SoCalCoasters

Hey maybe it will be a flat ride! Oh wait! Magic Mountain hasn't heard of flat rides have they? The only flatride I can ever see them putting in is a Disk-O-Coaster only because it has track. No but seriously, I think a good Tween flat ride would be perfect for that area...I can dream...

It seems that Magic Mountain just stuck all the kiddie rides in one area and then just nonchalantly built the rest of the park with no regards to younger kids... Not a good move.... I went back in April, and it really seemed like the park was becoming more, and more like a family park...it is sad to see them taking the wrong approach to the current situation the park is in...

I am so sorry to hear about your friend, you have my sympathy. The coaster looks amazing, though seeing as I'm just getting my feet wet with the no limits demo, I may not know much.

I'm interested...you might want to change the deadline to late November, so people have enough time to make a quality ride. As for me...I know how to do some interesting things with the Robocoaster Idea, as well as some themes...

NOTE This update is done from the view of a mini figure. Hey guys! I'm new to Theme Park Review, and wanted to post these pictures of the new NXT Drop Tower Media Day! Yes! That's Me! There was a huge crowd waiting for the announcement! There were ever some racing stars at the announcement! They were Brick Speed, and Axel Wheel! Here's the worker about to dig the first hole! Remeber, if you win the name the drop tower contest, you will get yur name on the ride somewhere!

Just thought of something that most likely has some truth. This is not the full video Why? 1. The video says three coaster experiences yet only two are actually announced fully. 2. During the Green Lantern section the music changes oddly, and the timing of the sound effects becomes messed up (may just be youtube), hence my reasoning that part of the video's soundtrack was removed to make it seem like it was the complete video. 3. Where's the Vekoma? (not that many care) It doesn't make sense that the third new coaster would not be shown in the video 4. Kid's Coaster??? Ok everyone knows this isn't the final video because the name has not yet been chosen for the Roller Skater Just my reasoning...probably wrong but oh well, my input I guess

Ummm...I would put some variety into your tree selection. Here, watch this video of mine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9szle5TD1q4 As you can see, I placed 3 different kinds of trees together to create the background tree scenery for the ride. Heres how you make your life easy: Open Scenery Editor Step 1: Place 3-4 different types of trees on a 10 X 10 grid. Step 2: Save the grid as a scenery piece. Step 3: Got into your park and place the trees. You now can create a park filled with trees in about 2-3 minutes. Hope this helped!

It seems the video isn't a hoax as Screamscape has posted saying that the cables on Superman are for the re-paint of the ride which is expected to begin soon. That is probably the reason why it will be closed so long is for the re-paint. http://www.screamscape.com/html/six_flags_magic_mountain.htm

People are saying that they are hoping there will be a motocoaster...but if you watch the animation, at the end, intertwined with the Volare, it shows one. So it seems the motocoaster is a done deal. If I recall correctly, Screamscape had a link to a video that showed the construction of the actual cars for the motocoaster. I'll try to find it. EDIT: Seems EG's The Flying Coaster is moving to Coney Island...sorry no new model. http://www.screamscape.com/html/elitch_gardens.htm Here is the link that shows the motocoaster cars. Lets hope it's not a Pony Express Clone http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/24/business/global/24coney.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail1=y

Just noticed something about the promo. On Superman, the cars have either 15 or 16 paasengers (video was too blured to tell which). So the cars will most likely be very different than Tower of Terror II car. Crossing my fingers all 3 will be open by Spring Break 2011 I really hope they offer a flashpass, because I'm getting Platinum and riding these over and over!

