Sir Clinksalot

We have changed our flights and are now flying into PHI and we are getting there at 9pm Friday night so will then drive to Washington DC. We have decided to do DC stuff on Friday, Knoebels on Saturday and Dorney on Sunday. Our flight leaves PHI at 5:45 Sunday night. And we will be eating at Carrabas both nights Thanks everyone for all the advice and help, we need it!! Kristi "now looking forward to a coaster trip, not a looking at places to move trip " C.

I hate when the weekends go by so quickly. Thankfully I only have to work 3 1/2 days this week!

FYI - the "theming" at Hurler goes back to the Waynes World movies. My memory of the Waynes World movies is cloudy at best - was a cupie doll factory ever utilized in the films? Either way, the remnants of the theming are much creepier than they're intended to be...

Didn't that happen a few years back at DL's Haunted Mansion - I vaguely remember reading an article about a family that really did sneak someone's ashes into the attraction, then started dumping them out mid-ride (which security jumped on pretty quickly - it happened back when anthrax was still a hot button issue). Wish I can remember where the heck I read that one.

^ Yeah, gotta go with Fantasmic. Or Indiana Jones.

I imported it when it came out in the US originally and got the whole family addicted. I played it obsessively for awhile and so did my dad. He went on a collecting spree and had nearly every item in the game and maxed out his money so he got very bored. My Mum however played Animal Crossing everyday until about a year ago when the disc got broken. She'd still be playing it to this day otherwise !!!

Well, what can I say really, the colours and the name are just so... YOU Really neat coaster.

Some GREAT coasters there kenshinmac, personally I LOVE Raging Torrent... there is just something about it that appeals to me! Diablo is great too! I can't wait to see which you choose for your contest entry! We are really seeing some cool coasters... keep them coming guys!!!

The argument about bigger faster rides being the catalyst here are stupid. This wasn't a case of someone dying on a ride. Second, warnings are posted on ALL rides. They are not just wall decorations, they are to be read. If people choose not to read them, their fault. Natural selection at it's finest. Again, my post has nothing to do with this case, but with theme park deaths as a whole.

Here is mine. Deja Poo ...

Thanks for the advice Robb, Ted and everybody else. I think we will just scrap SFGAdv then, that sounds like the most likely candidate for our sanity's sake. I was just looking at the milage between SFGAdv and PHL and not factoring in the traffic. I don't know why I just assume that no place has traffic like CA and end up not factoring that in. So I guess we will just do DC stuff on Friday, Knoebels on Saturday and Dorney on Sunday. So then changing the flights from Baltimore to Philadelphia would be a good thing then right? I guess it's also since we take so few trips we wanted to cram more in to the days than we should try to on a normal trip. Thanks again everybody.

Diablo is fantastic! I've built a couple of decent coasters that are ok, but nothing as cool looking as this one! I think I need to get some more practice in! That is a very good effort! Well done!

Ted, What if we did this ... Changed our flights to PHI, they would get in thursday night at 9:00pm. Drive to DC Thursday night. Friday DC stuff drive to Allentown (or somewhere in between). Saturday AM, Dorney for 3 or so hours then to Knoebels. (Knoebles doesn't open until noon anyway). Knoebels until whenever then drive towards SFGAdv, closing out the park if possible (they are open until 10pm that night). Sunday, SFGAdv until 3pm then back to PHI for our flights home. We also get a $60 credit for changing our flights to PHI.

Very nice looking coaster, I love that you've kept it traditional. I think it looks really good. I think everyone finds it hard to name coasters especially without theming!!

Chatsworth High School Chatsworth, CA Class of 1993

It depends on where I am. If I'm on the 8th floor (where my desk is) I have a view of the beautiful San Fernando Valley ... If I'm in a classroom they don't have windows, so no view. If I'm in Newbury Park, well, I don't have an office there so really no view to be had.

