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• Texas Giant Goes Steel: Abomination or Giant Improvement?

  Written by The Coaster Critic 4 Comments
  Last Updated: March 9, 2010
  

  Six Flags’ Texas Giant Gets a Steel Makeover for 2011 For months we’ve known that Texas Giant was closed and would not be open until the 2011 season. It was pretty clear that Six Flags was going to give the 24 year old woodie some needed rehab and/or re-tracking. But recently it was announced that Rocky Mountain Construction Group is going to give Texas Giant a first-ever upgrade. The ...

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• Sky Rocket Construction Photos & Kennywood in the Snow

  Written by The Coaster Critic 11 Comments
  Last Updated: March 7, 2010
  

  Longtime reader Judy sent in these great shots of Kennywood. There are a number of cool images of the Pittsburgh area park after a recent snow storm. She also sent a few images that show the construction site for the park’s 2010 roller coaster, Sky Rocket. Although, it doesn’t appear like too much actual construction has taken place. They were taken on 2/27. #gallery-2 { mar...

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• Black Mamba | Most Wanted Roller Coasters

  Written by The Coaster Critic 19 Comments
  Last Updated: March 5, 2010
  

  This Bolliger & Mabillard low flying inverted coaster looks like a fun ride. Located at Phantasialand in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the African-themed coaster dives below the ground a number of times. It’s subterranean sections are reminiscent of Montu’s Egyptian-themed trenches and Nemesis’s low flight path. It appears to spend even more time underground than those two...

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• Stuff Coaster Enthusiasts Like | Theme Park Website Spotlight

  Written by The Coaster Critic 1 Comment
  Last Updated: March 3, 2010
  

  Normally I wouldn’t showcase a defunct website, but the eight posts on this short-lived blog are awesome. Stuff Coaster Enthusiasts Like is based on the popular blog Stuff White People Like that has inspired other sites and even books like Stuff Christians Like. They’re often written from a standpoint akin to a sociologist or someone studying the behavior of a group of people or a spe...

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• Gravity Group’s Timberliner Trains Could Be a Game Changer

  Written by The Coaster Critic 21 Comments
  Last Updated: February 28, 2010
  

  I’ll start by admitting that this is not a breaking story, but it does deserve a post. The Gravity Group is a wooden roller coaster design company. They’re a fairly young company, but they’ve churned out some amazing coasters in the past five years including Hades, Ravine Flyer II, Fireball (China’s first wooden coaster, and the top rated wooden roller coaster in the World,...

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• Kings Dominion’s Intimidator 305 Construction

  Written by The Coaster Critic 7 Comments
  Last Updated: February 27, 2010
  

  Intimidator 305: Intimidating Indeed King’s Dominion’s massive Giga coaster is nearing completion. Images on the official mini site (Intimidator 305 Kings Dominion.com) show the red steel track reaching 305 feet into the sky. Even with all of the images in photo gallery, it’s hard to conceive just how tall 300 feet is. I saw Intimidator at Carowinds in person last month and I was...

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• Crystal Wings | Most Wanted Roller Coasters

  Written by The Coaster Critic 7 Comments
  Last Updated: February 24, 2010
  

  Most Wanted Roller Coasters This week, I’m going to start a new feature called Most Wanted Coasters. I’m going to write about the roller coasters that I ‘d most like to ride one day. There are thousands of roller coasters around the World. While there are a number of rides that are identical to the rides at your local park, there are also quite a few roller coasters out there t...

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• Presenting The Roller Coaster Wiki

  Written by The Coaster Critic 30 Comments
  Last Updated: February 22, 2010
  

  In a World where roller coaster information was scattered throughout the Web, coaster enthusiasts had to do countless searches in order to do coaster research. Until, one day, a new website rose to the challenge with the help of an excellent group of resources. Now, there was hope. Now, there was the… Roller Coaster Wiki – The Roller Coaster Information Aggregator So what’s in t...

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• Nara Dreamland | Abandoned Amusement Parks

  Written by The Coaster Critic 13 Comments
  Last Updated: February 12, 2010
  

  Nara Dreamland: Former Disneyland Knock-Off, Now Creepy Abandoned Amusement Park As I was doing research for The Final Project! (insert Europe’s “Final Countdown” music here), I came across the enigma that was Nara Dreamland. It was a Disneyland clone in Japan that closed a few years ago. From looking at a photo trip report from Theme Park Review, I’m not surprised that it ...

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• Top Ten List-O-Rama!

  Written by The Coaster Critic 25 Comments
  Last Updated: February 9, 2010
  

  It seems like coaster enthusiasts stay sane in the off-season by doing polls, top tens, awards, and coaster/ride tournaments. Even I’m starting to get a little tired of them at this point. But, Brady over at the LA Time Funland Blog has done something a little different. He created his top tens based on a panel of coaster ‘experts’ (including me!). The panel includes such lumin...

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• Demon @ Six Flags Great America | Coaster Reviews

  Written by The Coaster Critic 18 Comments
  Last Updated: February 5, 2010
  

  A few years ago I ventured out to Chicago for a Six Flags Great America-Wisconsin Dells trip. The main attraction of the Great America visit was the B&M hyper coaster Raging Bull. But, it was almost overshadowed by my surprisingly fun rides on Demon. Riding decades-old Arrow loopers is generally an unenjoyable, ho-hum kind of experience where you’re happy to come away with a ride credit....

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• Six Flags Closes Kentucky Kingdom

  Written by The Coaster Critic 13 Comments
  Last Updated: February 4, 2010
  

  Six Flags announced today that they will close their Louisville, Kentucky park known as Kentucky Kingdom due to a disagreement over the lease for the land that the park is located on. Here’s part of the official statement: Six Flags announced today that as it nears the scheduled end of its restructuring process, it has decided to reject its lease with the Kentucky State Fair Board relating t...

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• The Final Countdown

  Written by The Coaster Critic 12 Comments
  Last Updated: February 2, 2010
  

  So if you’ve been reading the blog for a while you know that I’m not one to shy away from shameless self-promotion. If you’re not going to talk up and promote your work, who will? You may remember the countdown to Eleven 99, the launch of Theme Park Syndicate (the Digg-like version & the current news feed version), mentions of Projects X & Y, the release of Coaster Portal...

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• Intimidator Construction Photos & Test Run Video

  Written by The Coaster Critic 27 Comments
  Last Updated: February 1, 2010
  

  I went to Plaza Fiesta with my family about a week ago. It’s an indoor shopping mall with a huge kids play area and arcade. It just so happens to be located across the street from Carowinds. So, while we were there I ran across the street and took a few pictures of Intimidator from a far. These aren’t the greatest ‘construction’ photos, but it’s still a look at the ...

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• Roller Coasters on the Move in 2010

  Written by The Coaster Critic 13 Comments
  Last Updated: January 29, 2010
  

  Everyone does a ‘New Roller Coasters List’ (my official Top 10 of 2010 is coming up), but what about the new-ish roller coasters. Quite often there’s a shell game happening behind the scenes with rides and roller coasters being swapped, recycled, re-themed, and given a new life at a different park. Just like used cars, or should I say ‘pre-owned’, they’re new to...

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