Cygnus12

Either: -Zonga/Tsunami back when it was on the German funfair circuit as Thriller. -Drachen Fire pre modification -The Bat @ Kings Island But in actuality I'd suggest to the kind millionare that instead of bending the fabric of space and time to bring a ride from the past to the present, that they instead buy me a tricked out Huss Breakdance.

Swinging ship rides make me nauseous, although I will ride their looping counterparts! I've basically stopped riding normal swinging ship rides altogether. Other than that, I'm fine; only chaining lots of rides together (or just a few certain rides) will make me queasy.

I think Thriller (later known as Texas Tornado/Zonga/Tsunami) was the record holder due to its circular inversion. I remember hearing some crazy number in the 7G range. It may have just been fluff to make the ride seem even more exciting though. But, it's no doubt that thing pulled some serious Gs before it was modified.

I checked up on RidesDB and it came up with six companies that own or have owned Sky Wheels in the US; they are: Do own: -McDonagh's Amusements (Michagan) -Belle City Amusements (Florida) -Midway of Fun (California) -Mighty Bluegrass Shows (Florida) The following two were also listed, but I'm not sure if they still have them operating (or even have them anymore!): -Amusements of America -Shamrock Shows So if you're looking for a Sky Wheel, your best bet would be to attend a carnival that one of the four companies in bold are working. I hope that sort of helps with something!

^ That would probably de-throne the Zipper as being the most freakisly odd ride ever.

15/20 for me!

Nice photos! I remember RC-48 when it was at Morey's at well. It was ok, but I think it makes for a much better carnival coaster. I actually think it's the largest traveling coaster in the US right now. What were the big flatrides at the fair besides Star Flyer and Freak Out?

Pictures of the Sizzler? They're posted on page 2. It may sound incredible...but it doesn't look nearly as insane as its been made out to be!

Yeah, sometimes they don't even spin! I remember going on the Super Sizzler once and these two really, uh...overweight people got into one car on the same arm as me. As the ride spun, their car would just fling out to the side, and the arm wouldn't even spin. The whole time, the tire just made this velcro ripping fart sound as it struggled to turn the arm even a little. That's the one Sizzler ride that stands out in my mind.

I have to disagree about Sizzlers; almost every Sizzler I've seen or been on was slow. Even if it is run fast, they don't have the same whip effect that Eli Bridge Scramblers have due to Sizzlers being run by electric tire drives. Sometimes the motion isn't in sync because the tires slip, have too much weight on one side, etc. The Eli Bridge version uses a drive gear system that can keep both the cars and center hub at the same speed, producing that odd snap effect when changing direction. Although, I think the Super Sizzlers can run backwards and can even have the cars and hub move in the same direction, which would offer up some insane laterals! Now, if you want Scrambler from Hell, Breakdance is where it's at. That's pretty much a scrambler with spinning cars.

I've uploaded a couple of videos so far and they've seemed to wrok just fine with no upload problems. Borth were .wmv files and were around 20-25mb each.

Yeah basically; the pier is about 12-15 feet off the ground so there's plenty of space for a tunnel. The Great White, another wooden coaster at Morey's Piers, also navigates a tunnel under the pier, so I guess it'll be similar to that one.

You know, I did go by Keansburg Amusement Park just to see if anything was being added in or if any sort of work was being done. I didn't see anything of note and ended up only snapping one pic. Looking back, I don't know why I didn't take any more! I'll be down to Brick again in the coming weeks, so I'll probably add a little addendum to this TR with Keansburg and maybe Long Beach Island as well. @ Yoshi: Yeah, it seems that the whole area near Atlantic City is like the exception to how Jersey shore locations die in the offseason; I guess it's because of AC itself being a year round destination with the casinos and all. And "down the shore" is more than just a Philly term as I, and my family, use it quite extensively as well. I wonder where the geographical location is where "down the shore" stops and "down to the shore/beach/ocean" starts. lol

Thanks! @ Shavethewhales: I wonder the same thing myself; besides a few big events like the Fireman's Convention, there's really nothing going on in the some 9 month long off season. However during the summer, when the population explodes, places down there are like goldmines. I once heard that some little game stand on the boardwalk made something like $150,000 before expenses were added up. @ Big Mike: New Providence; a little town 15 minutes or so from Morristown.

I've never blacked out on a ride but I have greyed out on the likes of Laser, Batman: the Ride (first loop), and occasionally in Nitro's helix near the top.

