Nozzy

I think you're thinking of Six Flags Great Adventure's SBNO and defunct rides Hey there, watch it! We still have a Swinging Ship! I thought the Whip was decent last time I went- it was whipping enough to slam me into the middle island after each turn. Meteor was fun, as always, and I thought Demon Drop was running slightly better than last year, though it still was not really a fulfilling ride experience. Planet Snoopy looked very nice, though I didn't actually go on any rides. The new ones included a simple elevated track ride, a powered swing (oh how I wish we had those when I was little), and a Samba Tower. The older rides all still look great as well. The Ice Show is revised this year with an increased emphasis on actual people skating, which I thought worked better.

So far every trip I've taken had three trains on GL (well, there was one with 2 trains but no wait). The whole 6 attendants thing actually works decently (depending on riders more than crew)- the fastest dispatch I've seen has been the tilted-loop before the MCBR, though double-stacking does sometimes occur. A second train always stacks, but the third does help! (unlike Bizarro for most of this season)

Was in the park on Thursday. Was a very good day, with some crowds for the Kingsfest concert, but no unbearable wait times. The only real thing of note was that while it did start the day with one train, Intimidator had both trains running in the afternoon (and no wait). I don't know if it was just for Kingsfest or what, but it was appreciated.

It seems that Bizarro's audio is attempting to make a comeback. One of the three trains had it turned on. Unfortunately, the audio is still very broken, with more static and silence than anything else. From the portions I heard, it is the old soundtrack, and not an updated one like SFNE.

Definitely go to Volcano first. I suggest going to Flight of Fear after, but it's not essential. Try to get to Rebel Yell before too late if you want both sides, as I've usually seen one side closed in the evenings (on empty days at least). Shockwave can take awhile as well- about 6 trains worth of people fit in the station queues, and loading is SOOO slow, but if you are a single you can try to jump up with a group of 3. Enjoy Intimidator!

Another visit today to take my parents using the Bring a Friend coupons on their last day, but I left my camera at home since thunderstorms were predicted. A few things: -Parallax on Green Lantern now has some fog as well. Crews are still doing well and the ride is awesome! -Bizarro's auger drill thing has been reinstalled in the corkscrews. I figured once daily operation hit the thing would be laying on the ground all season. I'm very pleased to be proven wrong! -The bear cubs in Safari Discoveries are supercute. Just if you were wondering... -Kingda Ka was down in the morning, but was running for part of the day (So, basically it's back to normal) As for the trip, it was nice. Got on GL right away, then immediately after thunder and lightning. Ops need to take a bit more initiative in closing rides for weather- Parachutes were still going up after 3 thunder roars and a lightning flash. Rides reopened pretty quickly after, with both sides of Rolling Thunder and the Skyride. Lines moved quickly everywhere. I was a bit miffed last visit when I realized there were no air conditioned shows. Today, I realized that every stadium's lack of cover also means no shows in rain. Since the old stand-by for rides being closed in rain is to "check out the fantastic shows" I think there need to be some changes next year. Batman's queue is absolutely unbearable. I think they really need to change the Flashpass merge point to the sewer tunnel entrance, and meter people through a la El Toro/Green Lantern/ Kingda Ka. Problem is that attendent won't be able to see how full station is, but the lack of any air flow combined with horrible smell of people packed inbetween the walls will have people passing out left and right on really hot days. Ended day by spending 20 minutes in a giftshop watching a downpour flood mainstreet. It was pretty fun, especially when two employees walked by with a picnic table's umbrella to keep dry.

Apollo 2000 (or whatever its name is) would definitely be on the top of my list for flats with just lapbars. You could also ride the Log Flume with your Dad, it's pretty good. There's also a Musik Express, Tilt-a-Whirl, Swinging Ship, and Enterprise, all pretty standard, and two train rides. There's also the Wild Mouse. Do you know why he avoids OTSR? None of Dorney's coasters are headbangers (Talon is very smooth in particular), and Meteor is a great flat, but has them.

I believe the Parallax was a relatively recent thing in the comics, as an explanation of why Hal Jordan went crazy and killed everyone awhile ago, and was picked for the movie. This looks nothing like the Parallax in the movie, but it is a pretty awesome effect when you go through with all the fangs and claws. Much better than Bizarro's shields.

