Cameron

Park 3 - Movieland Studios I have already commented several times that I genuinely like the social aspect of these trips more than the actual rides. A big part of that is just hanging out, usually in drinking establishments, and usually until the whee hours if the morning. After returning from Mirabilandia on Tuesday night, we ended up getting together in the hotel bar; and when I say "we", I actually mean that more than half the trip was there. It really was a fun time, and I got to finally try some Grappa (I mean, when in Rome ). Neither Derek or I had tried Grappa, and we were both anxious to do so before leaving Italy. We'd both heard the horror stories about how it tastes and how strong it is, so we were eager to see if it could actually live up to it's reputation. Well no, it didn't. At least as far as I was concerned ... Maybe I simply have no taste, but I thought it tasted like a mix of tequila and sake and honestly enjoyed it. I also didn't find it particularly strong, certainly not 50% alcohol; I had already enjoyed a Lemoncello (spelling??), and even went on to have several glasses of beer. Derek didn't agree with me though, and really didn't like it ... Later that evening Dave showed off some of his mad juggling skillz. But enough shameless alcohol consumption (until Germany at least), and let's go to Movieland Studios! This is an odd odd park .. Like very odd. They are currently building a new coaster, and it was supposed to be open for us, but I guess there were delays in construction. No big deal though, because I honestly did not think about roller coasters at all today. Movieland Studios is nuts, totally out of control; and I know I say that a lot, but I was genuinely terrified on two of their rides - it was totally great! As the name suggests, the rides in this park are all themed around movies, and film making etc. A question remains as to whether these are official licenses, but really who cares?? We had so much fun here, I could have easily filled a whole other day - and we didn't even venture into the watermark, which I hear is similarly insane. It was a hot day, like seriously hot, so right from the start we made heavy use of the misters. Thankfully a lot of the rides also include water .. Ranging from a light mist, to almost drowning. Lou, Renee and Divv are cooling off. The park started weirding us out almost immediately with this strange "parade". The stage is built using construction scaffolding on top of a really dodgy looking pickup truck. It was like the Pide Piper, with a trail of kids running behind, screaming out in Italian. It was a bit surreal, but just such a thing will seem perfectly normal by the end of the day. The park typically opens up in sections, and one of our perks for the day was being let into one section about half an hour early. One ride in this section was a simulator themed to ... the "Police Academy" movies. The pre-show movie had such amazing production values that it could have been shot by high-school kids for YouTube. It was just unbelievable (in a good way). But the ride itself...! We were all in these little motion cabinets, watching a projected video. It's odd because the story of the ride is such that we were new cadets being trained, but for some reason this training begins in the middle of a car-chase. Production values of this movie were slightly better than the pre-show, and there was even a 4D element (we were sprayed with water). However the truly bizarre thing is that halfway through the movie suddenly stops, and we see some of the characters showing different clips, playing music, and other hi-jinks. You can't believe what it's like to be in a motion simulator that is dancing to the "chicken dance". Then after a few minutes we're back to "training". It was all quite odd, very fun, and just the tip of the iceberg. Next up we hit the log flume, which is in the "stone age" section of the park. Now there wasn't a single mention of the Flintstones, but it was very obviously inspired by it. It was a great flume ride, and despite the small drops we got significantly wet. (Remember, it was *hot*!) One of my all-time favorite rides is the Tower Of Terror (a Disney masterpiece): Well fortunately for me, Movieland Studios has their own version! This is actually nothing like the Disney version ... Well it is a free-fall ride. Ok so like the Disney version, this is a free-fall ride ... And I guess the logo is very similar too. Ok so like the Disney version, this has the same logo, and is also a free-fall ride ... But this is themed to Twilight Zone and uses the theme tune. Ok so this is nothing like Disney version except that it is also themed to the Twilight Zone, uses the same theme music, has the same logo and is also a free-fall ride In all seriousness, this version is special in that it's a first generation free-fall ride - and these are getting harder and harder to find. I had never ridden one, but have heard some horror stories that they can be really painful. I like to give rides at least a chance, and since these are becoming so rare (they used to be everywhere), I took the risk and tried it out. It was