mattnz

Thanks Kevin! You really were the star of Silver Dollar City. Bee sting on a B&M! Glad it all turned out OK.

I had heard very good things about Silver Dollar City and the park absolutely delivered on all counts: it was beautiful, friendly, filled with charm and had a whole line-up of highly underrated rides. Everything people had told us about the park was true, right down to the cinnamon bread, which was honestly the nicest food I have EVER eaten in my entire life! This was very possibly our favourite park of the trip. The park very kindly gave us front of the line passes for a number of rides in the morning, which was awesome. They also hosted a fun Q&A during lunch and gave us prizes. Andrew and I won the award for having travelled the furthest. The Aussies all grumbled of course, but since we came to the US via Australia I stand by our claim! On a side note: I don't have a photo of it, but Thunderation turned out to be one of the best mine trains I've been on. Wow! How can an Arrow mine train be so good? I really couldn't recommend this park highly enough. On the way to the park we passed by Celebration City. "Nothing to see here, move along," etc. Actually it was a little sad seeing Ozark Wildcat sitting there SBNO. TPR is at Silver Dollar City! It's going to be an awesome day! There are specialty shops and working craftsmen around every turn. Spoons anyone? The trip participants were split into two groups for the front of the line passes, and ours got to head over to Powder Keg first. Yep. The themeing is great. The ride turned out to be one of my favourites of the trip. The launch was fun and the ride had airtime all over the place! We re-rode quite a few times during the day and also managed to get in a night ride, which was very cool! Wildfire had a nice station. That mist was very welcome today. The first drop in the back row was insane. Butts way, way out of seats! The cobra roll. Coming back down to earth. In all, a fun, compact B&M in a beautiful setting. Fire in the Hole, the coaster/dark ride hybrid was another fun surprise. Dan rode in the front of our car. I think he got a little wet Speaking of water, the park had this huge water play area called Geyser Gulch. Kids were having a blast here. New for 2010 was RiverBlast, a splash battle very well themed to Tom and Huck's various adventures. Unfortunately it broke down as we were about to ride and we didn't manage to get back there. It looked very nice. Good fit for the park. Today was a good day for water rides. As a 'log flume enthusiast' I felt this one was pretty good, if a little short. Andrew enjoying the cinnamon bread. "Oh God yes! YES!!" I'll have what she's having The park had an old school shooting dark/boat ride by the name of the Flooded Mine. We also got front of the line passes for the Giant Swing, which was most helpful - it had long lines all day. A first screamin' swing for Andrew and I. We loved it though it had a very short programme. Many TPR people did the Marvel Cave. It was well worth it. A 'nature credit', if you will. Some parts got a little bit claustrophobic. Nearly 500 feet below the surface and I can't even tell which way is up! Thanks Silver Dollar City for building an awesome park around your giant hole in the ground!

GO BRIAN!!! Thanks everyone - it was great meeting you all too. We will definitely sign up for some future trips. Now that we're more 'seasoned' I'm sure we'll focus on hanging out and having fun with people as much as we focused on getting maximum rides in!

