downunder

^Interesting, here's a history of my number ones in chronological order as they have been suprassed: 1. Big Dipper - Luna Park Sydney 2. Thunderbolt - Dreamworld Australia 3. Viper - SFMM 4. Batman - SFMM 5. Goliath - SFMM 6. Top Thrill Dragster 7. X 8. Superman Ride of Steel (SFNE) 9. El Toro 10. Balder

Fave Experience: Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Hollywood. Fave Coaster Ridden: Goliath at Walibi World (Holland).

3 additions from last year (should have been 4, thanks Geforce): 1. Balder 2. El Toro 3. Phoenix 4. Boulder Dash 5. Bizarro (SFNE) 6. Piraten 7. Goliath (Walibi World - Holland) 8. X2 9. Nemesis 10. Montu Close but no top ten cigar: Kumba, Vortex (CW), Top Thrill Dragster, Maverick, Behemoth, Goliath (SFOG), Millennium Force

If this refurb of TG is a success, maybe it will be a case of Rattler come on down to the Rocky Mountain, though I wonder if SFFT is a big enough park to justify the cost. RM can be become like Ghostbusters to crap wood coasters. I've heard Ratller's original first drop before the reprofile could shatter titanium. I can't wait until people get to ride the new TG and tell us what it's like.

^You've probably spent more time with Wallabies than I have, well the non-Rugby kind at least. Of the Australian animals, Koala's are way aggressive, they're like Ewoks on PCP. They play all cute, and then you hold one, and they shower you with gold (though I don't think they crap on you at least) or go for the jugular with one of their claws.

Wow, I didn't know David Hasselhoff worked as stilt-walker at Busch. It's a shame Montu was closed, I would have been shattered, though Busch Tampa is a 12,000 mile one way commute for me. I wish they'd had guy versions of the "Be My X" or "Future X" shirts, if they did, I couldn't find them at HOS. The Wallabies are the name of our national rugby team down here, I'm always amazed they picked such a small timid (though very horny) animal.

Pretty much all that's left of the original Luna Park Sydney (opened 1935) is Coney Island at the back, which is possibly the only original 1930's Fun House still operating. It has great wooden slides, rickety stairs, a try-to-stay-on spinning wheel, and so on. It's the best thing at the "park".

This will be my longest post ever, I don't think I can remember them all: *Compund fracture -tibia and fibula (lower leg bones) *Broken shoulder (required re-construction) *Broken toe (foot also cut open, almost lost toe) *Cracked ribs (from a knee in the back) *Broken right foot *Chipped bone in foot *Dislocated and cracked finger *Fracture in knuckle *Spiral fracture left pinkie *Fracture in chin *Fractured elbow *stress fractures right ankle *Cracked Bone in leg (the knobby bit below the femur on the outside) *I've got a deviated septum and I've been hit in the nose heaps but I don't think it's ever actually broken, though enough people have tried And right now I may cracked ribs from a bad collision on the weekend, might be rib cartilegde - but that's worse.

Sand Serpent, it doesn't inspire me personally, maybe they'll keep changing the name like the S & S Woodie at Clementon. But it's all academic, no matter what the name is, it still looks like a fantastic coaster - call it "Trouser Snake" for all I care.

Unless I was dreaming, on Cyclone at SFNE circa 2008 you can see the original drop under the shorter reprofiled drop. At SFA in 2008 there was a burned down building that you can see from their GCI, that's probably appropriate theming for SFA.

I'm only speculating, but I'm imagining that it will ride somewhat like Gemini at CP which I really like personally. So at worst, I'm thinking it will be a fun ride like that, but looking at some of those elements - they look so radical, unless the train takes them slowly, this coaster could the near-death experince I love ina ride.

I'll take something that's ugly that's a great ride over something that looks great but is an average or lousy ride... coasters that is, I'm a little pickier on other fronts. I'm psyched for this, by the time I get to ride it I'll have enough objective rider reports to know whether TG is great or not, but at the very least it should be fun.

