Mrenata

They still haven't added any Dreamworks themed areas... Oh, wait: Which Dreamworks characters are they? haha

No, the drop tower is still closed and it will probably remain like that for a long time. Rumor has it that the park is going to change the tower's restraint system, even thought that doesn't make much sense, since it was an human error that killed that poor girl . My guess is that they will wait at least the first "anniversary" of the accident to start working on the tower again. By the way, the pictures posted above are not new, they are from like 3-6 months ago. There has been barely no work on the 10i ground for the past 6 months. If nothing else goes wrong, this coaster will only open to the public in mid 2013, probably after the one being built at Chongqing Safari Park in China and maybe even after the 11i.

In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (my home town) there's a water slide called Kilimanjaro. It is 50 meter tall (164 feet) and it's said to be the world's tallest water slide. Can anyone confirm that?

Sorry to correct you guys, but the world's tallest water slide is actually in Brazil. It's called Kilimanjaro, it stands 50m tall and it is located at Aldeia das Águas (http://www.aldeiadasaguasresort.com.br/)

It's not the most amazing place to a roller coaster enthusiast, but South America is pretty cool. Nice people, nice food, some weird parks... Of course, themeparkwise it cannot compete to Japan or Hong kong, but if you're ever willing to come to South America, let me know and I'll do my best to help you!

Oh crap, I'll have to come back to Texas in 2013!

They "bought" two face first. They arranged everything, it was ready to ship (or had already been shiped) when something happened and they never paid for it. My guess is that in this meanwhile Deja Vu was put out for sale and they decided to buy it's big sister instead.

Rumor has it that Mirabilandia (not the park in Italy, but it's knockoff in Brazil) bought Two Face, but never paid for it. The fact is that Two Face never actually got to Brazil. The "legend" around Two Face is that while it was on it's way to Brazil, a park in Italy made an offer and since Mirabilandia Brazil had not paid yet, they decided to accept the offer and shifted it's way to Europe. The reason why Mirabilandia was postponing the payment is not very clear, but my guess is that Deja Vu was put out for sale in the meanwhile. Talking about Deja Vu, yes, it's in Brazil, in storage for 4 years now. Mirabilandia doesn't own the land where it stands, and the government wants to evict the park to expand a convention center nearby. They say they will not buid Deja Vu on that land due to the risk of ejection in the near future, but they also don't wanna move to another land. How dumb is it?

A 1970's Z-40 coaster at Barilandia, Rio de Janeiro. www.rcdb.com/m/10806.htm

Not that I'm proud of, but here's my list: Boomerang - Freizeit-Land Geiselwind Boomerang - Playcenter São Paulo (by the way, this one no longer exists, it has been sold to Costa Rica) Boomerang - Fantasilandia Boomerang - Parque de la Costa Carolina Cobra - Carowinds Cobra - Walibi Belgium Flashback - Six Flags New England Speed of Sound - Walibi Holland We should do the SLC Challenge!

I can asure you that the animal contact is pretty safe. Those animals are treated like a pet from the day they were born and they were never beaten by any humans. If you look carefully, I'm always holding a bottle of milk in my hands, so the animals pay more attention to the milk I'm giving than to the human taking a picture with them. The only animal that you can't have full contact with is the brown bear, even though you can feed him, you are not allowed to touch or hug him.

No, I didn't. But I'm planning on coming back to Argentina soon and visit Parque de La Costa, Republica de Los Niños and Parque de La Ciudad one last time before they torn everything down. That will make a nice trip report

I've visited Parque de La Costa in 2011, so in 2012 I decided to focus on the least famous parks. I missed Republica de Los Niños though.

Firewhip - Beto Carrero World - By far the worst SLC EVER and a very painful experience Montezum - Hopi Hari - I still have bruises from the last time I rode it! Green Lantern - SFGA - I had no idea that a stand up coaster would make me cry! Cyclone - Coney Island - It was great in the past, but last year it was rough as hell Viper - SFMM - Why is this thing still there? Why do people ride it???

In fact Vertigorama never opened, since it's electrical parts never came to Parque de La Ciudad.

