Angle O. Descent

Wild Beast - Canada's Wonderland (a.k.a. Grizzly, King's Dominion) Predator - Darien Lake Mantis - Cedar Point Loch Ness Monster - Busch Gardens VA Intimidator 305 - King's Dominion (this should be in Amusement Today's top three, but doesn't even make top ten!)

B&M tends to go through these phases where they have a certain design concept and stick with it for a while, then move onto a new one. Examples: early-mid 90's - Inverteds mid-late 90's - Standups late 90's - early 2000's - Floorless early 2000's - Flying all 2000's - Hypers 2012-2013 - Winged Intamin's history is more of a mixed bag and has more unique coasters (Bizzaro, Volcano, GeForce, Maverick, Stormrunner, Skyrush), plus they were the innovator of the Giga & Strata, plus they even made some woodies (El Toro). I find that Intamin pushes the envelope more, in terms of design innovation and selection.

Adding an old Vekoma inverted coaster to any park as a new ride is a stupid move. Worst example was La Ronde... they already had a far superior B&M 'batman' inverted, yet two years ago they basically added a worse version of the exact same ride. Why???

I thought I'd take a negative topic and turn it into a positive one... I went to King's Dominion and Busch Gardens VA on July 4th weekend this year, and the ride lines were DEAD... I drove 12 hours from Toronto expecting the worst, but still managed to get on pretty much every ride in 10 mins or less. Couldn't have went any better. I even got fast passes for K'sD, and didn't even have to use them. Any other good-news stories you've encountered?

Old crappy apartment building balcony = miniputt!...ONE hole!!

I had a bad experience with Phantom's Revenge, they had a school visiting with fast passes etc, it just so happened that we were waiting in the front row line, and the fastpass holders were being placed in the front row seats... so the front row ran twice as slow as the other rows as a result. If I were Kennywood, I'd alternate the fastpass rows each ride, so that way one particular line doesn't get screwed. But in the end the ride was worth the wait

What about Steel Dragon 2000? It's the 7th fastest and 5th tallest coaster in the world yet NOBODY talks about it?

Gemini (Cedar Point) is often overlooked nowadays, but it's a legend in its own right.

I love sharks because they are so simple but so awesome. Humans are overly complicated creatures... skarks are just giant fish with huge teeth and like to eat. How can you not love them??

I love knowing that there are other crazy people out there who love roller coasters as much as I do

I was thinking about this today. My pick is Busch Gardens VA. Only 5 adult coasters... EACH one top notch. Honourable mention goes to Kennywood.

If you're going to Wonderland and Cedar Point, be sure to get there before opening, and start going through the rides counter-clockwise... you get the best ride-per-hour ratio that way

New: Six Flags America Waldameer Lake Compounce Six Flags New England Six Flags Magic Mountain Knott's Berry Farm Disneyland Dorney Park Hershey Park Knobels Revisiting: Six Flags Great Adventure Canada's Wonderland (home park) Darien Lake Cedar Point Kennywood Projected new coasters: 55-60

...you find the clicketing sound of a chain lift soothing

Just a random topic I was thinking about. My nomination is Harrisburg, PA: - Hershey Park in back yard - Knobels 1 hour away - Dorney Park 1.5 hours away - Six Flags NJ 2.5 hours away - Six Flags MD 2.5 hours away - Kennywood 3.5 hours away - King's Dominion and Busch Gardens VA 4-5 hours away - Cedar Point 6 hours away Any other ideas?

Riding Apollo's Chariot, I305, and Phantom's Revenge within 48 hours of each other

Millenium Force on halloween weekend. It woulda been Top Thrill, but it was closed due to high winds

Raptor or Mantis, can't remember which (I had to go all the way to CP for a B&M, because Wonderland didn't know what B&M was until about 2008.)

El Toro has the sickest airtime I've ever experienced. I'm really looking forward to trying Voyage, Phoenix and Skyrush

Any inverted Vekoma clone... head goes biddity-bing-bong every time. I also second Le Cobra at La Ronde. Should be called Le Getthefreakintylenol.

Meeting people through friends or even through work is so overlooked these days. It's because it's not expected... but that's where you find the good ones If your friends are married etc, and don't know many single people, then try joining a hobby club or a sports league (even if its new to you). As for work... yeah there's the dreaded "what if it doesn't work" excuse, but honestly, we're all adults, and it should never get in the way. If you know someone is a good person, go for it

You might be a coaster nerd if you're on your way to a U.S. park, get denied crossing the border for having your GF's 3rd-party goods in your car, turn around, find a nearby campground, set up your tent to store the crap for the afternoon, go back and then actually get across

I hope it doesn't get chopped. I went to NJ this year and it was the only coaster I didn't go on. 50+mph racer woodie? It couldn't be that bad??

I agree, there's lots of red there. I'd re-paint Maverick orange, then they'd have pretty much every colour.

Sorry, this topic has me thinking... and I'd like to deviate a bit. Speaking of rides making a park successful, here's a new question: what rides should a park ideally have to be successful? If I were to build a new park from scratch, here's what I'd do as a minimum: - Intamin giga (main event) - B&M hyper - Large wooden (60+mph) - Inverted/winged Looper - Intamin/Premier launch coaster - Child-adult transition ride (wild mouse?) - Drop/shot tower - Giant swing - Typical kids rides - Midway - Water park What else would you do?