cfc

I think Euroburg's setting really lends itself to Christmas (the architecture, the woods). They should be able to put on a first-class Christmas event. Christmastime is a big deal at Colonial Williamsburg, as well. I wonder if CW and the park will try some sort of tie-in with the historic area's Grand Illumination. They already sell joint passes at the park and CW Visitors Center for BGE, CW, Jamestown, and Yorktown.

^Yes, that's correct--Christmas Town at BGE starts in November 2009.

The movie version is excellent--it actually won Best Picture over 2001: A Space Odyssey in 1968.

They've added quite a bit of stuff to the announcement on the Web site since I checked it out earlier this afternoon. The event also looks a bit more extensive than I had first heard (that is, more of the park will be open).

Well, it's on the BGE Web site, so I guess we can call it "official." BGE will be holding "Christmas Town" in 2009. The press release is a little light on the details, but tickets for this event, which will run on weekends in November and December, will be $19.95.

^That is, an unconfirmed rumor? Did you know that Das Katapault, the scrambler in BGE's Oktoberfest section, used to be indoors where the Castle O'Sullivan show is now? Way back when, Killearney used to be "Hastings," and The Catapault was a scrambler in the dark, which featured a light show with images of the Battle of Hastings projected on the wall as riders spun (and possibly hurled).

"Whose fortunes are made In the triangle trade . . ." That song actually makes New England look pretty bad, too. My favorite musical is Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. I saw it in San Francisco a long time ago with Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Lovett and George Hearn as Sweeney--absolutely incredible. Into the Woods is great, too.

Screamscape mentioned that BGE might be planning some sort of "hard ticket" Christmas event for 2009--we shall see. I've always thought that the park should take a crack at this. Colonial Williamsburg's big Christmas event, the "Grand Illumination," is this Sunday.

^I now almost wish I had a cell phone.

Looks like the show would be worth seeing even if you aren't a big Madonna fan--great pictures, Eric.

Did you have a can of Fancy Feast Turkey and Gravy Dinner? That's his favorite. Did you check out the haunted house ride at Trimper's? I think that's the best thing there.

Flyin Phil, Thanks for the aerial photos. We already have a thread devoted to the Medusa's makeover, so I've merged your new thread with it. Chuck

It reminds me of those sleds they use to train jet pilots for emergency water landings--the ones where the trainee is dumped into a pool and then has to undo the safety belts and escape.

^Japanese coasters are an "eccentric" lot. IMO, the best offering at Space World was Venus (the one with the Space Shuttle), followed by Zaturn (the Stealth clone).

I've only ridden one Roller Soaker, myself--at Hershey. We rode it early in the morning, before the sadistic families had a chance to man the water cannons. We still got fairly wet. And to get back on topic, I rated HP's Roller Soaker 146th out of 172 coasters.

^While rolling?

I used the groups that Robb suggested, then ranked them within each group, which was easier than dealing with the whole ballot at once. The top and bottom 20s were fairly clear, but it got a little trickier in the middle.

Or donating old cans of pumpkin mix to the Food Bank.

^^I used my magical mod powers and fixed it for you, so you should be OK now.

There was an election-related thread (on the "Random" board) that ran for quite some time. Unfortunately, it tended to degenerate into mindless, partisan flame wars. Mods would step in from time to time, and posters would become more reasonable for a while--then the whole mess would start up again. (This reflected the previous campaign season all too well.) Reasoned discussion is good. Pointless bickering is not. Life's too short. Besides, we have coasters to debate about.

I just e-mailed my 2008 Steel Coaster Poll results. Here are my top and bottom ten, if anyone's interested: Top Ten Expedition GeForce, Holiday Park Goliath, Walibi World Phantom's Revenge, Kennywood Park Nemesis, Alton Towers Griffon, Busch Gardens Europe SheiKra, Busch Gardens Africa Winjas, Phantasialand Euro-Mir, Europa-Park Nitro, Six Flags Great Adventure Dueling Dragons-Fire, Islands of Adventure Bottom Ten Fav Loop-Screw, Any Park Anywhere Fav Vekoma Boomerang, Any Park Anywhere Fav Chance Toboggan, Any Park Anywhere Fav Vek Susp Loop SLC, Any Park Anywhere MegaBlitz, Coney Beach Goudurix, Parc Asterix G Force, Drayton Manor Eejanaika, Fujikyu HighLands Great American Scream Machine, Six Flags Great Adventure Space Mountain, Disneyland Paris

Sometimes, we mods can seem a bit abrupt in our explanations for closing threads. For example, regarding the redundant Brazilian photo thread, perhaps I should've just merged the new thread into the original thread. That being said, the poster of the new thread had posted in the original thread earlier--so there was really no excuse for starting a new one. It's much easier to keep discussions of a new attraction grouped in one thread. As for the spelling and grammar rules, I make my living as a copyeditor, and I make mistakes from time to time, too. A poster's spelling and grammar has to be pretty poor before it draws the attention of the mods--so poor that readers can't make head or tail of what the poster is trying to say.

There's already a thread devoted to this ride--a thread which you have posted in: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=45866&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0 Please post any new photos in the original thread. Thank you, Chuck

Yes, this thread has wandered a bit afield, from discussing CF's financial status to bashing Disney and other park chains. Different strokes for different folks. Some prefer Disney, others CF, others SF. There's no point in rehashing all that. Thread locked. Chuck

Paramount was pretty enthusiastic (or so it seems to me) during the first few years they owned Kings Dominion; for example, they really hyped the new "Wayne's World" section locally when it opened, and the Hurler was a damn good coaster during its first season. But things slipped as years went by. I consider the CF buyout, at this point, sort of a lateral move for the park.