CocaColaBoy

I was at Alton Towers on October 14th and 15th. Its the first time that I have visited this year and therefore the first time I have been on The Smiler. So, what about the Smiler? Well, its was good, but thats it. Just good. The first inversion after the station was a nice surprise as this was taken faster than I had expected. The inversions after the two lifts were nice but the rest of the ride just felt repetitive. Having said that, it was a good experience, how quick each inversion comes after each other in an almost non-stop fashion. Air was good, along with Oblivion, Rita and Sonic Spinball. The oustanding ride, still, by far, is Nemesis. Overall, the park is in a good way and the two days spent there were very enjoyable ...and now, some photos... The photography presented is all my personal work, shot with a Leica M9 and Leica 50mm f/1.4 Summilux lens. I hope you enjoy Sonic Spinball Sonic Spinball Sonic Spinball. Its an OK ride, but a little bumpy The Smiler. Unfortunetly, the Smiler was not running on the day I brought my camera The Smiler The Smiler The Smiler The Smiler The Smiler Oblivion, which looks a little upstaged by the Smiler Rita: Queen of Speed. I don't know if the theming has changed slightly, but I do like the gloomy wood theme over the ride control building Rita: Queen of Speed Rita Rita Heading towards the best ride in the park - Nemesis Nemesis Nemesis Nemesis Nemesis Nemesis Nemesis Nemesis Nemesis Nemesis Nemesis

Lufthansa is a German airline ... so you could be in Europe Virgin Atlantic flies over ... well ... the Atlantic The curve ball, though, is TAM - a Brazilian airline Googling for Best Buy South America has the first result as: "Best place to buy cocaine" so I am guessing there is no Best Buy in South America. Best Buy have stores in the US (obviously...), Mexico and China. In the UK all 11 stores have closed. At this point, I am guessing your in China. So, here are my guesses: Your flew into Shanghai, got the train to the city or perhaps traveled west to Nanchang or Beitang and visited World Joyland, which is near to these cities or towns Also, World Joyland is mentioned in this CNN Article: http://www.cnngo.com/shanghai/play/100-things-do-shanghai-summer-274423 Edit: the photo of the plant was taken at Shanghai Botanical Garden Another edit: forget the Botanical Gardens ... your at a travel hub, hence the suitcase on wheels in the background -- Matt

OK. Lets get one thing out of the way first: I am not a web designer. A can design GUI's, but when it comes to being artistic, in terms of making posters, websites, ect... I suck. Badly There are a few things I would like to see: --> Keep the dark theme. Its something that actually keeps me coming back and differentiates TPR from others. For example: RCPro is a design that doesn't stick in my head to well --> Having updates span the page horizontally is better, in my opinion. This is because the page design can span the resolution of end users computers, or width of the web browser giving a more professional look --> I think the Nav bar should be at the top of the sight, above the TPR logo, thus: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Log In | Register | Search:[ text box ] | Store Forum | Park Index | Events and Trips | etc... ...and then the TPR logo goes here The reason a horizontal navigation for updates works better than vertical is: --> All previous updates can be displayed in a contiguous way, with the user scrolling across. Don't use buttons: instead use JS, Ajax, etc... --> Vertical updates limits you to how many updates the end user can see without breaking the design due to a stupid long page The logo: Absolutely, definitely, keep the current logo. Its simple, doesn't try to be to clever, and different meaning the end user is more likely to remember it. Again, RCPro's logo might as well be identical to most others - it isn't memorable. However, the "We love theme parks [...] a funny way of showing it!" should be centered against the logo I really hope people understand this post - like I said, I am no graphic designer/web and this is probably the best input I can give Also, thanks to Rob and Elissa for keeping the design the same for so long. I like it, a lot, but it is time for an update Over the coming days I will make a design based on the above comments -- Matt Edit: after previewing the message repeated spaces have been truncated - a good thing. Be aware that I don't mean for no space between Shop and Forum links Edit 2: laughing hard at websitefullofdouchebags. Robb, Elissa: you know exactly who is meant by this! lmfao!

