WillMontu

Both Universal Studios and IOA make use of "sad and pathetic" lines. Usually they are hidden around the side of the entrance or right up front. Nearlly all of the big rides have them, and they are used fairly effectively (ie. 45 minute wait for the main line, 5 minute wait for the single rider line)

^ I have a full sized tripod, but I don't feel like lugging it around theme parks. I also have a mini-tripod that I didn't have with me at the time. To take the pictures, I would rest the camera on a fence, trash can, or something similar.

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=160593#160593 It must have been so bad that it killed the topic! I've also got a Primeval Whirl video that I am currently attempting to upload (unsuccessfully) to the video forum. Tom only got the credit that one side.

A few from IOA This shot alone would get Derek excited Hulk at night While not technically a coaster, this pic looked kind of cool. What's that hiding behind the trees?

Here's a few The Roller Coaster Lover's Companion by the late Steven Urbaniwicz. I have the first edition, with High Roller on the cover. Roller Coasters: A Thrillseeker's Guide to the Ultimate Scream Machines. Despite having a TDM on the front cover, this book has lots of high quality color photographs and was written by Robert Coker (webmaster of www.thrillride.com)

^ I was wondering when you would post the rest of your photos. I'm looking forward to this one! And Robb too. You promised a big picture update several weeks ago. I also posted a ToT: TPR style video on the forums here recently, but it was more of a POV and not as cool as Erik's.

Unfortunately someone has been linkspamming TPR pages on the Wikipedia. Please don't do it. It's embarrassing to us, embarrassing to Robb and Elissa as well, and is quite sad and pathetic if you ask me. We can do better than this! If you want to make Wikipedia better, take some pictures, expand and fix articles, and start articles on rides that are not already up there.

Enjoy! A work in progress. I need to find something to fill the empty spot at the top left

I've just about finished on the Inverted Floorless Hyper Woodie in the Wisconsin State Fair themed area. I will also attempt to do a stand-up log flume.

I was wondering what that was. I thought I had spyware infecting my PC.

