VinTheAttendant

Awesome report! Thanks to TPR, City Museum is one of the "non-roller coaster related" places at the top of my list of places to visit before I die. These pictures are very justifying

"These Days" - Foo Fighters

I've been to New England, Great Adventure, Great Escape, Over Georgia, America, and Magic Mountain (and Darien Lake when they still owned it). For 18 years of my life, SFNE/Riverside Park has been my homepark. I've been there hundreds of time, know it inside and out, and will pretty much always love the place no matter what. I think because of my bias and history towards it, I can't really vouch for how well SFNE would come across as for a first-time/infrequent visitor. So if I would have to pick the best Six Flags park, of the ones I've been to, it has to be Great Adventure. It has a great coaster collection, decent flat ride collection, great selection for families, thrill seekers, and children; very nice midways, animals, shade. Over Georgia would be a close second for similar reasons, and the Great Escape and Magic Mountain would make third though for completely different reasons. I've been dying to go to SFGAm, and based on the results of this thread (and a little wooden coaster they're getting this year), I need to get there faster.

Wow, that thing is MASSIVE! While Goliath definitely added to the skyline in that part of the park, I didn't think anything would ever dwarf Cyclone like that. The drive coming up from Connecticut is never going to be the same again; can't wait to ride it this summer!

Not really a rant, just an interesting story. A few days ago, I was having lunch with one of my friends (also a TPR member), and we ordered our food at one of our usual spots on campus. After waiting a few minutes, my order is called; I began walking up to the counter, but then another man beat me there, paid for the meal and a few drinks, took the food and left. At that point, I was wondering if I had misheard the order called, or if we both happened to order the same thing. Moments later, my friend's order (which had been placed after mine) was called. So we waited, and waited, and waited for my order, but I was pretty convinced that the random guy had taken my food. Three things gave it away: 1. The guy working the counter noticed me still waiting and had to redo my order. 2. Another order was called and nobody was picking it up. 3. The guy who purchased my meal returned, complaining that he was given the wrong order. I only had a short time to have lunch before I had to get back to school work, and the mix up accounted for more than half of my break. I was more irritated than angry, but it does make me wonder how good of a listener the guy who took my lunch is.

Mine was Space Shuttle at Enchanted Kingdom on January 2nd.

Happy Pi Day!

It's kind of a long story because it was a bunch of things in perfect sequence that got me into roller coasters. From the beginning, I lived only 15 minutes away from Riverside Park (now Six Flags New England), and my parents would take me there frequently (but even when I was little I still managed to rack up a sizable kiddie coaster count). When I was about 5 years old, my mom noticed that I was taking up an interest in trains. On the Discovery Channel, they were showing episodes of Thrills, Chills, and Spills; and even though they weren't trains, my mom still thought I would be interested in them. At the time, I wasn't, but boy did she have a hunch! Around the age of 6, I was mentally developed enough to gain an arbitrary fear of roller coasters, particularly the feeling in your gut going down a drop; so I wound up staying away from coasters for quite a while. Occasionally I would be goaded into riding a big roller coaster, but I wouldn't necessarily like it. Still, we kept making weekly trips to Riverside Park. It was usually just for the waterpark, but it kept roller coasters in my life. At the age of 11, I was given RollerCoaster Tycoon; and it was non-stop fun of popping down pre-built coasters into my parks. Around the same time, my friends were beginning to brag about braving Superman: Ride of Steel. That was the first time I ever did research on a specific coaster, but I didn't really notice any of the statistics or that it was even the #1 steel coaster in the world; just that it looked big and scary. My place as an enthusiast was sealed at the age of 12. My school was having its annual book fair; there were hundreds of books available for sale throughout the atrium of the building, and all I had was $6.00. That six bucks couldn't buy me over 90% of the books there, and most of the stuff I could buy was for children much younger than me. But then there was one particular book I saw; it was a book of mazes themed to roller coasters (this book). I was captivated by the coaster on the cover looking suspiciously like Mind Eraser, and my six dollars could afford it. I could have cared less about the actual mazes, I was amazed at how many different coasters there were in the world and how different each one was. On each page was the maze, a picture of the roller coaster, and a bunch of statistics. I remember seeing the top speed of Nitro, Desperado, and Son of Beast, the fastest coasters in the book, and wondered if Superman: Ride of Steel was anything like them. A few days later, I'm researching SFNE's rides. After that, I'm looking at rides around the world. Opening week at Six Flags that season, I took my first ride on Superman, and I was hooked. A lot of our VHS recordings have been lost, taped over, or simply play like crap now, but that taping of Thrills, Chills, and Spills is the only one I put effort into taking care of. I don't know where that maze book went, but I'm very grateful that it was essentially the key to defining this hobby I hold very dearly. EDIT: Almost forgot! K'Nex Screamin' Serpent roller coaster! It's a working roller coaster in your bedroom! What kid didn't want that?

