Hilltopper39

Pleasant Surprises- Dare Devil Dive SFOG- wasn't really expecting much out of this little coaster but it ended up being a lot of fun, one of the highlights of that trip Zeus at Mt. Olympus- I had huge expectations for Hades and Cyclops but had never really heard anything good or bad about Zeus but it turned out to be a surprisingly good ride that trip. Not a Top 10 by any means but a lot better than I expected. Maverick at Cedar Point- I had heard it was good but I didn't expect it to be my new #1. That thing was just an awesome ride from start to finish, and had everything I love in a coaster. Unpleasant Surprise- Cheetah Hunt at Busch Gardens Tampa- Just kind of a boring ride, fun, but not a thrilling or memorable as I would have liked Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit- Same thing as above, although it has started to grow on me now the first couple of rides I had on it we very underwhelming considering how much I was looking forward to it. Gwazi with the Millenium Flyer trains at BGT- I LOVED Gwazi when it opened but it obviously hadn't aged as well as some other coasters and I was hoping that the new trains would really improve the experience. However I found the rides with the new trains to be not much different than with the old ones.

^I just had this conversation with someone yesterday, and I don't know if he really lost that much. I mean if he would of had an amazing season this year he would probably be in consideration for the #1 overall pick, but even with a season as poor as he has had he will probably still go in the top 10-20. Last year with Luck, RG3, and Tannehill all going in the top 10 his draft spot this year might not be much different than it would of been last year. He might have gone in Tannehill's place last year, and this year he will probably still be the 2nd or 3rd (maybe even 1st) QB taken.

You really think they would pass a 11-1 Florida team who would of just beaten a top 10, 1-loss Florida State team??? I put my money on Florida jumping to #2 (if Notre Dame loses of course). If ND loses to USC AND Florida loses to Florida State, then I think Oregon would be the 1-loss team that plays Alabama. Also, is there any chance that Florida State jumps over some people if they beat Florida? I don't think USC can win with Barkley out, so it looks like BCS Championship is going to be Notre Dame vs SEC Champion, but stranger things have happened.

The yearly IAAPA coverage has to be one of my favorite things about TPR, thanks for all of the work your guys put into this. I have to get caught up on all of the videos but the content thus far has been a lot of fun! Can't wait to see some of these concepts come to life at parks in the future.

Well I'm not one of those fans. I certainly don't feel this is the worst team in two decades and none of my Gator friends think the season is a failure, we love this over achieving team that doesn't give up. Was Florida even ranked pre-season, sounds like you are associating with some insane Florida fans with ridiculous expectations. I remember the Zook years. I also take nothing for granted as I was a student in the late 90's before Spurrier. All I said was we had an underperforming offense. And Joey, I'll be rooting for the Men of Troy this weekend. I apologize, I didn't really mean you individually I was just referring to a LOT of Florida fans around here that I work with and listen to on the local sports radio shows and some of my friends who are gator fans and the majority of them are as high as a kite when things are going good but are ready to fire Muschamp the second they don't beat ULL or Jacksonville State by 30. Especially this week going into the FSU game, listening to the Gator fans around here you'd think that they were a 20 point underdog or something. Yeah I think Florida State has the edge especially if Driskell is out but but I mean FSU is still FSU, and it's still a big rivalry game so anything can happen. I'll be pulling for the Gators this weekend. This is an interesting point, and I haven't been around a college practice for about 5 years but I'd venture to say that the majority of teams in America have limited contact in practice to prevent injury. When I was playing we would only do full live tackling drills or live tackling during 9-7 or full team for maybe for two periods on Tuesday and that's about it. I don't know what the rules are these days but with all of the injury awareness but I'd bet that teams are limited in the amount of full padded practice they are allowed to conduct during the season( or maybe it's tackling in practice is only against the rules in the Big 12). And I'm pulling for USC to beat Notre Dame this weekend just because I want to see a complete chaos scenario with about 8 one-loss teams, but I wouldn't mind seeing Notre Dame vs. Alabama in the championship.

I could see that kind of working at the Studios, the half of the park that doesn't have Simpson/Potter/Transformer is mostly studio style buildings with attraction entrance facades so that whole area can "get by" with being bland and a little neglect won't be nearly as noticeable, whereas In IOA the Marvel, Suess, and Toon Lagoon sections are some of the most vibrant and dynamic park sections in the world and a little faded color or chipped away paint sticks out like a sore thumb. I don't think that Universal will completely "neglect" half of the Studios park, but a little bit here and there might not be nearly as noticeable as it is in IOA.

