SLUSHIE

I'm not sure why those holes are there either. It could be just to save weight, but I doubt it. It could also be there to enable it to flex a little bit. Regardless, the holes will be covered when they add the 'rail' like in this picture. *EDIT* OK it appears that some if not all the holes in the top are there so they can access the bolts that secure it to the wood underneath.

I grew up in the Sacramento area and while being a coaster enthusiast, I think I have only ever been to this park twice (once as an adult). SFDK is just closer and better in my opinion, and CGA has removed some of the better reasons to go there. This new woodie will be a nice addition and I know we don't know everything about it and its features, but it is essentially a class of coaster that SFDK has had for over 10 years now. Hopefully things continue at CGA, and with the way things looks for SFDK (no space), maybe it will be the one looking old and outdated in the near future.

I'd have to say it's absolutely the batman clones. each element has a crap load of positive g's, even a good amount in the turns. Then there are the bat wings that snap like crazy. Sure there are some other B&Ms that have some similar forces and snappy elements, the loop/helix thingy on Dueling Dragons Fire comes to mind, but for sheer force, pace and snappiness of the transitions, nothing comes close to Batman.

While I remember a hyper being RUMORED in the past, it seems like that could never happen. The bay area parks all suffer from height limit and/or whiny neighbors.

There is also a corkscrew clone at Silverwood, which is the one that was relocated from Knott's, so it's the first one and the first ever inverting roller coaster.

Why don't they try and move outside of Irvine where they can own the land? A 25 year lease ain't bad, but after that's up I would think they would be in a similar situation.

I'm glad I at least got to visit the place before it closed, but sadly I didn't get to ride some of the coasters that are still sitting there deteriorating. The place must have been pretty impressive when it was Worlds of Adventure.

Is the hundreds of popcorn flavors at Disney in Japan something they started, or was random popcorn flavors already a popular thing? Either way I don't understand why some other popcorn flavors aren't at least trialed over here to see if it could catch on. As someone who has never been to a Disney park outside the US, I'm glad to hear that the US parks have some redeeming qualities, even if you thought that the parks outside the US are better.

Thank goodness this is over. Now the news can go back to pretending the Olympics are interesting.

I don't think they need any more miniaturized thrill rides. There are plenty of rides out there that don't have to make a compromise due to height restriction.

I've never been a fan of the state fair, but I always kinda liked the dioramas each county makes. Probably the best part. Then those cement buildings can have cool things in them, it changes every year. Looks like you skipped all the farm stuff, good for you! On the whole the fair is not all that exciting. Last time I was at Cal Expo was for this really crappy Oktoberfest which I'm convinced was just a way to get rid of all the beer leftover from the fair.

Well they certainly don't give a compelling reason for them to be in "competition." Not just people on the east coast make trips to Florida, friends of mine just went on their honeymoon there. People from the east coast visit the west coast for all sorts of reasons. Unless you live in the state or local area there isn't much difference going to either the west coast parks or east coast except for a small difference in plane tickets and a bit longer flight. Two summers ago my family in CA met up with our extend family from Illinois at Disney World and Universal. The Summer after they came out here and skipped Universal to go to the beach. I don't think it's like the grocery store where you just go to the closest one. People would go if there was a compelling reason to do so. Kinda random addition here but 2 years ago when my family was at Disney World we were waiting for Fantasmic to start and the family next to us was from the same small town just outside Sacramento. It was really weird! They also knew the drill because near the end when the riverboat came out they all took off.

I hope USH does a bit more to differentiate itself from USF. With USF now getting Transformers and both parks assumingly getting the same Harry Potter attraction, USH doen't have much going for it in comparison. I actually haven't been to the park in years even though I used to live fairly close. I've actually gone just to go to City Walk twice in the time since actually going in the park.

I've been by these places many times but have never been. I've heard about Adventure City but I've never seen it and I'm not sure exactly where it is. Castle Park I just drove by the other week, before the 4th. Santa Monica I've been to, but have never ridden the coaster. I lived like 30mins away from it for a few years and the one time I went specifically to ride the coaster it was closed. The one small park coaster on your list that I have ridden is the Giant Dipper at Belmont. Another California park I've never gone to is Santa Cruz, but I want to make a trip this summer to Monterrey and I might just have to go there. Thanks for making me realize how unacceptable this is.

They abandon their expensive super cars and let them sit and rot, I guess roller coasters and theme parks are the next big thing.

I think he meant it spoils the ride for the people of China, who actually will see this commercial on TV and have a more reasonable chance of visiting Hong Kong Disneyland, not us. I don't think it spoils the ride though, because most of the stuff they show is apparent when just looking at the ride in the park. It's like saying a commercial that shows the launch of California Screamin spoils that ride. *edit Ok I see you were talking about that Mystic Manor post not the post of the video at the top. The column on the right of that website is ridiculous.