awesome! Really a great drop, and not even slightly painful (others said that it was running really really well, so I'm fortunate for that). Very different from the second generation drop towers (typically known as "Giant Drop" rides). Really glad I got to ride it.. Like any good park themed around movies and Hollywood, there is of course the "Studio Tour" attraction. At other parks this is typically a calm tram ride through movie sets, and back-stage areas. Informative? Absolutely! Fun? I guess. Terrifying to the point of needing a stiff drink? No. Well not unless you're at Movieland Studios! Passengers are driven through the backlot on these giant trucks - I guess that should have been my first clue. Second clue should have been all the signs warning about getting wet - although you can get wet from Jaws at Universal Studios in LA, so what's the big deal right? Now before meeting up with TPR I spent some time in Rome, and took part in an insanity taxi ride where the driver was racing through the streets while thumbing through the street directory. Picture that same guy driving a giant truck full of park guests .. Except over collapsing bridges, through flaming lakes, and exploding rooms. There were two truly white-knuckle sections ... The first was when going down a steep, narrow, twisting road, the driver put the pedal to the floor and we must have hit 50MPH- with tree branches hitting the truck (and people on the sides ducking for cover). The second moment was climbing up a similarly steep hill, out of a significantly deep pool of water and fire. Half way up the driver just throws the truck into neutral and we roll backwards (completely out of control) back into the water. Madness, I tell you! All of us needed a rest after that, so we grabbed some lunch. While the previous two parks had amazing food, Movieland Studios absolutely did not. No more really needs to be said, other that it made me just a shade homesick for my local parks. Moving on to another insanity "never in America" ride, we come to U571. This is another simulator, but calling it that really doesn't do it justice. The rules claimed (again) that we'd get wet, and kids under 14 were not even allowed to ride. A group of about 40 we are led into the first room, which is a grated walkway around some water, and the submarine on the far side. As we wait there, some planes and helicopters approach and start shooting/bombing us. Not real planes of course (just sound effects), but each "bomb" caused a large geyser of water, and the "bullets" from the machine guns caused long lines of small geysers to fire. In the middle of all this we are commanded to start running (along the wet and slippery grated walkways), while the sound and water insanity is literally exploding all around us. The pathway leads to a metal (wet!) ladder into the submarine, and we all take our seats. This was a very well done set; it was extremely cramped in there, and felt a lot like what you'd imagine a sub to be like (complete with red alert lights, etc), it was cool. The seats didn't have backs, they didn't even have proper bases, we were just sitting on a large pipe that ran the length of the room. We sat through a short schpiel in Italian, which was fortunately translated for us: "prepare for your shower". Lovely! Actually I was expecting that we'd get pretty wet, but what I wasn't expecting was that the whole sub was itself a motion cabinet. You can feel it raise up, and start tilting heavily to one side ... Now please remember that we're just sitting on some piping, with no setback, no restraints, and no windows. Then the water started, which was basically like being inside a dish washer. So the whole room is tilting heavily side to side (length-wise), and rolling slightly side-side, you're hanging on to stop from sliding off the "seat", there's water spraying everywhere, and lots of noise, and then they kill the lights so that it's pitch black too. The whole thing lasted several minutes, and I admit it was borderline traumatic! Lou, Larry and I actually ended up not getting terribly wet, but Divv and Renee were soaked. Finally we ended the day at this utterly madhouse of a park with a relaxing ride on the "Back To The Backstage" monorail. Yes, this is a scenic monorail themed to "Back To The Future". We enjoyed clips from the movies while in line, and a great view of the cool looking new coaster (still under construction): Renee and Divv on the monorail. It was Divv's birthday today (yay!), but unfortunately he's heading back to to the UK tonight (boo). All in all this was a fabulous park, and I'm so sad that it's not closer. You'd never see anything even remotely like this in the US, and it's yet other reason why I love the Theme Park Review trips so much. As I type this we are driving through Switzerland on our way to Germany .. Europa park, Olympia Looping and other amazing attractions. So to recap: I woke up this morning in Italy, had the shit scared out of me at Movieland Studios, and am now posting a report from a bus driving through Switzerland on the way to Germany. And this was just the third day of the trip! Up next: Europa Park!

