simon8899

Vuoristorata - IMO one of the most boring wooden coasters, mostly due to the brakemen who took it VERY conservative compared to those running Rutschebanen at Tivoli Gardens, would like if KumBak would make to do-over like on Bakken's Rutschebanen which runs a good pace. Gwazi - or better replace it with a nice steel coaster...

I would say Busch Gardens Tampa is a great park for inversion newbies. They have Cheetah Hunt which is a fine paced coaster having one inversion - a heartline roll - which is smooth as glass. Next up - and a little more forceful - would be Scorpion, one of the great classic Schwarzkopf loopers. If doing well after a single inversion one could then go on to test the collection of nice B&M multi-inversion coasters there. Choosing a boomerang is a little unique as one would start with overall six inversions. And the backwards stint is getting used to if one has only done non-Shuttle inversion coasters before IMO: The loop is on return quite intense as the train needs enough momentum to travel all the way back while the last leg of the Cobra Roll can give considerate hangtime depending on the train used. I found Arrow trains having the least hangtime, followed by Vekoma and offering some good hangtime is the SAT-Rides train at the Prater Boomerang, maybe due to the fact the latter only has lapbars.

The Swing Dance looks unique - never seen a ride like that before...

Mostly Twitter but also daily YouTube - but I do not always login in into the latter.

Looks like an American version of Tripsdrill

I liked EPCOT a lot list year. While TestTrack, Mission: Space and Soarin were fun I mostly returned there nearly daily for food and drink which are the best options in Disney if not in all Orlando theme parks. While my stay at the Riverside was big fun I will stay in one of the hotels located between Hollywood Studios and Epcot next time. Whats a better idea to start the day with a few spins on Rock'N'Roller Coaster and Tower Of Terror before having an early lunch and beer at World Showcase before heading over to Magic Mountain - maybe adding a spin on TestTrack and Mission:Space on the way...

Wow, looking like you had a great time! Those wait times would make me never visit at this times of year - maybe if I am 80+ years old and will not ride anything anymore...LOL.

Best new for me: 1 - Karacho (Tripsdrill) 2 - Black Mamba (Phantasialand) 3 - Cheetah Hunt (Busch Gardens Tampa) Best overall: 1 - Olympia Looping 2 - Blue Fire (Europa-Park) 3 - Karacho (Tripsdrill)

A Schwarzkopf for sure - lets see which one comes to Hamburg end of march to Frühlingsdom.

Looks like a nice park - some rides like the Boomerang and Frisbee looking a little run down. The Premier launched coaster looks crazy...

Nagashima Spaland looks like big fun - and reminds in many ways of a permanent carnival with their Swinging Ships, Frisbees, TopSpin, Looping Starship, etc. While a little weird it looks like the management bought everything they could get their hands on in the 70s - why else would they buy a Looping Star AND a Shuttle Loop AND a Corkscrew. If they are commited to keep all the cool classics they have this could become a kind of live theme park museum.

^^agreed on the HUSS Tri-Star. Cannot name a park near me who has one and have seen the last of this fun little ride at the carnivals in the late-80s to early-90s. Nicely Pleasurewood Hills also has a Schwarzkopf Jumbo V....

Woodies not being my favs here is my short list. If only at a park for a day I tend to skip the wooden coasters on busy days and try to get all steel credits... --Generator: Jordan's Ballot Helper 2013 (wood)-- --Ballot: 1f238ffb659-- XXXX LOCATION IN NEXT LINE (Please LEAVE THIS LINE IN BALLOT) ~"hamburg, germany" NAME IN NEXT LINE (Please LEAVE THIS LINE IN THE BALLOT) XXXX RANK THE FOLLOWING RIDING SENSATIONS <-LEAVE Positive G's/Loops_________________________,y,y,1 Abrupt Airtime_____________________________,y,y,2 Sensation of Speed_________________________,y,y,3 Out of Control Feeling/Directional Changes_,y,y,4 Floating Airtime___________________________,y,y,5 Lateral Forces_____________________________,y,y,6 COASTER NAME PARK LOC <-LEAVE Colossos Heide Park DE,y,y,1 Twister Grona Lund SE,y,n,2 Joris en de Draak V de Efteling NL,y,n,3 Joris en de Draak W de Efteling NL,y,n,4 Balder Liseberg SE,y,n,5 Giant Dipper Santa Cruz Bch Bdwk CA,y,n,6 Giant Dipper Belmont Park CA,y,n,7 Wodan TimburCoaster Europa Park DE,y,y,8 Mammut Tripsdrill DE,y,y,9 Rutschebanen Bakken DK,y,n,10 Rutschebanen Tivoli Gardens DK,y,n,11 Vuoristorata Linnamaki Park FI,y,n,12 Hochschaubahn Prater Park AT,y,n,13 Colossus S.F. Magic Mountain CA,y,n,14 GhostRider Knott's Berry Farm CA,y,n,15 Robin Hood Walibi Holland NL,y,n,16 Gwazi-Tiger Busch Gardens-Tampa FL,y,y,17