^You Florida fans never cease to amaze me, the Gators are 9-1 right now but everyone around here in Gator Country acts like this is the worst team in two decades and the season is already a failure! I mean yeah they kind of scrapped by against ULL (who is actually a pretty good team) but they have a cupcake this week then a huge game against FSU for a BCS bowl bid potentially maybe even a BCS championship! Sit back and smell the roses for a few more years before you wind up on probation and the season really is a waste .

The make a lot of smaller transportable fair style ride, gravitrons, himalayas, tornados, sizzlers, and dragon wagons and stuff like that. I wonder how popular they are in England, your typical American county fair is full of their stuff.

I still don't really "get" the flume inside a flume concept but hey if they can sell it good for them!

^Jimmy Buffet is huge in Cincy, so can we call it Sons of a Son of a Sailor Beast and give it some kind of weird heavy metal parrothead theme?

When Hades opened it was easily one of my favorite wooden coasters in the world, so freaking fast and intense and the tunnel was just insane. I know the thing hasn't aged well but if the Timberliners can restore it it's former glory with the new inversion that thing may jump back up into some people's top 5's once again.

^I really hope not, I hope even though another gigantic people eater would make sense for Kings Island with this much time to plan for a new attraction I doubt they would go with such a similar model. I am really hoping that with the amount of space and terrain available available that they are able to build something fairly unique and not nearly as "off the shelf" as Leviathon.

^^^^Would it be too simple to assume that it just take one chain dog installed normally on one end of the train and one chain dog installed in reverse on the other end? Either way this looks like a great concept for any park's kids section. I'm sure the layout is customizable to fit small plots of land and it is probably available at a slightly lower price point than a full circuit model. I'm kind of interested to see how "big" GCI is willing to go with this concept, the prototype is clearly more of a family coaster but is a much larger crazier version possible?

^Yeah, it's nothing against Notre Dame, I like their coach, they have a lot of really good like able players, and they have a great program, they're just very uninteresting to me at this point for whatever reason.

^Notre Dame is kind of a funny team to me personally, even though they are a top 5 team with a legit chance at the National Championship I don't think I've watched them play one quarter of football all season. I watched about 5 minutes of the game in Ireland just to check out that whole scene, but other than that they're a team that for whatever reason I just don't really care about. I'll probably watch the USC game because at that point it will have some major implications on the BCS Championship race, but otherwise any other team that is on tv seems more interesting to me at this point.

I'd be all for a Baco style wing coaster of some sorts, I think a bigger faster launch coaster in that park would be a hit.

I never had a real dog in the fight so at this point I'm just pulling for complete mass chaos where about 8 teams finish with 1 loss. The match up I really wanted to see was Alabama vs. Oregon but that may or may not happen at this point.

My first Boomerang was the Vampire at Kentucky Kingdom and I thought it was terrifying when I was a little kid, looping while going forward and backwards? Crazy stuff back in those days for people from Kentucky.

^For Lo-Q, do you ever see your products being able to expand into markets other than Amusement/water parks?

^As long as the que-line ride isn't built by Intamin they shouldn't have any problems .

Even though it's only halfway through the season and there is a lot of football left to be played, I feel like this year might end up being one of the least interesting playoff races in recent memory. It feel like over half of the divisions might already be decided. AFC: Patriots, Texas, Broncos, Ravens/Steelers, NFC: Giants, Falcons, Bears/Packers. I honestly can't see anyone but the above teams winning those 6 divisions. The NFC West is wide open, the Vikings might try to play spoiler in the NFC North, the Saints/Bucs might make a late wild card push, and the Colts might be able to slide in as a Wild Card in the AFC but other than that the second half of the season might be pretty boring.

^True, but the concept of linking the two separate parks together through a seamless transportation "experience" is pretty cool to me no matter what the theme is.

^Yeah, I just found a picture of theMenu Board at DCA on some Disney Food blog site and the prices looks pretty "normal" for Starbucks. I'm still kind of curious about this because even with limited hours and "normal" prices I would think the volume of business this location does is pretty significant compared to most normal starbucks. It might not be as high as somewhere like Times Square but I bet it's up there.

I'm not a huge fan of the Harry Potter Franchise but you have to admit that the concepts are at fairly ambitious and really creative. I'm almost more excited about the "themed train ride" then I was for the Forbidden Journey ride.

^But a Pumpkin Spice Latte at DCA probably costs $17, so it may be true .