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Sorry if this was posted before-hand, looks an exciting layout. http://thepopcorncart.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2008-01-01T00%3A00%3A00%2B01%3A00&updated-max=2009-01-01T00%3A00%3A00%2B01%3A00&max-results=5 California’s Great America will add to its roster of thrill rides a new world-class wooden coaster. This copious coaster will boast a lift of 104 feet and take riders on a two minute ride at 52 mph through a twisting first drop, low to the ground S-turn, and a high speed station fly-by! Designed by Great Coasters International, this ride promises to take coaster enthusiasts to new heights.

http://www.coasterforce.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=23183 Following a major lightning storm which rolled through Six Flags Great Adventure on Sunday, El Toro was closed on Monday with ride operators saying they were hoping for having the coaster operating later in the day. El Toro never reopened. CF's own Jerry (East Coast(er) General) decided to investigate the scene to see what exactly was the cause for El Toro's unusual downtime. After getting in contact with a senior engineer at the park, Jerry reports that during the lightning storm, El Toro was struck at the very top of its lift hill at the top most sensor. This wild electric current then traveled down the entire lift hill, wiping out all of the electrical system. “When you go up there you see smoldering cables & electronics that extends the length of the lift. It took out everything. It’s a real mess.” The engineer continued to explain that they are now waiting for replacement components and are hoping for a Friday reopening, in time for Saturday's Rise & Scream ERT. Given the magnitude of the damage though, El Toro could be closed for longer, as Rolling Thunder's staff has been put on notice for Saturday's Rise & Scream ERT in the event El Toro cannot reopen.

Steel: Thunderlooper (When it was at AT) Now: Nemesis Wood: Wild Mouse / Megafobia

Drawings of what the station will look like and another layout of the track. http://www.daytondailynews.com/p/content/gen/sharedoh/photos_galleries/news/local/070908coaster.html

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2008/07/24/0724waterpark.html?imw=Y The state's water park regulator said Thursday it appears a family was injured on a new slide at Rapids Water Park because their combined weight was between 850 and 900 pounds - much heavier than the posted limit for a single raft. "There were warning signs at the slide. There's a maximum 700 pounds for riders," said Terence McElroy, spokesman for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Problems at water parks Wednesday's accident marked the 22nd time state inspectors have been called to the Rapids Water Park to investigate accidents since it opened in 1999. Of the 22 accidents reported, 16 were determined to have been caused by patron error. In another four, the cause was undetermined, and two are pending. The park has received one warning, in 2002, for failing to report an accident. In 2006-2007, there were 59 water slide accidents statewide. Of 206 total accidents at both permanent parks such as Rapids Water Park and traveling carnivals, 186 were found to have been caused by patron error. However, a lawyer for the injured family has declined to rule out the possibility that a suit might be filed on behalf of John D. Lenahan and his three children. Ride inspectors arrived at Rapids Water Park in Riviera Beach on Wednesday afternoon after fire-rescue was called to treat Lenahan and the children, who were injured when their raft flipped over on the new Black Thunder attraction, McElroy said. Inspectors found nothing mechanically wrong with the ride, he said, but the investigation continues. Park officials said that since the ride was deemed safe, it was reopened Thursday. McElroy said many theme park accidents result from people not following the rules. "It appears at first blush it was an issue of patron error," he said. The four family members were taken to Columbia Hospital. John D. Lenahan, 41, bit his tongue and was knocked unconscious. He was listed in stable condition Thursday night. His son John Lenahan, 15, was also knocked out and treated for a chin laceration. The two younger children - Ronald, 14, and Julianna, 11 - were transferred to St. Mary's Medical Center and released several hours later. They suffered cuts, bumps and bruises. Records show the family has homes in both Port St. Lucie and New Hyde Park, N.Y. A woman who answered the Lenahans' phone Thursday afternoon referred questions to the family's lawyer, Marc Gottlieb of New York, who said the family had been at the water park celebrating the father's recent recovery from brain cancer. "He's currently in the cardiac unit because he's having some difficulty breathing," Gottlieb said. "We don't know if he has any cracked ribs. There might have been some blood leaking in his brain, but that's just speculation." No decision will be made on whether the Lenahans would sue the Rapids Water Park until an investigation is complete, he said. "We've spoken to certain people that have indicated that lifeguards or whoever was running the ride may not have been discharging their responsibilities adequately by just letting anybody on without regard to the weight limitations," Gottlieb said. "If people get on a ride and the ride goes awry, you generally tend to think something went amiss that was outside the control or responsibility of the people riding the ride," he said. "Obviously, something went terribly wrong." Park spokeswoman Tina Hatcher said the park is doing a thorough investigation, interviewing employees as well as guests. Lifeguards who were working the ride Wednesday have not been disciplined or taken off the ride, Hatcher said. "Every park, Disney, all parks, have rules and regulations that are next to the attractions," she said. "Have they asked, 'Are you pregnant? Do you have medical conditions? Do you have a heart problem?' No. It is a rider's responsibility." She said lifeguards sometimes ask people if they meet the requirements to go on the ride, but riders may get offended or deny their weight. Thursday, lifeguards were being more "forthright" in asking people if they meet weight requirements, she added. Rapids also released photos of signs warning visitors of the ride's dangers. The park received a permit to open Black Thunder last July. The slide, which the park's Web site touts as "a fast ride in the pitch black darkness," is unique in the state because it involves riding a raft in a closed bowl. Wednesday's accident was the first on this type of slide in the state. There for a reason

