Mozart67

I want that epitaph from Boot Hill in Dodge City. "Here lies Les Moore; No Les, No Moore" either that or "you really dont think I'm going to take this lying down"

Fire in the Hole (SDC)- it just sounds wrong on multiple levels. Greased Lightnin'- look..it's named after a song from "Grease". nuff said. Mind Eraser- this is a toss-up because on the one hand a mind is a terrible thing to erase, but on the other hand, Mind Erasers are one of the most potent and one of the best shots you can order at a bar. Willard's Whizzer (old coaster from Marriott's Great America..god I'm old)..if this isnt a Freudian slip, I'm not sure what it is. X2 (SFMM)- two htis of X. Furious Baco- imagine the horror of being chased by a giant, enraged container of Baco's. Kong- giant ape that abducts women..rides like one, too. (no, not like that) Tidal Wave (old Marriot's ride)- see Tsunami Psyclone has always struck me funny as it looks like a psychological natural disaster. More later.

Robb, I don't know if this will be inspirational or not, but I'll offer it up anyway. About two weeks ago I finally completed my diet. This doesnt sound like much, but I started the diet on Feb. 5 of this year, and as of two weeks ago (through diet and working out and all that jazz) I'm 106 pounds lighter. It's just like anything else. If you set your mind to it, tell the little voice in your head that says "go on..one won't hurt" to go pound sand, and just keep at it, you'll be there in no time. Go for it! Scott

Yeah, Arizona needs a park, but I dont think this one is it. I like Jew's comment about the conceptual overview looking like a middle-school art project. There's some other conceptual problems as well, the whole Hard Rock thing notwithstanding. This isnt so much Decades of Rock as it is Decades of Classic Rock. While "Elevator" and "Thunderstruck" were hits in the 80's and 90's respectively, there's precious little theming, attraction or ride devoted to major 80's and 90's currents in rock like new wave, college rock, alternative and grunge. No metal, even. I think the concept needs more fleshing out. Also, the Mount Rock!more thing at the toip of the page is..well, extremely amusing, to say the least. Doing something like that will open the park up to fire, because you're not going to make everyone happy with your 4 heads of Rock. I dunno..it has lots of potential and Phoe-Tusc (yeah, I know..it sounds like fee-toos or fetus) really needs it, but it's not the right one.

Yeah, Arizona needs a park, but I dont think this one is it. I like Jew's comment about the conceptual overview looking like a middle-school art project. There's some other conceptual problems as well, the whole Hard Rock thing notwithstanding. This isnt so much Decades of Rock as it is Decades of Classic Rock. While "Elevator" and "Thunderstruck" were hits in the 80's and 90's respectively, there's precious little theming, attraction or ride devoted to major 80's and 90's currents in rock like new wave, college rock, alternative and grunge. No metal, even. I think the concept needs more fleshing out. Also, the Mount Rock!more thing at the toip of the page is..well, extremely amusing, to say the least. Doing something like that will open the park up to fire, because you're not going to make everyone happy with your 4 heads of Rock. I dunno..it has lots of potential and Phoe-Tusc (yeah, I know..it sounds like fee-toos or fetus) really needs it, but it's not the right one.

I know that Robb and Elissa are probably already sick of my book-like posts, but this is one subject I can't ignore. Even though I was born in Oakland, my hometown is Hutchinson, Kansas, about an hour NW of Wichita. I graduated HS there, college there, started my music career there and am returning in Jan. 2008 to world-premiere classical works under a planetarium shell. Joyland is a sticky subject because, like all messes, there are multiple sides to the story. When I was living in Hutch (1980-1992), if you wanted to go on a coaster, you either drove 250 miles to OKC, 400+ to Denver, or put your fate in your hand and braved KC, MO's scary traffic for WOF..or you waited for the Kansas State Fair and rode the infamous "every third bolt is missing" Zyklon. Joyland, especially after the sad closing of Wild West World, is all Kansas has for "thrills." Here's the down side which will inflame purists. The park needs work and restructuring of almost Biblical proportions. The coaster there is second only in roughness and pain to an F4 or F5 twister, there is (or at least was) a gigantic swimming pool that has sat vacant for decades, and the last new ride installed that I can recall was in the early 90's. I think Wichita is not over"joy"ed at the park's prospect (if you'll excuse the pun) because the park, while a landmark, is in sad shape, not unlike Coney in the 70's. I'll wrap this up and promise not to write books anymore (sorry). While it would be nice to see someone take Joyland in hand and make it into a really good local park, I just don't think there is enough financial interest in it. I just hope Louie and the Wurlitzer find a good home.

