Who says you can’t get your roller coaster fix in the winter? Typically, if you live outside of Florida and California you have to wait until at least March for your nearest amusement park to open. In the last few years, German company Wiegand, has installed their Alpine Coasters at many ski resorts throughout the World including four in the States. They’re not in the RCDB, so they may technically not be roller coasters, but they sure look like a lot of fun. The sled-like cars fit up to two people (snugly) and allow for the riders to adjust their speed if they want to. The brake may help those who can’t handle the out of control feeling inherent to roller coasters, but coaster enthusiasts like myself would probably never even look at the brake, much less use it.

Now, if you live near one of these four ski resorts you can get your roller coaster fix in the dead of winter. I’d imagine that they’re a smart investment for the ski resorts as it allows them offer another summer activity to their guests.

The U.S. Alpine Coasters are:
Alpine Coaster at Jiminy Peak in Massachusetts
Alpine Coaster at Park City Mountain Resort in Utah
Mountain Coaster at Wisp Resort in Maryland
Canyon Flyer at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park in Colorado

Rides are a bit pricey. It’s $10 for one rider or $15 for two riders for just one spin on the Mountain Coaster at Wisp. On the other hand, it is a pretty unique experience and probably worth a try. Check out this pov video on the Alpine Coaster at Park City Mountain Resort:

Read about other unusual roller coasters:
Backyard Coasters
People Powered Coaster

What’s Your Take?
What do you think of these ski resort coasters? If you’ve been lucky enough to ride one of these mountain coasters or one in another country leave a review below. Leave a comment below. Thanks to reader Judy for sending me info on this.

No Revival for Hard Rock Park
Myrtle Beach’s doomed Hard Rock Park will likely never reopen. Last Friday, the park converted its bankruptcy from a Chapter 11 to Chapter 7. The change in bankruptcy status was made because the park was unable to find any bidders willing to pay $35 million for the $400 million park by the December 15th deadline. This change takes the park’s sale into the asset liquidation phase. Myrtle Beach Online describes this as meaning that this: “signals once and for all that it will not be able to reopen.” But later the article states:

“It is still unclear whether the park will be sold in whole to one company - which may or may not run it as a theme park - or sold off piece by piece.”Myrtle Beach Online

I guess the real difference may be an even more drastic reduction in price and the assets (roller coasters, rides, etc.) being sold off individually. Although, it doesn’t seem to be out of the realm of possibility that one amusement park chain could buy all of the assets. The article goes on to state that PARC Management, operators of former Six Flags parks like Darien Lake and Elitch Gardens, was interested in buying the park, but did not come up with the funds in the allotted time. I had suspected that they might be a good buyer after seeing how they turned around Darien Lake in its post-Six Flags form. Maybe with more time and resources, PARC could have bought the park.

Reasons for Hard Rock Park’s Closing
All along Hard Rock Park officials have blamed the slow year for tourism and increased gas prices. It was interesting to hear from Hard Rock International the cafe and casino company that licensed their name to the park. They state that their reputation has been damaged and that the park’s management did not live up to its agreement to thoroughly advertise and market the product. When I was at the park’s media preview day I interviewed the park’s Chief Creative Officer Jon Binkowski. I asked him about marketing the park and dealing with the rough economy in May even before gas prices got out of control. I’ll have to go back to my interview and listen to exactly what he said. I’ll update this post with a sound bite from the interview or at least the transcript.

Now, enthusiasts get to speculate which parks will buy which rides, roller coasters, and attractions. The Led Zeppelin coaster, the innovative revolver-like Maximum RPM coaster, Eagles: Life in the Fast Lane, and Slippery When Wet are all up for grabs.

What’s Your Take?
What do you think of Hard Rock Park’s fate? What park do you want to buy the Led Zeppelin coaster? Leave a comment below.

