Recent content by Howie

  1. Howie

    Thorpe Park | Hyperia | Mack Hyper Coaster | 2024

    May? Aww man, that's ages away. 😪 Some cheap holidays to Turkey about at the moment though, might just go and ride the one at Land of Legends instead. Can't be arsed waiting for this thing.
  2. Howie

    Fantastic old coaster footage/pics

    Got some updates on this from Monsieur Getley if anyone's interested: The trains were manufactured in Friborg, Switzerland by a company called Stephan S.A. https://www.stephan.ch/ It's funny, with him being a Stoke lad, I kinda assumed that train assembly took place somewhere nearby, ready to...
  3. Howie

    Fantastic old coaster footage/pics

    Dunno. Mrs Howie is on her way to work this morning with a list of questions to interrogate this guy with: where the train assembly took place? The company he worked for at the time (cos it wasn't B&M)? Who the other guys in the picture are? The guy in the third picture with the hat is a big...
  4. Howie

    Fantastic old coaster footage/pics

    My missus has got a new job. Part of that job involves managing a team. One of her team members is an engineer who worked on Oblivion's trains back in the day. That team member lent me a bunch of his personal photographs to share with you lot. Here are some of those photographs...
  5. Howie

    More China: Fantawild Ningbo - Part 2: Glorious Orient

    Yesssss! This is more like it Gav. 😁
  6. Howie

    Battle of the best inverts

    I've loved Nemesis since I first rode it - which will be exactly 30 years ago next week. It was my outright number 1 coaster for 22 years running. It's very likely that my first ride on Nemesis is the reason I'm here now, 3 decades later, babbling sh*te about coasters late at night on an...
  7. Howie

    Florida - Part 9: Sea World

    Enjoying these. Nice to read a Gav report that one can actually relate to, having not long been to Florida myself. Makes a change from all that Asian nonsense. 😉 Some main points I wish to convey my agree-ance with you: Yep, The Bourne Stuntacular is brilliant and criminally overlooked...
  8. Howie

    Dorney Park | Iron Menace | B&M Dive Machine | 2024

    Ah ok, didn't realise that, but still... I'd be interested to find out if it was a B&M design change or was requested by the park. And again, whichever it was... why? Edit, thanks @Matt N , that certainly would make sense.
  9. Howie

    Dorney Park | Iron Menace | B&M Dive Machine | 2024

    I wonder why they went for 7 seat train width? I mean, it's fine, I don't have any issue with it, I'm just curious as to what the thinking was behind that decision? B&M: "You'd like a Dive Coaster? No problem, we do them in 6, 8 or 10 seat wide configurations, which would you like?" Dorney...
  10. Howie

    Efteling | Spookslot Replacement | Intamin Dynamic Motion Stage | 2024

    Oh it's beautiful! 🥰 I kinda knew it would be, it's Efteling after all, but... I wasn't expecting that. A return visit to Efteling has now become a priority.
  11. Howie

    Grona Lund to Expand for 2024?

    It's on FaceBook too, in English this time: https://www.facebook.com/share/hsQpxobZGwfyHPVj/ *He says, and then proceeds to post a link that appears on here in Swedish. 🤦‍♂️ But when you click on it, FB auto-translates it, Insta doesn't. Well, not for me it didn't anyway. In a nutshell...
  12. Howie

    Thorpe Park | Hyperia | Mack Hyper Coaster | 2024

    For the longest time I was still a wee bit peeved that we weren't getting a B&M hyper in the UK, but after seeing these most recent pictures I've officially changed my mind. I'm now glad we're getting this instead. Just the shape of it on the skyline, it's already one of the most instantly...
  13. Howie

    Thorpe Park | Hyperia | Mack Hyper Coaster | 2024

    That drop is giving me a semi. What I didn't realise until now is that it seems to go beyond vertical before twisting round the other way. I kind of expected it to start twisting immediately after cresting the lift hill. Airtime in the back gonna be ludicrous.
  14. Howie

    Rides that required a second ride or series of rerides for you to fully appreciate them

    Maybe we're asking the wrong question here. Maybe there's a bit of a cause-and-effect conflict going on. How can I put this? Maybe you appreciate a ride more because you've had multiple rides on it, not because the ride required it. Ya get me? A night time marathon with no wait on an elite...
  15. Howie

    What is your top coaster on your bucket list?

    Current front runner is Fury 325, that's an itch I've been dying to scratch for a number of years now. Skyrush and Lightning Rod have been vying for second place for ages too, although that was based on Lightning Rod v1.0. I suspect that Lightning Rod v3.5, or whatever it will be by the time I...
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