downunder

I think the United Nations would step in if Vekoma tried building a hyper coaster.

I've been on three of those Volares, they are unpleasant in so many ways. I pity the patrons of this park.

^Wishing you the best with Fuji-Queue, hopefully you get a great day there. I wish I could have gone on this, but work decided I couldn't have leave before 30 June. Damn these Japanese parks are so fascinating. Bring on Texas Midwest as my alternate for this year.

Wow, I'm amazed, I was actually there on this trip, it seems like a dream. ^Ha, Hollywood Tour, it's like Universal Studios Pigeon Forge. Did everyone do the haunted walkthrough next to Krake? That was bizarre and very dark (literally). I've got to say that the hotels at Phantasialand are an epic adventure in themselves, I felt like Indiana Jones in Hotel Motumba on the 2010 tour.

Sounds like a great event, as if there wasn't enough great haunts to do in LA during Halloween. I'm a tourist and I managed to do six haunts in LA last year.

Even the Lemon Chill guy is calling "bullsh**". It sucks it's not a straight drop, it looks a bunch of tame coasters stacked on top of each other.

^^^I've heard Knott's get something like 25% of their annual revenue from haunt, not verified, but I could believe that. Scary Farm and HHN get huge crowds and good on them, they put on great haunts. I'd love to know what kind of numbers Hollywood HHN gets (I know you can't reveal that Jew).

^Yeah, they need an Intamin hyper. Canada's Wonderland does so well and they so many awful coasters SLC, Volare, Boomerang etc (and a some good ones). I've heard that Knott's is CF's most profitable park, is that true?

I found the inclusion of museums interesting, just as a fascinating aside. Wouldn't Six Flags love to have just one park over the 3 million attendance mark (CF has 3 seasonals and one year round park)? I'm sure YOLO coaster will send SFMM surging to number one park in the world as the masses flock, because YOLO, like, you know. Interesting to see the spikes USH has got in the last couple of years, didn't King Kong 3D also have a correspondingly large attendance spike? And they must be getting extraordinary numbers for HHN, though I don't think they could fit any more in from the previous year . MEMO to Knotts: add major attraction...

Here's a decent POV:

Is the word hybrid being filtered? I think Hades 360 is way better than Prowler and the Voyage... Maybe some Brangelina style names: wood on steel supports: woost.

I watched it on youtube, it was a discovery channel one about building Voyage, Kentucky Rumbler and El Toro. The secret nine was an element of the Voyage part of the story.

^Hi Paula, I was watching an old documentary about the the Voyage and "the nine". I've got to say I love your work.

Thanks for the update John. I'll be interested to see what they do for Frighdome with extra space, it was a top-notch haunt last year.

I went to Cedar Point in 2005, back when they kept a fair few coasters running in the rain. Rode Millennium Force 12 times in an hour in torrential rain, it was like having pins stuck into any exposed skin, BUT there was no line, and that was gold in pre fast pass days. When I got back to Breakers my spray jacket was covered in little black bugs. Magnum and Raptor also hurt in the rain. Waldameer Ravine Flyer II, torrential rain, yes I was part of the infamous TPR tour ride the lightning ERT session. Farup Sommerland in the rain, Lynet and Falken, cool rides, but painful in the rain and it was so cold.

Looks like Iron Dragon is living up to it's true name, Dragging Iron. It's a fun entry level ride, but if it became a maintenance nightmare, something like a Cheetah Hunt or a Verbolten style coaster zipping around the terrain would be fun. I looked up urban dictionary too for keyholing, OMG it was nasty. Gotta say Gatekeeper looks like a lot of fun.

Now if only one of these things could back into Mean Streak.

Great report, love Knoebels, nice photos of Phoenix.

^^Thanks for that, hopefully that is the case, I'd splash out on it seeing 99% of why I'd go to SFOT is for NTAG.

^Chad, is it still one ride a day for Platinum for NTAG or is it now unlimited rides?

^They just wanted to offer you free room and board at a federal country club, sounded like a time share though. That is interesting about the mechanicals, maybe they'll have a Q and A on the TPR trip, and we can ask more about it.

^That was the small part of the documentary I didn't enjoy lol. I sent a screen cap to the FBI, they were able to identify you as well.

I enjoyed that, did I see a TPR member in that video?

That might have been in October at Fright Dome, I know I got absolutely drenched that time. It will be interesting to see what Fright Dome is like this year. I'm always amazed how they cram those mazes in there.

^I can't remember, did we ride Rim Runner just before it closed in January, I think we may have just taken photos. I know we did Canyon Blaster.