They did four abreast with their standup roller coasters back in the early 1990s. Also, I believe that Eurostar was/is an Intamin inverted roller coaster with 4 abreast seating. For example, Shockwave at Drayton Manor is a 4 abreast standup roller coaster: http://www.rcdb.com/814.htm -- Matty

HI Robb! The two parks that I most go to are Thorpe Park and Alton Towers, and I notice that these are both listed. What are the perks available at these parks? -- Matty

Some pictures of my some of my favourite rollercoasters. Photography by me! Nemesis Inferno - good ride, not as good as Nemesis, but still one of my favourite rides Stealth - love this, just purely for the speed. In that sense, I would probably like Kingda Ka This, however, is the best, most favourite coaster I have riden -- Troy

I like how the telephone is like, tiny, compared to Sonic's big head. Perhaps a circa 1980 mobile phone would of been better suited to his head?

^ Will the DVD be available for (paid) download, like the other titles of "In the Raw" series? -- Matty

^ Well, the POV of Zingo I have isn't good quality, but the ride itself looked fun! Particularly the second half, after the turn around. To have a better POV though is obviously... better. So I look foward to the release! -- Matty

The website "Coaster Photos" (URL: http://www.coasterphotos.com) has a on-ride ("point of view") video of Zingo. The quality is certaintly not DVD quality, but non the less, they have an on-ride video. Edit: I do not know (obviously) whether you can use the footage that is hosted there. To make things absolutely clear: I did not make this video -- Matty[/u]

It's beginning to sure look ace! The pretzel loop (like all other pretzel loops) looks very, very cool!

I really like Indiana Jones when it went backwards at Disney Land Paris. Anyhow, back on topic. I thought Xpress was a good, intense ride, but a little head banging towards the end. Space Mountain at Disneyland Paris was very good (for sure, the theming helped) and throws you round in a good way, but by far the best one I have been on is Big Thunder Mountain at DLP. Goudurix has an interesting layout and in that sense, potential to be a really good ride, but its not, because it to rough. The SLC also is a good layout, but its let down by roughness. I didn't like Robin Hood though. No way...

By following the instructions (crossing legs tightly) you will not allow a channel of water to go between your legs, and thus minimize the chance of a painful wedgie. For sure, you get a wedgie, but its not that bad when compared to someone not following the instructions which, from what I have seen, is extremely painful Matty

The biggest water slide I have been on is in Aqualand in Andalucia, Spain which has a (near) vertical section, albeit being very short. Basically, you lower yourself into the slide, let go, and whooosh... you hit the splash pool at the end. It's an awesome slide, but not that high compared to this (well, about half the height of the new proposed slide). If the new slide is similar shape to this, but with longer vertical, or near vertical section, then it must be a cool ride! Matty Kamikaze, a (near) vertical water slide

Eurostar is an inverted coaster built be Intamin/Gionvarla with four abreast seating arrangement. Elements in order: vertical loop, zero-g roll, corkscrew, corkscrew. And its portable. A video of it exists on this site at: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27989&highlight=eurostar Edit: and, according the the BBC: -- Matty Train in/exiting final corkscrew and entering the crazy insane turnaround

Yeah, I got the impression from the two video's that backwards is waaaaay worse than forwards

Yeah, its looks good before you ride it (in pictures I have seen). Before the twisty section, its not to bad though (impression from the videos). It just goes badly wrong in the corners -- Matty

Yeah, of course!! They are free for anyone! Use them for whatever you want. I will be (over the next 2 weeks) uploading them to my DeviantART gallery, so you will soon be able to download the full uncompressed versions. I'll keep you posted... -- Matty

Haha! Yeah, t'was a cloudy, wet day. Perfect for black and white photography! Troy looked very fun in your on-ride video. So, thankyou for that. And you live right next to Toverland?! Sounds ideal...! --Matty

Well... thank you for the complement for about the photogrpahy. It is much appreciated!!! Robin Hood at Walibi World you mean? Well, its was a good layout and it really did have some potential, but the day I went the ride was very rough. At the bottom of hills, the whole experience was incredibly bumpy and at the top, the same, with tiny pops of airtime. The end result was that my spine felt like it was being crushed. I don't mind rough rollercoasters (Troy will throw you around a lot) but there is good rough, and bad rough. Robin Hood was definitely bad rough As for Troy: well, we picked a really good day to go as all day there was light rain, so by the end of the day the whole ride was going pretty damn fast. Also, the owners of Toverland gave us 2 extra rides after the park had closed. It really is a great exprience riding Troy. Matty