Extreme Mountain Biking http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1480107757/bclid1493222199/bctid1659795339

http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080717/OPINION03/807170388/1129/SPORTS0104 The pilgrimage continues, day after day, carload after carload. They come at all hours, from the Bloomfields and the Grosse Pointes, from Detroit's east and west sides, old and young, black and white, dry-eyed and misty-eyed, all connected by an old building that's empty and falling, but in many ways, forever full. It's mostly a somber processional, marked by the occasional shout of dismay from an on-looker as a mechanical claw takes another bite. Tiger Stadium has been crumbling for a while, since the last game there on Sept. 27, 1999, but now it's officially dying, and it can be agonizing to watch. But they watch, we watch, in growing numbers, stopping on the I-75 service drive, standing on car hoods and straining to see over the fence, to see what's left, to remember what used to be. Is it gawking? Not really. It's reminiscing, which means the occasional tear is allowed to escape. Tiger Stadium has stood, in various forms under various names, at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull since 1912, and soon it will be gone. It's disheartening that another of Detroit's one-time treasures will be reduced to trash, that a story of baseball and tradition and family will end with another vacant lot, with no clear plan for development. Advertisement Ernie Harwell and the Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy are trying desperately to raise money to preserve some element of the ballpark, and it's absolutely a worthy cause. If you have the means and harbor the memories, you should help. If you're ambivalent about saving any of her, I suggest you swing by the lot that's rapidly becoming a plot and gaze at the hole where the center field bleachers once stood, where the flagpole still stands, flying the colors. From the freeway at dusk, Tiger Stadium looks like some grotesque road kill, spilling twisted metal and frayed aluminum, as clouds hover and the machines gnaw. If you have the time, if you believe that paying last respects serves the mourner as well as the mourned, come spend one more night at the Old Ballpark. • • • Larry Whitfield was running errands on Saturday night when the lure became too great. He turned and headed toward his favorite corner, got out of his car and just stared. "The more I look, the more I talk about it, the more emotional I get," he said. "I've been coming here since the '60s. My grandmother used to bring me here for bat day. Remember bat day? Oh my God, bat day was great." Whitfield, 53, from Detroit, blinked through his frameless glasses. He still has the sod from 1968, when he ran on the field after the Tigers won the American League pennant. He still has the memories of sitting in the frigid stadium with his dad, sipping hot chocolate, watching the Lions. It all returns now, as the big crane swings and another chunk tumbles. "I've been wanting to come by for the longest time," he said. "It's kind of sad, but I like Comerica Park. I just wish they could've done something with this, renovate it or something. It's part of our history, part of my family's history. Now it just looks spooky." For a moment, there's a flash of annoyance. "Why do they have to put up that plastic to block people's view? Isn't the fence good enough?" Through the opening, you can see the distant blue and orange seats. You can see the light tower on the right field roof, where Reggie Jackson hit a ball during the 1971 All-Star Game. You can see once-forgotten games and fathers and mothers sitting with sons and daughters. "Fond memories, man, fond memories," Whitfield said. "It's like you're losing somebody, you know?" • • • Jim Reno drove over from Grosse Pointe Woods with his wife and two sons, and they came not to mourn, but to reminisce. This is how it is during the final nights at the ballpark, like it is at funerals. You tell stories, you smile. "My first job was right here, as a seat wiper," Reno, 51, said. "Well, I was an usher, but all we did was wipe seats. Most I ever made in tips was 50 cents." His sons, James, 25, and Marc, 19, laughed. They joked about Tiger Stadium's famously daunting bathrooms with the massive urinals, where as kids they were lifted up for the first time by their dad. It's funny what you remember at the end. It's funny too, while spending four hours over three nights outside Tiger Stadium, I heard only warm stories, nothing about the losing seasons or the obstructed views or the dark, narrow concourses. In the dying light, all is bright. "My dad saw Babe Ruth play here, right on this field," Reno said. "It's sad to see it come down, piece by piece. Couldn't they just do one big boom?" His family nodded. More cars pulled up. More people wandered over. "It's really shocking to look at," Reno said, "like a decaying corpse." It's unfortunate Tiger Stadium never garnered the national appeal of Fenway Park or Wrigley Field, but it was every bit as wonderfully distinctive, from the right-field overhang to the closeness