-Zingo-

Had a couple of Stoudts brews to try so I decided tonight would be a Stoudts night. Next up, their Double IPA. I'm definately picking up more double IPA's when I visit Total Wine this weekend. These beers really kick my ass as I'm not used to the higher ABV. Having said that, I really enjoy them and wish I could find more of them here in S. Florida. First up, The American Pale Ale. This is a great beer, very balanced and one I could drink all night. I'll have to pick up a sixer of this and Anchor's Liberty Ale, these are great beers to introduce friends to craft brews.

Well I held off on Big Bear Brewing Company this weekend since my brother will be in town next weekend and I know he'll want to visit there. I did have a Key West Sunset Ale saturday night at Aruba's down on the beach. It was much better on tap then the bottle I tried last week. One just wasn't enough after a tough day at work, so I followed that up with a DFH 60 minute IPA. My favorite IPA so far, although now that Bell's brewery is available in Florida I'm really looking forward to trying a Two Hearted Ale. Tonight I started with an Anchor Liberty Ale. I really enjoyed this and can see why this brewery is so popular, I definately need to try more from them. Last night I tried another local offering, A Hurricane Reef Pale Ale also brewed by The Florida Beer Company. It was mildly hoped for an APA but not bad for a Florida brewery.

T.G.I.F. and as a bonus there's pre-season football on the tube. I think I'm going to check out the only real brewery in the area tomorrow, Big Bear Brewing Company in Coral Springs. I want to try their Hibernation Pale Ale and Kodiak Belgian Dubbel. Next up, Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout. Can't go wrong with anything from Samuel Smith. While I prefer a hopier beer, nothing beats the aroma of sweet malts. Started tonight with Boulder Beer's Sweaty Betty Blonde, an American Wheat Ale. Pretty disappointed with this one. Too light and watered down for my taste.

I've got a couple of days to catch up on here. I closed a huge sale today that I've been working on for almost 2 months, since it's a Thursday I figured I'd celebrate at home by trying my 1st Double IPA. Tonight was all about the Double IPA. Consider me hooked, I loved it. I think I have a new favorite style of beer. Thanks to everyone here for all the IPA reviews, keep 'em coming so I know what to look for. Next I continued my IPA sampling with Flying Dog's Snake Dog IPA. I think the DFH 60 Minute is better but I really enjoyed this as well. I'm very impressed with this brewery. They may not make the best of any particular style but I've enjoyed every thing of theirs that I've tried. Last night I started with a Hefe I had been wanting to try. Penn Brewing Company's Penn-Weisen. Unfortunately I think I got an old bottle, it tasted a little flat. I'll have to try and find a fresher one sometime.

Lighthouse Keeper - Cross Canadian Ragweed

Mondays suck! I decided to try something a little more local tonight. Key West Sunset Ale brewed in Melbourne by The Florida Beer Company. "The Original Beer Of The Conch Republic" - Sounds like a gimmick beer to me, needless to say expectations were low. Meh, it was an ok Amber. It is served on tap at a lot of local restaurants down here. I'll have to try one next time I have a chance. I'd much rather by local and this might be a decent option considering all the places that have B.M.C. and Tropical syndrome down here.

1952 Vincent Black Lightning - Richard Thompson

Made a quick trip over to Boomers to get some rides on The Dania Beach Hurricane, the best coaster in Florida IMO. Then it was off to Total Wine to pick up some craft brews. As a side note, I'm really glad I stumbled onto this thread. I was having bad luck trying a lot of new beers at random but after reading though this thread, I've been buying stuff that I've seen recommended on here. What a difference a little insight makes because I haven't been disappointed since. Wow, what an awesome beer. I really gotta try more of these IPA's. I've wanted to try more IPA's and this one seems to be a favorite around here. It's no Weihenstephaner but it's a good back-up until the next shipment comes in. Nothing beats a Hefe-Weisen after a day in the sun. Airtime Heaven Welcome to the best coaster in Florida.

Great TR. Although I must say I'm glad I ate before I viewed it.

Sixgun - Reckless Kelly

The weekend is finally here, time for relaxation, beer and (if I get the chance to head over to Boomers tomorrow night) coasters. You can always count on Samuel Smith. I had forgotten how great this smelled and it tastes even better. Next Up - Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale It started off pretty well but very quickly started to taste watered down. Hefe-Weisen Light is the 1st thing that came to mind. While that's a bad thing while drinking at home, I think I found a great option for the next time I head to the beach or spend a day out in the sun. 1st up tonight - Harpoon Brewery's UFO Hefeweizen.

