l would like to thank a freind of mine Gordon Clinton-Lindop for allowing me to use these photographs of American adventure.

They were taken during the 1990 season and I know from comments to the site and emails its a park allot of people have missed.

I only got to visit the park once during its operation and that was the year before it closed.

The Vekoma boomerang coaster featured on the left  hand side was once classed as Britains best coaster after it opened in 1989.

For anyone that have never been to American Adventure theme park, it was built on the site of an old open cast coal mine and centered around a huge lake in the middle of the park. Some people believe the demise of the park came in 2005 when they re-themed the park as a family park and got rid of the white knuckle rides  including the Vekoma Boomerang coaster they named “the missile’.

Bottom of the first hill, beginning the slow pull back.

Buffalo ride.

I’m guessing this photograph was taken from the wheel. In the distance the log ride and balloons (far left)

Helter Skelter.

A view across the huge lake.

Thanks again to Gordon Clinton-Lindop for the use of the photographs.

To see my previous trip report from American Adventure click here.

If you want to comment on this please use the comment form, contact form or join the ridemad discussion forums.

Thanks for reading.

This is a set of photographs taken during July 2008 of the Back lot tour ride at Disneyland Paris.

The ride is similar to the one at Orlando but the tour doesnt start on foot, each tour is done on the trams which you stay on until you return back to the loading bay.

Each trip lasts about 15 minutes and you have plenty of time for taking pictures during this trip.

I actually preferred this ride to the one we had done previously in Orlando back in Febraury, apart from been allot newer than the Orlando Back lot tour the duration was just right and didnt involve the pre show antics which are featured in Florida.

The Backlot tour ride opened in Walt Disney Studios, Disneyland Paris in March 2002 when the studios part of Disneyland Paris area was opened.

One of the shuttles from Armegeddon, obviously the one that didnt get blown up on entering the asteroid.

Various film items along the full stretch of the back lot tour, half of which I have no idea where they came from.

More props.

Items from 102 Dalmations.

Dinosaur.

Catastrophe Canyon.

Around the back of the above stunt, its suprising how big this set really is and the amount of water that’s required.

Some of the pumps for the above set.

I think these are from Pearl Harbour

Costume department, Below the clothes from Narnia.

Loads of cars from the movies. too many to mention.

This is a London Street from reign of fire.

Crushed Volvo.

More cars from 101 Dalmations.

Thanks for reading, if you would like to discuss this article further either leave a comment, contact me using the contact form or join in at the ridemad forums

Thanks for reading.

Best Amusement Park
Cedar Point, Sandusky, OH

Best Waterpark
Schlitterbahn Waterpark Resort, New Braunfels, TX

Best Children’s Park
Legoland California, Carlsbad, CA

Best Marine Life Park
SeaWorld Orlando, Orlando, FL

Best Seaside Park
Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, Santa Cruz, CA

Best Wooden Coaster
The Voyage at Holiday World, Santa Claus, IN

Best Steel Coaster
Superman Ride of Steel
at Six Flags New England, Agawam, MA

Best Kids’ Area
Kings Island, Kings Mills, OH

Friendliest Staff
Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari, Santa Claus, IN

Cleanest Park
Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari, Santa Claus, IN

Best Halloween Event
Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando, Orlando, FL

Best Landscaping
Busch Gardens Europe, Williamsburg, VA

Best Christmas Event
Smoky Mountain Christmas at Dollywood, Pigeon Forge, TN

Best Food
Knoebels Amusement Resort, Elysburg, PA

Best Shows
Six Flags Fiesta Texas, San Antonio, TX

Best Outdoor Night Show Production
IllumiNations: Reflections of the Earth
at Walt Disney World’s Epcot Center, Orlando, FL

Best Water Ride
Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls
at Universal’s Islands of Adventure, Orlando, FL

Best Waterpark Ride
Master Blaster at Schlitterbahn Waterpark Resort, New Braunfels, TX

