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Manta @ SeaWorld Orlando | Roller Coaster Review
Manta - SeaWorld Orlando's New Signature Attraction After the eight hour drive down to Orlando for the Manta Grand Opening and Media Day, I was hoping to not be disappointed and thankfully I wasn't. It was my first time to SeaWorld, but right away I recognized that I was at a Busch-owned theme park. The park was clean and beautifully-themed. Manta is the much-hyped flying roller coaster that I first blogged about some 13 months ago. Manta's station was integrated with a really cool manta exhibit. The exhibit was accessible guests without having to enter the ride's queue. If you've never seen a ...
Drachen Fire @ Busch Gardens | Defunct Roller Coasters
A Look Back at the Legendary Drachen Fire at Busch Gardens Drachen Fire was an infamous roller coaster that lived in the Rhineland, Germany section of Busch Gardens Williamsburg from 1992 to 1998. While it had a short run, it's easily one of the most well-known defunct coasters in past years. I will relay the background story I've seen several times on the coaster enthusiast circuit. I have no way of validating the B&M involvement part of the story. But here's the folklore of Drachen Fire, the most famous defunct coaster of the past twenty years. The story began when Busch planned ...
Top Thrill Dragster vs. Kingda Ka | Roller Coaster Showdown
Twin Peaks: Kingda Ka vs. Top Thrill Dragster One of the most common comparisons in enthusiastland involves the two tallest and fastest roller coasters on Earth. It's like Everest and K2. They are very similar strata coasters that launch riders from 0 to 100+ miles per hour in a matter of seconds. They both take riders over 400 feet into the air only to send them spiraling back down to Earth. Since Six Flags Great Adventure's Kingda Ka was built second, it bested Top Thrill Dragster's 420' peak by 36 feet and added a second 129' hill. Thanks to a rainy ...
Intimidator 305 Opens: POV Video, Reviews, & a Poll
The highly anticipated Intimidator 305 opens to the public today at Kings Dominion (near Richmond, VA). At 305' or about 30 stories tall, it is one of the tallest roller coasters in the U.S. and the World. Its little brother Intimidator at Carowinds opened last week. They both bear the nickname of the legendary NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt and feature racing themes. Intimidator 305 seems to emphasize speed and banked turns where Intimidator is packed with airtime camel back-shaped hills. Intimidator 305 vs. Millennium Force It only took a few hours for the obvious comparisons to Millennium Force to start. Millennium Force ...
Tatsu @ Six Flags Magic Mountain | Coaster Reviews
My trip out West to Los Angeles brought me to the state's largest theme park, Six Flags Magic Mountain. While X2 was a big draw, the co-main event had to be Tatsu. I got off the world's largest flying coaster in awe of another masterpiece from Bolliger & Mabillard. Located near the top of Samurai Summit stood Tatsu. The massive 170' tall, 3,600 foot long red and yellow dragon has redefined what a flying coaster can be. Riders 'fly' face down through a high-flying twisted path. Flying roller coasters are becoming more common these days, but for now I think it's ...
How to Overcome A Fear of Roller Coasters
Pete Trabucco has a new book out called: America’s Top Roller Coasters & Amusement Parks: A Guide for Those Who Ride Them & Tips for Those Who Fear Them. I’ve seen a ton theme park and roller coaster books in my time, but I can’t recall one that had tips for people who were feared roller coasters. Believe it or not, I was scared of roller coasters until I was a teenager, so I can sympathize with those who don’t have the stomach for the thrill machines. Over the years that I’ve been blogging, numerous people have contacted me with ...
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Coaster Stock 2010 Recap Pt. 1: Morning ERT & My Intro to Flyers
Coaster Stock Part 1: Morning ERT Carowinds’ roller coaster enthusiast event Coaster Stock kicked off with morning ERT (exclusive ride time). Hours before the park was open to the public, we had Afterburn, Woodstock Gliders, Lucy’s Crabby Cabbie & Flying Ace Aerial Chase all to ourselves. Are you wondering why three of the four rides are located in Planet Snoopy (the park’s chil...
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Amusement Park Tips for Overweight Guests
According to WebMD the percent of Americans who are obese has now reached 26%. And, the percent who are either obese or overweight is now at an alarming 63%. This trend means that more and more guests will be too large to be safely seated on some theme park attractions. If restraints like lap bars and over-the-shoulder harnesses do not fit correctly, riders could be in danger. Last month, guests w...
