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whell becuase howler is a simple flat ride, and it isn't a stand out atraction or anything very speacial Anyone want to explain what Howler is? Is it one of those tornado things that you manually spin? If so, that > Fahrenheit!

I was going to post, "I use a major Canadian bank! Can I go?!" and then I realized - I don't even use one... damnit, I'm so screwed!

For some reason I thought the Bears still used the Hersheypark arena, but reading to find out if that was indeed the case, I now see that they've moved to the GIANT Center. They still use the Hersheypark Arena as a practice facility, but I'm betting that that doesn't pay the bills.

The hell? I know this may not be the proper topic, but there's a huuuuge amount of people at Wonderland today... as far as I know, it's closed to the public today. Employee day or something? I'm confused because seeing people go on a day that's not officially open makes me want to go!

Good work, Paul, even if I couldn't resist watching the POV and "spoiling" the experience! Always interesting to see how the park changes with a new attraction, and this is certainly the biggest facelift the park has received thanks to one in a long time...

I guess I should mention, it was running a lot faster up close than it was from my work. While it wasn't flying through the track, it certainly appeared that airtime could be had over the majority of the hills. Also, it's just so damn BIG. We were across the pond taking most of the pictures and the thing is just massive. You can't really tell how big it is until you're standing next to it!

Nikki and I dropped by after I finished work today and took a few pictures. I know Paul will likely have a Photo TR up later today, so I'll just upload a few in this thread for all y'all. If you guys want to view any of these pictures at a higher resolution, check out http://www.flickr.com/photos/crustyshoes/... you can get them at much higher resolution there! Some lucky people got to go in this way... [coughPAULcoughgrumblegrumble], but we had to just take a picture of it and then drive off. Here you can see the latter section of the ride. SEVENTY-FIVE DEGREES WEEEEEEE this thing might give more air than I anticipated... My favourite looking part of the ride, I love watching the train fly around this turn. This one might be my favourite of the bunch, actually. Whoaaaa man, it's like, sideways and stuff It's hard to get any shots of the "complete" ride... especially since we took most of these from the road inside Nikki's car. Holy crap it's like totally giving people rides, what a joke! And that - is that!

Habs are going all the way this year. Well, to the Cup finals. Then it's a crapshoot. No shame in losing to them Habs regular season record against their first two play-off opponents: 12-0. Habs play-off record against their first two play-off opponents [after seven games]: 4-3. Regular season means what again? I was cheering for eight teams this play-off season: Caps, Habs, Sens, Preds, Sharks, Wild. I had predicted for about a month that a Habs/Sharks final was inevitable. The only two of the six teams left in the play-offs? That's right! It ain't no coincidence.

It's about $1.20 a litre in most of the Greater Toronto Area right now... or about $4.50 a gallon. sdgihsadgoupbsgoub

I'm jealous. I want me some Florida.

Yeah, early on when I saw it testing the mid-course was on but, to my surprise, didn't have that typical "stop the train almost entirely" quality to it. I was hoping that would last, but clearly it didn't. Today I've noticed that the train seems to come into the mid-course with more speed than it has been doing recently, so I suppose that's somewhat of a positive. But it's still not exactly flying over the hills. Also, for what it's worth, I've only counted one train testing today... not sure if that has anything to do with the supposed valleying yesterday, or maybe media day. Hopefully someone who attends media day can clear that up in here!

Top Thrill Dragster's spiral drop is always a lot of fun, and I've only been on it a few times so it's still incredibly thrilling. I also love Millenium Force's drop still. I've never been a fan of the Intamin drop towers. The drops are fun but not great. The S&S Turbo Drops are awesome. The Power Shots or whatever they're called are pretty lame in comparison. The absolute best "drop" I've experienced is probably the third drop on Cyclops at Mt Olympus. Jaw-droppingly amazing, a "holy sh-t" moment every time. Edit: Didn't notice the topic had changed. Pittfall at KW was probably my favourite drop tower, because of the location.

Not surprising. I've spent most of my past two shifts at work watching it test and it's just barely, barely making it over most of these hills. The mid-course brakes are bringing the train to a standstill, and it's just inching itself onto them to begin with. It's absolutely ridiculous how poor the park is treating this coaster already, and it hasn't even opened up to the public yet. If you're going to build a $20 million rollercoaster, why are you running it as if it's a damn kiddie coaster? Jesus... Anyway, if it did valley, it's all better now because it's testing in front of me as I type this. It's running a bit better today than it was on Tuesday and Saturday, certainly less braked coming into the mid-course. Problem is, the mid-course is still on hot and heavy and is really making the helix/counter-helix and final bunny hop completely pointless, as the train just crawls through them.

Straw poll: How many PCW Passholder Preview Photo TRs will there be? I'm betting five or six

Go Jays I like to think that sweeping Boston makes up for getting swept by the A's. Hopefully we can keep our momentum up against division rivals. We play some awful teams in the next couple weeks, we need some serious victories in that span. The bats need to come back to life... after a strong start, they were absolutely anemic in the series against the A's, and our usually rock-solid closer blew two games in a row. Ugh Please let this not be a sign of things to come. We certainly have a better pitching staff that the Red Sox and Yankees... now the team has to bring hitting up to that level! 2006 form!

