downunder

^Robb, did Boulder Dash blow you away as much as it did the rest of us in August? I don't recall how you ranked it in previous years. I went 1.Phoenix, 2.Dash, 3.Toro but they are very interchangeable.

I've uploaded them as zip files, Whacky Shack and Pirates Cove POV from Waldameer here they are. 2_Pirates Cove.zip Presented in New Gay Adam vision, Adam ventures into a dark place with Pirates at Waldameer. 1_Whacky Shack.zip Here is a POV of the Whacky Shack from Waldameer presented in Jeff Johnson Credit Vision with editing so spectacular Brian De Palma would need tissues and not because it would make him cry.

^Sounds like Venice Beach after dark, I reckon I'd be more chance unarmed in a shopping mall full of zombies with a dinner bell tied around my neck. Edit: I've added Whacky Shack & Pirate's Cove POV's from Waldameer as downloads 2 posts down.

Packfanlv, here is some photos of the inside of Coney Island at Luna Park Sydney. I'm not sure what to make of this, it looks very old school south to me. Shoes off for the spinning wheel, the trick is socks off as well if you want to stay on. The rickety stairs & spinning wheel, it's amazing people would have been enjoying this stuff before Hitler invaded Poland. The wimp slides, I've always wondered if I went fast enough if I could get airtime. The wooden slides are so smooth, it's nice not to burn off half your arse like the metal ones. This is the near vertical slide, when I was a tiny tot, it took me several visits to get the balls to go down.

I'll finish up the Behemoth trip at another date - I'm just bored with it, so here's some photos from Coney Island, and a couple of quick words on a couple of parks before Coney Island. Delgrosso's Mildly amusing but mostly painful thanks to utter devotion to sauce of the parks spokesperson. I can see why they haven't erected their new coaster, they only care about sauce. I tried to entice the guy with some sauce themes to get their new coaster up - Millennium Sauce, Ride Of Sauce etc but to no avail. The indoor caterpillar was cool. Sesame Place I forgot my camera, which was a good thing, this was a place for kids and not a place for childless adults, needless to say one member of the tour took video of every inch of the place - I'm surprised he wasn't arrested. One credit, enough said. Coney Island I'd always wanted to go to this mythical place, even though I expected to feel the cold steel of a crack ho's shiv in my kidney at some satge during the visit. It was like Springsteen's New Jersey seashore except in New York. The place looks really worn down from time rather than dirty but it's a shame that THOR investments is now butt raping the place. I'm glad I got to go there while I could. One last look at the Cyclone before THOR's hammer came down, damn I hate real estate developers. Finally I get mugged, a shiv in the kidney as I expected, damn I was going to sell that kidney too. I can see why people like Cyclone and I can see why they hate it, airtime with angst. This was a health warning from the Brooklyn Area Health Department, not heeded by some which soon came to evidence at the SFNE hotel, and a classic technicolor yawn it was too. On the left those Hurricane rides aren't bad. Actual airtime, therefore a Jeff Johnson credit. The news crews were on hand to cover the arrival of TPR, but they thought we were the industry body Theme Pork Review, when they found out we about theme Parks they left, but not before giving wedgies to a few of our group. The freak show was closed, meaning they were out on the streets, they blended in well with the TPR crowd. Why did you leave Coney Island? I found the train station. People run when they find it. This is the only way to get ahead on the mean streets of Coney Isalnd. Spook a rama was like a Capital Punishment themed Disney ride, without the quality of course. It's the 70's and I'm in Welcome Back Kotter, I bags not being Horshack (I saw him in a celebrity boxing match not long ago, he got his arse kicked by Screech). As the sign says, David (below the sign) is definitely swinging. As part of my next Karate grading I was to seek out Brooklyn's The Warriors street gang and best them. I soon found out they were fictional, I kicked my sensei in the nuts for suggesting such a quest when I got home. "Go up, it's great", what they mean is get high, more Brooklyn code. That syringe in my butt when I sat down really hurt, maybe I should see a doctor now? Deno's Wonder Wheel - according to my sources Deno was a drug dealer and the wheel was a great way to set up deals. Another Dragon Wagon, another credit, this one was not powered by soy bio-diesel so I did feel guilty. This little critter wouldn't have such a smile on their face when the TPR credit whores stretched those trains to breaking limit. It wasn't as good as the book I'm sorry to say, but Josh still sh!# himself. Astroland, now closed. We were scared on the day but I hear on closing day the stalker girl from Flight Of The Conchords was there, now that would have been scary. Another spine shattering drop, I love the way the trains actually bounce on the track at the bottom of the drop. Last Warning bitches, the Warriors street gang waits just after this point to enforce this warning. Huh, does anyone have beepers anymore? Brooklyn was the land that technology forgot. I had an agenda for being here, I was going to take an axe to this coaster for inspiring Psychlone at Magic Mountain. "Back, foot and body" is Brooklyn sex industry code for penis. "Man and woman" - they just mean man. Who said there were no happy endings in the ghetto?

Thanks Robb, it worked fine, took about 41 minutes to download on Australian cable broadband (aka fraudband). It was fun to see familiar faces as they were 7 years ago.

I liked the Jo-jo roll even though it fleeced me plenty of change, I really enjoyed Hydra it was one of the surprise packets for me. I'm going to get my butt into gear and do more trip reporting this weekend including Whacky Shack & Pirate's Cove POV's. I wanted to dub the talking bits and have newly gay Adam professing his love for all things male but I thought I'd him a break.