Amazing! But no UR-Quattro??

Park 2 - Mirabalandia We all bounded out of bed this morning bright and early to board ..... Wait a minute, that's not quite how it happened. [Take 2] We all dragged ourselves out of bed this morning, bleary-eyed and half-asleep, to board the bus at 6:15am. Actually it really wasn't that bad since (a) it's just the second morning of the trip, and (b), the hotel bar closed last night at midnight. Plus we are staying at this same hotel tonight so we didn't even need to pack and schlep bags. We even got some delicious "breakfast in a bag" to enjoy on the bus. It was a tad under three hours from the hotel to Mirabilandia, and most of us spent that time sleeping (after we had breakfast, of course). Once we got to the park, we were greeted by the staff, and led inside. Being Italy, things here all run on "Italian Time", which means that ERT (exclusive ride time) won't necessarily begin exactly when planned - but that's really all just part of the charm of this fabulous country. It's ok when there are delays if the people are cool and the food is good! In all seriousness, the park staff was wonderful; opening up the Katun roller-coaster for our group a full 30 minutes before the park opened to the public. We all got numerous rides on this beast (and all went back for more during the day). Katun is without question, an A+ coaster. Now this might get a bit nerdy, so some of you can please skip to the next paragraph - it has Renee in it! This B&M coaster is smooth, fast and has terrific forces. The location and layout are both fantastic too, with great flow between the elements and no dead spots. I have been consistently disappointed by other large B&M inverts (namely Alpengeist and Montu, and even Raptor isn't amazing), but Katun easily beats them all. The group all loved it, and while some people preferred iSpeed, everyone agreed that Katun is just fabulous. Once ERT ended, and the park opened for the peasants - err, the general public - we all were handed Gold QBots! These amazing little devices can turn a crappy day into a fantastic day - and they really did their job well today as the park was packed. A QBot (which is the trade name - each park brands them differently) is a small electronic device with a multi-line display and just four buttons. The user (that's us) can scroll through all the attractions, and reserve any one. The QBot will then tell you at what time you can ride. We had "Gold" QBots, which meant that our reservation times were never more than a couple of minutes. When your reservation is up (actually, any time AFTER - which is key), you just stroll up to that attraction and hop on board. You can only reserve a single ride at a time ... but with the reservation times in the minutes, we were never short of stuff to do. These obviously cost extra, but are completely worth-it when visiting a park for the first (and likely only) time, as they eliminate pretty much all delays. The system is extremely well implemented at Mirabikandia too, with QBot available on nearly all the rides in the park. After you've used a QBot once or twice, you begin to develop a strange connection to it. It's always so exciting to be handed one at a new park, and then a little bit sad to have to return it when the day is done. Renee is particularly fond of this little technical marvel... Once we got the QBots we all headed over for a few rides on iSpeed, which is a seriously fun Intamin not-Rocket coaster. I admit that I've not been all that impressed with any of the Intamin rockets I've ridden (Rita at Alton Towers, Dragster at Cedar Point, Stealth at Thorp Park, and Storm Runner at Hersheypark). However iSpeed is great great great! Another A+ ride, and a serious surprise for me. Like Katun, the speed and pacing is wonderful on this ride .. And the setting and theming is similarly great. Turns out that this isn't truly a rocket coaster, as it actually uses magnets for the launch. The Brits were thrilled to learn that at Mirabilandia the beer costs the same as the soda (soft-drinks)! This is either a very good deal for the beer drinkers, or a very bad one for the soda-drinkers. Lou and I actually took this photo in the morning before ERT, but it would have ruined the flow of this report to include it up there! Each QBot was setup for a single group of four; we had a group of 12 (which means 3 QBots) and would constantly meet up with with other groups for a few rides here and there. It was a wonderful day. The parks in Italy have mostly similar sorts of rides as American parks do, but you know Europe : it's the little differences. This "antique car" ride is themed to Ferrari. I love Music Express rides, and this one is unique in that it still has the cover which unfolds during the ride. It doesn't seem like much, but it's so cool when it's spinning around, and suddenly this cover comes out and over your head. It's not dark, but really does change how the ride feels. This was a really long program too (both forwards and backwards), and my arms were quite tired by the end - I was desperately holding on, trying not to crush Derek! Lou and Dave .. Dave is a really great guy, and has a whole plethora of faces he makes in photos. This is apparently his "I'm about to get crushed by Lou on the Music Express" face. Good times.. As day turns to evening after the second park on the trip, I'm thrilled to report that that both Gardaland and Mirabilandia were awesome. I tend to intentionally not research parks and coasters before trips like this, as it leaves me so much more to discover while here. This strategy really paid off for these parks, and I would rank them both very highly (if I ranked parks, which I don't because I'm not a giant dork ). Tomorrow will be my last day in Italy, and I must say that over the past week this country has put on a spectacularly great show for me. I've been wanting to visit Italy for most of my life, and even though it wasn't my dream Italian vacation (spending a month driving around), I honestly couldn't have planned a better visit. Stay tuned for the next update: Movieland Studios - where two of the rides bordered upon being traumatic experiences!