Best Dark Ride
Amazing Adventures of Spiderman
at Universal’s Islands of Adventure, Orlando, FL

Best New Ride of 2008 - Amusement Park
Ravine Flyer II at Waldameer Park, Erie, PA

Best New Ride of 2008 - Waterpark
Dragon’s Revenge at Schlitterbahn Waterpark Resort, New Braunfels, TX

Best Carousel
Grand Carousel at Knoebels Amusement Resort, Elysburg, PA

Best Indoor Roller Coaster
Revenge of the Mummy at Universal Orlando, Orlando, FL

Best Indoor Waterpark
Schlitterbahn Galveston Island, Galveston, TX

Best Funhouse/Walk-

Through Attraction
Frankenstein’s Castle at Indiana Beach, Monticello, IN

Thanks for reading

Want to discuss this further visit the forums or use the contact form at the top of the page.

Built by Bolliger and Mabillard (B & M) Mantis is another unique ride experience at Cedar Point. Guests board stand up trains and fly down a 145-foot-tall first hill at a top speed of 60 mph.

This stand-up roller coaster turns riders upside down a total of four times, includes a 137-foot drop at a 52 degree angle.

Here’s some brief details about the ride.

In 2007 Cedar Point recorded 983,445 guests riding Mantis. I visited in June 2007 and rode this twice the first time after a considerable 1hr 30 minute queue in the scorching heat.

Technical details.

Capacity    Approximately 1,800 riders per hour
Features    119-foot-tall vertical loop, 103-foot-high dive loop, heavily banked 360-degree turn, 83-foot-tall inclined loop, 360-degree flat spin, figure-eight finale.
Ride Time    Approximately 2 minutes, 40 seconds
Speed    Approximately 60 mph
Cost    $12 million
Manufacturer    Bolliger & Mabillard (B & M), Monthey, Switzerland

Physical Dimensions

Angle of Descent    52 degrees
Lift Height    145 feet
Track Length    3,900 feet
Vertical Drop    137 feet
Vertical Loop Height    119

Vehicles
Eight rows of passengers standing four-across, Three 32-passenger trains
Vehicle Design    Single ergonomically adjustable pillars with shoulder harnesses
Number of Trains    3

Pictures

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Want to discuss this further visit the forums or use the contact form at the top of the page.

Before getting to the attraction here’s some history gathered from Wiki.

It’s a small world History.
 
In 1956, Walt Disney attended a conference, along with many other notable celebrities of the time, at the invitation of President Eisenhower. The conference was about founding a national organization to help promote world peace through international civilian travel. (This dream became a reality in 1956, when Eisenhower founded the People to People Student Ambassador Program.) Inspired by the ideas from the meeting, Disney returned to California and set to work, creating the “It’s A Small World” ride at Disneyland.

Like several other Disneyland attractions, “It’s a Small World” originated with the 1964/1965 New York World’s Fair (it was Pepsi’s pavilion.) After the fair closed, the ride was transferred to Disneyland along with three other attractions from the fair that year; Primeval World Diorama, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln and the Carousel of Progress.

The attraction’s design was done by Mary Blair, who was also an art director on several Disney animated features (including Cinderella and Peter Pan). Like many Disneyland and Walt Disney World attractions, scenes and characters were designed by Marc Davis, while his wife, Alice Davis, designed the costumes for the dolls. Blaine Gibson sculpted the animatronic figures, while Harriet Burns painted them. Many of the dolls were created by Joyce Carlson who is honored with a shop window along the Magic Kingdom’s Main Street U.S.A. The sign there reads: “Dolls by Miss Joyce, Dollmaker for the World.” Rolly Crump designed the Tower of the Four Winds (a huge structure controlled by the four winds, which stood at the entrance to the attraction at the World’s Fair).

