Hilltopper39

^I vote for SanFrasokyo to replace the Wonders of Life Pavillion at Epcot, it's themed to healthcare, it's educational, it's a mixture of unique cultures, it works! I'm pretty excited to see what's in store forthe studios park with all of these closures. I may have mentioned this before but it will be interesting to see what happens with Lights Motors Action stunt show because it seems like that thing is right smack in the middle of an area where expansion will likely take place. With Star Tours where it is you would think any new Star Wars atractions would find there way to that section of the park which makes sense with the rumored clsoing of Muppets and the Backlot tour, but again Lights Motors Action is in the middle of all of that. I wonder if it would be possible to "re-theme" Lights Motors Action to be some kind of live Star Wars stunt show. Is it possible that LMA might be closed as well? Whatever they decide to do I'm sure it'll be great, and that park could use a breath of fresh air.

I wonder if the dual station could be added to Temepsto later if the thing continues to have long lines? Seems like that ride with a a higher capacity is an amazing option for parks that size going forward.

A nickname for Connecticut is "The Nutmeg State". And I was hoping for "Egg Nog: The Ride." Perhaps an Egg Nog Challenge on the next TPR event?

Premier teased an announcement on their facebook page this morning, the post said hint was Nutmeg, not sure what that clue means but we'll see. It's about time that park got something to go along with Boulder Dash. ^Whoops, didn't see the post on the previous page. Although I am still curious what the Nutmeg clue means? Sounds like it's more similar to Full Throttle than Sky Rocket or the Superman clones, should be exciting! (edit) nevermind, looks like another Skyloop, so there's that.

Hope USJ's will be a custom layout more simialr to Starry Night Ripper instead of a Manta or Superman clone, I've never been a huge fan of those.

It's kind of funny how over the years those "classics" like the Beat and the Phoenix and Thunderbolt have all remained in a lot of "top 10's" (rightfully so) but a lot of the GCI's and CCI's have fallen out. I realize that most top 10's are heavily influenced or based on personal nostalgia and opinion and alot of the CCI/GCI's haven't aged as well, but rides like Megaphobia and Lightning Racer and Great White you hardley ever hear about anymore. Seems like Troy and Prowler were both fairly well recieved in their opening years but are also hardley mentioned any more. Also, lookin back on it I had forgotten how many coasters CCI built, 34 coasters in 10 years, kind of amazing when you think about it. In my opinions CCI and GCI were always just kind of different, I don't think CCI necessairly ever "took risks" with their design, I think 120 feet was the tallest ride they built maybe? I just always thought of CCI as having more traditional layouts with more straight forward air time and GCI has being more focused on twister style layouts with multiple crossovers and a different type of airtime. I've never been on Boulder Dash but the only CCI coaster that ever really blew me away was The Raven and it's still in my top 5. I agree with Robb that just about all of GCI's coasters are really good but Thunderhead is the only one that's a real top 10 caliber ride.

I'd like to ride water rides while in swim wear, as in a log flume or a rapids ride in a water park, why hasn't anyone done this yet!?! Thrilling, fun, higher capacity then any slide very could be, someone do it, DO IT! (and yes I know Noah's Ark has a splash boat ride, but why are they the only water park with a full sized water ride?

Sounds like a starting point for True Detective Season 3, after the election a missing body turns up in Fantasyland leading an unveiling of a deep dark corrupt world that lies below the Castle.....

Yeah, I've never really understood the appeal of "laterals", I mean the helix on the Legend supposedly has great laterals but to me that whole section just feels kind of akward and boring.

Yeah, there's definatley something goin on here, this will be an interesting porject to follow. I personally have not been on any RMC coasters and was a little skeptical about how Twisted Cyclone would turn out since it's only 110 feet tall, but seems like they turned that thing into any awesome ride. WIth that being said Twisted Twins is 30 feet shorter at 80 feet and has a layout that never was very good to being with so it should be interesting to see what those guys can do with this thing. Every refurb RMC has done to date has started with a coaster that atleast had some major potential with the existing layout (Rattler's drop, Colossos's length and size, Texas Giant's layout, even Cyclone had a dense structure to work with), but Twisted Twins never was very good even when it was new, so we'll see. I'm hoping for the best but I'm sure they'll transform it into something unique at thevery least.

The ending to Adventure Express at Kings Island, still surprises me everytime......

