Big Mike

Hello Valuable Big Mike Readers!! Today, The Mighty Big Man takes you as far down south as you can get before you cross the border into Mexico! Western Playland is the place, the park is in New Mexico, but you can actually see Texas and the Mexico border from the top of the roller coaster! Big Mike caught this park at night during his World Tour, so some of the pictures may be lacking. Hope you enjoy it anyway! Peace, Big Mike Western Playland! Prices. Park map. Even in the dead of August, it is still not open very much. El Bandido! Overview. Cars. Seems like no one famous comes down to these parts as Big Mike has a fan club behind him! Who needs seat belts that click and lock anyway? Lift. Top view. Coaster credit #889 for Big Mike! Big Mike decides to award the fans with a Valuable Big Mike Reader pin! Miner Coaster. Overview. Train. Lift. Everything came out blurry but Big Mike's million dollar smile! Coaster Credit #890 for The Big Man! Size comparison of the coasters. Games section. Lets see if anyone is actually reading my comments? Post something about "Megan looks great in that bikini" after you read this. Change up the line with super, hot, ect and describe the bikini, and there will be a randomly drawn winner for the newest Big Mike token of appreciation given to the winner! Lets see how many people go back and look for it lol. Thanks for playing! Other rides at Western Playland: Round Up. Pharaoh's Fury. Auto Skooters. Himalaya. Yo Yo. Tilt-A-Whirl. Drop Zone. W.P Express. Paratrooper. Flying Skooters. Scrambler. Sky Glider. Boat ride for which I missed the sign. Now that the ducky games are ending, I bet someone could use a Mikestery Card right about now! Big Mike will give another hiding spot away in 3, 2, 1... ... Bam! Thanks to Randy and Western Playland for letting The Big Mike Road Show roll into town and enjoy the park! Hope you enjoyed! Peace, Big Mike

Hello Fantastic Friends and Valuable Big Mike Readers!! Today on The Big Mike Road Show we check out a place that Big Mike visited while picking up those two remote coasters out in Montana and South Dakota, Crazy Horse!! Crazy Horse is a monument from the Native Americans to go along with Mount Rushmore, which is not too far away at all. This is kind of off the beaten path, so the Big Mike Road Show will bring it closer, like right to your computer screen so you can check it out! Hope you enjoy! Peace, Big Mike Crazy Horse, with special guest star Mom! Info on Crazy Horse. "The Red man has great heroes too!" Drawing of what it looks like now and the sketch of what it will look like finished. Crazy Horse even has its own post office. Wonder if this is one of the ones they are closing down due to cutbacks? Nature Gates that enter the park. The gate is filled with an assortment of animals. Big Mike's first view of Crazy Horse! Here is a scale model and the real Crazy Horse behind it. Still pretty far away for Big Mike's liking, so we take the bus tour to get closer! See the bus?? I got stuck sitting next to Mom instead of with the cool kids at the back of the bus. The bus tour also came with a tour guide who told us all about Crazy Horse. Big Mike and Crazy Horse! You can see markings on the mountain that still need to be carved. Close up on the well designed face. Early devices to help with work on the mountain. You also need power up on the mountain, that is where Kaput came in handy. For a small donation, you could take a rock from Crazy Horse Mountain home with you! Hopefully Big Mike can come back and see the finished project if it is ever completed sometime in his lifetime. Thanks for checking out Crazy Horse with The Big Mike Road Show! Hope you enjoyed! Peace, Big Mike and Mommy Big Mike

Thanks for the "I am a Valuable Big Mike Reader" shout out on your arm, was fun to see! Still love the way you do those pictures that move! There were a lot of double pictures on my end when I read it though??? Peace, Big Mike

