rollin_n_coastin

This is looking amazing. Is there a revised opening date?

Rode Demon yesterday. It was honestly not that interesting. Top Spins and similar rides are much more intense. This would maybe be a good replacement for a looping starship if you're into hang time. But then, even a looping starship is more intense. It was also a very short program, which didn't change throughout the day. It does look good though and hey...Frank's Red Hot. People really do put that s**t on everything

Glad opening went really well! Looks like a fantastic ride for everyone in the family. Wish I was in town to try it out this weekend. I think from the sounds of it I may be a "forward facing" kind of rider for this

^Couldn't agree more. The food was great. Quite honestly, every meal at every park ended up being insanely above expectations. color=#0000BF]SCANDINAVIA 2009--A BLAST FROM THE RECENT PAST[/color] Arrival and Day 2 - Copenhagen and Tivoli Gardens Day 3 - Bakken Day 4 - Hansa Park SCANDINAVIA 2009 - BAKKEN We now head to the world's oldest amusement park, Bakken. This park also has some great smaller rides and flats. Bakken is also home to a second classic wooden coaster, Rutschebanen, which we were lucky enough to see up close as part of our tour. I believe this was the last year that the coaster operated with a brake man since new trains were ordered at the time and are on the coaster now. The biggest surprise for me here was Tornado. The best spinning coaster ever. Why? I'm trying to remember but quite honestly, the whole ride was literally a high speed blur Enjoy the pics! Here we are at the world's oldest amusement park Tornado.... ...looks innocent enough. The food here was fantastic. This was our first taste of a Scandinavian buffet. Bakken's Rutschebanen A little up close and personal with Rutschebanen Guest brake man! Hey, the train is still going and on the track so it was a total success. Oh wait, didn't everyone make it back? Tornado car A little bit more of the park. You couldn't help but bust a move while waiting for the next train... Men, you will eventually need to use one of these. Good luck and really, hang on tight gosh darn it. So this happened. Thankfully there weren't any children to push out of the way.. I still don't really understand these rides. But it take some great pics. Swamp water and all. Of anyone "looked the part" here, it's Bill. Ancient simulator ride. Terry clearly loved it. We'll end with the most popular pinball machine on the trip.

Thanks for the comments! ^^Fran: A pleasure. I knew that I would enjoy re-visiting this trip a lot and so far, that's definitely the case. That was my second TPR trip as well. ^Jakob: I'll gladly take that ride and put it in my back yard, if there was room. Agreed in that you definitely need to get on it early. I think I rode it four or five times at least that day. Watching it is great but as an "expert pilot", it drove me bonkers watching people sort of waste their ride by not doing anything with the plane lol

Love these. I guess there latest attempt at a modern zipper type ride was the Chance Chaos? They should just go back to basic and bring back some classics. Agree with Dave, Knoebel's is the perfect place for one.

SCANDINAVIA 2009 - TIVOLI GARDENS COPENHAGEN Day 2 of the trip took us to Tivoli gardens. A beautiful place with some crazy rides and Wagamama. All was good with the world. Seriously, the flat rides here are insane! At the time, a Star Flyer that tall was mesmerizing and terrifying. I still think it's the nicest one built to date with the new one at Grona Lund giving it a run for its money. There also happened to be some insane bumper cars here, even more so than Knoebels. This was the first part of the trip where a ride operator seeing a TPR wrist band meant getting an extra long or multiple cycles. On a Huss Flic Flac, it can honestly work against you by the fourth non-stop cycle. Demonen, as a roller coaster, proves that you can cram a lot of awesome into small places. Oh, and Vertigo, will give actually give it to you. My favourite flat ride by far. Turbo Boost is a must. The crown jewel, Rutchebanen, was every bit the classic experience that I'd personally been looking forward to. Enjoy the pics! Just a short walk from the hotel and we were finally at the world famous Tivoli Gardens Pantomime shows still happen here. This was a great part of the day, without a doubt. The brake man lives on here. Comfy? Our behind the scenes tour. Yes, the ride is very, very old. Only men were permitted to be ride operators here at one time. Not sure what could possibly give that away. No brake man wants their name on this wall. If they are here, it means that the train that they were operating was traveling a touch too fast and jumped the track. It takes a day or two to get everything operating again. Anyone else pee there pants a bit on these things still? Vertigo. Oh, in Scandinavian theme parks, there are multiple ways to hurt yourself in every fun house. It's awesome. Huh? What? Where? A trip to Denmark wouldn't be complete without... A Hans Christian Andersen dark ride This was actually really well done. One of many drop rides that I avoided. On site brewery, of course. A bit more around the gardens. The bumper cars that just wouldn't be allowed in America. My first Wagamama. Signing in for Vertigo, our last chances to ride for the day. We had an odd number of people. Jon made new friends.

