[Axel]

Veterans ride coasters too...

[Axel]

Radioactive theme park near Chernobyl

http://www.themeparktourist.com/feature ... ement-park

[FamousAmos]

So I'm gonna get a new card game (new to me anyway) "Cards Against Humanity". I've played it before and laughed till I cried. I'm a horrible person. (not really)

[Axel]

For those that haven't seen this video before, it shows B&M track being made inside the Clermont Steel Fabricators in Batavia, Ohio. The video was made in January 2013 and shows them building Gatekeeper track... but our Fury 325 track was also made there. The fabrication process is fascinating!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPX7_jJtTGQ

And this is an older video of the plant from 2011:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSl5MMlJIho

An interview with Bob Mampe of Clermont Steel Fabricators after the Gatekeeper build:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn24YcLDo3M

[chargercrazy]

GO WOLFPACK!!! That is all.

[shane235]

GO WOLFPACK!!! That is all.

I was thinking the same thing!!!

[Axel]

cute...

'World’s largest' roller-coaster-themed restaurant opens in Abu Dhabi
ROGO's ferries food to its customers at their tables in loops and twists along more than 30 roller coaster tracks. The joint opened in Abu Dhabi Nov. 21 and the restaurant's operator has other roller-coaster-themed locations around the world.

more pics and story here:
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/w ... -1.2029683



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_X7J7dx-ZA

[arby]

^That's pretty cool.

On a different note, no SDC in the spring for me. Their schedule is out and they are closed during the 5 day window that we have available.

[coasterchitchat]

Office Max is really fast a delivering thing. It only took 2 hours from Ohio to my home in Michigan.

[Tawny71]

^That's pretty cool.

On a different note, no SDC in the spring for me. Their schedule is out and they are closed during the 5 day window that we have available.

Boo. That's too bad. I think you would love it there. What's your back up plan?

My husband was looking at one of my ACE magazines and saw the ACE UK event listed. He's always wanted to go to the UK, so he's ready to sign up for it. (He's really not a coaster guy, though, so I worry he'd resent that the trip revolved around my coaster stuff...)

[arby]

You should read Jonathan's posts about his trip to England. I found them very interesting and hope to make it there some day.

Right now it looks like my backup plan is Mall of America assuming that the weather is not awful up there. If that doesn't pan out then we probably won't go anywhere and I'll have to adjust my plans for next year. I have an extra week of vacation so I need to figure out something.

[Tawny71]

I guess if you've gotta have a problem, having too much vacation time is a good problem to have!

I'll look for Jonathan's posts about England. I think it would be a great trip, I just don't want my husband to be bored with so much park time.

I would be nervous to plan a Mall of America trip during the spring, just because of the possibility of bad weather getting there. But it is a place I've always wanted to visit!

[Jonathan]

I think an ACE overseas trip for someone who doesn't like parks would probably be a living nightmare. I don't really have much interest in them myself even as much as I love coasters just because there are too many other things I want to do when in a foreign country beyond that most American of things which is the amusement park.

Here are the trip reports arby is referencing:

http://jonathanhawkins.net/archive/2012 ... -i-london/
http://jonathanhawkins.net/archive/2012 ... uthampton/
http://jonathanhawkins.net/archive/2012 ... orpe-park/
http://jonathanhawkins.net/archive/2012 ... on-towers/

The one good thing I will say about the ACE trips is that some parks are pretty far out of the way. Alton Towers was a real pain in the *** to get to from London, but I pulled it off. Next time I want to go to Blackpool.

[Tawny71]

Thanks for sharing those links! I'm excited to read them.

It's not so much that my husband doesn't like parks. It's just that he's not passionate about them. Does that make sense? I think he would be happy to have a trip with me and no kids to be responsible for, and I think he'd love seeing another country, but I do think a park every.single.day would be a bit much for him. When I go to events that are close, I usually just go with friends. I don't think he'd love the idea of me going with a friend to the UK for a whole week, tho.

[coasterchitchat]

Mike's at Cedar Point according to twitter.