Hello Valuable Big Mike Readers!!! Can you believe it??? I don't know what is more amazing, that The Big Mike Road Show has already put up 45 brand new episodes in 2012, or that this is the FINAL Find the Ducky game of this season??? Big Mike is SO excited to give away a free one week condo stay to a Valuable Big Mike Reader very soon!! Remember, after this last Find the Ducky Game, there will be one wild card game for anyone who just came up short only completing 3 challenges, so don't give up! Anyone on the bubble with only 2 ducky wins so far NEEDS to come up big on this game!!! Also, the 1st place Find the Ducky automatic free challenge award has been clinched by STR8XXXINEDGE, but he has already won all 4 challenges and does not need to use it! Today's Big Mike Road Show episode comes to you from Myrtle Beach South Carolina and the currently defunct park Freestyle Music Park! This park opened as Hard Rock Park for the 1st year and then closed, and Big Mike missed out on the credits! The park then re-opened for another year before closing again, but this time, Big Mike nailed the credits!!! There is talk that it has been bought and maybe will re-open a 3rd time, so here is what you can look forward to! This past Round #14 Find the Ducky results were 3 duckies!!! Brian once again circled all 3 correct answers! He is on a roll!!! Here are last weeks winners: Brandy524, High Roller, RAWKIN_coaster38, gisco, Arosonia, ahecht, and STR8XXXINEDGE! CURRENT FIND THE DUCKY STANDINGS: (After 14th round of 15) 1ST PLACE WITH SEVEN WINS: QUALIFIED!!! STR8FXXXINEDGE 2ND PLACE WITH FIVE WINS: QUALIFIED!!! robinschroder arosania 3RD PLACE WITH FOUR WINS: QUALIFIED!!! picknyourseat traincrossin coreysjunk The Bebes rolercstrluvr 4TH PLACE WITH THREE WINS: QUALIFIED!!! SuperShawn Reality15 bottom_feeder_13 adamico2 Brandy524 RAWKIN_coaster38 ahecht 5TH PLACE WITH TWO WINS: (NEED A WIN THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!!) depotrat Chiquita Loquita Bryce232 Yeti762 X2coasterfreak esvadj Buckeye_Ben GriffyTiffy donkeyman18 gisco High Roller 6TH PLACE WITH 1 WIN: The SETCO Guys Lenaapple1974 kezrez11 bhartley Emiroo Coaster Palooza mmousefan lisadancer megamatt hansrubens themeparkguy27 coasterdude28 Iggyskid Groteslurf sccoasterfan disneymoc LJGoBlue jbarner14 ILoveRides Hikaru-chan King of Ka spaceace12 ohiocoasters Mataceman jray21 broomy mush619 jason10 1pizza14 imagenius128 Delfay sre Guy T. Koepp triggernel BeemerBoy The49er QueerRudie Porsmond RoCo nrs2420 sspaz1000 I hope you enjoy Freestyle Music Park in Myrtle Beach South Carolina!!! Peace, Big Mike Here is the ducky that everyone should be looking for in this update! Remember, this picture does not count towards your total and don't give away the hiding places! Arriving to the park, it does not look like the parking lot has been used in a while with this grass growing on it. Nice, does not look crowded at all! Freestyle Music Park! Prices! I can see why it is not crowded now, who wants to bring their kids with a $65 kids price??? Thank goodness Big Mike is an adult rate. I could even get a nice and cheap season pass! Free flags!! Very patriotic park. This guitar is the centerpiece of the park. Details on the 70 foot tall Les Paul. A nice big lake in the middle of the park. Time Machine! Coaster #909 for The Big Man! You can enter whatever decade of rock music that you want, today with no lines Trains and an odd shaped station. It's an odd shape because this was the old Led Zeppelin ride. Overview. Here are the big elements of the coaster: Lift. Into first loop. Cobra roll. Loop. Transition. Finish. Soakd! Coaster #910 for Big Mike! Seats. Overview. Water elements. There is no chance of not getting wet. Riding in the back seat gets less wet through these! Elevator lift. The ride in action. Hang Ten! Cute. Overview. Train. Lift. Coaster #911 for The Mighty Big Man! Iron Horse! Overview. Side view. Trains with speakers. Lift. This girl was waving her flag, wonder what Big Mike should do with his flag? The Big Man will save his flag for later and just enjoy the ride. The conclusion of the ride comes complete with fire. Coaster credit #912 for Big Mike! Round About! Overview. The Big Mike Crotch Cam shows that there are speakers on this ride too! Your car rolls into this ferris wheel type lift. The car is loaded and then spun to the top. The car is then dropped down the first hill. The look from the top. View from the ferris wheel lift. Twists and turns. Car wash. The water sprayers. Big Mike gets all the credits at the park, including this one, #913! Big Mike meets up with another Valuable Big Mike Reader, sccoasterfan! sccoasterfan gives Big Mike a tour of the fun things to do and other rides of the park. Big Mike crossing Abbey Road. Big Mike surfing. Texas Swing. Big Mike took an air guitar and jammed for all the fans in attendance! Rock legends area. Bricks with names on them. Big Mike leaves his flag next to Bon Scott, lead singer of Big Mike's favorite band, AC/DC! Parade time! Disney has floats, Freestyle has motor cycles. The best part about this parade with this hot babe bee lining straight to Big Mike and jumping his bones! A table set up on the parade route. Big Mike supports the troops by buying a ducky. The Missing Man Table story. There is a seat for each branch of the military. Splash Bath. If you don't get wet on the Splash Bath, you can get wet under the fountains. Monsters of Rock The Ride. Grunge Station. Rock Climbing. Ropes Course. Get off my Cloud. Fly Like an Eagle. Doo Wop Dune Buggies. Wheels in the Sky. Big Ol' Trucks. Adrenaline Rush Show. sccoasterfan checks off South Carolina on the Official Big Mike Road Show World Tour T-Shirt! He was so excited to Meet Big Mike that he wanted to get a Big Mike Road Show tattoo! That is the end of the day, time to bring the flag down. Big Mike thoroughly enjoyed his time at Freestyle Music Park and really hopes that it opens up again sometime soon, especially since I have Megan nagging me that she still needs those credits! LOL As Big Mike was leaving, he notices a UPS in eye sight to the park and if it does open again, Big Mike may transfer. Big Mike drives a LONG way to his condo club, which just happens to be one of his home properties. That 2 minute ride just seemed to fly by! Big Mike LOVES seeing coasters from his condo places! Hope you enjoyed and nailed that ducky guess so you can stay at one of Big Mike's condos too! Peace, Big Mike

Yay!!! More entries into the Super Epic contest!!! Finally, some more people who want to win a free season pass!!! Can't believe the TPR membership makes sooooooo much money that they don't need a free season pass from the Mighty Big Man???? Anyway, there is only 1 slight problem we have to sort out! There were only 2 rules to participate, one of them is that once someone takes a picture at a park, everyone else cannot use that park anymore. So, you guys have to go out again and find a new park together Still lots of time to do so, so no worries! Now, the hard part, you guys have to talk to each other and find out who gets to use Fun World????? Thanks for playing, and I can use that picture on my front page for our ducky guesses too, so it is a double win! Let me know who wants this entry and I look forward to another picture! Peace, Big Mike

This round of Find the Ducky is now closed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You can now display all the hiding places!! Peace, Big Mike