Sorry if this has been covered, but I couldn't find anything when searching. I just found my RCT2 disc again and am excited to get in on the action here. I noticed a few features missing though- setting block brake speed and fast forwarding time. I found info leading me to believe there was an official patch that put these features in, but can't find it anywhere (I just see the secuROM patch in the download section). Is this patch available anywhere, or if it's in the download center can someone tell me the file name? Thanks!

I just visited Europa Park past October during study abroad, and already wanted to return (blue fire is my #1). But with the new hotel and coaster, all the more reason to go back. I'm actually not too surprised at the GCI announcement, as I noticed a few months ago that MACK lists GCI as a partneron their website, so it makes sense that GCI would be the one to put a woodie into Europa Park. I don't know how they plan to have that throughput, but I'm certain that if any park can, it's Europa Park.

Went to the park for a bit following a storm. Rides were down for around 40 minutes after we arrived, but crowds were minimal after. We got rides on Dark Knight, Jolly Roger (rather than wait for rides to open), and then 2 on El Toro, Bizarro, Superman and 3 on Green Lantern, including a reride and breakdown! El Toro was sppeding through following the rain, and threw off 2 cell phones during the second ride (extra bonus of back row is watching the phones catch air before falling to their deaths ^_^ ) Parking is indeed $20 as Screamscape reported. I've included pics of the Big Wheel sign, and a little plus to GL! (some pictures from previous trips too) Because the bars are totally insufficient (though the height limit has not been raised) Parallax has arrived, in an attempt to explain the yellowness of the loop. PARALLAX! DO NOT EAT THE ... ah, why not, go for it! Hal Jordan< John Stewart< Squirrel Lantern GL's line has the same fencing as Superman for reasons I cannot fathom. Superman lost all it's caps before summer ended it's first season (not to mention broken fence sections.) Here are GL's caps being removed it's first week. Just irks me... For Elissa, a better picture (though it does make more sense for spinning coasters) More, but the story is... Polly Walkaround character! Now if only he'd give me free cheese...

I was there later in the day. Green Lantern was about an hour wait, Toro 30 minutes. I was impressed that it was a Thursday, but there were 3 trains on GL, Bizarro and Nitro and both sides of the Skyride and Rolling Thunder were open. GL's three trains were moving pretty well too, though there were tons of employees working it. Toro is definitely rougher than opening, though by no means is unbearable. I felt like Nitro was much rougher than usual today too...

I actually just got back from a semester abroad in the UK, where I was trying to do as many as possible. (While I succeeded, schoolwork ate up so much time I was never able to post anything here for awhile -_-) I'd agree with the general consensus that Alton Towers is definitely the best park, so make sure to get to that. I found traveling to it to be pretty easy as well, thanks to the buses from train stations. Coventry appears to be pretty close to it too, so you should be able to get there pretty easily. My second favorite was probably Chessington, as long as you enjoy a park for its overall atmosphere and fun and not just the coasters. Vampire's station is absolutely incredible, and is a pretty unique ride. It's very easy to catch a train from London as well. The other three I visited were Thorpe, Blackpool and Flamingoland. Flamingoland is slightly difficult to get to, but there is a bus that stops right outside it from a train station (bus was called the York Coastliner, I believe). The park had horrible atmosphere (I didn't get to the zoo so I don't know if it's better back there), but Mumbo Jumbo and Kumali are well worth the trip. I was also very impressed by the Frisbee, whatever it's name was. My trip to Blackpool was plagued by horrible cold, rainy weather, but I did love both Grand National, Wild Mouse and Steeplechase. The Big One was a big disappointment- the most exciting part was wondering if we were going to valley. I enjoyed exploring the boardwalk and arcades of Blackpool itself as well, and if you visit make sure to get lots of Rock! Hostels are plentiful and cheap nearby. Thorpe Park is easy to get to from London, and I really enjoyed my day there, but I think I preferred my day at Chessington. Colossus and SAW are fun, but Nemesis Inferno can't hold a candle to the real Nemesis. Hope you have fun!

Thanks again for everyone's help. My break actually lasts until Monday, and I decided to do Phantasialand as well. Unfortunately, traveling works best going in the reverse order of what I want, so I'll be flying in to Stuttgart and traveling to Rust on Tuesday, doing Europa Park Wednesday and Thursday, leave Rust Friday morning, do Holiday Park and get to a Phantasialand hotel that night, Phantasialand Saturday, and flying back to London from Frankfurt on Sunday. I expect Europa to be the best park, but I should still enjoy GeForce and Winjas. I'm only getting a half-day (opening to ~15:30) at Holiday Park too, but think it will be worth it for the Phantasialand hotel (I decided to splurge a bit after finding cheaper flights!). Should this be enough time to enjoy Holiday Park (I know there's GeForce, 2 coasters, and a StarFlyer and enjoy the Halloween environment Lamoure described)? I hope to get all my reservations done soon, but any other help or advice is still appreciated!

