FLIPDUDE

città del mare Terrasini ( Palermo, Sicily in Italy)

Dude, you should really submit that to 9gag, will go to front page

Saw this tody on 9gag and had to share it with you guys... This crazy bastard is in a hotel in Sicily:

I haven't been following this project and I don't know what page all the details are on... Is this a regular sitdown coaster? Because I could be wrong but it's been a while since B&M built one of those!

Well, there's this weird little powered family ride built on he supports of an enclosed park, not too far from where I live. not even the park owners know who built it, and it's got a very weird lyout and feel to it. It has two uphill spirals built around the building supports, some hairpin turns built way up high by the ceiling, a small tunnel, and then a very slope back into the station.

Positive Gs: Hmmm... Maybe Goliath at SFMM? I couldn't even lift my arms on that ride. Though it's possible I've experienced higher G spikes and wasn't aware of it. I did gray out on Revolution and Viper, but that was before I was ane xperienced coaster rider. Latreals: Might have to go with The Legend at Holiday World on this one, that thing squishes you sideways like a bug. Highest spike would have to be the Coney Island Cyclone Negative G: I know that considering I've ridden Cyclops in the back seat you'd expect that to be the winner in this category, but I'd have to say the craziest airtןme I've ever experienced was the back seat of Tornado at Stricker's Grove at that sharp mid-track drop. That thing is INSANE, you really don't expect it from a coaster that small. Then again, some of the best airitme pops I've expereinced were from kiddie coasters. I think you can even hear me in one of the "rollercoasters in the raw" DVDs suddenly yelping out as the train crests that drop.

I think there is/was one at the Sant aMonica Pier in Los Angeles but I'm not sure. And I rode a carnival version (like the small one pictured above) at Coney Island Ohio during the Midwest trip in 2007. It's probbaly still there. I rode many others like it in water parks, but those ende up in apool so they're probably not exactly the sort of ride you meant.

^Best. Picture. Ever.

So you know how sometimes you want to complain about something but you feel like you have no right to because it's not really that bad of a thing? For example: "Aaaugh! I haven't been on vacation to another country in over two years!" or "The nice lady at the store gave me a free donut but it was a flavor I don't like " and other such petty things. Well, now there's a place where it's socially acceptable to complain about this stuff! So Kvetch away!

^They probably are. It's pretty common in playground around here... Waterparks usually don't allow that, for obvious reasons, but if it's a smaller park, the employees are minimum wage, and/or the park is reasonably empty, you can usually end up seeing someone climbing the slide the wrong way. I remember summer days at the local pool, they had two big water slides (Well, three, but one wasn't functional), one speed slide and one big slalom slide, and not only did we climb, walk, or just grind ourselves to a halt on that thing nonstop, but we also slid every possible way from easter sunday. We slid on our backs, on our stomachs, head first, you name it. It was actually not even that uncommon for people to just give themselves a running start and jump off the start! Even when ride ops WERE present and doing their job! Let me tell you... it might not be the epitome of safety requirements, but it was seven times the fun you'll ever have at any rigid lie-down-and-cross-your-arms-or-else! water park you'll find in the US... And I haven't really heard of anyone getting hurt from all that nonsense. I'm not saying nobody ever did, just saying that if it happened, I don't know about it. Coming to think of it, the only time someone DID get hurt that I know of was when I tried to slide PROPERLY down the speed slide but I was a dumb little kid so I thought i'm also supposed to lean my head back and ended up banging it on the transitions. Not my proudest moment.

^ I think he was joking. And to be fair, Israeli media didn't really mention this either, at least not to a notable extent. I found out about it through someone posting about it in my Israeli coaster enthusiasts forum. It's kind of amusing yet sad to me to think of all the within-driving-distance credits to me that I can't go to because of politics XP