Happy New Year! Welcome to The Coaster Critic’s Blog v3.0
It’s been a pretty large undertaking, but today I’m unveiling the new site. Importing the posts from Blogger to WordPress was easy, but many of my posts still need to be reformatted. The site will be in beta for a few weeks as I update, reformat, and link check the over 400 posts.

The latest version has a ton of new capabilities and better organized content. Thanks to WordPress, the most powerful blogging platform on the Web. I’d also like to thank the creators of these useful WordPress plugins and widgets: YARP, Social Homes, Bookmarkify, wp-Table, & Simple Tags. If you have any general blogging questions about doing your own blog, feel free to drop me a line. Last, but not least thanks to my wife for supporting me during the redesign process.

Here’s a list of the new features on The Coaster Critic’s Blog v3.0:
>Color Customization
Have it your way! Pick your favorite look for the blog by choosing from five different colors. As with the old blog, the header images were all taken by me.

>New Coaster Reviews Table
I’m still working out a few kinks, but now you can see all of the coaster reviews in a sortable table on the Theme Park & Roller Coaster Reviews page.You can also click on ‘Coaster Reviews’ in the white category menu and see all coaster review posts.

>Featured Post
I’ll be highlighting featured posts in the main feature area on the home page.

>Featured Video
Featured videos will be in the sidebar. The current video is a pov video of Worlds of Fun’s new Prowler.

Continue Reading…

Everland’s T Express Takes Top Spot Intamin Dominates Top 10
This year’s Internet Coaster Poll had a big shake up at the top of the wooden poll as two-time champ The Voyage (Holiday World, Indiana) was unseated by newcomer T Express (Everland, South Korea).

Intamin Pre-fabs For the Win!
Last winter, I covered the T Express construction. I had particular interest because it’s an Intamin pre-fabricated woodie. Pre-fabs are similar to steel coasters in that they are assembled like puzzle pieces on-site. Another major difference has been their ultra-smooth, unwooden-like ride. Wooden purists can hate these faux-woodies all they want, but the poll speaks for itself. This year, all four Intamin prefabricated coasters are in the top ten. The only one in America is Six Flags Great Adventures’ El Toro. It offers an amazingly smooth and thrilling ride with more airtime than you’d think would be possible. For that reason it’s at number 2 in my Top Ten Coasters and number 3 in the Internet Coaster Poll. I’ve heard great things about Balder at Liseberg (Sweden) which came in at 5th again this year. And Colossus (Heide-Park, Germany) moved up 7 spots to 10th. If that wasn’t enough, a traditional woodie from Intamin moved into the top 10 as Aska (Japan) came in tied for 7th place even though its been ’standing, but not operating’ for 2 years. I don’t think most would have forseen Intamin’s sudden wooden dominance.

2007 Top Ten Best Wooden Roller Coasters
1 T Express at Everland (Korea) Intamin (New in ‘08)
2 The Voyage at Holiday World (Indiana) Gravity Group (1st ‘07)
3 El Toro at Six Flags Great Adventure (New Jersey) Intamin (2nd ‘07)
4 Boulder Dash at Lake Compounce (Connecticut) CCI (6th ‘07)
5 Balder at Liseberg (Sweden) Intamin (5th ‘07)
6 Phoenix at Knoebels (Pennsylvania) Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters (7th ‘07)
7 Troy at Toverland (Netherlands) GCI (4th in ‘07)
7 Aska at Nara Dreamland (Japan) Intamin (11th in ‘07)
9 Ravine Flyer II at Waldameer (Pennsylvania) Gravity Group (New in ‘08)
10 Colossos at Heide Park (Germany) Intamin (17th ‘07)
Complete 2008 wooden roller coaster poll results with all 178 coasters.

Check out this on-ride video Continue Reading…

Mommy, Where Do B&M’s Come From? | How Roller Coasters Are Made
Ever wonder where and how roller coasters are made? NewsPlusNotes has an excellent behind-the-scenes look at a manufacturing plant in Ohio that churns out Bolliger & Mabillard’s great roller coasters for the U.S.

