Ryancrash

While The Voyage didn’t crack my 2010 Top Five, I certainly don’t think I rated it low. It made #14 out of the 119 woodies I ranked this year. (Down three spaces from last year, due to three high-charting new additions.) 14 out of 119 is still quite respectable. I rode The Voyage 26 times in 2007 and was blown away - it was one of my fave woodies at that point. I rode it twice in 2008 and wasn’t quite as impressed - still thought it was a GREAT ride, but it felt slightly more rough-and-tumble and wasn’t as re-rideable as it had been the previous summer. If I’d ridden in the last year or two, it might have slipped further down on my list, but I haven’t, and it hasn’t. I still love it, still think it’s an awesome coaster - but there are a few other woodies that I like a little bit more.

Franco wasn't stoned - that's just how he is. He has a rather unique energy and personality. Danny Boyle almost didn't cast him in 127 Hours for the same reason. They met to discuss the role, and Boyle thought Franco was stoned. He wasn't going to cast him - then a number of people explained to him that Franco doesn't smoke pot, he's just naturally like that all the time.

WTF?! I'm envisioning the Bride of Frankenstein in a chastity belt. (Guessing that was supposed to be "bridge" - but "bride" is far more entertaining.)

A crime against humanity! Though Son Of Beast wasn't quite as abominable in 2003 as it would later become, this comparison alone is a prime example of why Mitch Hawker's polling method is much more effective than others.

Both times I visited, we had amazing views of Fuji-san (briefly) early in the morning - maybe the first hour the park was open, but probably not even that long. Then the clouds concealed it. It's funny to be so close to the mountain and not be able to see it.

^Thanks for sharing the video! Raptor looks like it will be a helluva lot of fun - and an excellent addition to Gardaland's coaster lineup. Can't wait to go back to Italy.

I always take the bus in from the city (lousy Jersey transit from Port Authority) - and the buses arrive long after opening. And I usually try to pick an off day like Tuesday or Wednesday, thinking it will be less crowded, but it never is. Sunday mornings - everyone's hungover or at church, huh? Must remember this sometime when I convince my buddy to drive out there.

My fave two woodies as well. While Balder is #1 in my book, of course El Toro gets off to a stronger start. Those first three drops are mind-blowing - and that drop in the middle of the ride is quite impressive too. But where Balder has the slight edge (in my book) is in the way it maintains its momentum throughout the entire ride - from start to finish, the airtime never lets up. All the side-to-side, back and forth stuff at the finale of El Toro just doesn't do too much for me. I also wonder if operations influence my opinions of these awesome rides at all. My experience with Balder so far has been two blissful sessions of ERT heaven. Every time I've ridden El Toro, I've waited in line (usually an hour or longer) and dealt with Six Flags operations, getting stapled into seats, etc. (I should have ridden El Toro a lot more than I've ridden Balder, but in one day at Liseberg I rode Balder more than twice as many times as I've been on El Toro in total.)

This happened during my last visit to Fuji-Q. Can't recall why Eejanaika closed down - I don't remember any rain. (Maybe there was a little bit of wind? A cloud?) My buddy and I had been waiting over two hours and they gave us a ticket to return. Of course, when the ride re-opens and they start calling the tickets numbers, all of the announcements are in Japanese only - so if you don't speak Japanese, well, good luck. Fortunately for us, my buddy's wife is Japanese, so she told us when it was our turn to get back in line. We finally got to ride it, after waiting for over three hours total. (At least it didn't beat me up as bad as X and X2 did.) We were at Fuji-Q almost all day, and I got in a grand total of six rides. (Lucky for me, I already had most of my credits from an earlier visit.) Yeesh! To the park's credit, I will say their squid on a stick was pretty damn rockin'. And their haunted hospital is amazing, one of the best haunted attractions I've been through anywhere (if you have enough time to wait in line for it).

That's been my impression as well. I've been to Tokyo Dome City several times and while I'm certainly no expert in the matter, nothing there ever struck me as unsafe or unprofessional. The rides seemed well maintained, the employees always seemed attentive and focused, and operations were carried out in an orderly manner. Each time I visited, I enjoyed it very much and walked away wishing that Manhattan had something similar right in the middle of the city. Wow, sad news. My condolences to the victim's family and friends... and also to the park. Three incidents in three months? That's quite a blow and must be hard to recover from. Some terrible luck.

Just hand the best actor award to James Franco NOW! His performance in 127 Hours was absolutely phenomenal, I was truly blown away. Can't wait for the DVD to come out so I can watch it 127 more times.

