ansley

We lived in Thailand for 3.5 years from '09-'12, only about 30 minutes from both Dreamland and Siam Park City. Both parks are pretty good. Dreamland is more aimed at kids, but does have some good rides and attractions. We went there several time and really enjoyed it. Admission is VERY cheap, as is the food. They have a KFC on site, as well as other restaurants, and many Thai style food stands where are pretty good and very inexpensive. We had a season pass for Siam Park City the first year we were there, they have a few more bigger rides and a water park. I've seen a few reports on TPR for both places, maybe not too much on Dreamland but I rememeber reading some TRs. I also visited three other parks in Thailand, one in a mall, small but not too bad. The other is in Pattaya, and the last was Wonder Wheel park, or something like that, which we really enjoyed but closed after the floods in Thailand in '11. If anyone has any questions about Thailand amusement parks please let me know! Regards, Ted

Is it actually open for everyone now, or is this a soft opening only? We will be there in about 10 days, so hoping it is open.

I hope it is open soon, we're visiting in about two weeks! I'm excited to re-visit my #1 park! Ted

Steel: Kingda Ka Wood: Son of Beast

It looks amazing! We're headed there in June, can't wait to ride. Totally love Phantasialand, went last summer and had a great time. ... too bad they're closing the Mexican section, I sorta liked that mine ride. Ted

I lived in Thailand from '08 - '12, we went there several times and had a season pass one year! We liked the park, but it does have its warts. Overall a pretty good day and they've made some improvements. They were building the zierer coaster when we left so didn't get to ride it. Here are my highlights, and some lowlignts: highlights - Dark walk through is VERY good, really enjoyed it, scary and very well done. I was hoping to get some good photos and write something for DAFE, but didn't get around to it. - Vekoma SLC is one of the best, probably my 2nd favorite after the big custom one at Flamingoland in the UK. Last season tried to ride the big one, Jubliee Odyssey but was closed both times during our visit. Of the more standard models this one at Siam Park - City is the best. - I didn't think the Boomerang was all that bad, standard one, a bit rough but similar to others. It also had a screen over much of it for shade! - Flume ride is EXCELLENT! Really a wonderful long ride. Reminded me of the now defunct Skull Island at Six Flags America when ti went backwards. - They have some very good flat rides, really enjoyed some of them, kids really loved them. The tagada ride was pretty evil when we went in '09 and '10. It actually hurt my back because it bounced so much! My wife and daughter ended up off the seat too... - The Dinosaur ride, Jungle Cruise type ride, and train ride are pretty cheesy. They're sort of fun, but very cheesy. Dinotopia was also a littel odd, not that great. - Water park is decent but nothing special, a bit rough around the edges. -Food! We had some great food there and it's very cheap by our standards. We had fried chicken over at a place near the drop tower I think. It was amazingly good and cheap! Next visit we ate at big restaurant up near entrance. It was very good as well.... - Monkey Island! Over near the SLC they had a "Monkey Island", was very cool...but runddown. There's lots of monkeys and a few other animals there, taken care by an old guy that I think pretty much lives there. I was pretty cool, but a bit depressing. It is kinda typical Thailand and Southeast Asia in that respect... Low-lights... - Some of the park is a bit rundown, but overall ok. - The water park is a bit rundown but they're improving. The Wave Pool has really small waves.... - Some people mighe consider the little Market like stands all around a minus, we sort of like them...Normal if you're used to Thailand but probably a negative to foreign visitors - The Shuttle loop is just sitting there! I was always hoping it would open, never seen one like it.... I should also mention Dream World, the other major Bangkok Theme park. It is more disney like, the rollercoasters aren't as big but overall a good park. They had a good rapids ride, a good suspended coaster and an indoor coaster called "SPace Mountain"! Plenty of other normal things therer, with some ok theming. It probably is more popular than Siam Park City. There used to be another park but it closed after the floods in '11. I think it was called Wonder Wheel park?, I did get there and ride the very cool two coasters they had. It would be cool if it re-opened. Any questions about those parks, or the Zoos, or Safari World, or other Thai parks then let me know.... Regards, Ted

