Hilltopper39

Zero G Roll in B&M inverts especially if its the second element like on Batman and Raptor. Also love the Stengel Dives or whatever they're called on Maverick.

I haven't ridden Forbidden journey yet but I assume that its pretty amazing however I think Men in Black is a highly underrated ride and quite possibly one of the best at Universal. I think its the best shooting Dark Ride anywhere period and is a ton of fun and much more re-ridable than most stuff at Universal (and Disney). In my opinion Universal has a lot of rides that are top 5 in their respective ride categories. Popeye is the best rapids ride Ive been on, Ripsaw is my favorite log flume, Jurassic is the best chute the chutes style large boat drop ride Ive been on, Spiderman/Harry Potter are the best dark rides, Mummy is one of the the best indoor coasters, Men in Black is the best shooting dark ride, and Twister is th best simulated tornado attraction anywhere (And Bill Paxon is my favorite show actor, Gary Sinese is a close second).

Id say Tower of Terror and Splash Mountain are the most complete ride attractions and my favorite rides. As far as ride ratings in general go for every park everywhere I think Everest is a good but slightly below average coaster with incredible theming and story but Tower of Terror and Splash Mountain are both GREAT (probably the best) Drop Tower and Log Flume style rides anywhere also with great theming and stories. So my votes for Best ride is a tie between Splash/Tower. Best Attraction is a different discussion and is easily won by Illuminations (suck it Wishes)

^ Dirty Souf Bash, thats what ive been calling it all along

Oh I totally agree I'm just saying I got a feeling the majority of park guests might not want to pay an up charge(however small) for something like this. I also wonder if the attraction will have a separate entrance and exit area maybe outside of the park so that school groups could attend without requiring a full park admission. That would seem logical especially if this place is indeed large enough to function as a stand alone attraction and merit the up charge. I also wonder if Kings Island has future plans for this area. Maybe drop the upcharge fee after a few years and expand into a whole Dino themed park area with a dark ride some kids rides and maybe a coaster (GCI Dino Twister would be great hint hint). And if you do have plans Kings Island, make sure Chester and Hester keep their traveling dinosaur roadshow in Orlando! That crap isn't even nice enough for Cedar Fair! I checked the Kings Island Facebook page and February 4th was the first time they hinted about a possible new attraction of some sort with plan and drawings. It may have been in development long before February but teasing in February, announcing in march, and opening in May seems like very strange timing to me.

I don't know how this is going to go over as an up charge, even though its only $5. Id pay $5 to walk through it but thats me. Its funny reading all of the negative comments about the concept on Kings Islands Facebook page. Lets just hope they use they area for a kick ass haunt come Halloween time. Also does it seem strange to anyone else that this whole project was just recently teased, then officially announced, and is supposed to open this may? Almost seems like that attraction wasn't originally planned just maybe happened some how or another. Maybe there was a sale at the Dino-animatronics-R-us or something. But the timing of the projects seems kinda strange to me.

At that rate it may be done by Wednesday

Yeah if it is a dinosaur walk attraction I'll be a little disappointed. Not because I don't like the attraction, It does sound like a great concept for families and kids and should utilize the surrounding land very well, I just hate how parks these days market everything as "BIG" and something huge, and "millions of years in the making" with the teasers and all. Parks seem to make every little addition seem like the worlds next biggest baddest greatest whatever. Oh well.

I wonder what the train evacuation system will be like. The pictures of the lift hill doesn't look like there is any sort of mechanism in place to evacuate each row from the outside.

Can I call this event the Dirty South Bash ?

I'm there! Probably have 2 people, if it's open to non Club TPR members maybe 4! Hope this happens!

Thats what she said

Yeah good point, I just think it's interesting because I can't really think of another coaster wood or steel that has as much parity in it's ranking. Maybe Space Mountain, I know a lot of people who have that coaster in their top 5 or 10 for sentimental reasons or whatever reason but it never really shows up in the "major" polls.

I always find it interesting how the Beast at Kings Island ranks. It seems like in Mitchs poll it's always averagely rated coaster ( I didn't notice it's ranking this year just saw it wasn't in the top 20 or so) and in other polls it's a annual top 10. It's one of my personal favorites for sentimental reasons more than anything and I still rate it fairly high but it's seems to e a coaster that's kind of a love it or hate it ride.

This thing really looks amazing I cant wait to see the finished product, but I have a feeling that entire area will be stunning!