Having just come off a 15-year diet from 485 pounds to 220, I'm not even entering the fat thing. I have serious opinions about that, and..just no. Bravo on the refubishing of "It's a Hell Hole, After All", though. Having been stuck in that thing twice, I cant personally stand the ride or the damn song, but I think it's time for a long-overdue overhaul of the ride's set and lighting design. It was breathtaking 30 years ago, and with Disney's advancements in animatronics, advanced lighting grid applications and high-cal proscenium configs, the ride could be a marvel.

I am hesitant to add anything for fear that the Syntax Squad or the Punctuation Police will nab me and make me identify gerunds, but I have to agree with coaster05's post that "unique is not always good." Innovation is one of the cornerstones to progress, but it should never be at the nucleus of progress. I can only really speak about flat rides since my coaster count is a lot lower than the rest of you, but I can think of at least 3 innovative and unique rides that should never have been: 1) the non-enclosed offshoot of the Enterprise ("Force 10") 2) the Boomerang (which spun 4 cars around viciously then let them go sequentially into a tunnel that spun you viciously the other way, causing a lot of back problems. 3) Super Loops, which has a standing record of getting stuck or stalled at the top of the loop. When these flats came out, nothing save the Force 10, was like them, and there's always the Enterprise's disatrous debut, but that's another matter. Innovation is key to moving onwards,but ultimately, you have to make the customer happy, or you're stuck with a bunch of metal (and possibly Cedar Point viewing you as dinner.)

Wow..pics of the 1974 brochure really brought me back to my childhood..or at least what I can remember of it. When I was a kid, I used to collect brochures, and at one point, I had a lot of the major theme park brochures from that time period up until 1984 or so. Think I'm going to poke around this mess we call a house and see if I can find my older ones then figure out how to post them online. Thanks for the trip to the past!

Wow! Awesome POV, Robb! The airtime on the hill after the lift had to be restraint-hugging! I really hope I can make it to the Point next year so I can ride these myself, but am more than a little torn on the whole Geauga hostile takeover. Anyway, thanks for the great film! (it IS better than the CP POV on their site)

It's probably already been mentioned before, but I think the random green dog character is Marvin the Martian's pet/sidekick dog.

Thanks for the info! I dont feel like a tard now. If it's not nauseating, then I'll definitely check it out when I get to SFMM next year (with or without the LA Philharmonic gig). Thanks again! Scott

I don't know a lot about X, so this will sound stupid to those who do. Did the old trains need to be replaced that badly? What is the whole "not knowing what to expect next" thing like? It looks pretty nauseating. I'm sure I'd ride it, given the chance and a good tranquilizer afterwards, but I'm still not sure what a multi-dimensional ride is, I guess.

1. EXT- Extreme Roller (Worlds of Fun, MO)- long dead, by now, I think..was WOF's first stand-up and I had bruises around my ears for days. 2. Space Mountain (WDW), opening year. Granted, I was barely 9 years old, but it beat the crap out of me. 3. Cyclone (SFNE)- ugh...the pain.. 4. Comet (Texas State Fairgrounds, Dallas)- long gone, I think. Damn fun but it "hurt my giblets." 5. Shock Wave (SFoT)- is it gone?..coming out of the 2nd loop always wonked me in the head.. Misc: Royal American Show's "Zyklon", SFNE's Mind Eraser (not that bad)..oh, and Kong (Marine World, Vallejo)..ouch

Cool...I'd love to be on the entire Wrong Coast trip, but I have too many out-of-state gigs during it. I'll look for when you're at Compounce and SIx Flags Riverside, Agawam and join a few of you for the day! Fun fact of the day: J. S. Bach had 15 children and lived most of the time in a 6-room house. Most of them, hoiwever, lived in the bach yard.

Argh! a Sasuke and MXC thread and I missed it! One day, when my belt-driven cable connection becomes a real one, I wont miss things. Anyway, you're absolutely correct. It's a nice pipe dream to have a Japanese weirdo park anywhere in the States, but it would bomb worse than Fred Durst's solo career.

