I wish I could say the same for the various steel credits I've chased down...

Voyage, with second place tied between all of the more recent GCIs (anything from Thunderhead onwards). Oops. Fixed, thanks.

Dear Title Fairy, I'd like "Unrepentant CreHo". Thanks!

Part two... 0849: Wildcat (Lake Compounce) 0850: Boulder Dash (Lake Compounce) 0855: Comet (Great Escape) 0858: Jack Rabbit (Seabreeze) 0866: Monstre [2] (La Ronde) 0875: Excalibur (Funtown Splashtown USA) 0877: Yankee Cannonball (Canobie Lake Park) 0881: Thunderbolt (Six Flags New England) 0885: Cyclone (Six Flags New England) 0915: Montaña Rusa [2] (La Feria Chapultepec Magico) 0919: Medusa (Six Flags Mexico) 1026: Cyclone (Lakeside Amusement Park) 1029: Twister II (Elitch Gardens) 1032: Legend (Arnolds Park) 1034: Renegade (Valleyfair) 1035: Roller Coaster (Lagoon) 1044: Tremors (Silverwood Theme Park) 1045: Timber Terror (Silverwood Theme Park) 1050: Coaster (Playland Vancouver) 1063: Timberhawk (Wild Waves Theme Park) 1097: Starliner (Cypress Gardens) * 1100: Dania Beach Hurricane (Boomers) 1158: New Mexico Rattler (Cliffs Amusement Park) 1174: Boardwalk Bullet (Kemah Boardwalk) 1177: Cannonball Run (Waterville USA) 1178: Rampage (Alabama Adventure) 1377: Meteor (Little Amerricka) 1381: Rollo Coaster (Idlewild) 1384: Ravine Flyer II (Waldameer Park) 1385: Kiddie Coaster (Playland Park) 1392: Tree Topper (Upper Clements Parks) 1463: Terminator Salvation (Six Flags Magic Mountain) 1464: Coaster Thrill Ride (Puyallup Fair) 1496: Prowler (Worlds of Fun) 1498: Evel Knievel (Six Flags St Louis) 1515a (relocated 714): Little Dipper (Six Flags Great America)