Thanks for the responses. Looking through the websites, I see Stuttgart as a possible location to fly to as well. Would this also work well, or do the others offer some sort of advantage over it? I am not too sure about driving in a foreign country, and as much as I'd love to try out driving on German roads I think I should stick to trains. After my time in England I'm confident with trains, but still slightly fearful of buses. I see shuttle buses listed on the park websites, but are there usually other buses that stop at the parks on normal routes? It seems like there are a lot more hotels close to Europa Park than Holiday Park, so maybe I'll try to go there first as well. I'm glad to hear the reassurances about the language as well! Thanks again!

Thanks to help I've gotten here I've been able to enjoy many of the UK parks while studying abroad, but I am now trying something a bit more difficult. Our Fall Break will start in Barcelona on October 16, and I already have reservations to go to PortAventura for Sunday and Monday. I was hoping to fly to Germany to go to Holiday Park for 1 day to ride GeForce, then continue to Europa Park for 2 days before heading back to the UK. My trouble stems from the difficulty of understanding the German web sites, some of which don't translate very well. Can anyone advise me on what airport I might use to fly into Germany, or if train would be cheaper/easier? Are there any other parks right nearby that I could get to cheaply (I looked at the park just featured on the front page and Phantasialand, but both seemed pretty far)? Any advice on hotels? I found one just outside Europa Park, would the convenience be worth 75 euro a night (way more than I usually spend)? Finally, looking at websites has made me a little nervous about trying to go without being able to speak any German. Do many people speak English in Germany that I could get help from someone if I needed to? Any and all help is greatly appreciated, and I hope to return the favors in the future. Thanks!

And so Cedar Point decides to not add flame throwers to Mean Streak...

While I'm bummed about Intimidator 305, I only really question one thing- how is Aska at Nara Dreamland, which closed in 2006, still ranking as the 34th best wooden roller coaster?

Nice report. Knoebel's is pretty awesome in how they move lines along. Cosmotron is pretty slow, but its more for the light show than to be extreme. It doesn't really matter how you ride Satellite, you're gonna get beat up ^_^ Also, I recommend always skipping Wipeout. This is the only case where I think a ride is too intense, and I am a fan of spinning things!

Thanks Andy and Larry. I was able to get to WHSmiths and spent a bit more than I planned (I shouldn't have looked at the books I suppose), but the coupons will save more than I spent.

Thanks for the help. One more question- I was advised a few months ago that it was not too difficult to get buy one get one free vouchers for Merlin properties. I will be heading to Thorpe Park this Friday with a friend, one day after their online specials end. I can't go before Friday due to classes, can anyone point me to anything better than the 28 pounds online? I know I could try to get 10 together for a group rate, but don't think I could organize it (especially convincing 8 party loving college students to be up at 8 AM). Thanks again

Thanks.... After looking at Kobra I think I would like to make sure to get on it, so perhaps I'll try for a day with at least some predicted not-rain, and perhaps try getting used to using bus lines in the city before using them to go far out. Are any of the other parks extremely conservative (comparable to Cedar Fair?) or are most dependent on lightning?

I'm studying abroad in London now, and wanted to try to get to a park before classes start Monday. Chessington looked easiest, but I noticed the forecast was heavy rain. The price already seemed steep, and I don't want to spend it if I can't ride Vampire and Dragon's Fury. I need to buy my ticket by midnight to get 25% off, so can anyone tell me if these rides usually will operate in rain? I figure it rains here enough that they should... While I'm at it, any other UK park weather advice would be helpful. Thanks!

I agree with you with regards to FoF and Backlot Stunt Coaster- better than King's Island, but don't really know why. A pleasant surprise though. Thanks for the report.

I agree with everyone else about almost all of the cases being guest stupidity.... However, my favorite part has to be "Rides in the Dark" Incident-Guests on Space Mountain came to a stop when a wheel separated from the track. Clearly, if Space Mountain did not happen in the dark this would not have happened