My first and current car is a 1997 Jeep Wrangler. My family purchased it used because we needed another vehicle to be towed for our RV trip to Cedar Point in 2005. It's since been passed down to me; and thanks to lessons from my dad after getting my license, I can drive both automatic and stick.

Does the Blood and Ice Cream trilogy count? While I love the first Jurassic Park movie to death, the last two installments were too weak for me to consider it my favorite franchise. I think Toy Story has been the most consistent at releasing amazing, quality movies. Back to the Future and Indiana Jones make a close second and are definitely the most fun (I actually liked Crystal Skull, and I happily invite your angry mob to dinner tonight). Kung Fu Panda is also headed in the same direction as Toy Story in terms of quality, though I don't watch the TV series. I also enjoy Final Destination when I'm in the mood for a fun, dumb movie.

I love Bizarro, but I do agree that it is a shadow of its former self. That being said, it still has a fantastic layout and plenty of personal reasons which I believe will keep it in my top 5 for years to come. I would like to see it make a comeback, but I doubt this will be the year. My top 15: Intimidator 305 Kings Dominion VA,y,y,1 Millennium Force Cedar Point OH,y,y,2 Skyrush Hersheypark PA,y,n,3 Bizarro SF New England MA,y,n,4 Favorite Wood Coaster Any Park Anywhere **,y,n,5 Nitro Six Flags Great Ad NJ,y,n,6 Maverick Cedar Point OH,y,y,7 Montu Busch Gardens Tamp FL,y,n,8 Goliath Six Flags Over Geo GA,y,n,9 Storm Runner Hersheypark PA,y,n,10 X2 Six Flags Magic Mo CA,y,n,11 Kumba Busch Gardens Tamp FL,y,n,12 Leviathan Canadas Wonderland ON,y,y,13 Top Thrill Dragster Cedar Point OH,y,y,14 XCelerator Knott's Berry Farm CA,y,n,15 My bottom 5: Pirates Hideaway Casino Pier NJ,y,n,121 Ninja Six Flags Over Geo GA,y,n,122 Fav Zyklon Loop Any Park Anywhere **,y,n,123 Fav Zyklon Any Park Anywhere **,y,n,124 Shockwave Kings Dominion VA,y,n,125 It felt very odd having Pirates Hideaway on the ballot for some reason. It felt sort of like putting a backyard coaster on my list.

Just got back from watching The Wind Rises. I've still yet to decide what my official consensus on the movie is, as it really is thought provoking and I feel like it really needs to sink in. There's a running theme in the movie that may not be as obvious as you'd think, and while you can see it relate to the main character, you don't realize just how much it applies to him until the very end. The way you can interpret the ending, it's hard to decide whether I should feel happiness, sadness, or emptiness. I also like how there's no real villain or problem in the movie. It's a simple story about an engineer and the choices he has to face in a broke and war-torn world. He only has whatever is around him to work with, and even though it's not much, he uses them to build himself up from nothing. That alone is makes for an intriguing story, no bad guys or traitors necessary. This may seem like a laughable comparison, but it really gave me the same feeling after watching Bambi. No villain, no issue to resolve, just life. I really shouldn't have to bring up the animation, of course it's some of the most gorgeous visuals you'll see on the screen this year. It's Studio Ghibli, they could probably animate Epic Movie and make it Oscar worthy. I did feel that the time and travel transitions were a bit overdone, but as long as I get to see some incredible animation on display, I really can't complain. The music is equally as gorgeous, and I'm still surprised that scores from Miyazaki's other works don't get as much attention. Overall, it's not my favorite Miyazaki movie, but it's still a deep, beautiful, imaginative piece of work. I haven't seen Frozen, so I cannot compare the two, but I am glad that it's getting enough recognition to receive nominations from various award ceremonies. I've yet to come across a Miyzaki movie I didn't like, and considering this will be his last, I now know there will never be a Miyazaki movie I didn't like. Enjoy your retirement!