I don't think this thing will crack anyone's top 10 but it looks like a lot of fun and should be a great addition to the park.

You're thinking of Rustusu in Northern Japan. And yeah, your assessment is about right. But the one thing about Japan is that there aren't a lot of "GREAT" coasters there, but there are a lot of really good ones, and almost more importantly, really unique ones. Ah, Rustusu was the one I was thinking of. It looks like there's a gigantic golf resort right next to Mitsui Greenland that looks HUGE, has to be 3 or 4 18 hole courses. I knew there was something "green" around the Greenland park! Golf and weird coasters in Japan, that's right up my alley!

This park is really weird. It's like there are a ton of good coasters but not really any great coasters, which is okay. Is Mitsui Greenland one of those Japanese park that's a Ski Resort in the winter or am I thinking of somewhere else?

Seems like the Kidzone at the Studios might be the most logical place to expand the Nintendo brand. That's a fairly large area with some aging IP's, Fivel, Barney, Curious George, seems like Nintendo would be much more profitable than the current occupants. Also, I wonder if ET's days might be numbered? That's a huge sound stage that could be re-purposed into whatever. They could probably somehow re-use the ride system and create a really cool dark ride or gut it for something new. Isn't ET in Orlando that last ET ride left out there?

I don't know either however, I saw a picture of the Trick Pony concert and it didn't look full at all so I'd assume the Bayside would have been way too big. Yeah, maybe they knew that the acts they booked weren't big enough to draw a huge crowd so they decied to do it inside? Then again it doesn't really matter who is playing having live music kind of adds to the ambiance of the park at night a bit during the summer. And with summer crowds I would think anyone playing would draw some people to the stadium especially in the eveneing near Shamu stadium. I still wish they would release the artists mroe than a week in advance, I'm definatley planning to make it down once or twice over the summer and would love to know who was playing so I could plan ahead accordingly.

The summer nights even looks great, I wish they would release the artists who are performing more than a week in advance. Also, I wonder why they chose to use the Nautilus instead of Bayside Stadium for the concerts this year?

Is it just me, or could we possibly be looking at Universal's third gate? Maybe that Nintendo Theme Park since they bought rights? Guess we'll see. I am certianly not the target market for Nintendo, don't get me wrong I've played plenty of their games and know most of the franchises, but is there enough demand in America for a stand alone Nintendo Park? I think it will work great as a section of an existing park but not sure how well it would go over as a stand alone property. In Japan it's different story, but in America not sure how that would work. (agian I may be way off here).

I wonder if there are any plans to eventually install some kind of transport system from that plot of land to the CityWalk area. Seems like a monorail of some sort over the interstate is feasible at least, not saying it will be cheap but I'm sure it could be done, and from the sound of things a common transport system connecting City Walk, the Parks, the resorts, and Volcano Bay would be a nice addition to that resort property long term.

Black Hole always felt like one of the better tube slides out there for some reason, and I always loved the slides at the front of the park that seemed like they used to use a single person tube but changed over a mat instead, those were a bit weird. Der Stuka was always pretty awesome in it's day, probably my favorite drop slide.

I always really enjoyed Wet N Wild and thought it had one of the better slide collections out there, maybe the best in Orlando. It is certianly an "old water park" in an increasingly new town, so it's no surprise to see it finally close. It will be intersting to see which slides are re-purposed for Volcano Bay and what Universal ends up doing with that land.

Looks like the chairlift and the mountain top portino of the park won't be ready for the grand awesoming ceremony this weekend, so I guess Funtown Mountain will temporairly be Funtown Hillside? I hope people are patient with the project this year as it's a fairly large undertaking for a small group of people but it looks like there will still be plenty to do on opening day. They also mentioned that there will be some temporary rides and bounce houses and stuff in the marking lot for the openeing and hopefully the rest of the season.

Have you guys ever been to the Robot Restaurant in Tokyo? I've seen that place on dozens of travel shows and various websites and can't tell if it's a legitimate weird and cool Japanese awesomeness or just a tourist trap. Can't rememebr if I've seen you guys ever cover it over the years. Have fun the rest of the trip, always fun to follow along when your in Japan.

I see a google recipe search in my near future....... and oh yes, there will be meat.

Forgive my ignorance but what's so great about Yakitori? Don't get me wrong it looks amazing but I'm just curious what makes it any different than any other "meat on a stick cooked over a fire" type dish?