Travel Channel Coaster Shows - My Reactions

I just got finished watching Fantasy Lands and High Speed Thrill Rides on the Travel Channel, the third show World's Greatest Thrill Parks was an old one so I didn't watch it.

Fantasy Lands was okay, but I wish they'd done more with the coasters. Although the show was more of a general guide, it would have been nice to see some more of SFFT or Magic Mountain.

The Second Show which was called something like Speed was the better show by far. I loved the great footage of Xflight and others. Finally, Georgia Scorcher gets some credit, I loved that ride, but I seem to have forgotten that it had five inversions (has 2, but the show said 5.) I also enjoyed seeing stuff of the little known Darien Lake. That SRS looked great, but how does it compare to the other ones?

Finally, I nearly choked when they used the phrase "Greatest Rides" and showed pictures of Mind Eraser at the same time. Also, these shows are always so obsessed with Superman the Escape, hum... Slingshot looked cool, and I can't wait to ride Medusa this summer.

All 3 are new to my knowledge. I personally have never seen a show that is actually going to show you SD2K completed, with the exception of the one where they walked to Steve Okomoto about the construction of the ride.

EDIT: Yea, its an old one, but I haven't seen it, so its new to me. :)
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Nessy: Ride of Steel
Webmaster of Digital Coaster - http://digital-coaster.com
*** This post was edited by Nessy: Ride of Steel 3/28/2003 10:24:30 PM ***

I was waiting for the first post addressing the shows. World's Best Thrill Parks is indeed a rerun, Nessy. The first show was done a lot better than the second. The second show had better footage and material, but the commentary was barely tolerable. I cracked up when Paul Reuben came on, and thinking of some enthusiass's faces when they described Vekoma. ;) Was that Jeremy when they did the Thrillshot segment?
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"For me to poop on!!" -- Triumph

I think they do show Superman to much, and from what I heard it is not very good at all. I think they did show them SLC's way to much. C'mon the greatest coasters. I live in Ohio and never been to PKI, but I think I should go

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coasterandy

I could have done without seeing Paul Ruben's man boobs floating over the airtime hills of SFDL's Superman. That's just wrong.

The "World's Best" editors and producers should be forbidden from ever doing a show ever again. They mixed in ancient park B-roll from Cedar Point with testamonials from people standing in front of Universal Studios signs, and even managed to put a shot of Kennywood in from the parking lot... showing the old shuttle loop.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com - Sillynonsense.com
"The world rotates to The Ultra-Heavy Beat!" - KMFDM

I also thought it was strange that they kept showing the same people saying the same things over and over, and not even at the parks they were talking about.

I must say, tho, that "old" footage of CP was strange. TTD just seems to be part of the landscape now, even if it hasn't opened yet.

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I'd rather die living than live like I'm dead
http://www.webtechnik.com/ebony/CPLady.htm

I really, really liked the second show, especially the segments on X-Flight and the Darien Lake rides like you mentioned. More importantly, I was happy to see so many female enthusiasts on the shows! That really made my day. Georgia Scorcher looked hot as well. :)

I wanted to see some more of the rides and coasters at BGW and SFFT (another park that I would like to see more of in general), but it was still great to see them specifically point out shows (all looked mesmerizing!) and performers as a significant part of the park experience. I thought both were well done and now I want to go to FT and SFMM even more!

-Danny

Jeff said:
I could have done without seeing Paul Ruben's man boobs floating over the airtime hills of SFDL's Superman. That's just wrong.

I was thinking the same exact thing!

And I say...screw SFDL, SFNE's S:RoS needs more airtime (no pun intended).

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SFNE Central v4- Online Six Flags New England Resource
CBuzzer since September 2001 with a few bumps along the way. :)

Agree that it was nice to SFFT get some love from the channel.

It was also a nice surprise to see Discovery Cove get some time in the spotlight. I visited the park in February, along with SWO, BGT, USF and IOA, and The Cove was the best day we had at a park. A day that was rainy and 60 degrees at that!

Jeff said:
I could have done without seeing Paul Ruben's man boobs floating over the airtime hills of SFDL's Superman. That's just wrong.

ICKY gross...... I thought it was funny when they showed people on Millenium Force at the top of the lift. The girl in front looked like she was gonna cry.... I also liked the whole Darien lake part... very nice park very little known.... I was wondering.... when is the Barnum and Bailey Show on??? ( nobody knew over at Circusbuzz so I thought I ask here)

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Big D from the A to the N drop da O

His man boobs....good stuff. I think we were ALL thinking that same thing as we watched his flesh flubber about.....I feel for that poor girl who had to listen to him ramble the whole ride.

I agree it was cool to see SFDL get some airtime.....their Superman does look great--as did the personal trainer who rode the Sling Shot!

Poor commentary, great footage---agreed!

From what I gather, S:ROS @ SFDL and S:ROS @ SFA are mirrors of each other... True? SFDL is my home park and I always have a blast there. If anyone ever wants any info on the park let me know, love to share!! Im heading to SFMM & hopefully KBF for a week tomorrow morning so watch for a TR early next week!! WOO HAAA!!

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"You think you know me..."

I wanna know why they put SFDL's S:ROS on the spot 4 years after it opened... i mean, SFDL is my homepark, but come on, in 1999/2000 that would have been fine, but now? Show S:ROS @ SFNE for god sakes! You were in the area, at SFGrADV....

Why didn't they show Millennium Force? That's what gets me!

Yeh that girl on SROS was pretty hot and she looked like she was thinking "shut up I can't even enjoy the ride before you telling me about it." X-Flight looked pretty sweet, and the show made the parks look so nice. Are SFFT and WOA that nice?

CoasterAndy - get to PKI if you can. If for nothing else, gotta get on The Beast at least once in your lifetime. At night is the best. We live in Ohio also, and do our best to get our yearly ride on The Beast.

Jeff - You are so right!! Ace bandages work wonders for stopping movement and flattening. (used them once when i had to impersonate Sonny Bono) Someone should mention that to him before he does anymore coaster riding.

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Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today. "James Dean"

Willh51 said:
Are SFFT and WOA that nice?

Hah! Are they that nice?! Well, Worlds of Adventure is good, but SFFT is THE best Six Flags park ever theme wise and beauty wise. It's amazing. It's what other parks can only wish they were like.

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Yes, the rumor is true. I'm currently building a record breaking backyard roller coaster.

I agree that the show made the parks look very nice. I personally have nothing against WoA and think it is a great park, but I don't think it is as nice as it was made out to be. The shows are great, I like them a lot.

i thought the shows were ok, but were repetitive, like all the coaster shows on the discovery channels. I thought the best part was the camera angles on some of the rides. Did PKI really let them put a camera on top and directly below drop zone? And how did they get that view right on the track of SROS?

Whoever the person(s) was/were who were doing the documentary during the shows did an awful job. They kept using these cornball cliches like they were going out of style. It was an embarassment to the rollercoaster community.

I agree that whoever did the video splicing should be sent out to the knackers yard as well. I kept seeing these clips of a woman from California talking about how she likes to scream on a rollercoaster throughout segments at Kennywood, Cedar Point, and Magic Mountain. Listen, bisnatch, I could care less how you scream on a rollercoaster.

Overall, it was a frustrating evening - there's a lot of potential to create a good coaster show, and let's face it - they didn't tap into any of it.