Six Flags Enthuseast

This might apply to me soon, too! I'm considering going to Great Adventure on Friday, May 15th. I've never visited before and I'm unfamiliar with the park and its dynamics. My main questions are: What day is the best day to visit? (The earlier discussion seems to answer this, though any further elaboration would certainly be helpful) Is one day enough to get all the credits? (I know it's unlikely, but I'm not sure how bad lines will be and how long it can take to do everything) What ride(s) would you recommend running to first? What hotel(s) is/are the best to stay at in the area? Are the restaurants in the park worth eating at? Second row or second-to-last row on El Toro? Thanks in advance to anybody who can help me out with these questions!

I just sent out an email requesting more information. I'm absolutely THRILLED to participate!

Crap, Hanno pulled the 'Get the first TR' gun faster than I did. Oh well, at least I got Rainbow Magicland first. Excellent photos as always! I'm heading up there Monday; I've been waiting for so long to get to this place and I'm really looking forward to it. Thanks for posting so I kinda know what to expect.

I agree with KarlaKoaster, my worst ones are El Condor at Walibi Holland and Goudurix at Parc Astérix, both because they are quite rough and painful. My favorites are Aftershock at Silverwood, Mammut at Gardaland, Expedition Everest, and Booster Bike at Toverland, the first three because they're intense, relatively smooth, and exciting, and the last one because it's just really fun to ride.

I agree with this. I was hoping that it would go a little faster through the layout, but it seems to climb the hills rather slowly. I think it has to potential to be as good as an Intamin Mega-lite, but it would need a faster lift hill and lower-friction wheels (if that's possible with this ride) to gain enough speed to give it real Mega-lite forces. Nevertheless, this looks like a great addition to Nigloland and a good ride that can be enjoyed by many. Perhaps I have a good reason to hop over to France... "I think I know my #1 coaster en France!"

This is reminding me of how badly I need to get to SFMM for the new credits! I definitely need to give Tatsu another whirl since I don't have fond memories of it (riding in the front made my head explode.)

"It's unsafe for a coaster to operate with more than one train." - Someone at Silverwood Theme Park (Is it safe to operate coasters with multiple trains?) "You can fall out while on a looping coaster." - I forget where (Do you actually begin to fall out during a loop on a coaster?) "Eating before riding a coaster will make you barf." - Basically everyone (Does that overpriced burger you just ate make you a sick mess waiting to happen?) This is a question I'm particularly interested in because I've heard that riding on a somewhat-full stomach makes you more force-tolerant and less likely to black out while riding. If I think of anything else, I'll post!

Looks great on my end! I like the fact that it's a visual evolution instead of a complete revolution. The only thing that 'bugs' me ( ) is that the Twitter feed and the Theme Park News stories don't line up perfectly. It's definitely a minor thing, so it's not a big concern by any means, but I just wanted to point that out. Keep up the great work!

I really like both setups; each has a few likable things that the other one doesn't have. Layout 1's Twitter feed is a nice addition, and the grey backgrounds of the TPR news and updates provide a nice sense of contrast between the site's black background and the real content. Layout 2's larger news-reel is cool; I personally prefer it to the one on Layout 1. However, the matching background of the TPR news and updates, the lack of extra social media integration, and the fact that updates are crowded down by the news-reel makes it a less attractive option. Overall, I think the look and funcitonality of Layout 1 is a better evolution than that of Layout 2, though both have their own good points. As a whole, I prefer Layout 1 to Layout 2.

Awesome looking little min-woodie! Even though big coasters are often more exciting, small coasters always provide some fun, too!

I'm REALLY excited for next year! I'm definitely planning on hitting up Cinecitta World; hopefully I can get there around opening day so that I can show TPR and the world how awesome this place looks!

I'm all in! I sent my email out and I'm prepared for any upcoming info!

Day 6 - Europa Park: Part 2 Next up is a shooting dark ride! Kathryn completely trumped me on that one! Quite a few people got pretty close to being Orcas! This thing had the longest line of all the rides that day at 40 minutes. But it had nothing to do with bad operations! Waiting in line for Pegasus, you can get a nice shot of Silver Star's enormous lift hill. It was the tallest ride B&M made until Leviathan opened and the tallest roller coaster in Europe until Shambhala's debut 10 years later! This was actually pretty awesome for a family coaster! Next up is Silver Star, sponsored by Mercedes-Benz and themed to a racecar! Kathryn approved of her first crepe! (Notice how I just hung out with the Australians all day?) Euro Maus greeted us as we entered Eurosat! Eurosat was one of the best indoor roller coasters I've ever ridden! Lots of fast turns, but not too disorienting. "Wait, how the hell did you discover the real Jurassic Park? Just don't tell anybody, ok?" This guy does NOT look happy! You'd never see this at a Disney park! "Yup, I'm just a cat, walking around Europa Park looking for food!" Swiss Bobs are next! Team Germany sets off! This store is really awesome. You might be asking, "Why is it that cool, Patrick?" Let me explain. Firstly, it has LOTS of chocolate. Secondly, it has LOTS of different Oreos. Finally, it has LOTS of cows! I guess Europeans really like this kind of stuff on their coffee cups! Hi, Bob! Somebody told me that this had really good stuff, so I went over to investigate... Is this what they're talking about? No, it must be this! Indeed it is! Basically, this is bread covered in melted cheese and paprika! It's totally awesome! Another cool thing about this little eatery is that you get a good view of the bobs coming out of the helix! Part 3 to come tomorrow.

Day 6 - Europa Park We arrived late last night at Europa Park's Hotel Colosseo, an awesome Italian-themed hotel! And it also happened to have this model of Wodan, the brand-new GCI wooden coaster! As you can see, it has a modesly-expansive layout and interacts with several attractions. To start off the day, we were walked into the park through these special gates... Past the Frisk Fisk center... Under the monorail... And right to blue fire Megacoaster! Everyone loved blue fire! It's definitely a great coaster with some cool technology (did you know that blue fire's restraint handles actually have heart-rate sensors on them?)! This was actually a pretty decent powered coaster! Here's yet another tow-boat! Stood in the single-riders line for Wodan, and I loved it! It jumped straight to the top of my wooden coaster list! Next up was Europa Park's rather interesting indoor boat ride, themed to... well, what is this now? I think these are pirates, one holding a snake and one holding a gigantic spider-fly thing. Alright, enough strangeness for now. Let's get something to eat. Nom nommy chicken and rice bowl! Surprise water spout near the Russia area! Euro Mir, AKA the crazy spinning coaster themed to a defunct Russian space station! Even though the line was slightly long, we didn't wait longer than 10 minutes thanks to the fact that Euro Mir is super-ultra-high capacity! Seriously, one train loads and leaves, and the next one is right there to take more riders! To celebrate its opening, Wodan has a burger named after it! Just in case you're wondering, yes, this is the closest thing you can have to Bench: the Ride! On B:tR, you basically sit down and are transported into this creepy, German, winter wonderland. For some very strange reason, you can actually get an onride photo. "You came to the wrong neighborhood! Prepare to get squished by my gigantic snowball!" This was the most entertaining part of the entire ride! Tall people! I'll continue Day 6 at Europa Park tomorrow.

My personal favorite was Colossos at Heide Park in Germany. When I rode it on the TPR Europe trip, part of our ERT happened in the rain and it ended up being totally amazing! In fact, I think I had more fun on the rain-rides than on the dry-rides! You know a ride is awesome when you have fun on it in the rain!