Blue Fire Guy

Definitely gonna arrive super early for that souvenir cup! The double rides sound really awesome too. So excited to get back to the park! I wanna snap those flyers again...

I just wanna say this because of today's date: Happy 20th birthday Flight Deck! Still an awesome and intense old school B&M invert. As for GS's pair of Millenium Flyers, I'm also very anxious to see what they look like and how they're different! There have been some really cool looking MF trains, like Troy's, both sides of Joris/Draak, and Wodan (only been on this one as far as GCIs with cool trains go), as well as the locomotive front for White Lightning. Hope these trains will join the ranks of the European GCIs and White Lightning!

Yveltal, Pokemon Y version mascot. Y-Flight? Come to think of it, it does bear slight resemblance to a B&M Wingrider train...

I felt that way too, one of those cases where I see something for the first time and I just go all "Meh", but after a while it grew on me. Also, I reread SFMM's preview article for YOLOcoaster, and this caught my eye: I'm gonna cross my fingers and hope that the top hat will do what's advertised! Airtime or not, it looks to be a fun, smooth ride with a good "fly through the woods" feel in the first half. Looking forward to hitting it up at WCB this September.

Nice TR there, LOL at the "wall-slappin' (Vekoma) stingray" (I believe that's a bat ray, Myliobatis Californica), I've noticed that they have a bit of a habit of doing that in touch pools. I still need to get my Roadrunner credit, maybe later this year.

That was some of the dirtiest, filthiest coaster porn I have ever seen. I need a cold shower now... AMAZING footage of a coaster that I'm absolutely sure will get into the top ten on the Mitch Hawker poll later this year, I mean, just LOOK at Robb being thrust into the restraint so forcefully due to the airtime! Insane, absolutely insane. Kudos to RMC and SDC for making this masterpiece come into being! Same here, but it's definitely a coaster I want to hit up in the coming years. I hope that (even with the combination of RMC trains and Topper Track) it holds up well and doesn't get too rough in the future, as it does look very intense.

^ I hear that ride will pull 3000 gs, be heavily themed, run 50 trains with 5 second dispatch intervals, use buzz bars as the only restraint, and be FILLED with extreme ejector airtime and mind-boggling inversions and other crazy track elements. It'll also get rough as hell and need retracking in its first month of operation. Cray cray!

I agree about the Water Temple not being as bad as most people make it out to be. It's a bit long, but I wouldn't consider it to be too hard or annoying. It has relaxing music, and overall I just feel really calm when going through it, and just accept that it's a really long dungeon. Great Bay Temple from Majora's Mask on the other hand is a MUCH different story. I really like that dungeon a lot, good music, good puzzles, good theming, challenging and intense boss fight at the end. However, navigating through those stupidly fast water currents in the central water wheel often leaves me washed up in the wrong room and forces me to backtrack. It also has one of the most annoying mini bosses in the ENTIRE series: Wart. Specifically, its second phase. Once you've yanked off and destroyed enough pink bubbles from this giant eyeball with the hookshot, he will drop to the floor from the ceiling, release a TON of pink bubbles (about 2/3-3/4 of the bubbles on his body) that bounce EVERYWHERE and are ridiculously hard to dodge (basically, its just like playing a Japanese bullet-hell shmup but in a Zelda game), and he will charge all over the room ramming into walls in random directions, and while I'm busy destroying all the annoying bubbles, I can't concentrate on Warts insane, random, spastic attack pattern of charging all over the place. And he's FAST. Really F**KING FAST!!! In order to finish Wart off, you have to shoot him several times in the eye with the bow and arrow, but he's SO FAST that you only have a split second to shoot him before he rams into you! AAAAGH! OK, he isn't as hard for me now because of how much practice I have fighting him, but Wart still sometimes gets me today, and is the source of many bad childhood memories. Not the hardest or most annoying boss/miniboss in any game, but definitely in the 3D Zelda games. A huge, unexpected difficulty spike in the middle of the game, that's for sure. /rant about Wart.

Trekking through LOZ:OOT3D right now. I'm in the Ice Cavern mini-dungeon with all of the "blue fires" (this post comes from a Europa Park fanboy), which can only mean that a certain dreaded water dungeon is coming soon, though I hear it doesn't nearly suck as much as in the N64 version due to the fact that you can equip/unequip the iron boots with the touch screen rather than having to open and close the gear menu a gazillion times. As for how I like the game so far, the improved graphics are definitely pleasing to the eye, the game retains all of OOTs goodness, you can rematch all the bosses, and IMO the best change of all...THE AIMING CONTROLS!!! In the N64 and VC versions I would always have trouble aiming the slingshot, hookshot, and bow due to the fact that the slightest movement of the control stick would cause the first-person cam to abruptly move and miss whatever I was targeting. In the 3DS version, it's soooooo much better! Now the speed at which the aim cam of a projectile weapon moves varies with how far the circle pad is pushed from the center, allowing for much more precise aiming and more successful shots.

