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^I think I was too traumatized to have any sort of reaction to Anaconda, other than some sort of pain spasm.

BGW held its annual Passholder Preview today. This is, of course, the first time I'd been to the park since the Verbolten Hard Hat Tour, so I was very curious to see what progress the park had made on its new ride. First off, the new trains look great in person! These are some of the coolest-looking coaster trains I've seen, from their headlights to their license plates. Zirer and Busch have done themselves proud. Second, they've added quite a few theming elements to the "collapsing bridge" and the "tour center" station. Busch is really pulling out the stops for this ride. At least that's what I think. Here are some pictures to help you make up your mind. "Twistiness" is cactching on worldwide. When I last saw this bridge, all they had up was the steel framework. But now it's looking truly "drecrepit." And that's great! Here's a closer look--note the workmen toward the back. Hmm--not sure if we'll ever see this waterfall working again. But who cares about an old waterfall, when there's this train to check out. If Barry White were still alive, he'd write a song about how sexy this train is. Sorry for the blurry photo, but it does give you a look at three other trains. Here's a clearer shot from the front. But what about train number 5? We see you in there red train! There's no need to be shy. We won't bite. Now what about that station? A sign of things to come. Hmm--here's an interesting bit of theming. Must be Gunter's ride for when he visits the Black Forest. Looks like there's been a little accident. Oops! Guten tag, officer! My bad. Dude, I know some people don't clean out their cars very often, but this is ridiculous! You don't need a car wash--you need a hazmat team! Larry--here's a sign for ya. You can take this seat for a spin before you line up for the ride. Meanwhile, back at "Gunter's Creepy Office" . . . Have your Visa card ready. "What in Germany"? You can have some undercarriage work done while you ride. They're still adding some more creepiness to Gunter's office. One last look at the station. The top floor is the "Black Forest Inn, another of Gerda and Gunter's businesses. Here's where your journey begins . . . . . . and where it goes horribly wrong. Your exit from the Black Forest . . . . . . ends up here. (Watch that step, pal--it's a lulu.) And the countdown continues . . . That's all for now!

^I agree with you that it'll probably be great to have Verbolten at my home park. But I think Cheetah Hunt is a great ride, so you probably shouldn't be considering a trade. At least not yet. Time will tell.

Here's some information from the park about Verbolten's trains. And just in case you were wondering about the "bridge" . . .

^I don't think there's been an "official" announcement. All we know is what was mentioned in this article posted earlier in the thread: http://themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1139082#p1139082.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts in Swarm, Craig. It looks like the theming is what makes this ride. I'm looking forward to checking out Wild Eagle at Dollywood, myself.

It's good to see Disney getting back to what it does best. The original version of DCA was "nice," but they gambled far too much on just using the Disney name to get it over. I'm looking foward to getting a close look at Cars Land myself.

God, I gained so much weight on the cruise right before the holidays.

Here's the zip-line attraction Ghost Town needs--zip-line gunfighting!

Legoland is letting out a little more info than BGW has on Verbolten. Those "snowmobile" trains look great. Perhaps 2012 is the "Year of Zierer."

Those are very nice replicas of the classic DL trains.

My goal would be to find a way to keep it from spinning too much. Looks like a nice addition to Nick Universe, a park I enjoyed much more than I thought I would back in 2010.

^So, most coasters lack balls? I'd never seen a maintenance ball for coaster until the WCB 2012 report, but I'd always wondered how crews went about checking the track of coaster without a catwalk around it.

^Be careful what you wish for . . .

I think the uniforms are pretty good--the CMs look like members of a circus band or maybe ringmasters.

15/20

Sick, sick, sick--in all the right ways.

^So we've never actually had a "state" fair? Oh my gawd!

I'm just hoping that they can actually do something to salvage Lethal Weapon: The Ride other than just melting it down for scrap and starting over (that was one miserable SLC). This retheme sounds like a step in the right direction. I really enjoyed Movie World last year, and thought the only bummer was Lethal Weapon (good queue, though).

I'm definitely suffering from Klassy Kruise Update Withdrawal Syndrome. Maybe if I hit myself in the head with a hammer and have lunch at Golden Corral . . .

Both sound great.

^It's an old Weight Watchers recipe, so it's pretty light--almost more of a glaze than a sauce.

^Ha! I didn't notice that this was first posted in '09. I imagine it's a wee bit more overgrown by now.

^Substitute bacon or prosciutto for the mushrooms. The original recipe called for green seedless grapes cut in half.

It's good to know that I can take a Klassy Kruise in Williamsburg simply by going to the Golden Corral on the Rt. 60 Bypass.