^ Thanks Robb! I'm on a bit of a roll, so here's our photos and thoughts on Worlds of Fun... Worlds of Fun was the first 'corporate' park of the trip and while it may not have the greatest set of coasters in the world really does deliver a fun all-round experience. The park was beautifully landscaped, filled with trees, spotlessly clean, and very well managed and run. I was particularly impressed with the ride operations here. Mamba and Prowler were our favourite rides, and Patriot was a pretty decent B&M invert (another good 'first' for Andrew!). Add all the random old school flat rides like Bamboozler, Cyclone Sam's, Finnish Fling, etc, and you have, well, many Worlds of Fun to enjoy! Park entrance. And very apt name for the park, too. I determined to take lots of photos of people today. Hey guys! During the first afternoon and evening we managed to get all the credits in. This is Patriot's giant loop. This was my favourite element on Patriot. It gave you a little bit of 'invert air'. Not quite Fire Dragon but still fun. Though it took Patriot a while to open up for ERT the next morning, the park still held off the crowds so we could get the first rides in. Thanks Worlds of Fun! What a pretty park. Mamba was the first hyper coaster of the trip and had more airtime than it's given credit for. OK, so the area around Mamba is a little 'Cedar Fair'-ish but I'm not complaining. I had never tried Dippin' Dots before. Kind of made me feel like having 'normal' ice cream straight afterwards... We got on Spinning Dragons which had a long line in the blazing sun... But the queue moved fast thanks to awesome ride operations. It was so hot we rode the old school log flume. It kind of trundled through the course but hey, it's a log flume credit! Andrew had never been on an Enterprise before, so we had to get that credit too. I believe Detonator was the first Space Shot ride in the US. It didn't make it too high up the towers... During lunch the park gave us free stuff! Mike Austin won some shot glasses! (He doesn't drink, haha!) For some reason we freakin' loved Timber Wolf. It had a great layout and made us laugh uncontrollably. Enjoy your intense 'ride jostling' folks! What can I say, Andrew and I like it rough. Speaking of rough, Worlds of Fun has a boomerang called Boomerang! Actually, this one wasn't too bad at all. The park gave us a backstage walk-back tour of the almighty Prowler. And a long, hot walk-back it was too! Some of the other assorted 'prowlers' in the area. We got to take lots of awesome shots of the ride. A shot never seen before! Some of the riders were 'prowlers' too. Andrew got down and dirty with the coaster. Dear God, he's not the only one... Night ERT was fantastic. Leslie Hall enjoyed her ride too! After our second day at the park TPR headed out to Lambert's insanely awesome restaurant - home of the 'throwed rolls'. Put your hand anywhere above the table and a roll will come hurling your way! The drinks were HUGE. As were the meals. But none were bigger than newly-vegetarian Bryan's gargantuan salad! That night we travelled to Branson, home of godly entertainment and holy hotels. We're not in New Zealand anymore folks!

Day two saw TPR visit Adventureland, a cute and charming amusement park hidden amidst the corn fields of Iowa. We also got our first taste of the heatwave that would soon consume Mid-America. But I agreed with Robb's opinion on this: better a heatwave than rain when you're visiting parks... Adventureland greets you with a very nice Disney-style entrance. Along with a Disney-style Main Street Part of Main Street burnt down earlier this year, but Adventureland certainly seem to be on top of things. 'Cute' and 'charming' really are the best words I can use to describe this place. Tornado was a really decent and fun-filled wooden coaster. A perfect 'first woodie' for Andrew! The turnaround. Lots of airtime all over this ride. The older ride ops were great here. But the park had some 'interesting' policies. This ride op is in the process of saying, "You MUST take your loose articles on the ride with you!" Not a fluffy, fluffy bunny to be seen anywhere! This is Dragon. I didn't bother to wait for a train, but the loops were probably the smoothest part of the ride... During this part I really had to hang on to my loose articles. The park had a spinning raft ride. Andrew and I went down backwards the whole way! Outlaw was our favourite coaster at the park - another really decent and underrated ride. Lots of airtime here too. The front of the train really surprised us. The frisbee ran a decent programme. The ride op basically forbade us to hold on. I love S&S Space Shots. Kidtums-sized tower ride! We queued for a long time for the river rapids. The water was rather blue. After a fun day at Adventureland it was time to head south to Missouri, where Worlds of Fun awaited us!