Being someone who likes to try different brews, I figured it was time I posted in here. I'm a big fan of Hefe-Weisen's myself but after trying my 1st IPA tonight, I'm looking forward to trying more. As a side note, I learned that being short and fat can make self photos difficult. It's the 1st IPA I've tried so I have nothing to judge it against. Having said that I really liked it and will definately be trying more. Next up - an Avery IPA While the label says both Hefe-Weisen and Wheat Ale, it's definately a wheat ale in my book. I thought it was great and at $6.99 a six-pack I'll definately being having more of these. First up tonight - Flying Dog's In-Heat Wheat

Robb - Thanks for all your effort in posting the updates. They were great as always and very appreciated. Rich

I'm 34, My 1st coaster was either Zingo or Wildcat at Bell's in Tulsa. It's funny looking back on them, I remember as a kid wishing I lived closer to bigger park that had bigger and faster coasters. All along I had a great John Allen Woodie and a small Schwarzkopf Steel coaster in my own back yard.

Just a reminder that this airs tonight. As far as the challenge goes it looks like they have to either read clue information or search for their next clue while on the rides. Should be interesting.

How many parks are within a 2 hour drive?! zero - Orlando is about 3 1/2 hours away and Tampa is 5 hours away - even farther if your coming from Miami. Another thing to consider when your talking about driving from Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area to the Orlando parks is that the turnpike fees are almost $20 each way. Now granted those are serious destinations that alot of people spend alot of money to visit. However when you live down here and you just want to spend a day at an amusement park your looking at dropping $175 - $200. It's kind of a catch-22, we can visit some very nice parks for alot cheaper than most tourists pay to visit there but it's also our only option. We don't have the luxory of of visiting a local park that would make it alot more affordable especially for a family of four.

There really isn't alot of space to expand anymore. There is the large field right next to the DBH but really the only coaster style I could see fitting in that field would be a boomerang / deja vu type coaster or maybe a shuttle loop. The only other large section of land would be the area across the street where the go-carts are located. I don't see them adding another coaster. The DBH is privately owned as it is and is just operated by Boomers through a contract agreement. One thing they could do is turn the place into a permanent carnival type park by adding some flat rides in the field next the coaster.

DBH is running great and as smooth as ever.

I got off work a little early yesterday so I went over to Boomers for a couple of hours. I noticed they were adding a few kiddie rides last time I was there, so I decided to bring the camera along. Here's a few photos. The DBH heading down the 1st hill DBH in the turn-about between the station and lift hill here's a picture from last year showing the old kiddie rides that were replaced the new swings - the whole area is still fenced off, looks like they just poured the new pavement the new rides - you can see The Blender (the park's other thrill ride) sitting behind them veiw of the DBH layout from the top of the 1st hill - you can see how close the coaster sits to I-95 Dania Beach Hurricane entrance a veiw from the parking lot - Boomers has a massive 4 course mini-golf layout between the main arcade building and the coaster and just for TPR - a shot of the often talked about Percussion Master

Miami/Ft Lauderdale - population of over 5 mill and a huge tourist destination yet we have no amusement park.

The video worked fine for me yesterday but I just tried it again twice and it caused my browser (Internet Explorer) to crash both times. It went to the video page and then just froze up and finally gave a pop up that said IE has encountered a problem and needs to shut down. Personally I prefer downloads rather then streaming because I watch the videos often and it's easier when it's on my drive, plus it only uses your bandwidth once. Now that work has picked up again hopefully I can buy a few of the dvd's and watch them in full quality. Maybe even make it to a few parks this year and upload some of my own videos.

Mine has to be Bell's in Tulsa, as my screen name and avatar should give away. Zingo is a great John Allen woodie and the park being family owned gives it that relaxed feeling. It has lost some of it's charm over the past several years though with the loss of the Schwarzkopf mini-coater Wildcat and the remoldeling of Phantasmagoria. I'm not sure what to think of the fact that the park maybe moved. I love the idea of them having more space to expand but I hope it doesn't mean the end of another J. Allen classic. I need to make a trip back to Tulsa this year so I can ride it again just in case.

The local news just reported that a 49-year-old woman died in the hospital today. She fell ill after riding Mission Space yesterday. Here's a link with more info. http://www2.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/MI18649/

I just wish someone would open a theme park in south Florida. I live 10 mins from The Dania Beach Hurricane @ Boomers but you would think with all the people living down here that we'd have a real park.