^What a wank, you get something really good for nothing, and they complain. I'm looking forward to checking the video out.

^Yeah, the ones on the left hand side are vertical, I was too scared to go on them as a little kid. It's nice to go on a slide that doesn't burn a few layers of skin off your butt. I've got some photos of that stuff somewhere, I'll post them if I find them.

It's a shame you didn't go in the Coney Island funhouse at the back, they have some really cool wooden slides and other fun things. It's a sad thing when a city of 4 million only has Luna Park as their sole amusement park, and the entire state only has 1 other credit in a Pinfari portable at Merimbula's Magic Mountain, 6 hours south of Sydney. Unfortunately Luna Park will never be developed as an amusement park because of several factors relating to developers and unpleasant complaining neighbours. We are the land that the coaster gods forgot.

^I rode it early too, but the hope of just a low level soaking was dashed quickly. Back to rankings, I rated Vortex at Canada's Wonderland very highly (#9 of 135), though if I had only ridden it during the day it would have struggled to make my top 50. At night that coaster went totally insane crack head on us, just sensational.

^^I didn't take the name as literally as I should have, taking it to be something like High Speed Thrill Coaster. I was more than soaked, I felt like I had been pissed on by King Kong. My fault, early in the day so there was no opportunity to see what happened to earlier riders, I would have been better prepared otherwise.

^Ummm, I knew I was going to get wet on Rollersoaker, just the degree of wetness was a surprise.

I think just about everyone who did the TPR East Coast trip had El Toro, Boulder Dash, and Phoenix in their top 3 and then large amount of daylight after that, except Adam. I just sent mine in, I had Rollersoaker as my bottom ranked steel because it adds insult to it's mediocrity by making you so wet it's like you've taken a two minute shower in your clothes. I gave Wildcat in Compounce my bottom wood becuase it sticks in my mind as giving me the worst beating out of any of those hell machines down th bottom of my ballot.

I actually thought Juno was this movie - the coasters never showed up! Adventureland sounds interesting I'll see it for sure. They should make a movie about what it's like to be one of those seasonal workers who dorms it at places like Cedar Point, that might be interesting, though embellishments on reality may be required.

I've seen tits on coasters, now that was impressive. What annoys me is that for the amount of money they spent on Mick Doohan's motocoaster, they could have done something so much better, irrespective of the demographic they were aiming for.

^I hate how we almost get these super coasters, instead we have to settle for Mick Doohan's Pissweak Coaster. And I heard one of the proposed designs for Superman Escape was considerably bigger than what eventuated.

According to rcdb the Big Dipper in Melbourne was closed because: "Demolished because the roller coaster needed a major wood replacement and it was not economical to do at the time." The Big Dipper in Sydney was closed because of fire damage from the Ghost Train inferno which killed 7 people, I was actually there the day that happened, albeit I was a tiny tot. I remember just scraping in on the height limit for the zipper, and getting absolutely pounded, it was like putting a puppy in a front loading dryer.

^Fair enough, I thought it might have been something like that, I did note when I saw it they said "biggest" rather than longest or tallest.

Shame you didn't get to ride the Scenic Railway, I guess the "continually" won't apply anymore and the guys at Lakemont will reaching for their lawyers if they claim oldest. Though I've seen more luxuriant claims, Marineland in Canada seem to think they have the biggest steel coaster in the world. Looking forward to your Sydney report, I think I may have posted a PTR ages ago for Sydney, and even if I didn't I have plenty of photos.

Nice report, I live in Sydney and have been to Melbourne but I have never been to Luna Park, the shame. I was going to jump on the oldest coaster bit because I went on 1901's Leap The Dips in August, but "continually" I think rules out Leap The Dips which is the oldest operating coaster.

I've never been to a musical, but I would like to see Spamalot, I hope it finds it's way to Sydney. I'm sure there a few musicals I would like but I just haven't gotten around to it. BTW I'm rather indifferent about the Wizard of Oz, wasn't there a remake with Michael Jackson called the The Wiz - that's seriously scary.

I'll let the mods make a call on this one, but I thought some of the categories were interesting.

Smoothest ride: Laser - Dorney Park Best asthetics: Behemoth Best theming: Revenge Of The Mummy - Universal Orlando Best view of the park: Top Thrill Dragster - but look quick! Best drop: El Toro - back row, unbelievable! Worst Headbanging: T2 - Six Flags Kentucky Fried Kingdom Worst body slamming/bashing: Wildcat - Compounce Worst stapling: El Toro Most uncomfortable overall ride: Any Zamperla Volare esp Rye Playland's Most unique experiance: X Best airtime: El Toro Best kiddie/junior coaster (wood): Ghoster Coaster, Canada's Wonderland Best kiddie/junior coaster (steel): Woodstock Express, Cedar Point Most "feeling of freedom": X Best inversion: Snake Dive, Storm Runner Best trains/seats: Behemoth Best track layout/design: Behemoth Best lift hill: Fahrenheit Best launch: Top Thrill Dragster Best manufacturer: Intamin Best ride ops: Lake Compounce Worst ride ops: Six Flags America

Carolinacaniac you deserve a TPR award, the Christopher Columbus of credit whores - we all humbly bow. It does look a lot like High Speed Thrill Coaster, which was my 300th and last new credit, I meant it to be Phoenix but due to an accountancy error it was 299.