After being inspired by this thread, I started work on a RCT2 version of this, codenamed Donkeyland The park in December 2008 Current attractions (Updated 08/03/2010) Transportation: -BERT (Beemerboy's Express Rapid Transit) - Dual tracked monorail covering most of the park -Donkey Monorail - High speed monorail serving the Donkey Clubhouse -Soarin' over Sören -Dual line skyride Main entrance: -Soarin' over Sören (transports riders to Jeff Johnson's credit land) -BERT station -Bullet Train Elissa Friendly Midway - Near the entrance, marked by lots of Intamin rides, including the Golden Arches rocket coaster and plenty of spinning rides -Intamax, 390 ft giga-coaster, 11 excitement rating -Golden Arches rocket coaster -Spinning rides -Carrabba's Italian Grill -Giant Fascination machine -Yeti-Ball coaster -Pasta Express (spinning mouse) -Backflash - Mirror image of Flashback, this one operating with smooth B&M trains. -Donkey Monorail station -Casey Tower -Big Mike Road Show coaster -Take the Tunnel partially enclosed GCI woodie Wisconsin State Fair - Self explanatory -Crystal Beach Cyclone -Balder -Splinters, an inverted woodie -Quadloop (Schwarzkopf coaster with four vertical loops) -Kiddie Coaster of Death (based on the ride at Little Amerricka) -Ejector seat - Steel coaster with lots of airtime -Dining With Joe restaurant Waterpark -Deluge slide -Wedgie slides -Corkscrew slide -Twisty slide tower -Wetness - a 600 ft splashdown water coaster -Looping waterslide (not operational) -BERT station -Raft slide -Toilet Bowl slide -Coil slide Unacceptable Amount of Wetness land (adjacent to waterpark) -Aquatrax -Unnamed wooden coaster -Cyclone clone (optimized for airtime) -Top Spin (with water jets) -Chocolate Log (log flume) -Donkey Monorail station -Flash Flood - Launched water splash ride -Acceptable Wetness - Water splash ride -ACEr's Paradise buffet/dining area -"Ninety Degrees" Eurofighter -"E-mail Dan" computer kiosk -Nautic Jet Japan (Coasters in the Snow) -Jet Coaster, a big coaster that doesn't do very much -Fuji-Queue coaster -Glacier - Stand-up boat ride -Frostbite - SLC with some modifications -Screw Coaster - Arrow Corkscrew Death Machine Valley - Contains TOGO and Vekoma rides -Vekoma Death Box coaster -Deja Vu (and Deja Vu over again) -Invertigo -SLC with a "bonux helix" -Jackhammer wooden coaster (inspired by SoB) -Death Machine (TOGO stand-up) -Tumor (Arrow multilooper) -Bantron (Enterprise) -Classic Boomerang (currently stuck in the cobra roll) -Toboggan of Death (Chance Toboggan) -Power Cut (X-Car coaster) -Thanatron - Launched TOGO Ultra-Twister Dirt Land - A construction site Jeff Johnson's Land of Credits - Lots of kiddie coasters -Abandoned Mine (based on the one at Uncle Bernies) -Roller Skater -Unnamed small kiddie coaster -Through the Trees (powered coaster) -Ghost Train -Thrill Coaster (based on HSTC at Knoebels) -Spanish Deja Vu -BERT station -Soarin' over Soren station -Giant Boomerang -Donkey Monorail station -Dragon Wagon -Powered Dragon Wagon -Schwarzkopf Shuttle Loop Six Flags Land - Includes Scream! built on the parking lot and a few other rides. -Rollback - The Ride (Intamin Rocket) -Scream! (parking lot coaster) -Sideloop (Boomerang) -Stinky Tower of Doom (giant Space Shot that keeps breaking down) -Wrath of the Title Fairy (inverted coaster) Seedy Fair - Includes rides, concrete, and lots of trash cans. -Goshawk (B&M floorless coaster similar to Hydra) -Garage (Galaxi/Wildcat style steel coaster) -Trash cans -Kitty Hawk (Large family coaster) -Flat rides -Trash cans -Power Tower (two Space Shots, two Turbo Drops) -Trash cans -Laser Snake Horse on Fire (B&M hyper) -Trash cans Rides on the Moon -Escape Velocity - reverse freefall -Moon Walk mini hyper with multiple launches -Giant Leap - Impulse coaster -Mission: SINISE Florida -Good Tower -Peoplemover (only the awesome-est Disney ride ever) -ShaKira (B&M dive machine) -Florida Turnpike (custom Schwarzkopf non-looper) -Derek's Beer Roll (shuttle coaster with five vertical loops) -Leonardo's Pizza -BERT station Donkey Clubhouse -Reserved for TPR members -Donkey Monorail station -Coaster slide -Pool -Boat dock -Pirate Ship (!) Potential Attractions: Bench - The Ride Park info, rules, and policies: Cameras on rides: Cameras are permitted on rides, but you are not allowed to "sneak" them on. Instead, use the special camera mounts on most rides. Kiddie coasters: If you with to borrow a kid for kiddie credits, the park will provide you with one free of charge. Smoking: Allowed in designated sections only Statues: There are several statues scattered around the park. Please be courteous and allow others to get their "credits" too. The Ghost Train is not a coaster, unless your name is Jeff Johnson. Management is not responsible for any injuries induced from riding the SLC or the TOGO stand-up. Ride ops will only offer roll-backs if money is offered in exchange. Don't be late for the bus As part of the park's Xtreme Zone themed area, Scram! is built over the park's parking lot Plain Pasta Express is located in the Elissa Friendly Midway. Unlike other spinning mice, this one spins for the entire ride! Donkey Land S.SV6 December 2008 snapshot. There is some "custom" scenery, but I'm not sure about the best way to "isolate" or remove it.

^ There's four other Intamin rides you could have been Raptor

I'm wrapping up my videos now. I've got donkeys, escalators (sort of), Robb eating, spinning rides, Vekoma rides (lots of them), fire, old school music, sharks, a handful of towers, and Robb paying $2.75 for a Coke. All of this while my video camera was broken.

Bring up an old topic... I've been giving thought to making a RCT2 version (if anyone wants to do a RCT3 version, go ahead) It would have various themed areas: Elissa Friendly Midway - Center of the park, marked by a large McDonalds and lots of Intamin rides, including a "golden arches" rocket coaster. Also nearby would be plenty of spinning rides Wisconsin State Fair - Self explanatory Unacceptable Levels of Wetness - Lots of water rides Death Machine Valley - Contains TOGO and Vekoma rides Dirt Land - A construction site Snow Land - Snow themed area, with all the rides operating, including a handful of water rides ACE Land - Lots of food stands and food theming Credit Whore Land - Lots of kiddie coasters A few rides I will try and implement: Journey to the Center of Robb The looping waterslide Soarin' over Sören A valleying Boomerang Rollback - The Ride

I would like to see: "You are Mind Eraser. You like to torture people. Unfortunately you have managed to reproduce" "You are Silver Bullet. You look intimidating, but your bark is worse than your bite" "You are Boomerang. You pack a punch, but have the tendency to do things over." "You are the Cyclone. You're not the biggest or fastest, but still have some youth for your age"

I got Hulk. "Boy, your strong" (that's how they spelt it)