The name of the ride was originally “children of the world”. When Walt Disney demonstrated it to songwriters Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman, the ride’s soundtrack featured numerous national anthems all playing at once. Disney said, “I need one song.” In response, the brothers wrote one of the best known Disney tunes of all time: It’s a Small World (After All). It is argued that the song may be the most performed and translated song on earth.

On January 22nd, 2008, Disneyland closed its version of the ride until November 29th for refurbishment.  Rumors of removing the rainforest scene for a United States scene were squashed by a memo from Marty Sklar, but various Disney characters will seamlessly be added throughout the attraction, which has received mixed feedback. 

Paris.

In Disneyland Resort Paris, the ride is different from, but similar to, the other versions of the ride. The backgrounds and music are all different and there is a new room: a North America room, with dolls representing Canada and the United States. This version also has a complete Middle Eastern section in which the song is sung in Arabic. In the finale scene, the song is sung in German and English as well as French.

The song, we all know the song  

The well-known catchiness of the song is due not only to its constant repetition for the duration of the ride (which lasts about fifteen minutes, not including time in line), but Robert B. Sherman explains that the structure of the song may also play a role:

Like many songs, “It’s a Small World” has a verse and a chorus. One thing which makes this song particularly ‘catchy’ is that the verse and chorus work in counterpoint to each other. This means that you can play the same chords over and over again, but with different melodies. The repetitive, yet varied pattern tricks your mind into absorbing the work without it becoming tiresome to your ear.

Additionally, the World’s Fair version of the song is the one commonly heard on various Disney compilation albums. The song also inspired a Disney Read-Along.

The song was later given two covers for the dance video game Dance Dance Revolution Disney Mix: a Eurobeat cover by ABeatC All Stars and a Happy Hardcore instrumental remix entitled “IT’S A SMALL WORLD (Ducking Hardcore MIX)” by TOMOSUKE and U1-ASAMI, which featured sampling of Donald Duck and was the hardest song in the game. In Ecuador, this song serves as a theme for the chain of toy stores called Mi Juguetería. The original 1964 version of the song can be heard as one enters the store.

The Ride.

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Link to the forums

I was in a group of about 50 members of Club Pleasure Beach and we got to ride Traumatizer (now relocated to Blackpool as Infusion) and the Cyclone wooden roller coaster (which was later demolished).

Also included in the tour was a Q&A session with one of the parks directors and a look into the workshops located behind the cyclone and finally a tour of the ghost train with the lights on.

These are the pictures taken at this event.

Scary looking head

This stunt jumps up when the cars go past.

Im not sure what this is, it looks like an old rag.

Behind one of the stunts.

From the front end.

Opening coffin, a dark ride default stunt 

An open coffin.

Walking into the ride.

Generally walking around.

Activated as the car goes past, it drops down.

Workshops located behind the Cyclone.

The Blackpool Pleasure Beach Monorail is no different to this and the 10 minute journey around the park gives the visitor a great view of the world.

Pleasure Beach Blackpool bought the monorail in 1964 from the Lausanne expo in Switzerland and it was opened

in Pleasure Beach in 1966. Some great photographs showing the opening can be seen on the park in the north booking office. The monorail was extended after opening with a loop around the first floor of the Casino building.

These behind the scenes photographs were taken during an organised visit by Club Pleasure beach during May 2008.

Monorail storage areas.

Monorail maintenance vehicle, I would love to see this moving around the track.

The Transfer track.

The transfer track for the monorail is located just outside the maintenance/storage area.

The teeth turn below and another piece of track moves into position to allow the train the enter the storage/maintenance area.

Some general track photographs.

Track heading towards Valhalla.

The opposite way towards north car park.

Into the first of the covered areas.

Monorail in action.

Id like to thank Club Pleasure Beach for arranging this trip and the Pleasure Beach management for the tour.

If you want to use any photographs on this blog please get in touch paul@ridemad.com im quite happy to share and have high resolution copies of everything used

Thanks for Reading.

