CoasterG

I was there last Sunday, April 17th and while there's mention of the mouse going in - the only construction I saw was on the water park area. There was one other construction site over by Power Surge and Swamp "Ouch" Thing but it seemed too small for a coaster install. Talked to some of the construction workers the day before while hanging out at the fabulous Best Western hotel bar across the street. /sarcasm off They stated they are getting 60+ hour weeks right now to get the water park and zoo area moving, right now both areas are large piles of dirt with some initial ground development completed.

Steel Top Thrill Dragster (corrected, someone wake me up at work again please...), back seat right - whoa nice air on the twisting drop Skull Mountain, back seat either - bonus points for "slapping the pumpkin" Apollo's Chariot, back or front rows - great floater air, recliner seating a big plus! Wood Georgia Cyclone, back seat - massive ejector air all over the place, especially drop 4 or 5, bonus points for rainy weather Ghostrider, back seat - drop 5, nothing else to say... Raven, back seat - blissfull drop 5 airtime Tremors, front or back seat - first drop, whoa Thunderhead, front seat - good air in several spots, great air in 1 or 2 spots

Paul Ruben couldn't put a Top 10 List together... They are all Great! Best rides ever! George

Yep, that's normal Floridian behavior and I tend to avoid the parks like the plague in the summer since I'm spoiled. Waiting in lines that are over 30-40 mins for the Orlando parks is torture. Air Conditioning is where its at down here. The benefits and curses of being a local... George

Home Park: Islands of Adventure/Universal Studios Florida - about an hour Other closeby parks: Sea World Orlando - about 50 mins Old Town - about 50 mins Walt Disney World, etc, etc - about an hour Cypress Gardens - about 1.5+ hours Busch Gardens Tampa - about 2 hours (depending on traffic) Dania Beach Hurricane - about 2.5 hours (depending on traffic) Wild Adventures - about 3.5 hours Six Flags over Georgia - about 7-8 hours

Tremors, especially at about midnight at Coaster Alley Convergence. The airtime just keeps going and going - down the first hill, thru the gift shop, over the speed bump into the tunnel and finally ends when you hit the first curve.

The Florida comparison really doesn't show the difference in launches. Its more like comparing RnRC with the Premier Spaghetti bowls/Flight of Fear/Mr. Freeze/Batman & Robin launches. Those Premier launches are much more powerful/intense then RnRC. Plus Mummy's launch isn't powerful because of the short track layout and space.

Stormrunner's launch is the least intense Intimin launch to me. Xcelerator/TTD/SR The one painful thing about SR is if you have a long torso those shoulder restraints can really dig in at some points. But overall I'd take that over getting my ears/jaw battered, depending on where the OTSH hits. Comparing all of the launches: Xcelerator Hypersonic TTD SR Volcano: TBC Any Premier launched Any Vekoma launched Don't really remember getting any heavy launch forces from any of the Premier or Vekoma I've been on, which is most of them now. George

Atlanta is a very cool place to check out after SFoG closes - a lot of bars, restaurants, events always going on. Definitely hit Gatlinberg since your at Dollywood, make sure to do their Alpine Slide - its a lot of fun and take their cable tram up to the Alpine Slide, awesome views. For fun, drive up the road to the resort, its a twisty 2 lane that's more thrilling that a lot of coasters. And the town itself is really touristy, so its worth walking around and taking in the sights. Also, riding Thunderhead as late as possible in the day if you can arrange it - its great during the day, its even better at night. Lake Winnie is a "throwback" park, get the wristband because tickets are pretty expensive overall. I like it, its a quirky park and the clientele is very Southern, read "redneck". Don't miss the dark ride there, its fairly well kept and their mouse is brutal!

Zion is probably one of the most beautiful spots on earth. And Mesa is pretty damn good, thank god I didn't have to pick up the check. And finally, if you think Mr. Hot Dog is bad - the great state of Indiana has MR. WEENIE, on a backroad between Indiana Beach and Cedar Point! Photo appearing soon at a URL near you, once I get home. George