of the seats to the field. There was an intimacy about it, despite its size. It was completely enclosed, a placid scene in the middle of a rugged city, a world suddenly, obscenely opened to the outside now, as the walls fall. • • • The security guard didn't want to give his name. He patrolled the sidewalk, reminding people not to climb on the chain-link fence, not to tear away the plastic. He says he's had to call the police a few times but they've stopped coming. Since the demolition began a couple weeks ago, he has caught two people inside. One was a young lady he handcuffed to a post. When he returned, she was gone, leaving the bloody cuffs behind. The guard shook his head. "The more they tear down, the worse it gets," he said. "I get grown men crying, begging me to let 'em get a chunk of grass or a brick. These people really love this place. It's making them sad, so just tear it down already." The guard, who appeared to be in his mid-20s, admitted he didn't quite get it. He went to a few games there and he loves sports, but not enough to weep over a relic. As the cars kept coming and the pleas grew more insistent, he understood a bit more. "I wish I could open it up for people, but I can't," he said. "I got a job to do." • • • Scott Sitner, 43, clicked away, poking his camera over the fence to take random photos. They came out amazingly sharp, the grass amazingly green inside. He wasn't sure he wanted to come because he had driven past many times and the old stadium saddened him. But he knew he had to see. "As I pulled up, I was thinking it's time for the place to come down," said Sitner, from Birmingham. "But then you walk up and you get that feeling in your stomach and you see the hole and it's just the finality of it. It's jarring." Joe Grutza and his friend, Val MacIsaac, stood nearby. They drove up from Trenton, and like many, felt compelled to visit. "I don't feel sad, because right now, all the good times I had here are flooding back," Grutza said. "It would've been nice if they could've saved it, but it's time." No tears? "Nah, we paid our respects at the last game in '99," he said. "Only two events in my life I cried at -- when Yzerman raised the Cup and the closing of Tiger Stadium. I said my good-byes then, and I don't mind saying, I cried like a baby." • • • For the most part, there aren't tears, at least not yet, with one corner of the stadium knocked down. But the crowds will increase in the coming weeks and people will discover what many already have found. The lump in the throat returns, no matter how long it's been gone. "When I saw that hole in the wall, it was like somebody punched me in the gut," said Dan Centers, 32, of Taylor, who drove over with a couple buddies, one sporting an Olde English D tattoo on his right forearm. "I remember seeing Cecil Fielder, sitting in the bleachers with my friends. I remember just the smell of it, you know what I mean?" Everyone knows what he means. It was the smell of old cigars and fresh grass and grilling hot dogs and musty bathrooms. It was the smell of tradition passed through the ages, of generations connected. "I was gonna watch the All-Star Game (Tuesday night), but then I heard them talking about the nostalgia of Yankee Stadium and I said the hell with that, I'm going down to Tiger Stadium," said Ric Vivyan, 39. "This is killing me." The Tigers won four World Series here -- 1935, 1945, 1968 and 1984 -- and the Lions won their last championship here in 1957, when it was known as Briggs Stadium. But it's not just about the games. It never really was. "I'm feeling a lot of hurt right now," said Edward Lee, 60, of Detroit. "I probably spent 50 years of my life down here. One of my father's last requests was to see a game here and we did, back in '97, just before he died." Lee's gaze never left the old building. He stood next to his car, the door open, but couldn't leave, not yet. "I can't think of one bad thing about this place," he said. "Remember the hot dogs? Oh man, I don't even eat hot dogs, but when I came here, I had two or three, right off the grill, mustard only of course." He laughed good and hard. And then he stopped. "I'll never, ever forget this place. I know it's outdated, but how come in Europe, they save all their old buildings and here we tear 'em down and put in parking lots?" He didn't expect an answer, and there isn't a simple one. Some tried to save Tiger Stadium but there wasn't enough money, or solid-enough plans, or enough motivation from the city or from the Tigers. And eventually, there wasn't enough time, even after a decade of dormancy. On this night, the crane tore into the white aluminum and as each layer peeled away, it revealed an older layer. The mechanical claw clutched a steel beam and battered away at the siding, literally using pieces of Tiger Stadium to beat itself to death. "Aw man, that's terrible, like they're making it suffer," Lee said, wincing, staring, shaking his head slowly. In the fading light, the old building was succumbing, its guts spilling out. Amid the loud crunch of metal, you could hear the soft click of cameras. In the growing crowd, nothing was said, and no one turned away.