Guess Who Didn't really have high hopes for this movie although I find Bernie Mac hilarious. He usually doesn't pick the best film projects though. This movie was really funny, and really good. 4/5

Sorry for the double post, but had a few more questions. How many hours do we need at BGW just to ride the coasters, Darkastle and look around. Remember, this is a Friday so I'm not thinking it's going to be THAT busy in the morning/afternoon. Kristi and I would still like to see DC a bit. So we were thinking of doing BGW on Friday morning/noon until 2pm. Drive up to DC, spend the afternoon/evening checking out DC and stay in that area Friday night. Get up Saturday go to Knoebels. Does that make sense? Also, would it make more sense to skip BGW and change our flights to PHI? Could we squeeze in at least a few hours at SFGAdv if we did this? Gregg "VERY BAD at solo coaster trips" C.

I think I heard it's $15.00 now. Gregg "Hates that ride too" C.

This is a tough question. I mean, I think it's safe to say that most Disney and Universal parks are "Theme Parks". But then you have a park like DCA. Some parts of it are themed VERY well, but then, you have a section themed like a Seaside "Amusement" park. Is it a "Theme" park when the theme is an "Amusement" park? Knott's considers itself a "Theme" park, but they have stepped away from theme a long time ago. Then you have somewhere like Bonfante Gardens. It's an awesome park, one of the nicest looking parks I have been to. I would say it's a "Theme" park, but again, it's theme is nature and it's already there. It's the eternal question I guess. Gregg "Just having a "Themed" queue or an area with a "Theme" doesn't make it a "Theme" park IMO" C.

^ Actually, the seats themselves are rather comfortable. Probably the most comfortable coaster seats I have been on. Unfortunately they are on a bad ride.

Thanks for the advice everybody. Yeah, I was thinking scrapping SFGAdv would be the most likely park to ditch. We want a full day at Knoebels since we have heard so many great things about it. So I guess it's BGW on Friday. Not staying until closing and driving to Knoebels. (7 hours ... OUCH) Saturday Knoebels and Sunday Dorney for 2 - 3 hours then to the airport. Knoebels is not open until 12 on Saturday, would it make more sense to drive 1/2 way to Knoebels on Friday night instead of a 7 hour drive? And if so, what is a good half way point? It sucks because if we would have planned this as a "Coaster" trip we would have done it differently. Oh well.

REALLY good coaster eyeamthu1! Really nice banked dipped sections! It's great to see RCT2 and 3 represented so far

Hey Robb, the 15x15 thing is really a way of making interesting designs you wouldn't normally see. Having to fit inside a limit means you do have to be use space more creatively to produce something that meets the requirements. 15x15 was decided on, because it's big enough that it's not too hard but still leaves room for peoples coasters to be different. On most competition sites especially enthusiast ones, they tend to do crazy sizes like 10x10 or even 10x8 which are EXTREMELY difficult and tend to err on the frustrating rather than fun side. I agree mostly BiCoastal although I do think it requires creativity to design within the "box". But the "tight fit" thing definitely seems a draw to these kind of contests. Those will definitely happen eyeamthu1, this initial 15x15 challenge was mostly to assess interest. There are LOTS of things you can do with a coaster contest. Some examples of possible future coaster contests are: * Being given an existing ride and being asked to theme it. * Design a coaster with/or without a size limit and that meets certain criteria. (amount of inversions etc.) * Design a racing/dueling coaster that meets certain criteria. There are other contest ideas too, partly completed parks to finish, theming challenges, scenarios. There is a lot of scope here for fun and entertaining challenges. So don't worry if this first one isn't exactly your cup of tea. Hey coasterdude5, you're entry still amazes me lol but yeah there will be "free" style contests and other types. Both crispy and I are still discussing how some of these contests will run but this should be a really fun thing ! I have to thank everyone for their interest, it really has been a big boost to myself and crispy. A big thanks to crispy for asking me to help out.

^ yeah there aren't many square coasters but 15x15 is the maximum size you can have in this contest. I've built a few that are only 12x14 etc. I have spent hours and hours actually having fun trying to build the perfect 15x15 coaster. But who knows what the next contest will be? It could be to design a 20x20 or a 30x30 coaster, or to design a small park or whatever. As long as it's fun I will be entering. Thanks Chris and Simon for putting in the time and effort for us to able to do this!