Hello Valuable Big Mike Readers!!! Another full week of daily updates are in the book! Wow, we continue to impress with Big Mike Productions dedication to keeping everyone entertained, and also bringing you coaster moments like the one we have today! Not many people can claim this coaster on their coaster count, and Big Mike could not either, even though living less than an hour away. The Mighty Big Man "Travels the World Riding Roller Coasters", but there have only been 12 coasters throughout the whole World Tour that have denied Big Mike a ride. Well to be honest, there have been a whole lot more, but that is when Big Mike breaks out the Big Mike Charm, and usually it always works! This coaster at Rye Playland, The Kiddie Coaster, has been on the denied list for a long time! Funny thing is though, if The Big Mike Charm is not at full energy one day, Big Mike is always going to swing by that part of the country sooner or later again, and The Mighty Big Man always has a target on his denied coasters! The Big Man continues year after year to knock his remaining coasters left number in the USA down every single season, Big Mike knows where every single remaining coaster is, whether it is a kiddie coaster, alpine coaster, water coaster, powered coaster, ANY coaster! Some people ask Big Mike why not go for just the regular coasters that most people do, and to Big Mike, he wants it all!!! You can't be known as a Master Coaster Collector if you don't collect the small coasters at the tiny parks...as they have some of the best charm and uniqueness of them all! Next Friday, Big Mike will debut his BRAND NEW 2012 ROLLER COASTER STAT SHEET!!! This is every coaster Big Mike has ridden, every coaster in the USA left to ride, every park in the USA that has a coaster that Big Mike has not visited yet too! Until then, please enjoy Big Mike claiming and collecting another rare coaster credit! Hope you enjoy! Peace, Big Mike Rye Playland! The Kiddie Coaster!!! Big Mike has visited Rye at least a half dozen times, with no success at riding the Kiddie Coaster. The Kiddie Coaster is one of 12 coasters in the USA that Big Mike has been denied to ride. This is the reason, they are very strict on the height limit! Overview. Here is what the Kiddie Coaster usually looks like, filled with kids only. Here is what the Kiddie Coaster looks like today from the same exact angle, filled with Big Mike!!! Away the Big Man goes, climbing up the lift! The Big Man in full joy mode after collecting another kids only credit! You can dodge and hide from the Big Man as much as you want, sooner or later, The Big Man is coming to collect! Take another coaster off the list!! Hope you enjoyed! Peace, Big Mike

Hello Valuable Big Mike Readers!!!! Still just rolling along producing mass amounts of trip reports for TPR! This time we have a few TPR members in the episode too, Big Mike loves when that happens! This episode comes to you from the Brooklyn Bridge, somewhat near Coney Island, or at least in the same borough! Big Mike welcomes Fran (Fran1962) and Shawn (packfanlv) as guest stars today! Also, yesterdays Power Ball number came out "12", so congrats go out to The Bebes for winning a limited edition Big Mike Road Show World Tour Shirt just for wishing Lucky Dog a happy birthday!!! Hope everyone enjoys The Brooklyn Bridge! Peace, Big Mike Brooklyn Bridge! The neat thing is that you can walk across! Look at all this wire work. Brooklyn Bridge plaque. The Manhattan Bridge right next door. Statue of Liberty not too far away either. Looks nice. Still only half way across! We have made it, welcome to Brooklyn! Big Mike uttered the word "fugetaboudit" as soon as he got off the bridge. Brooklyn Bridge Park! Yay, a carousel is coming soon! Park map. Nice to have a park under a bridge. Big Mike! Brooklyn Bridge looks broken, so they taped it up. Big Mike goes down to the water to see if any dead bodies are floating by. Fran and Shawn! George Washington was here, and now, so has Big Mike! Great views of the city from the other side of the bridge. A nice place to rest and relax! Big Mike enjoyed the Brooklyn Bridge, as it was his 1st time there. Thanks Shawn and Fran, good times! Hope everyone enjoyed! Peace, Big Mike

Dude, I don't know where to begin! I don't get much of a chance to read a lot of reports on TPR, especially whole threads by people, but I just had the best time going back to page 1 and reading everything you put up so far! It was a total joy and brought back tons of great memories! First off, congrats on the great car, looks snazzy! I see so many similarities between us, it's uncanny! You remind me of a younger me, and it is funny to see all the places you have been, all those little rinky dink places that I have been to and thought no one else would visit, but alas, you have! I used to have a nice, gold convertible and took pictures of it in front of things too, and I have been to every place you posted so far with exception to the 1 Canada park and the Brookhaven Exchange, which was originally what caught my eye since it is one of the last 27 places in the whole USA that I still need to visit that has coasters. I did not know it was only open 1 week a year, I thought I had gone to all the places like that, guess I have to do more planning now! A little jealous that you got the Sir Goonies credit, I am 0 for 3 on it and it is my most rejected coaster so far. The last time I went they said it was done, but still just sitting there. I did not know you had to be 12 or under to ride at Birthday World either, I just walked in and they let me ride after telling them what The Big Mike Road Show was all about. Kind of got a giggle when you said you were denied at Rt 66 Carousel Park too, one of the 14 coasters in the whole USA that I got denied on too! Well just wanted to say hello and tell you that I enjoyed all your efforts and reports, wish you much luck and fun in the future, and from one Big Mike to another Mikey, I am subscribing to this thread right away to keep up with your adventures! Peace, Big Mike