I actually found out about this in June as someone brought a link to my attention, but I kind of forgot about it until now, because Duane Marden from RCDB emailed me some questions as a reply to my submitting the park to him. I thought I'll share it with you guys since it seems very few people have heard about this, and if I wasn't going to post about it, it was likely that nobody here would have even heard of this. The hebrew website where I first read about this: http://terrorw.wordpress.com/2011/06/14/park-khan-gaz/ An english article Israeli news website (though not the most trustowrthy one, as you might be able to tell from the phrasing of the article): http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NachrichtenHeute/tabid/178/nid/22827/language/en-US/Default.aspx Basically the park was opened in this summer, after a previous water park (Named "Crazy Water Park", aimed at Gaza's few wealthy inhabitants (And which from a quick Google search looks like it was actually a rather beautiful place)) was burned to the ground by Islami extremists for letting men and women mix n' mingle, and for letting women smoke. There are very few websites that write about this topic instead of just quoting the one I just linked you to, but most of them seem kind of heavy on right-wing propoganda so I'm not sure which facts to post here and which are just nonsense. What I CAN tell you is that from the pictures, it is evident the park has 4 magor water slides,one smaller one, a small zoo, camel rides, a small train, a kiddie coaster, and a nicely sized although creepy looking ferris wheel. Some chosen photos form the first link(and one from the second link): One thing that seems to be praticularly interesting from the photos is that pretty much everyone is fully clothed even when in the pool! Probably to avoid a similar fate to "Crazy Water Park" which was burned down by Islami extremists. Now, I am Israeli, and I do find it heart warming to see something like this pop up in the heart of all that's going on down there and bring some smiles to faces, and I would appreciate it if we kept the following discussion mostly amusement-park-enthusiast-based and try not to fall into the black hole that is discussions about politics.

Oh jeez... if IB closes that would be so depressing. I always fantasized about maybe going there again one day with a loved one or friends.

Fantastic TR! Really made me want to ride all that stuff! =D The way you described Formula Rossa and the Burj really put me in your shoes

^ Oh my gosh!!!

Very cool! Loks like a lot of work. Great effort!

Wasnt that picture, but pretty sure that's the ride in the picture!

^^ I do believe I once saww a picture of a 4-way racing looping waterslide.

Wow! That is so pretty! I loe urban are adrawings. Also - Netdvn, color has improve dyour drawings by so much!

Part 2 Next up it was time to go into the new area's construction yard. Formerly known as "the lawn", currently known as "where umbrellas go to die", futurely known as "children's world" They kep posting pcitures of this hting. Still no clue what it's going to be. Children's World! Talking ot the park manaer he kept telling me and advertising eveyrwhere this will be one of the largest chldren's play structures in the world. Actually seeing it was... underwhelming. I was expecting something at least as big as SFKK's. Oh well. this was brand new at the site, even the secretary hadnt seen it before. The more time passed I got over the disappointment from expecting to see a rainforest jungle whatever you call it playstructure and started thinking "Wow, this is a great addon, kid are going to love this!" they also completely rebuilt the old children's play area into a very cute toddler pool They always grab photos of this slide tower frm the same angle for their website. So I took picures fromw everywhere BUT that angle. it was cool seeing the slide tower from here. more of the toddler pool the new are will undoubtly make the park much more kids friendly even though it aleady was. and I know I were a kid I'd love to play around on it. I wonder what will they do with these fountains. I doubt theyll leave them like this, unsafe to have pipes sticking ou of the ground where children are running around. the hwole area was under intense construction, but it's nearing it's final stages and should open this month. I also got to see the subscriber's pool! Only for Yamit 2000 club members! Oooooh! Exclusive! this dude saw me taking pictures of everything and asked me "What? not taking a picture of me?" So I took a picture of him Park blueprints! <3 Porn for cartographers like me.

