11 Rumored Roller Coasters & Attractions for 2011
UPDATE – See my Top 10 Picks for the Best New 2011 Roller Coasters: Part 1 & Part 2 Also, for a recap of previous year’s new roller coasters, check out my New for 2009 | New Roller Coasters for 2010 page. It’s the time of the year when theme park fans turn into detectives. We scour the Web for documents from public hearings, take pictures of pavement and dirt and proudly uplo...[Read More]
MSNBC’s 10 Gut-Churning Attractions
MSNBC.com’s 10 Gut-Churning Attractions – Amusement Park Rides For the Emetically Immune Recently, I was interviewed by MSNBC.com for an article about extreme thrill rides and roller coasters. I came up with a list, but the writer only chose a few of them. He also chose a few rides from Robb Alvey of Theme Park Review and Robert Niles of Theme Park Insider That’s some great compa...[Read More]
Chang Could Replace Great American Scream Machine at Great Adventure
Chang may not be opening at Six Flags Great America (near Chicago) as everyone had thought. Rumors have the stand-up roller coaster moving to Six Flags Great Adventure (Jackson, NJ), arguably the company’s flagship theme park. The rumor also has Chang replacing the Arrow looper, Great American Scream Machine. Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom’s Chang started coming down last winter only to re...[Read More]
Clash of the Titans Coaster Edition: Medusa vs. Kraken
Roller Coasters & Greek Mythology I saw the new Clash of the Titans remake over the weekend. Even a special effects laden action adventure movie couldn’t take me out of my roller coaster geekdom. Throughout the movie I was constantly reminded of the roller coasters that were named after these classical Greek gods and mythical creatures. A struggle between brothers Zeus and Hades was a ce...[Read More]
Top 3 Roughest Steel Coasters
If you’ve read my blog for a while you’ve noticed how often I point out the rougher wooden coasters. Rides like the Cyclone at Six Flags New England and Wildcat at Hershey Park are abusive and terribly uncomfortable. This week, we’ll look at some of the roughest steel roller coasters around. This is a tough Top 3 to pull together. There are rides that have some pretty rough momen...[Read More]
The End of the Record Breaking Roller Coaster Era
Have We Seen the Last of the True Record Breaking Roller Coasters? The recent announcement that Ferrari Experience’s F1 Coaster will be capable of 150 mph had me thinking. While this would be a record setting roller coaster, officials from the park said that they might actually operate it at lower speeds. This begs the question: Are we reaching the limits of roller coaster thrills? As part o...[Read More]
Top 3 Smoothest Wooden Roller Coasters
Top 3 Thursdays is back by popular demand! Everyone knows that wooden roller coasters have a reputation of throwing riders around like rag dolls. But what about those few exceptions. Wooden roller coasters that are buttery smooth? Believe it or not they DO exist. In this late edition of T3T, I’m going to countdown the Top 3 Smoothest Wooden Roller Coasters that I’ve ridden. #3 Raging W...[Read More]
Six Flags: Bankrupt & Better Than Ever?
The writing’s been on the wall for quite some time, but Six Flags finally filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy on Friday. The bankruptcy comes as $2.4 billion in debt is being carried on the park’s books. Current CEO Mark Shapiro explains that the bankruptcy is a measure that’s being taken due to the hole that the previous management put the company in. I don’t think that this is just...[Read More]
Bizarro @ Six Flags Great Adventure
From Medusa to Bizarro at Six Flags Great Adventure: The World’s First Floorless Roller Coaster Takes a Bizarre Twist Back when new CEO Mark Shapiro took over Six Flags he was interviewed at Six Flags Over Georgia. He pointed at the brand new 20-story hyper coaster Goliath and stated “No more of those.” Now, after 2008’s X2 at Magic Mountainand this year’s Bizarro-the...[Read More]
Great Adventure’s Medusa Gets an Upgrade
Six Flags Great Adventure’s Medusa Gets the X2 TreatmentMedusa opened in 1999 as the world’s first floorless roller coaster. Read more about floorless coasters. Now, Six Flags Great Adventure has announced that it will get the makeover treatment in the off season. This is a growing trend with Six Flags these days after this year’s X2 re-launch and next year’s (risky) Superm...[Read More]
Top Thrill Dragster vs. Kingda Ka | Roller Coaster Showdown
Twin Peaks: Kingda Ka vs. Top Thrill Dragster One of the most common comparisons in enthusiastland involves the two tallest and fastest roller coasters on Earth. It’s like Everest and K2. They are very similar strata coasters that launch riders from 0 to 100+ miles per hour in a matter of seconds. They both take riders over 400 feet into the air only to send them spiraling back down to Earth...[Read More]
Nitro vs. Apollo’s Chariot | Roller Coaster Showdown
Two B&M Hyper Coasters Go Head-to-Head in the First Edition of Roller Coaster Showdown Bolliger & Mabillard’s critically acclaimed hyper coasters are tall, airtime-packed, modern thrill rides. This week, I’ll be pitting Busch Gardens Europe’s Apollo’s Chariot against Six Flags Great Adventure’s Nitro. Nitro at Six Flags Great Adventure-Nitro boasts a taller f...[Read More]