Voting complete! Always feels strange to rank coasters I haven't ridden in a while. And it's also strange when I know my limited experiences with certain coasters aren't always in line with others' experiences - for example, I've got The Voyage ranked as #14, Hell Cat (Clementon Lake) at #16 (it was still J2 when I last rode it), GhostRider at #55. Knowing others' opinions of these rides, I suspect I may have gotten lucky and caught them on above-average days. If I'd ridden these ones this year, they'd probably rank lower on my list - but I can only go by my own experiences. And the 2010 winners are: (Number 1 - Favorite Steel Coaster - Expedition GeForce) 1. Balder (Liseberg) 2. El Toro (Six Flags Great Adventure) 3. Boulder Dash (Lake Compounce) 4. Ravine Flyer II (Waldameer) 5. Colossos (Heide Park) 6. Troy (Toverland) 7. Thunderhead (Dollywood) 8. El Toro (Freizeitpark Plohn) 9. Rutschebanen (Bakken) 10. The Beast (Kings Island) And the 2010 walk of shame: 110. Regina (Tobu Zoo) 111. Wild Beast (Canada's Wonderland) 112. White Canyon (Yomiuriland) 113. Predator (Darien Lake) 114. Anaconda (Walygator Parc) 115. Mean Streak (Cedar Point) 116. Grizzly (California's Great America) 117. Antelope (Gulliver's Warrington) 118. Son Of Beast (Kings Island) 119. Bandit (Movie Park Germany)

^I don't think the Wagamama picture was Dubai. The Dubai Wagamama may look similar, but I'm guessing that Wagamama picture was actually taken in London, while switching planes before moving on to the final destination.

AH HA! I missed the whole anniversary connection. Now more pieces of the puzzle fall into place... Married on the 23rd... in TWO thousand THREE... A picture of Elissa holding up TWO tickets and THREE fingers... And of course, the more recent picture of the number 23... It's all making sense. Of course this is an anniversary trip. KT is staying with Russ and Janice, while Robb and Elissa are off to someplace romantic - nothing coaster-related, and certainly not the Middle East, but a nice romantic cruise along the French / Italian Riviera.

Many of the new photos support my theory of a Mediterranean cruise along the Riviera - a French beret, with a blue background (the blue of the ocean), an Italian restaurant, French Fries. The French Fries, the Acer woman eating the fries, Mama Steve’s pancake house and the Italian restaurant all represent the abundance of food found on a cruise ship. And the Victoria Secret model = nice = Nice, France once again. Two more things I noticed in the earlier photos: In the Reef ladies photo - the ladies are showing their cans. Cans, like Cannes, France on the French Riviera. And the photo of the Borders bookstore sign - France BORDERS Italy. I stand by my theory - Mediterranean Cruise along the Riviera. (Hitting Nice and/or Cannes along the way.)

I think I finally got the Reef ladies picture… many of you looked at this photo and said, “NICE!” Right, nice… as in… Nice, France on the French Riviera (which is on the ocean, just like the picture of the Reef ladies). Robb also said on Page 8 - “Wow this place is NICE.” (again… Nice, France) Other clues point to something on the ocean blue - the JetBLUE photo, Superman painted red and BLUE, the flag photo shows BLUE on the flag on the edge of the picture, the BLUE in the airplane photo (is that a pillow?), which is looking down toward the floatation device under the seat (and floatation devices are needed for the ocean). Many photos point to France - the Paris / Hilton reference was a bit of a distraction, as the real clue here is Paris and the Eiffel Tower (in France). There’s a photo of McDonald’s - which sells FRENCH Fries. In the black and white photo, Elissa looks very French. And we have a photo of Superman… in Superman 2, he rescues Lois Lane in France (at the Eiffel Tower). The mountain photo on Page 1 represents the nearby Alps. The flag photo shows an Italian flag, and Italy is nearby. Of course, there’s no Wagamama in France. But the Wagamama picture wasn’t taken at the final destination - along with some of the other pictures, it was taken during a stopover in London, where Robb and Elissa switched flights. So my guess is Robb and Elissa are in Nice, France to take a Mediterranean cruise. (They could have been going skiing in the nearby Alps, but they don’t seem to be dressed for snow.) The absence of KT suggests this is a romantic getaway, just for two.

Choices are now narrowed down to: UK / Europe / Scandinavia. Judging by the photos, this place has Wagamama, signs are in English, people are white, and X-Mas is celebrated. Definitely NOT the Middle East. And not Australia or New Zealand, since TPR is doing Australia very soon, and they would have flown over the Pacific Ocean to get there (not the Atlantic). And not the U.S. - cause it's daytime here.