A few months ago I posted a photo TR of the the complete set of B&M. A few weeks after that post I finally managed to complete the full set of operating wood coasters in North America, though it's taken me until tonight to actually finish my Photo TR. This post will be in two parts, since I've managed to hit the attachment limit! All pictures are my own. Rides marked with a * are no longer operating in the location where I took the picture. Numbers are from the list of coasters I've been on. 0006: Beast (Kings Island) 0013: Racer [2] (Kings Island) 0014: Son of Beast (Kings Island) 0022: Blue Streak (Cedar Point) 0030: Raging Wolf Bobs (Geauga Lake) * 0089: Woodstock Express (Kings Island) 0096: Zach's Zoomer (Michigans Adventure) 0099: Wolverine Wildcat (Michigans Adventure) 0100: Shivering Timbers (Michigans Adventure) 0104: Viper (Six Flags Great America) 0105: American Eagle [2] (Six Flags Great America) 0112: Mean Streak (Cedar Point) 0116: Texas Cyclone (Six Flags Astroworld) * 0126: Rattler (Six Flags Fiesta Texas) 0132: Texas Giant (Six Flags Over Texas) * 0141: Judge Roy Scream (Six Flags Over Texas) 0142: Wildcat (Frontier City) 0145: Zingo (Bells Amusement Park) * 0146: Timber Wolf (Worlds of Fun) 0151: Boss (Six Flags St Louis) 0155: Screamin' Eagle (Six Flags St Louis) 0156: Raven (Holiday World) 0157: Legend (Holiday World) 0160: Twisted Twins [2] (Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom) * 0161: Thunder Run (Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom) * 0165: Cornball Express (Indiana Beach) 0166: Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain (Indiana Beach) 0167: Hoosier Hurricane (Indiana Beach) 0169: Sea Dragon (Wyandot Lake) 0176: Ghoster Coaster (Kings Dominion) 0182: Grizzly (Kings Dominion) 0184: Hurler (Kings Dominion) 0185: Rebel Yell [2] (Kings Dominion) 0189: Hurler (Carowinds) 0193: Thunder Road [2] (Carowinds) 0195: Woodstock Express (Carowinds) 0201: Big Dipper (Geauga Lake) * 0202: Villain (Geauga Lake) * 0263: Colossus (Six Flags Magic Mountain) 0271: Psyclone (Six Flags Magic Mountain) * 0280: GhostRider (Knotts Berry Farm) 0283: Grizzly (Californias Great America) 0292: Roar (Six Flags Discovery Kingdom) 0294: Giant Dipper (Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk) 0384: Giant Dipper (Belmont Park) 0403: Georgia Cyclone (Six Flags Over Georgia) 0404: Great American Scream Machine (Six Flags Over Georgia) 0416: Cheetah (Wild Adventures) 0421: Triple Hurricane (Cypress Gardens) * 0424: Gwazi [2] (Busch Gardens Africa) 0443: Thunderhead (Dollywood) 0446: Cannon Ball (Lake Winnepesaukah) 0451: Wild One (Six Flags America) 0454: Roar (Six Flags America) 0466: Rolling Thunder [2] (Six Flags Great Adventure) 0513: Lil' Dipper (Camden Park) 0514: Big Dipper (Camden Park) 0521: Thunderbolt (Kennywood Park) 0523: Racer [2] (Kennywood Park) 0524: Jack Rabbit (Kennywood Park) 0525: Silver Comet (Martins Fantasy Island) 0530: Mighty Canadian Minebuster (Canadas Wonderland) 0539: Wild Beast (Canadas Wonderland) 0540: Scooby's Gasping Ghoster Coaster (Canadas Wonderland) 0542: Predator (Darien Lake) 0545: Comet (Waldameer Park) 0547: Blue Streak (Conneaut Lake Park) 0549: Teddy Bear (Strickers Grove) 0550: Tornado (Strickers Grove) 0714: Little Dipper (Kiddieland) * 0722: Cyclops (Mount Olympus Theme Park) 0723: Zeus (Mount Olympus Theme Park) 0724: Hades (Mount Olympus Theme Park) 0725: Pegasus (Mount Olympus Theme Park) 0727: HellCat (Timber Falls Adventure Park) 0730: High Roller (Valleyfair) 0736: Underground (Adventureland Iowa) 0737: Tornado (Adventureland Iowa) 0739: Outlaw (Adventureland Iowa) 0742: Voyage (Holiday World) 0743: Kentucky Rumbler (Beech Bend) 0754: Ozark Wildcat (Celebration City) * 0760: Arkansas Twister (Magic Springs) 0772: Hurricane (Myrtle Beach Pavillion) * 0776: Swamp Fox (Family Kingdom Amusement Park) 0786: Great White (Moreys Piers) 0806: Thunderhawk (Dorney Park) 0807: Twister (Knoebels Amusement Park) 0808: Phoenix (Knoebels Amusement Park) 0810: Comet (Hersheypark) 0814: Lightning Racer [2] (Hersheypark) 0816: Wildcat (Hersheypark) 0823: Leap the Dips (Lakemont Park) 0824: Skyliner (Lakemont Park) 0826: Kingdom Coaster (Dutch Wonderland) 0827: Hell Cat (Clementon Amusement Park) 0828: El Toro (Six Flags Great Adventure) 0836: Cyclone (Astroland) 0844: Dragon Coaster (Playland Park)

Did the Goldrush actually open? I was there on September 4, and it was well and truly shut.

Having never met Piers -- what's he like sober? Or does nobody actually know?

Drachen Fire's Revenge?

Surely the same applies in the UAE?

Nope... (NSFW) http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3086503/The-big-stripper.html

That's the right decision. I wonder if they'll call in another company to sort it out. Intamin perhaps?