When I was there last month, I remember seeing "What the frak?" while in the gift shop. I don't remember if it was on a t-shirt or if it was painted onto the wall, but I know Universal still has it in the park.

Just finished listening to Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of the Worlds: The New Generation. I used to be a huge fan of the original, and to this day I still really enjoy listening to it on planes, trains, and long car rides. But I still didn't quite know what to expect listening to the reboot. It's alright.....it's not better than the original, but I like it. I can't quite put my finger down on why the original is better because there are aspects of the new version I do enjoy better. I like how much more depth was put into the musical arrangements, I like the added dialogue, and I like how they truly tried to give it a new sound while staying close to its roots. On the other hand, I feel like it will become dated more quickly. The rock aspects are still there, but as much as the dubstep elements worked well enough during the Martian invasion and with the accompaniment, I can't really picture myself looking back on that ten years from now and calling it a classic. Then again, disco is dead (unless you're Daft Punk) and the few disco elements in the original still work very well; so only time will tell. Liam Neeson's voice fits really well for the narrator, but he does not deliver that dark emotional tone that Richard Burton gave. It sounded more like he was reading from a script than actually in those perilous situations where his life or others' lives are jeopardized. The rest of the cast are about the same, not really giving me enough empathy to care about them. The singing voices were alright, but again, they just don't sound as gritty and powerful as the original cast. Overall, the reboot works as a fun thing to listen to every now and again, but it's not going to replace the original. The storytelling aspects work rather well during moments of lyrics or dialogue, but the extensive instrumentals, which were the heart and soul of the original, were trying harder to appeal to a younger crowd than actually driving the story forward. But they're still a lot of fun, the orchestra is great, the guitars are great, the synths, drums, UllaDubUlla; Jeff Wayne is awesome and the album rocks.

The New York, New York Coaster (Manhattan Express) makes a brief cameo in the new Godzilla trailer (albeit CGI).

^ Well, Jaws 19 is coming out next year, so......

That looks EXACTLY like nitro at six flags new jersey!!!!!!

Great thread!! California - X2 Connecticut - Boulder Dash Florida - Montu Georgia - Goliath Maryland - Superman: Ride of Steel Massachusetts - Bizarro New Hampshire - Untamed New Jersey - El Toro New York - Comet North Carolina - Uh.....Vortex? Ohio - Millennium Force Pennsylvania - Skyrush (sorry RF2, you know I still love you!) Rhode Island - Dragon Coaster (only coaster there...) South Carolina - Afterburn Tennessee - Thunderhead Virginia - Intimidator 305