I've always wanted to go storm chasing, I think it would be a lot of fun and terrifying. The closest I've been to a tornado was when I was in Florida in 1998, we got tornado warnings and there were reports of tornadoes around the area of our hotel. But I never saw it.

I can only really speak of Canada's Wonderland, since it's the only park I've consistently visited year in and year out since I was four or five. Basically, the rampant commercialization of everything in the park takes away any atmosphere the park has. Basically I feel as though I'm just in a gigantic advertisement that has some rides in it. How long until we start changing the names of the rides to corporate-themed? We've already seen this in some parks, but I doubt it's much longer until the Mighty Canadian Minebuster becomes the M&M's Minebuster. Also, I have never got over them removing my favourite burger place in the world - Barney's Burgers - with a damn Pizza Pizza. That was the end of my childhood. The employees at Wonderland generally just don't give a rat's ass about the park or people's experiences. I know this firsthand, having been one of those employees. What I think it stems from is both the lack of interest from most of the teenagers they have working there, and the work schedule/lack of flexibility/beatdowns the employees have to deal with. Plus, the area around the park where the staff is from are mostly made up of snobby kids who feel that they're slumming by working at Wonderland, and want everyone to know it. I know not every employee is like this - there are still the select few who love their job and love making people's days better - but the vast majority of them are. The rides have taken a big hit over the years. Ill maintenance on woodies like Minebuster and Wild Beast have resulted in almost unrideable coasters. Granted, even at their best they were never top ten coasters, but all the fun has gone out of boarding them, and now I worry more about how to maintain my wits through the rough rides. The neutering of Minebuster via removal of a bunny hop and replacing it with a meandering hump was basically the last straw for that ride, and the new wheels that were fitted on Wild Beast last year basically ruined what had been one of my favourite Wonderland coasters. The only other factor I haven't mentioned is my growing up and experiencing new parks, which stole my Wonderland innocence, as now I see that what I used to think was a great, unique park is really just run of the mill compared to other places.

I know I'm late here, but just wanted to say that I had been wanting to go to CP from 1997, and didn't get a chance until 2004, but it was completely worth the wait and awesome. I guess things have changed in the past few years, but I always thought of CP as larger than life and really, really loved my first trip there. Having gone there many a time since, however, I have grown stale towards it and probably won't go for another couple years. Here's the answers to your questions [yes, I know, they're late]: We've gone in early June and the crowds were busy thanks to school trips, especially at the bigger rides. Later at night, the crowds dwindle. As others have pointed out - do the back of the park first, near the Magnum/waterpark entrance! It's usually deserted back there for the first 45 minutes of the day. The first time we went [late-August 2004], we were scared that two days wouldn't be enough, but they were. We got most of the credits done on the first day and were able to use the second day for basically re-doing what we really liked, and just enjoying the day and riding any flats that piqued our interests. Depends on the time of day. In the morning until early-mid afternoon, lines for things at the front of the park [Raptor specifically] can get massive. Later in the day, people will be more spread around the park so things will dwindle down a bit. Be smart about it! If you notice a line that looks to be two hours for a ride, come back later. The only rides that I figure are worth a huge wait are TTD, MF and Maverick, although I personally wouldn't consider waiting an hour or more for Maverick again. Everything else can be walked-on at some point during a day. Just remember that. It's funny that there's been so much rain-talk about CP lately, because the first four trips we took there [eight days in total I think], we didn't encounter any rain! But the last time we went, it rained three or four times in the three days we were there, and it really got quite annoying. So, prepare for a lot of rain and plan accordingly. That said, I think you made a great decision in choosing it over the Six Flags parks!

Those houses will also be the death of Wonderland. Idiots move in next door to an amusement park, and then raise hell about the noise levels and demand that the city do something about it. Uh, hello jackasses, don't move next door to an amusement park if you want quaint quiet time! Idiots! I hate people. I hate Vaughan. I can't wait to get out of here and move to the country.

Very nice pictures! I was driving home from work [which is across the street from Wonderland], and thought, "Hmmm, maybe I should go check out Behemoth." So I pulled a u-turn in the middle of a street and drove back to check it out. Lo and behold, I pulled into the Wonderland parking lot and Behemoth is heading up the lift hill! Very pleasant surprise. Looks really sleek running through the track, the curves can be described as "majestic", and the roar! That is a roar that I love. It was hauling ass through a few sections [the final bunny hops, most notably], and I think there will be a nice pop of air on a couple of the bigger hills [floater at best]. Hopefully they don't hammer the brakes too much.

My home park is my favourite. Dexy's Midnight Runners is the greatest band in music history.

Wow! Those trains sure do look like trains!

I nominate Pedroland... and Lakemont... those places were dumps. I think at one point, Nikki and I were just laughing at how awful they looked. Disgusting excuses for "parks". That said, those shots of Bushkill were cringe-worthy. Thanks for the pics, Darksin.

I love these names. They are both creative and witty. I, for one, am excited to ride Flight Deck. I think it will be a whole new experience

Ahaha you're welcome to hang out with us in the "losers not on the real trip" group, then!