Hello Valuable Big Mike Readers!!! Welcome to another episode of The Big Mike Road Show!!! Since it is Wednesday and we always put up a smaller park on that day, here is a park from Japan named Wonder Rakutenchi! This was a great little park, had a little of everything, and Big Mike will show you the highlights, especially Big Mike's favorite, the Duck Races!!! *Big Mike threw a surprise contest in one of his episodes last week for one of the few remaining and very rare Official Big Mike Road Show T-Shirts, and you had to read the paragraphs to find it. Anyone who wished Lucky Dog a Happy Birthday would be entered into a random drawing. The following people entered and have superb odds of winning the T-Shirt, which will be randomly drawn by tonight's red Powerball! sspaz1000 - Red Powerballs 1-11 The Bebes - Red Powerballs 12-22 robinschroder - Red Powerballs 23-33 Everyone got an even amount of balls, so if 34 or 35 comes out, the house wins lol. Best of luck! Hope you enjoy Rakutenchi and the Duck Races! Peace, Big Mike Wonder Rakutenchi! Take my word for it, that's what it says See, Raketenchi! The park is up on a mountain, so you need to take Kitty Cat to the top. Of course, you take Kitty Cat back down too when it is time. The cable car path and how high it brought us. Park Map. Jet Coaster! The coaster is so big we need two pictures to fit it. The right side of the coaster. The left side of the coaster. You are taking the lift hill into the clouds. The Duck Races!!!!! Each duck has a colored neck band, and you bet on the color you want. After you bet, they are let go from the starting gate and the first duck to cross the finish line is the winner! If you win like of course The Mighty Big Man did, you can choose a prize! Bubble machine located in the park. There is a huge suspension bridge here too to get to the other side of the park. I hope this picture or my video did it justice. Wow, we are really high up! Nice view from the bridge. Double Ferris Wheel. Not only does it spin, it rotates too! Way up in the sky! What a great view from the top! There are also some animals on display: Wow, Big Mike really nailed this picture!! There is no way this picture could be better, unless.... .... Big Mike was in it also!! Hope you enjoyed!!! How many duckies did you find??? (Oh, those were real duckies this time and not a contest, sorry!) Peace, Big Mike

Hello Big Mike Valuable Readers!!! Today we have some video from an Alpine Slide in the Bavarian Alps of Germany! If you are ever at Octoberfest in Munich Germany, this is a nice side tour, especially since it is right next door to Castle Neuschwanstein, which all the Valuable Big Mike Readers will see somewhere down the road on The Big Mike Road Show! Everyone will be amazed at how fast Big Mike is going, all the while still taping and commentating the whole way down! One day Big Mike will have the production staff here find all the videos on You Tube and time every person's video, and Big Mike is sure he will come out on top! ***NEWLY UPDATED!!!!! Big Mike just couldn't sleep, had to go on You Tube and watch EVERY video on this alpine slide, and here are the time results!!! ALL YOU TUBES VIDEOS FROM TOP TO TAPE: Big Mike - 1:05.9 Cobb2000 - 1:10.6 (This guy rode laying down, thought he could have beat me, but didn't!!!) Ran Arcade - 1:21.2 Ran Arcade - 1:21.2 (Actually rode twice and came up with exact same time) Zeca2009 - 1:26.9 Wigs79 - 1:32.0 11true11blue - 1:32.3 Timlwalsh - 1:59.7 Fromthemount - Did not finish, crashed. We knew it!!! Big Mike was the fastest of all time!!!! Plus, the only person who did front and back camera work!!!! TPR members are spoiled having such a super star slider in their ranks We have some pictures after the videos, make sure to watch the 2nd one too, it is the cutest thing as little KidTums gives Big Mike a loud shout out as she whizzes right by! Hope you enjoy! Peace, Big Mike Big Mike displays sick skills while riding: KidTum's shout out to Big Mike: Alpine Slide near Castle Neuschwanstein in Germany! Lift. Climbing the lift into the Alps! Big Mike excited to ride an ALPine slide in the ALPS! Big Mike Crotch Cam! Elissa and KidTums. Robb showing some sick skills too Twittering on the alpine slide! Very fun ride, and when it was over there was plenty of time to hang out with the cows too! Hope you enjoyed! Peace, Big Mike

Hello Fantastic Friends and Valuable Big Mike Readers!!! Wow, 2nd to last Find the Ducky Game for this season!! For all the people on the bubble, time to get moving!! Last week's results were again posted correctly by Brian, with 6 duckies and he circled everyone of them correctly, thanks again Brian! Congrats to last week's winning guessers: sspaz1000, donkeyman18, robinschroder, GriffyTiffy, adamico2, rolercstrluvr, bottom_feeder_13, and STR8FXXXINEDGE! Rollercoaster Rider also guessed correctly, but since he also guessed a few other numbers too, had to be disqualified! Only 1 guess a week dude! We kick off, man I have lost count of how many weeks we have been putting up 5 updates a week lol! Whatever number it is, it will be another Find the Ducky Game!! This episode comes to you from a defunct park, Dreamland in Coney Island! Dreamland operated for one season on the same spot that Astroland did the year before and that Luna Park now resides on now! The highlight of the park was the relocated Michael Jackson coaster from his Neverland Ranch, and since Big Mike never got an invite to ride it at the Neverland Ranch, Big Mike had to go get it at Dreamland! Hope you enjoy! Peace, Big Mike PS - Up to date standings!!!! CURRENT FIND THE DUCKY STANDINGS: (After 13th round of 15) 1ST PLACE WITH SIX WINS: STR8FXXXINEDGE 2ND PLACE WITH FIVE WINS: robinschroder 3RD PLACE WITH FOUR WINS: picknyourseat arosania traincrossin coreysjunk The Bebes rolercstrluvr 4TH PLACE WITH THREE WINS: SuperShawn Reality15 bottom_feeder_13 adamico2 5TH PLACE WITH TWO WINS: depotrat Chiquita Loquita Brandy524 Bryce232 Yeti762 X2coasterfreak esvadj Buckeye_Ben RAWKIN_coaster38 ahecht GriffyTiffy donkeyman18 6TH PLACE WITH 1 WIN: The SETCO Guys Lenaapple1974 kezrez11 bhartley Emiroo Coaster Palooza mmousefan lisadancer megamatt hansrubens themeparkguy27 coasterdude28 Iggyskid Groteslurf sccoasterfan disneymoc LJGoBlue jbarner14 ILoveRides Hikaru-chan King of Ka spaceace12 ohiocoasters Mataceman jray21 broomy mush619 jason10 1pizza14 imagenius128 Delfay sre Guy T. Koepp triggernel BeemerBoy gisco The49er HighRoller QueerRudie Porsmond RoCo nrs2420 sspaz1000 7th PLACE WITH NO WINS: Everyone else on TPR! There are only 2 games left, so everyone else has been eliminated!! The winner of a free one week condo stay is one of the names above!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is the ducky that you are looking for in this episode, Beach Ball Ducky! Remember, this picture does not count towards your total and don't give away any of the hiding places! Dreamland! The old Astroland lot as you can see part of the Cyclone on the right, and now present home to Luna Park! Coming soon?? It's here!!! Need to check your spelling on the sign though! Ticket Prices on a nice home made sign! Big Mike is only here for one ride! Dragon Wagon! Overview. Not just ANY Dragon Wagon, this was Michael Jackson's roller coaster at his Neverland Ranch! Michael Jackson theming. More theming! Look how excited that Big Mike is knowing that Michael Jackson also sat in this seat at one time! I hope Michael Jackson fit better than Big Mike does! The things Big Mike does to get a coaster credit! Lift. Big Mike and the Wonder Wheel in the same picture while riding! Big Mike and the Cyclone in the same picture while riding! Ka-ching! Another coaster credit for The Mighty Big Man! Other rides at Dreamland: Carousel. Star Dancer. Kid Country. Inflatables. Drive in. Ferris Wheel. Slightly smaller than the Wonder Wheel as you can see. Strange Girls! Big Mike's curiosity is peaked. Big Mike can't put his finger on it, but something makes Big Mike want to go check out Snake Girl! Scrambler. Trabant. Spin Out. Ring of Fire. Himalaya. There were a lot of games to play too. Big Mike can still remember back to the day when bikini pictures were all over The Big Mike Road Show thread! Hope you liked a look back at Dreamland while it was there at Coney Island! How many duckies did you find??? Peace, Big Mike

