Hilltopper39

^Yeah, I'm not trying to take anything away from OSU's offense I know they are one of the best in the country I just think that the Bama/LSU defense would have without a doubt ended up being the better unit on the field. Those sacks and TFL allowed numbers are a little misleading to me because the majority of defenses in the Big 12 this year were terrible! And OSU did lose on to an Iowa State team with 7 losses, I know there were some circumstances surrounding that matchup but that is the kind of game that an elite team finds a way to win. There is a good argument for Auburn 2005 and especially USC 2004 I will give you that but that's just the way the system is I guess, flawed somewhat but for the majority of the time (except for 2 of the 14 years it has been in place) they get the championship match up right. I still think that major college sports are moving towards four 16 team super conferences with some sort of a playoff but it might still be a ways away. Another thing I hate about the BCS title game is playing it as late as they do now makes it feel like it's really not even a part of the season. I mean Alabama had almost 6 weeks off before they played LSU, that's A LOT of time to get healthy and prepare for one game. As someone who played college football I can tell you that the football is a game of attrition, and the team you start the season with sometime looks nothing like the team you end the season with, and playing a game 5-6 weeks after your regular season finishes has to completely destroy any sort of continuity that you develop over the course of the season. LSU was playing so well at the end of the season this year that I think that if they played the BCS title game the week after the SEC title game it would have been a completely different matchup. Instead give Barrett Jones 6 weeks to get healthy and give Nick Saban 6 weeks to game plan and the results is what you saw Monday.

I don't even know where to begin with a caption for that picture... was that the the new "National Lampoon presents Devils's Rejects Vacation" movie poster?

They're not built to stop the run they're built to stop anything. Both teams are more physical and more athletic at almost every position on the field then OSU or Stanford. What about Georgia (30th in the NCAA passing yards) or Arkansas (13th overall passing yards)? Or remember that West Virginia team that scored 70 against Clemson last weekend? They were ranked 5th in the NCAA in passing yards yet still lost to LSU by 26, at home. I'm not buying it either, it probably would have been a good game but LSU and Bama would have physically dominated OSU upfront. I agree the general consensus is that it was a pretty "boring" game, but the rematch was the logical choice for the title game. Flawed? yes, but worthless is a little much isn't it? I mean come on, can anyone really argue the fact that the best team didn't win the championship ever since the BCS has been in place? Everyone wants to see a playoff? yes but does anyone think that in a playoff system this season the title game still woudn't have been LSU vs Bama? I don't think so. My biggest problem with the BCS system is that it makes every other bowl game basically an irrelevant exhibition game.

I would rather wait at the front of the park for 1 hour before they open to be the first to get in the line, the have to wait for 5 hours for a ride in the park after the park opens. With the exception of a special event, in all of my years of showing up early to a park opening I've never encountered a line that long first thing in the morning, even on opening day of a brand new coaster. Showing up early goes a long way when it comes to getting in all the credits at a new park. On Diamondback's opening day a few years ago at Kings Island they had early admission for passholders and the line stretched all the way back to Main Street and was still only about 2 hours. The longest line i think I ever waited in was for Dragster opening year, it was closed all day and tons of people just sat in line waiting for it to maybe open. About 2 hours before park closing they started testing, and tons more people got in line, they finally opened with only 1 train then slowly added a 2nd then 3rd. They kept running until they emptied the que which was several hours after the park closed. probably waited about 3-4 hours but half of that was waiting for it to even open. Normally would never do that, but I had every other credit at the park and knew i wouldn't be back for a few years.

Wow, new parks allready, that's kind of sad to look at. I wonder how long it will be until any demo work begins.

I think it could work, the elements in most stand ups aren't that different than the elements found in most sit-downs, the sit downs also are usually more intense than the stand ups. Would be an interesting question to ask someone from B&M sometime if ever given the opportunity.

^You are correct and removing mantis does not make a shred of sense, however I have always wondered how difficult it would be for B&M to turn a stand-up coaster into a floorless (or just a sit down) coaster just by trading the trains. You would think the track gauges would be fairly similar, and if it is you would think that putting a sit down train on a stand up track could be possible. I'm not a huge fan of some of the early stand ups (like mantis) but that layout with sit down trains could be good.

I rode Cyclone at Deep South bash and thought it was awesome, a little rough yes but not as rough as some people have said. Regardless the topper track should be an improvement.

I love Mindbender and Shockwave as much as the next guy but all of the Schwartzporn is getting a little weird.......

^ I've heard that place is AMAZING!

Got a new Iphone 4s for Christmas, an upgrade from my original Iphone 3. So far it's amazing!