The photo of the Reef ladies seems to suggest Assawoman Bay - but this hardly seems the time of year for a visit to Ocean City, Maryland. Or this photo could support my earlier guess, Seattle - the photo represents the song "Baby Got Back" by Seattle's Sir Mix-a-lot. Or this photo could have just been included because Robb appreciates some good ass.

^Perhaps the real clue here was the word "Derby" - as in "hat" - as in... Robb and Elissa are going back to jolly ole' England! (Joking, of course - they were just there a few months ago, can't see 'em going back so soon...)

OK, now I'm confused... But I'm pretty sure it's NOT Dubai - for the simple reason that it would be way too obvious a choice, given the recent opening of Formula Rossa. (That, plus the pics don't seem to suggest anything remotely Arabic...) Also, with the coaster being so new, I'm sure it's bound to have a number of mechanical problems to be worked out - I'm guessing Robb and Elissa would wait a while before going all the way to Dubai, instead of gambling on the likely possibility that the coaster's not even running when they get there. But I do think KT's absence is noteworthy... hmm...

"It's dark" supports both of my previous guesses (Las Vegas or Seattle). But "Wow this place is nice!" cancels out both of these guesses. Then again, two of the recent photos support my Seattle / Crystal Mountain ski trip guess - there is a Borders sign (Washington borders Canada) and a Nirvana reference - the flight path caption refers to their "Nevermind" album, and the blue/green colors of the picture are similar to the colors of the album cover.

I would like to put forth a second guess, on the off chance that my first guess (Las Vegas) was incorrect. So many hints point to Seattle, but I couldn’t think why you would be visiting Seattle, especially at a time of year when no coasters are open. But now it all makes sense - a ski trip! You’ve gone to Seattle to go skiing at Crystal Mountain and check out their awesome new gondola lift. The Starbucks sign on Page 1 was the biggest clue, as Seattle is home to Starbucks. All of the Asian references were big clues as well (the Japan flag, Hello Kitty, an exit sign with Asian languages listed before others), as Seattle has a very large Asian community. JetBlue flies to Seattle. Also important here is the name of the airline (which you may or may not have flown) - JetBLUE. And in the next picture, Superman is now painted red and BLUE. And in the flu shot picture, flu rhymes with BLUE. People always get the BLUES in Seattle, due to the gray dreary skies and frequent drizzles. The Superman clue is also important because it is tall - like the Space Needle in Seattle. The Eiffel Tower picture is significant for the same reason. And the mountain picture points to Mount Rainier, and the Cascade Mountains, and the Crystal Mountain ski resort, and SKIING. The roller derby picture is important, as Seattle has a lot of female roller derby teams. Page 3 has a picture of a shoe. The shoe looks grungy - and Seattle was the birthplace of grunge in the late 80s. Also, Page 1 has a picture of Elissa in black and white - and black and white photos were totally the look of the grunge movement. I still can’t quite figure Paris Hilton’s connection to Seattle - this may have been to throw us off, or maybe… Paris Hilton --> annoying blonde chick on drugs --> Courtney Love --> widow of Kurt Cobain, and therefore tied to Seattle.

The Japan references were too obvious… and by process of elimination, I would rule out countries you’ll be visiting on TPR trips this year (like Japan, Australia…) In spite of the (too easy) hints at international locations (which could be intended to throw us off track), the JetBlue picture leads me to believe this trip is domestic (since the majority of their flight destinations are in the U.S.) I think you guys are in Las Vegas. The mountain picture suggests the volcano at The Mirage. Also, the caption here (“exotic”) refers to the exotic dancers and showgirls in Vegas. The “Helllloooo pussy!” caption is a reference to the legal prostitution in Nevada (the state where Vegas is located, though prostitution is illegal in the city itself). The “Yummy!” caption represents all of the 24 hour food buffets in Vegas. But the real giveaway here was the Paris Hilton reference (spread out between the two photos), as it was in Las Vegas that Paris Hilton was arrested for cocaine possession recently. So that's my first guess - Las Vegas.

Looking great so far! Thanks for sharing the pictures. Can't wait to go back to Italy and ride this.

I'm definitely excited for this coaster - looks like Gröna Lund is really packing a lot into such a small space. And I'm also looking forward to the new Blå Tåget. Yet more great reasons to go back to Sweden soon! Thanks for sharing these pictures Olov!