Olsor

Next up is a segment on roller coasters from Prime Time Live in 1990. Lots of good stuff in this one: Magnum with insanely long lines, the big four at Kings Island, Excalibur at Valleyfair, Hercules, Flashback at SFOT, Viper at SFMM, GASM at SFGAdv, a brief shot of Z-Force at SFOG, and Ron Toomer interview goodness. Plus, you see the obligatory "history of roller coasters" portion of the segment, which became a staple of any of these early '90s segments on coasters. Prime Time Live segment on roller coasters

Following the lead of Shane's Amusement Attic and Scott's Amusement Closet, I bring you the much less impressive Olsor's Amusement Shoebox. To be more precise, it's a banker's box, but that doesn't have the same ring to it. Anyway, I've been gradually going through all my old videotapes and transferring them to DVD. Back in the late '80s and early '90s, when I was just getting interested in coasters, I started taping absolutely anything about coasters that was aired on TV. This was before the days of endless Discovery Channel and Travel Channel shows entirely devoted to coasters, so even getting a two-minute segment on tape was something to be treasured. I'll be posting more clips as I get them transferred. I apologize in advance for the horrible quality of the video. A lot of my videotapes are old enough to vote. Local coverage of Iron Wolf's debut in April of 1990.

My response to all questions: I go straight to the forums. Because that's where the coaster pr0n is.

^Awesome. Just awesome. Here I am, setting back U.S.-Germany relations three decades. Maybe four.

^^^The truck was taking I-90/94 (which goes through Milwaukee) all the way from Gurnee out to Idaho.

Amazing to see that Cedar Point had some charm at one time. But then it sold out, made a disco record, and went on expensive coaster-buying binges. It's a shell of its former self.

Great interview, Robb. I love listening to Shapiro talk. He sounds like a "reggalar guy," as they'd say in Chicago, but then he'll drop in some business lingo about advertising "assets." If nothing else, he's candid about the situation the Six Flags parks are in. I'm not too concerned about the cloning issue. I got the impression he meant, "Would you prefer more smaller rides like Tony Hawk and Dark Knight, or just a few big rides at select parks?" I don't think custom rides are by any means dead. Especially as space for new rides gets tighter... it'll get harder to just drop a clone in. I think the best thing he discussed was "striking a balance" between appealing to all the different demographics of park visitors. He's obviously got a keen sense of who's riding everything they put in the park, down to age ranges. I think enthusiasts will have no problem embracing that concept. I only hope that the Six Flags investors understand the "patience" concept.

I'd like to ask him what was behind the decision to refurbish X when the same amount of money could have purchased multiple smaller, higher-capacity rides, paid down company debt, or gone into revitalizing the park (or any SF park) as a whole.

Submitted mine. In the past, I'd done a Top 15 followed by grouped rankings (20s, 30s, 40s, etc.). This year, I was able to refine my list to a Top 25 before going into grouped rankings. Griffon and Expedition Ge-Force made it into my Top 10 this year. My Bottom 10 was rounded out by Iron Wolf, Revolution, and a bunch of mine trains and "Favorite Intamin Bobsled." Ideally, I'd still love to see rankings by steel coaster type. My rankings are heavily biased toward hypers first, followed by B&M inverts and sit-down loopers. After that, it's just a miscellaneous collection of painful Arrow loopers, family rides, and Vekoma boomerangs.

I think it's around this area, at the front of the park. You can see the Alamo-style entrance (right side) and two tram shelters (near the zero-g roll) in the foreground of the construction pictures.

Which park you visit depends on your preference. SeaWorld's got only a few big rides, but it's a beautiful park, it's got good food, and there's plenty of non-coaster stuff to see (penguins, sharks, dolphins, Shamu). Fiesta Texas is the more traditional amusement park, with more rides and shows. Personally, I'm a bigger fan of SeaWorld. A lot of locals still don't even know that SeaWorld has rides, so you don't have the same type of crowds (read: throngs of teens) and lines that you have at Fiesta Texas. But they're both terrific parks. They just offer different things, and they complement each other well. Definitely see the Alamo. It doesn't take too long, even if you do the tour. If you want to avoid crowds at the Riverwalk, go during the day, or go during early evening or late at night. You really can't go wrong with any of the restaurants there, although I'd avoid the national chains (Dick's Last Resort, Hard Rock Cafe, Rainforest Cafe), just because you can eat at those places in any city. As mentioned, Casa Rio is excellent. If you want some terrific barbecue, try County Line. And two great places to get a drink are Jim Cullum's Landing (jazz bar), which is right next to Mad Dogs, which has a British-pub theme. You can also visit the San Antonio missions: http://www.nps.gov/saan/. And northeast of town, you can visit New Braunfels and Gruene (locally pronounced like "green"). They've got cute downtown areas with shops and antiques, and they have a lot of bed and breakfast type places. And if you're into live music, Austin's a little over an hour's drive northeast of San Antonio. There's more music there than you can shake a stick at.

I just logged in to say UNREAL! Terrific find, Shane. That is just all sorts of awesome piled on top of awesome. Funny, but totally uninteresting story. Around the time I was 12 (1989), my friend and I did a science fair project on "The Physics of Roller Coasters," complete with a Spacewarp display. I was really interested in suspended rides because I fully expected my home park, SFGAm, to be getting one eventually. I even drew up some designs, thinking it would fit in nicely between Shockwave and Roaring Rapids (then Whitewater Rampage). And even with my basic knowledge of physics at the time, it seemed a logical progression to me that a suspended ride could have corkscrews. I understood that having free-swinging cars kind of ruled out vertical loops, but the corkscrew seemed entirely feasible. Go figure Arrow was *this* close to nailing down the concept that brought B&M to prominence in the decades to come.