Just found this great gallery taken in winter. These would look great on a calendar http://www.ohiourbex.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=5793

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/main.jhtml?xml=/portal/2008/07/25/ftroller127.xml Hurtling, diving, spinning, turning, upside-down, back-to-front, terrifying, awful, breathtaking, blood-shifting, dizzying?… over. No one can really describe what it's like to ride a rollercoaster - beyond screaming, loudly - and that includes your correspondent. The 45 seconds it takes to ride Nemesis, Alton Towers' famed coaster, left me at a loss for balance as well as words, my blood having been shifted via inverted loops, corkscrews, Immelman turns and a cobra roll or two. In 2007, according to a report by the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA), 306.5 million people visited the top 40 theme parks in America and Europe - 4.6 per cent more people than the year before. Some of those will be going for the 'family-oriented entertainment'. But many will be going for the scream machines. Since some enterprising Frenchman took a popular Russian pastime called an ice slide, and stuck a car with wheels on it, the rise of coasters has been steady and unrelenting. The Parisian wheeled coasters of the 19th century were followed by America's first coaster, a coal-carrying train called the Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway, which was pressed into service in 1874 as passenger-carrying entertainment once the coal had run out. Ten years later, an American businessman called LaMarcus Thompson installed the Gravity Pleasure Switchback at Coney Island; in England, Blackpool Pleasure Beach followed suit in 1891. There were troubles; the harsher loops of some rides caused serious back and neck injuries. Fatalities were common, but not apparently off-putting. The 1920s saw the coaster industry flourish, until the Second World War dampened it. The next big phase was the construction of steel coasters, which replaced the existing wooden tracks in the 1970s and haven't stopped since. Today there are 2,159 coasters on the planet, according to the reputable Rollercoaster Database, and the industry is worth multi-millions. It has to be, because the coaster is often the most 'repeatable' ride in a park. Repeatability means people come back, and it is priceless. 'Rule number one of the theme park industry,' one of the TEA's authors said, 'is: Thou shalt reinvest.' And the investment is considerable. Track Epcot at Orlando's Disney World cost $130 million, according to Charles Read of the news site Blooloop, while Disneyland's Space Mountain cost $90 million, although most of the money goes on theming (the average coaster costs $8 million). By these standards, Nemesis was cheap at £10 million. Its statistics also pale alongside the record breakers. Forget the soaring loops or wooden tracks: Nemesis reaches no higher than the tree lines, and covers only 13,000sqm (the world's tallest coaster, Kingda Ka in New Jersey, catapults its riders 45 stories - 465 ft - into the heavens). The ride - excluding the climb to the first drop - lasts only 45 seconds, and its tracks and cars are steel and glass fibre. Also, it's 14 years old. Nevertheless, coaster fans consistently rate Nemesis as the best ride in Britain. That's because it was made by Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M), a small Swiss firm reckoned to be the best rollercoaster manufacturers in the world. Their rides, say fans, are smoother, better, supreme. They are booked up for years ahead and are so good, they don't need to advertise. And like the rest of this lucrative and secretive industry, they prefer to let the rides speak for them. Unless you ask nicely. Bolliger & Mabillard's offices are in Monthey, a small, less than beautiful city on a plain between dramatic Alps and more dramatic Alps. It is flat, somewhat industrial and very Swiss. B&M moved into the ground floor apartment when the company was born, 20 years ago, and moved up. Now its offices are in every apartment except one. The top floor holds the artists. Beneath them are the structural engineers, then the mechanics, then on the ground floor, spare parts. Walter Bolliger is a German-speaking Swiss who has lived in French-speaking territory for 20 years. He speaks careful English and is a careful man, with good reason. The coaster manufacturing industry is small, almost incestuous. The best three companies - B&M, Intamin and Vekoma - are all based in northern Europe (Intamin in Liechstenstein; Vekoma in the Netherlands). There is intense competition and a fear of industrial espionage, so preparations have been made for my visit. I've been googled. The artistic areas - including Bolliger's office - will be out of bounds, and anything relating to ongoing projects has been removed. Bolliger is unfailingly courteous, but steely. 'We have to respect our clients,' he says, when I ask him why he doesn't let the media in. 'We get a lot of requests and we make people mad by refusing them. But we enjoy what we do. We don't want to do anything else.' He means he doesn't want the distraction. B&M, from its office layout to its coasters, is small, intense and dedicated. To design a coaster, says Bolliger, he starts with the basics. 