Andrew and I had the time of our lives on TPR's Mid-America trip 2010. Thanks to Robb and Elissa and all the trip participants - we miss you guys! The trip was of particular significance to Andrew who was very much the 'theme park virgin' - having only ridden three coasters before we left. With our add-ons to Cedar Point, Kings Island and Six Flags Magic Mountain we've both now been on over 100 coasters each. Every shred of virginity we ever had is gone!! I'll divide up our TR mainly by parks, but we'll try to cover all the other fun stuff we got up to with TPR: Part 1: Nickelodeon Universe (scroll down) Part 2: Adventureland Part 3: Worlds of Fun Part 4: Silver Dollar City Part 5: St. Louis Arch/City Museum Part 6: Six Flags St. Louis Part 7: Holiday World Part 8: Indiana Beach Part 9: Six Flags Great America Part 10: Mt. Olympus/Timber Falls Part 11: Valleyfair Part 12: Cedar Point (1 of 2) Part 12: Cedar Point (2 of 2) Part 13: Kings Island Part 14: Six Flags Magic Mountain Our journey began with a 38 hour-long trek to Minneapolis via Sydney, LA and Atlanta. Waiting for the shuttle bus to the Ramada we recognised a TPR shirt - belonging to Stefan! We ended up hanging out a lot with Stefan on the trip and he even gave us a local's tour of Cedar Point. Thanks Stefan! On early arrival day Andrew and I could smell the coasters over at the Mall of America and rode the one ride that *could* have broken down - Avatar Airbender. It was great fun, as was the rest of Nickelodeon Universe... Yay - we made it! We've had almost no sleep for 38 hours, but the Mall of America waits. The mall had a very nice Lego center. But we were here for the rides! Early arrival day we had to get our Intamin half pipe credit. Is Avatar Airbender even a roller coaster? Whatever, it was great fun. The official Mid-America trip began in outstanding style with ERT on Spongebob Squarepants (and Avatar Airbender - which was working just fine you paranoid git!). Spongebob was our first Euro-Fighter and we loved it. It had some interesting, compact elements that made us gasp. Vertical lift, beyond vertical drop, cut back, zero-G roll, etc. Nice job Gerstlauer/Nick Universe! What to do next? Nick Universe sure manages to pack a lot of rides in here... There was the Fairly Odd spinning coaster. Andrew and I quickly figured out that we like these rides - and like them to spin a lot! Nick Universe also has some wacky flat rides, like Tak Attack, which left its riders speechless. Perhaps not the best sign. The latest wacky contraption at Nick Universe was Brain Surge, which we felt was a fun update on the old Rok-N-Roll/squirrel cage ride. The shooting dark ride was one of many on the trip, and a good one. The log flume was up there for me with Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls and Splash Mountain. True story. Quite a few TPR people tried out the ropes course which I believe goes by the name of the Flying Dutchman Ghostly Gangplank. It takes you up pretty high. After our first bus journey (it was nice not being on a damn plane!) and awesome meal at Buca di Beppo (for which I failed to get any decent photos) it was time for some international snack trading! Nick tries some Eskimos - weird, politically incorrect spongy things from New Zealand. Divv is a Dorito-loving Scotsman. We brought him some but they burst in our luggage. We gave him the empty bags. One man's trash, etc... The glamorous Leslie Hall enjoyed some international snacks too! I have to say, meeting Leslie was easily the highlight of my day (thanks Elissa!). I loved her body rolls and sexy lady musk. Andrew and I would like Leslie to marry us Iowa-style some day. She even offers an illegal fireworks display - how can you top that?! Leslie got the music pumping and hocked some quality goods out the back of her car. I got a CD, signed photo and pen that when upturned reveals Leslie's sexy white bra. We love you Leslie!!

Very nice TR. I last visited in 2008 and things are looking pretty good. Glad to see the train running (it wasn't when I last visited) - gives you some interesting angles.

Awesome video of Fiesta Texas Shane. Love the B-52's song too!

And just in case that was directed towards me because of my "Intamin cable update"...yes, I'm well aware of this. I was just saying "Intamin Cable" as part of the joke and ease of explanation. --Robb I LOVE it! The Intamin cable attacks again!! Ahhh!!!

Cool TR! I was sad to hear about the old Schwarzkopf dark ride 1001 Nacht closing, but it looks like a lot of interesting additions have come/are coming to Phantasialand. Thanks for sharing.

Intriguing to hear that you're looking into blu-ray Robb! Awesome!! The RAW footage will never look better.

Thanks all. Guy, New Zealand beckons! I believe you can visit the remnants of Hobbiton somehwere around Hamilton. But you're right, the whole country basically looks like Hobbiton so why bother! And I am planning on climbing Mt. Doom (doing the Tongariro Crossing) sometime soon.

^ You're strapped in with three-point harnesses on the Skyswing. It seems much steeper than a skycoaster to me, but probably provides a similar experience - though I find flying face-down a lot more intimidating... Not sure who manufactured the log flume but it looks like an Arrow ride to me.

