Movieguy

If you've ever been to a fair, then you've most likey seen one of the dark rides they have there, usually a cheap and underwhelming experience from the aspect of the ride itself, but I always remember these portable rides for one thing...the facade artwork! I could stand there for hours, admiring the wonderfully creative work they do on the facades of these rides, all those murals and figures and other things. They really know how to grab some attention. What are some of the most memorable facades on a dark ride that you've ever seen? I've seen my share at the New York State Fair, especially from their longest running dark ride, the Ghost Train...the ones in Europe look especially wild, facade wise, especially in Wiener Prater park in Vienna.

I know it's a fairly big thing to consider, but think about it...They've already torn down Horizons, and replaced World of Motion...I hated to see them go as much as others did, but what's done is done now. I think that Mission Space and Test Track, along with Soarin, are all great new attractions, and I'd much rather have them than the empty spaces where the old ones would be. So I think, at some point a few years from now, EPCOT should consider installing a coaster. I think they have the space for it, and they're already moving in the direction of thrill rides. They might as well go the whole nine yards.

^ It's pretty clear that most televangelists, and the people behind those "Mega churches" aren't too familiar with that passage either

Wow, that's a really cool entrance. It makes you wonder why CP didn't come up with the same idea, since they have three high-profile Intamins there.

Those of you who have seen the Coaster Expedition volume 2 DVD may remember the quote I posted from this topic, which was made by one of Robb and Elissa's buddies. I have never been to Europa Park, but Eurosat is always a coaster that I'm looking to learn more about (Space Mountain-type coasters always interest me). Coaster Kingdom, a british coaster site, had a very favorable review that went into detail about the ride, housed in a Spaceship Earth type dome. So, I was interested to see the fellow from the DVD make this seemingly contradictory statement..."It's amazing, but I hate it!"...so this makes me wonder what's there to hate about this coaster? It looks impressive enough from the little I saw of it on the video. The only negative thing I've heard about Eurosat, is that the trains can be rather uncomfortable, especially for people with long legs.

Thanks. I just figured that out recently. The whole thing feels a bit different from what you did in RCT 2, but I'll get used to it

I have RCT3 and the Soaked expansion pack currently. I'd love to be able to build the kind of stuctures that I did in RCT 1 and 2, but my big problem is the roof of a building I try to make. In RCT2, you could hold down shift, and raise a roof piece to the height you wanted, and then hold another button to keep other pieces at the same height, so you weren't constantly raising each piece from the bottom and getting confused about which square you were on in relation to previous roof pieces. So far, I've found no such helpful button for RCT3. I've tried to hold down the ctrl button after I shift-raise the roofe piece, and that only seems to work some of the time, and when it does work, I can never figure out what I did right. Could someone help me with this? The manual seems to mention almost nothing about this.

I've always struggled with my weight, being 5'7 and currently about somehwere in the 230 lbs range...I exercise when I can, but it's tough to stay consistent, and I work at a grocery store, often late at night, and there's way too many temptations... Despite this, I've never had any problems getting on a coaster. I managed to fit into Apollo's Charriot, and Alpengesit a while back, without any problems. And nobody's ever told me to get off of one. But, I've realized lately, that I need to really start losing weight again. I've already been gulping down cup after cup of water at night, to curb my soda addiction...now I just need to find a way to keep myself from snacking at work! Going a little off-topic here, I used to use the treadmill for 40 minutes constantly, walking and jogging, but now if I use it, it makes my calves sore for some reason after about 20 minutes, which it never did before...I've used elipticals, but I just don;t sweat as much on those things...if anyone's got an idea of what I should do about this dilemma, I'd be glad to hear it...

Oh, there's so many I've yet to ride, but want to... X Expedition Everest Expedition GeForce Balder TTD Silver Star Lightning Racer Raven Legend Hades Beast Vortex (PKI) Kumba Montu Sheikra I could go on all day

Please disregard my foot in mouth tendencies in this thread...I'm sorry I wasted your time with all the "Stupid" things I've been posting... Doug "Never come here after you've been drinking" Booth

Yeah, you're right. I guess I wasn't thinking when I said what I previously said. I just get a little fed up with certain aspects of the GP sometimes, and that all my knowledge of coasters counts for absolutely nothing in the eyes of the companies who maintain the parks.

Hey, if it weren't for us enthusiasts noticing this, the Gp would be perfectly content with riding one Veklona after another, blissfully unaware of there being anything better out there.

I have to say Mantis, since it's the only Stand up I've ever been on, but Riddler's Revenge looks pretty cool. If I'd been on that, I probably would have voted for that one.

I am such a weird person...I'll go on any kind of coaster, but I will not go anywhere near a ferris wheel (I'm scared of heights) or most dark rides (I absolutely freak out at the whole "Jump out and scare you" approach), or any of those flat rides where they stick you upside down...if it wasn't for my sister dragging me onto that Top Spin at Kennywood, I'd be avoiding those too.

