MonkeyPants

I have often thought how cool it would be to have a coaster on the waterfront again (instead of just that roller coaster sculpture). Still, I agree that $30 million is insanely expensive for what this coaster is (Millenium Force and Dragster were each $25 M). And the estimation of $40M in annual revenue seems exceedingly optimistic.

Here's a short vid of an awesome new park in Argentina! The engineering is amazing! [vimeo] [/vimeo]

Sound fun! Email sent!

Wow. Very cool! Nicely shot. I like your framing and focus changes! Very nice! It's cool how in the shot of dragster track at around 1:32, you can see how the track sways side to side after a train goes through.

Congratulations! Such a difference, and I'm sure you feel a lot better day to day! Keep it up! And have fun on the boundless coaster adventures that lie before you! Looking forward to your trip reports!

This is pretty cool news! Even though it's small, it looks like a really fun layout... I think families are going to love this!

Harold, I agree that you will certainly find people to hang with... I haven't been to much in the way of TPR trips, but I have attended a few coaster events, and people are always super-friendly! I highly doubt anyone would give you grief for choosing which coasters to enjoy. Everyone is there to have fun! An event like this I think would be perfect if you want to check either of these places out. It certainly sounds like TPR puts together really well-planned, fun events, which would make for a great weekend riding coasters!

Ok! Tickets ordered! Woohoo! So far, just for KBF... Maybe closer to the date, we may add SFMM... But we're are very excited! Should be a great time!

Haha! Very true! Starting on X2 might very well end our day early! But seriously, I definitely wouldn't want to start with that... Unless there's a.m. ERT... Then she's screwed!

I'm excited! Planing to go and bring my non-enthusiast girlfriend! The only coaster she's been on in the past 8-10 years is the San Diego Giant Dipper earlier this year... We'll see how she handles the likes of X2 and Tatsu! Also, looking forward to meeting more fun TPR-type peoples! Should be a great time!

That was a fun P-TR! I liked your perspective... Many people bash CP, and I, myself, am fairly jaded by some of the rides there... So it was really cool to read your fresh perspective! Looks like you had a blast!

Agreed... I just took a quick glance, but I don't think TTD, or basically any coaster, is going to illustrate the principle on the webpage you linked to. That equation is relevant to collisions, which hopefully you don't have on coasters, at least not in normal operation. Now bumper cars would illustrate it quite nicely!

You seem a little tentative about posting this trip report... Don't be! You're photos were great and your comments were even better! Nice job! And what a cool tour! I bet you had a blast! I would love to go on a tour like that!

Yea! Thanks for posting these! That was right around when I started going to CP with my family when I was 6 years old.... These pics really bring me back to my favorite period at CP! Awesomeness! The Mill Race picture reminded me that it was the one ride I've ever evac'd from... We got stuck on the 2nd lift, and my mom & sisters were in front of us at the top of that lift... It's not super tall, but the catwalk was this narrow plank... Quite scary climbing out of the log, onto that little catwalk. The other flume was called Shoot The Rapids... It was really fun too! You must have been awestruck when you caught sight of Gemini being built! I remember my first trips down that first drop! We thought it was insane, and you dangle over the top a bit in the front... As a kid, I was always scared I'd just tumble out the front, so I'd brace my feet against the front of the train. Thanks again for posting the super-nice stroll down memory lane.

Those jerks forgot a 'k'! btw- it would be "amazingly professional journalism."

What a cool, unique attention getting event! How fun would that have been to see in person!

I'm partial to #42 myself!

I entered this shot... Btw- I like that Montu sunset shot! I love that ride. --------------- Aka macevhicz

Hey wow, thanks for the compliments... It's nice to hear! Thank you.

Sometimes, you can get a point and shoot to do pretty well. You won't be able to zoom like these X2 shots, but if you can set it to sport mode, or if it has any manual capabilities, you could prioritize a fast shutter, and you still be able to get good shots. Another easy tip that some point and shoots can do is to purposely under expose the image a bit. One of the more common 'faults' with photos is areas blasted out white (from too much light hitting the sensor). If you underexpose a little, often you can instead get detail and color where it would otherwise be white. Sometimes that whiteness is what you want, but more often than not, it just detracts from the image. Plus the sky will almost always appear more blue (bluer?) if underexposed a little.

