downunder

I wonder if USA only coming third in the fattest nation rankings corresponds with a decline in ACE membership? http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/breaking-news/american-samoa-kiribati-top-who-worlds-fattest-countries/story-e6freuyi-1225806468838

I don't believe my season will start until June, I will be in London and while I'm there I plan to travel up to Alton Towers, and I will do Thorpe Park as well. Why not more parks you ask? Because I have a lot of non-park plans. Then I will go on the TPR Europe Trip and finally ride Expedition GeForce, once I finish up in Amsterdam, I plan on going to Walibi World and the the day after that I will probably visit Amsterdam Dungeon and ride their indoor coaster. That's my set in stone plans. After an awesome Halloween in LA this October past, I plan on returning to the USA in October again and doing 2 out of the following 3 things: *LA Halloween again HHN and Knott's Scary farm, it will depend on if they have different stuff. *Orlando Halloween HHN, & Howl'O'Scream, and maybe a credit run at Disney and Sea World. *North East Jaunt - SFNE, Compounce, GADv and possibly KD.

^Nice one. This has many elements similiar to a megalite except a lot bigger, that turn and then the hill after the first drop worked well on Piraten even at a third of the size of i305.

Speaking of things that go bump in the night, how about this thread going bump in the night - two words: Paranormal Activity

If they got an Inatmin Megalite or a Maverick style coaster on the other hand, I know my care factor would escalate considerably. Oh, Knott's could be so good, wake up Cedar Fair, there's life beyond trash cans and concrete.

Coaster Enthusiast myth. Trims on RB are computer controlled they only come on when necessary. I rode it and I was very unimpressed, I was told by one of a our fearless leaders on the day it ran so slowly because they had trimmed the life out of it, and seemed to gradually be doing it more each year. So I can only report what I heard. The bottom line is whether it is a good ride or not, and it wasn't for me, even though Raging Bull has the potential to be great judging from it's layout.

I love that SFGAm has saved Little Dipper, this is so uncharacteristic for big business. Now if only they got less trim happy on Rageless Bull.

Is there a link or graphic in this thread or is it elsewhere like Screamscape? Edit: found the layout drawings: http://www.ukrides.info/atsw6.htm

^That seems logical given they possibly have to excavate significantly because of the height restrictions as well. I love how that height restriction led to Nemesis being arguably the best invert in the world. ROI 5 years that's about what I would expect. It will be interesting to see the changes in crowds at KD when i305 starts operating, now that one could be significant. I'm dying to see the layout for this one, it could be fun.

But 15 million pounds, if that is correct, is a huge capital outlay. I'm not sure what the exchange rate is exactly but that is more than the cost of Intimidator 305. Return on investment may take a while. Here's hoping it will be something mind blowing though I'm not sure how.

Sea Viper won't even be the #1 coaster at Sea World and they only have two coasters, at least Cedar Fair don't own the place then it would be called Fairly Painful Coaster. Those KumbaK seats, I'm trying to figure out which vertebrae it's going to shatter, here comes da pain. Yay, I can TPR at work for the first time in months, don't know if it will last.

15 million pounds on a family coaster, that has the potential to be something interesting, I'm going there in June so I guess we'll see.

^The pig is one of the outfits the killer in Saw uses I believe, I've only seen the first Saw so I'm not super knowledgeable on the subject. It was amazing, I've been to tons of parks and I'm pretty jaded but this blew me away totally, I'll definitely go back if there is enough new stuff to justify going. This year at USH the mazes were all new, so I'm fascinated to see what they come with next year.

There are six coasters I have been on that I rate miles above the other 400 or so I have ridden, the Compounce/SFNE trip has two of those most holy coasters. The other trip has 1 coaster that could potentially join that elite group. LC/SFNE for me. I really think you should sit down and decide what you like in coasters I can only base quality on my own opinion. I think if you rated every coaster on the KD/BGE trip out of 10, the average rating would be higher than SFNE/LC but Dash and SROS are amazing.

My experience was that Corkscrew is a very average coaster, I haven't been to Sea World since 2003, and I don't know if I'd bother if I ever went back (after the 2003 visit to the Gold Coast I became so disillusioned with Aussie Coasters I started travelling overseas to parks later that year - first stop Cedar Point). Cheaper for them than adding a new attraction, even if it's very uninspiring.

