chadster

I have a severe weakness for the original Reverchon Himalayas. While the newer, not as well made ones are still fun, I'm a sucker for the classic. Only one of them touring the US festival circuit owned by Wade Shows. Very few of them exist in US parks nowadays.

So while Garbles and I were in Phoenix we decided to stop by Castles and Coasters, afterall it's the state's only Amusement Park. And apparently we weren't the only ones with that idea. Driving in we saw a busy atmosphere with vibrant colors and a multitude of people milling around. Parking in the overflow provide an opportunity to get in some cardio, which we both need, desperately. The fact that we eat too much Texas BBQ aside, we met up with Billy who has been with the park for 10 years and has pretty much done about every job there. The park is under the management of the owners' daughter who took over from a less than stellar management team. And what a difference it's made. We found the park clean and well maintained, great systems in place for F&B, and operations that certain large amusement chains should be jealous of. The Desert Storm was surprisingly smooth and delivered some unexpected G's, really good ride. Patriot, the Roller Skater knock off, somehow picks up all it's speed at the end of ride which again was kinda unexpected. And while most of you will be the ones to go in, credit whore, and leave, the park also offers a himalaya(any park with a himalaya gets my stamp of approval) an ARM Tower (also a no brainer) bumper cars/boats, a well themed log flume and three nice mini golf courses on top of a ropes course and zipline. Inside you'll find all the latest arcade and redemption games. So plan to stay more than 20 minutes, ok? Have a look around and when you find yourself in Phoenix make it a point to stop by, ride a coaster or two and play some mini golf, you'll have a nice stress free time. Saturday afternoon and the place is hopping. So, the top of the Larson ARM tower matches the top of the food and party building. Coincidence? Ah yes, a classic Hopkins coaster, with not one, but TWO loopy loops Up Up and Away NO! Don't hit the light! Many parks these days don't provide you with a ton of photo ops, but here this is not the case. You can pretty much shoot the entire ride from anywhere in the park. Seriously, this loop was pretty awesome. There's even a bit of theming during the ride, ok, maybe just a building next too it, but still it looks cool as you're passing by. Time to grab credit #2 I still don't understand this lift hill but it works so that's all that matters. Some funky drawings on the way up to keep you entertained. Ah, there's some of the artwork. Check out the hood scoop. Fun fact, it was put in to mount cameras inside, but its closed off now so I figured why not show it off. It's about here that the ride picks up a ton of speed. Not bad at all and well people seemed to like at as they had a 3-4 train wait to ride. Very few amusement parks do this and i'm pretty sure SF and CF do not. Place your order and window 1. Pick any food items up and window 2. Line flows smooth, service is fast, food isn't expensive. The major chains should really take note. Love. Although it's not a hydraulic model, its still fun. My artsy side. Just once i'd like to see one of these go full circle. Sometimes in life there are things you cannot unsee. And since I can't unsee, you get to see Oh hi there I really do like the attention to detail in the flume ride. Mr. Elephant says you will get wet. It's a water ride. Every park has one. Zooming right along. Seriously, the maintenance team here deserves to be recognized. Makeout tunnel. Garbles loves the Hopkins almost as much as he loves planes. So the park opened in 1977 with the bumper boats and mini golf. And then these came along. No exactly sure what's going on here.... So yeah, mini golf fans will love this place Three courses, all very nice. You can even semi fly over them. Or if you like, get more athletic. So with that, time to wake up Garbles and head back to the Big D. Seriously, when you are in town stop by, its a fun place and the people were all very friendly. Great way to kill an afternoon or evening. Comment away!

Ah, the maintenance nightmare is finally meeting its maker. It won't be missed.

Gotta give 'em credit for the elevator lift, probably works better than Intamins

Are you referring to the land that has been cleared and footers that are being poured for the two new attractions? A search of the Arlington City Council Agendas doesn't show anything about demolition permits, those are usually issued by the building permit office/P&Z http://www.arlington-tx.gov/citycouncil/watch-council-meetings/city-council-meetings/

