milst1

Quick plug for Falken at Fårup Sommerland. Lots of fun for a family woodie.

All of the night ERT on TPR Middle America was awesome. Prowler, Viper and Raging Bull at SFGAm. On Deep South 2009 Rampage was insane. But my ultimate night rides were nighttime ERT on Voyage at HoliWood Nights, and ultimate ultimate was Eagles Fortress ERT at Everland with TPR. That was the ultimate crazy coaster and at night it went to an insane level, tearing down the hill through the trees. RIP.

Loving the report, keep it coming! I didn't know Schilke was with Rocky Mountain Construction. Good to see that he's still involved with innovative projects. I haven't seen him since I watched him talk about the design of X in "Extreme Rollercoasters (2003)" on a Netflix DVD.

I shouldn't have done this, but I queried SFGAdv about this in an email. The response included this gem: "I asked our Public Relations department and was told that the picture is a sister coaster of El Toro. This picture was put up before El Toro was built." I had to reply: Are they "sister" coasters because...they're both made out of wood?

See SFGAdv's illustration for their El Toro page: http://www.sixflags.com/greatAdventure/rides/ElToro.aspx

Ugh, bad news from Denmark. After 64 seasons beginning in 1947, Karolinelund in Aalborg has shut its gates. Yes, it was a bit run-down and the most thrilling attraction was a Boomerang, but it was still....Okay, there was a Pinfari scary dark ride. That was worth saving. RIP.

Nice trip report, we're going to do the same trip next month. Anyone know if Abismo is closed or open after the Maurer-Söhne X-Coaster fiasco? I heard that Rip Ride Rockit has reopened. Thanks!

Wow, thanks for the pictures, which bring back memories of my first coaster trip that involved getting on an airplane (family trips to FL not included). It must have been 1995 or 1996 when I flew down to Texas and visited SFoTx and SFAstroworld. Ironically, the coaster had been at my home park of Great Adventure, but after the Haunted Mansion fire of 1984, I stopped visiting amusement parks for a while and had not ridden it there. In the mid-90's my interest was rekindled and I made that trip. I remember that the queue was really really long and heavily themed. The park was empty but it took us 10 minutes of trudging through Gotham before we got to the loading station.

Ha, good point. Presumably that will get worked out. Maybe they could put in a Vekoma motorbike temporarily to tide people over.

Uh, two things. First, NY1 is reporting new developments at the empty amusement-zoned lots at Coney Island. Apparently it will be called Scream Zone and it looks like they're putting up a Zamperla Volare and a skyscraper for 2011. NY1 calls it an "extreme coaster". While I remain supportive and even joyful regarding the best year for Coney Island in many many decades, as an enthusiast I'm disappointed by the middling product offered by Zamperla and I'm still unhappy with the city's Zamperla decision. Of course I have no idea who else submitted bids for operating Coney Island, so it's certainly possible that the City didn't have much of a choice. I'm not a fan of the Zamperla flying coaster model, and there's already one in the region at Rye. Heck, if Rye Playland goes on the chopping block they can just move that one down to Brooklyn. Wouldn't the MotoCoaster have made more sense? They would have added an attraction that you can't find on the entire East Coast. And that's the only half-thilling coaster Zamperla currently offers. In my fantasies, Mack got the Coney Island contract. They build better rides and they know how to run a park. Here's the story and a video: http://brooklyn.ny1.com/content/top_stories/127184/ny1-exclusive--extreme-coaster-coming-to-coney-island The other item is this year's Halloween haunt produced by Coney Island USA, known as Creepshow at the Freakshow. This year's theme is "The Ride Inspector's Nightmare" and here's a description below. Sounds awesome. There's more at Coney Island USA. CREEPSHOW AT THE FREAKSHOW 2010 - THE RIDE INSPECTOR'S NIGHTMARE! THE RIDE INSPECTOR'S NIGHTMARE is an interactive show (allow 45 minutes for the complete experience) that tours various rooms at the Coney Island Sideshows by the Seashore building generally not available to the public such as the damp creepy basement, back stairs, etc. Audience members will take a "tour" of several amusement park ride "NYPD Crime Scenes" including a deadly collapsed roller coaster and will meet living-dead performers along the way including drunken incompetent ride inspectors, creepy ticket sellers and lots of dead and decapitated bodies of innocent tourists. At the conclusion of the show, the audience will also get to partake in a courtroom trial of the negligent ride inspector and will be sworn in for horrific jury duty. CREEPSHOW AT THE FREAKSHOW is Coney Island’s original Halloween extravaganza and one of the best haunted tours in all of New York City. This year, the rides at new Luna Park will be open weekends during the October run of the show. Come see what the New York Press called "not only the best and wildest haunted house in town, but the smartest as well."

I want one. Thanks for posting.

I really wanted to try one of those tower burgers. That place was awesome.

