steel

Yes, I definitely think Adventureland is under-rated. Probably not as much as some others, simply because I do visit all the time, but I think it does deserve more attention than it gets. Dragon is truly awful, and Tornado isn't quite was it used to be, but the feel of the park is very cozy, they have amazing mini-donuts, and Space Shot, Sidewinder, and (especially) Outlaw are fabulous rides. And it's got a Bingo parlor. Who doesn't like Bingo? On another note, I once heard that Mike Boodley helped design Outlaw before GCI. Am I insane?

One word: Oronga. No offense, but that coaster was bad. The layout didn't make sense, it was way too big for the park, the colors looked weird. It was a great idea to add a floorless, but it just didn't turn out as well as it could have. Good theme, though. I tend to shy away from overly massive or unrealistic parks. Oronga put HHE in both categories. Again, I meant no offense by this. Purely constructive criticism. This is one of my favorite RCT3 parks ever (third to two of your other parks).

Careful, there are folks who will tell you that your opinion is WRONG if you don't adore Ky Rumbler. I'm not one of them. I thought it was kinda fun, but fairly lame. It seemed like there was a lot of potential there that was untapped. Meh. Wow, I thought I was alone. I was too afraid to voice my opinion about Rumbler until now. It may have had something to do with the fact that I was on doctor's orders to wear an eyepatch that day or the fact that I had recently gotten a piece of metal taken out of my eye with a drill or the fact that the eyepatch was making me feel faint, but even in the back row, I didn't find it all that exciting. I really need to get back to Beech Bend. My experience there was not good, and it had nothing to do with the park. There are so many of these under-rated coasters that I agree with. Flight of Fear is awesome, especially with the lights on. Deja Vu is way more fun than you might think. Maverick is my #2 coaster (imagine that, all of my top three coasters have been mentioned in this thread) and the only reason it isn't #1 is its OTSRs. I'm always up for a ride on Disaster Transport. Nice thread.

Hydra - If you sit in or near the back, the ride is quite forceful and much smoother than you might think. Good airtime throughout the ride. Jojo roll is fantastic. Steel Force and Mamba - I LOVED Steel Force. It ran really fast and packed in a bunch of fantastic airtime. The MCBR wasn't even that strong. Mamba is basically a slightly extended version of Steel Force. The air on Mamba's second hill is incredible and the positives in the helix are very under-appreciated. I won't bore you any more with my thoughts about Voyage, but I will say that I do love it. It's my number four coaster and I don't see it moving any time soon. Please, though, go ride it in row 3 and you'll see exactly why I say it's so rough. I was unlucky enough to take my first ride on it in that row and it almost put me off Gravity Groups forever.

--$.02-- I really think it must depend on the day there. I had the absolute worst experience at that park that I have ever had. None of the employees were helpful, all of them were lazy, slow, and ineffecient, and they had very cold dispositions. Their excuse was that "it was too hot" that day. I couldn't wait to get out. The staff wasn't the only problem, either. The park seemed to be in a dismal state of disrepair, as though it had been ignored for years. We saw chipped and faded paint on more than a few buildings. Twisted Twins was boring, Chang was fairly mediocre, Greezed Lightnin' was slow, RRE was braked to death, S:ToP chopped off a girl's feet not long after we left, and T2 was the single worst roller coaster ever. The only good thing in that parking lot of a park was Thunder Run (remembering, of course, that I did not get a chance to ride Deluge). Like I said, though, from the trip reports I've seen, it all depends on the day. Which, IMO, is not the mark of a great park. Staff should be on every day, not just the select few with perfect weather. --$.02-- Back to topic now... -MF - Why does everyone suddenly hate Millennium Force? It's still my favorite coaster, and it likely will be for quite a while. Those of you who argue that it's forceless: not only have I greyed out at the bottom of the first drop just about every time I've ridden it, I get substantial floater air over every hill. On top of that, it has absolutely awesome speed and a really unbeatable view. -Patriot - For some reason, the general coaster community decided that this was a clone of Talon, and therefore was going to be awful. That never made sense to me. Patriot is my number five coaster. Talon is one of my least favorites. I feel like I'm flying on Patriot. Every element is perfect, and the ride is silk smooth. The zero-g roll is out-done only by Maverick's first drop. I could ride Patriot for days on end without getting bored. -Beast - OMG, SHUT UP ALREADY! Yes, I understand that you all think it's slow and rough and stupid and not as good as it used to be. I don't really care. A night ride in the front row of Beast is what I want heaven to be like. That sensation of sheer speed. I can't get enough of it. I don't see how it's slow at all. Yeah, it does lose most of its speed on the big trim, but it gains quite a big chunk of it back before the tunnel, and nearly all of it before the second lift. And the helix makes me feel five years old. It's so much fun. I don't even find it rough at all. To me, bounce does not equal rough. Shake equals rough. Jar equals rough. Bounce equals a rickety old classic roaring through the trees at 10:00 pm. Who doesn't love a rickety old classic? I'm sick of people whining about how rough this ride is and then turning around and calling Voyage "violently intense." That's s pretty huge load of crap. Voyage is WAY rougher than Beast, no matter where you sit. The real reason, though, that I rank Beast higher than Voyage is its infinite re-rideability. A person can stand three, maybe four rides on Voyage in a row without a short break. It exhausts you (which is great for a while). Beast, on the other hand, will give you a great ride time after time without tiring you too much. Well, I think I've ranted enough for tonight. I could go on and on and on, but I think this will do.