SCANDINAVIA 2009--A BLAST FROM THE RECENT PAST Arrival and Day 2 - Copenhagen and Tivoli Gardens Day 3 - Bakken Day 4 - Hansa Park So I promised myself that I'd finally do a Scandinavia TR before the next Scandinavia trip. I'm clearly running out of time. TPR's Scandinavia 2009 trip was, I think, my favourite trip to date. It was amazing on so many levels and I'm extremely excited for everyone heading over in about a month's time. With that, enjoy this blast from the recent past! Up first is arrival day in Copenhagen and Tivoli Gardens. My camera was acting up for Bon Bon Land. Not to worry, there are hundreds of Dog Fart Coaster pics out there, just use the "search" SCANDINAVIA 2009 - ARRIVAL/ AROUND COPENHAGEN Hotel Number 1 - Intro to European hotels. The main bus from the airport was arriving later so a few of us took the opportunity to check out Copenhagen. A little creative art. The post card view of the opera house. The first ever TPR International Snack Exchange! Back at the hotel meant it was time for....

Great pics of WMG. I had a flashback of Indiana Beach, less the cage over the trains for a minute This is definitely one of the more interesting dark/ interactive rides out there...CF is really going above and beyond for this one given that it's geared to regional/ seasonal parks. The new Boo Hill cars/ faster line is huge. Anything to help the only "one ride per visit" that friends with kids go through during the season.

Sounds like it was a great media day and comments are very balanced so far. The ride really does look awesome in that space. Can't wait to ride it one day and see how it compares to the "classics" and other newer inverts.

Oh wow, I didn't realize that the Grona/ Skara guys were behind this park as well. That explains this and so much. You put a company like RMC together these very enthusiastic owners and you're bound to get some amazing attractions that no one would imagine for a given location. From taking a chance on Tranan to building Twister throughout what looks like a tangled mess of structures, these guys are Sweden's Imagineers.

So by 2016, one fantastic country that will have two of the best wooden roller coasters in the world and lingonberry soda? Looking forward to another visit in 2016, without a doubt.

Wow. Nothing else really needs to be said. Not since seeing El Toro has a wooden coaster inspired awe--This is awesome. I'll agree with SoB comments in that it looked fantastic in a menacing way but at least here, we'll have a ride to match the look. This is the first design of a train on a tracks that comes the closest to an actual railway in look and feel, if that makes sense? Definitely a modern classic. I really hope to check out Outlaw Run soon as well, now more than ever.

JAPAN 2013 - THE LAST DAYS ....and we're back to the last two days of the trip. After Disney, a few of us spent the remainder of our last weekend in downtown Tokyo, giving Shibuya and Shinjuku another look through. Our hotel was in Akasaka, where TBS is located. After leaving Disney, we spent the afternoon in Shibuya, spending a lot of time in Tokyo Hands department store, which seemed like it had an infinite number of floors full of every department imaginable. At night, we headed to Shinjuku's Golden Gai neighbourhood. This area looks like the Japanese version of a European borgo and is the polar opposite of Shinjuku's Times Square-like area. It has a 1/2 dozen alley-like streets lined with house-size bars and restaurants. If you're over six feet tall, you'll probably have a few issues getting into these places but it's great for everyone else to watch you try. Our timing wasn't perfect as we went on the night that most places were closed, including our main reason for visiting: Cambiare, the antipasto bar themed to Dario Argento's Suspiria. Hey look, there's another reason to get back to Japan. We still found a great small bar with a bar tender that anyone could feel comfortable telling their life story to. I'll end Japan 2013 by saying that this was one of the most amazing trips ever. It was the perfect balance of experiencing Japan and feeding the coaster nerd in us all. You can't not check out the Tokyo Sky Tree. Tickets were gone for most of the day so unfortunately didn't get to go up. If you're stuck with not being able to go up Sky Tree, Tokyo Tower usually isn't too busy and also has great views of the city. Picking up a few supplies for last night parties. The best giant crispy cuttlefish snack ever? Had to do the obligatory walk by the Hilton's wedding chapel before heading out, one last time. Good byes suck. Japan's version of a downtown Disney. As much as saying good bye is horrible, at least another day in Tokyo would help pacify the sadness. Arriving at our Akasaka hotel, next to TBS Love Japanese Italian restaurants! Lunch models Back at Shibuya station The best department store ever. Lots of ways to make your iPhone personally yours. Ninja star fridge magnets? Sure. Why not? Making our way through the Shibuya cross walk one last time. At night, we were at the Shinjuku's Golden Gai district. Hearts sunk when we finally found Cambiare and it was closed. We still had an great night at this bar. A final walk through Shinjuku for the trip. My last day. Jenn, Travis and Nick had left so there was time for a last look around before heading to the airport. TBS square. This was also by far the hottest day of the trip. I was soaked walking 200 ft from the hotel to the subway. I was so glad that it wasn't even close to being as hot as this last day during the trip. Now knowing what a real transportation network is like, I feel bad for people visiting Toronto. A few snacks for the flight home. Oh. I know. So, that's it. Time really flies by. Just when you think it's completely over, Air Canada brings out the best snack ever. Made it home with a bit of Japan for family and friends.