Part 3: Rotorua We took a quick trip over to Rotorua to visit Skyline Skyrides to ride their new 'Skyswing' - a bungee style attraction. Commercial bungee jumping began in New Zealand in the early 1980s and we've always been big on this sort of thing down here (perhaps because we have a lot of very large canyons, cliffs, etc, to jump off...). Skyline Skyrides also have six luge tracks which run down the mountainside. This is LOTS of fun! Finally we drove to my favourite lake in the region - Lake Okataina, which mysteriously has no inlets or outlets. Ain't it pretty. So concludes my TR - thanks for reading! But we were more excited to find another ghetto fair! (Alas, closed during the day.) All around Rotorua you'll find thermal sites including mud pools, hot springs and geysers...hence the tourism. We had a quick look around Rotorua. These are the 'Government Gardens'. The chair lifts serve a practical purpose but are a fun in themsleves. There are two sets of chair lifts to get you back to the top. Finish line. Fun for young and old! Some of the tracks are almost 2 kilometres in length. There are some spots where you really do need to slow down! (Big turns, drops, etc.) You can pick up some great speed on the luge tracks. Funnily enough this was where all the tourists were! But with six tracks you get through pretty fast. We went to check out the luging. Over the cliff. Holy CRAP! This is the part where expletives are shouted out as you rocket to 120 kph / 74 mph. Cables lift you up slowly to 50 metres / 164 feet. I was given the job of pulling the 'rip cord'. You are strapped into this device. There is an on-ride camera too. We went straight to the Skyswing expecting more huge queues. Surprisingly, there were none! But the view from the top is the winner. The gondola offers pretty cool views of Rotorua. You have to take the gondola up the mountainside. They take your picture for purchase later on. We took our own We arrived to find massive queues at Skyline Skyrides. I kind of forgot Rotorua is a pretty huge tourist destination...

^ Ah, Footrot Flats! The place I rode my first coaster - the Cannonball Run (an S.D.C. Galaxi I believe). It became a bit run-down by the 1990s but I always had a lot of fun there. I hadn't seen the KMG ride on the NZ fair circuit before. Simple but quite fun!

So...much...nerdish information! Love it!! Thanks for sharing.

Part 2: The ghetto fair comes to Tauranga Or more specifically, Mt. Maunganui, which is just over the harbour from my old hometown. The fair was run by Mahons Amusements, who have been operating in New Zealand for over 60 years. The fairs always provided good 'training ground' for me in my youth and I like to go back - if only because I find many fairground rides to be more fun and intense than those found at theme parks! I'm sure many can relate. Oh, and happy New Year everyone! Please ride me! (We didn't - Andrew and I aren't quite credit whores just yet.) We had a fun time at the ghetto fair! Seriously, we have to do things like this while waiting for Middle America 2010... Ferris Wheel. Yet another 'faster than your average' fairground attraction. You rock backwards every time you go over the top. This was where the fair started to get really ghetto... Fishing for prizes. Yay for being 'Big'! The Superloop aka Fireball/Ring of Fire as seen in the movie 'Big'. We were tall enough to ride. The Pirate Ship also seems to go much higher than your usual HUSS model. We rode the Sizzler. I swear this is much faster than your usual Scrambler-style ride. Mahons count on the public not to be stupid while the ride is in operation. The Hurricane. More ejector air time to be had - with a pretty minimal lap bar. But the ejector air time is totally worth it. First contraption to greet us was the garishly coloured Scream Machine. You kind of feel like you're on stage with all those lights in your face. Later that night we went to the ghetto fair - New Zealand style! Is this a 'nature credit'? Earlier in the day we climbed Mount Maunganui itself. It's an extinct volcano right at the end of the peninsula.

Cheers Robb! With the Disko they've really rounded out their ride collection. I hope it bumps up their attendance - it really is a fun little park.

^ Thanks! Kiwi and Aussie accents do sound a little similar, but of course we can most definitely tell the difference!