Parque de La Ciudad Parque de La Ciudad was planned during Argentina's Military Government, around 1975. They wanted to build a large amusement park with all new rides, and money wasn't an issue. They contracted a company named Interama Parks S.A. to be in charge of everything, and this company contracted Intamin AG to built a giant observation tower, and to provide the park's major rides, including the only steel racing coaster in the world at that time. They planned two major rollercoasters, Vertigorama, Intamin's steel racing coaster, that cost US$10.000.000 and Aconcagua, a Schwarzkopf model pretty much like Nessie, without the looping. Is was South America's highest coaster for a long time, and it cost was around US$6.500.000. When the park opened it's doors in 1982 it had 62 attractions. Vertigorama wasn't one of those, since it's electrical parts never came to place. The return to the democratic government, along with a long recession period were some of the factors that contributed to the closing of the park in 2003 when Buenos Aires' mayor decided to close the park claiming that he wanted to refurbish all the rides. The park remained closed for 4 years. In 2007 it reopened with just a few attractions, but it was closed again in 2008, when the city government claimed that the park's rides were not safe. Nowadays the park is partially open. People are allowed in the center areas, where the picnic tables, lake, restrooms and green areas are. The observation tower, called Torre Espacial reopened last year, but I'm not sure wether it's still working or not, since it was closed on the day of my visit. I was always amazed by abandoned parks, so this visit to Parque de La Ciudad was very, very special to me. In 2013 there's going to be a huge music concert at Parque de La Ciudad, so I'm afraid they'll remove the rides for good. If you have the opportunity to visit this park while the rides are still there, please do, it's really amazing! When you enter Parque de la Ciudad you'll see this long path that leads you to the observation tower. This is one of the areas where visitors are allowed. The green areas are all accessible to the public. There are a few fences and "no trespassing" signs indicating where you can't go. But it's not rocket science do go past those signs and enter the rides area Everything is still there, none of the rides have been removed It's so pretty and so creepy at the same time Vertigorama, Intamin's racing coaster The loading station was never built, even though the trains were all in place don't call me crazy, but I think this is prettier than a regular working coaster Amazing Being able to enter the ride area and walk around was something out of this world Pretty much like a dream, or a scary movie Souvenirs! The cable chairs More creepy/amazing rides Everything is exactly the way it was back in 2007 They didn't even close the control pannel Nessie, without the looping Admit it, you've always wanted a pisture like that A kiddie coaster more creepy pictures A Schwarzkopf Wild Cat

Thank you so much guys! If you're ever thinking about visiting South America please let me know and I'll do my best to help you with everything! This is how the fortune teller birds work: They open one of those drawers and randomly pick a paper with a fortune on it and handle it to you Those fortune teller birds were very popular in South America during the 60's and 70's, but you don't see them anymore. This guy in Luján says they are the only ones left in the world.

Argenpark and Parque Luján - Luján, Argentina Luján is a city 65km away from Buenos Aires. It's easily accessible by bus (Linea 57 at Plaza Italia) and it is know for 3 things: The petting zoo (Zoo de Luján), the cathedral (Basílica de Luján) and for it's amusement parks. The petting zoo is one of the few zoos in the world where you're allowed to enter the cages and actually pet tigers, lions and bears (with the company of a trainer, of course). I've only seen those zoos in Luján and Johannesburg. It's actually pretty safe, and there has never been an accident or injury in Luján. Luján has 2 known parks: Argenpark and Parque Luján. During my visit I found a third park, with no name and just a few creepy rides along the river. This map shows how the parks are arranged around Luján. If you are not from South America, you'll find those parks very, very creepy, but this is how all the small parks look like around here. Some vintage rides that are rare to find nowadays Ticket booth, called "boleteria" in spanish There are no unlimited rides wristbands. They use this token as the ticket, and the token colors may vary according to the ride's ticket price. The most expensive ones (the rollercoasters) cost around US. Some kiddie rides and a credit on the background! Luján's cathedral is HUGE! This picture almost reminded me of Magic Kingdom More vintage rides A pretty steep drop for such an old coaster In the past there was a huge amusement park in Argentina called Ital Park. After a girl's death on the matterhorn ride on the 90's the park was shut down and it's rides were either bought by Beto Carrero, or ended up in Luján. Super Tornado is a 60's coaster that came from Ital Park, where it was called Thunderbolt. You can tell it is at least 40 years old. It's manually operated and there's a sign saying that the car's ONLY capacity is two people. It means that I had to use all my spanish to bribe a dad into landing me his kid so I could ride Super Tornado. The seat belt is that bumper car style shoulder harness that both people have to share. Awkward. The car is too tall and too narrow for it's turns, so you feel like you're gonna derail any time soon. The first drop is pretty steep, and at the end there's a huge bunny hop that ejects you from your seat. From Parque Luján you can either walk or take the cable chair to Argenpark Argenpark Station That building on the left is Ital Park's old Ghost Train that Argenpark is trying to restore. More vintage rides Super 8, another coaster that came from Ital Park It has seen better days On my way back to the bus station I spoted a thid park. Well, it was more like a creepy carnival ride reunion along Luján's river. It would be just a regular creepy park if it wasn't for the ULTRA CREEPY pirate ship. This thing was insane. It was going really high, it was even hitting the trees. That thing was so messed up that I had to try it. The bars were all rusty and I swear to god that it almost made a loop at some point. Back to the bus station I found those old fortune teller birds. Even though Luján may seem a very unsafe place to visit, I had no problem getting around by myself. It's not a place that I would come back every year, but it's worthy a visit.

