ahecht

The funny thing with this argument is that The Voyage is mostly steel, while ET is mostly wood.

Here's my list: 1. My Favorite Steel, Anypark Anywhere, ** 1. El Toro, SFGAd, NJ 1.5. Boulder Dash, Lake Compounce, CT 2. Lightning Racer - L Hersheypark, PA 2.1. Lightning Racer - T Hersheypark, PA 3. Wildcat, Hersheypark, PA 4. Thunderbolt, SF New England, MA 5. Cyclone, Lakeside, CO 5. Yankee Cannonball, Canobie Lake Park, NH 6. Twister II, Elitch Gardens, CO 6. Roar, SF America, MD 7. Colossus, S.F. Magic Mountain, CA 7. Wildcat, Lake Compounce, CT 7. Gwazi-Tiger, Busch Gardens-Tampa, FL 7. Cyclone, SF New England, MA 7. Wild One, SF America, MD 7. Rolling Thunder, SFGAd, NJ 7. Thunderhawk, Dorney Park, PA 7. Comet, Hersheypark, PA 7. Hurler, Kings Dominion, VA 7. Rebel Yell, Kings Dominion, VA 7. Scooby Doo, Kings Dominion, VA 7. The Grizzly, Kings Dominion, VA 8. GhostRider, Knott's Berry Farm, CA 9. Psyclone, S.F. Magic Mountain, CA

La Ronde is about 10 miles away from the Montreal airport, and you can get to La Ronde on the Metro. Paramount's Carowinds is about 8 miles from the Charlotte/Douglas Int'l airport, but I don't know about public transportation. Dorney Park is 9 miles from the Lehigh Valley Int'l Airport, but that's a smaller airport, and mostly gets shuttle flights, and I also don't know about public transportation. Herhseypark is about 10 miles from Harrisburg Int'l Airport, but again, I don't know about public transportation. Six Flags Astroworld used to be about 10 miles from the Houston-Hobby airport, may it RIP. Hard Rock Park is right next to the Myrtle Beach International Airport:

Seems to have a bit of a rattle

Here's what I could find And finally, my closest-up close-up Superman Okay, maybe this was too zoomed in Here's another one with a train. However, I know some of these people No, I don't know this person Yay for Six Flags paint maintenance What dummies Could've used a train

Don't forget that this is the fifth B&M Sitting Coaster ever, the first since 2001, and only the 2nd in a US state other than Florida. B&M has never been able to get cobra rolls right, and all the ones I've been on have had a bit of shuffling in the transitions. Maybe they finally got one right. Actually, they were going to buy the Caripro Hydra Fighter from Emerald Pointe, but they changed their mind and purchased a brand new Premiere Rides Hydrofighter (the first of its kind) according to http://www.screamscape.com/iaapa/html/iaapa_5.htm

I second that. I make it a goal to make any milestone coaster the sketchiest or crappiest coaster I can find. Milestone coasters for me have included traveling wildcat coasters, Elich's flying coaster, and Manhatten express. Doing a major headliner ride is so cliche, so why not do something unique? Thinking about it, for such a milestone coaster, there is really only one choice. A coaster that only a handful of people have ever ridden, a coaster that has never had a formal safety inspection, a coaster that is completely unique and whose manufacturer has only made one other ride, a coaster so small that it fits in a back yard. Yes, I am talking about John Ivers' Blue Flash (or Blue Too if you've already done Blue Flash) that he built in his back yard in Indiana. I'm sure that John would be happy to help you celebrate such a milestone, and I can't think of a more unique way to do it. For John's contact information, see http://www.negative-g.com/BlueFlash/February2002/Blue-Flash-2002-2-8.html

Got 126,792 on the second one.