Heres a selection taken of the dreams come true parade which was on mid afternoon in Magic Kingdom. For any Disney purists out there this isnt meant to be the full parade just a small selection of the photographs I had taken.

If you want to use any photographs on this blog please get in touch paul@ridemad.com im quite happy to share and have high resolution copies of everything used.

Thanks for Reading.

Taken from the Universal Islands of adventure website Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw falls is one of the most eloborate over the top log flume rides I have ever had the pleasure of riding, Based in the toon lagoon area of the park you cant miss this ride and the buzz of the crowds as they line up on the bridge to take photographs.

It seems we are all fascinated about watching others get a complete soaking.

oh and you do get wet, if you think you have got away with it after the drop these guns on the far side of the flume ensure you arent left out.

Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw falls has operated at Universal Islands of Adventure since 1999. The final drop is 75ft and the ride can hold something like 400,000 gallons of water.

The ride duration is about 5 minutes and during this time you are immersed in the story and the themeing of the ride.

Heres the rest of the photographs taken as part of this trip.

Heres a youtube video showing the full ride.

If you want to use any photographs on this blog please get in touch paul@ridemad.com im quite happy to share and have high resolution copies of everything used, to see the complete gallery visit the Ridemad Gallery

Thanks for Reading.

Top Thrill Dragster was introduced to Cedar Point in 2003. It was made by Intamin and has a height of 420ft, at one point it was the highest coaster in the world, only to be overtaken in 2005 by Kingda Ka at Six flags great adventure, New Jersey at 456ft.

The ride has a top speed of 120mph which is reached in a breathtaking 4 seconds.

For those that requested here’s some of my pictures taken during this trip. I hope you like them.

A couple of the ride entrance.

The Queue line, really feeling the heat about a 1 hour wait.

finally inside the entrance.

The Trains.

Waiting to Launch.

Seconds later.

End of the launch for the hydraulic geeks.

Some general shots of the ride.

Ride Structure.

Ride Exit.

And finally one of my favourite shots took about 8:30pm as the sun was going down.

If you want to use any photographs on this blog please get in touch paul@ridemad.com im quite happy to share and have high resolution copies of everything used.

Thanks for Reading.

The Skyride was only one of a number of behind the scenes tours that we did during this day, to see the other photographs and tours check out the Behind the scenes category.

The Skyride was installed in 1987 and was manufactured by Poma well known for moving people and engineered by Sir Robert McAlpine. 

Each Gondala is capable of carrying 10 people and the system is 1048 mtrs in length.

Heres some pictures of the skyride maintenance area.

Doors leading to the main skyride station.

And finally some spare parts and exterior shots.

Some quick facts about the skyride.
Opening date : 28th March 1987
Opened by : Prince Edward.
Cost : 6 Million pounds.
Ride Height at peak : 61 Metres.
Capacity : 2,880 guests per hour.
Gondala’s : 52 in total.
With no height restrictions.

Facts from Alton Towers Almanac.

If you want to use any photographs on this blog please get in touch paul@ridemad.com im quite happy to share and have high resolution copies of everything used, to see the complete gallery visit the Ridemad Gallery

Thanks for Reading.

For anyone that’s a fan of dark rides especially the Haunted House or as its now known Duel at Alton towers there is only one real source for information about this ride and thats the haunted one website which has been updated recently.

There’s obviously alot of fans out there as we got together some time ago and wrote an article based on a behind the scenes tour and some history which was provided by the haunted one, this article is one of the most popular on this website with consistently over 1,500 views a month.

If you havent seen the site lately, check it out. http://www.hauntedone.co.uk/

Good luck with the new site Mik, im sure it will be a great success.

The Incredible Hulk was a coaster I was really looking forward to riding in Florida, located on the Marvel Super hero island themed area in Islands of adventure the hulk dominates the skyline, it can also be seen from most other areas of this superbly themed theme park.

Built by B&M in 1999 and with a top speed of 67mph the Hulk is still entertaining thousands of visitors daily.

