Jonathan

You are correct in that it isn't trailered, but you are sitting in a different position in the front of the car than in the back. In the front of a car you are basically sitting near the middle of the car with your feet and arms extended to the front of the car. In the back you are sitting over the wheel with your feet and arms extended to the middle of the car. The difference is extremely noticable on Gerstlauer trains. Anyway, to answer the question, anywhere in the back car is great for me.

Ah, so now they really are trying to be like Cedar Point; make the policies as contradicting and confusing as possible. Corkscrew: no loose objects can be brought in line; your bag must go in a locker, sir Magnum: sorry sir, you cannot set that bag over here; all loose articles must go with you on the ride

I was stunned to see this being enforced for all coasters at Busch Gardens Europe, but I will say that it definitely sped up loading procedures a lot. I'll be damned if I'm ever going to bring a backpack or anything there, though. That's one park I would never video at for that very reason.

I stopped making big elaborate planned out RCT parks a long time ago, but every now and then I feel the urge to open up the game and play it for a couple of hours. Usually this happens after I have seen or rode some coaster and I want to build a ride inspired by it. So, this park has evolved over the last couple years. It's pretty much all coasters, but I think some of them are interesting and they all run really well. Download here: http://www.jonathanhawkins.net/rct/WonderWood20.SV6 The coasters (in order built): Cannonball - classic out and back three bench woodie with skid brakes Kachina - out and back in the woods - inspired by The Raven Flying Eagle - B&M inverted Sidewinder - twisted woodie with Millennium Flyers on a hillside - inspired by Thunderhead Blast Off! - rocket coaster on a hillside with inversions inspired by Storm Runner - this has been removed from the park though Excavator - a woodie inspired by Hades that goes the entire length of the parking lot underground. I'm not very happy with how this one turned out. Expedition Awesome - ridiculously huge Intamin giga coaster that goes around the entire boundary of the park Falin - B&M dive coaster with inversions and an interesting beginning in the hills - inspired by Griffon Black Stallion - large out and back woodie in the woods inspired by The Voyage Railblazer - extremely compact woodie inspired by Boardwalk Bullet. This is one of my favorite rides that I've built. There are also two unfinished coasters that I will complete if I ever feel like it. Screens: Cannonball An unexpectedly steep drop on Kachina near the end of the ride Flying Eagle Sidewinder Excavator Expedition Awesome Falin Black Stallion Railblazer, the newest ride. Hope you enjoy it.

Nice photos. It's too bad the quest had to end early, but I'm still jealous that you got El Toro.

Friday night I tried some new things. I got a German sampler which had the following: Spaten Lager (on tap) - Pretty much crap; incredibly weak and light. I can't imagine going to Munich and ordering one of these Weihenstephan Hefe-Weizen (on tap) - This one was quite good. Fruity taste with apples. Maybe a little too strong on the fruits for me, but still very good. Spaten Oktoberfest (on tap) - A malty red colored beer. This one was good but a little uninteresting to me. A lot of people seem to love this, though. Paulaner Hefe (on tap) - This was the best. Citrus, spices, carbonated pretty much the way I like it. A wheat beer. Warsteiner (on tap) - The biggest selling beer in Germany. And it pretty much sucks. I also had: Lindemans Framboise (on tap) - I got this as two of my friends highly recommended it. It tasted really good, but could not possibly taste any less like beer. Honestly, it tasted like a raspberry soda. If someone had handed it to me in a cup I would have never known it was beer or even had alcohol in it. So if you don't like beer, this is the beer for you. Lion Stout (bottle) - One of my favorite beers that I have ever had. The strongest flavor is chocolate, but it isn't overpowering and is very drinkable. Some roasted flavors there as well, and fruits too. Basically, just a ton of flavors and it goes down real well.

Aha best post ever. Yes, I do know, in fact. I love that Jurassic Park theme. My list would also include (and I'm sticking with scores here, not soundtracks): Back to the Future (Alan Silvestri) Blade Runner (Vangelis) Brazil (Michael Kamen) The Fountain (Clint Mansell) Requiem for a Dream (Clint Mansell) Miller's Crossing (Carter Burwell) Pirates of the Caribbean (Klaus Badelt) Lord of the Rings (Howard Shore) Star Wars (John Williams) Pretty much every David Lynch/Angelo Badalamenti collaboration

^^^ The irony here is that with California Screamin' they designed a steel coaster to give the appearance of a boardwalk woodie.

Nobody would argue with it if you made it clear why you prefer one over the other. I think the whole idea is to understand why people like one better, so it would be good to see some explanation.

I saw St. Vincent and her band play in Chapel Hill Friday night. She put on a wonderful show. I took a few photos: http://www.jonathanhawkins.net/photos/thumbnails.php?album=181

Honestly, I think that is because the two other Holiday World woodies have been established through the years of Stark Raven Mad as two coasters that improve dramatically after nightfall. I always think of Boulder Dash and Raven as the two rides that you MUST ride at night. So, it seems to me like people just figured, well, since it was like that with Raven and Legend, Voyage might as well be the same way. I went to Holiwood Nights, and the ride is fabulous at night, and certainly faster, but not so much faster that someone who doesn't care for it during the day will like it at night. I found the increase in speed to be on par with the majority of wooden coasters that I've been on. Nothing out of the ordinary. But, then again, the poster two posts above me said it's like two different coasters between day and night, so I guess I missed something.