'A large sheet of paper. No computer.' The design stage takes a month before the engineering begins. But even before the paper, there is the walk. 'We visit the parks and see the site. We talk to them about what they want, about who they're aiming at.' All of this is important. At Alton Towers, the height restrictions led B&M to design a coaster that would go down into canyons. 'We had to go underground, and that makes Nemesis unique.' There are 69 B&M coasters in operation. Most rely on engineering and physics for their power. I tell Bolliger that I remember two things from my 45 seconds of Nemesis. First, the thought 'why is that water red?', as I hurtled along a few centimetres, it seemed, from a fake rock-face. And second, that all that speed, force and sensation were achieved using only gravity. Other coasters use accelerators to drag their cars up to the first drop. B&M uses a simple chain-loop, and then the power of weight and nature. (The red water, by the way, is supposed to be blood and something to do with the mythological alien creature that is the rather naff theme of Nemesis.) Bolliger learnt about this in his first job. A trained structural engineer, he began by working for a company that built pipelines to carry water down from mountains. At some point, the company was asked to build an amusement ride - a Swinging Ship - for Intamin, and then Bolliger thought he could do that himself, along with his then engineering partner, Claude Mabillard. There was no training, because there was no such thing: you learnt on the job. These days, you might have a manual or two, but there's no university course in coaster design. Even so, Bolliger & Mabillard found that they were good at it. Their first coaster - Iron Wolf, in Chicago - was a success. Their reputation was made, and then sealed, by invention. This is what Bolliger wants in an engineer: someone who can see that table-sized blank piece of paper and build a machine that makes joy. 'Someone who is creative.' Someone like Bolliger, who read about a German fighter pilot called Max Immelman, who was known for a manoeuvre called the Immelman turn - a half-loop, a half-twist then a curve so that the car exits the manoeuvre in the opposite position from which it entered - and who thought that would work on a coaster. Bolliger doesn't fly, but he would like to. 'Isn't that the dream of every human, to be a flying man?' In 1992, B&M installed the world's first inverted coaster at Six Flags Great America, for the Batman ride. With an inverted coaster, the platform drops away in the station and the riders' legs dangle free. They also make flying coasters, such as Alton Towers' Air, where the rider is tipped face-forwards, Superman-style. And then there's the vertical drop dive coaster, such as Oblivion, that shoots you downwards, dead straight, into a big, dark hole. The nearest I get to Oblivion is a testing car at B&M's workshop in Fribourg, an hour's drive from Monthey. Coasters are usually built on-site in the autumn, in park down-time - July isn't a good month for car construction spotting. None the less, Eric Bera, an engineer, shows me a test car for the flying ride, all primary colours and electronics, with an emblem on its front wrapped in brown paper. 'We can't show you that,' he says. 'It's for a client.' B&M is known for exacting engineering. Coaster enthusiasts like Rich Foster, chairman of the European Coaster Club, could tell a B&M ride blindfolded. They are the ones that stay smooth. 'There was a wooden coaster in Norway that was magnificent,' he says. 'Over 18 months, it turned into an absolute boneshaker.' B&M calculates everything to a 16th of an inch. This is for smoothness - and safety. The first testers are the water dummies, somewhat human-shaped plastic containers filled with water, usually to an average weight of 75 kg, and sent on several hundred rides around the newly constructed track. (Manufacturers also usually have four larger-sized seats on a ride. These are tested for fit, says Bera, by recruiting larger-sized friends and relatives to sit in them. Fat people aren't easy to find in Switzerland.) After that, it's the turn of the accelerator, a machine that records G-force and speed. The maximum G-force on Nemesis is 4Gs; the nearby ride Rita - Queen of Speed uses 4.7. In its brochure, Alton Towers boasts that Nemesis uses as much G-force as in a space shuttle launch, but this, says one B&M engineer, 'is probably advertising'. Anyway, it's not about quantity. 'If you jump up and down,' says Bera, doing just that, 'that might be a force of 10Gs. The problem is not the intensity, but the duration.' To test the limits of what humans can take, B&M engineers must go on the centrifuge, a spinning machine placed on scrubby grass at the workshop. 'That really kills your day,' says Bera, looking green at the thought. 