The funny thing is that over the last couple of years cruise ships have really started becoming a bit more like floating theme parks! The latest RCCL and Disney ships are closer to bridging that gap! I don't think there will ever be a full scale roller coaster but I could totally see more things like zip lines, water coasters and other "attractions" getting added. Maybe a fully enclosed alpine coaster or something? or a small dark ride maybe? A Shooting dark ride on a ship would be really cool and a lot of fun! I'm sure you could fit a scaled down version of Toy Story mania on a cruise ship somewhere, maybe with a few less number of show scenes that have a longer play time for each for each game maybe? or RCCL could put a Dreamworks character dark ride of some kind. If that happened I think future TPR cruises would definitely include a drunken Dark Ride Shootout Challenge (sponsored by Piers, naturally).

I love all of the cruise ship trip reports here on TPR lately, this place is slowly turning into a Theme Park AND Cruise Ship Review website! Anyways this ship looks amazing, I went on my first cruise last month and have been dying to go on another one ever since (maybe I can actually remember the next one). All of the new ships from different Cruise Lines all look so amazing, the Epic, the new Celebrity ships, and these 2 new ones from RCCL. I really really like where the cruise industry is going, even though I've only been on one cruise (although TPR has turned me into an expert!) I really see my self becoming an avid cruise ship enthusiast in the future, trying to schedule another cruise this summer/fall as we speak.Now if we could only get roller coaster on a cruise ship.......

Forgive me if I missed some of the information by skimming through this thread but Robb could you or Elissa or anyone else who has visited UAE or Dubai recently comment on the cost of things compared to the costs of similar products in America (which is currently my only legitimate reference point). How do prices for meal/hotels/attractions and park admissions compare to somewhere like Orlando. I know you said the Burj Khaliaf observation deck was $40 which seems kinda pricey but honestly if that attraction were in Orlando or Vegas it would probably still be close to that price. I hate to ask questions about money in the forum but I am interested in pricing comparisons of Ski Dubai to a lift ticket at a regular American Ski resort, or Wild Wadi or Aquaventure admission price compared to Blizzard beach or Aquatica. Or American Outback Steakhouse compared to Dubai Outback Steakhouse, and other meals and hotels and candy bars and condoms. . I really really want to visit Dubai sometime in the next few years, but we'll see !

Okay I take back everything i said about X-Raptor, some new pictures I saw today of that thing looks pretty awesome. Im sure this project for Thorpe will be similarly, thus similarly awesome!

Yeah I know the skids were always there but not quite like they are after the magnetics were put in, not even close to the same ride experience as before. Those "skid trims" didn't alter the pace of the ride like the magnetics do. In fact those skids on the first and before the second drop you could barley even feel. Same thing with the drop after the second lift right before the double helix, the old style trims were barely there at best. The skids in the long brake shed slowed the train down a little bit but didn't bring the ride to a near stop like the magnetics do now. Point is the ride as is now isn't even close to the ride it used to be after the magnetic trims were installed. I don't think anyone can argue with that. Compare that POV to one taken recently and you'll see the difference. edit: and Millennium Force is still overrated

On the Beast at Kings Island if you look real closely you can see these little electro magnetic brake devices on the first second and third drop as well as the first long brake shed, before those were installed there used to be a real kick ass unique out of control wooden coaster ride. At Cedar Point on the western side of the park somewhere between Mantis and Maverick supposedly there is Top 5 Quality steel coaster built by Intamin but I can never seem to find it All I can ever find is a really tall and fast yet pretty boring coaster with no airtime

I hope these B&M wing walker rides are good, the Layout for Raptor at GardaLand looks kinda dull to me (kinda like everything else from B&M in the past 5 years) but well see how good it is after opening. I love the concept just hope it works out. But this new ride for Thorpe looks really cool, Raptor looks like it has some nice themeing as well, but I really really like the theme of this one for Thorpe. Hope its good!

At Kings Island some of the original footers for the original Arrow Suspended coaster The Bat are still visible under the Vortex. In fact I believe the Vortex reused a few of the supports from the bat, but some left overs are definitely still visible. I know there are a TON of little hidden references to past attractions all over Disney Property (the Horizons props in Mission Space, the dragon's mouth rocks from the old boat ride at Animal Kingdom) but Ill let some of our more knowledgeable Disney experts comment on those.

Looks like a fantastic attraction! Am I the only one who thinks that SeaWorld and Busch Gardens parks are really starting to figure things out attractions wise? The past several additions to every one of their parks have been great, Manta, Jungala, Sheikra, both Sesame Street areas, Griffin, new trains for Gwazi, and now Cheetaka Race, Santa, and whatever they're building in BGE next year. I've been more impressed by everything SeaWorld Entertainment has done over the past 5 years than anything Disney (or Universal really) has done in the same time frame. Now if they could only do something about those sometimes horrid operations.......

I got my confirmation back the same day i sent in my ballot oddly enough. I still don't entirely understand how this damn poll works but it always seems to have legit results. I rarely disagree with any of the rides in the top 10, where as with the Golden Tickets and several others I disagree with most of the rides in the top 10.