For anyone considering visiting EP this weekend: EP just tweeted that due to the mild weather Blue Fire will be running Dec. 28th and 29th.

Kärnan ready to roll at Hansa-Park

The "Rock It" is a KMG Inversion - we have some on the carnival circuit here, too. The "Flipper" - German for "Pinball" - by HUSS is slowly phased out here mostly due to lack of visitor interest. Newer flats gather better crowds here.

According to an interview with park owner Mr. Meisinger Geiselwind will get the Zierer darkride carnival coaster Black Hole owned by showmen Schierenbeck. So far its unclear if Geiselwind bought or rented the coaster and if the latter how long it will stay at the park. Black Hole is a fun little coaster with single cars roughly based on Flitzer cars. Black Hole at the carnival Black Hole car

^^As speculated before I think this coaster had not enough capacity for major German carnivals were even Looping Star and similar early coasters ran 3 trains - 1x station, 1x brake, 1x track. Thriller and Olympia run up to five trains. So the line for this Shuttle Loop would go around the block - and unlike theme parks were people stand in line dutifully to ride at our carnivals a long line can be a turn down resulting in people opting not to ride resulting in lower profits for the showmen. For midsize carnivals showmen opted to buy the Schwarzkopf Katapult which not only fitted into the space for a standard flat ride but also offered more inversions which number could be adjusted according to demand. At slow midweek you had 5x forward loop and 5x backward loop - at Saturday night 3x forward and 2x backward. Another point might be that this coaster might had higher maintenence costs than standard Schwarzkopf coasters with a chain lift system. ^Like the Katapult this one uses only friction tires. I would also love to see someone restoring a Katapult - that were such fun rides!

As said its quite warm for winter time this year - about 8-10 C throughout Germany. Brings many goodies: Saving on heating, no traffic jams, Blue Fire running...

In the times of hydraulic restraints I always get a lil uneasy as on older B&M coasters the OTSR leaves a little room to move as it wont click one farther down due to my body size.

EP looking greatz for winter season. Also like how they bring in the Bellevue ferris wheel - a 56 meter Nauta-Bussink wheel - owned by showmen Oscar Bruch. Nice to see how many coasters they have running while I guess Blue Fire is thanks to the warmer weather we have right now.

The 1920s Musik-Express got its operations permit at a time were restraints were not enforced by law. Even while newer rides needs restraints according to current law the old operations permit contunues to be valid as long as this rides exists. This law concept in Germany and later Europe is called "Bestandsschutz". This status is lost if this ride would get for example a new faster engine. Another example are original VW Beetle which have no seatbelts in the back and if you buy one you do not have to install them.

Seeing how good Coney Island did with Zamperla the last years I hope someone will take pity in Vienna Prater the same way. While the historic and Funtime rides are the major drag for visitors large areas look run down and even seedy after dark.

How about all the historic rides we still have here on the German carnival circuit that have no restraints Musik-Express without restraints

I cannot say I "hate" a coaster company - but have of course some dislikes: - Vekoma SLCs are ridden by me only for the credit - have not done Limit at Heide-Park in years - Those old Pinfari Zyklon loopers are plain horrible - Chinese companies who do knock-offs without license and make employees at other coster companies unemployed