'Because we have to test to the limits of what is enjoyable, we have to go past those limits to understand what they are.' The final ride testers, after the dummies and the accelerator, are humans. Walter Bolliger rides his own rides. After Oblivion opened, he brought the whole company of 31 people on a staff trip to London and Alton Towers. Safety is a constant concern. Park lobby groups are fond of saying that it's more dangerous to drive to the park than to ride the coaster, but these are large and lethal machines. Last month, a teenager who climbed a fence into a restricted area at the Six Flags Over Georgia Park was decapitated by a coaster car, and in 2007, a young woman called Kaitlyn Lasitter had her legs amputated at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom when cables wrapped themselves around her, only 20ft up. This incident inspired Congressman Ed Markey to launch a Bill calling for greater safety of amusement park fixed rides, which are exempt from oversight by the main consumer safety body in the States. In 2002, doctors writing in the Annals of Emergency Medicine concluded that people ran a risk of an injury requiring medical attention once every 124,000 rides; while the risk of an injury needing hospital treatment was one in 150 million rides. No one has ever had a serious or fatal accident on a B&M ride, Bolliger tells me, but things can happen. Rachael Lockitt, Alton Towers' PR, says staff have found prosthetic eyeballs in ponds near Nemesis, and artificial legs and arms have also flown off. They can be lethal projectiles; that's why filming the ride on camera phones is forbidden - the ride will be stopped and cameraphones removed. Nemesis isn't actually that fast: its top speed is only 50 miles per hour, though it feels like 500. Its power lies in balance and intensity, in the choreography of force and speed. (One Alton Towers manager, I am told, had to lie on his office floor for four hours after going on Nemesis, before the world stopped spinning.) Speed is essential, though humans can't perceive velocity, except when it changes. This is why we don't get thrilled by fast trains or planes, but a 300ft vertical drop exhilarates. Anticipation is also crucial, which is why the queues at Nemesis pass under the ride, all the better to hear the screaming and see the dangling legs of riders. Fear is involved, though it comes from perceived and not real risk (ride safety campaigners would argue otherwise). Last year, scientists at the University of Nottingham's Mixed Reality lab conducted experiments using physiological measuring equipment on riders of Oblivion at Alton Towers. They found that the highest level of arousal was at the head of the queue. Novice riders showed mixed emotions - pleasure and displeasure - all the way round; experienced riders showed only pleasure. Physical sensations can be tamed, but only so far. Bera says he can have a conversation on a ride, though not the first time. I'm told that the famed coaster consultant John Wardley can give interviews on Nemesis, all the way round. Even upside down in an Immelman. Such knowledge may underpin the next revolution of rollercoasters. They can't go much higher or much faster, and the human body can't take much more G-force. So interactivity is probably the next challenge. Already, Robocoaster, a robot arm that holds the car in its metal grasp, can be programmed according to the riders' preferences. The fixed site rides in parks are more limited, so interactivity is being explored in other ways. On one coaster in Japan, riders get a choice of six music channels. B&M has just built the Led Zeppelin coaster for the Hard Rock Park in South Carolina, which plays Whole Lotta Love. ?The Six Flags Magic Mountain Park in Los Angeles has just unveiled its Fifth Dimension X2 coaster. This cost $10 million to upgrade from X, which earned its Fourth Dimension label by having extra-wide cars with seats hanging free from the track, enabling them to rotate independently. The Fifth Dimension adds a sound and light experience. Even so, the 'woodies' - wooden coasters - continue to thrive. Some fans swear the creaking tracks and boneshaking make for a more terrified thrill. As for Bolliger, the certainty is that he will continue to do what he does best, and remain the best. At the end of the day's visit, he draws a parabolic curve on a piece of paper to explain how he makes people float. It's about harnessing gravity and zero gravity to get a feeling of weightlessness. He is animated, unusually. 'For a few minutes,' he says, 'you are floating inside the restraint. People pay $20,000 to hire a plane to get the same result, but with a coaster you pay $20.' I ask him if he considers himself an engineer or an artist. He thinks both. 'I think it is like a chef - is he a cook or an artist? I think he's an artist, too.' He is a balancer, of bolts and steel, but also of emotion. 'The media use the word "thrill ride", but I say I am in the amusement business.' This is his goal. He points to a picture on the wall, a stock shot of people in a coaster car, their arms flying, their faces showing shock, awe and joy. 'That's what I want,' says this supremely careful engineer, who has given a couple of minutes of extreme enjoyment - 'terrifying, maybe, but enjoyable' - to millions of people. 'To see people smile. To see them go back for more. That is my job satisfaction.' B&M workshop employees test out a flying coaster car