I wish the best for the injured guests, but I hate to admit that I'm feeling a bit of schadenfreude towards Knott's and Pony Express, which is a foolish attitude as a CF unitholder I know, but I'm still annoyed that they made me remove my eyeglasses (which had a retainer of course) "for safety reasons" on Pony Express at WCB this year. Never mind that eyeglasses are permitted on KK, TTD, Rita, Desert Race, Booster Bike, and other far more powerful launch coasters. I've only ever been asked to remove my eyeglasses on two occasions: After riding The Ultimate at Lightwater Valley I had to concede that I understood the request and switched to lenses for the next visit. I'll never understand the reason for the request at Pony Express, which has a top speed of 37mph. In my evil brain the accident was caused by ops management focusing on eyeglass removal instead of real safety issues.

Cool report, Robb, with nice insider insights.

I offer you the third installment, much later than planned, of the Hansa Heide Hoedown. After a nice day at Hansa Park, Cheryl and I got in the car and drove to Soltau to check into the... Hotel Port Royal! It's a pirate-themed hotel and has it's own entrance to Heide Park. The hotel looks like sort of a pirate castle or fort from the outside, complete with moat. Here's what happens to guests who can't pay the bill. Pirate art and chewy chocoate dubloons on the pillow. Port Royal was a Jamaican port for the "Pirates of the Caribbean" in the 17th Century where it was known as a kind of modern Sodom. Bizarre little broadside cannon in the room that fortunately did not fire at us. Gilt frame around the TV. Pirate ship commode. There was a lot of great detail all over the room. Dinner time! That dessert was pretty awesome, as weird as it sounds. Cheryl meets Wumbo at dinner. A visit to Heide Park coming up.

Great report. I agree that a spooky night train is a great idea, although when we rode Dorney's HalloWeekends train during the day a few years ago it was only so-so. Someone here said that Dorney doesn't have a train anymore, which I didn't know, but in general Cedar Fair parks have upped their spend on their Halloween events considerably in the last several years and the attendance numbers have really helped them financially. The amazing thing is that not long ago, the season used to end with Labor Day.

Hanno, I'm shocked to hear that! But you have the prize park scoop: Plopsa Coe, so I'll always be jealous. Olivier, we loved Phantasialand. We've also really enjoyed our visits to Europa Park and Holiday Park. Movie Park Germany not as much, but we need to go back for the Bandit credit, and there's a new owner, so we'll give it another chance. The other German parks on my to-do list include Freizetpark Plohn and Belantis. Have you been to either of these? I want to ride "the other El Toro"! Next segment coming up tonight hopefully! -Martin

Freaking awesome.

^^^Larry, let me make it up to you! Anything you missed at Wiener Prater or Vidampark? I know, it's a longshot.

Desert Race at Heide Park, last Sunday. Launch photo, and they sell the yellow wristband with UBS stick built in for on-ride photos!

Super fantastic report! Thank you so much for sharing!

Presumably this also affects X-Coaster at Magic Springs in the USA and others around the world? I'm wondering if local park Drievliet has closed Formule X but I'm too lazy to call.

Part II Hansa Park Pressing on in spite of anemic response. After driving from the Dutch parks to Lübeck in Germany, we stayed overnight and found ourselves a half hour later at Hansa Park! Big castle at Hansa Park entrance. See the ship in the logo? The park is on the sea and there's a nautical theme. I am uncooperative when the camera is turned on me. Rasender Roland, a Vekoma Junior, was the first credit of the day. Nessie SuperRollerCoaster is a Schwarzkopf looper that had several good airtime kicks. The two tracks are a bit intertwined. The Nessie coaster goes right into Nessie's mouth! Don't confuse this Nessie with the one in Williamsburg. As I said, there's a nautical theme. Crazy mine is a Maurer Söhne Wild Mouse. An animatronic jug band plays "She'll Be Comin' Round The Mountain" and other great hits incessantly while you wait in the queue. I really liked the Blumenmeer-Bootsfahrt Boat Ride. Peaceful and fragrant. Fluch Von Novogorod (Curse of Novogorod) is the park's premiere attraction, a heavily themed Gerstlauer EuroFighter with indoor and outdoor sections. Cool animatronics in the queue. This was a great ride, even though we didn't quite understand the story line in German. Still, the marriage of dark ride and coaster seems to work out rather well. Indoor section of Fluch von Novogorod. Outdoor section of Fluch von Novogorod. Not super high capacity, so our wait was close to an hour. We opted to not wait again for a second ride. Nice long ride on the back-most rear-facing seat of the railroad. Completely bizarre parade. There was a walkway out of the park to some rental bungalows and you could see the Baltic. You could also get great views of the sea at the Observation Tower, named after the Duchy of Holstein, now part of Germany's northernmost state, Schleswig-Holstein. Their flag is just he Dutch flag turned upside-down. Alas, I was mostly in video mode during the tower ride. There's also a star flyer and a drop tower. Indoor bumper cars. Cheryl approves. Decent restaurant in the background, but they sure are slow. In general, we saw not a lot of walkaround food in Germany, and long lines when there was a stand. Here's another look at the nice boat ride. Hope you've enjoyed. Next and final part will be the Port Royal Pirate Hotel and Hansa Park!

Thanks for the kind words Groteslurf! I'm hoping to put Part II up over the weekend.

Nice report and good commentary. Vortex is probably my favorite old school Arrow.