If peeing your pants is cool, then I'm Miles Davis.

^ Before 1991, Cedar Point had a measly, what, 9 coasters? Great stuff, Shane. I've seen so few Laser Loop pictures. Also nice to see where the ride was compared to where Steel Phantom/Phantom's Revenge is now.

That video is full of win. Thanks for posting it! Ah, 1992... the year Arrow jumped the shark.

Awesome. Just plain awesome. Keep it coming, montezooma!

The bottom of that butterfly element is like being stuffed into a mailbox that gets hit by a dump truck. I'm pretty sure I got concussed on Mean Streak in 1998. Had one bad ride, then I thought I'd try it again to see if the ride could redeem itself. And it repaid my second chance by smashing my back against the seat and jackhammering so hard that snot flew out of my nose. If the lap bar hadn't been holding me in, I would have jumped out at the MCBR. It left me with a bruised back and a lingering four-day headache. Oh, and every ride I've ever taken on the Rattler.

I was going to say, does anyone remember the old Sherwin Williams commercial where they showed a guy painting the first hill of Screamin' Eagle? Sure enough, I went to Sherwin Williams' website, and I found this page that talks about contracting with Baynum Painting to paint roller coasters: http://www2.sherwin-williams.com/im/cs/cs-summer2006/default.asp Full circle.

The problem with that blanket statement is that it assumes people rank strictly according to single attributes. I'm a Voyage #1, El Toro #2 guy. Ejector airtime is my favorite attribute, followed by floating airtime. El Toro provides ejector air in spades, but that's pretty much all there is to the ride. Voyage has tunnels, insane laterals, the trip out into the woods... it gets my #1 because I enjoyed the whole ride experience more than El Toro. You can't capture that stuff in just those six attributes. Certainly, there's a lot of gray area in the voting. How many people vote The Beast or The Cyclone highly simply because of nostalgia? And how many people (like me) haven't ridden some of these rides in years and still hand out high ratings to rides like The Boss (or Ghostrider) because it was enjoyable two weeks after it opened, despite the fact that those riding it now would disagree. That's why the most meaningful part of the poll to me is the data collected on rides ridden this year. It provides a good snapshot of what's currently running well versus what's an all-time favorite. It's all useful info if you take it for what it is. After all, we're not electing the "Best Coaster Ever ZOMG!!11!1" to preside over all coasters for eternity. It's just an opinion poll.

Great pics! I too experienced what I would call "neck-banging" on KD's Shockwave. For some reason, I still loved that ride. It's either due to the Stockholm Syndrome or brain damage. BGE is just awesome in the fall, especially at night during Howl-O-Scream.

Word. Stayed there in '03. I'm pretty sure my room was a renovated janitor's closet. Very tiny and dank. The metal stairs leading up to the second floor were rusting away to nothingness. They were actually freshly painted during my stay, despite the fact there were gaping holes in the steps. And I could hear guests running around and screaming all night. Awful. At least I only paid $36/night. Also awful: the Red Roof on Capitol Landing Rd. in Williamsburg. Just stayed there in August. Place was a dump. Toilet didn't work. Got the staff to come up to fix the toilet, and they refused to acknowledge the toilet wouldn't flush. I then asked them why the paper wasn't going away. All for $95/night. And I stayed at an EconoLodge in Dayton, NJ, on the way to SFGAdv back in '05. I feared for my life there.

Huzzah! Dead topic revival! Actually, I just got to ride El Toro at the end of August, and now I can actually weigh in on the El Toro vs. Voyage debate. Well... El Toro '07 vs. Voyage '06, anyway. Here's my take: Airtime: Toro's is insane and sustained. But it's almost too much. I likes my ejector air, but it's a little repetitive, like Apollo's Chariot. The Voyage doesn't have quite the same intensity of air, nor the duration, but the sum total and the variety of air makes up for it. Advantage: Voyage Laterals: Toro's hop into the infield isn't enough to overcome the insanity of Voyage's several direction changes. Advantage: Voyage Speed: Toro is good, but the hills bleed the speed off quickly. Voyage starts strong, then keeps the speed up throughout. Advantage: Voyage Intangibles: Toro is terrifically smooth. Voyage feels like a wooden coaster should feel. Toro's scenery is lacking. Voyage goes out into the woods and tears through some tunnels. Toro has two distinct parts: airtime, then fast turns. Voyage keeps changing throughout the ride. Advantage: Voyage It looks like a blowout, but El Toro's still a solid #2 in my book. It's just that Voyage does so much more and leaves me more satisfied. It's an experience. But who knows how Voyage will hold up in 10 years. Its glory could be fleeting, and El Toro could be as strong as ever. Just do yourself a favor and go ride both. You can't lose.

Outstanding pictures!

KI's Vortex. Also receiving votes: SFGAm's Demon, Anaconda, Big Bad Wolf Even though they possibly contributed to some brain damage, I still have love for the old Arrow loopers. They just looked intimidating because of the style of track and supports.

Part three. That guy in the first row of the second car? He gets it. Thanks for reading! Unrelated segue! So close... Timing... just a bit off... Back to a much smoother ride. Fixed the sign. Sadly, the Scream Machine has rendered the front-seat rider fully retarded by this point in the ride. What does that sign say? DEREK!!! Come on, Derek. Where are you? Derek? Duly noted. Yo mama's first drop is so steep... A flagrant violation of the policy. How dare you have fun, sir! The guy in the front is cold chillin'. Medusa's like, "How do you like this?" And the people are all like, "Oh, no you di-int!" 0 G's, but around 30 happy people. Nobody has EVER taken this pic... oh, wait. Never mind.