larrygator

I look at it this way. There are 130 or so coasters on a list that I have ridden. Those coasters happen to be labeled as Wood Coasters. Then I rank them from my favorite/most enjoyable to less favorite/enjoyable. Pretty simple concept if you ask me. Regarding people who "enjoy" El Toro but purposely rank it low. To me this is akin to rating your favorite Pennsylvania coasters and ranking Phoenix below the Wild Mouse at Dorney because Phoenix is a "Texas" coaster.

I specifcally remember: Who'll Stop the Rain, Here Comes the Sun and Good Day Sunshine The Bicycle Ride was right across from the kiddie coaster.

I think there is a lot of misinformation being spread in this thread especially when comparing the Six Flags debt to Cedar Fair. I could be wrong but this is how I understand it. I hope I'm not spreading more misinformation. Yes, both entities were highly in debt and for the same reasons (over expansion). However, Cedar Fair has been paying down their debt every year while turning a profit (not sure what the final figures for 2009 will be). As a limited partnership Cedar Fair was obligated to return profits to shareholders (unit holders) in the form of a dividend. That dividend was not issued in 4th Quarter as CF needed that money to meet loan obligations and stay on a schedule of pating down some of the principal on their loan. The difference is with Six Flags the total debt load never went down, the lenders were getting fat off SF interest payments for years. When SF sold porperties they didn't do it to pay down debt, but to make interest payments. Not apply it to the principal. In consumer terms, if you charge $1,000 Visa is happy when you make only the minimum $10 (1%) payment. If your an annual interest rate is 15% the next month your $1,000 bill (minus your $10 payment) will be $1,002.50. Another example (which has an interest rate closer in line to what SF might have on their loan) is if you have an $80,000 mortgage (which is a loan) 5% interest for 15 years. Over the course of those 15 years you pay back $115,000 to the bank, which is not 5% over what you borrowed but 44% more than you borrowed. The net result is that interest compounds over time and if SF not having trouble paying back the minimum their debt load is not reduced but Cedar Fair puts more of their revenue towards the principal to bring down their debt. *These calculations are just examples, don't any of you financial types get upset about accuracy, but let me know if I'm making any fundamental misjudgements.

^Most likely the original poster is just looking at the US on a map and dividing it into 5 similarly sized areas and labeling them geographically: Northeast Southeast Midwest Southwest Northwest But I think what Robb is trying to get at is if you are based in only one city in the Northeast such as New York, then Cedar Point could be a 9 hour drive. But if you are spending 6 weeks driving around the Northeast portion of the US and always on the move these parks shouldn't be a problem. The only major coasters I see you missing are both historical in nature: Leap the Dips at Lakemont Blue Streak at Conneuat Lake (if it reopens in 2010). If you are just trying to accumulate credits, there are plenty of coasters along the New Jersey shore at various parks (but none worth traveling out of the way to ride.) Also, Rye Playland is not on your list. The coasters are subpar but should be considered if you are just looking to ride as many coasters as possible, or enjoy classic flat and dark rides.

^Jet Star was closed most of the day. When we were at the top of the observation tower when Jet Star started running. Some credits whores left our exclusive access tour of lower level of the observation tower (another great bonus negotiated by the Alveys) to rush to Jet Star before it started raining again. Those who stayed a little longer atop the observation tower got to Jet Star just as it closed again. We waited in the queue for about 45 minutes (having a blast singing songs about "rain") before the rain finally cleared longer enough for the coaster to operate again.

Less is more! Great original idea to sum up your season.

^It was great, I think TPDave became TPEmpty in the second room.

I like Americanized Chinese food. I like Americanized Mexican food. It's not surprising it has come to this in California. I'll be on the lookout for Spanish Fortune Cookies in New York's hispanic neighborhoods.

^^^Piraten is in Denmark, he'll have to settle for Balder and Insane. He'll win twice as much when he comes back, because he'll need to make sure he has enough money after Elin leaves him and takes him to the cleaners.