Gardaland also has a great pirate themed dark ride, a walk-through haunted maze, and something called a Magic House - which is just impossible to describe in words. It does feel like your going upside down several times, even though you're only swinging side to side. It's really cool, and I wish there were more in the US. Overall it was a really good first day .. With a great park and awesome people. Somehow a game has started such that any time I say "beer" with an American accent, then I owe a beer to whomever catches me. So far I owe three people ... stay tuned. But now I am heading down to the bar for a drink or two, en straight to bed to prepare for a very early start tomorrow. In a few days I'll continue, with Mirabilandia. Enjoy!

Park 1 - Gardaland The first park day on these coaster trips is always a little overwhelming. You're visiting a new and unfamiliar park, there are loads of people you don't know, and you haven't quite fallen into rhythm yet. All of that today was magnified by the fact that it was also pretty hot. However Gardaland was fabulous! I knew very little about this park, and so I was really presently surprised. I will come right out and say that the coasters weren't terribly amazing, but the park is beautiful and has a fun selection of other rides. For many years now the actual coasters have been immaterial for me, and it's the people who I really love. Lou and I have been friends since the UK trip in 2006, and even though we've seen each other a few times since, the last time was October 2008. It has been just too long. Waiting at the hotel to head to Gardaland, a nice Dodge Challenger pulled up - and I believe Lou's comment was "someone needs to buy that for me, and then propose" Gardaland sits in a really picturesque area, near a large lake. This was taken from the freaky observation deck ride. As I mentioned, it was hot. We spent a fair amount of time today looking for fountains and had a few spontaneous water-fights. Gardaland has one of these insane little torture devices called a "screaming squirrel". I'd seen pictures and video of one of these, and for a while there was a rumor that Indiana Beach would be installing one (we got the second generation instead, which is a much much better ride). The Screaming Squirrel was so awful that if the US were to make prisoners of war ride it, the UN would have to step in and stop them. This little drop tower was so cute - it's only about 150 feet tall, but was still great fun. The funky dome is on the top because I believe there used to be some sort of show up there. This photo is taken with the cars at the top, about to drop. Mammut (Magic Mountain) is a seriously fun mine train coaster, which I enjoyed a lot. This was the standout coaster at the park, and I hope to get a chance to ride it again tomorrow evening when we return to the park. The ride features a lot of great turns and helixes, and it feels quite out of control without being rough or painful. Divv, Jes, James, Lou, Larry and Dave all on the rapids ride. The sun was already setting which is why it's a tad blurry, but trust me they are there! Theming at this park is really fantastic - way more than I was expecting. This is just the entrance to the viewing area for the boat splash-down ride .. It's just the viewing area, not even the main entrance for the ride itself! The whole park looked like this, with great theming and beautiful gardens. It was also spotless - the Italians treat it very well (I didn't spot a single gum-wall). Parks really come to life at night, and it's something I always love to see. Gardaland certainly isn't an overload of colour, but it is very tastefully lit.