Well, it's nice to see SFDL actually get something, but at the same time, it's a real slap in the face to us around here to only give us some old, single loop, first generation stand-up coaster that nobody else wants. Doug "Further proof that SF doesn't care about Darien Lake" Booth

You know, my only favorite podcasts so far have been the one retrocrush.com puts out, and one called "Drink till We're Funny"...but now, ITL has become a new favorite of mine, and it's all thanks to this episode. I was glad to here some detailed information about SFMM, as well as get some park tips from the masters. It was also nice to hear that SF is going to be making more of an effort to attract families. Even though they're gonna attract even more people with Tatsu opening soon, they sound like they want to make an effort in keeping the place as clean and friendly as they can keep it. And as much as I enjoy coasters, I think that's important. I can recall many trips to CP in the past, and though I did enjoy their coasters, the overall experience was rather lacking, with the overcrowding, the shortage of clean tables and benches, and also not enough real entertainment to pass the time between rides. Then I decided to have a break from CP, and visit BGW instead. I'll never forget my first day there. I took a ride on The Loch Ness Monster first, and then walked over to Italy for an early lunch. I sat in that piazza, just eating by myself, in such a well kept and lovely place, run by such likable staff, and this feeling of absolute awe came over me. I was in love with the place from that moment on. It didn't bother me one bit that this park only had four coasters. There was much, much more in there to appreciate than thrill rides. I think this is the approach SF is trying to go for, and they think they should at least give it a shot. The thrills will always be there. They've established their great reputation with thrill rides. Now the time has come to start looking at other things.

But at what cost? Sure, it may prolong the coaster's life some more, and make it less of a maintenance headache, but the riding experience is somewhat cheapened on the flip side. Look at the Mean Streak for example. That was a woodie that started out strong, but lost a lot of it's punch a few years later...I mean c'mon. A trim on the top of the first hill?...what's that all about? And what about the now gone Hercules at Dorney? I never rode it, but I heard it started out as an awesome coaster as well, before they trimmed the hell out of it and...well, I'm sure most of you saw that video on the forum. Doug "They just don't build woodies to last anymore.." Booth

It seems it's an inevitable thing to happen to any woodie...they start out nice and strong, and then the park decides to completely neuter the thing by adding trim brakes everywhere...it happened to all the Summers/Dinn woodies, and mark my words, it will eventually happen to most of the GCI/CCI/Gravity Group woodies. Parks are scared of woodies, plain and simple. They look so rickety and rough to them, when compared to the smooth and pretty looking steelies that they buy in droves.

I hope somebody makes a more creative approach to a 10 inversion coaster...one without a bunch of heartline rolls strung together at the end...that's kind of like cheating in my book And why hasn't B&M attempted this? Their coaster at Port Aventura, Dragon Khan, had the most inversions before Colossus came along, and it seemed a bit more creative in doing it as well. Of all the companies that could top Intamin in this department...why Veklona?

I have to lean towards the East Coast for now, because they just seem to have more in volume. But, I still want to see Magic Mountain one of these days... I might even make that my vacation trip for this year

Great TR! Very amusing. Especially when you asked if they had any bottles of Beverly to buy.

I was on a boomerang a number of years ago, and it absolutely terrified me when it pulled me up backwards...I felt like I was gonna fall out. Other than that, it was a sort of rough, and forgettable experience. Same thing with PCW's Top Gun. RnRC is about the only good Veklona I've ever been on

The only launch coasters I've been on have been CP's Wicked Twister, and Rock N Rollercoaster at WDW. Wicked Twister had a pretty intense launch, but RnRC had one that seemed slightly more intense, but that may have been because it launches mostly in the dark, and it just seems that way.

wow...great old woodies, AND decent park pizza?... I've gotta get my rear-end down to Knoebels!

I love big parks with numerous coasters as much as the next guy, but I love to, every once in a while, go to a smaller park and enjoy what that place has. I remember this past summer I got a lot of traveling in...some may remember my trip report to WDW this past July, complete with a few photos. Well, soon afterward in early August, I got to go to Kennywood Park with my family. I remembered most of the trip just being a refreshing break from the constant crowds and hustle and bustle of WDW, not to mention the sheer size of the place. Kennywood, on the other hand, is a park where you feel like you can just go and do as you please in a place where the land doesn't feel like it goes on for eternity...you can ride the Jack Rabbit, and walk away, and be at the Thunderbolt and Phantom's revenge in a matter of minutes...and lets not forget all the yummy food you can get there too. Another thing I like about Kennywood is that you're under no particular pressure to get to all the big profile rides...if you show up early, you can easily get on both Phantom and Thunderbolt, and then head back to go on Racer and Jack Rabbit, and then you can enjoy whatever other rides you want afterward. How about the rest of you all? Are there any smaller parks you enjoy going to as a break from those huge, busy parks everyone else goes to?