"Ultimate Thrill Rides" on Nat'l Gee Channel

OK, who was supposed to be monitoring the TV Guide this week? Just saw the last third or so of this show-- this part featured Power Tower & TTD, but I don't think the entire show was about CP. The closing credits showed some quick glimpses of non-CP rides.

The show is a few years old, since it calls TTD the current record holder. But it seemed like a pretty good program that really went into the design, operation and maintenance of the rides. Not to mention a pretty cool front seat POV ride on TTD-- at least for those of us who've never been.

I figure many people have seen this already, but for those who haven't it will be shown again on March 22 @ 4PM and March 26 @ 1PM.

All next week on the Travel channel they are having a multitude of shows every day dedicated to the amusement industry for about 3 hours every night, you might want to check your listings. I went ahead to next week on my cable box and saw a boatload of shows for Monday and Tuesday.

You have disturbed the forbidden temple, now-you-will-pay!!!

There are a couple of thrill park specials on the travel channel with an announcer that drives me up the wall with expressive non-descriptives like... "THIS MECHANICAL MENACE WILL SPLIT YOUR BRAIN AND FRY YOUR NOODLE LIKE A CRAZY BRAIN SURGEON ON STEROIDS!" He doesn't end up saying anything about the rides, but he sure gets people excited- for no reason at all. Who is this guy, and why is travel channel giving him his own program? *** Edited 3/16/2006 9:04:50 PM UTC by rc-madness***

...with his expressive non-descriptives like... "This mechanical menace will spit your brain and fry your noodle like a crazy brain surgeon on steroids."

Ha! Nice. :)

coasterimage - lordgonchar

In the first 2/3 of the show they showed alot of stuff from Alton Towers (Air, Oblivion, Nemisis) w/ John Wardly talking about the rides he designed. Also showed X and the Sky Swatter from SF Astroworld.

This is one of the better shows on amusement parks. They did a good job with PT and TTD.

I'm going to set my DVR right now for the new shows.
*** Edited 3/17/2006 1:41:04 AM UTC by gomez***

Do you guys notice the little bits of info that TV shows get wrong? Seems like just about every time I see a show on coaster or read a mainstream article about them they screw up some facts.

Things I noticed in the Nat'l Geo show... Announcer talks about the linear synchronis motors on Superman and how they make the car levitate.

They also talk about X and how there are extra rails, "the yellow ones," that control the rotation. If you've been on it, you know the yellow rails are the load bearing rails.

Minor stuff in the grand scheme of things, but it makes me wonder how much they get wrong when reporting on other things, like Iraq or bird-flu.