I have always had a bit of a love/hate relationship with trip-reports. I used to (like 10 years ago) love typing up long and detailed reports after a really great trip; these were 99% text. Then came photos, and the reports suddenly exploded with piles of pictures; but sadly (for me anyway), the text started to drop off. Furthermore, I found myself becoming less and less motivated to do sort through and process hundreds of photos - resize, rotate, etc. Then came technology! When I went to Florida with TPR in October 2008, I had this new-fangled iPhone and I could post photos as I took them (to Flickr). This was great for two reasons (1) it meant I then didn't have to process all the photos after the trip and (2) my friends and family could see what was happening in real-time. It was fantastic to post a pic of Space Mountain while waiting in line, and then receive a text message from my brother (in Australia) while still waiting in the same line! However great this was, it further reduced the amount of text, to almost zero - I was just left with a stream of photos. Technology to the rescue yet again, for now I have an iPad! First of all let's not make this a discussion about whether the iPad is a good or bad product, bla bla bla .. but it was a great platform for for me for quick-processing pictures, typing up reports, and posting them (3G). This was precisely how I used the device while on the trip: taking photos with my "real" camera (not the phone), dump them onto the iPad, then a bit of typing and - BAM - report is done! The bus trips were great for this, and where there wasn't WiFi, I could use 3G (I had pre-bought 50MB of international data - and it was the perfect amount, I reached the limit when I sent the final report from Amsterdam airport). What you will see here are basically reproductions of my posts from the trip (which went to my Posterous blog - TPR doesn't support posting via e-mail). Remember that most of these were typed up while on a bus so there will be typos; however I have intentionally not corrected them in order to preserve the reports in their original form. Here we go...

I don't know .. To me, saying "SFGAm needs a new coaster because it hasn't had one in X number of years" is wrong. Building coasters based on "years since the last one" will yield places like Cedar Point, or SFMM .. All coasters, and nothing else (remember, I love SFMM - although I wouldn't want it as my home park). Ask Elissa how much she's able to ride with Kristen at SFMM compared to SFGAm. Even Indiana Beach (back in the day) could entertain for 10 hours straight .. And that place only has 5 coasters - none of which can be considered "world class". Now I'm not a waterpark person, so I could care less about any additions there; and personally I'd have way more fun with additions to the dry park. However I'm also realistic ... SFGAm is a small park near a great big, massive amount of people. You could double the size of the park, and it would still have capacity issues. The waterpark is king now, and so that's where the focus lies. Even though I personally would prefer an addition to the dry park, I'm actually happy that they're increasing waterpark capacity; it's what the park needs. Certainly what the park doesn't need is another coaster. Cameron.