Hey everyone! Those of you who have read a bunch of my posts on the site know how big of עrievance I have with most Israeli amusement parks (mostly because they're owned by the same company or they're too small to care about). One of the single exceptions to this rule is Yamit 2000 waterspark. It is a waterspark(that's what they insist on calling it) in the city of Holon that I have been visiting since I was a little kid, back when it had 3 magor slides. Now it has about 14 (Though it advertises it as 20 because one of them is a multi-lane slide...), and quite frankly I just keep loving the park more and more as time goes on. For three reasons: 1) It is one of the only parks in Israel that has rides that even come close to a global standard (and in some cases exceed it, seeing how the ride has a couple of unique things to it). 2) The wonderful service. I don't mean the ride ops, which are you regular underpaid chavs, I mean the gracious managment that listens to yo and takes care of problems. And even if they don't - they make it look like they are to make sure you enjoy your stay. LAst time we were there a slide was scratching my back, and as a general rule you're not allowed to slide with a shirt on - so I tod the manager, and he told the ride op let me wear the shirt on the slide. Also - a friend of mine forgot her swimsuit at home, so they got her a pair of swimming shorts from the lost and found so she can enjoy herself. Granted, it's a little gross but it beats the alternative of telling her "tough luck" and have her sit out all day. The absolute pinnacle of good service for me, though, was when I sent a long email full of notes and suggestions to the park manager, and he PERSONALLY CALLED me to comment on the email and, without me even prompting him, tell me all about his future plans for the park!!! (Among which was the area which is under construction int he photos below). Apparently he's also considering to put in over the next year or two (or three) a looping waterslide(though i am trying to convince him a proslide rocket is a better way to go), and a lazy river that has waves going around it. he also told me some more long term plans but those I'll keep to myself for now. (Just for comparison to other Israeli parks - Luna Park el Aviv YELLED at me to get the heck away from the park while I was standing OUTSIDE of it, simply because they thought I MIGHT have a camera in my backpack, which I might use to photograph the new rollercoaster which was already significantly visible from the outside of the park) 3) It's open 364 days a year (with the exception of Yom Kippur, where nobody works or drives) Well, enough ranting. to make a long story short: I've been telling the park manager about how I Work as a cartoonist and would love to draw a park map if he ever needs one. So now that the new children's play area is under construction he agreed! His secretary sent me some aerial photos of the park, and invited me for a behind the scenes look at the construction taking place! The park is open year round but since its off-season, only a very small section of it was operational, so it was like walking through a closed park. Off the bus and looking a the park! Whee! Always so exciting to see the slides tower off in the distance. The park's trademark roof over the indoor section, which is the original part of the park. The view from the entrance to the office and gym area over the indoor section. I remember the roof being different, though. more canvasy. Always gave this section of the park a beige hue. The small bucket structure on the right is new since I was last here. In it's place there used to be a small artificial mountain with what can only be described as a steep slip n' slide on one of its sides. It was fun but it always hurt a bit to finish sliding down it. At the right edge of the park is the cafeteria, which is hands down the bst cafeteria at any Israei park. On our way down the park manager's secretary took me through a backdoor passageway for employees only tha goes through the spa area and out to the area overlooking the relatively new section of the park with the space bowl (my favorite ride in the park), family racing slides, and most unique of all -the banana jump slides. they're about 3ft long and end in a mid air vertical drop This seemingly boring indoor section, which is the firstarea of the park, was the pinnacle of thrill for me when I was a little kid and came here with summer camp. approximately %85 ofall the kis at camp would be standing in line for that huge red slide at any given point in time. Its hard to tell form the picture, but that slide is the largest(diameter-wise) body slide I've ever seen. The ONLY thing that could tear people away from the slide was this - the vortex. To date it's still a ver unique ride, only found in very few parks around the world. Basically, it's an elevated jaccuzi(where we would usually sit and splash water at people below), and around it's base is a narrow corridor going in a circle with heavy currents that basically carry you around weather you want it or not(like a powrful lazy river) As kids we'd either let the currents carry us or try to brave he strength to walk against the current. It's real simple but if I ever own a park you bet I'm getting myself one of these babis. The corridor that leads to the indoor slide area. The park's first magor world-class expansion. The indoor slides are great for people wanting to it the waterpark in the off-season, there's heating everywhere, and they dont have any outdoor open areas. They lso don't end in a pool, but in these narrow troughs that always create a huge splash. As a mapmaker, I was trying to get shots that are more informative tan they a re pretty. The indoor lside tower has 3 slides - Black hole, a black body slide with a little light show flashing around you as you go down. A very popular attraction that I'm personally not oto fond of Amazonas - the only inner tube slide in the park. I don't know what it is with american parks and inner tube slides, but most Israeli parks only have one or two of them. And my personal favorite- the... uuuh... green one. It's a narrow radius body slide which is pretty steep and goes in a helix. None of thes slides are praticularly tall or long, but if I use my method for speed sliding on this one it pulls some G forces I'm used to only feeling on rollercoasters, and splashing so much water on my way down that I hve to hold my breath because I can't breathe. The REALLY new slide tower. Well, the tower itself isn't new, it used to house two of the park's three original waterslides (one of which was borng, but the other one I was really sad to see go because it was really unique), but now it hosts two speed slides and two slalom slides. Which is a goo thing because I think that's EXACTLY what the park needed when it built them. The speed slides dont have much of a slow-down area before they hit the pool. It's like being fired out of a cannon. Sometimes it even feels like you're skipping like a rock. The park's new mascot next to some chilling construction workers. It was really weird seeing this area with the pools drained. Made me want to climb into the slides and walk around. More photos coming up in a bit!

Haha, thanks, folks. It makes me really happy to hear how much you're enjoying it!

Wow, thanks, guys! It really means a lot to me to hear all that and I'm really glad you enjoyed it! Next shipment will go out right after the weekend.

I like that it seems to start off with a barrel-roll-half-loop combo! But, yeah, that layout seems painfully short.

^Not automatilcally, but if you ask for it in the speical instructions I can sign it for you and even write a little annotation if you want.