Gazza

I'm not really getting the whole "Asian Culture" argument....Any country is somewhat different to what you are used to. Besides, Singapore is English speaking and developed, so I'm unsure how anyone (Except drug smugglers ) could feel uncomfortable. Seems to be a bit of a misconception. People in other countries eat western foods just the same as we eat international foods. I mean when I was in Dubai the food courts didn't just have middle eastern food available, in fact it felt like any food court anywhere....Chinese, Mexican, Italian American fast food etc. You'd most likely find that to be the case in any developed country. On another note (And perhaps MickeyD would be well positioned to answer), but can you see places like Universal Singapore being activley marketed in Australia ? (Particularly WA) It could perhaps be the cheapest option to date for people here wanting to visit one of the "Famous" parks.

^It was confirmed earlier that it wasn't going to be a looper after all. Initial information had the model name as being a 'SuperLOOP", so naturally people thought Proslide had come up with something to go against Whitewater Wests 'Aqualoop' slide. Eventually, some further images revealed it was just a downhill spiral. See http://www.parkz.com.au/forums/index.php?s...ost&p=64455 for what went down.

The show itself sounds interesting, but the part about Spongebob just makes me The thing is it would've been popular for everyone without the character tie in...In fact I'd say Spongebob might be a bit of a turn off for anybody who is not a kid (Or a parent taking one). Anybody who has been to comparable events like Riverfire would know that young kids through to older people go, and it is the spectacle that attracts them rather than any sort of promotional tie in. Still, putting on an event at the end of the night sounds like a good move to keep people in the park and spending money.

^Re the SuperLOOP, it would be lame if Proslide decided to market it as a new product...As you said it's just a new layout for a turbo tunnel anyway. Re the name, lol it fits in with WWWs tongue in cheek surfie names doesn't it? It's all right I suppose. It's not the only water park attraction with Wedgie in its name though: http://www.sixflags.com/greatEscape/ridesw...ark/wedgie.aspx

Yay, another Merlin PR stunt to add to the list!

Many Intamins nowadays have pretty rapid deceleration in the magnetic brakes at the end (Hence the real reason for the shoulder straps type OTSRs they use) I reckon if the launch acceleration rate were the same as the braking rate they use there would be no issues since they are both the same sensation in effect.

Arrrgh, missed captain EO at Disney by ONE day, they were putting the finishing touches on the theatre entrance and everything.

As you guys might've guessed I'm in LA at the moment. I went to Six Flags Magic Mountain on Monday and had a great day, the park feels a bit better run and in better condition than my last visit in 2007. More photos will be coming later, but for now, I've put up close to 30 photos of Terminator Salvation: The Ride, the newest coaster in the park: http://www.parkz.com.au/photos/US/Valencia...Ride/page1.html This was the first time I've ridden a 'modern' woodie...All the others have been old ones at LPM, Wonderland and Blackpool, or fairly average ones like Gwazi and Ghostrider. But this was fantastic in a word. It was really fast paced, with lots of directional changes, and even a couple of pops of air for good measure, and these sorts of things appeal to me in a coaster. The theming was a reasonable effort too. But the park wasn't too busy, so I got to ride stuff with only a few minutes of queuing, with plenty of rides on my favourite, Tatsu. And while I'm here, and so it will show up in future searches I'll put up some useful info. SFMM is known to be a pain to reach via public transport, but I think I've finally cracked it. Take the 757 commuter bus run by Santa Clarita transit, which departs outside North Hollywood station (on Lankershim Blvd) on the LA metro red line subway (This is one station north of Universal City, which is the station at Universal) It takes about 35 minutes to get up to the Valencia bus station, and costs $2.50 each way. It runs roughly once every hour from early in the morning, and the last one from Valencia leaves at 8:22, so it doesn't suffer from the same issues as those organized coach tours where you are forced to leave early. From the Valencia bus station (Called the McBean transfer station) you can. -Take a local bus to SFMM -Take a Taxi -Go on foot. Valencia is a nice place, and the walk up takes about 40 mins (4 km) to get to the park. I suppose if you are down in Anaheim then getting to Union station (Southern terminus of the Red Line) might still be annoying. But if you are staying in the Universal area then this should be a fairly simple trip.

The only real elevation change I can think of is between the west side of the park and the east side. The west side is at a higher level, and the flume splashdown, Bermuda lagoon, Jet Rescue and Sea Viper area is set at a lower level. The bridge with turrets across to Sea Viper sits at the higher level. My advice would be to check out the imagery on nearmap, it is the most recent, and is very high resolution so you can often pick out when paths pass under others. http://www.nearmap.com/?ll=-27.957178,153....mp;nmd=20091111

I imagine it will go over, then wrap around under the bunny hill on Supertubes. I'm guessing a trap door entry too, but that's not exactly a new thing, that Bomb Bay slide at WnW Orlando has had this feature for years.

Stage 2 of course

Yay! From the plan view it initially looked like a Aqualoop derivative, but those 3D renders clear things up. WWW doesn't fail anymore It actually looks like a really cool slide, I can imagine whipping around the spiral after the large drop causing some strong Gs.

Call me weird, but every time I glance at that Accelerator teacups ride, I keep viewing it for a second as an old time carousel instead of the futuristic machine it is supposed to be, because it has a canopy type thing on the roof has the hoses that look like ribbons, a light yellow colour scheme, and a number of lights.

I'd even go as far to say it could cement WWWs image with the GP of being a poor mans WnW.

<Cry> I wanted the Turbo Tunnel! Why even bother with this. There will be four of these going in at WnW, so the queue will move 4 times faster down there. I do love how WWW's is going to just be whacked right down the middle of a deck area Thanks for the find Skeetafly by the way.

^Yeah, the river rapids rides built by Hafema have double vertical lifts, and the downchute narrows at the bottom (Factoid, its a big stainless steel slide basically). River Quest at Phantasialand in Germany has an identical configuration....When the boat slides down it hits the side, causing it to spin. I'd say the presence of two lifts is a necessity for efficient operations (much like the setup on Scooby)

Cross posting from another site here, but if you have ever wanted to see what Nemesis at Alton looked like when it was being built, somebody has posted close to 170 photos of the whole process: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=3796...mp;l=8e350335b7 Amazing to see it all stripped back without all the growth around it, you get a true sense of how huge some of the drops are.

Nah, the one in Western Town is definitely western themed...Only WnW and SW have pirate themed ones.

The best option could be to perhaps ask someone on one of the mobile carts (Hot Dogs, Churros etc) since they dont have tills.

I just run at night instead in summer.

Like Dazzeland or Tops? Oh wait....

Haha, it makes it look like the windows menu momentarily shocks the yeti, causing it to stop ripping up the track.

^But there haven't been any rides at MW that have used fire effects. PASS and HSD have their explosions though, but they have always run continuously with them.

Because the Facebook news feed spam wasn't enough...

I think there has to be a mistake in there, surely! Especially the overlap between attractions in May...The only coaster open would be Roadrunner