This round of Find the Ducky is officially closed!!!!!! You can now post all your answers to where the duckies were hidden! Hope you did well! Peace, Big Mike

Hello Fantastic Friends and Valuable Big Mike Readers!!! We have completed another full week of daily Monday to Friday updates!!!! Since it is a Friday, that always means an update on something Big Mike related! Today's episode is a special one, it is the Doggies of Big Mike World Headquarters!!! The timing of this episode is a direct result of a special day tomorrow, it's.... LUCKY DOG'S BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!! So whenever you wind up reading this, Saturday March 3rd is Good Ole Lucky Dog's 9th birthday!!! As a result of this great occasion, anyone who wishes Lucky Dog a Happy Birthday in this thread over the weekend will be entered into a random drawing for one of the few remaining, very rare, Official Big Mike Road Show World Tour T-Shirts!!! That's not all, for every Happy Birthday wish, Lucky Dog will get a bag of treats present from you!!! Happy Birthday my loyal companion, best friend, and faithful buddy! Hope you enjoy! Peace, Big Mike This is my lovely girlfriend Megan (Pirouettes907) and her "Handsome Man" Hampton! Hampton is a 10 year old English Springer Spaniel. We like to call him Hammie, Hambalonious, or Hambone. Mommy LOVES Hampton, with Big Mike a far 2nd This is Zoe!!! Zoe is a 7 year old Schnauzer/Jack Russell mix. We like to call her Zo Zo Monster. Megan's additions to the family. This is Lucky Dog the Birthday Boy!!! Lucky Dog will be turning 9 on Saturday and he is a Black Lab mix, with the vet saying "He is probably a little of a lot of dogs!" We like to call him Good Ole Lucky Dog or L.D Bomber. There you have it my friends, The Doggies of Big Mike World Headquarters!!! Good Ole Lucky Dog the Birthday Boy, always supportive of The Big Mike Road Show!!! Lucky Dog is always right there when Big Mike is putting up updates on his computer, and is sometimes responsible for the delays in updates going up! lol This is how many birthday presents Lucky Dog (laying on the couch, blends in well on black couch) got last time everyone wished him Happy Birthday! Hope everyone enjoyed and HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUCKY DOG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hope you enjoyed! Peace, Big Mike

Hello Valuable Big Mike Readers!!! Thanks for visiting once again! Today, since it is Thursday, we will show you something fun to do while you are out roller coastering! If you are ever riding the coasters at Coney Island in New York on the Fourth of July, then this side trip is a must! The Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest takes place right down the street from the Cyclone every July 4th, and Big Mike had quite a good time there! Check it out on today's episode of The Big Mike Road Show!!! Hope you enjoy! Peace, Big Mike Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island NY! Big Mike arrives as they are setting up the table, the drinks are very important. 1 hour and 5 minutes until show time! Just for a quick reference, this is where you get to watch the event if you arrive an hour early! 1 hour to go! Notice the records, both will fall today!!! As always, ESPN covers the whole event! It's big time! If you look good, you can see The Mighty Big Man out there! Stats! They even have guards to watch over the trophies. Kobayashi from Japan is a 6 time winner! The year before this contest, Kobayashi and USA's Joey Chestnut tied and went into overtime! Frankie the Frankfurter was in attendance! Kobayashi makes his entrance! The defending 2 time champion Joey Chestnut arrives and is the crowd favorite! A beautiful day, especially with the Rye Playland sign up there! The Emcee is raised high above the crowd to give the starting signal. The clock is at zero, it's time!!! Chow down!!! The stuffing begins! It's 12-12 early! Around the half way mark, we are still tied at 31-31!!! Chestnut pulls ahead 45-43 to the delight of the crowd! They are in the final stretch with Chestnut still holding a 2 hot dog lead 56-54. It's over! Chestnut wins 68-64! It's a NEW world record!!!! There is a lot of bad blood between these two, so Chestnut is pumped that he won! The winner at stillllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll champion of the World, Joey Chestnut!!! Chestnut retains the Mustard Belt! This was really fun to watch in person, and little did Big Mike know that this was the last time Kobayashi has competed here. One thing was for sure, the camera loved zooming in on The Big Man! How about that, double World records the day Big Mike attends!!! Big Mike got so caught up in the excitement that he wanted to eat some hot dogs too! What a fun time! If you are ever around on July 4th, check it out! Hope you enjoyed! Peace, Big Mike