So I was chatting with Garbles last week when he mentioned the new Chance coaster was opening at Wildlife Zoo. One thing led to another and I joined him on a journey to Phoenix. Now I know what some of you are already thinking, that we just went to ride the kiddie coaster, and while that did play a factor in our decision, the reality is we both like zoos, so it was the best of both worlds. The new coaster and flat rides are positioned perfectly along the highway to catch the eye of those passing by. We elected to enter through what I assume is the original entrance (parking is free by the way) and immediately noticed an abundance of birds, Macaws in fact. I don't terribly mind them and rather enjoy photographing them. I guess you could call them the official zoo ambassadors. So off we went to the back of the zoo down crushed stone paths to the newest area where we eventually found the family coaster awaiting and llamas roaming underneath awaiting our arrival. $6 will get you two laps, cash only. The zoo itself is quite large and features an aquarium, stingray feeding (those guys act like they never get fed!), penguin feedings, and several rides including a log flume, sky ride, river boat ride, train, and of course the new star flyer, flying scooters, and zip line. The park's ride manager showed us around and explained how the owner, Mickey, loves to incorporate animals as much as possible into the rides. The log flume flows through the aquarium, the sky ride gives you a bird's eye view, the train takes you through Africa as does their tram. All in all it's a well rounded zoological park, and although the admission is more expensive than most I've visited ($39) it is privately owned and the care of the animals is expensive. Rides are pay per ride, cash only. While most zoos do have upcharges for their attractions, with the new additions bringing their count to 10, I would think a rides pass option would be in their future. So if you are in the area, go check it out. I mean I suppose you could run in, get the credit, and run out, but why? You could easily spend 4+ hours there, we did. Hey look, our own private island! The unofficial official mascot of the zoo, the Macaw. The owner is a bird lover which probably explains why the birds are throughout the zoo, but hey, I'm not complaining! Via Garbles: "Why do they stand on one leg, where does it go?" It wouldn't be Arizona without some Mexican I have to hand it to them, the incorporation of the animals into the ride area makes a seemingly bland ride(for seasoned coaster whores) pretty cool. But don't let this seemingly bland ride fool you, it will kick you around. Who knew they had hunting season in Phoenix. I kid. Hey, mind your own business. That's what I thought. Look, I'm sorry! Don't jump! It's not worth it! The Llamas could care less that we are here. Satisfied and not ashamed it was time to check out the rest of the zoo. (Yes, I've put on a few and working hard to make those few disappear) Ah yes, our chariot awaits us. Off we go to the Flying Birds! Fly little birdie, fly, set yourself freeeee So Jake and I sort of freaked out the ride ops. See me straight back in the red pointing towards the sky? Well, they'd never seen that happen before and genuinely thought something was wrong! So much like Mr. Bird here, they had their eye on us! Luckily we were with the Rides Manager who explained to them the art of snapping. Well, no snapping here, but fun as hell. If you say so. Totally feel ya man, we're pretty bummed about the presidential choices ourselves. If you poke the monkey... ...the monkey makes loud noises and freaks you out. Monkey then acts like nothing happened. Noted. The Zoo also installed a zipline thingy. Jake and I were going to ride together, but our combined weight said otherwise. So being the good friend I am, I sent Jake up alone. Jake isn't a fan of heights. This thing hauls some serious ass, we're told it gets up to 28mph. Incase you need more aerial action, check out the sky ride. Yes yes. Ahem. "Guess what day it is, woot woot" (This was written on Wednesday, coincidence? I think not) "Mike, Mike Mike Mike Mike" "*sniff* do you eat broccoli? *sniff* cause that smells good. *sniff* man that smells good." "Was it something I did?" The Giraffes are more than happy to show you their tongues. The Africa section is really nice with plenty of room for the animals to roam, you know, like it should be. They offer tram tours that take you through various exhibits. Elissa friendly. "You can't see me!" Finally we hit up the log flume. Which was very well themed and very well maintained. Animals greeted you throughout the journey. The aquarium is next to the flume which you are able to ride through. Neato. These guys have it made. For the log flume lift hill enthusiasts. So to the right and straight ahead is part of the aquarium. You can feed the stingrays or feed yourself at a local Phoenix chain called Dillions. You can choose to eat by the shark tank or with the one legged flamingos on the patio. Like I mentioned earlier there is enough to do here that you could spend most of the day, so unless you are an awful credit whore, spend some time here, you will enjoy it. And with that, we're down and out. Comment away.

I'm with Larry here, I think this would work out better in a questionnaire format, just my opinion, as I'm sure everyone here would be more than willing to help you out. Factors that can include why a person is one and done could be selection of rides, customer service, distance, credit whoring, cost, etc. If it's a crappy park and a flat is added it would give me no incentive to return. But if it's a crappy park that installed a kick ass coaster I *might* have a reason to return provided it didn't cost me $50 to ride the one thing in the park worth a damn. Lots of factors involved.