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MSNBC’s 10 Gut-Churning Attractions
MSNBC.com’s 10 Gut-Churning Attractions – Amusement Park Rides For the Emetically Immune Recently, I was interviewed by MSNBC.com for an article about extreme thrill rides and roller coasters. I came up with a list, but the writer only chose a few of them. He also chose a few rides from Robb Alvey of Theme Park Review and Robert Niles of Theme Park Insider That’s some great comp...
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Most Wanted Roller Coasters: Expedition GeForce – World’s Best Coaster?
This edition of Most Wanted Roller Coasters takes us to Germany for the roller coaster some believe to be the Best in the World. Holiday Park’s Expedition GeForce has been battling it out with the United State’s Bizarro at Six Flags New England ( formerly Superman: Ride of Steel) for years. In the past five years of Mitch Hawker’s Internet Coaster Poll Expedition GeForce has tie...
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New B&M Concept Will Debut on X-Raptor at Gardaland in 2011
There’s been talk for years about a new Bolliger & Mabillard roller coaster type. Last week, the rumors about the ride’s design were confirmed as Italian theme park Gardaland released an image of their 2011 roller coaster X-Raptor. Gardaland is pleased to introduce a spectacular new attraction in 2011: X-Raptor – the most extreme roller coasters, the flight that defies limi...
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Roller Coaster For Sale: Still No Buyers for the Big Dipper
Big Dipper is the sole survivor of the now defunct Geauga Lake Amusement Park in North Eastern Ohio. In 2007, Cedar Fair closed the amusement park while keeping the adjacent water park, Wildwater Kingdom, open. Several of the park’s largest roller coasters found new homes and others were scrapped. Thunderhawk migrated to Michigan’s Adventure, Head Spin transformed into Carolina Cobra a...
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Woman Dies After Fall From Roller Coaster
Last weekend, a woman fell from a roller coaster called Xtreme at Dixie Landin’ Family Theme Park in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Before the accident, 21-year old Lindsay Zeno was seen trying to pull her restraint down as she was riding. Soon after, she fell 30 feet to the ground. Local government officials checked out the ride and reported that there didn’t appear to be anything wrong wi...
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Swamp Fox @ Family Kingdom | Roller Coaster Reviews
I remember reading somewhere that during the first Golden Age of Roller Coasters the most dangerous roller coasters were the most popular. When a roller coaster got a reputation of sending riders to the hospital the queues overflowed. Guests would line up for a hours to brave the ride. I witnessed a modern day microcosm of this when I noticed Swamp Fox’s longer than usual wait for the back s...
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Top 3 Arrow Design Failures
For this week’s Top 3 Thursday, Aric Davis takes a look at Arrow’s three biggest design failures. Prepare for an entertaining history lesson. Give just about any historical subject a long look in the rearview mirror, and you’re going to see some ugliness. Some things are worse than others of course, but for every VHS player, there is a Video Disc unit, clinging to the unfortunate sh...
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Bert the Conqueror Episode Recaps
Bert the Conqueror is a new show on the Travel Channel where comedian Bert Kreischer faces all kinds of extreme challenges from crazy home-grown thrills and local traditions to modern thrill machines at the Nation’s largest and smallest amusement parks. We enthusiasts get a taste of roller coasters every summer on a cable channel or two. But usually it’s via some kind of 1 hour program...
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Carowinds Coaster Stock to Feature B&M Engineer
Aspiring roller coaster designers should take note. Not only will Carowinds’ roller coaster enthusiast event, Coaster Stock, feature plenty of ERT (Exclusive Ride Time), but the event will also feature a rare opportunity to talk with a roller coaster designer. Recently, the park announced that Bob Mampe from Bolliger & Mabillard will be on-hand to take questions. Here’s the full i...
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Maverick @ Cedar Point | Roller Coaster Reviews
Aric Davis is a working writer, body piercer, and the author of From Ashes Rise. He rarely updates his website, www.aricdavis.com, but plans to someday. When not writing, Aric can be found riding rollercoasters, playing hockey, listening to punk rock and knocking holes in people. If you’re at a park in the Midwest and see a guy covered in tattoos with really big ear piercings, it’s pro...
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Theme Park Coupons, Discounts, & Deals
Old Six Flags Coupon I almost never pay full price admission when I go to theme parks. Either I have a season pass or I find a coupon at a local fast food chain, pharmacy, or grocery store. As I do every year, I’m going to devote a space where people can share the theme park coupons and deals that they’ve found. This year I’d like to organize it better by creating a searchable ta...