Always have a great day at TP, it's just the kiddies / chav's who try to Q jump which spoils it.

What I can't understand is why "Cedar Fair" did not give the "BD" away to any theme park who wanted it with no charge and "CF" can pay for moving and rebuilding it. CF are a huge company and they can afford something like this if the so called " Historic" coaster is worth saving that much, everyone knew if the BD was sold in auction then it would have a 90% chance it would never run again. Big Dipper's future in doubt; preservation plans momentarily derailed Michael Dery remembers rumbling along the tracks of the Big Dipper for the first time as an 8-year-old. "My cousin was telling me to scream, and that's all we did throughout the whole ride," he said. Now 39, Dery said he probably has ridden Geauga Lake's historic roller coaster at least 100 times. But the Cleveland native is afraid he may never ride it again, now that any plans to preserve it seem to have derailed. Like other Big Dipper fans, Dery was optimistic that the 83-year-old ride could be saved after it was bought at auction last month along with all other remnants of the Bainbridge Township amusement park. Geauga Lake shut down last fall when Sandusky-based parent company Cedar Fair Entertainment Co. announced the business was not profitable. Tom Woosnam of Apex Western Machinery Movers in Akron made the only bid for the Big Dipper, buying it for $5,000. At the time, he said he was acting on behalf of a local company that wanted to move the ride and preserve it for historical purposes. Woosnam said the buyer wished to remain unidentified until announcing plans for the ride and the Raging Wolf Bobs, a more modern wooden coaster he also bought at the auction. But formal plans were never announced, and Woosnam apparently has tried to market the Big Dipper to ride-preservation groups. The Raging Wolf Bobs attraction appears to be a goner: Foot-long sections of its track are for sale on eBay.com for $250. Making the move Moving the Big Dipper would cost between $2 million and $4 million, according to the American Coaster Enthusiasts. Here's what's involved: • The setup of the coaster would be well documented through drawings and photographs. • All steel track would be removed and transported to a warehouse, as well as the motor, chain, chain trough, wheels, sprockets, cars, controls, brakes and other components. • The frame of the coaster would be disassembled by crane. Any reusable wood would be bundled and shipped to be stored. • A site similar to the original would be chosen for the ride and graded to match in contour as closely as possible. • New and salvaged wood would be used to construct the coaster's frame. New concrete grade beams and footings would be needed • The old steel track and components would be fitted to the rebuilt frame. Members of the American Coaster Enthusiasts were skeptical of Woosnam's intentions from the beginning and upset that Cedar Fair's decision to auction the Big Dipper spoiled their own plans for the coaster. Richard Munch and Carole Sanderson, ACE executive committee members and employees of Cleveland-based Herschman Architects, had joined forces with a "major local developer" to try to buy most of the Geauga Lake property and keep the coaster where it is. The group was one of four to put sealed bids in on the property that Cedar Fair began marketing after the park closed. The Big Dipper and a historic coaster museum would have been the centerpiece of a complex featuring shops, entertainment and dining set on the lake, Munch said. A portion of the 540-acre parcel would have included residential development. But when the developer heard that the coaster had been auctioned, he withdrew his offer, Munch said. Shortly after, Munch said, Woosnam offered to donate the coaster to ACE on the condition that his company would be hired to disassemble the ride for hundreds of thousands of dollars. That does not include the more expensive process of putting the ride back together. Munch said ACE does not plan to take him up on the offer. Woosnam also offered to sell components of the ride, including the historic rail cars, for about $100,000, a sign that he isn't concerned about keeping the ride intact, Munch said. Someone claiming to be Woosnam also has marketed the coaster online. A message posted on the Web site of the National Amusement Park Historical Association shortly after the auction offered the Big Dipper to "any group or organization that can pay to have them removed from the park." Asked for updates on plans for the ride, Woosnam repeatedly has said he is not in a position to comment on behalf of the unidentified buyer. Munch said it probably would take a miracle for things to turn around and for his project to go forward at this point. But he's optimistic that the ride, and maybe even part of the park, will be preserved, depending on who the final owners are. He said ACE would continue to support the cause. "Personally, I wished that the local municipalities, boards, mayors and trustees would have been more involved in maybe saving the park or at least the ride," Munch said. "It's not every day that you lose a century of history because of a land deal." The Big Dipper was the first major ride installed at Geauga Lake, which opened in 1888, Dery said. "To me, the Big Dipper was always the ride that defined the park, even with all the newer stuff added later on," he said. "I'd like to have the chance to ride it again. At the rate things are going, I don't think that's going to happen."

If your fit and healthy your never to old to ride any type of coaster, i want to be riding them in my 80's if possible.