^Thanks Bill! Now that enough time has passed, I'd really have a hard time deciding which trip I enjoyed more because both Scandi and Japan were so different but equally as memorable. The solution is simple, really. Fans of TPR trips will just have to do both. JAPAN 2013--CULTURE AND COASTERS Day 0 - Arrival Culture - Kiyomizudera Day 1 - Tobu Zoo and Nagoya Day 2 - Universal Studios Day 3 - Hirakata Park and Osaka Umeda Sky Building Day 4 - Yokohama Cosmoworld and Sea Paradise Day 5 - Nagashima Spaland Day 6 - Hokkaido Greenland and Sapporo Beer Garden Day 7 - Rusutsu Resort Day 8 - Joypolis and Tokyo Teleport Day 9 - Fuji-Q Highland Culture - Fushimi Inari and Arashiyama Day 10 - Tokyo Disney Days -1 and 11 - Around Tokyo - Aqua Stadium, Harajuku, Shibuya & Shinjuku DAY -1 - EARLY ARRIVAL DAY Up now is a jump back to the official/ unofficial early arrival day in Tokyo at our hotel in Shinagawa, which is also home to the Aqua Stadium and the indoor Intamin Galaxy Express 999. Before the rest of the early arrival group arrived, there was a chance to head out and explore one of the "must see" areas of Tokyo, Harajuku. This district is primarily the trendy fashion district but for tourists, it's like an amalgam of j-pop, fashion, rock and Japanese kitsch. The pedestrian areas of Harajuku street and Takeshita street are where you're likely to run into Harajuku girls, live anime-like people and cool t-shirts. After meeting up with TPR later in the day, it was off to Aqua Stadium and then our first group dinner of yakatori in Shibuya, where some of us were much more adventurous than others. "Fresh chicken" anyone? It sounded great, until we found out that fresh meant raw in this case. It was night of trial and error ordering, which was actually a lot of fun when you think about it. I stuck with the less adventurous food and it was delicious. I'm a huge fan of yakitori. Shibuya is the district with major shops and restaurants. The train station cross walk is the busiest in the world. Shibuya station is also home to the statue of Hachiko the Akita. It was made in memory of the the dog that for 10 years following its owners death, would travel to the station each night at the same time that his owner, Professor Ueno, used to arrive after work before walking home together. It's a fantastic story and worth looking up. Picture time! Saying good bye to our Kyoto breakfast and lunch place. Is there any better way to travel? Our first hotel at Shinagawa, home to the Galaxy Express 999! With bags dropped off, it was off to Harajuku. Why not? The busiest part of the district. This street's name is very hard to forget. Oh yah, we crashed a wedding. Back to the hotel. My room mate arrived and this is what having only one outlet in the room looks like in 2013. The Aqua Stadium was conveniently attached to the hotel. The pre show for this coaster is worth it alone? A great little Intamin indoor looper. Arriving at Shibuya station. Wait for it... Wait for it..... There we go! World's busiest cross walk--after work hours. Our first group trip at a Shibuya yakitori restaurant. Sir, your fresh chicken. The cooked chicken was really good. Yakitori is like the Japanese version of chicken wings in terms of how and when you eat it. Oh, I kinda sorta ordered chicken cartilage...I didn't know it but that's what I ordered... By now, you've guessed that Ben is the only adventurous one on that side of the table. Heading back to the hotel we got to take part in one more "mass crossing" The statue of Hachiko that stands outside of Shibuya station. The Shinagawa prince has great taste in lighting. This was such a great day to kick off the official trip.