Hi guys! Thanks for all the responses, it's time for another update! Part 3: Circle of Fun in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines So the date is actually January 9th, five days after Universal Studios. In between then was a bunch of adventures in Singapore, followed by a nice trip to the island of Bohol back in the Philippines. They're actually looking for tourism after Typhoon Yolanda, and the cleanup efforts looked really amazing, but I digress. After flying back to Luzon from Bohol, my family piled into our van and headed straight to Circle of Fun. I'm going to be honest, I had doubts that this park even existed. They had no website, only a minimally run Facebook page; we had to get the hours of operation and the prices from a tourism site. I half expected pulling up to the site of the park and finding nothing. But after braving the horrible traffic of Metro Manila, we arrived at Quezon Memorial Circle, paid for parking, asked for directions to the park, and lo and behold, there it was! Circle of Fun is a relatively new amusement park. I believe it opened in 2009, and even my cousins, who go by this area a few times, did not know it existed. This place felt a lot like a park for locals. Unlike Enchanted Kingdom, there was a lot more signs in Tagalog. And probably the most bizarre thing about this park is its 30 Peso entry fee (30 Pesos = US$ 0.67). And this was the whole reason I wanted to visit here. For those of you who don't know, Rye Playland built the only Interpark Wild Wind model in America in their park, tested it a bunch of times, and then tore it down, claiming the G-Forces were too high. It's definitely interesting knowing there is a ride out there deemed "too intense for American audiences." According to RCDb, there are five known Interpark Wild Wind models operating (and one at a traveling fair I believe), and all the permanent models are in locations I doubt I will ever get to visit, so this was an exciting opportunity. On the other hand, it also looks like a possessed amateur welder put the track together, and a torture specialist assembled the ride train. The ride is brutal! The loop didn't black me out like I thought it would, but it did thoroughly slam my ear into the restraint. Despite being nearly unbearable, I still had it in me to laugh like a maniac throughout the ride. STORY TIME: So I wanted to get a picture Wild Wind in action as I couldn't find many good ones when I first found out about the ride. However, there was literally nobody in line when we went up to it. After our first round on the ride, my two cousins and my dad were out for the count. We waited a little to see if anyone else would ride so I could snap a picture, but all the other park goers kept their distance. Against our better judgement, my sister and I decided to go a second ride so my Dad could snap a picture of the train going through the loop. We got on the ride, and just as the coaster was in position, BOOM, the camera died. Luckily, our van was parked practically next to the coaster, and the rest of my family hanging out there were able to get new batteries for the camera; but now my sister had enough of the coaster, and nobody else in the entire park (and probably the entire city) wanted to ride. So I silently cried to myself and got back on the ride (the operators were enjoying my company.....or maybe it was my pain). I go through the ride, my dad snapped a picture with his phone while my sister got a picture with the camera. After three rides on this shaky, violent, out-of-the-way incredible coaster, I finally got the picture I wanted. That thumbs up......it's because I'm happy to be alive. (Note that there's both a lap bar and OTSRs) That was Wild Wind, and despite being a total sadist of a coaster, I'm really happy I got the chance to ride it. My family members who rode it now have an unforgettable story to tell, and I can claim that I got to ride one of the most bizarre, uncommon coaster models in the world. The other "coaster" in the park is Dragon. It's a powered coaster, looking similar to a Zamperla model. I don't count powered coasters, and I still had a pulsating headache after Wild Wind, so we passed it up. Oddly enough, this ride is not on RCDb. Dragon's station. It was a weekday evening, and the park had only been open for a few hours, but the park was EMPTY! An interesting thing with Wild Wind, a bunch of the few people there were extremely hesitant to ride. A couple teenagers were actually watching our group, seeing if we would go on it, and it was only when our group got on the ride that they would find the courage to board themselves. Adorable little go-kart track. We found this makeshift game stand with the challenge being karaoke (known in the Philippines as Videoke). The park had a Zamperla Skater. I'm not a fan of these, but it is nice seeing parks with these. It really is a great place for locals to take their children, and the most expensive ticket item in the park is 50 Pesos (US$ 1.12). It's not Deno's, but it is definitely an interesting looking wheel. It's like it was decapitated and pulled from RCT3! Lots of kiddie rides.....dead park. The park's Frog Hopper, and once again, no riders. Many ride operators in the park actually scrutinized our group, almost begging us to ride their rides. The pirate ship ride seemed to be the most popular ride in the park. There was never a line for it, but I saw it running much more frequently than the other rides. So I'm an idiot. I had seen this ride a bunch of times on TPR and always wanted to ride one. But that darn Wild Wind really put an end to riding rides for the time being. More fun looking flat rides. This was the third Filipino park I visited with bumper boats and those weird water ball things. Even though I didn't ride anything else, it really is a nice looking park for locals. I wonder if it's a coincidence that the first aid station is directly outside Wild Wind o_O This made me laugh. I love parks with a sense of humor. Learn Tagalog: Salamat Po is the equivalent of "Thank you very much" in English. And that was Circle of Fun, a very cute park with a very bizarre coaster in the middle of a busy city. The operating schedule is strange, and they hardly advertise themselves, but I really was glad I could stop by this place. If I'm ever back in Quezon City, I will be sure to stop by again. Just outside the park was an automatic coffee machine selling cups of coffee for 5 Pesos (US$ 0.11), can't pass that up! Leaving Quezon Memorial Circle was probably the biggest challenge of the day, but this park is just beautiful! I can't remember the last time I had this much fun while being lost. It sure was strange seeing Alien on this Aztec looking walkthrough. It's kind of like they had that statue lying around and just decided to throw it up on this attraction. At least it looks alright for a smaller park. So that was Circle of Fun. It's not your average amusement park, and it's very different from Star City and Enchanted Kingdom; but for what it is, it's a very enjoyable little park. Everything is extremely inexpensive; I only spent approximately US$ 4.00 while there (including that cup of coffee). It's not a park I would ever go out of my way to visit again, but if you're ever in the area and want to brave the adorable little freak-of-nature that is Wild Wind.....good luck This park may have been finished, but surprisingly, we visited another park this exact same evening. More pictures to come!