Some more IOA pics, mostly taken at night. Some of these are a little blurry, but many came out fairly well. Another "coaster geek" picture. Who couldn't appreciate a cobra roll at night This looks like the queue line for the Seuss Sky Trolley ride Night shot of Hulk Erik attempts to do a "Vekoma Impression", but this is difficult due to the nature of the B&M seats The loops at night Did I mention that this castle is also bigger than Disneyland's (which isn't a hard feat for that matter) The Lost Continent Ripsaw falls a night. The long exposure time lead to the "snow" effect of the water Marvel Superhero Island at night Spidey after dark I immediately recognized this coaster, even though I've never been there. Note the "Credits 1/6". I guess that's if you count Flying Turns, Jet Star, and Whirlwind

More pics from IOA A few things: -Ripsaw was open. There appeared to be no major changes to the ride itself. The drop is still the same and there are no seatbelts. A ride op said that this was the first day the the ride was re-opened, although only one side (the left side) of the drop was working -We tried to the the Flyers credit, but we were unable to "borrow" kids to do so, and the line was too long anyway -Dragon Hopping, Dragon Hopping, and more Dragon Hopping, although the Dragons do need a paint job -The park was open until 10pm, so we got some night rides in (I will be posting pics) -Mythos still hasn't fixed their menu Over of Seuss Landing, showing some of the new Sky Trolley track Some of the theming from Popeye and Bluto. We were smart enough to skip this one, though we did get drenched on Ripsaw Falls (partly due to the water cannons) Flying Unicorn was a fun ride. We noticed that it had magnetic brakes. What does it think it is? An Intamin ride? "Time". The first dino appeared to have a broken neck Close up of one of the boats. No seatbelts or anything. Same as it'has always been Another angle Close up of the airtime drop on Ripsaw Falls Here's another for you Derek More Beemer goodness Anyone going to get Elissa on this? Erik wonders what happened to the old Express Pass machines

Erik (you know, the mod with the Donkey hat) and I headed down south to Universal Orlando today. We first hit Universal Studios, and headed to IOA later in the day. At Universal - I did not take very many pictures, mostly video - I got my Woodpecker credit! Yay for Vekoma goodness! - Jaws was operating, with approximately 15-20 minute wait - We did MIB twice, both times going through the "sad and pathetic" line - We did Mummy several times, BTTF once - I finally got to experience Twister and ET. More pictures are on the way "Not our Dino" Another "TPR Exclusive" What day at IOA would be complete without Dragon Hopping. On the other hand, the Dragons really need a new paint job (they still have those "test spots" on the Fire track just below the lift hill) Some of the track for the Sky Trolley Construction is moving rapidly on the SKy Trolley/Driving Machines attraction. This appears to be one of the new cars on site. It definitely looks more like a coaster car than the old Driving Machines Islands of Adventure. Here's a nice "coaster geek" picture you won't find anywhere else Erik gets the chair This is definitely NOT SharkTums approved Jaws was open. Unfortunately, they did not allow photography/videotaping on the ride itself. This escalator lacks music and cool lighting effects, but it's still an escalator Billboard for the "World's Largest Entertainment McDonalds". I didn't know there were other "Entertainment" McDonalds restaurants out there Here's one for the tollbooth enthusiasts out there Heading southbound on the Interstate

I've already done work on some articles, such as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boomerang_%28roller_coaster%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expedition_Everest http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loop_%28roller_coaster%29 (this one's for you Derek) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vekoma_SLC (I write articles on only the best!) Just a word of warning, be sure to check some of the introduction pages, such as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Welcome%2C_newcomers and while anyone can edit (or vandalize) any article, other people can revert that edit with a few clicks of a mouse Also, keep in mind the "neutral point of view". This is an encyclopedia, so writing "Vekoma Sucks" won't get you anywhere. Also try and avoid "link spamming". Don't post a link unless it has something unique that can not be found elsewhere.

Alton Towers has an on-site hotel, and I've heard that it's pretty good. We will be spending a few nights there on the TPR UK trip.

I was only able to view the first part of the Tornado video too. It ended right after the lift. As for the 20 people thing, that sounds like something you would do in RCT. The "Small World" video was hilarious, though the Disney version has a New Zealand section (though anything with sheep and a donkey is good enough)

You can download a free demo of No Limits at http://www.nolimitscoaster.de. If you want to ride tracks, you may have to buy the registered version.

Robb's Manhattan Express POV! http://www.rollercoasterphotosandvideos.com/manhattanexpress.zip "The Japanese [bleep]ing suck!" "They should pay me $12.50 to ride" "That was worse than Windjammer"

I've only been on the Florida version, so I can't form much of an opinion, but I thought it was a great ride. Here's some video footage that I captured recently. mgmtower.zip Some MGM TOT footage, video quality's not great though