Hey, I have a question, and I don't know if anyone can answer it, but I'll ask it anyway. When I was a kid (Air Force brat), I lived just outside of Tokyo for a while. My memory of a lot of things is hazy, which sucks because I love Tokyo and its country, but one thing I do remember is going to a family-styled theme park...on TOP of a building. Here's all I can remember from memory and from a few old photos: I dont think it was downtown Tokyo, as in the Ginza. I would remember that kind of chaos. I think it was just outside inner Tokyo, maybe on the edge of the suburbs. I was there from 1973-1978, but I was really young when I went there, so it had to be mid-1970's. The building wasnt tall (maybe 18-20 stories by the looks of the photos), but it was long...very long, as in NYC-city block long, or more. It seemed infinite to me then but I was small. They had kiddie rides (obviously), what looks like a small compact jet coaster, what looks like a Togo backbreaker, and something called the Soap Coaster. (Who knows? It's Japan) All I recall is that it was one of the greatest and most thrilling parks I ever went to, and that I wish I or my dad could recall what this place was called. I'm sure it's gone now: a casualty of the late-70's Tokyo revitalization project. If anyone knows what I'm talking about or has an idea of what that place is, I would be grateful.

God, yes, I have! When I was maybe 6 years old, my family and went to WDW, which was close wince we were in Tampa at the time. It was cool, especially for a trouble child like me. Then my dad decided, after nearly losing his lunch on the Matterhorn (sigh), that we should chill out and go on "It's a Small World." Needless to say, the ride broke down as we were in the Pirates of the Caribbean part of the ride..for over 2 hours! It was years before I would go on a dark ride. Part Two: After high school, I interned for a summer at WDW ( this was summer 1985). I was more into EPCOT than the Mouse, but when you can cruise WDW on your day off without paying admission, why complain? I rode all the required things (Space Mountain, Matterhorn, etc.) and then a friend said "come on..Small World is open." Against better judgement, I said okay. It broke down in the pirate section..AGAIN for about 2 hours, but this time, I walked out, park ejection or no park ejection. Years later, my son and daughter won a trip to WDW and asked me what to do there. I said "go to EPCOT, go to the Mouse, but if you go on Small World and it gets stuck, dont say you werent warned!"

Hey all..I'm new, sort of. I'm Scott, a classical/rock musician and composer in New England. I have no idea how many coasters I have been on, but I'd guess it's somewhere near 75. I posted another number a few weeks back, but I think it was wrroneous. I still don't know what the obsession is with donkeys, though. When I was a teenager, I lived in Kansas (no Dorothy jokes unless you want to know the bad ones), and my father, in addition to everything else, had donkeys on his farm. Nice enough animals, but a little on the odiferous side, and don't try to ride them anywhere. They're more obstinate than "It's a Small World" in the pirates of the carribean section. (was stuck in that part two seperate times for no less than 2 1/2 hours each time; second time, we just walked out.) I'm looking to start my own local offshoot-junior division, called New England Coaster and Ride Obsessions (yeah, it's NECRO...it's accidental) and anyone in the NE area who wants to explore what parks we have up here is more than welcome to join in! My homepark is either Lake Compounce or SFNE (depending on mood), and fave park I have been to so far is Marriott's (Paramount's) Great America. Yhanks

That's sad. My only memory of the whole Halloween thing is I was, like, 8 years old, some guy in a costume I cant remember jumped out at me and yelled "BLARFGHRG" or something and I almost left hors d'oeurves in my shorts. Aside from that, it was a great time. It's really sad that Knott's has fallen that far down the food-chain. It's asking too much, I know, but it would so rock if Disney or someone had a Tim Burton-themed Halloween event. THAT would be scary for both man, woman and baby. (stupid Old Navy adverts)

God, I miss Japan. The food, the fun, the LSD-driven weirdness.. OMG! They have a Sasuke area at Joypolis! I dont know if any of you watch "Ninja Warrior", which has been a television phenomenon for the last 12 years in Japan, but I think it's still on G4TechTV, for anyone who's interested. In the history of the show, which is like MXC (Takeshi's Castle) but serious, there has only been 3 male winners and 2 female winners due to difficulty of the challenges. Effiin A! (sorry, Kidtums)..I have to get to Joypolis soon and see how weak and un-ninjal-like I am.. Muscle Park is scary. My trainer would like it, which makes it automatically satanic and unsavory. If I ever make whopping money from my music/theatre (not that I'm aiming for that..), I want to open a Japanese-styled weirdo-park in the Northeast, just to see the looks of consternation and horror. God..that would be worth the price of admission alone!

