simon8899

Looks good.... Including all coasters....except the Boomerang. The Black Mamaba is also not included...

Hey- the World Fair from the Simpsons episode.... Not quite - though I dont know about distribution overseas - this is a Weber Traumboot (Dreamboat) made by german showmen-turned-manufacturer Weber. His company was later sold/aquired/merged (???) to become HUSS rides. The Traumboot is a predecessor to the HUSS Ranger. I prefer the Traumboot over the Ranger as the cabin is taller so better for taller guys like me. Today those Traumboots are still in operation in Mexico City Feira De Chapultepec and in the Netherlands at Attractiepark Slagharen. And of course this were designed to be portable.

Nice to see Knotts again... My day at this park was mixed. Crowds were somewhere "half-crowded" were Montezooma and Xcelerator had max 10 mins wait - the former mostly a walk-on. On the other hand Silver Bullet and Perilious Plunge were running only one train/boat with waits up to 60 mins - only did both once. Really bad bad was that GhostRider and Perilious Plunge were mostly broken down.... What really amazed me was the loooong lines for the Boomerang - always around 30-40 mins - luckily did that one right after opening in the morning were it was a walk-on.

LOL...I've adblocker on....

Looks like a nice ressort...cant wait to get there next year....either early Feb or mid April.... Sadly most hotels dont have a regular olympic pool anymore thats just for swimming....but well....

If you wanna get a good Himalaya ride come over to one of our carnivals. In the US they do all things wrong with them. Frist off they run them far too slow - and then all the "Dont rock the cars" and "Dont raise your arms" and "No sunglasses onride". This is the correct speed to handle such a ride - note how far the gondolas swing up! The US has great coasters - but I always have to refrain myself on "commenting" to the ride-ops about their operations and rules as I dont wanna get kicked from the parks....

The year will begin as it ended coasterwise: With rides on Olympia Looping on the Hamburg spring carnival... Starting March 23rd!

cool update! I hate (!!!) it to wait at a restaurant! Never do it....even if its means eating some fast-food crap direct from the counter...but mostly I look out for some bakery to get some buns and a Trader Joes to get something onto the buns.... But its sad you say you dont like chocolate....its basic food to me...

I agree on the older HUSS flats such as Troika, Magic or Flipper - even if those are still around on european fairs and parks quite often today. But alone in germany there are about 30 Dancers and 10 Top Spin in operation so I guess those will hang around for some time. And both are still drawing crowds at our carnivals - even a small german fair isnt complete without a Dancer...

On B&M standups: I've only ridden one so far and after many days on foot during my vacation I've to say that these type of coasters are bad when you already have sore feet.... On Schwarzkopfs: I think the track is nearly indistructable and even after 30+ years still quite smooth for its age. I lately rode a nearly 50 year old Wildcat at a carnival lately and there was no concern about the track. Problem becomes the rolling stock -you see more and more tape that helps keeping it together. But we also see new trains by SAT (Testrecke) and Gerstlauer (soon SDL) and I say with new trains they've another 30 years of lifetime ahead. The question is how many parks will invest into new trains? Or more likely building a fancy new coaster? Bad reputation could become an accident in for example South America were parks dont have the money for new trains and run the old ones with "hands-on"-repairs till they fall apart.... On Arrows: These coasters age quite badly compared to Schwarzkopf designs. But even here Vekoma has put out a quite comfy train with those new rubber-seatbelt like OTSRs like on the Speed Of Sound at Walibi Belguim. On flats: IMO its very sad that more and more Huss Ranger and Weber Traumboot got removed. I love hanging upside down with a lapbar only...

I'll go there some upcomming year - colleagues of our branch there says that all better hotel also offer limousine services all-day-hire or at appointed times to/from all locations in Mexico-City at a reasonable price, most drivers are also fluent in english. Cant wait to get onto my good ol Dreier Looping....

I most likely add Europe Park for the first time in ages - last time I was there there were only the powered minetrain and the bobsled coaster. Now planning for September and most likely staying in one of the beautiful on-site hotels.... Next to that my Scandi-Tour - Linnanmaki, Sarkeniemmi, Gröna-Lund, Liseberg, Tivoli, Bakken - is booked except for the train tickets which are only available 3 months in advance.... Plus Vienna - hello Prater - with some buddies in September.

@vacoaster09 You can also place concrete blocks into that footers - have seen that on the permanently setup Looping Star at Slagharen -and such blocks weigh much more than water. We here in northern europe dont have such heavy storms but for the Spring- and Winter-Dom there were storms with up to 140 kph and so far no ride was blown away.

@vacoaster09 All - formally - portable Schwarzkopf rides have no permanent footings. They're just built onto a steel base frame. Onto that frame multiple kind-of basins are built that can either be filled with water or cement blocks to provide secure footing for the steel frame. On this RCDB photo you can see two of such basins as footing for the loop. Here the footers are classically filled with water on the Testrecke (pic by Looping-Grufti).

Cool PhotoTR! At first I thought about adding Mexico City to my WDW trip next year but its a real hassle switching between the US and Mexico - you then need to apply for a regular US visa and cant use the Visa Waiver Program so I dropped it for now and do Mexico seperatly some day. Love to see my good ol Dreier Looping - once on the german carnival circuit - is still in operation. But at the old times in germany it had lapbars only. Having two Schwarzkopf coasters in one park alone would be a reason for me to visit! and they also have a Weber Traumboot - TOPS!!! One question: How can one get around without much knowledge of spanish???

great in-depth look at all WDW! liked the disney Dream pics - the ship was built here in germany by Meyer Werft.... hopefully doing WDW next year in jan/feb (WDW, Orlando only) or mid-april (WDW, Orlando plus SFoG) - as I need the hotel only for sleeping I've so far eyed the Port Orleans Resort, a midrange Disney-hotel.

Eager to see the new trains for the Schwarzkopf ride - espacially in comparison to the Teststecke trains built by SAT rides.... I hope to see a new coaster idea soon as the eurofighter idea is already a lil aged. But the steel frame keeps my hopes up to someday see a portable eurofighter on the german carnival circuit.... Maybe we see something like this: Gerstlauer Site. As there said in german "The Hybrid Coaster Train can be adapted to tracksystems of all manufacturers - wood or steel!"

^Then - in comparison to the eagle - we all hope it falls off soon....

Yes, like adding a msacot on top.... I still remember that about 100 years ago a huge eagle was placed on front of a german steamer so its larger than the british ships....

Another update on the situation: The state Rheinland-Pfalz who owns the Nürburgring has cancelled all contracts with the private managers of the theme park. It is suspected that a longer lawsuit will now follow. Meanwhile the theme park will at least be closed partially - if not altogether as long as the lawsuit is pending. Negotiations with the union Verdi who represents the workers have also been cancelled - it now looks like up to 92 employees have to go. German article by tv station SWR

Actually they'll share the honor of tallest StarFlyer with the Praterturm at the Vienna Prater which IS the same size - 117 meters. It was opened on the 1st of May 2010. Wikipedia

Maybe the smaller versions can be more easily disassembled in case a hurricane comes like the smaller StarFlyers which also go on carnivals....

Very cool shots - wets my appetite for 2013!

Any chances these will be ready by 2013???

Looks like they've fun parks over there... But I guess I'll do China in one of my next lives....