Okay, I've read through a bit of this thread, and I'm pretty confused. Somehow this myth seems to have been propagated by a few people that Voyage only delivers great rides at night, or during a "magic hour". That's completely false. Now, as for Robb, I certainly believe what you are saying. You've been on enough coasters that I have no problem trusting your takes on rides, so if you say Voyage wasn't running well, then I'm sure it wasn't, and that is unfortunate. But, when I have ridden it, it has been just as good a ride in the morning as at night. When I rode it at around 11 AM for my first ride it immediately blew away every other coaster I have ever been on. The ride did seem to gain some speed by the night, and certainly was much wilder in pitch blackness, but didn't change nearly as much as Raven, when I've found to get much faster at night. As for El Toro; I haven't ridden it yet. It is at the top of my list of coasters to go on, and I will ride it either this Fall or next year. Voyage seems like more of my type of ride, but I am fully expecting Voyage and El Toro to be #1 and 2, regardless of which one I like better.

Congratulations to you both! Now if I can find myself a girl who can deal with my coaster addiction and over the top Canes fanaticism then I'll be good to go.

Had one of the Rogue Locker Stocks on tap last night. A little bit more fruity and sweet than I usually like, but otherwise pretty good.

^ Absolutely. Six Flags will want to keep this as quiet as they can and settle as fast as they can.

Reread that part again that you quoted. It is a bit confusing, but the part they put in quotes is their description of the ride, rather than saying they were operating at high speeds. "Highly dangerous" is still off base, of course, as we all know. They would be negligent if they failed to maintain the cable and allowed it to fray, and it looks like that may be the case. We see so many silly and frivolous lawsuits these days, but this kind of thing is why civil suits exist. She deserves a lot of money from this, and will get it.

Good TR Tim. I read Mike's TR and was disappointed to hear about Renegade, as I seem to have very similar taste to him (and you, it looks like). Both of you tend to have a much more objective analysis in your write ups than others, so I'm always interested to hear your thoughts.

I hope so. http://www.whootah.com

My favorite beer that I have had is the Terrapin Rye Squared by the Terrapin Brewery in Georgia. It's a double imperial IPA with 8.5% ABV. On tap, of course. Screw bottles. As for common stuff, Bass is usually my choice among beers that are available pretty much everywhere.

If I tried to make a top 10 combining wood and steel it would probably be all wood, so here they are separated: Wood: 1. The Voyage, Holiday World 2. Thunderhead, Dollywood 3. Hades, Mt. Olympus 4. Phoenix, Knoebels 5. Cornball Express, Indiana Beach 6. Avalanche, Timber Falls 7. The Raven, Holiday World 8. The Legend, Holiday World 9. Kentucky Rumbler, Beech Bend 10. Ozark Wildcat, Celebration City Steel: 1. Superman: Ride of Steel, Six Flags New England 2. Goliath, Six Flags Over Georgia 3. Apollo’s Chariot, Busch Gardens Europe 4. Superman: Ride of Steel, Six Flags America 5. Nitro, Six Flags Great Adventure 6. Mind Bender, Six Flags Over Georgia 7. Millennium Force, Cedar Point 8t. Raptor, Cedar Point 8t. Top Gun: The Jet Coaster, Paramount’s Carowinds 8t. Magnum XL 200, Cedar Point 8t. Alpengeist, Busch Gardens Europe

I agree about Powder Keg, but what I really want is ThuNderaTion. Now THAT is a mine train. Screw being the best mine train I've ever been on, that's one of the best steel coasters period that I've ever been on. Slight exaggeration? Perhaps... Also, I was surprised when I looked at an ariel view of Dollywood to see that the Mystery Mine area and Craftman's Valley area are actually really close to each other. It won't take a whole lot to connect the two.

Okay I don't think I've posted on here in 6 or 7 months, but I have to break my silence to call you out Wesley. See, Kings Dominion's flyers aren't like your beloved Carowinds flyers. Any old Joe can't just get on there and snap them. You've got to have the SKILL. Maybe next time I will show you the ropes. I also replied to point out that there was an employee counting visitors through the Treasure Cave. We went through twice to add 5 more clicks. I'm a cynic so I can only assume that they are counting visitors and considering taking it out. This will not stand, this aggression against the Treasure Cave.

Scott Addison Clay, a North Carolina native with ties to Myrtle Beach, is working on a documentary about the closing of the Pavilion as well as the evolution of family entertainment in Myrtle Beach and America as a whole. The film is still in the early stages, but a website is up at http://www.becomingattraction.com. There is an about page there where you can read much more about the film. Basically, I wanted to make this thread to get the word out there about the film, and to get some input from people who are big amusement park fans. What would you like to see in a documentary of this nature? Do you think the amusement park as a form of family entertainment in America is on the decline? Would you be willing to lose a traditional park such as the Pavilion if it meant the construction of a new upscale park such as the Hard Rock Park? There is also a live webcam of the former Pavilion site up at the "Becoming Attraction" website. Here is a feature on the film from WPDE Channel 15: http://wpde.com/videoplayer.asp?v=news/~pav

For the film production class I am taking at NC State, we were given access to a German Arriflex 16 millimeter film camera, and had to create a 1 minute narrative film with only natural lighting, and a 2-3 minute film that utilizes artificial lighting. I am editing the second film right now (which is a sequel to the first one), but here is the first one. It is called "Salesman vs. Salesman". Working with film was definitely a new experience. I bought a 100 foot roll of film, which gave me a little under three minutes to work with. So, basically, we had to get each shot right on the first take. Then, of course, there's also fun stuff such as loading the film, measuring to calculate the focus, and using a light meter to figure out the f-stop. Big thanks to my friends at Whootah! for helping out and acting. Here are some production stills taken by Phil Hart: The film itself can be watched here: http://www.jonathanhawkins.net/photos/displayimage.php?album=121&pos=0 It is a 67 mb Quicktime file. I apologize for the high size, but I wanted to sacrifice as little quality as possible.

Sounds like great news to me