Chicken and Waffles should be featured in every themepark in the world

It's pretty hard for me to pick a favorite but if i had to pick a resort to stay at on property tomorrow it would probably be the Boardwalk, with Wilderness Lodge being a close second. You can't beat the location at the Boardwalk, and the jellyrolls is AWESOME at night. I really love Animal Kingdom Lodge and Wilderness Lodge but they are both a little bit more inaccessible. I got engaged at the Poly so it holds it is a pretty special property to me as well.

Ipad2 new I phone 4s (I was due for an upgrade) a wine fridge new cast iron Dutch Oven some new stuff for the Big Green Egg sun glasses Ipod nano for my wife

This looks like a great little coaster with good themeing. I hope the new trains for these El Locos help boost capacity significantly, if so i could see these things being a huge hit with multiple installations around the world.

^Yeah that's true, I think Boise vs Arkansas would have been a really good, much better than Michigan Virginia Tech.

^yeah, it's kind of disgusting how bad the system has become. I mean I am NOT a fan of Boise State and am usually the first one to throw them under a bus in any kind of contender argument but they definitely had more business in a BCS game this year than Michigan or Virginia Tech. I thought that any school from a non AQ conference ranked in the top 12 automatically got a BCS bid anyways? And among teams with 2 losses Arkansas might have had a better resume than Michigan or Va Tech, but bowls don't matter for anything other than selling tickets and hotel rooms.

^ $$$$$$$$$$$$$

If I had to place my bets on where this ranks versus any of the 2012 B&Ms in next year's steel coaster poll, you can guess where I'm putting my money! But apparently you rig the polls so of course it will rank above any of the 2012 B&M's

When the layout pictures of this thing were released with the announcement I wan't terribly impressed, but wow this thing is starting to look incredible! I guess that plot of land is so small that all of the turns and hills have to have really tight transitions, looks like its going to be a great coaster. I saw a concept art for the trains on another website that showed over the should lap bars similar to Dare Devil Dive, should be interesting. Anyone know why Intamin changed they're track structure? I've only seen this track style on Skyrush and Formula Rossa so maybe it has to do with the stresses associated with those two rides, but this track looks like it might actually be a little easier to manufacture than their old style.

^Yeah I don't think having two indoor coasters will be a big deal at all, especially since it will likely be a highly themed interactive indoor type coaster experience and will be very different that The Mummy. I remember originally hearing the Gringotts bank coaster rumors part of an expansion planned for IOA, if it is now going into the Studios I wonder what kind of new attraction they have planned for IOA.....

I've eaten at that quick serve probably a dozen times and never realized it was called Katsura Grill, but that place is awesome and probably my favorite quick serve in EPCOT if not the whole WDW property. You didn't have any pictures of it but there is a beautiful little Japanese garden right behind that restaurant with some seating that i love to eat at, it's kind of a little hidden gem in EPCOT. Great update Adam, those new Test Track cars look pretty cool, since you made the Tron reference I wouldn't mind seeing the entire Test Track attraction get a Tron overhaul of some type. I like Test Track, but it's starting to get a little dated and Tron seems like a popular property right now that could be added to the attraction.

While I completely agree that new water park and slide technology is awesome and amazing, I always had a soft spot for some of these "old school" unique waterpark attractions that feel like they were literally carved out of the side of a hill or built out of plywood and concrete. New slides these days, again while a lot of fun, all seem kind of the same. I mean if you've been on one tornado slide you been on them all, one mat racer you've been on them all. As unique and innovative as new slides are there are so many of them out there that none of them seem very unique (with the exception of the hydromagnetic rocket slides). That's the real reason I hate to see a park like this go, I don't think we're ever going to see really unique, one of a kind, waterslides like these ever again. Atleast not until Wild Bill decides to open a World of Waterpark Nostalgia somewhere.....

I hope they keep Poseidons Fury in some shape or form when Potter eventually engulfs the entire park, that was always such a unique attraction to me. I'm not a huge Potter fan and don't know the stories that well but I have to imagine they could somehow or another completely gut the Poseidon attraction and retheme it to Harry Potter somehow. The total concept of the attraction as is seems like it would be fairly easy to adapt to some type of Potter story with a wizard battle in the final room instead of Poseidon vs Darkanon. Retheme each of the chamber rooms, build a new facade of some type to cover the massive show building, write a new script for the story, then rework the final battle scene and it could be really cool.

No on said it has to be a train, it just has to feel like a train. I could see some type of monorail type vehicle with a combination of video windows and large projection screens in a "soundstage" with a faux steam engine on both ends. If they go through with this idea I would think the hogwarts express engine that currently exists would disappear and that would become the new "station" for the park hopper train. I'm not entirely sure of the parks layout but I would think that if Potter eventually takes over the rest of Lost Continent then where the sinbad theatre is would be plenty of room for the Kong technology "sound stage" before you eventually unload at the train station where the hogwarts express currently sits. Would be pretty cool to see Hogwarts in the distance through whatever enviroment they could create with the kong technology, then unload and exit to see Hogwarts in the distance in real life.