I thought Six Flags Mexico and Hopi Hari were on Latin America as well

Neverland - Buenos Aires, Argentina I decided to fly from Cordoba to Buenos Aires, since the ticket price was so cheap (around US0). Buenos Aires is one of the most beautiful cities I've visited, and I try to go there at least once a year. The architecture in Buenos Aires is amazing, the streets are large, people are very polite and helpful, the transportation system works perfectly and it's a very safe place to visit. It reminds me a lot of NYC (besides the polite people ) Neverland is a small indoor park inside Shopping Abasto. In South America is very common to see those small arcade/parks inside malls. Most of them, though, don't have rides for teens/adults, just some kiddie ones. Neverland is bigger than those small parks, and it occupies a large area of Shopping Abasto. On the first floor there's a huge arcade area with some coin operated rides. On the third floor there's a very, very cute ferris wheel And on the second floor you can find some bigger rides like this pirate ship More kiddie rides The rides reminded of Luna Park, at Coney Island Oh, of course, there's a credit there! A very cute zamperla powered coaster It's one of the best themings I've ever seen on a powered coaster A bad ass shark I'm usually ashamed of credit whoring like that, but this one was really worthy! weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

USA is blessed with 2 of the most amazing roads I've ever seen: I-15 to Vegas and Pacific Coast Highway. Those two, along with the route from Chile to Argentina are the holy trinity of amazing roads in the world.

Super Park - Córdoba, Argentina Culture credit: If you travel from Chile do Argentina by bus, you will cross the Andes. The trip from Santiago to Mendoza takes aprox 8 hours, and the views are breathtaking! It's almost a Wild Mouse credit! The view is amazing all the way. The roads are very safe and the buses are double decker with free snacks and beverages all the way! The one way fare is around US. Seriously, this road is insanely beautiful! There are some Inca ruins all the way. Breathtaking! The mules ready to climb Aconcágua The first major city in Argentina coming from Chile is Mendoza. It's the base camp for anyone who's going to climb Aconcágua. From Mendoza you can choose to either take a bus or fly to Cordoba and Buenos Aires. I choose to fly, since the air fare was really cheap (around US). The Airline Companies in Argentina are really good (Andes, Austral (which belongs to Aerolineas Argentinas) and LAN. Cordoba is Argentina's second biggest city and is one of the nicest ones too! Super Park is a small park inside Parque Sarmiento. It looks like a small carnival that stood still on time. It's cute, though. There are no entrance fees, or wristbands for unlimited rides. You pay 5 pesos per ride, less than US. They still use the good old paper ticket Speedy Gonzales, the only credit there The park has around 20 rides, but they're all well taken care of. Their website, though, is a mess, http://www.super-park.com.ar/superpark.php Good, old flat rides Tagadas: For some inexplicable reason, they are SUPER popular in South America. I hate those rides, it doesn't make sense why one would spend money to end up with a stranger sitting on your lap. Or does it? A nice, small caroussel Another VERY popular ride in South America

The park advertised the "boat ride", caled Mississippi, as a terror ride, but I can't tell for sure whether this is accurate or not. I tried to find more information about this ride on the web, but the only thing that I could find out is that the ride is not operating anymore due to a lot of injures (which makes me think that it was indeed a Fun House). Apparently now they use the boat as a stage for some shows and contests.

I'll be flying from Brazil to USA in mid june to get some new credits. The parks I intend to visit are Carowinds, Dollywood, Beech Bend, Holiday World, Lake Winnie and SFOG! \o/

Fluch is not only the best Eurofighter in the world, but it also made my top 10 of all coasters. It is really that awesome!