Unintentional Pun: lol

Legoland Waterpark This is a great new waterpark for the San Diego area and a great addition to Legoland. I was there three days after the opening of the park, then returned three more times throughout the summer. Let me start by saying the the park has an amazing atmosphere to it. The entrance in the Fun Town area of the park really stands out and gives a perfect view of what this aqua paradise has to offer. The entrance plaza contains three water "tables" that have water running through them, and enable kids to use Duplos to create boats and dams for the water and other fun things. They don't hinder the entrance whatsoever, and add to the LEGO atmosphere the park creates. The kiddie area looked FANTASTIC! A 3-4 foot raised cement platform had about four slides for kids, one being a mini tube slide. The area also contained giant Duplo animals that sprayed water everywhere. One of the most unique aspects of the kiddie area was that it had a mini lazy river made just for younger children. I think more parks should embrace this concept for their parks. Kiddie Area: 9.5/10 It is missing one more attraction of some kind (construction shows that my wish may come true). Next up was the highlight of the park. The crowning jewel of water based attractions. The ultimate LEGO fanboy dream. The Lego Lazy River. Awesome is the only word I could use to decribe the experience. You can grab a single or double tube and then...create your own Lego Raft. The possibilites are endless. I saw everything from a castle fortress, bluebird, human to a dragon. I myself created two giant towers that had miniature dragons mounted on top (it was destroyed before a staff member could take a picture of it). Then you board your Lego creation and begin your journey around the small yet action packed park. First, you counter a giant Lego firefighter figur holding a firehose which is squirting water. Followed by a lifeguard figure with a water squirting megaphone. Then, you go through a minifig surfe'rs "wake", which often destorys your coveted Lego creations (mine met this fate). Finally you go by a fisherman who has caught a Lego shark, which, of course, squirts water. Overall, this is the highlight of the park, and I think that it was intended to be the main draw for the waterpark. Lazy River 10/10 I decided to go up into the main water section and check out what it had to offer: Defend Your Water Spewing Clock Tower Thingy: Not the real name, but it best describes what it is. There is a small clock tower esque stucture in which there are ther water cannons mounted. Around the tower there are also three water blasters so you can fire back at the defenders. Every five minutes, the roof of the clock tower opens and spews water all around the structure. 8/10 Twin Chasers: A set of dueling White Water West tube tube slides. It seems they were slowed down, but are still fun to ride, and race in. The starting point is in a small Lego Tower next to the main slide tower. 5/10 Splash Out: The slide on the main tower, it features a winding coure with several helixes. According to park staff, the slide was closed for several weeks after opening due to a sharp object guests were being hurt by...yeah ow. 8/10 Orange Rush: This is the park's most intense attraction, but is very fun and enjoyable for people of all ages. It is a raft slide that picks up decent speed and has a great buildup before the splashdown. 10/10) Theming: 100/10 It's Lego, and really good. The park has tons of potential, and I hope to see the park expand (staff confiremed that another expansion would be on it's way very soon). The only problem I noticed is that it's an upcharge from the main park, not a whole new park. Not a big deal, but it seems like they chased off potential customers but it may just be me. Legoland Water Park: 9.5/10 It still seems to be missing a few more attractions. Appeals most to season pass holders like me. I highly recomend this waterpark.

I still find it funny that everyone was bashing me last month for saying that SFMM ws getting a ZacSpin I can still say this: I. Told. You. So. (note: not trying to brag, just trying to prove the point that mindless bashing isn't always correct, especially when the person is correct)

Can I please say I told you so now? PLEASE? This a great new coaster for the park. I knew that they would need a coaster with a compact layout and high thrills. (plus I know a few people) Anyway, I can't wait. Cedar Point is probably sweating right now.

I really enjoyed this small little park in Riverside. The overall atmosphere of the park was great. I had several rides that I had never experienced before and enjoyed every one of the new ride types. We arrived about 2:00, and the park had a very light crowd, the ride with the longest line was Screamin' Demon. I did the Demon first and was not impressed at all. The thing spun very little, was heavily braked, and the track buckled under the weight of the train. Overall the Demon was more fun to look at than ride. 2/10 Next was my first ever Flyers. Yes, I have never done a Flyer before, and I must say...They. Are Awesome. Flyers are amazing and I rode this one over and over. Such a simple concept, yet it works incredibly well. 10/10 Then a headed for a milestone. My 80th Credit. Merlin's Revenge, a Vekoma Roller Skater was a bit bumpy, but overall a good solid coaster. 7/10 You want a POV? Here you go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYY0l2U1m_4 After my Milestone credit, I headed for the best attraction at the park: Dragon's Tower, a S&S Mini Launching Tower. All I can say is: Oh My God. That thing had the single greatest moment of airtime I have ever experienced. You never see it coming! It is on the second launch, not the first and is very unexpected. 10/10 Next I hit my first Yo-Yo Chairswing...it was pretty fun, nothing awesome, but fun. 8/10 Did my first Falling Star...loved it. 9/10 Now here is the biggest WTF!? moment I have ever had at an amusement park. It was getting hot out, so we decided to go in the arcade and cool off. What did we find in the back of the arcade? A Ghost Blasters Darkride!? Quite an interesting one too. You start by going down into a forest scene, followed by a graveyard scene. Then you head into Breakstone Manner, encounter some animatronics, and then the biggest WTF moment of the ride happens...A pitch dark...spiral lift!? It happens right in the middle of the ride, and is completely unexpected. You re-enter the manor, complete the ride, and go down a hill back into the arcade.... See the WTF Ghost Blasters here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7TimOR0vXo I talked to Sally Corp about the ride, and they told me that the spiral lift was added because of a lack of space. This was the second Ghost Blasters ride they made. The shooting is really inacurate though.... 8/10 Attempted to ride another new ride, Fireball, but the restraints were having problems and it was closed...It opened up later, and it was really fun. 8/10 My final ride of the afternoon was the Little Dipper, a Miller Kiddie coaster. It was really fun and has an amazingly fast chain lift. 9/10 POV? Here you are: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP6rU8MZzBE&feature=related The log ride had decided to break down, so we didn't get to ride it. This is a great park that has a ton of potential and I hope to see it grow larger in the future: Ride Count: Dragon Flyers: 6 Screamin Demon: 1 Falling Star: 2 Ghost Blasters: 3 Fireball: 1 Merlin's Revenge: 2 Little Dipper: 1 Dragon's Tower: 12 One strange thing about the park is that it is made of half carnival trailer rides, and half built in rides. Just found it odd...

