downunder

I was surprised how well Superman Escape at Movie World did, I was expecting between 30 and 40 because of lack of comparisons to other coasters. It's a worthy coaster though, it has a lengthy themed section which is like a Universal ride which is unique for a high speed thrill coaster, and it has ride of steel like airtime (not as much though), swooping turns and passes back inside the building. Superman Ride of Steel's result just shows the enduring poularity of a great hyper coaster, it's a shame there hasn't any new Intamin hyper's going up for quite a while - though isn't Tobu Zoo getting one? If they had an Expedition Ge Force or New England Ride of Steel in Australia, I'd never leave the country.

Best: Crystal Wings - it just looks awesome, Duelling Dragons was awesome, and Nemesis looks cool. Worst: Scream, well it really isn't the worst themed because it does not have theming.

Yeah I think PKI and SF Great America on the midwest will be tough to get all the credits in one day. I wish they had gold flash passes. If the track is arriving now, it looks like they might be serious about getting it going this year, fingers crossed. What are the worst lines at Kings Island - Italian Job and Face/Off look like they would be slow moving? I am sure X-flight will be slow queue mover as well. Don't know about Flight of Fear, what's that like, any others that have bad lines at PKI?

That's awesome, I love Rage, and the Chillis to boot. I hope they do a DVD of the concert.

I am the most vilified race on the planet - anglo saxon, white, heterosexual male. Oh the shame of it all. Actually I'm not very anglo saxon, my mother was born in Amsterdam, and I don't know anything about my father. I totally hate (in a tongue in cheek competitive way of course) the Poms (our name for the english) and right now they are down here in Oz being bitch slapped in the cricket.

This is great news, I guess the new management has called an end in the coaster count war with Cedar Point (like wasn't it remarkable that Scream sprung up overnight when CP racked up 16) - not that I or the GP care, I'd rather have 6 great coasters than 17 where they are mostly average and bad ocasters. Why dismantle Psychlone, there is an army of coaster fans who would happily torch it for them? They shoud have a demolish Psychlone competition.

I thought the Michael Jackson coaster was at the neverland ranch (now there's a hard to get credit if you aren't 13 yo male) in california, or has he got a set up in Europe to lure, er I mean entertain the young ones. It sounds like it will concerntrate on Germany and Holland, well that is at least what I would want, and top it off with Balder on the Scandanavian add on.

Being in Sydney is like an all year round off season, I play a lot of sport, play an instrument, and plan my next trip to the USA.

We have Virgin flying domestically in Australia and I fly them all the time. Their fares are great, service is good, and their stewardesses are hot! They were successfully taken to court for discrimination because they won't hire any stewardesses over 35, I think they say they are looking for Virgin flair in their stewardesses which equals hot.

Makes me think of our national anthem when I see that: Australians all let us rejoice, for we are young and (not) free(zing) The weather here rocks, relatively speaking.

I believe Togo went out of business a while ago, that mega coaster certainly is intriguing, another Ride of Steel or Ge force or maybe another Millennium Force or something even better? The force that can be exerted on a booster bike are a little limited, so it will be interesting to see Intamin can push the envelope a bit.

Soon people will be saying it is headed to Michigan's Adventure.

I rode batwing on Christmas eve and it is good fun, and runs well not a mind blower but enjoyable. I checked out the Intamin site and the no concept stuff for the booster bike product. I wish some in oz would do a ride of steel clone too, or ge force

Robb Alvey wrote: I actually did get frisked at Superman Escape at Movie World, the girl made me stand up in the train and padded my back pockets. On Superman Escape you can't even have a wallet in your back pocket, all pockets have to be completely empty and they are real nazis about it too. Maybe the glass eye guy carried spares with him? Bra's - is topless coaster riding a big thing in UK and Europe, I could see those Scandanavian's being right into it.

Lethal Weapon - The Ride at Movie World (Aust), it has: * ghetto theme with police cars, and police radio in the queue leading to the ride. * movie theatre in between the first part of the queue and the ghetto part which shows clips from Lethal Weapon * China Town district built around the ride. Also it is a custom SLC with a unique helix element.

I'd be keen on Europe and Scndanavia as I have never been there before, and arguably the two best coasters in the world would be covered by those trips.

In no particular order: Borat Beerfest Talldega Nights Click The Devil Wears Prada Inside Man Invincible Clerks 2 Thankyou For Smoking Kind of blah: Pirates 2, new Bond and Superman.

Of course Superman Escape will get mostly number 1 votes because most people who have ridden it, haven't ridden anything outside Australia, I was impressed by it big time and rated it about 8, with coasters like Ride of Steel, Nitro, Millennium Force and X ahead of it. I rode Superman Escape again on Christmas eve and I still really enjoy it. We have been encoraging people to vote in the poll on our site because finally we have an excellent coaster in Australia (Superman Escape) to vote for, and to also increase awareness of Mitch's excellent poll and get more people participating. I think superman escape will finish in the 30's or 40's because of lack of comparison votes.

Elissa does look like her a bit, and I would take that as a compliment Elissa, because most men in the world seriously lust after Faith, and let's not get started on the Faith vs Buffy who's hotter debate. A lot of people who have not met me before say they have seen me before, I don't know why - I just tell them I was a porn star or something like that to embarrass them.

Not a bad year: * rode Superman Escape at Movie World which was a surprisingly excellent Intamin rocket. * went to Great Adventure and got my first rides on El Toro (absolutely f***ing brilliant) and Kingda Ka (kinda krap, I'll stick with Dragster), and learned the absolute joy of the Gold Q-bot. *went to SFMM and rode Tatsu for the first time (not bad) - the park just irritated me though, and of course X was down. *went to Belmont Park (San Diego), Sea World (San Diego), and Pacific Park (Santa Monica) for three unspectacular new credits in spectacular locations. Edit: I forgot - Manhattan Express or The Roller Coaster or whatever with the new trains - still sucks, and Insanity and X-Scream at Stratosphere - both terrifying.

At the moment Sydney makes Nebraska look like the coaster capital of the world, one creaky old wooden wild mouse, and that's it - at least it is sitting on a piece of real estate worth tens of millions conservatively. Yay for the Nebraskans, I thought that place was all grain and missile silos, and wheat fields.

I was so excited about that piece of garbage getting it's marching orders, damn, maybe it will just disappear all by itself. They should melt superman and flashback down and build an exact copy of Expedition Ge Force with the steel.

I wouldn't get rid of X, I would work on it to keep it operating more often because it is the park's main attraction, the one most of the public want to ride and certainly the only reason I would go SFMM. Superman Escape is an eyesore, has high maintenance costs, and just plain sucks - it has to go. I would keep the ice cave tunnel though, it's a very nice place to go on a hot sunny day - I think it is the only reason people go on the ride. That noise it makes - it must be a big distraction to the life guards at hurricane harbour. Flashback is a lawn ornament, and psychlone is just plain wrong - they can go. I'd keep everything else, maybe just look after them better.

1. X (as far as I am concerned a mile better than the others at SFMM) 2. Deja Vu (love that hanging drop) 3. Tatsu (best flyer on earth) 4. Batman (has 14 or so brothers but still intense) 5. Goliath (could have been better) 6. Scream (front only) 7. Riddler's Revenge (best stand up in the world) The rest, well..from seen better days, to mediocre, to call the chiropractor is the range of quality.

Comatose - Pearl Jam