jamesdillaman

the dragsters weren't running, were they?

just to put my 2 cents in: Magnum is awsome today just as it was in '93 when I rode it the first time. Vortex hasn't aged well at all, I rode it the year it opened (I think '87) and it was very smooth for a steel coaster. Now I can take it but my girlfriend can't ride it more than once due to the splitting headache she gets . I think the best aged coaster I've been on by far is the coney island cyclone. It's still crazy and fun after all these years!

do whatever you want with your count. I count dueling coasters (like gwazi) as two rides, but racers (like gemini) that are basically the same ride count as one.

anything dollywood has done lately or is doing in the future is awsome if you ask me. I can't wait to ride timber tower and get back on Thunderhead. Bow down to dolly, this park rules.

holida world gets my vote, love what they've done to it since raven, and can't wait to get on voyage!

Manhattan Express was very bad (not to mention vegas expensive without being vegas good!) King Cobra at King's Island was actually a great ride, on which I didn't find rough at all (my younger brother and I once rode it 60+ times in a row with no pain). My vote, however goes to Son of Beast. Not only is it an unbelievably rough ride, but Paramount had to spend way too much money building it. i.e. when the structure blew over in high winds and when they had to retrack the the part after the first drop like for the first 2 years the ride was open... Think of all the great improvements to the park that money could have bought. That's why it gets my vote.

Are you crazy, this ride was awesome. Only got to go to this park once during Screech Fest (The ride is Screechin' Eagle, BTW, not Screaming), and the airtime is incredible. Any John Miller woodie should def. NOT be on a worst coaster list IMO. -James

all I can say about standups is I loved King Cobra @ PKI. Every year before they took it out, there was always the rumor it was getting taken down, so we always rode it like 100 times the last week the park opened. I liked it better than any B&M standup I've been on, (granted I've only been on 3).

Just so you all know, I have never been to SFMM...so I'm especially excited. Hopefully a few of you can show me around the park, as I have no idea what to do. I've seen shows on X of course, and Deja-Vu, but I've heard many stories of rides not running, which would annoy me greatly if I lived there. I'm just so happy to get to go to the park for free, even if I don't get on Tatsu!

I listed on my flights, here's to hoping they don't fill up with all the people flying in for this and I can get there... (crosses fingers) Still 50+ seats on each flight, tho, so hope to see you all there!

Thanks for the ideas, I'll check how much it would cost to rent a car, as for once in my life I could get in to SFMM free, I think I can spend a little more getting there.

I like the huss giant frisbee and almost all drop rides (except green power tower, not enough force to the drop for me, red's okay) Zippers are also fun, but hard to find around my parts, but I'm shocked nobody has mentioned the ferris wheel. Sure it's not that thrilling, but on the old ones when you could rock the cars and take your date up high in the air, getting an awsome view of the park... gets my vote for nostalgia if nothing else.

If anyone could get me transportation from LAX to the park, I might actually go. I'd have to fly in wednesday morning/noontime and leave thursday night. Doable for me but I don't want to pay any outrageous cab fares. Any ideas? (Renting a car's too expensive as I'm only 23)

Living less than 5 minutes from PKI, you'd think I'd be there, but I don't think so. I only went once last year, to ride IJ, and wasn't really impressed. Someday they might build a new ride actually worth going the 5 minutes from my house to ride, but until then, I'll have to pass. Beast is still good, even though the magnetic brakes ruined rainy day speed rides, and if there's less than 3/4 of the train filled, your ride will be very slooooooowww. Vortex is good in the back seat, and I like racer backwards, but nothing really special is at this park IMO. If anyone from PKI happens to read this...: If I wanted Disney, I'd go to Disney, now quit wasting money on themeing of sub-par rides and build a good coaster. You don't need theming if the ride itself is good! Who am I kidding, I'll probably go this summer, if anything my girlfriend needs the IJ credit. probably the only person to continue a trip to Kings Island as a credit whore trip, huh?

I'm been on all but Gwazi, and I like Thunderhead the best, Kentucky Rumbler is in second, though, and might be able to move up depending on how it runs once it gets warmer and humid.

I like Cedar Point and all, but Dollywood is way better as far as where the park is. Mountain parks are just great.

I think many of your ideas are worth mentioning to Discovery networks, parent of the Travel Channel. I had already sent a comment to this affect to their page, and encouraged many of my friends to do so here: http://extweb.discovery.com/viewerrelations but be aware, they took the "Best of Amusement Parks 2006" show out of their list for shows, so I'm searching for another way to contact them. You could aways just put a different show in there and if enough people keep sending them correspondence, maybe we'll see a show that includes more coasters from other countries as well as different steel coasters. The other problem with this show is it's based on the golden ticket awards, so if many enthusiasts express disagreements with the golden tickets to amusement today, maybe they will change their voting practices. It's a long shot, but some companies listen, so why shouldn't we try it? -James

I've often wondered that myself, but to be honest, I've always enjoyed Zinga more than the other tornados, and I have no idea why. Perhaps because it was the first, or maybe there's really something to it. (I've been on 5 tornados so far).

hopefully when it airs in the usa i'll be able to catch it. hey Liz, will this show be available on DVD like others from the discovery channel?

Just so everyone who isn't aware of it already can know, the Best of theme parks 2006 show will air on the Travel Channel @ 8:00 pm Eastern time. The show is basically the golden ticket awards mixed with some new coasters opening this year from what i understand. Catch it!

Donkey from shrek, because everybody loves a smartass

The Beast is definately up there, but there's nothing really in the tunnels except for the helix at the end (which was added after the ride was built), so I'd vote for Hades.

I ran into something I didn't expect after I landed my dream job operating The Beast at PKI: ride boredom. The Beast used to be one of my favorite wooden coasters, but after testriding it many times a day, and riding it again and again on all my off days (heck, just BEING at the park every day), I have only gone back to PKI once in the past 2 years, and that was just for the Italian Job credit. Be careful if you work on a ride you love, as beast has slipped out of my top ten.

this is height restriction related, I heard Geauga Lake and Michigan Adventure both have county imposed height restrictions on them. Does anyone know if this is true? If so, you'd think Cedar Fair might try to get that changed?

nice photo, does disney know you're posting this? I hear they're pretty controlling about using their images, lol.