Seasoned Pros List Show – Most Beautiful Theme Parks
Episode 3 of The Seasoned Pros List Show Podcast – Most Beautiful Theme Parks In the latest edition of The Seasoned Pros List Show, the Pros (Doug Barnes from The Season Pass Podcast, Arthur Levine from the About.com Theme Parks Guide and me, Joel from The Coaster Critic’s Blog) list our picks for the most beautiful theme parks we’ve visited. Lance from ScreamScape.com joins us as we d...[Read More]
Seasoned Pros List Show – Our Top Ten Dark Rides
Episode 2 of the Seasoned Pros List Show Podcast – Our Top Ten Favorite Dark Rides For Episode 2, Doug, Arthur, & Joel are joined by Robert Niles the man behind Theme Park Insider as they discuss their ten favorite dark rides. The discussion is expanded to also include story-based, themed rides and limited to North America. Their picks cover a wide range of the best indoor themed rides f...[Read More]
Top 6 New Roller Coaster Classes
Last fall I joined thousands of other theme park fans as exciting new rides and roller coasters were announced one after another and also in large waves like Six Flags big announcement day. Our jaws dropped as some rumors proved to be true and other rides came completely out of left field. Many commented that 2012’s lineup of new rides could be the best in recent memory. I thought I’d ...[Read More]
Fun With Roller Coaster Data
We’re still in the off-season here in the Midwestern United States (though spring is thankfully right around the corner) and I have to keep myself entertained somehow. I wrote a post awhile ago on Coaster101 about how I had created my own track record using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet complete with stats from the Roller Coaster Database. Well, I used those stats and compared the height, sp...[Read More]
Cedar Fair’s 2012 Infrastructure Upgrades
Leviathan, Dinosaurs Alive, and a few Windseekers are the more thrilling additions coming to Cedar Fair parks across North America. 2012 will be a relatively quiet year for Cedar Fair parks, with Leviathan being the only brand new roller coaster opening across the entire chain. However, many parks are gearing up for major infrastructural improvements as well as a few minor adjustments to their cur...[Read More]
How to Handle the Off-Season Blues
The winter blues have us all in a funk. Well, at least those of us who don’t live in a warm climate year round. Up here in Ohio, winter can be brutal and leave you feeling depressed and blah. From November to May, unless you live near an indoor family fun center, you have to travel quite a ways to get your airtime fix! While YouTube is quite the source of POV (Point of view) videos and constructio...[Read More]
The Themed Entertainment Association’s Thea Awards
It’s that time of year again. Time to buy your wife a new dress, put on the tuxedo, rent the limousine, and head on over to…Disneyland! No, I’m not talking about the park, but rather the Disneyland Hotel. On March 17, the Themed Entertainment Association will be hosting the 18th annual Thea Awards. Now, if you’re fairly new to the behind-the-scenes side of the themed entertainmen...[Read More]
Ride Sims Game Review
Ride Sims is a new website created by Theme Park Nerd where you can be the operator of virtual rides. Moving people through the ride is a bit tricky sometimes because, in many of the simulations, you also control the preshow along with the actual elements in the ride. The site started out with ten simulations to choose from and has since grown to fourteen.
Geek Speak: IAAPA 2011 Coverage
[boxparagraph]Geek Speak is a special feature that will present the opinions of theme park fans on a specific topic or news story. Every issue we’ll highlight the buzz and reactions (both positive & negative) to give an overview of how news is being received. Every effort will be taken to attempt to present a variety of opinions from a variety of sources.[/boxparagraph] [intro-paragraph]...[Read More]
Does Coaster Count Define You As An Enthusiast?
Do your roller coaster and theme park counts define you as an enthusiast? Before the 2011 coaster season I had set two goals for myself. Those goals for me were to get to at least one new park and get to a total of 75 coaster credits. To most coaster enthusiasts those two goals were fairly minor. While for me, the goals could have been quite a feat to be accomplished as I am not made of money! In ...[Read More]
Why Aren’t There More Parking Garages at Theme Parks?
Parking garage or parking lot? When I moved my family to Southern California in 2005, we spent a lot of time at Disneyland, with a couple of side trips to Universal Studios Hollywood. At both locations, we always parked in very large, clean, and well lit parking structures. When we moved next to Six Flags Magic Mountain, we started spending lots of time there and parking in their giant asphalt par...[Read More]
Where Have All the Log Flumes Gone?
In the past decade, an unfortunate trend has begun in the amusement industry. Log rides have been a long time staple to many amusement parks, originating in the 1960’s with Arrow’s El Aserradero log ride at Six Flags Over Texas. From the launch of El Aserradero, the concept of the log ride took off, spreading globally to amusement parks all around the world. Some of the more notable log rides in t...[Read More]