Don't make any plans for this in 2016, it ain't happening.

I agree, any zoo that adds any sort of attraction or attractions to enhance the overall experience is a win. Hopefully I'll get to check it out soon.

Yeah Heights is a complete time waste, I mean games in general are just that but there is suppose to be a level of fun that comes with it and springfield heights left the fun somewhere in the tunnel. For my monorail to be complete I estimate I need about 50 straight pieces (long ones of course) and at the rate I am getting them, about 3.5-4 straight pieces per week, I might be lucky to have it done by June. Since I've only got like 10 million banked, haven't fully upgraded the IRS, finished the money pile (1.75mil away) or bought all the land (about 7 million in land left to buy) I'm still collecting everything it'll give me. Finally up to collecting about 200k a day with jobs and buildings and the mystery box handing out 2% bonus cash items has helped. Of course I started play about a year later than everyone else and for a period of time didn't play with a level of consistency. I'm a bit shocked we haven't seen a level upgrade in a while, the NARA thing was a let down, thought there was going to be more to it, took all of 3 days to complete and not too much in the way of decorations. **Edit** If you haven't already, send bart, marge, and lisa on the 6 hour task to 'gather space food' and earn 5 donuts.

I only tap the rocket for the rocket cash, but so far crashed 3 times and nuclear waste 3 times. Now for that stupid railyard, it's like it knows I need straight pieces yet I have 30 caitlyn jenner pieces and 25 90 degree pieces. Out of the lat 15 I've gotten 2 straight. AGH!!!!! I'd rather buy the damn things with donuts.

So, 'Aquarium' red herring?

You can always place those in the suggestion box, many times parks get their ideas for coaster enthusiast events from the attendees. Just have to do it in a non-demanding way of "The event was amazing this year, really glad I came and the backstage tour of Beast was really awesome. Do you think it might be possible to do a backstage tour of next year? I've always wanted to see it from a different perspective" Never hurts to ask and I've gotten some things added to local events by just doing the above.

That's a helluva good price to boot.

Here is something else I found odd...see that BBB accreditation on their website? Yeah, not a accredited. There is also another company occupying that address, Estes Financial Services. I think it's safe to put the sod over this casket. I've heard from other sources that they are not responding to any inquires whatsoever. Curious to see if the email you back Bob.

So I was bored this afternoon and was cleaning out my 'favorites' and clicked on this link I had saved for Dreamvision....Seems as if they no longer have a team, or press releases. Whole lot of scam going on here.

I like rockets. This has me wanting to build out a themed section complete with the signature lake.

^I've always preferred CP's version too, Delirious it would seem almost has a few less motions to its ocean.

So I've been concentrating on finishing out the monorail, the 5 bonus donuts are nice, hoping to grab a new building, but I think I've got enough swiggly parts to make a drunk driver envious. I would use them but it makes me dizzy looking at the thing when it's traveling to nowhere fast. I did grab Apu's kids store for 30 donuts which was cool and cheap. The addition of the possibility of getting 9 donuts a week with Maggie was a nice surprise. I've kinda given up on Springfield Heights for the time being, takes too long to get anywhere so I'm losing interest in that portion of the game.

NTAG, Duh.

Yeah, Panda will be getting the boot. Construction is coming along nicely, footers are done/almost done for both rides.

I almost forgot, an update to my previous post on opening date for the 2016 season, it's been bumped to March 5th. It had been penciled in for the week before but with some upcoming changes and other factors it was decided the extra week was needed. Now for the good news, extra days have been added to the operating schedule versus years past which includes Friday evenings in April. A few spring break tweaks that were also done include being open only a few select days for the out of area kids versus the entire week like in 2015, but have added an all day Friday in March. May is also looking like a healthy schedule with school days starting on the 12th and then daily starts in June until Mid August. It's good to see them use the parks assets more than they have in previous. The crowds have paid it forward with a large attendance numbers. All in all there will be more opportunities to visit in 2016 vs 2015.

At the price tag that a train costs, nope. Nothing wrong with the current trains, they run fine.

I lost my cheat sheet, but their might be 1 friday in April they are open, mostly in May tho for schools and such.

Of all places, Six Flags last year stole one of their fantastic area supervisors who was partly responsible for their quick ride operations, could explain some things there.