I think they should build a terrain steel coaster on the side of the hill where the chairlift is located. Think about it, if they got with intamin or another similar manufacturer, they could build a terrain steel coaster ala Boulderdash, but with extreme steel drops and turns through the woods. Sorta a Skyrush on the side of a mountain. By using terrain and never going above the ground too much except for maybe 100 ft to add to a big drop, they could probably do it fairly cheaply. Probably 1/2 the price, it not a greater discount the the current price for a hyper coaster. Problem is a lot of expense would be spent on engineering/footer/placement on the side of a big hill. I can dream? Ted

Don't feel bad, we all started out with only a few! I remember back, long ago, in the early nineties when I only had like 40 coasters. I ride off and on, some years a lot, some years not much. I MUCH older now but I've got about 125 wood coasters and 620 overall, it is a fun hobby. However there are plenty of people out there who have 800, 1000, and even many over 1500!! Just ride for fun, and enjoy your self, doesn't matter how many coaster you've ridden. Your vote sill counts on Mitch's poll!

He must not, since my ballot always gets counted. Yes, I am one of those seemingly rare Voyage fans (2010-era). The layout takes the out-and-back concept to a new and innovative level with all its unusual twists and elements. I personally thought the initial, straightforward airtime hills were a highlight, but like (a much more brutal) El Toro, Voyage doesn't let up until the very end. I wouldn't say "rare" is the right word! Outside of TPR, Voyage clearly seems to be the #1 coaster. For some reason, most of TPR seems to go against the rest of the coaster community when it comes to Voyage. Of course, TPR is so huge, that posters from TPR can easily heavily raise their favorite coasters to the top of the poll. It is always interesting to see what coasters go up and down the poll each year. For me this year's huge surprise was Wodan Timbur Coaster at Europa, it was simiply incredible, easily a top 10 coaster and much better then I had expected. I would say the real disappointments the last year or two were the new Mammut (new to me), very tame, and less recently would be Wildcat at Hersheypark which has dropped steadily on my list over the last 10 years. Gone is the airtime that it once had, and it has no redeeming steep drops to make up for more gentle hills. Still, a few good moments but nothing like it was in the beginning. I got some pretty good rides on Great White in NJ though, but that was in '12. Also, Grand National at Blackpool was wicked, in a good way, this past September! Ted

Here are my current top 45 wood coasters, don't want to waste space with all 120 or so. Also, some of these won't be on the poll because they are gone.... Some I haven't ridden in 5-10 years, but I do have quite a few new credits in the UK and Europe this year! 1 The Voyage 2 Ravine Flyer II 3 Shivering Timbers 4 Boulderdash 5 Tonnere de Zeus 6 Hades 7 Fireball 8 Wodan Timbur Coaster 9 Thunderhead 10 Ghostrider Favorite Steel Ex. GeForce 11 Colossos (Heide Park) 12 El Toro 13 Legend 14 Rampage 15 Troy 16 Hellcat (Avalanche in Wisconsin) 17 Georgia Cyclone 18 Comet (GE) 19 Raven 20 Phoenix 21 Joris en de Draak: Vuur 22 Joris en de Draak: Water 23 Grand National 24 El Toro (Freizeitpark Plohn) 25 Texas Giant (old) 26 Villain 27 The Boss 28 Hell Cat (Tsunami) 29 Screechin’ Eagle 30 Kentucky Rumbler 31 Cornball Express 32 Big Dipper (Blackpool) 33 Twister (Knoebels) 34 Cyclone (Coney Island) 35 Cheetah 36 Cyclone (Riverside) 37 Excalibur 38 Lightning Racer 39 Wild One 40 La Montana Rusa 41 Viper (SFGAm) 42 Thunderbolt (Kw) 43 Zeus 44 Screamin’ Eagle 45 Big Dipper (GL)

I always liked KK and SFKK. Went on numerous occasions from mid -90's until about 2005 or so. I always had a good time, never hit a really busy day, and enjoyed the coasters and rides they had. I had some very good rides on Thunder Run, off and on, and I really liked Twisted Twins too! Of course Chang was great, and later the Wild Mouse and Greased Lightinin' were cool. I rode quite a few other rides there as well, took my daughter there when she was younger and we had a great day. I would love to see them re-open and get all the exsisting rides back up and running, and look forward to any new additions! Ted

Ditto, the park was great! We loved the Hex thing in the castle, was absolutely brilliantly executed! We walked through the gardens, did some smaller rides for my kids. The log flume was very long and fun! Overall a truly great day at a wonderful theme park. Can't wait to get back and ride the Smiler and a few other things we missed.

Finally made our first trip to Alton Towers last Monday, after hearing so much about the park for about 20 years now! I really liked the park, but the coasters were all a bit underwhelming, yes, even Nemesis. I've heard so much about Nemesis since it opened, how great of an inverted it is, and despite it's size and age how it still tops many enthusiasts inverted coaster list and it in many top ten lists. I thought Nemesis was good, really had no idea where I was going,but really honestly felt no better or more intense then most of my favorite B&M inverteds. It is short, like Batman, with no really good drop. It is all about the trenches and theming. A really fun ride, but not even near my top ten steel coasters. I think that OzIris at Parc Asterix last month was clearly better. I think the two coasters I came way really liking were Air and Sonic Pinball! Air was a really fun flying coaster with all the close to ground elements. Not super thrilling, but very well done package and a truly fun coaster. Sonic Spinball was the big surprise. I think I've only been on two of that type of spinning mouse, made by Maurer - Sohne. It was really fun and seriously intense. The G forces in the helix were extreme, was a very long ride with some great twists and turns. Easily the best mouse type coaster I've ever ridden! The park is nice, and seriously large with lots of walking. Had a great time, will be since we have Merlin Annual Passes. Didn't get everything in for the kids, will return and hit everything else later this summer. We only live about 115 miles away so can't wait to head down for a quick day trip! Also, the Smiler was closed which was a big disappointment since originally we thought it would be open. It does look quite cool though, can't wait to ride it! Ted

Din Tae Fung is awesome! One opened in Bangkok a couple of years ago. It is awesome. The NY times has rated it as one of the top ten restaurants in the entire world, no joke! We though Universal Singapore was a great park...

Ok, after reading about half of this entire thread.....couldn't get through the entire thing with all the nastiness in here, I was a bit shocked at how Starjet at Casino Pier is being dismissed. I've always considered it one of the best smaller coasters I've ever ridden, as did many other enthusiasts I know on the east coast! It was a REALLY fun ride with some good air time, far better than just about every other 40-50 foot coaster I've ridden. I'm a bit shocked at how people are just like...they're rebuild, no big loss..etc. Casino Pier is (was?) a great pier! Both the Star Jet and Miler mouse coaster there were really quite fun, as was the dark ride and some of the flats. We loved going there, been there several times had a blast in Seaside every time. Also enjoyed visiting Funtown Pier, while IMHO not as good as Casino Pier still a fun seaside pier. I'm truly going to miss the coasters and the piers, they will never be the same again no matter what gets rebuilt, or doesn't get rebuilt. I would think that just about ANY catastrophe to any park would be lamented by park and coaster enthusiasts. I guess I'm wrong on that, but I personally can't think of one park that has closed that I had visited, that I didn't wish was still there!

Re: Fireball Rode it about 15 months ago and thought it was great! Was very fast with great airtime, good layout, and good drops. Definitely a top tier woodie for me. Landed around 5 on my woodie list based soley on 3 daytime rides all towards the back of the train. Would LOVE to ride it during a light night ERT session, would probably jump up a few notches. I hope you all got some rides late in the day!

We are going to BGW tomorrow, Tuesday July 31. I hope the T-storms will stay away...

Fahrenheit at Hersheypark, one week ago tonight! It was a GREAT last ride for our trip to Hersheypark.

When we were here last week, on Tues/Wed, I'd say 60% of the people coming off looked happy to very happy, maybe 10% or less unhappy, and the rest just sort of "there". I saw a few complaints about thighs, but not that many. I agree, a totally GREAT ride, I loved it despite some thigh pain. We rode towards back of the train every ride, the first drop was amongst the best ever!

Skyrush is not rough at all! On the contrary, the ride is very smooth. The only problem, for some, is the extreme airtime that presses you against the lap bar over every hill.

About modifying Skyrush.... I could easily see Hersheypark trimming Skyrush, it is a family park after all and not known for thrills as extreme as Skyrush. Plus, it is a short ride so slowing probably won't prevent it from making it through the course to he final brake run. If they don't change the restraints, or even if they do, I predict a trim brake somewhere at the bottom of the first drop or at the rise to the 2nd hill. As much as I'd hate to see it, and I hope I'm wrong, I think it might become reality. I305 got modified several times, so I wounldn't be surprised if Skyrush did as well.

I pretty much agree, Skyrush will probably be somwhere between 2 and 4 for me. I305 is about 4 for me now. Voyage is also my undisputed number 1 wood, and still easily my number 1 overall.

I wrote this on another Forum in response to someone who suggested OSTR would be better on Skyrush... thought I'd post this on here with new thoughts on Skyrush. Trust me, you don't want OSTR on this coaster! They suck, this is the reason that I305 isn't that great. Plus, the transitions have nothing to do with any pain on Skyrush, it is ALL about the negative G's on the tops of the hills. With OTSR it would only be much worse. Having the freedom of movement on this coaster is awesome, and totally enhances the openness of the ride and the winged seats. We rode again today, I rode right winged seat 2nd to last row. It was awesome, and yes it hurt some but still ridable. My neice and son had no problems whatsoever, my daughter did complain though. I'll tell you my theory a bit on this ride though. I noticed people coming off on both our rides today and yeasterday. I had some pain, I'm overweight and the upward force on my legs is worse consider the extra weight I carry. I did hold on and pull down over every hill and it was not bad at all. My daughter is also overweight, she experienced quite a bit of thigh pain. The other lady I saw come off the train today complaining loudly was also quite overweight. My son is super thin and my neice is in pretty good shape too. I think those of us that are overweight exert a great more upward force on the bars with the extra weight we have which makes much more thigh pain. However, if you ride defensively or hold on tight it is greatly reduced. So, the least pain would come from thin people in good shape who hold on tight on the bars, and the worst pain would come form overweight people who do not. I did not hold on during a couple of hills and I did have some pain, but when I hold on tight it is greatly reduced. I would suspect that much of the GP would hold on tight and thus the thigh pain is not as big as deal amongst most of the GP. Just my observations today. I still firmly think Skyrush is one of the finest coasters ever built. I honestly love the train design and the restraint design with the overhead lap restraints execpt for one thing. The pad is sort of at an angle when it comes down. If they made the pad more triangle shaped at the bottom so 2-3 inches came straight over then up to the rest of the restraint it would probably improve the restraints. Other than that, I would not change one thing. Oh one other thing, my wife rode today, she does NOT like rough or painful coasters. She came off really liking it and had minimal thigh pain. She LOVED it. She said it was a bit uncomfortable but she'd ride again in a heartbeat. BTW, she's lost about 60 lbs in the last several years so I think that helped her. A few more comments. I do agree with others that Skyrush is a bit different then other coasters I've ridden, and I've ridden a bunch but not like 1000 like some people, at at just about 500. I would compare Skyrush's airtime on the hills like the best air on some other great coasters. Like the best hills on El toro, or the most extreme hills on Bizarro SFNE, the 3rd hill on SFA's Superman, or the extreme air on Magnum in row 3 towards the end of the ride. The forces on Skyrush however, seem pretty extreme on every hill! Also, I think after riding again today, during the day in a winged seat, and last night too, that Skyrush might have the single best first drop I've experienced, it is wickedly good! I really would love to get an ERT on it, assuming I could keep the energy up to hold myself on the hills to make it through many multiple rides. It is extreme coastering at its best! I suggest everyone go check it out, it is well worth the trip. I probably won't become my number 1, mainly because it is a bit short. If it was another 1500 or 2000 ft longer then it would be incredible...I'd think.

Ok, so we, the family and I, made our way to Knoebels and Hershey today. Knoebels was great as usual, but later in the day 3 kids and I (one is my niece) made it to Hershey for the "preview" at about 8 PM. Line for Skyrush was 1 hour, with one train running. The employee at the line apologized for one train and suggested we return tomorrow at about 2 pm. We hit Great Bear, then Farenheit then returned to Skyrush for about a 40 min wait with one train. The line was actually moving ok, surprisingly. I do like the look of the coaster, standing under it at that huge support is very cool. Once I got a look at the train I was impressed. The seats look very B&Mish, with large restraints that come down. I looked at them but they didn't seem to have one point that hits your thighs. I rode 2nd to last rode inside seat right. My daughter rode outside right, son inside left, and niece outside left. For some background. I've ridden about 500 coasters over the last 20 years, about 5 Intamin hyper coasters but not Ex. Gforce nor a megalite. I do love Intamin Hypers, they hold 3 of my top 5 steel. I'm 47 years old, and definitely now very overweight. My kids are 14 and 9, niece is 14 as well. I do like intense coasters, my daughter has a large track record, maybe 300. My son and niece do not, they are more like GP. Ok, bottom line.....Skyrush is super intense, first drop might be the best I've been on!. We rode at about 10:05PM, it was blur with two very strong pulls in the 2nd to back row. My bar actaully had some space which scared me a bit on the drop, I've not felt like that since some loose lap bars on some classic woodies years ago, like GA Cyclone or original Riverside Cyclone drop. My son was stapled, I did it, and he was complaining about it before the ride. However, he is VERY skinny and only about 55 inches tall and with the reputation of this ride I wanted his bar down! The negative forces on other hills is extreme. As good as the 3rd hill on the Superman at SFA, but stronger...much like the best hills on Bizzaro at SFNE or El Toro. I did get some pain in the thighs, but I don't think any more than the 3rd row of Magnum when it is running well. Overall, not really bad, but I did hold on VERY tight and lift up hard on the bar when I hit the top of the hills after the first one. I really enjoyed the ride, it is truly great but too short! I'm not sure I would put it up at #1 after one ride, mainly because it is too short. I will get more rides tomorrow, it certainly is an interesting coaster. I also want to try the outside seats and back row and towards the front. It most likely will be in my top 3 or 4 steel coasters and IMHO is easily better than I305 and M. Force. Maybe not better than Bizzaro or SRoS at SFA but close. Again, I like longer coasters and it is just too short. My niece loved it, said it didn't hurt her. My son loved it, he complained some about me stapling him, but he really wants to ride it again. My daughter on the other hand came off disoriented and in a daze, and said it hurt her thighs quite a bit and I don't think she wants to ride again. So, some differing opinions there. She rode on right outside seat, but I was next to her. She can be a bit of a drama queen sometimes though. Maybe some restraint mods will help the intensity on the thighs, but honestly not sure it will help that much with such strong negative Gs. YMMV. Ted

For wood, Lightning Racer and for steel Gemini. I think they are both very good, I like Gemini for a couple of the great airtime drops but overall experience goes to Lightning Racer!