The NewsPlusNotes staff were taken through the process that just produced the track for SeaWorld Orlando’s Manta along with many other top-notch rides over the years. It’s a real in-depth post. Check out the Scott and Carol Present: Getting on Track with B&M, it’s some great stuff.

Now on Facebook | Become a Fan!
I now have a “Coaster Critic” Facebook page. I tried this well over a year ago, but I couldn’t figure out how to make a page versus a profile. For some reason Facebook just didn’t believe that “The Coaster Critic” was my real name. So finally, I took the time to figure it out and set up a page. It wasn’t hard, just not very high on my priorities. I’ve got some of my favorite pictures from my 2008 Theme Park Trips, a short Led Zeppelin video I took, and slots for friends to share their pics and images. Visit The Coaster Critic on Facebook

On MySpace Roller Coasters Are People Too?
I also updated my MySpace page which I hadn’t touched in many months. Those of you new to MySpace coaster geekdom might be surprised to find that many of my friends are inanimate objects, but its par for the course on MySpace. The site’s littered with roller coasters that have their own profiles, like this Loch Ness Monster profile. Apparently, Loch Ness Monster is a straight married Aries that unfortunately doesn’t want kids. It’s a shame too, because a “Son of Loch Ness Monster” coaster would probably be pretty sick. Visit The Coaster Critic on MySpace

MySpace vs. Facebook - The Traffic
I’m a web analyst by day, so I couldn’t help but share this Alexa chart showing the emergence of Facebook. As many of you may already know Facebook is taking over the social network scene from once king MySpace. This chart which shows the traffic of users with Alexa toolbars illustrates the point. Back in April of 2008, Facebook surpassed MySpace in terms of reach for these Alexa users.Do you frequent Facebook or MySpace? Which do you prefer and why? Leave a comment below.

New Ring°Racer Video Shows the World’s Fastest Coaster in Action
Finally, more images and a video has been posted on the S&S web site of the Ring°Racer coaster coming to Nürburgring in Germany. It’s called ‘F1 Coaster’ on their web site, but there’s little doubt that this an animated video of Ring°Racer. When it opens in June 2009, it will surpass Six Flags Great Adventure’s Kingda Ka which tops out at a blistering 128 mph. Ring°Racer will push the envelope even further with a top speed of 134 mph (217 km/h).

The world’s new fastest coaster will have an appropriate home. According to wikipedia, Nürburgring, known as simply “The Ring” by enthusiasts, is a motorsport race track in Nürburg, Germany. Like the infamous Autobahn it includes public acceess roads where anyone with a registered car can drive as fast as they want.

Ring°Racer Takes the Crown
This will be the first time that I can remember the Germans holding a major roller coaster world record. Unlike, the 1990’s, I doubt this will kick off another coaster arms race due to the state of the economy, but you never know. Kingda Ka will still hold the height record and is so insanely fast that I doubt Six Flags will blink. Besides, the general public that makes up the majority of the park’s patrons will have never heard of Ring°Racer.

Check out this pov video of the ring°racer at Nurburgring:

Ring°Racer’s Unbelievable Launch
The ride looks pretty short, but so are Cedar Point’s Top Thrill Dragster and Kingda Ka. Obviously, the real draw here is going to be that insane launch of 0 to 134 mph in only 2.5 seconds. Kingda Ka doesn’t reach its top speed until 3.5 seconds. The video can’t possibly to the launch justice, but it will likel become legendary. Well, at least until it’s surpassed by another record breaking roller coaster.

What’s Your Take?
What do you think of this future top speed champ? Is it enough for you to hop on a plane to Germany? Any Germans out there excited for Ring°Racer? Leave a comment below.

Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit - Model & Video
More details are starting to emerge on Universal Studios’ Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit. We already new about the main distinction of the ride. Riders will be able to download a video of their ride and post it on the Web. Details on the layout were a bit sketchy, but the picture’s becoming more clear. Now, ScreamScape has posted photos of models from a recent amusement industry convention. Click here for more photos.In lieu of an official video released by Universal, DjJavi5x has created a ride simulation video of Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit using NoLimits. Hopefully, the park

What’s Your Take?
Are you excited about Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit? What do you think of the video? Leave a comment below.

Take A Spin Goliath - The Jewel of the SouthEast
Goliath is a towering hyper coaster built at Six Flags Over Georgia in 2006. It may mark the end of an era for Six Flags. Newly appointed CEO Mark Shapiro pointed at the $20 million roller coaster in an interview and said “No more of those.” The year it was built Dan Snyder and Mark Shapiro assumed control of Six Flags. They planned to steer the large theme park chain to more family friendly rides and attractions. Goliath towers over Austell, Georgia at 200 feet (roughly 20 stories). Like other Bolliger & Mabillard hyper coasters it offers large camel back hills, a buttery smooth ride, and speed.

Goliath’s station had some type of neo-50’s theme. The roller coaster’s name speaks to the chains continued uncreativity. A la, it’s big, we’ll name it Goliath. Not to mention the name is used at several other parks. Anyway, I got to the park on Wednesday morning, June 4th. I bought my season pass (that I’d be using later for my trip to Magic Mountain) and headed straight for Goliath. It was a walk-on and I was able to by-pass the now mandatory lockers for storing bags & other loose items. The small crowd that had gathered in the station was quickly dispatched thanks to Goliath’s 32 passenger, 4 across, ultra-comfortable trains.

Continue reading to see my rating and watch an onride video

Class of 2008 - Roller Coasters That Debuted This Year
As predicted in my Top 10 New Roller Coasters for 2008, my top pick Ravine Flyer 2 opened to many positive reviews and it landed at 8 on my Top 10. Read my full review. I’m looking forward to seeing how it fairs in Mitch’s ‘08 Coaster Poll next month. Canada’s Wonderland’s Behemoth also received a lot of props on the Web and some even hailed it as the best B&M hyper coaster to date. Fahrenheit’s reception was mostly positive, but its opening wasn’t the smoothest including a session where it valleyed back in May.

Also, a couple of family launch coasters opened. I rode both the Pony Express at Knott’s Berry Farm and OCC MotoCoaster at Darien Lake and they were pretty fun. Here’s my review of the MotoCoaster. X2 was reborn, but I can’t really compare it to its former self. Supposedly, it was smoother. The schizophrenic music was more weird and annoying and done much better on Led Zeppelin. The only special effect that I remember was the super hot flame which was okay. Here’s my X2 review.

Dark Knight Movie = A+, Dark Knight Coasters…..
On the far other end of the spectrum, the Dark Knight coasters at Great America (Chicago) and Great Adventure (New Jersey) were slammed with bad reviews and comments. Like this 40 comment post where angry readers left reviews that included words like: ‘lame’, ‘terrible’, ‘wack’, and ‘horrible.’ Even though they were based on a run-of-the-mill wild mouse, I thought these coasters had potential. Allegedly, I was wrong. SF New England lost their Dark Knight clone due to planning mishaps. They may have actually dodged a bullet. The Dark Knight coaster that was coming to New England is now being built at Six Flag Mexico.

Theme Park Accidents
Like 2007, we saw another high profile, gruesome theme park accident in June. Last year there was a teen girl whose feet were severed while on a drop ride at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. This year, a teen was beheaded by one of Batman: The Ride’s trains. Read the full story including a video of CNN coverage. Since the incident, Six Flags has increased the presence of warning “Do Not Enter” signs around their coasters. Aside from signs and the 6-foot fences there isn’t a whole lot Six Flags can really do with incident like this and another one at Magic Mountain where a man was hit by Ninja. For more, read all of my roller coaster accident posts from this year and years past.

Continue reading the 2008 Theme Park Year In Review