Haha Metrock! No, it's hard to capture the bumpiness on a still photo! For those who asked, it's a Canon Rebel Xsi (a stunningly adept camera, especially considering it's a 'consumer level' model.) And I was using a Canon 100-400 L lens (this one http://tinyurl.com/ogzhbj ). But you also must know how to use it... I'm still astonished how hard it is to get a sharp image. There are a lot of factors to consider.

Thanks for the idea, atem, I went ahead and entered it in the contest. Yea, Credit, sounds like the night rides were awesome! Maybe someday, I'll get there in the evening and ride... Wont' be the same as TPR ERT....

So, I recently moved back to LA, so I was excited when I read about Termination Day.I thought it would be a fun event and a chance to meet TPR peeps. Unfortunately, a few days before the event, I received some really bad news… A tragedy in the family. It wasn't someone I was closely related to and I didn't know him well, but the circumstances around the situation were such that it had a significant impact on me. Needless to say, I wasn't sure I'd be up for the event. The night before the event came and after basically having six of the most emotionally draining weeks of my life (for the above reason and for others), I felt I needed to have some fun, so I got up early and headed out to Magic Mountain. I arrived at the park, registered, then stuck my camera gear in a lock-er near the front, because I didn't know what the lock-er situation would be out back by the ride. Started walking for Terminator, and was directed by security that that pathway was closed and to 'go that way.' I knew 'that way' meant all the way around the park, so I wasn't sure if there was some secret short-cut I didn't know about. So around the park I go. Despite quite a long walk, it was cool to see the park almost completely empty. Finally arrive the the ERT. Terminator is a pretty cool looking coaster, especially the big fan curve near the entrance. It doesn't have a big wow-factor, but it does look cool. The ride itself, however, is excellent! The theming was decent, albeit a bit too loud in that last holding room. The trains are fairly bad-a$$ looking. They reminded me of big, old-fashioned, heavy-duty locomotives. Not that it looks like a locomotive, but the trains are imposing and strong looking. And black. The first drop is super-fun. The whole ride is fun. It's Out-of-control crazy with a relentless pace, but smooth and comfortable. Definitely a thumbs up ride. But as the ERT was ending I, and other folks, were walking back around the park, I started to realize I just wasn't feeling great and not really having fun. I decided to head home around 11:30, but on the way out, I took some pics of Scream and X2. The Scream shots were lame, but the X2 ones are pretty good, so I thought I'd at least post these. Anyway, hope you enjoy 'em. Mark ---------------- Aka macevhicz Does it count as hands-up if your hands are actually going down? The blonde lady is thinking "Did I turn off the iron?" Two words: Fire. Good. Caution – You may get incinerated on this ride. This one neither. I can't think of any witty remarks for this one. Whheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I guess this counts as being upside down. It only does downhill from here. (get it?) And here, they know they did. Right about here, the riders are wondering if they made a mistake getting on. Fire-breathing X2! X2 gets all flippy

I, for one, was sad to see it go. I hope CCJared is right that it will return. Personally, there were a few things I wish they did differently. I was not a big fan of rates being deleted for being too short. But, beside that, I didn't really think the people there were jerks. It seemed like there were actual conversations. I've looked at coastercrazy a few times, and it just doesn't seem like the place for me. For one thing, I can't stand looking at all those flashing animated gif's so many people use for profile pictures. I thought those were played out 10 years ago. Also, at first I thought ratings were harsh, but by the same token, it provided motivation to improve. At lot of people criticized pumping, which frankly is more a flaw with NL than anything else. I think when Ole made NL, he had no idea how detailed and smooth people would end up trying to make tracks, and NL is totally not built in a way that makes making smooth tracks easy. In fact, barring any tools, it is exceedingly difficult and frustrating! Hopefully NL will resolve these issues. But I agree that CS was a major factor in the success of NL, and would greatly help sales of NL2 whenever it comes out. ------ aka macevhicz

Awesomeness! I love the throngs of people headed to Disaster Transport. The next drawing should have been of throngs of people running screaming from Disaster Transport! And the banking on that Drachen Fire sketch looks pretty accurate! Where do you get this cool old items?