Well, as I was about to be on my way to Knott's Scary Farm I found our backyard had been over taken by: PEACOCKS!? If you watch the camera movements, you will see me jump around 0:30...those things are loud! Yes, we live near a place called Leo Carillo Ranch. The famous actor Leo Carillo brought about eight of them to California as pets on his ranch...now there are about eighty, and a few have decided our backyard = safe to sleep in. Our pine tree now is a peacock tree! Thought you guys would get a kick out of this!

Best. Eurofighter. Ever. That thing looks insane! Really compact too!

Pacific Park This is is basically something you could hit up in a 1/2 hour or so when you're in the LA area. There are about 2-3 major rides, and the rest area kiddie rides. The main reason I went was to ride the Santa Monica West Coaster of course. Every movie that has ever been filmed in LA has West Coaster in it. So now I can say I've been on it. Got to the park around 10, got on West Coaster. Now here's a little thing I haven't seen mentioned about West Coaster. The Back Has Airtime! Just a pop, but still, nothing beats even just a little bit on a coaster. THe ride itself is pretty boring, but it does pick up speed by the end. Something I would recommend for young kids. The ride ops were nice enough to let me take a POV. I would recommend thi coaster for Kidtums, but I cannot remember the height requirement. In fact basically ever inch of the park seemed to be aimed at families with young children. West Coaster: 7/10 Next I hit Pacific Plunge, a pathetic Moser Drop Tower that slightly larger than frog hopper drops. Seems weird since the park already has a frog hopper. Pacific Plunge: 3/10 Then I got a ride on their scrambler. Ran a pretty good cycle, nothing really stood out though. 6/10 The bumper cars were PERFECT for a TPR takeover! They even had a smaller Kidtum's sized version of the ride right next to the real version. 8/10 The real highlight of the day was the dragon ship. The scream sheild they put on the ride actually made it heavier, making the swinging more intense than on a normal swinging ship. Ride it in the backs only. 10/10 Altogether, the park is directed towards LA families with young children and is basically, at most, at half day park. Coupled with the beach and BINGO fully day of family fun. Ride Count: West Coaster: 6 Scrambler: 1 Pacific Plunge: 3 Dragon Ship: 4 Bumper Cars: 2 Overall Park Rating: 7/10 Just add on more thrilling ride and the park is set. Oh and here is a video of West Coaster: Listen Carefully at the beginning to the song in the background! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u_YxRRvgjE Up Next: Castle Park!

Demon wasn't originally Demon when the coaster opened. The original coaster fit the country fair theme. If I recall correctly, the ride opened as Turn of the Century, and only had two corkscrews, no vertical loops. The management later added the tunnels and the loops and renamed it Dremon futher pushing it into the land of Headbanging.