We move one of the most beautiful theme park ever built, DisneySea. It's like a modern version of Epcot, which means it's more of a concept for those pushing the strollers. I really think that this park defines what a theme park is on what definitely looks like a spare no expenses budget. The details are incredible, almost unheard of for a theme park. The Italian section was phenomenal along with another of my personal favourite areas, New York. If you really think about it, there aren't a lot of "rides" per say at DisneySea, but each one is an incredible attraction. Quantity doesn't really matter here as you could ride nothing and still have an incredible day at the park. Highlights were for sure the gyozos coupled with a truly refreshing glass of frozen Kirin beer, debating whether or not the Neptune submarines actually go under water, being schooled on whether the lave monster was male or female and coming up with the meaning of life--why Aquatopia exists and why it is so much fun. Riding Indiana Jones a few times here and in California, I'm wondering why it's not at Disney World. Journey to Centre of the Earth was a fantastic ride for the moment you enter the queue right to the end. This was my third Tower of Terror ride. I'd give it a first place finish for the overall theming, concept and pre-show but the short height and seat belts put it slightly behind the Florida version. I love the extra stuff that the Florida version has. I know there are a ton of phenomenal pictures from DisneySea so I'll keep this set a bit brief. Just a bit. I mean, who gets tired of DisneySea? Enjoy the pics! It was great being there during an anniversary year. A little Europe to welcome you? Yes, please. It really is mind blowing. Good morning! Even on a rainy day, we were having a blast. A few attempts at trying to catch Journey An unexpected part of the ride for sure. The details here are incredible. It's bizarre seeing a relative's family name in Japan. I really liked this area as well Hotel Hightower! We'll be checking in there soon. We've heard so much of the Shiriki Utundu piece that we just had to check in and see it for ourselves. About to head to the pre-show. I know the effect is simple but it's done so well that it amazes me each time we saw it. For me, even thought I'm afraid of drop rides, I think the Tower of Terror rides are the most re-ridable rides at every Disney. Checking out some other ares while heading to the "under the sea" area. Time to ride Indy! After a long day, nothing like gyozo by the volcano. Fantasmic!

Robert, so great going through these pics. That market arcade was full of cool stuff. We just happened to walk through it on the way back to our hotel.....I had no idea that it was the second oldest in Japan.

DisneySea is awesome. Great pics man! Is it bad to say that one of the best things there was marathoning Aquatopia when it had no lines? The park was a beautiful as they say, without a doubt.

JAPAN 2013--CULTURE AND COASTERS Day 0 - Arrival Culture - Kiyomizudera Day 1 - Tobu Zoo and Nagoya Day 2 - Universal Studios Day 3 - Hirakata Park and Osaka Umeda Sky Building Day 4 - Yokohama Cosmoworld and Sea Paradise Day 5 - Nagashima Spaland Day 6 - Hokkaido Greenland and Sapporo Beer Garden Day 7 - Rusutsu Resort Day 8 - Joypolis and Tokyo Teleport Day 9 - Fuji-Q Highland Culture - Fushimi Inari and Arashiyama Day 10 - Tokyo Disney Days -1 and 11 - Around Tokyo - Aqua Stadium, Harajuku, Shibuya & Shinjuku DAY 10 - TOKYO DISNEYLAND As much as I've tried to say that I'm not really a huge Disney guy, there's just something about actually arriving at a Disney Park that makes even the "kinda sorta" fans into excited kids again. It's as close a definition of "Disney Magic" that I can think of. Being an easily accessible and popular city park means that it's usually quite busy at Tokyo Disney parks. We were lucky on our first day as crowds were moderate. I feel so lucky to have been to three Disney "Magic Kingdom" parks. It's hard to choose a favourite and I can honestly say I really like the all, with a very slight edge to Magic Kingdom at WDW. The Winnie the Pooh ride? The easiest way to describe it quite honestly is...magical. An honourable mention to Jungle Boat Cruise and Enchanted Tiki Room in Japanese.....what a trip. I've heard the Japenese being described as impossibly friendly in some travel guides. It's true and even more so inside the gates of Tokyo Disneyland. It's an incredible place to to be. Enjoy the pics! Good morning Tokyo Disneyland! A great "good morning" view. We definitely lucked out with the hotel rooms This....is Bayside station... Disneyland hotel We got there early to make sure that we got our Fast Pass strategy all organized We are now officially Disneyfied I am the princess now. Tokyo Disneyland has the full size castle! Our first Fast Pass stop was Monsters Inc. It was closed but we were told we could use them whenever the ride reopened, even if expired--that is service! Still a lot of fun. The best ride at the park by far. This always deserves a courtesy ride. This was such a bizarre experience. My fourth time seeing this at three parks. It's still uhm....surreal? Love Toon Town! Such a great day. Time for Doma Doma! All you can eat and drink is a great thing.... So who's brave enough to try these? That's much better. Up next, DisneySea!

This list is fantastic and makes sense. When friends who know coasters said that Outlaw Run was at least as good as El Toro, it's easy to believe and the results speak for themselves. Can't wait to ride it. I always end up in a spot where my number 1 always changes from El Toro to Boulder Dash or Phoenix but then in the same year, I'll ride El Toro again and it jumps back to number 1. The fact that Mitch's poll takes this into account is great.

^I can totally understand that, I loved the coasters there and being able to walk around with Mount Fuji just happening to be in the background was something truly "awesome". I mean, if that doesn't inspire awe, what does? As great as coasters are, Japan has a lot of other stuff. This section is about two really interesting spots near Kyoto--the Fushimi Inari shrine and Arashiyama. JAPAN 2013--CULTURE AND COASTERS Day 0 - Arrival Culture - Kiyomizudera Day 1 - Tobu Zoo and Nagoya Day 2 - Universal Studios Day 3 - Hirakata Park and Osaka Umeda Sky Building Day 4 - Yokohama Cosmoworld and Sea Paradise Day 5 - Nagashima Spaland Day 6 - Hokkaido Greenland and Sapporo Beer Garden Day 7 - Rusutsu Resort Day 8 - Joypolis and Tokyo Teleport Day 9 - Fuji-Q Highland Culture - Fushimi Inari and Arashiyama Day 10 - Tokyo Disney Days -1 and 11 - Around Tokyo - Aqua Stadium, Harajuku, Shibuya & Shinjuku DAY 2 CULTURE - FUSHIMI INARI AND ARASHIYAMA Fushimi Inari is the most popular Inari shrine in Japan. You can easily spot these shrines by all of the orange traditional Japanese gates, or torii, which represent the gateways to sacred areas. Inari are the Shinto religion's spirits, or kami, which are thought to resemble foxes. They are worshipped to maintain fertility, rice, tea and sake--the staples of ensuring prosperity and success in agriculture and industry. Foxes, called kitsune, are believed to act as advocates of success to the Inari on behalf of their worshippers. This is why you'll see a lot of fox statues at Inari shrines, often in male/ female pairs. The statues hold a symbolic item of prosperity that they are protecting on behalf of their worshippers, such as keys or rice, in their mouths or under their paw. It's believed that the whole advocacy process may work out better if you make offerings to the kitsune. These are traditionally of rice, sushi rolls or tofu, but you'll see plenty of places to donate your change and money as another option to help with your own prosperity and success. The torri are also generally sponsored by companies, families or individuals. The larger the gift, the larger your gate. Arashiyama is a smaller touristy area west of Kyoto with a traditional central area leading to the Togetsukyo Bridge and mountain area. It looks like it would be a great place to visit in the fall or spring. The lake is full of cool traditional boats and touristy "pleasure boats", where yes, sometimes people "make pleasure". Further down the path are the Arashiyama bamboo groves. For the animal lovers, this area is also home to the Iwatayama Monkey Park on top of Mount Arashiyama, a conservatory of over 170 wild Japanese macaque monkeys, who have kinda sorta become used to us humans being around. It's only a "short" climb up a mountain, but worth it. Although in geography like this it isn't uncommon to encounter monkeys in the wild, this is a cool way at bringing them closer to us and really is something to experience, as frightening as these monkeys can be up close... After a long day, we ended up having burnt ramen for dinner at Gogyo and checking out the Shinkyogoku arcade on the walk back to the hotel. Enjoy the pics! Let's start at Fushimi Inari Shrine A good cleanse is needed before moving on to sacred realms. I have forgot what these are, but definitely one of the more interesting displays along the shops area. Worshipping at the main Inari shrine. One of many kitsune. The start of the torii pathways leading to the shrines. These donated by families and companies. The more you donate, the larger they are. Some of the smaller Inari shrines around the grounds. The Inari are not amused. Throw some money at this one and you'll guarantee success and prosperity....just not yours Main shopping area and these carts were cooking up some great local eats--octopus in this case. After leaving the shrine, other traditional figures were everywhere. Time for lunch. After a day of tradition and worship, it was time to get cultured with that other staple of Japanese culture, Shaka Shaka Chicken. Next up, Arashiyama. We made it to the Arashiyama tourist area and man, it was a hot day! Definitely serene with no clue about the extent of a mountain climb we were about to take part in. The Togetsukyo bridge, leading to Mount Arashiyama. Time for... Monkey Park! These stairs were just the beginning. Ok so getting there wasn't easy as pie but it was worth it. Great views of Kyoto from the park. What a life. The sounds these monkeys make when fighting is pretty vicious and a good reminder that you're in the middle of wild habitat. A monkey in a tree..who knew? I'm actually not sure if this was for the monkeys or us. It was fun regardless After Monkey Park we headed to the Arashiyama bamboo groves. I don't think there are many things that are more peaceful. First geisha sighting of the trip. Back to Tokyo train station We decided to check out the pathway across the train station's atrium for some great views of the city. It was definitely of a decent height. My very first burnt ramen at Gogyo Kyoto restaurant. The fact that they still served us after taking off our shoes on this day in particular was exceptionally impressive. The Shinkyogoku shopping arcade was on the way back to the hotel. Thanks for checking out the pics!