Huge Cobra roll.

On our visit in February 2008 the park was quite busy so we decided to buy fast pass for all the big attraction to save queuing for most of the day. Our party was 2 adults and 2 children with only 1 adult and 1 child wanting to ride the coasters. The queue lines were showing upwards of 40 minutes for most rides so although costing another 140 dollars the fast pass worked out for us and it saved the good old arguements between the kids about how many rides each of them had.

Like everything at Universal the hulk is brilliantly themed some of it over water and in the evenings Universal take advantage of this and light up the coaster.

For anyone who hasn’t ridden the Hulk its a launched coaster so you don’t have any of the click, click when going up the first hill. The hulk is propelled by tyres up to its max height of 110ft the launch is in a tunnel so you have the feeling of not knowing what is coming next and before you realize it your at the top of the launch hill and daylight is coming fast. One of the great elements of the hulk is at the top of the launch rather unlike a traditional coaster of going down the hulk flips you 360 degrees so your right into the action which continues over the full 3700ft of track.

My daughter who is 11 complained about the ride quality of the hulk and she suffered some quite bad ear bashing to both sides of her head, it was completely opposite for me but i am taller and her ears were right in between the restraints. Its worth bearing this in mind if you havent ridden it before It could put some children off, my daughter is a hardened rider and although she didnt want to ride the hulk again it didnt put her off wanting to try the other coasters.

Heres the pictures.

from a distance.

Bottom of the launch hill.

Another shot of the cobra roll.

And some general shots and a video.

Video i found on youtube. Theres loads of on ride videos but this seem to have the best quality.

If you want to use any photographs on this blog please get in touch paul@ridemad.com im quite happy to share and have high resolution copies of everything used, to see the complete gallery visit the Ridemad Gallery

Thanks for Reading.

Im hoping to get the remaining few thousand updated by the end of the week with some additional photographs from the recent florida trip and a few other parks taking the total to just over 10,000 possibly more with the closed parks (southport, Rhyl ocean beach and American adventure).

If anyone has any photographs they would like to submit please get in touch. In the meantime the new gallery is in place of the old one at http://www.ridemad.com/photo

Thanks for reading.
Paul

Ive been having some on going maintainance problems with the gallery for some time so rather than patch up and put it back online I may move everything over to Coppermine in the next few days.

No content has been lost and any photographs submitted by members are all backed up and will be imported into the new gallery.

Thanks

The ride was redesigned during this time and following a soft opening in September 1993 it offically reopened in 1994. The ride was opened by two of the films stars Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) and Brody’s wife (Lorraine Gray)

Out of all the rides and attraction at Universal Studios Jaws is one of those rides I had most looked forward to visiting. Im a huge fan of the Jaws films especially the first one and can still recall with anorak accuracy some of the most famous lines from the film. 

As you have probably guessed Jaws is a boat ride around the make believe Island called Amity, home to Chief Brody.

The theming as you would expect from Universal is fantastic. I’ll start this look at the attraction from the outside, queue line and then a trip on one of the Amity Boats.

One of the most popular images from the film, the bill board advertising the 4th July annual regatta.

The Queueline.

Lots of props.

The island and theming.

One of the many tour boats.

The ride itself goes completely around the Island and back into the loading bay. Along the route you come across various fishy/sharky scares along the way and its almost a guarantee that you will get splashed if you sit on either side of the boat. Although for me the left side was the worst.

I must say the boat drivers/guide on this ride are absolute nuts and no matter how many times they have done this attraction and the script they dont fail to get a feeling of suspence over the visitors, if someone tongue in cheek.  

Previous tour boat or shark attack.

Our first encounter with Jaws.

Were gonna need a bigger boat.

To avoid further attacks we take shelter in a salvage shed.

Flames/gas and electrical cables, never a good combination.

  

Here’s Jaws for a bit more action and the final attack on the boat.