I'm a new-ish member of TPR and have ridden many coasters in the 39 or so years I've been on this world. This question has been eating at me for years, so I thought I would ask my new fellow coasterites what they think of it. Until the gigacoaster/megacoaster/terracoaster space-race, the tallest, steepest coaster I had ever been on was Worlds of Fun's "Orient Express", which in 1986, almost made me pee my pants. As I began to travel to other parks and ride new coasters, the super/giga/mega/rocket coaster thing started to take off, and I was willing, if not crazy, to take it on. After a while, though, I began to wonder if height, high-end vert and lat. G's, and end velocity really made a coaster special. I rode the woodie at the Texas State Fair in Dallas in 1979 (it's gone now, I think) and thought, "holy crap! what a ride" and it wasnt tall at all. The question is: Millenium Force, Top Thril Dragster and Kingda Ka have set the bar for supergiga-coasters to come. Have the coaster manufacturers sacrificed good old crap-your-pants thrills for "tallest/fastest/highest/" or am I completely off base?

I dunno...is it me or does DCA seem like someone's recasting of the original Disney vision transmuted through 20th-century-colored glasses? It's probably just me. I have had a love/hate relationship with the Disney megacon almost all of my life: my 2nd coaster cred was the opening of Spazz (sorry) Space Mountain, interned at the Florida Mouse the summer after I graduated, etc. The facts are boring, and not DCA, specifically. I think what worries me is the proponderance of franchised theming over genuine wonderland (not Alice) design. Sure, "Cars", "B&TB" and so forth were mega-hits and have milions of fans, but to use them as a showcase of a park-wde renovation seems more of a corporate sellout than tru innovation. Secondly, the Historical Streets thing, in Disney's hands, could be scary. Can you imagine Hollywood and Vine or Lombard Street or International Boulevard (14th St. in Oakland) done up like the Electric Main Street? It boggles the mind. To all the Disneyfans, I am not disrespecting the Disney franchise. All of Walt's issues aside, the man did have a vision, and I have fond memories of the original EPCOT back in the early 80's, what may be his masterstroke. It's just..I KNOW Disney, having worked for them and seen what lies beyond the multi-billion dollar facade. ("Pay no attention to the main behind the curtain." Will DCA pull it out? I hope so. It's possible, but I wouldn't lay money on it. The two main Mice have coasters and attractions that rank in the world's best or most popular. Until DCA has attained that, it won't be any more than Anaheim's disbabled little brother.

I know that Togo Entertrooper thingy! Well..sort of. Royal American used to have a midway ride named Force 10, which ran for maybe a season or two before people began complaning of ride-induced injuries like decapitation or loose bowels..seriosuly, there were some whiplash incidents. Anyway, it was an Enterprise but with side-by-side seating and no protective overshell, and at some point, you did pull 10 G's. (I couldnt find a barfy smiley for that..) Togo has such weird things. America needs a good dose of Japanese weirdness, if not just to alienate and scare the NASCAR legions. Mozart

I've ridden a lot in their first year. Here's what I can remember. If the years are wrong, it's because I had too much extracurricular fun in college. 1970s- Space Mountain, Disney World 1976 (?)- Great American Revolution- Magic Mountain 1977 (?)- Colossus- Magic Mountain 1979- Judge Roy Scream- SFOT 1987- EXT- Worlds of Fun (it's gone, and thank god..the pain, the pain..) 1980s- Greased Lightning- Astroworld 1990s- Top Gun- Great America 1990s- Kong- Marine World, Vallejo 1990s- Scream- Marine World, Vallejo 2001- Superman: Ride of Steel- SFNE 2002 (?) Batman: the Dark Knight- SFNE I cant remember when it was, but my father insists that we rode the Shock Wave the first year it ran at SFOT. I have no memory of this, but he insists it happened. If it can be counted, MY inaugural ride was the Knott's Berry Farm Corkscrew when I was 7 (*early 1975, I think). Since I bounce all over the place, I dont really have a home park, so...um..yeah.