.

. Praise be to Anton, ame--wait, wrong Schwarzkopf!

I'm surprised at how low CGA's Flight Deck ranked (83) considering it is one of the intense old-school B&M inverts. Makes me wonder how OzIris (heard that ride was really disappointing) ranked at 34. While Flight Deck is a short ride, it is VERY forceful (upward helix following the loop sometimes grays me out) and whips you through every element, and still has a good amount of power when it hits the brakes. When I watch a POV of OzIris, I don't see that kind of ride: it runs out of steam in the second half, it doesn't look like it has grayout-worthy forces, and it doesn't whip you through the flat spin or zero-g roll the way Flight Deck (and I'm sure other old-school B&M inverts) does. That said, I think Flight Deck deserves a MUCH higher ranking than what it has currently, and am very curious as to why it ranked 83 and OzIris ranked 34.

Absolutely amazing footage! Even after all the awesome photos and this incredible video, I still feel that justice hasn't been done yet. It only makes me want to ride it even more!

WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!! THIS TRIP REPORT CONTAINS SOME GRAPHIC INSTANCES OF GCI COASTER PORN. IF YOU IN ANY WAY FIND THIS KIND OF STUFF OFFENSIVE, PLEASE TURN BACK NOW!!! NOT RECOMMENDED FOR THE YOUNGER SET, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!! All right! It's time for my Photo TR of today's Gold Striker Hard Hat + Park tour! Today was just absolutely amazing. It had everything from seeing all the love the park is getting for the 2013 season, to being more up close and intimate with Gold Striker than ever before. There were numerous ACErs present for the day along with TPR making for quite a sizable congregation of coaster enthusiasts! Our group today consisted of me, Angry_Gumball, JeffyJosephNorCal, rolercstrluvr, RAWKIN_coaster38, robman, Double0Kevin, and a couple of TPR/ACE double members. After the PowerPoint presentation showing GS and all the park's improvements and new hotness for 2013, we split into groups, one taking the hard had tour, one taking the usual loop around the park for a viewing of all the new paint, Grizzly's retracking, and more! We saved the GoldPorn session for the second half of the visit...and it really was the filthiest, dirtiest GoldPorn shoot we have ever done. At the end of the visit, the park opened up Xtreme Skyflyer for an ERT session (w/ no upcharge! Infinitely many kudos to CGA for letting us on for free). Poor robman lost his skycoaster virginity here, and it was quite a memorable experience! Couldn't help but shout "YOLO!" at the top of my lungs during the initial drop. Still an OMFG moment, nothing can quite prepare me for that drop (or the infamous "plop" during the loading sequence). Overall, a FANTASTIC day, and a BIG thank you to CGA for providing us enthusiasts with an experience like this one! Now then, time for the second wave of photos in this HUGE update! We arrived pretty early, so early that they hadn't taken down the orange posts blocking the entrance to the parking area! So we went to the new "CITY OF SAPTA CAARAR KING" garage to park and get a nice view of the park up top. Jeff is here, right turn only! The new, gold-painted roof of Columbia. And good ol' Flight Deck. The reason we came (and much more!). This is the part where the long train becomes fully engulfed in Goldy's tight, lovely tunnel... OMG! It's Prowler! It has come to bless Gold Striker and make it one of the holiest coasters to have ever existed! Workers on the drop, making sure Goldy is built to please. Star Tower penetrates Goldy's first turnaround. Rawkin and Roler join the gang! Sexy looking bracket... Here's one from the park tour, and something about grizzly's final turnaround looks strange... ...strange in a very good way! I'm really glad they retracked that last turnaround, as it gave me quite the chiropractic treatment last season. Work being done on Drop Tower. Here's hoping Cabin #1 will be running this season! PsychoCheese's "mouse" part is down, so now it's just "Cheese: The Ride". It'll be back up soon though! Getting some good love like many other things in the park are for 2013. PsychoCheese, now with severed mouse head! R.D. and Anton are very happy right now. Centrifuge has been fully repainted, no more rusty turntable! Praise be to Anton, amen. Peanuts Pirates taking a rest. It did test while we were there though. "DO A BARREL ROLL!" (press Z or R twice) The fluffy, fluffy bunny filled with medicine and goo room got repainted as well! Funnel Cakes building also got repainted. Repainting everywhere! Another view of Columbia's newly painted roof. Looks very nice! Ohhhh yes yes yes. Soon, I'll be up close and intimate with you, Goldy... Here's one from when we were taken back to the Prudential Turn, presenting an excellent WWF underside photo op. Zooming in on the track from across Xtreme Skyflyer. I spy some airtime! Oh yeah... Such smooth, rounded, appealing curves you have Goldy... NERD SHOT! (Skyflyer cable drum) What's Jeff doing in a hard hat and safety vest? And furthermore, what is he doing acting all intimate with a woodie? That can only mean one thing, oh yesss... HARD HAT TOUR TIME! Ryan Davies gives us an explanation of how the queue will progress towards the station. All the layers of wood laminate, piled on top of each other perfectly and meticulously. Sexy bracket... That opening under the structure is where the path to the Pictorium/Club Blood/possible new Haunt maze will be. I spy quite a few skulls back there! It is always Haunt time at CGA, regardless of the time one visits. "I'm sooooooooooooo wet right now!" One of Goldy's countless sexy GCI curves... And yes...I TOUCHED Gold Striker! Goldy and I share the most intimate of moments together...that is, until she makes me scream out her name in pure bliss when I finally get to ride her... Porn, porn, porn. TAKE THE TUNNEL!!! Random wood. It smells goooooood... "OH NOEZ!1! DEM GUIDE WHEELZ IZ GONNA HIT DEM BOLTZ!!1!" Oh Goldy, I want to ride you so bad... Ryan points towards... ...the station! I can picture how it'll look when complete. Construction workers in their natural habitat. The odor of Southern Yellow Pine grows even stronger, strong enough to induce woodie-arousal. Looks absolutely amazing no matter what angle you take a photo from. And finally, the big surprise of the day. ERT on Xtreme Skyflyer! Rawkin-Roler, 3, 2, 1, fly! Ohhhh you look GOOD Goldy. A BIG THANK YOU to CGA for making this amazing event and wonderful day possible! It only makes me even more excited to ride Goldy and enjoy what looks to be an amazing season for the park. Goodbye for now CGA, will be back in a month for some 2013 season action!