Hello Valuable Big Mike Readers!!! It's Wednesday, so here at The Big Mike Road Show, that means an update from a small park on Big Mike's World Tour! Today's episode comes to you from the Canton Christmas Tree Farm in Texas!!! The great thing about this coaster ride is that this coaster is only open on a very limited basis, kind of like the coasters Big Mike rode at the Puyullup Fair, Barnstable County Fair, or Strickler's Grove!!! You have to hit these coasters at an exact time of year or you will miss them! Well, maybe that is not completely true, that is, if you are The Mighty Big Man, Big Mike! Yes, there have been times that Big Mike has ridden "kids only" coasters such as Percy's at SFMM and the Kiddie Coaster at Rye Playland, but those were open for full seasons. There have been times like at John Ivers where Big Mike was granted special access to the back yard coasters too! There have also been times where parks such as Schnepf Farms just open up their coaster during the off season for The Big Man also, but this only comes about by being a well known, slighty famous World Traveler Coaster Rider! The special perks and VIP treatment does come in handy every once in a while and Big Mike had to use it once again here at Canton Christmas Tree Farm, a park that Big Mike was visiting in April yet the park only runs in November and December! So, as always here on The Big Mike Road Show, Big Mike loves to go ride those hard to get, often rarely ever seen coasters and bring back all the memories for The Valuable Big Mike Readers to see, so he is doing it again on todays episode! Hope you enjoy! Peace, Big Mike Big Mike visits Canton Christmas Tree Farm: Big Mike all jacked up getting this hard to get credit! Big Mike rides Santa's Runaway Sleigh! The Canton Christmas Tree Farm in Texas! The Canton Christmas Tree Farm is only open after Thanksgiving into December, for sure it won't be open in mid April, right? With The Big Man today is Laura (cal1br3tto), and the reason she is with Big Mike is that she knows the magic Big Mike can achieve when it comes to getting those hard to get coaster credits! Overview of Santa's Runaway Sleigh! Side view too! Framed view done perfectly by Big Mike! Train. The lift inside a custom built station. Big Mike succeeds and rides coaster #990 in his illustrious career! Thanks to the wonderful people at The Canton Christmas Tree Farm for opening up their coaster just for The Mighty Big Man! Hope you enjoyed! Peace, Big Mike

Hello Valuable Big Mike Readers!!! Today we have an episode from South Dakota, where Big Mike was visiting Boondocks to ride the coaster there! A slight detour brought The Big Man to Belle Fourche South Dakota, which just happens to be the Geo Center of the United States! Check it out with The Big Mike Road Show!!! Hope you enjoy! Peace, Big Mike Big Mike visits the state of South Dakota for another fun exciting thing to do! Belle Fourche South Dakota, Geo Center of the United States! The old Geo Center used to be in Kansas before Hawaii and Alaska were added. A very nice walkway complete with flags leads to the Geo Center. There it is, see it? Look how fancy this is, very impressed! The Geo Center of the Nation plaque on the ground. Big Mike standing on the Geo Center of the Nation, but you can't see it due to Big Mike's belly. Big Mike hopes you enjoyed this view of this out of the way special place! Anyone ever been there???? Peace, Big Mike

Hello Valuable Big Mike Readers!!! We start Week #8 of daily updates, and it's time for another Find the Ducky Game!!! There are only 3 Find the Ducky games left this year, so it is make it or break it time! This episode comes to you from Elitch Gardens in Colorado! Hope you enjoy! Peace, Big Mike Here is the ducky you are looking for in this episode, Baby Blue ducky! Do not count this ducky picture in your total and don't give away the hiding places! Just post your answer in the thread! Elitch Gardens! Prices. Map. Big Mike hates to see closed coasters when he travels cross country! Jeff (flyingcoasterfreak) meets up with The Big Man for fun in Colorado! The herd is ready to ride. Twister 2! Overview with Mile High Stadium in the background! (It will always be Mile High to Big Mike) This is Sidewinder, not sure why Big Mike failed to get the coaster sign??? Mind Eraser! Overview, and probably the best picture of Sidewinder too! Seats. Maybe the sign out front saying Boomerang is closed was wrong? Nope, closed! Grrrr. Overview. Flying Coaster was already fenced off and SBNO! Yeah, I guess the coaster needs those. So I missed this coaster here, then it moved to Coney Island at Scream Zone, I went to ride it there and it was closed all day there too! Damn coaster is punking me! Half Pipe! I guess it will be one of those days, as this coaster is closed for the day too! Cactus Coaster! There is the cactus. Overview. No surprise with the way the day is going, Big Mike is denied to ride the Cactus Coaster, with this being one of 14 coasters in the USA that Big Mike has been denied to ride! Time to take a look at the other rides at Elitch Gardens, and Big Mike also meets another good friend, Jordan (themeparkman25)! Jordan is operating Thunderbolt! Yech, someone threw up on him when they got off his ride! Tilt-A-Whirl. Shipwreck Falls. Sea Dragon. Shake Rattle & Roll. Rainbow. Tower of Doom. You are doomed if you sit in the seat on the right side. Disaster Canyon. Ghost Blasters. Big Mike loves shooting games. Dragon Wing. Around the World in 80 seconds. Studio Express. Star Swinger. Studio Tours. Studio 1. Crazy shananigans. Turn of the Century. Odd frog hopper. Chaos. Two good buddies, Jordan and Jeff, sporting the Big Mike Road Show pins! Hey look! Mats and Chris from GCI are here too, and they are wearing Big Mike Road Show pins too!! Thanks to Jeff for treating The Big Man to lunch! Big Mike did not stay to see Metro Station. Big Mike = Star A new game, Wack a Big Mike! Remember when Big Mike had the crazy hat pictures in his updates? This wacky hat goes better with the Official Big Mike Road Show T-Shirt. Jeff checks off Colorado on the Official Big Mike Road Show T-Shirt! Jordan checks off Texas, as Big Mike was going to hit one park in Texas within the next week. Texas was a late add on, so we actually had to write in Texas on the check off list. Big Mike traveled to Utah, Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, and then back to Colorado to get those 2 coasters he missed the week before! Half Pipe! You can spot Big Mike with his hands up on Half Pipe! The only fearless one! Boomerang credit for Big Mike! Big Mike makes his return visit worth it, claiming both coasters he missed! Just in case anyone is keeping score at home: Twister 2 - 868 Sidewinder - 869 Mind Eraser - 870 Half Pipe - 896 Boomerang - 897 Thanks to my buds, it is always great to hang out with friends when Big Mike stops by in your town on his World tour! Hope you enjoyed! How many duckies did you find??? Peace, Big Mike