This year has been quite an exciting year for me as far as amusement parks go. So I guess I should begin with Six Flags Discovery Kingdom back in July... We arrived at the park around 9:30 to find the parking lot already half fully and filling fast. We managed to buy our tickets ahead of time and we were able to get a decent place in line while waiting for the park to open. V2 of course was still being fixed so it was closed, and still remains my only missed credit at the park. The park opens, and of course, we can't get our Flashpasses till 10:30 so how do we kill 1/2 an hour? Medusa of course! After two circuts on Medusa, the line began to fill, and we went to get our handy Flashpasses. Medusa: 10/10 After watching a pointless video about how to use our line skipping devices, we headed of to Roar, which was already sporting a good 40 minute wait. Using our trusted Queue skipping devices we skip the line and head for my personal favorite row on the ride: the front. It delivered some pretty strong forces, all and all, the coaster is aging pretty well. Roar: 9/10 Next we do two runs on Tony Hawk, getting a perfect balance to spin crazily the entire ride. The ride can either spin a ton, or spin practically none, depending on the weight distribution. I still think that the ride could use a little more theming...I mean come on! All they have is a 2-D Tony Hawk figure that just sits near the top of the ride... THBS: 6/10 For the rest of the morning we looked at al the animal life that the park had to offer, mainly we saw all the sea creatures. Sea Life: 8/10 Of course the place we eat launch is right across from Hammer Head, the one decent flatride at the park. So naturally, we do it BEFORE lunch. It my first time on it and all I could say was...Awesome. Hammerhead: 10/10 After an overpriced lunch, we head out toward Zamperla Land aka Hammerhead, Monkey Business and Thrilla Gorilla. Monkey Business: 1/10 Tear it out and put in something that actually SPINS! Thrilla Gorilla: Due to the new smoking area right next to the queue, the wait was unbearable, and capacity was horrible due to our incompitent ride operator who spoke extremely broken southern English. We could not understand this guy one bit and he spend 10 minutes loading one set of riders! This was how he spoke: Heyaallwelcomtodatrillagorrillapleezkaepyurhundzonurmsinsodtavehocletattalltomes. Yeah...we could not understand anything After waiting in the line from Hell for thirty minutes, we decided to go see the great outdoors. It was nice to see all the species out and about. Land Creatures: 9/10 No Ten? Baby Tiger Were Gone Next we saw a a few shows: Elephant Show: 4/10 Curse You Six Flags Management For turning the best elephant show ever into a horrible one! Shuka Show: 7/10 Hey! It has a better storyline than Believe! Education, not random kid's strange ocean dream show crud! Odin's Temple of the Tiger: 4/10 Ther were so many things they could have done with this show, too bad they they didn't do any of them. After that, we hit up the infamous Boomerang, and I discovered that the front seat is actually the worst seat. Strangely enough, as the car was rising, we cell phone few out of my pocket. It actually stayed in the car for the entire ride. It seems Vekoma knew what they were doing when they designed it. Boomerang: 3/10 The clown cars were revolting, ruining the original aqua/yellow paint job. Ok I'm not a big SLC fan, but I figured since I was here, I had a Flashpass, and there were two trains running on Kong, I figured what the heck. Guess it paid off because the ONLY headbanging I got THE ENTIRE RIDE was in the half cobra roll and the helix (yes, the helix too). Clown Cars actually looked good here, complimenting the yellow train's paint job. This thread is going to explode in 3...2..1...Kong: 8/10 We then proceeded to ride Cobra, a classic ride in the park's lineup. I really hope the rumors are not true and that this coaster is staying because it has a special place in my roller coaster riding history: It was the first ride I took an onride POV of. Save the Cobra! Don't let WCB Credit Whores settle for that stupid Roadrunner Express! Following my nostalgic rides on Cobra, we rode Medusa over and over. As soon as we got on on run, I reserved for another. Total Coaster Count for the day was: Medusa: 9 Tony Hawk: 2 Roar: 1 Cobra 1 Kong: 1 Boomerang: 1 Of course my Flip video camera decided to die after I took one video, and my camera was at my house. Enjoy the finale of Shamu's twin, Shuka: Forgive me, I have poor video camera skills when I am sitting still. Up next is Pacific Park!

Hooray For Helix of Death!

Yes! Bring the pipline coaster to life! I was able to find this documentary on Arrow from 1990 the of focus of which is the pipline prototype they built! The first part can be watched on Youtube as well, but this part shows the Pipline Prototype testing!

So how come Ohio gets to keep their Manatees, yet Seaworld SD has them "recalled" back to Florida?!

It may just be me, but I love the three corkscrews (counterclockwise too!) as they really fit the ride well, and provides the approriate length to reach the station...the one thing I would add is Demon's infamous helix of headbanging death. No Demon coaster is complete without one!

I think either Santa Cruz, SF Discovery Kingdom, or Great America could use one these two rides: S&S Jr. Suspended Coaster S&S El Lco The Jr. Suspended would most likely be somewhere between 36-42" as a height requirement, yet has a layout that is not too boring, and that kids and adults alike would enjoy. El Loco has a height requirement of 48" (I think) and is a great ride to introduce younger kids to bigger rides, yet delivers such an action packed ride, it leaves you wanting more! Heres a video of the Jr. Suspended as an Animation: