alex_1

Well the track layout is the same to USO's (except for theming) but hugely different to USH's. USH's mummy just has a straight up launch and then slow backwards section, USS's and USO's have a much better layout by having the backwards section first and then the faster, more extensive launched section. Both are good but USO's/USS's are definitely the best.

I suppose I understand the logic behind the whole "rain stinging face" thing. Riding Stealth at Thorpe Park during a downpour was... interesting. Or as interesting as having your face plastered by rain at 128kph can be.

Figured it'd be a member on here. Nice job, Slick

The new pics of Abyss up on RCDB look fantastic! Eurofighters are damn photogenic. http://rcdb.com/7444.htm?p=0

Not quite sure how large the Town Hall is, but it sounds like the new ride will be integrated into it? Surely that'd limit some options. Would the building be big enough for a smaller version of one of Vekoma's Mad House rides - i.e. Hex at Alton Towers? Could be a cool addition. I think a walkthrough is more likely, however.

No, the reason Superman is good is because of its ride experience. It has strong airtime, a powerful launch, and in all is a very intense ride. The theming is a bonus. And I'd like to disagree with rides like Black Mamba only being good for their theming - I liked Black Mamba for its batshit crazy intensity (which is rarely mentioned), again the theming was a bonus. Better examples for theming enhancing a coaster would be more for indoor coasters, such as Scooby Doo and Revenge of the Mummy. Scooby Doo would be a fairly standard wild mouse without the theming, but with the theming it becomes a great one. Revenge of the Mummy would be a fun launched coaster without the theming, but with the theming it becomes a full and exciting ride, and made my top 5 steel coasters.

It's amazing seeing the difference between MDMC and Juvelen. I've always thought of MDMC as one of Intamin's biggest failures, but they improved greatly on the Motocoaster design with Jet Rescue and it seems they've perfected it with Juvelen.

Lethal Weapon was by far the worst coaster I've ever had the displeasure of riding. I got severe headbanging on every ride and was left with a headache for 10 minutes. The restraints were huge, pretty much surrounded by head, and were made of hard rubber. At least some of the other SLCs I've been on had padded restraints! As Arkham Asylum, I can now appreciate the forces it has, now that I no longer have to worry about whether my brain is being pulverized or not. I found the leg pain pretty mild - only really noticeable on the final helix, for me. themagician - It's strange that you say you get headbanging on Cyclone considering I'm only 175cm and my head is above the restraints, so I avoid any head banging. Do you just have an disproportionately tiny torso or something?

I just find MDMC really forceless and rattly, and unless you position yourself in a certain way the restraints are very painful on the legs.

With coasters, they have to have a good mixture of forces. I was going to add that they should be smooth, which is generally true, but Saw the Ride is in my top 10 coasters and it still hurts like a bitch, so... My favourite ride I've ever been on, though, is actually a non coaster ride - Transformers at Universal Singapore. The theming and effects were absolutely amazing, and fully immersive, and the movements were thrilling and felt realistic. If a ride can immerse you like that, it's truly great.

I have few enough credits to list them all, so MDMC was right near the bottom of my list. Anyway, my top 10 were: 1. Expedition GeForce 2. iSpeed 3. Blue Fire 4. Nemesis 5. Black Mamba 6. Revenge of the Mummy (Singapore) 7. Superman Escape 8. Silver Star 9. Fav Wooden Coaster (which is Wodan Timburcoaster for me) 10. Saw the Ride

It's on the very first turn, around 0:19.

It crawls through that turn very slowly. It's quite drawn out as well, so it's not really surprising it finally got stuck. I love the overhyping of the article. They don't mention that the coaster got stuck at a height of <10m - "stuck atop coaster" sounds much more dramatic.

Actually, Dubai don't have anywhere near as much money as they'd like people to think. They make very little money off of oil, most of their revenue comes from tourism. Because of this they approve tons of huge projects that never get finished because of money issues. The Burj Khalifa was only completed because the neighboring Emirate of Abu Dhabi bailed them out, hence why the tower's name was changed from Burj Dubai to Burj Khalifa, Khalifa being the name of the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi. It'd be great if the investors of Dubailand decided to actually move the project to Abu Dhabi, since there it'd have more chance of being built (Ferrariworld was built, after all), but I can't see that happening.

I'm sorry but when has the builder of a new theme park ever gone onto a small forum to ask where it should be built? There can be no way this is happening. A project on this scale requires phenomenal backing.

All parks get Facebook complaints. I highly doubt any of that would affect visitor numbers. It will be interesting to see what happens to Sea Viper. Sure, it's iconic within Australia, but it's an aging ride that has become quite outdated, and (though I'm basing this just off my observations of a recent visit) seems to be dropping in popularity. If it keeps having issues that will keep costing the park a lot of money to fix, I can't see how it'd be responsible to keep it around for much longer. Business logic is bound to overcome nostalgia.

Actually, that's obviously not pocket change for them because they haven't been able to make groundwork in all these years due to financial reasons.

A Starflyer would indeed be great. I couldn't help feeling that a wave swinger would be too similar to the current chairswings, but a Starflyer is significantly more thrilling and fits a different demographic.

Forgive my language, but what the everloving fuck, people of Parkz? When there's rumors Movieworld will get a crappy new 500ft spinning tower ride, everyone's just gushing with admiration. But when there's a possibility of Dreamworld getting a Starflyer (a really decent, fun, and quite thrilling ride which is in no way, shape or form anything like a drop ride) people are lukewarm in reaction, or even skeptical? I'll understand you all one day. Anyway, Starflyers are great and if one of the 45m/60m ones were put in Reef Diver's spot then that would be a fantastic addition. The way I see it, Dreamworld's coaster lineup has a long way to go, but their flatride lineup has always been quite good. I'd love to see another good addition to it. Of course I'd love to see a good new coaster soon, but all in due time.

Buying individual fastpasses throughout the day is the way to go, at least in my experience of both parks. Its hard to predict crowds, so buying a full flashpass may turn out to be a waste of money. You pay around 3-4 pounds, if I remember correctly, for a fastpass for one ride. I found it worth it.

I'm gonna go against what djrappa said and say that you should definitely choose Thorpe Park. I found it to be a much nicer park overall than Alton Towers; more nicely laid out and easier to navigate. It's also in a much more accessible region - just outside of London, as opposed to Alton Towers, which is in a small town in the midlands of England. Alton Towers' only advantage over Thorpe Park is that it has Nemesis, which is definitely the best coaster in the UK. Meanwhile, Air is average and Oblivion is fun, but nothing particularly special. Rita and Thirteen are both mediocre rides. The Smiler looks good, but I haven't been on it since I visited the park in 2012. Thorpe Park has a better ride selection overall, in my opinion. I found Saw to be a great ride, The Swarm is a very good wingrider, Nemesis Inferno packs a nice little punch and Stealth has the most intense launch I've ever experienced. Thorpe also has some fantastic flat rides, while Alton has only a couple. The last factor I'll mention is to do with the aforementioned location of both parks. Thorpe Park is very close to London - one of my favourite cities in the world. I don't know what your itinerary is going to be like, but I imagine you'd want to spend as much time in London as possible. Going to Alton Towers could waste a lot of your time as it's a 5 or so hour drive either way.

Having visited Europa last year I can say that yes - it does indeed deserve its spot on the list. It's a stunning park with a great array of rides, great food and nice theming. It's the best theme park I've been to, though I've never visited a Disney park. Having visited Alton Towers in 2012 I can say that (at least in my opinion) it's really not as good as it looks. I honestly found Thorpe Park to be much nicer. And I can't really say anything of Canada's Wonderland though, but it does look like one of the nicer Cedar Fair parks.

This is really laughable. Nobody can seriously believe this? I mean, you don't even have to visit overseas parks to know that Dreamworld doesn't even make the top 50. Hell, it's probably only just the fourth best park in the country, and with the way Adventure World is going it may not even get that.

I was happy to see that Village Roadshow clearly seemed to be doing well this year to not only invest in a $20 million coaster, but also an entirely new waterpark. I can see how they're compensating for that cost now. Hmm.

I figured I'd post this here, when exactly did MyFun raise the admission price of Movieworld and Seaworld to $90? It's ridiculous.