texcoaster

I actually like those closeup pics a lot... I don't find them boring at all! Perhaps it's because I'm used to looking at a coaster for the layout, the trains, the people. Seeing them in these closeups gives me a facet I don't normally see, and that makes it interesting to me. I'm not sure I'm down with the brake fetish, though. To each his own.

Probably the scrap heap. That was quite simply the worst excuse for a "coaster" I've ever been on. Wow, thinking about it even now makes me want those few minutes of my life back. What a waste. That's why coasters come in all different styles and 'flavors'. Everyone likes different things. I loved Chaos. True, it wasn't a huge thrill, but it was unique, fast, and fun.

Um... I think you missed the part where I've only got a week and not much money for airfare.

Not only did Opryland have great shows, but the landscaping gave BGW a good run for its money. It was a truly beautiful park. While I had to laugh at the one brochure touting Wabash Cannonball as a "supercoaster", Screamin Delta Demon was a good ride, and Chaos was seriously cool. I rode Revolution at Bobbejaanland a few years ago, but it just wasn't anywhere near as cool as Chaos was. The music in there was awesome and the effects were great, especially in the first version with the backward clock and total darkness. The second version with the blacklight and some sort of monster at the end wasn't as good.

^^^ I rather like the blue SLC. Looks a lot better than all the clones over here with the pink and teal... This is bad: http://www.rcdb.com/ig3258.htm?picture=3 This is cleaner and shinier, but still bad: http://www.rcdb.com/ig1566.htm?picture=11 Japan is so weird: http://www.rcdb.com/ig1206.htm?picture=8 But this is the worst: (it used to be all white) http://www.rcdb.com/ig46.htm?picture=16

CP, I think I'm going to have to disagree with several of your cited pics as backup to your claims of poor design causing roughness. I can't comment on The Boss, as I rode it once and hated it. Don't remember much about it, other than how much I didn't like it. As for the Voyage pics, the reverse-banked hop going into the 90* turn is one of my favorite parts of that ride. It's not brutal, but it is aggressive (and YES, parts of Voyage are brutal). The second Voyage pic (small transition, bottom right) is the turn right before the midcourse brake. I never found that part to be rough at all. The one you cited as a banking issue, YEAH, I'll give you that one. I dreaded that freakin turn on every ride. As for the Bullet pic... there are several nasty sections on Bullet, but the one you showed in the pic, while it LOOKS misshaped and not banked enough, it offers no discomfort whatsoever. Even when you catch a "rain ride" and the train is hauling a$$ over that section, it's not rough at all. Like jmccalip, I just don't see your point on that pic. Now, if you want to argue that the transitions in the zig-zag at the bottom of the first drop are too extreme to be taken at 50mph, I'll agree with THAT. Unfortunately, it's my favorite part of that ride, roughness and all. It's also the first section that's likely to be retracked. I hope that if they can smooth it out, they at least don't mess up the intensity of it.

It depends on what you like. I would say that while there are more large, state-of-the-art coasters in the US in terms of numbers, I'd also say that for the overall park experience, many of the UK and European parks beat the US ones by far. With a few notable exceptions, many US parks lack the charm and style of the Euro/UK parks. It's hard to compare one park to another, but I'll try: For seaside traditional parks, let's looks at Blackpool/ Morey's. Blackpool has the edge for the ride package, but I've gotta give Morey's the edge for cleanliness. Even so, Blackpool's slightly seedy atmosphere and jam-packed crowds make it an experience unto itself. Verdict Blackpool. Inland traditional parks, how about Lightwater Valley and Knoebel's. Both have a sort of mom-n-pop flavor with no apparent rhyme or reason for ride placement, other than "it fits here". Both have quirky, offbeat rides. I've gotta give the edge here to Knoebel's, though, for the ride package, the grove setting, and the overall atmosphere. If someone would put The Ultimate (or something like it) at Knoebel's, I'd probably move to Elysburg. Major theme park: Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Alton Towers. This one is hard. Both have exceptional ride packages, both have exceptional settings, both are truly great parks. This one is a toss-up, and it comes down to a simple matter of preference. We may be dealing with a case of "the grass is greener on the other side of the pond" here. The things that I love most about the UK/Euro parks are the things that are different from what I'm used to here in the states. Trust me, you will NEVER see a dark ride here with an animatronic woman who flashes her boobs at you! (See Robb's video of Holiday Park). There is a level of gore in the haunted rides over there that wouldn't even be attempted here. Rides like Blackpool's "Roller Coaster" that run without restraints of any kind would never be allowed to open at all in the states, and I doubt you'll ever see another steeplechase, either. Of course, for those of you living over there, all that stuff is "normal" for you, and you probably like the US parks for those same differences or others. Stuff that we yanks don't notice, because to us it's "normal".