Absolutely incredible looking trains. I love the attention to detail, they even nailed it right down to the infared sensory pits (the black spots on the side of the mouth, those are the organs real rattlesnakes and other pit vipers use to "see" heat energy). Love it!

*drools* I love me some final brake run-ey transfer bent-ey goodness. Makes me think about if it'll actually be a "brakeless" coaster like shown in the animation, lol.

^ Maybe you are seeing Revolution's loop penetration as well? Mmmmm...Schwarzporn...

.

E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-EXTASY-SY-SY. Yes, THAT Extasy, the Soriani and Moser Energy Storm of bloody death at Wiener Prater. I've encountered a Zamperla energy storm at a local fair last year, but it was NOTHING like Extasy. The Zamperla was slow and lasted only a minute or so. Extasy is lightning fast, sustains extreme laterals, hangtime, and has a six minute cycle. It's also got blaring music, potential-for-seizure acid trip lights, and fog machines that thicken it all up. That said, I will ride it again if I visit Vienna again, but only ONCE per visit, and at least a few hours after a meal. My ride on it last summer left me puking and exhausted. I have yet to ride a flat as intense as this one. Here are two offride videos, because Extasy has different music and effects depending on what time of day you ride. Daytime Nighttime

I hope this'll happen too. It still looks really awesome even today, but one just cannot deny that a new, lustrous obsidian-black paint job for the rest of the coaster would be sexy as hell.

It still has that "Hello. I'm a really, REALLY intense ride!" look to it, and fittingly so. Looking forward to riding it again, its 20th anniversary is coming up!

Looks pretty cool! I'd like to see this pop up somewhere, it doesn't look as relentless of an airtime machine as a mega lite, but it looks like the back seat could provide a potent moment of air on that steep first drop. The last few hills also look pretty nice too.

"EnjWAH the sWAH sauce that I'll pour onto your crow's nest." -Microsoft Sam

I'm lovin' all the recent pics and news! As for the tunnel, I too hope its as dark as can be. There will of course be some light peeking in at its ends during the day, but on night rides it'll really be pitch black. Night rides on this thing, especially if it's after a rainstorm that soaks the tracks, are going to be amazing.

Really? I heard everything should be ready the 2nd Tuesday of next week ...or maybe by the time Flying Turns opens? I'm not going to complain about the slowdown in construction though, what matters most is that it's opening this year and we're finally going to get to ride it after waiting in agony for half a decade! It's still so surreal, even this far into its construction, that this thing is coming into being at last.