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More pictures of the hypercoaster construction where more work is being done on the inverted loop and with more tracks added it's beginning to take shape. Also, a little bit of work around the lift hill.

Fountain.

No worrys champ i got ya

Note to moderators: Can you please edit the Thread title to just "Coaster Hipster's Trip Reports"? I wanted to change the title as I post new TRs but it seems I can't edit titles. Part 3: Fraispertuis City During several trips along with other French goons, Fraispertuis City regularly popped up in discussions about how charming the park is and how passionate its manager, Patrice Fleurent, can be about the coaster industry. Unfortunately the park is located deep into the Vosges valley and quite far away from Paris and any public transportation. However an opportunity to finally visit the place came up with a enthusiast meeting on June 10th! Some very efficient and dedicated organisation meant I was able to get a car sharing drive there. I was very excited indeed to join other fans and discover this acclaimed little park. We arrived at the entrance a little before opening. The whole park has a western/American theming which surprinigly fits very well into the thick and hilly forest of the Vosges. You can see both main thrill rides from the ticket booth line actually! Timber Drop held the steepest drop record for a short month (Takabisha took the distinction since) and is now joined by Golden Driller, an Intamin drop tower which I'll extensively cover later... Even if the pretends the be your typical French jerk on this pic, the middle fingers guy is actually a cool guy! One cannot hate a Taron fan anyway... We went inside the pizzeria restaurant to eat a little snack. Mr Fleurant greeted us with a short speech and some good news: the four sides of Golden Driller would be operating that day! We thus were among the first to get a taste of the floorless and stand-up versions of the ride. Right from the start I enjoyed the openess and care Fraispertuis' manager demonstrated towards his park and their enthusiasts. Since an ERT on the drop tower were scheduled for us at the end of the day, we were in no rush to try the attraction. The group and I went for a tour of the park instead. The park is pretty with well integrated rides, some foliage all around the place and arguably very decent theming. The dark brown colour looks nice and original on a drop tower! Each side is operating separately, which means you can hear riders on another car screaming during their fall while your car is going upwards. That's actually a good way to build your excitement when you're climbing up the tower A pretty cool sign displaying all four ride positions. Note that the sitting sides are accessible for people over 1.2m (4ft) tall. This was a deliberate choice by the park to appeal to young but brave children! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogCMGcyO4UM I started with the stand-up floorless position which grants a nice view of the little... Soquet coaster and its neat canyon theming. I like how the vertical lift speeds up midway through the ascent and the 20° tilt at the tops does spice up the experience a bit, especially with such a pretty sight. I hope you don't mind some French goons commenting over the footage Timber Drop stands out from other El Loco with its creative tree theming. It is well executed and the scenery textures feel genuine and fittingly rustic. A good example of how theming can enhance a cloned ride! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-zWWnjANwY I enjoyed my rides on this compact but smooth and wild little coaster The restraints are a little odd but they did not ended up uncomfortable, even with the slight laterals provided by some of the tight maneuvers after the drop. The beyond vertical feature itself lacks in duration but is nonetheless fun and impressive. It's obviously no El Toro, but certainly something that punches above its weight and provides varied, thrilling sensations. I hope more smaller French parks build more clever additions like this in the future. The pirate Splash Battle looks fun and inviting! Being quite intolerant to getting soaked, I still skipped it however. Sheriff Academy, a 3D shooter thingy, was an attractive choice to dodge the hot weather for a short while. Fun little ride even though I think the targets appear and disappear too quickly! Might be just me and by less than impressive aiming skills perhaps Le Cactus is a small Drop Tower-y with a sudden tilt before the final plunge. Despite its inoffensive looks, it is surprisingly fun and a good way to introduce kids to the world of thrills. Oh and the theming is really amusing too I took this picture while waiting for a re-ride on Timber Drop. Despite their limited revenue, the park really pays attention to little details with their scenery. All the little fake cogs and saws really add a welcome extra to the atmosphere. The front part of the station is more empty but still looks more than decent imo. Grand Canyon is a family coaster built by Soquet. Yes, the same manufacturer as the supremely awful King. This was wasn't really rough and the layout had an acceptable pace for a family ride. The good rockwork certainly helps making the experience somewhat enjoyable, though one lap was enough. The ride op gave in to cheering kids and granted us 4 non-stop laps on la Ronde des Rondins. I thought this super tiny Zierer would be a +1 for me, but instead I found out this is a relocation from Parc Astérix! Oh well... ERT on Golden Driller was our final rides of the day. Not only our group was allowed exclusive access to the tower, but the park emplyees were also able to test the ride for one hour! A really considerate gesture from the manager that you would not necessarily see at other parks. Last but not least, I shared a car drive back to the nearest train tration with none other than Mr Fleurent himself! He was on his way to a private dinner and very generously offered to drive me to Epinal so I could get my train to Metz in time. Really kudos to him and Freddo, the meeting organizer who managed to get me this very special car sharing expericence! During my short trip from the park to Epinal, Mr Fleurent really showed he was deeply interested in the amusement industry and cared about his park's fans, asking me how I enjoyed the park and their new attraction. He doesn't refrain from giving insights into the hardships and reward of being a park manager, and told me how installing Golder Driller and working with Intamin felt. I can't stress out how lucky this moment was! Fraispertuis City might not have the biggest thrills and coasters, but it achieves what matters most: providing guests a fun and enjoyable time. The care of the park's management and employees is truly heartwarming and in addition, they're really adding some clever rides over the years. Reaching the park was quite a hassle but I had no regrets making the effort! Coming next in Part 4 is Walygator and its Raptor Inverted clone, Monster!

Do you think these might be clues to the coaster theme?!?

Just buy Dreamworld instead

Yeah. No.

So AW just announced it's new thrill ride on Facebook, The Wasp. Most likely the pendulum ride? Opens 24th June at their Ride the Night event.

We build a restaurant or a retail store next to a theme park, and we have a Downtown Disney/Universal City Walk We build a hotel near a theme park, we are now Anaheim We've got the tigers, we just need to get Olivia Newton John to sign up to do a nightly sing-along at the DW Theatre and we'll be Vegas too! The best of the world is on our doorstep!

The closest thing I've actually done to riding a coaster backwards is Winjas at Phantasialand which has a backwards section if you seat at the back since it's the way Maurer spinning cars are made. It goes from the start of the coaster to the hairpin turns where the coaster starts spinning. Winjas is obviously no Mack Hyper and while I found riding the first section backwards fun enough, I still prefer riding forwards and seeing the track ahead. What makes DC Rivals' backwards row even more intriguing is the supposed intensity of the layout. Judging by the construction, and based on comparisions with other Mack I've ridden (Alpina, and especially Helix), some transitions will be among the snappiest Mack has ever attempted. On this picture for example, not only the S-turn looks pretty snappy already, it is built at a much lower height than the Stengel Dive it follows. With the supposed very fast pace the train will go through this element, we could expect really a really surprising turn at the back. Not seeing what comes next means you'll pretty certainly getting thrown around a couple of times! However the first drop is arguably the most exciting element to ride backwards (again). Getting sucked into a steep drop with a twist, backwards sounds like a really wild dream! I actually found a cool reverse POV of Expedition GeForce, which features a much similar twisted drop, to show you what DC Rivals' drop could be: DC Rivals' train is a little shorter than EGF's so the airtime will probably end up a little softer than of the German Intamin Mega, but it should still be pretty intense nonetheless! Also note the snappy hill towards the middle of the layout which resembles one of Rivals' hills.

You could do that but then there isn't any reason to complain about the choices available at the parks.

Congratulations to those three people who recognised the sarcasm in this post. Or at least I hope that's why you hit "like".

I think it's safe to say that 5000 Parkz members have $1 each - so if they all got together, they would have $5000 to rub together. Make up your mind! First you say theme park, now you say fun park, and then you say we should be a fair. What's next... a fete?

First picture of the redone grass area along Main Street. They've added wooden tables and chairs like the other side but there's a big patch without tables to one side, wonder what could be going there. Hmm...???

Sleep is for pussies.

Thanks for the report! That park looks fantastic, and given many of their rides have a clone or at least a counterpart over here, its somewhat saddening to see a small provincial park doing so much better at theming than what we have here. I love the four different ride options on GD (works both ways!), and that el loco looks really nice. Even the battle boats are a step up. Look forward to your next contribution - i'm sure @Gazza would encourage you to slip some of those photos into the Parkz database too.

Wraps of all different SuperHeroes and Super-Villain's have been placed around the poles along Main Street.

I spent many weeks painstakingly recreating Sea World when it was complete with Bermuda Triangle, chairlifts, better monorail experience, pirate show, full waterpark, and miniature railway. I did this using Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 (with all the add-ons) back in 2007, and it's still great fun playing with it now! My recreation isn't 100% accurate layout, but it was the best I could do at the time and with this software, and it's not too far off. It even includes a reasonable Sea World resort too. I found audio on Youtube from the monorail, dolphin show, Bermuda Triangle, and pirate show. The audio plays in the relevant parts of the park. This is the part that took by far the longest to make. Worth it though!

Here's what I would do with $100 000. Buy a copy of RCT for $20 or whatever it retails for nowadays. Want to own a theme park? Buy shares in Ardent or VRTP. The prices are so depressed, surely they will only go up when someone tries to take them over or the GP works out they're building a really cool rollercoaster. Finally, get the dividend from your shares and fly to USS once a year. Problem solved - you get to experience theme parks without the financial worry.

I think the trick is to go the Aussie World approach, open a pub on a major highway which backs onto a bunch of acres and let the pokie money fund the whole thing. Also FWIW I wouldn't let the average internet forum poster anywhere near a decision making position in a park I ran. Given that somewhat ruins the game, I'm out

technically, everyone who has been on TOT and SDSC has

Please don't take this the wrong way, but this is the sort of thing that comes to my mind when it comes to low budget "theme parks" (just for fun)! On a serious note though, it is things like public liability insurance (a massive ongoing cost) and other regulatory requirements (such as Workcover) that make a project such as this almost impossible for anyone other than a major international corporation, or an eccentric multibillionaire.

Now Courier Mail is running a story. I have attached it because link does not work for most. THE Gold Coast could soon become Australia’s answer to Anaheim as developers forge ahead with plans for a sprawling precinct of hotels and resorts bordering the city’s theme parks. At Coomera, Dreamworld could be surroun­ded by a Disney-style neighbour­hood after the Gold Coast Council yesterday gave the green light to a project including three towers of up to 15 storeys featuring tourist and short-term accommodation, as well as shops and restaurants. The proposal, from developer Gordon Corp, would sit on land opposite Dreamworld on Beattie Rd, while the theme park itself is also considering hotels and resorts on an unused part of the Dreamworld site which could turn the precinct into Australia’s answer to Anaheim, the metropolis surrounding Disneyland and California Adven­ture Park just outside Los Angeles in the US. It was given preliminary approval by Gold Coast City Council’s planning committee and is expected to be endorsed by the full council next Wednesday. Nearby Movie World has also proposed a nine-storey hotel, golf resort and lakeside precinct. Gold Coast City Council planning chairman, Councillor Cameron Caldwell, said the Gordon Corp proposal showed there was an appetite to move away from the decades-old model of families holidaying in Surfers Paradise or Broadbeach and making day trips north to the coast’s theme parks, most of which are within a 5km radius between Coomera and Oxenford. “The model of everybody staying in Surfers Paradise and travelling out to the theme parks is changing,” he said. “This proposal would service the theme parks and the indoor sports centre down the road which has been constructed ahead of the Commonwealth Games. “It’s what goes on in other parts of the world such as Anaheim in the US. “Families could base themselves there for sports carnivals or theme park holidays instead of having to travel up each day from the traditional tourist precincts.” A Dreamworld spokesman said they welcomed new development in the rapidly changing Coomera precinct. “As a tourist destination and major employer in the region, Dreamworld welcomes local development and growth that complements our neighbourhood and meets local area planning requirements,” he said. http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/theme-park-resortstyle-precinct-to-transform-northern-gold-coast/news-story/f18bed547beacc8ea8d52957b6b602dd

I think a 1x1m patch of dirt will be the final product

@Richard your new job now. Do 5000 parkz members have $5000 to rub together?

That implies they're holding the ball currently.

Yes, and it all leads me towards Wonder Women.

Who is "there" and why are the wolves making them move? Surely it would be better for the wolves to make their own move?

I think I've decided that if it's an upcharge (which it should be) I'll ride it backwards as a one-off, then ride it forwards every other time.

Really nice idea themeparkaddict and I love your enthusiasm. Sadly I don't agree with your assertion that it is realistic. It takes the financial backing of a major international corporation to have a realistic chance at building and running a theme park successfully. Sorry to be negative, but really I think you'd be wasting your time. I would love to be proven wrong on this though! Maybe crowdfunding (on something like gofundme for example) would have some chance if you could put together a persuasive campaign for it.

5000 x $5000 is $25million. As for crowd funding a theme park (or fun park let's be real), not impossible, but it's not going to happen, not to those numbers anyway.

Just a quick update, Rivals is already as tall as Green Lantern. This will be an absolute monster. Can't wait to see the lift hill topped off. I've thrown in the best photos below, if you want some silly captions and less amazing shots you can go here.

I've compiled a factual and accurate video about Eureka Mountain, it's history, layout and theming. If anyone would like to check it out you can see it here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIM2wZD_bBI

This was the old exit door.

If the first footer into the ground equates to the ride going vertical, at what point in the loop construction does it go invertical?

Right - so you get 'serious money' investors to sign up to 49%, and give the parkz community 51%... Which you would need to either create a management company to hold, or you'd need to allocate a percentage share to each Parkz member. Now - first problem - have you read some of the discussions on these boards? How in the hell are you going to get everyone (being the 51% needed to carry a vote) to agree on something? All you'd need is 2% of those with voting rights to side with the serious money investors and the Parkz community would lose majority. Or, if you have a management company holding the 51% of the vote, you still need the decisions to come from a group of people - and either way, not everyone will agree. the motion on the floor is whether we construct a dark monorail walkthrough... do I hear a second? Motion fails. Crowd funding is possible, but difficult. Can you imagine crowd-managing? No. It's a nice thought. Its a nice dream. Its a horrible reality. so... just stop.

Ok, I think we should Auctaully do this lol!

Alrighty, we make a fun park with a merry go round and playground for the kiddies. Probably less than $500,000 lets be fair. Now that would work. When will Mr @Richard tell us his opinion? We all know he is the most wise person here, so actually he doesn't need to be a designer in order to make great powerful decisions for all of us. We can tell (just have a look around the forums)