I went to Toverland at the end of October to ride Troy and see for myself how crazy this place is. In the entrance area is a Toverland song, repeated over and over again. Beyond that, the place opens up to being an amazing place for kids. I mean, seriously, I would of loved this place when I was little. There is a rollercoaster, loads of slides, loads of nets etc... What is created in Toverland really is special. And even more special is there GCI Woodie, Troy. The previous woodies I have been on (and therefore can compare) is Tonnerre de Zeus in Parc Astrix which is also pretty amazing and Robin Hood at Walibie World, which sucked. So, what was Troy like?? Amazing! Simply put, riding Troy is such a wonderful experience. The ride has tons of airtime, some positive G, and loads of laterels at the end. Even if your not into coasters like you (I assume this as what else are you doing here?) one has to appreciate the engineering masterpiece that is Troy. For more photography head to http://cocacolaboy.deviantart.com So, onto some pictures... [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] Overview of Troy

My first proper coaster was Vampire [Chessington World of Adventures] when I was 9, way back in 1993 and... I hated it so when I visited Alton Towers with my family the following year I was soooo not looking foward to it. However, riding Nemesis and Beast (A Schwarzkopf Jet Star 3 / Jumbo Jet) really got me interested in coasters! The reason I didn't like Vampire was that it made me sick (though I didn't up-chuck) so I went on the lame pirate ship again and again (I was bored). My first day at Alton Towers there was a big thunderstorm and after this Beast was running pretty damn fast (This interested me more than Nemesis) because of the drop and first corner. However, the following day I couldn't get enough of Nemesis. Oh, and Im 23... Matty

^ BetaCam came before the 3.5'' floppy disk (1982 BetaCam, 1983 3.5'' floppy disk). But newayz, it doesn't matter. For a format to be successful there must first be a want for the format. For example VHS/Betamax were wanted be consumers when introduced. People wanted to watch movies in there own home and this technology allowed this. DVD was wanted because of the inherent shortcomings of VHS (tape degrades over time, optical discs don't). Hi-Definition TV is now a popular thing with almost all new TVs being HD capable so the consumer wants HD content and two competing formats have come to the forefront - HD-DVD and Blu-Ray and both are technically very similar. With VHS, Betamax and DVD a Scart cable is required to connect the device to your TV, but thats it. You don't need some special monitor or TV with HDCP ecryption. The test of these formats will be essentially what the consumer wants and what they are prepared to pay for such devices. I have a fairly new computer. On this I watch movies (namely DVDs). I have no want to either buy a new computer, a HD-DVD or Blu-ray drive and get a HDCP compliant output device. This would cost me to much and I am happy with what I have, for now. I can copy my DVDs to my 1Tb hard disk and simply click on the title I want to play without having to swap discs. With HD-DVD and BluRay I can't do this because of DRM, although it looks like AACS has been cracked or will be soon. I want convenience and I want to do what I want to with my content that I purchase be it music or video and that is the primary reasons why I do not want these new technologies (I'm against DRM). In the future (perhaps now) I will have the option to legally download or stream the content, so perhaps there isn't even the need for me to ever use HD-DVD or Blu-Ray. Matty

With Sony leading the Blu Ray effort this really doesn't surprise me. They could issue an update to the firmware, as "Jew" posted but with many manufacturers of these things that is not guaranteed to happen (Sony). We will have to wait and see if this annoys customers enough to switch to another format (HD-DVD for example). The last successful media format Sony had was the 3.5'' floppy disk so going on their track record I'd say Blu-Ray will be unsuccessful...

YouTube saves the video as a temporary file to your hard disk. It is possible to download this as an *.flv video to your local computer (ie, the one your sitting at). I don't know if this breaks the rules though because of the file format. You can play *.flv files with VLC If you use Firefox this can be made easy with the "Video Downloader" plugin. With the correct software you could convert to MPEG4 (converting to MPEG will in most cases mean loss of quality and bigger files) or AVI.