Another picture shows the turn-around coming down.

Some replies from someone who either bought the coaster or is in partership with the person who purchased RWB. http://www.freepowerboards.com/geaugalaketoday/geaugalaketoday-about1197.html Username: theparkb ok well i might as well just set the record straight here - i purchased the components of the wolf bobs from apex - the wolf bobs was never going to be re-built - never the plan, the dipper yes and that is still in the works with them - first of all i have nothing to do with apex, i simply purchased what they didnt want and as far as the logical choice - please anyone tell me this ride with no trains and a 300' section of track that is trashed would cost about 3.5 million to move and put back up before purchasing new trains...... now think about putting that money twards a new ride - well anyone tell me how putting this ride back up makes sence??? - the dipper absoultly - the bobs - no. Now dont get me wrong i worked for this park for many years and it is very sad to see it go - but very park in the u.s. had the opportunity to be at this auction and purchase this ride - well bottom line - no one wanted it so yes at this point the only logical thing to do with it is scrap it out as far as the prices on the e-bay items go they were put up as test items to see if it is worth the time to try and take peices apart to help preserve the ride in peoples homes - also i have contacted the geauga historical society and if they can get the hay baller barn i have offered a section of the ride for free so they can put up for display so it is what it is - and that isnt going to change if it is me taking the ride down or anyone else Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 12:24 pm Post subject: · Quote -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- and i will say this - please dont think i am trying to turn this into a money making scheme - however i did pay more for the ride than it was sold for during auction - and i would like to see this pay off for my time etc... - if anyone from the boards is interested in something - track, que gates, wood, whatever p.m. me with what you would like and an offer - i know most of you loved this park very much and i will try and be reasonable with prices for you guys - so you will have a peice of this park we all loved to show your kids etc... also the reason the track is so much - it is a real pain to get off - that peice took just over an hour - and really i think that is an awesome thing to have personally.. and again please dont send mail to apex - apex has nothing to do with this sale - this is hopefully the last time i have 2 say this - please do me personally a favor - stop with the calls and e-mails to apex - i know Tom personally and he still does not know were the dipper is going to go - he does not have any answers he is simply the middle man - and has nothing to do with c.f. and now as of last week has very little to do with the wolf bobs - if you feel the need to send hate mail about the bobs - send it to me, not them and the dipper - you are wasting your time because he has no power over what happens to the ride and it is not going to get you anywere well not from tom - from the guy tom is working for - who i dont even know so dont ask - i purchased the majority of the components of the ride - without going into confidential details we both still have a play in the ride - but as far as anything you guys would be concerned with would be delt with by myself not tom - thats as far as i can explain this

According to a park manager, it appeared the accident was caused by a malfunctioning ball bearing. However, that same manager was quick to point out that the Rainbow ride had been through an inspection during the spring and no issues were found with the ride. http://www.amusementsafety.org/safety_news_08.asp#jul1408

A few pictures from my underground vaults

That's awful, hope no-one is hurt too badly. ADMIN EDIT: Edited for text typing. Please write out words like "too" instead of "2". Removed link, as it really had nothing to do with this particular accident. ~Matt

Area of land which Thorpe Park is going to reclaim for future rides. Another layout pic

New pictures

May / June 08 Wild Mouse pictures, the ride is still not open though, a few more weeks to go.

David Straitjacket ( www.davidescapes.com ) was chained, handcuffed and padlocked into the most extreme rollercoaster in the UK, the Infusion ride at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. The escape had come about as a challenge from master locksmith Mick Hanzlik, a Houdini expert and escape enthusiast who runs his own locksmithing company in Northampton, UK. Video: http://www.tbppbguideforums.info/bpb/dm_mmc_page.php?media_id=38 Old ride footage at BPB: http://www.lep.co.uk/news/Archive-footage--Blackpool-Pleasure.4259574.jp

I'll ride any coaster in the "nude, your feel so free

It's the "upstop" wheels which makes the fart sound on Colossos when it goes over the hills. The huge hills on Colossos are just dying to have another coaster cut through them and get entwined. Heide Park is the best theme park I have visited for landscaping and theming etc. They have lots of room for expansion and should replace "Limit" with a huge custom Euro-fighter coaster.

From TowersTimes Website: It could mark the start of a new era for the park - one of significant and immersive theming; following parks such as Phantasialand, Universal, and Disney! The creatures and machines concepts, in particular, show that there is some really imaginative work going on behind the scenes at Merlin Studios. http://www.towerstimes.co.uk/history/plans/2010.htm

Try this link for the POV: If you like "Star Flyer's" ride their version: