TPH

Archive for February, 2010

/ February 28, 2010

Gravity Group’s Timberliner Trains Could Be a Game Changer

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

/ February 27, 2010

Kings Dominion’s Intimidator 305 Construction + Test Video

UPDATE – 4/02/10 Intimidator 305′s open! Watch a POV video and leave or read a review here: Kings Dominion’s Intimidator 305 Reviews & POV Video 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

/ February 24, 2010

Crystal Wings | Most Wanted Roller Coasters

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

/ February 22, 2010

Presenting The Roller Coaster Wiki

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

/ February 12, 2010

Nara Dreamland | Abandoned Amusement Parks

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

/ February 9, 2010

Top Ten List-O-Rama!

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

/ February 5, 2010

Demon @ Six Flags Great America | Coaster Reviews

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

/ February 4, 2010

Six Flags Closes Kentucky Kingdom

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

/ February 2, 2010

The Final Countdown

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

/ February 1, 2010

Intimidator Construction Photos & Test Run Video

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