These are looking awesome! I really like both but still think Option 2 looks much better overall. Maybe it's just a gut feeling. Now, this is not at all because of Twitter or any social media, which is hugely important to lead an audience to the site. It's just a design, look and feel issue. I just think Option 2 really is a nicer, more professional (but not corporate), welcome that leads an audience to want to click on the links that the site is focussing on and wanting to draw attention to under " Official TPR Updates" and "Theme Park News". Again, they both look great. Personally, I count on Twitter and Facebook to lead me to a fantastic site, not vice versa, especially with notifications from those services already updating me in realtime. For people that don't have social media set up that way, live feeds make sense, especially if your main social media services are updated faster and more often than "Official TPR Updates" and "Theme Park News". As was mentioned, the page can look awesome but if it's a ton of work to update that you can't always get to and results in a lot of idling, that for sure has to figure into it. Macbook, standard display settings/ no scaling.

First off, this is hugely exciting and they both look good and years ahead even! Thanks for letting us comment. I really like the overall layout, look and feel of Option 2 since it is much more modern looking than Option 1 and the top right Twitter Feed box being stuck in there, almost orphaned, really throws off the clean, uncluttered design otherwise. Maybe the twitter feed box isn't in the right spot? Maybe a ticker across the page somewhere or a live feed slide as part of the scrolling images? Most dedicated social media feed areas I've seen are on the bottom half of websites, if included at all since users go directly to apps for social media updates anyway. I looked at it from the perspective of everything being a place holder. If Twitter wasn't in that upper right hand box, would as many people still have chosen Option 1 or was it chosen just because the Twitter feed is there right now? Even if it was something else in Twitter's spot, including other social media feeds or trending forum topics, I'd still personally choose option 2 just based on layout. On a widescreen monitor at normal resolution, the difference between the two is about two rows of content less in Option 2 for scrolling purposes.

When I finally had the guts to try Demon Drop, it moved to Dorney so I missed out. In Japan, the TPR tour came across two, I think at Rusutsu Resort and Nagashima, which were both closed. Finally saw Demon Drop again at Dorney this past October and although hesitant, finally gave it a go. I'd say these things are as terrifying as the larger drop towers, if not more, because they come closer to your typical mid tower office building elevator in look and feel. There is so much noise and "stuff" going on that the anticipation is just insane, especially when being somewhat enclosed gives a false sense of safety. The drop being really intense sure adds to it. Overall, one of the scariest rides that I've ever been on. They remind me of ultra twisters in that they feel like unpolished, raw mechanical beasts that get the job done in a terrifying way.

I'm with Facebook and YouTube. Not sure what happened to my MySpace account, which I started originally to share TPR pics back in the day, which was only what, 2008? haha All social media apps and sites seem to be changing to add features that everyone else has to the point where every social media option is going to be very similar to all the others in the near future, but perhaps accomplishing the same tasks a bit differently. That's basically why I'm just sticking with Facebook -- I get how it works and how to control it and don't really want to learn other apps or sites that keep changing at increasing frequencies. It's like another format war, one that Google even admitted to underestimating, which is why they don't seem to be winning this one. I kind of agree about YouTube with some other posters. I love it for consuming great stuff and very rarely use for interaction.