Hello Find the Ducky Guessers!!! Seems like the white ducky has struck again, fooling many ducky guessers this week, but not fooling most of the top players! There was indeed 7 duckies to be found, and below you can see the duckies in the two spots that everyone seemed to miss and scroll back a page to see Brian's correct circled duckies!! Thanks again for doing that! Congrats go out to Aronsania, Ahecht, The Bebes, coreysjunk, traincrossin, and STR8FXXXINEDGE! It looked for a long time that no one was going to win this week, but Aronsania nailed it with 7 and everyone else followed! Hats off to Aronsania who only has 6 total posts to all of TPR, but 4 of those 6 were winning Find the Ducky Guesses! Also congrats go to STR8FXXXINEDGE who has now taken control of first place all by himself in ducky wins! Should be a good finish!!! CURRENT FIND THE DUCKY STANDINGS: (After 12th round of 15) 1ST PLACE WITH FIVE WINS: STR8FXXXINEDGE 2ND PLACE WITH FOUR WINS: picknyourseat robinschroder arosania traincrossin coreysjunk The Bebes 3RD PLACE WITH THREE WINS: SuperShawn Reality15 rolercstrluvr 4TH PLACE WITH TWO WINS: depotrat Chiquita Loquita Brandy524 Bryce232 Yeti762 X2coasterfreak esvadj Buckeye_Ben RAWKIN_coaster38 bottom_feeder_13 adamico2 ahecht 5TH PLACE WITH 1 WIN: The SETCO Guys Lenaapple1974 kezrez11 bhartley Emiroo Coaster Palooza mmousefan lisadancer megamatt hansrubens themeparkguy27 coasterdude28 Iggyskid Groteslurf sccoasterfan disneymoc LJGoBlue jbarner14 ILoveRides Hikaru-chan King of Ka spaceace12 ohiocoasters Mataceman jray21 broomy mush619 jason10 1pizza14 imagenius128 Delfay sre Guy T. Koepp triggernel BeemerBoy gisco The49er HighRoller QueerRudie Porsmond RoCo GriffyTiffy donkeyman18 nrs2420 6TH PLACE WITH NO WINS: Everyone else on TPR! (Still only need 3 wins to qualify!) Good luck to everyone in the final 3 Find the Ducky games!!!! Peace, Big Mike PS YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Another Super Epic entry!!!! Get yours in as soon as possible, cut off date in April 30th!

Donkeyman18 is #1! Thanks for keeping the tradition! Was there really a 7th ducky in that Budweiser picture or did a lot of people get fooled?? Answer a little bit later!! Peace, Big Mike

This round of Find the Ducky is now closed!! I admit I was baffled with all the 3 and 4 ducky guesses, but the strategic players were holding out their guesses! You can now show all the hiding places! Peace, Big Mike

Hello Valuable Big Mike Readers!!!! Wow, we have now finished 7 full weeks of daily Big Mike Road Show updates, minus the one week vacation to Cancun! This puts us at 35 new 2012 updates so far, on a goal of hitting 200 for the year, so we are already 1/6 of the way there!!! I think it is a great time to tell the full story on how Big Mike got to guest star on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and let all the new Theme Park Review people who have joined since 2008 a chance to witness the moment of greatness! Honestly, the clip NEVER gets old since it is pure gold comic genius from The Mighty Big Man and you can watch it again and again and still laugh every time, or at least Big Mike does! THE STORY Big Mike was visiting California once again while he was "Traveling The World Riding Roller Coasters"! While at Universal Studios in Hollywood, Big Mike was sitting on a bench wearing his Official Big Mike Road Show T-Shirt and updating his thread on TPR on his smart phone. Two men come up to Big Mike while his head is down and say hello and ask about the T-shirt and the story behind it. I proudly tell the men that I am Big Mike and travel to all parts of the World riding as many diferent roller coasters as I can. The men are so interested in Big Mike's story and accomplishments that they proceed to tell The Mighty Big Man that they are producers of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and they are looking for very interesting people such as myself to be on TV with Jay Leno. I, of course, am totally interested in finding more ways to promote The Big Mike Road Show, so I tell them that I will help THEM out by appearing. They give me tickets and tell me to show up at the studio early, but don't get in line, go in the VIP section. I have a few hours to spare, so I give a call to Robb and tell him the news and he spreads the word that Big Mike will be appearing tonight! Big Mike arrives at the studio and goes straight past the huge line to get in, and is greeted by the same two guys at the VIP area. "Hey Big Mike" they say, obviously seeing the star quality in The Big Man! The producers give me a card and ask me to memorize it, and make sure that I am not wearing my Big Mike Road Show T-Shirt, which was not allowed for some reason. Booooooo. They also say no cameras, to which I said double boooooo. Anyway, Big Mike learns his lines and is told to say where I work and make sure I also include that I "Travel the World Riding Roller Coasters", and not to vary from that what so ever. The producers then tell me that Jay will ask me about The Big Mike Road Show and then move on to the question I ask. Big Mike is escorted in via the VIP entrance and guided to his pre-selected seat, so that Jay will know exactly where The Big Man is sitting. The show starts and Big Mike is ready to go! Our skit finally starts and Big Mike is true to his word, saying exactly what was planned. Jay, however, decides to have a little fun at The Big Man's expense, and instead of asking questions about The Big Mike Road Show like I was told, decides to throw a couple zinger insults Big Mike's way! The crowd laughs, Jay is amused, and Big Mike figures out that he has been had and is only there for star power and to be the butt of Jay's jokes. Little does Jay know, Big Mike is pretty quick and smart on his feet, and the joke is about to backfire in his face thanks to The Mighty Big Man! Big Mike may not have gotten a chance to hype The Big Mike Road Show as originally planned ,but he was going to make damn sure that Jay's little skit came to a crash and burn also as payback for the insults! Big Mike tanked the rest of the skit, making believe he forgot his lines and then completely throwing Jay for a loop by asking the original question after Jay had already finished his skit. This moment was a majestic masterpiece, as you can hear Jay just stumble for a loss of words as Big Mike gets his revenge! For what it is worth, Jay did come over and laugh about it with good ole Big Mike while the musical act was on, so we are on good terms! I hope everyone enjoys this classic comedy and if you want to see more Big Mike entertainment, click this link for a summary of ALL of the first 35 brand new episodes of 2012 on The Big Mike Road Show, SO MANY fun things to see!!!!!!! http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1138984#p1138984 Enjoy! Peace, Big Mike [coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=bigmike_jayleno_3[/coastertube] Big Mike does three things well! 1. Travels and rides many coasters in many countries. 2. Will always get the last laugh. 3. Too X-rated to tell on TPR! Hope you enjoyed! Peace, Big Mike