YAY! I had to delete the entire "My Places" folder in order to get rid of the white-out areas, but at least I can see the parks now! Unfortunately, now all my little placeholders showing the world's themeparks are gone. Anyone know of a place where I can download a set?

I think I do have a "theme park layer", actually. Any ideas on how to uninstall it?

Interesting. Looked at the satellite view of Astroworld and everything was intact. Switched to bird's eye and saw half the park dismantled and in pieces, lying on the ground. The Cyclone was still standing, though. (

^^^ err, that's why God invented PayPal. Put in my order for coasterporn as well as the trip collection that contained Astroworld footage. (sigh)

no no no, jmccalip... that's Google Maps you're using. When I use Google Maps, everything shows up just fine. It's Google Earth that's giving me probs. I even just now uninstalled it, restarted my computer, downloaded a fresh copy of GE, and tried again. Same thing.

Here's how ALL my major parks look on Google Earth. Smaller parks show just fine. European and Asian parks show fine. American themers (Busch, Disney, SixFlags, Cedar Fair) all become white blobs. What's really odd is that it didn't do this before the latest update to 4.2 Even with all layers and tags showing, there's just a white hole for a park

That's weird. I get those same colored dots with the coaster labels... just no park. I also get a nice little pop-up with a link to the park's website and such.

Not a glitch. The parks are all whited out in exactly the shape of the park boundaries. Smaller parks such as Coney Island and Michigan's Adventure are visible. What's even dumber is that while Google Earth won't show the parks, Google Maps in satellite mode WILL show them. Besides, it would be pretty pointless to white out Astroworld to prevent a terrorist attack. It doesn't even exist any more, except on Google Earth's old sat pics.

I just tried to use Google Earth to plan a trip to a few parks in the northeast. To my surprise, SFGAd was blocked out with just a white blob. So I tried SFA, SFNE... same thing. Coney Island shows up just fine, and there's a nifty view of the Cyclone right there on the beach with about 200 buses parked next to it. Other parks, though, even Disney, Universal, and SFNO and SFAW are all just white slates. I used to be able to look at these places with Google Earth. WTF?

The thing that set GL apart from others (including Monte) is that Astroworld never braked the train on the way backward through the station. I seem to remember Monte getting braked, maybe not as much as a weight drop shuttle, but it certainly didn't go as far up the back spike as GL did. That back spike was the highlight of the whole ride! Belgium's Turbine also went full-speed up the back spike as I recall.

Careful, there are folks who will tell you that your opinion is WRONG if you don't adore Ky Rumbler. I'm not one of them. I thought it was kinda fun, but fairly lame. It seemed like there was a lot of potential there that was untapped. Meh.

As long as this thread is breaking off into tangents, I'll add this one: At Europa Park, I had heard all about Silver Star and Euro Mir and the mouse with the funky elevator lift and the Schweizer Bobbahn and all... But there was a coaster there called EuroSat. I knew nothing about it other than a name. I discovered that it was some sort of enclosed coaster. It kicked my butt. I LOVED IT! I exited the ride thinking "why hasn't anyone told me about this before? That was GREAT!"

It's certainly the best one in the states... I ranked Belgium's "Turbine" slightly ahead of it because the forces were almost identical to GL, but Turbine was (mostly) contained in a building, ramping up the intensity and the volume. That thing is LOUD!

WHAT?????? Bullet is filled with radical banking, including a couple of near-90s. Voyage has THREE 90* banked turns. Hades has one as well. In fact, strong laterals is just about the only thing I miss about GG rides...

I rode Voyage 35 times in a row without getting off the train. No probs.

...and I love how NONE of the insane bits are visible from the park. It looks like a freakin family mine train ride, and for the first half, you think that's all it is. Then it just goes to hell and back on the return to the station. I seriously love that ride.

Wow. I thought I was the only one. I wasn't really expecting to adore it, since I had ridden Europa Park's Silver Star the year before and was unimpressed, but seriously... I thought I'd at least want to get back in line for a second or third ride! I didn't. Even though I had a front seat ride, the thing that most impressed me about it was the nice view. Other than that... meh.

I rode it in both places. I know this will be hard to believe, but it runs MUCH better in the mountains than it did in Florida. On my first ride on it (as Florida Hurricane at B&B), we were going around the turnaround and the guy behind me asks out loud "should someone get out and push?" It rolled around that turn at about the same speed that most coaster roll out of the station! The return trip was filled with the whole trainload of riders chanting "I think I can, I think I can" as we crested each of the hills.