On January 31st I attended the Golden Nugget ceremony, much like several other TPR members. Considering that Wildwood is a three hour drive from where I live in North Jersey, I decided to break up the trip by staying at my families summer house in Brick, NJ; the result was a weekend long sightseeing trip! I'll do this report in two parts, starting with the Wildwood/Golden Nugget ceremony and Ocean City, NJ. Pretty nice turn out for the Golden Nugget event; much more than Morey's anticipated as Jack Morey later noted. The crowds walk to the Nugget. The front of Golden Nugget with people waiting to get their picture in the car. Inside the Golden Nugget; it was a lot more spacious than I thought it would be! I couldn't really get any good photos of the speakers but I did get this one at the end! From left to right: Adam Revesz (from American Coaster Enthusiasts), Rick Davis (Darkride and Funhouse Enthusiasts), Tom Rebby (Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters), Kristen Steindle (granddaughter of William Hunt), John Allen IV (son of John Allen III), Jack Morey, Will Morey. Some props that used to be inside the Nugget. Some more props. A car sitting in the final turn. The station! A portion of GN as seen from the beach. Will Morey is on hand to talk about the new coaster that Morey's Piers is going to build. After the ceremony, I took a walk down the boardwalk only to be greeted by some boardwalk replacement going on near Mariner's Landing. And there's Mariner's Landing with the Giant Wheel and the first Boomerang in the US, Sea Serpent. For some reason, Morey's takes off every forth car to 'winterize' the wheel. The Skyscraper on the old Hunt's Pier sits dormant and car-less. You can't see here but it's also strapped down with two long cables attatched to each end of the propeller looking boom. Not a soul around... The snake atop a tattoo and piercing shop in front of Sportland Pier Down at the other end of the boardwalk; not much going on here! Great White, Skycoaster, Sky Ride and others are featured in this pic. I took a ride into Wildwood Crest only to find absolutely NO ONE around. I know this guy who works in a resteraunt on the boardwalk and he once said that Wildwood gets so dead in the winter that "you could roll a bowling ball down the street." I'm not exactly sure what that means, but if I had a bowling ball, I totally would have rolled it here! One of the Crest's many motels. If I owned one of these places, I think I'd stay down there in the offseason and sleep in a different room everynight...just because I could. lol The Hereford Lighthouse in North Wildwood; the little structure sufficed as a light house back in the late 1800s. I then exited Wildwood and headed over to Stone Harbour, the next island north of Wildwood. See, Stone Harbour! Like Wildwood, this place was dead as well; and so was every shore community up to Ocean City. I've never been to Ocean City before, so I parked near the boardwalk and took a little stroll. The ocean at Ocean City! How appropriate! The wheel at Gillian's Wonderland; it's a pretty respectable wheel in size, but I'm not liking the prison cell cars. The Runaway Train coaster or whatever the hell it's called with the wheel looming above. Music Pier juts out of the boardwalk. Nice sunset! And hey look, a Double Shot, car-less wheel and a ship's mast! Those are all part of Castaway Cove amusement park. After Ocean City, I contemplated heading up through Margate and Ventnor City and even thought about stopping in Atlantic City; however, I decided against it. If I did, I'd probably stop in a casino to gamble a small amount, accept too many free drinks, lose all of my money, and wake up under the boardwalk with stray cats wandering around me. Instead I headed back to Brick and stayed overnight. In the next half of the report I'll feature Scumside Heights, uh...I mean Seaside Heights, Asbury Park, and more!

Congratulations! I hope your CI ceremony is great! I too like the certain 'brashness' that Coney Island has and would like to see it keep that edge. And I think the reason I personally liked Astroland was because that was the only park that actually ran their rides fast and/or on long cycles. Actually, many of the CI ride operators seem to do that. Especially the Zipper while it was still there; unfortunately my one ride on the CI Zipper was during a misting rain which caused the drives to slip resulting in just an OK ride.

I've been on it twice and it's pretty much a gravity powered dark ride. There's one part with a drop that goes into a turn but the car is braked immidiately afterwards.

That's what I thought too, but maybe they're going to keep the track and props and just tear down the building. Someone over at the Coney Island Board made a point that the building was basically just a shell for the actual ride anyway.

No, although I wish it would open in March again! Cyclone is going to open on April 5th this year.

^ Cyclone will be open in 2009 as well as Deno's Wonder Wheel Park (where Spook-O-Rama is.) Some of the independant operators will also be open like El Dorado auto skooters and maybe the rides on the street next to Deno's.

Haha, I do as well. Many of my newer videos use electronic tracks because most aren't mainstream enough to be caught by the YouTube Copyright Bot. However I typically use 'drum and bass' tracks since I'm not all that into dance. Sometimes I'll use not-so-mainstream rock as well.

^ I wouldn't worry about it; Coney Island around the amusement areas really isn't that bad. I've never had a problem myself, even while going alone.

That article scared me for a minute, but I saw this article linked at the Coney Island Message Board; looks like Nathan's is going to stay: Nathan's Says Its Coney Island Flagship Will Stay Put BTW, just to update eveyone on Astroland in general; a couple of places have inquired about the rides, even reports that places in the Middle East and Australia want to buy the entire park and relocate it, but nothing has been done yet. In the meantime most of the rides were put into storage in hopes that the rides could move to a new section in CI. Here's a Flickr photo album showing the dismantling: The Destruction of Coney Island