^^^ Indiana Beach is appalling this year; operations are terrible, and the whole park has completely lost that amazing atmosphere and engery it had just 3 years ago. Michigan's Adventure? Seriously? The park is a sand-trap. I'm sorry you're bored with SFGAm, but that's really not their problem. One could live next door to a Disney park, or SDC, or even Europa Park for 30 years, and they'd likely get bored too. ^Atem, companies add major rides to parks I order to fill holes, or boost attendance. Not sure if you've been to SFGAm, but it's extremely well rounded - in that regards it absolutely kicks SFMMs butt (and I love SFMM). To be honest, I don't want barf-em-up B&M floor-less coasters built in the parking lot, crap like that doesn't make a park better. In fact I think SFGAm would be better if two of the coasters were removed (Iron Wolf and Demon), obstencivly to make room for some new areas and new flats. I'm very amused that it's the high-school kids telling the adults to suck it up, and stop whining. Cameron. (I'm also laughing about Michiigans Adventure..!)

My vote would be Whizzer at SFGAm. Classic/fun layout, no sudden or steep drops, and the kid can ride in their parent's lap for added security. It's also a Schwarzkopf Cameron.

Yes - Removing Demon (and combining that space with SWF) would be fantastic .. although I personally don't expect that to happen anytime soon. At the event on Friday it was stated that an official announcement regarding 2011 attractions will be made before the end of August. Cameron.

The trims on Bull are pretty much unchanged from opening day .. sometimes they grab hard, other times not so much .. it all depends upon the speed of the train. Just something we have to live with. That said, the event on Friday kicked more ass than an electrified ass-kicking machine cranked up to 11! Thanks so much Robb and Elissa, the folks at SFGAm, and of course all the awesome people who were at the event. Cameron.

Why that would be the INTERESTING Monster! One of the coolest characters in the WB universe.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc2L_7m_4mI He was in at least one other classic cartoon too .. and I think some of the newer ones made just for kids.

SDC, Six Flags St Louis, and the City Museum ... some absolutely amazing destinations right there - and I could not be more envious Cameron.

^^ The forecast will change a bazillion times before Friday - the only remotely accurate forecast will be the one on Friday morning. Don't sweat it - the weather will do whatever it wants, and we'll all have a totally amazing time no matter the weather. Cameron.

^ Why is it bad if you hate Apple? No-one's forcing you to get an iPhone (well, at least I hope they're not - otherwise you need new friends ). Anyway the iPhone antenna thing is very analogous to the "aren't you scared you'll die at an amusement park" nonsense that I'm sure we've all had to hear from our less informed friends. Yes, since the dawn of time there have been people who have been injured at amusement parks, but it's a tiny tiny tiny number .. However it makes for great news (the commercial media is pretty disgraceful), so it's sensationalized to the level that most people think there are daily deaths at every park. Steve's comments weren't so much "you're holding it wrong" as they were "dear media, go stick your head in a pig". And really, who doesn't already think that about the media on a daily basis?! So where you see "Apple is blatantly lying about a hideous problem", I see "I can't believe Apple has the balls to finally tell the media to STFU". More companies need to do that.. Cameron.

I will echo the comments about the German fair. In fact doing Europa, the fair and Phantasialand in just 2 days was pretty freaking unbelievable. I got to ride EuroMir and Olympia Looping on the very same day - that's fantastic! As for the credit whore thing - I've always described TPR (and the trips) as being for "normal people who happen to like amusement parks". The trips are more about socializing and having a good time than they are about increasing your coaster count, and that's what makes TPR so amazing! I've been back for almost a month now and have yet to update my silly little lists; but I've gone through photos, and read reports (not nearly as many as I would like), and I really really miss everyone. Cameron.

There is an ACE event there this weekend...

If they would just take out Demon already they would have a huge amount of space (combined with that of Splash Water Falls), they could add a large coaster and several flats and not have it feel cramped. Plus being close to the center of the property they'd have a lot less issues with noise (neighbors complaining). BB doesn't have lines because it has insane capacity. Cameron.