^^Kanonen? To each his own I guess, personally I thought it was very ordinary. I've been dreading the steel poll, I have so much to add to last year's ballot.

HHN Part 4 - Inside The Mazes & More Shows First up, I'll start with some love for the Front Of Line Pass, I won't say it's worth it's weight in gold because that wouldn't be much gold. Worth every cent, absolutely no wait for anything. The Shows: Bill and Ted A really slick funny show, I loved the satire and found it refreshingly politically incorrect. 10/10. Rocky Horror I'm not a fan of the movie but I could appreciate the quality of the production, and the cool songs. Even though the show went for 45 minutes, I wasn't bored. 8/10. Scariest Moment at HHN - I think I saw Joey when I was walking to the front of the Halloween maze. Next Stop: Knott's Scary Farm If I had a head like that, I'd stick it an oven. Shaun was right cocky after they beat us in the cricket. Getting beaten by England in cricket is like getting your ass kicked by Steve Urkel. You know they can't touch you, so why are you scared, there was a rumours around the park that ACE members had escaped from their basements and were under the masks, fair enough, be very afraid. I heard they have this stuff out during the day, I can see 3 years olds saying "Daddy why does that body have no skin?" Makes the birds and the bees talk seem easy by comparison. What a mess, almost as trashed as my gate at LAX on the way home. After further investigation, I found that the killer was just cashing in on the body organ black market. When the My Bloody Valentine Killer is around, it's wise not to be a wallflower. In this scene Michael Myers bursts out of a closet on the left, which was met with howls of "ha ha Michael Myers has come out of the closet" from me. I was chatting to her and then that c*** blocker Michael Myers had to come in and strangle her. The funniest thing I saw all night was this headless guy changing shifts with the next headless guy, he walked in no head and all, the other one got up and walked out. It might be worth bringing a band aid or two if you have a slumber party with Michael Myers. This is the kind of health care you get when you don't have insurance. The truth about tanning beds, I'll stick with spray on tans from now on. Saying no to drugs was a little difficult given the circumstances. Chucky really doesn't scare me, I'd totally drop kick his ass. Riff Raff got really scary when he started talking time shares. Two more reasons the Bill and Ted show rocked. The Bill and Ted show delivers for skinny Asian guy fetishists. At least they spared us the extra details from The Hangover. The final word on HHN from Michael Myers - HHN Rocks, front of line passes rule, Knotts Scary Farm drools and he loves TPR - they make him feel normal by comparison.

Sent my poll in, my method is very labourious, I cut out all the coasters I haven't ridden then move them around into rough groupings and then line them up in order and finally number them from first to last. Here's what's was hot and what was rougher than dropping the soap in the maximum security prison showers: 1. Balder - Liseberg 2. Boulder Dash - Lake Compounce 3. Phoenix - Knoebel's 4. El Toro - SFGAd 5. My Favorite Steel (Piraten/SFNE SROS) 6. Ravine Flyer II - Waldameer 7. Hades - Mount Olympus 8. Thunderhead - Dollywood 9. Raven - Holiday World 10. Cornball Express - Indiana Beach 11. Rampage - Alabama Adventure 12. The Voyage - Holiday World And scraping the bottom of the barrel, they punished me so I punish them on the poll, rated by degree of physical harm: 73. GhostRider - Knott's Berry Farm 74. Cyclone - SF New England 75. Son of Beast (SBNO) - Kings Island 76. Hurler - Kings Dominion 77. Racer - Kings Island 78. Predator - Darien Lake 79. Wildcat - Lake Compounce 80. The Grizzly - Kings Dominion 81. Hurler - Carowinds

Wow, those get ups look amazing. Having done Haunts for the first time this year I was totally impressed. KD looks like it has a good Haunt, with I305 as an extra incentive I may have to head to Virginia some time in October.

^It gets so weird after that. Cool you live in Monroeville, I've seen that film about your mall more than a few times.

Riding the little kiddie coaster at Zuma's in Knoxville Tn. I don't think the lift hill even went up to my waist. After that, I did a session in the nearby batting cage to regain my normal testosterone level. It was a sad afternoon and evening topped off by dinner at Carabba's with those strange strange fellows from the Bryan Adams show. I got plastered and had a monster hangover the next morning. Here is a photo of the regrettable incident at Zumas featuring one of the ring leaders associated with this abomination: I think we're going to need a bigger motor for the lift hill.