Yes, I also loved that the shooting dark ride provided a limit of bullets.

I don't know about this one, it makes my day when kids are scolded.

I think you are too obsessed with this installation!

I think you are too obsessed with this installation! You know it's not going to be anything great, does it really matter if you find out today or 5 months from now what it is?

Much better, good luck with the results.

Good stuuf, I play around with the info on rcdb sometimes also, but need created graphs and charts. Seeing how well UK and Japan for number of coasters relative to population/size is not surprising. I've seen this before and I think Netherlands or Denmark actually outperform both UK and Japan

Not to be critical but that survey needs to be taken down and corrected not only for grammatical but also spelling errors. I mean you didn't even spell "Merlin" correctly. Please have someone proofread it, a professional done survey will garner better results Some suggestions. The following sentence implies that Thorpe Park is a new park, makes it confusing. When a new ride has been built at a new theme park are you more likely to visit the park such as SAW the ride? Question 13 says to only answer if you responded "Yes" to Question 12. However, if you don't respond the question 13, you can not submit the survey. List the main theme parks you are referring to in Question 14. Use spell check Please use apostrophes

Well he is not giving it away, he is selling the rare swag. It is not uncommon for people who collect items, whether it be for hobbies or through work, to one day decide to clean up the clutter. If you have the ability to sell and make a little cash from years of work, then more power to you.

^^I'm pretty sure someone from the Midwest can handle the harsh weather conditions in California in March. Even during a storm it is sunnier in Southern California than a typical day in the Midwest or Northeast at this time in the year. I know you were only pointing out that it may not be sunny (at least to a Californian) but I like mocking the weakness of Californians regarding weather.

Cold weather doesn't slow me down. But as you know Elissa, nothing ever slows down in New York. Great to see your random thoughts return.

Or better yet, have someone buy them for you as a gift. I buy TPR DVDs them for my niece and also for my best friend's daughter every Christmas. They love them.

I took Brandy's Recipe and created a PTR. The cook did not win an award at my the Annual bake-off at my company but myself and all the chocoholics loved it. Fait d'accompli. The baking has commenced. This was my dinner for the evening. Pour in rest of batter and top with more chocolate chips. Dan close your eyes, more chocloate chips. Pour layer of batter into pan. Hey, batter batter batter. Swing batter batter batter. At the last minute I decided to line the bottom of the loaf pan with crushed chocolate chip cookies and chocolate chips as a crust. Extra ingredient alert. Chocolate Syrup. Bring on the ice cream. Sugar and Flour in the mixing bowl. Exciting stuff. Ingredients. Check! Oh I took to liberty of making it richer by adding: 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of Hershey's Chocolate Syrup, Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips and crushed Chocolate Chips cookies. Pre-Heat Oven to 350. Check!

XVicesandVirtues - it is fine to be opinionated been as another moderator already stated, no need for any name calling. For example: I don't agree with your rain analogy but I'll call it "flawed" not "dumb". Different trains and retraints can certainly have a different effect on a ride. I'll use the original restraints on S:ROS as an example. Before the accident S:ROS was easily my number 1, but new restraints brought it closer to the pack. Great Nor'easter is a much better coaster with new restraints and I'm sure people are going to rate Voyage's experience differently with the new Timberliners in 2010. Wildcat at Hershey improved with Millennium Flyers.

Good job keeping the photos PG-13. I did such a good job helping TPDave get out of that tumbler thing in the Djurs Sommerland obstacle course, I figured I'd lend a hand on the Breakdance.

Large Platter of Chicken Nuggets from Chick-Fil-A

My only thoughts on the ERT line-up being weak on Saturday night, is that they are front loading the best coaster earlier in case of weather problems. For example, if it is rainy on Saturday morning they can reschedule the coasters for Staruday morning ERT to Saturday night. If you have a big coaster for ERT at the end and rain occurs no one is happy.