Hello my Valuable Big Mike Readers!!! Once again, a big thanks for continuing to participate in Big Mike's huge quest to post 200 updates in 2012!!! As with all the past Thursday updates, this update will be the usual "something fun near an amusement park that you can do just like Big Mike did!" So, if you are ever visiting the likes of Coney Island, or maybe even Victorian Gardens in Central Park for the coaster there in the summer time, or even as far as the Jersey shore or Great Adventure, you are close enough to go check out the Empire State Building in NYC!!! This time around, Big Mike had some super cool friends come and visit The Mighty Big Man and off we went for a little sight seeing! Special guests on the episode are Rick (Coaster Palooza) and his wife Gyendolynne! Hope you enjoy! Peace, Big Mike PS - Thanks to Rick as I am using 3 of his pictures for this update! Big Mike always enjoys meeting his great friends at the airport with special VIP pick up service from The Mighty Big Man himself! Rick and Gyendolynne enjoy visiting every single Hard Rock Cafe they can get to, so this was a must! A little relaxing time before sight seeing. Big Mike checks in with his good buddy The Naked Cowboy since we were already in Times Square! Bonus butt shot for anyone interested! Showed my guests some NY art too! Here is the real highlight of the day, The Empire State Building! The Empire State Building! They rolled out the carpet for our visit. The Empire State Building has 2 observatories, this is the one on the 86th floor! Wow, we are way up there! Gyendolynne and Rick! Big Mike met some new friends 86 stories up, and came prepared! Lets face it, there are not many food options this high for them. I wonder how many times this has been struck by lightning? Those windows at the top are the 102nd floor observatory! Big Mike searching around for the way up as you don't come all this way and not go to the very top! Woo Hoo! Found it! Bring us up top! We made it! The 102nd floor observation is 16 floors higher, but you are no longer outdoors like at the 86th floor observatory. Being this high up, you can see many famous things like... Central Park... ... the New Year's Eve Ball in Times Square... ... The Statue of Liberty... ... the cruise terminal on the west side... ... Madison Square Garden... ... and best of all, Big Mike's home state of New Jersey!!! Thanks to Rick and Gyendolynne for coming to visit and I hope everyone enjoyed this episode on The Empire State Building! Peace, Big Mike PS - Who is coming to visit next???

^ Good catch!! Thats what hapens when you rush an episoe up at 2am in the morning Thanks, Big Mike

Hello Valuable Big Mike Readers!!! Time for a small park report, and this one comes from an adventure park in Massachusetts... Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort! This was one of the first mountain coasters up in Big Mike's neck of the woods! Mountain coasters are popping up all over the place now, there is even one being built a half hour away from Big Mike World Headquarters! Hope you enjoy! Peace, Big Mike Big Mike travels up to Massachusetts for his first mountain coaster experience! Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort! Prices. There are nine main attractions here, Big Mike will show them all to you! Rules. Big Mike and his ticket! Alpine "slide" = No credit. Mountain "Coaster" = Credit!!! No problem here, Big Mike likes high speeds and heights! Carts. Big Mike collecting his credit! Lift. Big Mike crotch cam. Some views: They have enough carts ready to accommodate a whole bus of TPR people! Alpine slide! Big Mike favorite trick, talk to the operator for an extended amount of time to let the slowpokes ahead of you time to get down the course and not mess up your ride! Views: Quick story, the same location by Big Mike World Headquarters that is building the new mountain coaster also has an alpine slide, and Big Mike has already wiped out on it two times in his life so far! Scenic chair lift! Nice views. Giant swing! Pretty high! Rock climbing. Trampolines. 200 pound weight limit Mini golf. Spider web. Ropes adventures. They also have a bounce house. Playground too. The Big Mike Road Show Most Valuable Reader Contest is coming to a close..... .... and I bet a few players could really use this Mikestery Treasure Hunt Card that has still not been claimed here yet!!! Hope you enjoyed Jiminy Peak with The Mighty Big Man!!! Peace, Big Mike