Cameron

How about "Iron Sky Whirl"? Ok .. maybe not..

Wind was very gusty this morning (and possibly still is up in Gurnee) so perhaps the are not able to install the top of the lift today.

^ Yes - because the one thing SFGAm needs to *more* freaking advertising. The park is borderline intolerable as it is..

Whizzer's 38th birthday!

Even the best Starbucks is still a Starbucks .. It's a chain, get over it. Besides, what's this mad obsession to be the "BEST" park in the chain/state/country/region/world etc? SFGAm can be a great park for various reasons, and SFGAdv can be a great park for various (some over-lapping) reasons. There's no need to get all defensive and argumentative .. like whichever parks you like, for the reasons which matter to you; and let other people like the parks that they like for reasons which matter to them. Arguing will go no-where. In fact I'd rather chat with someone about what they like a

Well the actual first proper wood coasters - side friction coasters - ran on 100% steel rails. See this picture of the Scenic Railway in Melbourne (Australia), which was built in 1912.. By your standards then, every non-side-friction wooden coaster isn't traditional and should not have been built Joking aside - this argument is getting a little ridiculous. You don't want to call it a wood coaster? Fine, then don't .. but it seems like you're not going to let anyone change your mind (which is fine), and you're not going to change anyone's mind (also fine). Going round and round

A 1978 Volvo 264 that I started driving when I got my license at 19 .. it originally entered our family when dad bought it new when I was 4 years old. That thing was indestructible!

Then go ride American Eagle and Viper, Goliath isn't trying to be a traditional wooden coaster Joking aside, SFGAm already has two very good examples of traditional wood coasters, adding a third would be kind-of redundant. If no-one ever broke with tradition then we'd have no "plug and play" wood coasters, no inverted coasters, no impulse or launched coasters, heck we wouldn't even have steel coasters. This is a thrill-ride in an amusement park, it's totally OK to go a little mental (I would even argue that it should be encouraged!) ... I can totally understand how some people might b

^^ From the rendering I'd bet there are great head-choppers at each end of that "bridge" .. but just imagine being up there, upside-down, with just a lap-bar, over nothing Oh pish-posh, it's fine. There are plenty of wood coasters that use 100% steel structure and no-one bats an eye.

(Scroll up for even more photos!) Some more pictures from this morning.. First the very necessary thanks to Six Flags, Brandon, and TPR for the opportunity to cover the ride during construction. There is still a lot of work to do, but it is already seriously impressive. Now remember that I'm an old man, and I don't like anything - but Goliath genuinely looks like it's shaping up to be awesome; a definite several-changes-of-underpants ride. Really appreciative of the enormous amounts of time that Brandon and Six Flags have given to us to follow construction. Everyone involved is clearly

The forecast for Wednesday (for the construction tour) is 10 degrees .. the overnight low (Tuesday night) is -4, so really on Wednesday morning it'll probably be 0-5 (and then there's wind-chill on top of that). Fortunately the forecast is calling for sun, so the photos will look great - but dress very warm! Cameron.

I don't play Tapped Out - but today (January 14th) marks 21 **years** since "Marge Vs The Monorail" first aired (according to IMDB). That was really the Golden Age for that show!

I realized that I forgot to post this - taken from the old Iron Wolf exit ramp (which will be re-used)..

TPR was invited out to the park this morning for a delightful construction tour of Goliath - and when someone says "take photos of Goliath woody erection", we say "YES". Goliath will be the tallest, fastest and steepest wooden coaster when it opens in "late Spring" of 2014. It's still just a baby, but they grow-up so fast. We also got a few inches of lovely snow yesterday, which makes for some rather pretty photos.. The train engineer will be treated to this lovely view each time he pulls into the station. Small panorama of one end of the site. The frame from the Iron Wolf station wi

Great report! I *love* NYC and don't get to visit anywhere near as often as I'd like. Thanks for the delicious pics