115912 is my best. And, as others have said, your location for Darien Lake is wrong, it's in Darien, NY not New York, NY

The B&Ms and Intamins are virtually identical. In fact, the two Intamin Stand-Up coasters were created by Bolliger and Mabillard in the 80s before they left Intamin to form B&M. While I haven't ridden Cobra at La Ronde (aka Stand Up at Skara), I did ride Batman: The Escape at SFAW (aka Shockwave at SFMM or SFGA), and I wasn't able to tell in was an Intamin until I got home and checked RCDB. I guess in the end, the nod would have to go to B&M, because the two Intamins were shorter single-inversion coasters. The TOGOs on the other hand are among the worst steel coasters I have ever ridden, although I've only been on Shockwave at PKD (what is it with Stand-Up coasters being named Shockwave?). I was punched in the jaw by the unpadded steel over-the-shoulder restraints, and my girlfriend came off the ride with her ears bleeding. The first drop and the loop were fine, but the rest was utter crap. Now you have!

Premiere isn't trying to sell The Chiller, it's a ride broker that bought the track from SFGAdv that is trying to resell it.

I understand that they are doing these podcasts on the fly, and for free, but they could really use tighter editing. Both of the first two episodes could've been easily edited down to 10 or 15 minutes without losing any real content (especially the food segment), and it would be nice to see them talk to more vendors for a minute or two each rather than 7 or 8 minute segments on just a few vendors. That said, it's great that they're providing this kind of coverage, and I do appreciate the amount of work that goes into producing and editing this kind of video.

Some more details were announced at The NY Post. I'm not that excited about the Vekoma/Arrow/Morgan-style looping coaster, but the huge Zamperla Swing Tower looks incredible. From the renderings, it looks taller than the parachute tower, which means it will be around 300 feet tall! I rode the 100 foot one at the Big E in Massachusetts and it was incredibly fun, and I can't imagine was one three times the size will be like. This image details the area proposed for rezoning and what it will become. In this artist's rendition, the site is shown at night from afar, giving the full scope of the project. The original parachute jump (far left) will be moved and a new one will be erected (center). The Aquarium will also be given a face-lift (far right). A huge roller coaster will span the 4-acre site, dwarfing the classic, wooden Cyclone, which will remain standing on the east side of Astroland. An artist's rendering of the new Coney Island proposed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who hopes to revitalize the area while keeping its historic character intact.

That picture is slightly tilted. The supports aren't straight. I used photoshop to rotate it until the support poles were straight, and then drew a line projected from the slope at the top. That's only 76 degrees:

The drop is VERY not 85 degrees. This is what 85 Degrees looks like. This is not!

Not including times when I was stuck in the station or they momentarily stopped the lift to confiscate a camera, I've only been stuck on Spaceship Earth for about 20 minutes, the lift on Montu for about 15 minutes, and the brake run of S:RoS at SFNE for about 10 minutes. Also, on an unrelated note, I did experience an E-Stop on T2:3D at Universal. Just as John Connor got on the motorcycle all the lights went out, the actors quickly fled the stage, and then all the lights came back on with the doors in the screen clearly visible and the motorcycle in the middle of the stage.

The only problem with the auto-poll website link is that it becomes very unwieldy with lots of coasters to rank since there is no way to indicate a tie or to group rides. Otherwise, you're going to find that the poll results have an alphabetical bias. My method is similar to Robb's, although I rank 1-5, and then group based on: 6 = would go to a park just for this ride 7 = would definitely ride if i'm in the park 8 = would ride if the line is reasonable 9 = would only ride if there's no line 10 = wouldn't ride even if you paid me My top 5 are: 1. El Toro 2. Boulder Dash 3. Lightning Racer - T 4. Lightning Racer - L 5. Thunderbolt (SFNE) Something tells me I need to get out to the midwest.

I gotta give the edge to Shiekra here, mainly for the drop into the tower.

Don't forget that we got several new rides in Wiggle's World and Thomas Town.

I always thought that the restraints on the Vekoma flyers were among the most comfortable OTSRs I'd ever ridden with, so the fact that they're considering them on the SLCs is great news! Now if only they'd install them at SFNE...

Sorry, i searched for TopSpin, but for some reason I didn't see the other link.

A friend sent me a link to this video. I can't even stand the standard Six Flags ride program without feeling ill, so I don't know how these people managed: http://www.glumbert.com/media/ridehell

Where was that from?

El Toro at SFGAdv, at least before they neutered it by slowing down the lift. Getting flung over the edge at like 20mph scared the crap out of me.

Theming + two LIM launches + three extra trains + extra block zones (and the programming and PLCs that that requires) + theming + special effects = $$$