This isn't the greatest video, but gives you an idea of the amount of space there is to work with. Central IA Coasters 011.mpg Tornado is to the left of the shot and the end of the park is to the right. It's more than big enough for a "water feature," but not nearly big enough for a water park. I suppose if they took a leaf out of Holiday World's book and built around Outlaw, they could just barely fit something in.

I wish that could happen, but there really isn't enough room. It's a very confined plot of land. One side has Outlaw, one side has the park's boundary, one side has the road, and one side has Tornado. There's a huge field on the other side of said road, but I can't see Adventureland ever buying it. The other great thing about this addition is that guests will finally be able to see the back side of Outlaw without riding it.

Finally, Adventureland is doing something with that enormous space behind Outlaw. From http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071107/ALTOONA01/711070402/1144/ALTOONA "Adventureland Park will be the place for visitors to cool off next summer. A water feature is being planned at the previous circus site. "It's an all-age attraction," said advertising and public relations director Molly Vincent. "The whole area will be called Adventure Island. It's an entirely new area to the park at the south end." One feature is a shallow pool area called Kokomo Kove that will feature play equipment. Vincent said, "In the water play area there will be seven different slides and 90 play features. There are hundreds of ways to get wet." Although not a "water park," the area offers a way for guests to relax and cool off on the hottest summer days when visiting the park. With over 250 lounge chairs, the shallow pool and concrete deck will accommodate up to 1,000 people. "We're excited about it," Vincent said. "It's something we've never done before and I think it's a neat direction." In addition to the water feature, plans call for the addition of three buildings to the new section of the park, including space for retail and food vendors, a locker room and changing area. The 1.5-acre area will have an island theme with thatched roofs. "I think it's the biggest addition to the park since Outlaw Gulch," Vincent said. "There's 50,000 square feet of concrete." Work recently started on the new area. Vincent said they hope the water feature will open by Memorial Day in 2008. "It will be a great reason to come to Adventureland and rest and cool off on a hot summer day," Vincent said." I think this is a fantastic idea for this park. It isn't the B&M invert I keep hoping for, but it'll certainly do. The construction site is right next to a road, so I will try to get pictures periodically.

As much as I hate that this is happening, and as much as I loved Camp Snoopy, and even though I grew up with this park, I do expect this renovation to turn out in a very positive way. Although the sacrifice of the Paul Bunyan theme on PBLC and the name "Orange Streak" make me want to rip my eyeballs out and feed them to a racoon, I think I'll survive.

Cornball Express... *drool* Here's to hoping that this addition will exceed these preliminary expectations.

^OMG, I thought I was the only one. They're fun, but also annoyingly forceless (obviously not completely - IMO, the larger they are, the more forceless they seem). And the gargantuan harnesses make it impossible to see anything except what's right in front of you. I want Hurtle back. *pouts*

Wow, that looks fantastic. That's one of the best layouts I've seen in a long time. Quick side note to whoever it was who said GCIs don't have laterals: go ride Renegade. If that doesn't convince you, just look at Renegade. Perfect example of a changing company.

Cut two floors off the hotel and it'll look fantastic. The entrance is one of the best I've seen in years. Keep up the good work.

Fantastic work. That captures the intensity of Maverick better than any other video I've seen. I'll be investing in the full project.

Big deal, sky rides stop all the time, lol.

No, you're right, they're totally pointless. Our lives are not in any way bettered by them. There aren't even awards or anything (although if you ride enough, you might swipe a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records). But I do enjoy counting and I don't like it when I don't get a credit or when people disagree about what's a credit and what isn't (Racers are two, Mobius' are one, Firehawk doesn't count if you've ridden X-Flight, etc.).

Exactly. Any idiot who knows a little basic physics can see how stupid that is.

Holy funbuckets, that's sexy.

Thank you. God, that annoys me so much. That's nothing close ot a legit complaint. That is nit-picking at its finest.

I have never had less fun on a roller coaster than when I rode Talon. It was terribly rough, I greyed out several times, there was no airtime to speak of, my legs were in horrible pain, and I had an awful headache for an hour afterward. WTF is the appeal in that?

I realize that. To me, it seemed like he was asking for parks up north that operate year-round and those were the ones I could think of. And there's the obvious draw of new credits, I suppose.

Yeah, really, if you're up north already, just go to MoA (or WEM if you wish).

My dream job is "guinea-pigging" Dragster. That almost always rolls back before it opens.

Um, no, I haven't, because that's not at all what TPR does. The only strictly members-only content is videos. Anyone can access construction pictures and stuff like that.

Yeah, it's over-rated. It's definately in my top three, and the staff is unbeatable, but I liked BGE much more. And Legend is not all that.