It's summertime Downunder and New Zealand's only theme park Rainbow's End has just opened their new ride 'Invader' - a Zamperla Disko Coaster. Having never been on one before (I don't think there are any others in this part of the world...), a small group of us decided to check out the ride and the rest of the park on a very warm day just after Christmas... (I'll do a part 2 and 3 as my partner Andrew and I checked out some other fun stuff during our Christmas break.) Good operations and friendly staff go a long way too! Next up: the ghetto fair comes to Tauranga and we take a trip to Rotorua to check out some other thrilling attractions. Overall we had a fun-filled day at the park! Rainbow's End has a decent line-up for our little island nation. But who needs two of them? Hmm...possible site of a future ride? Perhaps an invert? (One can hope.) Finally we checked out the park's two race car rides. The park also has a retro Cinema 180 attraction with a domed screen. You stand while watching funny 70s clips of out-of-control trains, planes and automobiles, and even the Loch Ness Monster at Busch Gardens! Fun way to experience the ride actually. Credit denied! (We didn't feel like stealing a child.) Here you'll find the park's third coaster - a dragon wagon that weaves around the castle surrounding the area. Frog Hopper enthusiasts rejoice! Cadbury Chocolate no longer sponsor the park's kiddyland, but Rainbow's End give them big-ups nonetheless. 3D simulation attraction. Kind of a ghetto Jurassic Park. ...shows. Does this one count as a 'culture credit'? ...dodgems... Other attractions you'll find at Rainbow's End: bumper boats... Time for lunch TPR style. O Intamin gods - creators of the Intamin drop tower - we worship thee! And an AWESOME one at that. Not too tall, but very, very forceful. It takes my breath away each and every time. It's an Intamin drop tower. Nearby is the BEST ride at the park. The little girls on the other side kept telling us to scream! We gave the Pirate Ship a whirl. This is an excellent flat ride. You're left feeling very grateful for the restraints... Sign of quality? Next up: another Zamperla ride, the Power Surge. ...and double corkscrew over the midway. They send you through twice with the option of getting off after round 1. This would be the vertical loop... Station pic featuring one of the more colourful coaster trains out there. We rode the Arrow Loop & Corkscrew. There's another lift hill outside (literally) through the trees. It has great themeing all the way along the course, with trains coming at you, falling beams, animatronics, and a lift hill in the dark... Station pic. I have no idea who manufactured this ride. Can anyone shed some light? You ride in four seater trains and it feels a bit like a Wild Mouse - with tight corners and sudden braking. But the ride is custom fit for the hillside it shares with the log flume and is really, REALLY FUN! It's called Goldrush. We headed over to the mine train coaster. Random themeing on the way. Our friends posing for the onride photo. Overall I was very impressed with the log flume. I first rode it way back in the mid-1980s and it still has one of the best lay-outs of any flume I've been on. Themeing has improved too which is always a good thing! Final drop. ...then downright scary. ...and trippy... Where things start to get a little weird... You head into the creepy caves. New themeing has appeared. It's now a little bit 'Pirates of the Caribbean'. Love on the log flume! The water is very green. Other rides in the area were still testing so we headed to the log flume - an old favourite of mine. A little themeing at the entrance/exit. This will NOT happen to you on the ride. The colour of Pepsi! It's a Zamperla Disko Coaster! Naturally we headed there first. Invader is near the back of the park. Rainbow's End! Good to see it's still gay-friendly after all these years. ...with the occasional volcano or two. Andrew and I travelled by train to start our holidays. This is what New Zealand looks like...

I'm chiming in a little late, but as an international member of TPR I strongly support this step. It seems logical to me, as TPR has grown well beyond just a 'forum'. And if it helps us establish even better relations with theme parks around the world, then all the better. I'm going on a trip next year, which make the perks all the more appealing, but I'd still be delighted to support upgrading to premium membership as I think it's a great way to support the work Robb and Elissa are doing. It is so cool to visit a website like TPR during my 'downtime Downunder' when I'm far away from theme parks. Doing so inspired me to get on a trip in the first place! So yes, absolutely, 100% support from where I'm standing!

Awesome catalogues. It's funny to see some oddities that never were (Bubble Ride?) and cool to see Intamin still advertising rides that haven't seen the light of day in a while.

That is quite stunning - I've never heard of this one before. There were some daring thrillseekers back then!

Great memorabilia Shane. Magic Mountain was certainly a family friendly park in its early days - with many modes of transportation... Two train rides, sky-way, cable car... Being built on a mountain, I think the park needed them!

I love this park, and pretty much agree with your coaster reviews. They have a varied line-up, with some really outstanding coasters. I also wish GASM was a bit smoother, because it has an awesome layout, and I love how it seems to pick up speed right up to the end. I believe Mind Bender always nearly comes to a stop at the top of the lift by the way!