downunder

I have ridden Millenium Force in torrential rain (the kind that drenches you the minute you step out in it), and now I know what pinhead in hellraiser feel like. I couldn't even open my eyes when the rain was really heavy. At least it was only five minute wait, though I was surprised it was opene in that kind of weather - Magnum and Raptor were too.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel was nowhere near as good but at least it had Cordelia in it.

I went to EPCOT before Test Track and Mission Space so I would have to say everything at EPCOT, except Maelstrom, but only because I rode it with a hot Norwegian chick. In the P J O'Rourke book Holidays in Hell - EPCOT gets a chapter. Theming is fun but I'd personally take a parking lot of monster coasters before anything at Disney.

Here is a couple of my favourites from my first visit to Cedar Point in 2003, which miraculously yielded 12 rides on Top Thrill Dragtser. These are from my photo report on ozcoaster.net.

Mean Streak and Psychlone are excellent earthquake simulators.

I did some similiar shots last year at the Tenessee / North Carolina border up in the Smoky Mountains though not quite as well, interesting. I believe this thread was supposed to be you five favourite park photos but seems the same shot is everyone's favourite now.

Re : Elissa's very interesting picture I've heard of keeping a foot in both camps, but that's ridiculous. I wish the Tennessee/ North Carolina state line fell inside Dollywood, so maybe Dolly Parton could do a similiar shot.

I was checking out coaster counter and I noticed that the have now split dual track coasters into separate credits this includes rides such as Duelling Dragons, Lightning Racer, Space Mountain, Matterhorn, Superman The Escape, Collossus, Rolling Thunder, Gemini and Chiller. So get on there credit hos and claim those extra credits - I expect there will be some debate over whether dual tracks should count as two credits. There is also a new feature that lists the top ten by country (I was #2 for Australia - yeah for me).

If you go at the right time CP's crowd's are pretty low, I believe weekdays in May (check there are no school physics days) are a good bet. The last week that CP is open on weekdays is also low crowds - I was there on Monday last year (Aug 31 I think), and I didn't have to wait more than 15 mins for Dragster, actually got bored of riding it by the 7th time that day. Everthing else except Millenium Force was walk on.

A 200 foot plus full circuit coaster in Australia. An indoor coaster with a huge 90 degree drop into total darkness. A coaster at Disney that would make the top ten in the world as a thrilling ride.

I checked out China outside Hong Kong on rcdb.com and it doesn't look like they have any really good coasters. Depends on how much of a credit 'ho you are. In years to come maybe it will be become very lucrative to build some awesome parks there.

sharktums wrote : My bad, I think I saw one of your videos, and that photo from your recent SFMM expedition and thought beer drinking was a major part of your theme park visits. Personally, I'm not into drinking either - I'm a once or twice a year person which makes you a freak in Australia.

Judging from your videos and photos I would have thought beer was a major interest ? Just about everything that happens in Australia is done as an excuse to drink beer.

I'd take Robb's word for it if Dodonpa aint good, and give it a miss. Love to do Steel Dragon if it ever operates again.

My steel top 10 : 1. Top Thrill Dragster 2. Millenium Force 3. Superman @ SFNE 4. X 5. Magnum XL-200 6. Nitro 7. Storm Runner 8. Raptor 9. Incredible Hulk 10. Duelling Dragons I haven't been on enough good woodies to have a top ten, so here is the one's that didn't blow : 1. Ghostrider 2. Lightning Racer 3. Blue Streak (CP) 4. Wildcat (Hershey) 5. Comet (Hershey) All the others deserve a good dousing with gasoline and a match.

Shakira Kingda Klone Thunderhead (imagine Dolly Parton on that, I reckon she'd have two blck eyes after a ride) Batman side of Chiller (wasn't open last year when I was there) Mr Freeze (any one will do) Beast Shivering Timbers Boulder Dash Superman at Warner Bros Movie World - Aust Aplengeist Volcano Hypersonic Steel Dragon Dodonpa Expedition GeForce

Any glaring ommission are because I haven't been to them : 1. Cedar Point 2. Islands of Adventure 3. Six Flags Great Adventure 4. Six Flags New England 5. Six Flags Magic Mountain 6. Hershey Park 7. Knott's Berry Farm 8. Sea World Orlando 9. Universal Orlando 10. Disneyland (California)

Canberra, don't 90% of people go there to either stock up on fire crackers and / or x-rated videos (not legal in every other state except Northern Territory). I have to go to training camps at the AIS (Aust Institute of Sport) now and then but otherwise I would never go there. There's boring tourist stuff (more school excursion things) like Parliament house). The most interesting thing about Canberra is that all the politicians are there and coincidentally X-rated videos, recreation use of pot etc are all legal whereas they are not anywhere else.

I was definitely nervous before the first time I rode it. I was sitting there at the Christmas lights at 11.45pm wondering if I'd bitten off more than I could chew this time. After the ride I was just exhilerated, and couldn't wait to ride again. For me, as a once off intense experience I thought it was tops, but it got a bit boring after riding it over and over again. I started to become used to the intensity and I felt like I was riding Superman the Escape. Personally I thought TTD was much more intense than Storm Runner, and Xcellerator. They seemed quite tame by comparison.

With Shakira (aka Sheikra) coming out at BGT, who has already been on some of the few Dive Machines in existence and what did they think of them, especially in comparison to other types of coasters ? I was just really curious.

My flatmate was really interested in it and he checked it out on RCDB and went as far as ringing them and asking and they said 2004 but that didn't happen. Maybe they had a limited budget and decided to spend the money replacing their Skyway cars which they did do last year.

Six Flags Magic Mountain Knott's Berry Farm Disneyland California Adventure Univeral Studios Hollywood Cedar Point Six Flags New England Hershey Park Six Flags Great Adventure Magic Kingdom EPCOT MGM Studios (Orlando) Sea World Orlando Islands of Adventure Universal Studios Orlando Old Town Australia's Wonderland (Sydney) Luna Park (Sydney) Dreamworld (Gold Coast, Australia) Warner Bros Movie World (Gold Coast, Aust) Sea World Gold Coast Ocean Park (Hong Kong)

I did it last year (it was cool because we were staing in cabins accross the road from OT). I did a $50 deal where you got ride G-Force and the Skycoaster. I was going to do it on my own but it was too windy for a single rider so I had ride with an op. I had pretty much convinced myself I was going to die but I did it anyway. The climb up was pretty scary because I don't like heights and I pulled the cord as soon as I could. We seemed to free fall for heaps but after that just swinging was pretty tame. G-Force was actually a surprise, it was really intense, unfortunatley only for two seconds. Note : if you can hit the accelerator in under 0.01 seconds or something (probably impossible) you score a free ride on both. Both rides are good experiences but the scariest thing was the price.

I thought Euro Trip rocked, the song from the movie "Scotty Doesn't Know" is the song Blink wished they wrote. Matt Damon and Vinnie Jones performances are just hilarious.

I forgot about Orphan Rocker, the park reckoned they were going to open it last year but that didn't happen. Sounds like if your parents went on it you'd be an orphan real quick. May have to check what's happening on that one.