Really, Screamscape? Whizzer nonsense - again? Let's play a little numbers game... A big new coaster (big enough to fill Whizzer's footprint) would cost about $20 million. So even if it costs $2 million a year to maintain Whizzer (which seems utterly absurd), then it would still take 10 years for the new ride to be worth it. 10 YEARS! And that doesn't take into account any of the maintenance costs for the new coaster. Now Six Flags is a public company .. do you really think they're going to say to the board "well umm we're going to spend $20,000,000 on a new barf-em-out floorless coaster, which no-one's going to give a crap about, to replace a beloved but costly icon that still draws lots of people to the park". The board will say "OK - how long until we see a return on this investment?" .. "Oh, a least 10 years". Even if it was 10 months the board would likely say "wow - that's a long time". Meanwhile, on the other side of the park we have Iron Wolf and Demon - two gigantic sh*t-holes that most people would be happy to see gone. I have no doubt that Whizzer will be gone eventually (probably soon), but this "it costs too much to maintain" nonsense is .. well it's nonsense. Until I hear anything from the park about the fate of that ride, then all rumors will simply be filed into the "crap" bucket. Cameron.

What's with the apathy people? You're all making the Midwest look really bad. SFGAm is a great park, and ERT there is super rare. Come out for the day, it will be so much fun .. And for anyone who doesn't honestly have a great day, I'll let you punch me in the arm as hard as you can ... but see I know everyone will have fun Raging Bull has a bit of a bad reputation, but it really is a fun ride. The first drop on Bull is by far the best in the Midwest, and it's the first B&M hyper-coaster .. Without it we wouldn't have the likes of Behemoth, Goliath, or Intimidator. Viper is one ride that everyone is always surprised about. Go read any of the "under-rated coaster" threads, and you'll see Viper mentioned. It's a clone of the Coney Island Cyclone, and it isn't a huge suckfest like Psyclone was. It's completely trimless and full of air. This is my home park, I've ridden Viper a bazzilion times, and even I'm looking forward to this ERT. Little Dipper is PTC Schmek classic that was saved from the wrecking ball by Six Flags .. *Six Flags* ... How often do you get to say that? Even if you normally don't give a crap about kiddie credits (like me), come on out and support the park for rescuing a ride which means so much to millions of people who grew-up riding it. Aside from the amazing ERT line-up, SFGAm also offers the first ever B&M invert, easily one of the greatest steal coaster layouts every designed, and you'll be able to ride it in the location it was designed for. American Eagle is still one of the tallest racing woodies on the planet, and the park typically races it during every-day operations. No its not Intamin smooth (although it is an Intamin coaster ), but there is track-worn done almost every winter on it. Whizzer is one of the last Schwarzkopf speed-racer coasters on the planet, and surely isn't long for this world. Enjoy the spiral lift, diving through the trees, and you can even try to get to second-base with your riding partner. What's not to love? More than coasters, SFGAm has a pretty nice selection of flat-rides. Fiddlers Fling, East River Crawler, Revolution, Triple Play .. Even with a qBot you will likely never be bored. So get up off your lazy asses, and come on out for a super fun day at one of the nicest Six Flags parks, certainly the nicest parks in the region; a really great and well balanced selection of coasters, fun flats, and an all-out terrific day. Cameron.

^^ Agreed - I actually quite like it. Maybe they're going to convert it to run on steam, as was talked (joked) about at WCB this year! Cameron.

Amazing photos Hanno - Particularly Blue Fire and Olympia Looping. You capture the vibe of these rides better than anyone else. Very much appreciated Cameron.

^^ You're getting a Mazda 3? Nice! I can start hanging out with you again Cameron.

^ check what Amazon has available for the Kindle. There's a free Kindle app for the iPad (and iPhone too); plus the Kindle has a bigger library, and is more portable (you can read your stuff on a wide range of devices - while iBooks is tied just to Apple products). Cameron.

^ Yeah - it was a shame that Lost Coaster was down, but at least we knew about it in advance. One of the great things about Indiana Beach is that even with one of their major rides down, we still didn't run out of stuff to do for the entire 9 hours we were there. It was a fun day, with great weather and perfect crowds. There certainly is an interesting mix of people down there.. Oh and Nathan, cool video. Cameron.