I was confused when I was reading the press release. At first I thought it was an event where kids with illnesses got to ride it. Then I read the part about a registration fee and that they had to raise so much money I thought that was kinda mean. I get it now though. I think it still is the only bobsled coaster I've ridden, so I guess I thought it was cool because of that, but I don't remember any aspect of the ride. I slightly remember the queue being sorta cool and with weird designs and black lighting n such. I remember riding the sky tower and It was even miserable back in 2005 or whenever. It was hot as hell and all the windows were steamed up.

Holy crap that looks nuts! It's simply amazing that a waterside can go that much up hill. My local water park, Golfland Sunsplash in Roseville, opened what they call an aqualoop this year but the loop is pretty much completely flat. In comparison this thing is something else entirely.

After all the rumors over the years for this park it's great to see it actually getting something. Great America is a great park, but one I never really go to since it's a bit off the beaten path for me. It has a nice collection of rides, but to me SFDK is better and Great America is twice as far from me. After this is built it will probably be time to go back.

While they are converting BTMRR at Disneyland they might as well add a updated braking system to the Matterhorn and add a vertical loop. It's amazing these modifications weren't done during the recent downtime. I've always wondered what is going to happen with Disneyland. I mean many of the rides are 50 years old, what other theme parks have rides that old that don't feel like completely outdated crap? It's amazing these rides have held up as well as they have. It wasn't as noticeable until these most recent Disneylands started popping up. Rides like Grizzly Gulch, Mystic Manor, the Pirates Shanghai is supposed to be getting and maybe even Space Mountain in Paris really help Disneyland's similar attractions look dated in comparison. Is Disneyland going to become nostalgia land?

You don't. I went with my aunt once who brought a wheelchair and we didn't need anything.

Isn't the Wet 'n' Wild lease coming to an end? Is it plausible for Universal to officially buy that property and extensively retheme (or theme) what's there, removing a few things and adding a few others to create an official Universal-branded waterpark outside of the Wet 'n' Wild name? Granted, I think even before this hotel project a waterpark was way, way off in the future, probably eight Potter expansions down the line, give or take. With a quick glance at the map to see what your talking about, there certainly is enough land for Universal to build the hotel and a water park on those two pieces of land. I had no clue Universal had anything to do with Wet n Wild. If they plan on doing more with it in the future, to me it makes sense that they could move it to one of the pieces of land in the park. I don't see how they could apply a theme to Wet n Wild and make it on the level of the Disney water parks, but maybe that isn't what they would care to do. Big things like the wave pool and the river would have to be rebuilt, but the slides n stuff could easily be moved and that gives them the ability to place things where they want to incorporate thematic elements better than they could trying to slap then into Wet n Wild as it is. After Wet n Wild is gutted they could sell the land or even use it for some of the more behind the scenes aspects of the resort like the offices n whatnot.

This ride looks amazing and I wish I could go there and ride this right now! or ever! I do have to say the portion of the ride before the launch looks pretty tame and boring, but overall it's simply awesome. Hate to compare to Everest, but the portions before the backwards part seem like an extended first part of Exerest, which is not at all exciting. The reverse part seems to be that in reverse. The bears are sorta odd to me. It's strange seeing... cartoony animals that arn't full on talking n stuff on a Disney ride. I'm not at all saying that's a negative I just think it's weird. I find it funny that some of you think they could or would update BTMRR with this. Yes this has some more modern elements, but despite the similarities they are two different creatures. BTMRR has some intentional "jankyness" that this doesn't seem to have. They provide their thrills in different ways. I think the modernness and smoothness of the train (assuming its quite like Everest) detracts from the fun factor, but then the backwardness and launch adds it back in. I know you cant really judge a ride till you ride it, but I don't think I would necessarily prefer this over any BTMRR or visa versa.

Where does SFDK's Medusa pull 4gs? I've been on that thing more than any other coaster probably and can think of many other coasters that would fit that category better. Also seems weird that for the category of g-forces they are all B&M. Really doesn't make too much sense. Weird that SFMM doesnt have a bigger presence in the show. Goliath would have been a better contender than many of the rides in the g-force show, but maybe they are trying to stay clear of the places that have been showcased so much in shows like this. Sea World seems to have a huge presence, maybe they should have chosen Kumba for the G-force show. Just read that RCDB lists Medusa at 4.5gs and Kimba at 3.8. I really have a hard time believing that.

I like the way that the top of the non-inverted loop is sloped, so that on the backwards trip the train is completely upright before diving back in.