Nice photos, Rampage just has an excellent layout, it looks so impressive - the TPR ERT was impressive so it must have been mind blowing when you rode it. Man those potholes really sucker punched a lot of people during ERT. Being from Sydney, I can't say I miss Zoomerang, you are welcome to it. I really liked the bumper cars at AA, they were brutal. The water park looks great even though I didn't get to it.

^Jason HHN was the shiz, you should check it out. Though I get the impression Orlando is even better. HHN Part 3 - Somewhere Over The Rainbow or Mrs Johnson's Boy called Dick The maze reviews: Saw: The best maze in my opinion, and I am not a SAW fan - I've only seen the first one. I found some of the animatronics were so realistic it was hard to tell whether they were actors or not. Plenty of scares and amazing detail. I was glad I had a front of line pass so I could keep going through to take it all in. The worst I saw the line on Saturday night was 70 minutes for the Gate A challenged. The Life and Crimes of Michael Myers: Another excellent maze, with great atmosphere which really captured the light and shade of the original Halloween film. Plenty of scenes with lots of interaction between actors. Timing was important with this maze because it was easy to miss scenes being acted out. Again, I just kept going back and back to take it all in. My Bloody Valentine: Excellent, even if it wasn't as good as Saw and Myers. Plenty of scares, and good atmosphere. Though I felt MBV is hardly an iconic film to choose for a maze. Have they done Evil Dead (assuming they could get or have the rights)? Terror Tram Not really a maze, more an elaborate scare zone in the backlot. Plenty of great props and well made up victims and victimizers. I loved it because it was real buzz to be able to go out onto the backlot and see things up close like the psycho house. Chucky: probably the weakest maze, it felt like the regular maze during the year with a few Chucky's and extra gore thrown in there. It really lacked a defining theme inside, still fun, but paled in comparison to the other mazes. Coming up, more inside the mazes and Knott's Scary Farm.... Big Mike is everywhere, does that guy have a teleporter or something? I've heard of dicing with the devil but playing tonsil hockey with the devil. More Twilight gayness, yes Edward was outed in this show, sorry girls. Elton John inspired him to play piano. Elton was waiting for him backstage with something that looked like a stake and a gallon of King Island cream. No this wasn't a tai chi demonstration. A few cracked coconuts in that sack. I wish infomercial guys would really death match like this. Dream death match: Robb vs the President of ACE. Damn, I was going to use that as my porn name. What name to use now: Wang Hung, or maybe Dick Pound (oh taken too), Clint Hardwood - tough decision. The funniest thing is that there is an actual celebrity in Australia called Dick Johnson and no one gets it except me. I could never meet the guy, I'd be laughing too much - "so Dick are you proud to be a Johnson?" Lasik gone wrong, court case pending. Keep an eye out for that one. In an exclusive preview of SAW XXIV. This poor guy was given an awful choice by Jigsaw (a) Give head (b) Lose your head © Join ACE. He begged for option (b). Jigsaw had no shortage of willing new victims, which was necessary because they actually kill people in the SAW maze (which is why it is so realistic) - so they need replacements. Saturday nights without a front of line pass is recommended if you love waiting in line. More time to seduce your date waiting in those 70 minute lines I guess.

Big things in Australia: *Finally got a reasonably good coaster - Superman Escape, which dethroned a Vekoma SLC of the number one ranking in Australia. *Vekoma Boomerang in Sydney got sent to Alabama for it's crimes. *Wonderland Sydney (aka piss weak world) closed. *Luna Park Sydney closed and then re-opened. *Arrow Looper evicted from Sydney residence. *Water park instals coaster *Intamin version of the booster bike installed. *Another Intamin version of the booster bike installed 10 miles south of previous one.

^If they put in a megalite and an Intamin prefab like Balder somewhere I'd never leave Australia, except to play sport. Does Cairns need a waterpark? Don't they kind of have great beaches or do people need an alternative to waterways full of man eating sharks, crocodiles, box jellyfish, and morbidly obese British tourists in speedos. Aren't I great for tourism, almost as bad as Lara Bingle.