11/20 not geeky at all. I even got questions wrong about coasters I've been on, but I was honest - no gooling or looking up.

The red dot was put there by Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I've seen her hanging around Deja Vu on the show. This marks where another hell mouth is that she will have to deal with when she's done with the one in Cleveland (I've been to the one in Cleveland, it's the Greyhound Bus Station). They didn't rename the GCI to Apocalypse for nothing. I wouldn't be surprised if the Green Lantern track goes up pretty quick, once the groundwork is done.

I didn't know the Alton Towers publicity team had moved to Thorpe Park, Alton would have been proud of that one. Full marks for creativity, zero marks for credibility.

You'd think they were paying $100K a word with that name, Gauntlet will do me just fine. With all those hairpin bends, maybe they should have called it "Batman's Upper Intestine Ride: A Colonospic Adventure". The name sounds like a Haunt Maze. I remember this at SFKK, it sucker punched me a few times there. If I recall correctly the theming wasn't bad there, well, for Six Flags. I will count this as a new credit, for the record.

That was precisely what I came to write. If there's beer at SFMM, I can be my own ZacSpin, lines be damned! Very apt, Insane was a near-drunk experience, easily simulated by actual drinking. I did Insane after drinking a bottle of wine, since then, I've come to the conclusion they should be mutually exclusive experiences. How I managed not to soil Stockholm with a mighty retch after being drunk on Insane was a miracle.

^Hopefully, they'll include this one on the Q-bot, not an upcharge like X2 after you get a gold or higher q-bot.

You'll probably get a different ride every time you go on Green Lantern if Insane is anything to go by, which means grand ol' Jeff Johnson will need a scientific calculator to count the credits. I have to admit, on Insane when I was on the outside swinging out, I really copped it in the guts. I hope they have an interesting queue because the lines for this will probably be huge, it's such a different ride experience, and unique for the USA. Boy SFMM has such a varied coaster line up now - Zacspin, 4D, Arrow looper, floorless, stand-up, invert, GI boomerang, GCI, flyer, reverse freefall, hyper, dual track woodie, suspended, schwarzkopf, mine train...

I'm talking more in the context of people actually at the park who have experienced both rides, I'm sure KK would be more famous (it made the nightly news in Australia) but my anecdotal observations of the GP (which I am one in my mind) is that they much preferred ET as a ride experience. I'm amazed that Phoenix is legal, that thing is crazy, and that's why I love it. Then there's the Knoebels bumper cars, the GCI guys were getting them airborne. Oh those metal on metal collisions.

^I have too, but I did all the Balder riding in one day - both ERT sessions, and all day as well when it was open to the public. My top 4 are just so supreme, I'd be happy on any of them - Balder, El Toro, Phoenix, and Boulder Dash. I got the impression at SFGAdv in ET's opening year, that even with Kingda Ka there, the general public (who we don't give much credit for in being discerning about coasters) knew that ET crapped all over Kingda Ka.

First Drop for sure, I love just being thrown over the top and pulled all the way down. With the angled turn that Balder starts with I feel you miss a bit of the airtime. El Toro's first drop, riding in the back row - I don't know if there's a drop I can rate better. I gave #1 to Balder, mainly because of more airtime and that they don't staple you, but it's first drop is nowhere near ET.

^Elissa, what put El Toro over Balder for you, was it the first drop?

It's like dumping Jessica Alba for Roseanne Barr, you can't even justify it by saying it's lower maintenance or better personality. Anton just rose from the grave and is heading for Dorney to voice his disapproval, he probably won't make it there until haunt, so no one will notice. What I don't understand is aren't these Invertigos a maintenance nightmare, to the point of being not worth keeping?

Wow, B & M goes X-rated. I'm impressed with the trains, looks like fun. I'm also very interested to see if the discomfort Furious Baco could cause has been resolved in the B & M train design. I guess if this turns out good, it will probably find it's way to a lot of parks like most B & M concepts - flyers, stand-ups, inverts, dive machines, hypers, floorless and so on.