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Sky Rocket Test Video
Kennywood’s Sky Rocket looks to be about ready to open. As you can see from the video below the coaster has had test runs: As I said in my previous posts, I think Sky Rocket will be a strong addition to Kennywood’s loopless lineup. It will boast all of the ingredients of a solid modern looper. Elements include a launch, two vertical drops, a corkscrew and a barrell roll. The twisting ...
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Top 3 Scariest Roller Coasters (X-Men Edition?)
Reader, Merle, suggested that I list my Top 3 Scariest Roller Coasters for Top 3 Thursdays. After riding so many roller coasters, I don’t typically get scared. Even on coasters that I’ve never ridden I generally know what to expect. But, as I thought about it I remembered a few moments that stuck out in my mind as pretty scary or unnerving. As I compiled my list I noticed an unintent... -
Chang Could Replace Great American Scream Machine at Great Adventure
Chang may not be opening at Six Flags Great America (near Chicago) as everyone had thought. Rumors have the stand-up roller coaster moving to Six Flags Great Adventure (Jackson, NJ), arguably the company’s flagship theme park. The rumor also has Chang replacing the Arrow looper, Great American Scream Machine. Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom’s Chang started coming down last winter only to re...
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2010 Theme Park Trips
Summer officially begins in just a few days and it’s the height of the theme park season. This will be a slow year for me as we’ve got a young one at home and we’re still adapting to life with two kids. There’s a chance that I’ll make it back to Kings Dominion. Perhaps fittingly, I could be returning to my home park where it all started to ride my 200th roller coaster and Int...
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Holiday World President Will Koch Passes Away
Sunday night, Holiday World President Will Koch passed away. While I don’t know him personally, I do know what Holiday World has done in the past few decades. Since he took over the reins the park has transformed from a small regional park to an amusement park with national recognition in the enthusiast community. On my visit to Holiday World in 2006, I not only got to experience the maratho...
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Bert the Conqueror Takes on Roller Coasters
Last Summer, we had the game show Brain Rush where contestants were asked questions while riding Knotts Berry Farms’ roller coasters. This year, the Travel Channel has launched Bert the Conqueror. Here’s a description: Thrill-seeker Bert Kreischer takes viewers to the legendary events, competitions and adrenaline rushes that celebrate local culture. He experiences the most hilariously...
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Thrill Seeker App Video Blog & Review
Today, I’m launching one of my new features, video blogs. For my first episode I reviewed the Thrill Seeker App for the iPhone and iPod Touch. It’s a bit long as it’s basically a video version of the text version of the review below. Future video blogs will be shorter and (hopefully) more polished. It’s a little rough, but I had fun making it. Enjoy and let me know your tho...
- Coaster Stock 2010 Recap Pt. 1: Morning ERT & My Intro to Flyers
- Amusement Park Tips for Overweight Guests
- MSNBC’s 10 Gut-Churning Attractions
- Most Wanted Roller Coasters: Expedition GeForce – World’s Best Coaster?
- New B&M Concept Will Debut on X-Raptor at Gardaland in 2011
- Roller Coaster For Sale: Still No Buyers for the Big Dipper
- Woman Dies After Fall From Roller Coaster
- Swamp Fox @ Family Kingdom | Roller Coaster Reviews
- Top 3 Arrow Design Failures
- Bert the Conqueror Episode Recaps
- Gearhart on Coaster Stock 2010 Recap Pt. 1: Morning ERT & My Intro to Flyers
- Surya on Busch Gardens Tampa’s 2011 Roller Coaster
- Surya on Top 3 Arrow Design Failures
- Surya on Amusement Park Tips for Overweight Guests
- Surya on La Ronde Attacked by Sea Monster Ednör
- Piedude81 on Bert the Conqueror Episode Recaps
- Piedude81 on Raging Bull @ Six Flags Great America
- Defunct Roller Coasters (13)
- Editorials & Rants (39)
- Exclusive Features! (40)
- Interviews (5)
- Memorable Coaster Moments (7)
- Most Wanted Roller Coasters (4)
- Roller Coaster News (106)
- Roller Coaster Reviews (79)
- Roller Coaster Showdowns (7)
- Theme Park News (163)
- Theme Park Reviews (9)
- Theme Park Tips (13)
- Theme Park Website Spotlights (7)
- Top 3 Thursdays (36)
- Trip Reports (24)