Thanks to the low turn out at an Engineer's Week event, I got to go home today with a free box of pizza

It took a bit of self-convincing, but I did eventually work up an interest in seeing The Lego Movie, mostly for nostalgia purposes as I loved Legos as a kid. And after finally deciding to see it and foolishly driving to the movie theater in a snow storm, I have to say that I'm SO glad I got to watch it. What can I say? It's a creative story with perfect pacing, extremely fun characters, jokes that are thrown at you faster than you can handle; there were mostly children in the theater, and nobody laughed throughout the film more than my sister and I. Animal Logic did the animation, and everything they've ever made looks beautiful! And this is no exception. Overall, I don't think I've ever seen such a typical "ordinary guy turns out to be really special" plot used in such a creative and fun manor (since Kung Fu Panda). I actually kind of liked the strengthened message with the live action bits, but I can understand those who felt it strange. I highly recommend this movie! I thought Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs was alright, I thought 21 Jump Street was alright, this is the first Lord and Miller movie I thought was really special. I don't care if you're older or younger than me; if Legos meant ANYTHING to you at any point in your life, go see this movie! By the way..... ♪ Everything is awesome!!! ♪

^^ Very good point. It sounds like the kind of curve-ball a game like this and set up by people like Robb would throw. If it is the case of just a fly-over, then the fun continues. Can't wait to see what the next clues are.

FOUND IT!!! Adlabs Imagica in Khopoli, Maharashtra, India!!! Home of Nitro!!!

^

Almost all of these pictures are throwing me through a loop, but I'm still thinking India. One of the pictures tipping me in that direction was that picture of McDonalds with the address "no_really_this_is_actually_a_clue." A good friend of mine just got back from India and said that there is no beef at any of the McDonalds', only chicken, and all the products in that picture have chicken. The sign suggesting additional flushing might be a reference to the unfortunate aftermath of a lot of Indian cuisines. The first evil ex in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was Indian, hence posting the image of Volume 1 of the graphic novel. I don't know a thing about Bally's, but every time I say it out loud, I can't help but think of "Bollywood." India also used to be under British Rule, hence the English, rail, and Blackpool. Also, the last pic is a B&M called Nitro.....India has a B&M called Nitro; but maybe that one is too obvious, all the other clues have been making my head spin. And that's pretty much all I have. I'll probably look up flights later today, though many of the others pointing to Sochi have really good points, and they're all on pictures I have no clue how to interpret. Time to wait for more clues, I guess. Edit: So I'm a moron! I just put together that the coaster car pictured is Dennlys Parc's Nitro. So there are now two Nitros up as clues. Maybe the race track is also a reference to Nitro?