robbalvey

We actually have quite a bit of sightseeing and other activities planned into that trip. (Sydney Bridge Climb, Steve Irwin Zoo, etc) Remember that the cost also includes flights within the country. And yes, we will most likely include a water park and other "non coaster parks" since TPR is a "theme park" club and is into more than just coasters! --Robb

PRE-ORDER THIS DVD NOW! SHIPS MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9th! http://www.themeparkreview.com/store/ The next installment of Roller Coasters in the RAW includes more than 30 coasters including: Fireball, Millennium Force, Prowler, Xcelerator, Tonnerre De Zeus, After Burn (Top Gun), Rampage, Mindbender (West Edmonton Mall), Expedition GeForce, Goliath (Walibi World), Leap The Dips, Silver Bullet, Legend (Holiday World), Georgia Scorcher, Ozark Wildcat, Jetline, and many MORE! --Robb Alvey www.themeparkreview.com

Theme Park Review's 2010 Trip Flyers are out! Initial Deposits are due NOW for all four 2010 Theme Park Review Trips: DEADLINE FOR ALL DEPOSITS IS FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6TH 2009! IF YOU ARE MAILING IN YOUR DEPOSIT, YOUR PAYMENT MUST BE POSTMARKED BY MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2ND, 2009! UK Trip - June 18th - June 28th, 2010 $300 Initial Deposit due NOW! Europe Trip - June 28th - July 5th, 2010 $275 Initial Deposit due NOW! Middle America Trip - August 5th - 16th, 2010 $250 Initial Deposit due NOW! IntimidaTOUR - August 16th - August 23rd, 2010 $200 Initial Deposit due NOW! Download the flyers here: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=52940 If you have any questions you can email elissa@themeparkreview.com We hope to see you on a TPR trip in 2010! --Robb Alvey www.themeparkreview.com

Hey everyone! There are a few spots open for Theme Park Review's West Coast Tour! If you are interested, contact me ASAP! Email: robbalvey@themeparkreview.com Dates of the trip: August 6th - 17th Total Cost: $2375 Parks included: Six Flags Magic Mountain, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. California's Great America, Gilroy Gardens, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, Knott's Berry Farm, Sea World San Diego, Legoland, Belmont Park, Universal Studios Hollywood, Adventure City, Castle Park, Scandia, Disneyland, and Disney's California Adventure! AND MORE!!! Trip fee includes: - All Park admissions (16 Parks Total!) - Gold Q-Bot at two parks - Three Day Disney Park Hopper - ERT at just about ever park! (Exclusive Ride Time) - Backstage Tours - Photo Walk-backs - All ground transportation - All hotel accommodation (11 nights) - Two meals per day - Drinks, snacks, T-Shirt, Photos, and MORE! Again, if you are interested, email me RIGHT NOW to reserve your spot! --Robb Alvey www.themeparkreview.com robbalvey@themeparkreview.com

FYI - In case anyone is interested we announced details for our 2009 TPR Trips today. You may download the trip flyers here: http://www.themeparkreview.com/trips/ ** June 7th - 22nd 2009 - Scandinavia Trip! ** July 11th - 17th, 2009 - Deep South USA Trip! ** July 17th - 22nd, 2009 - Texas Trip! ** August 6th - 17th, 2009 - West Coast USA Trip! More details to be found on the trip flyers so download them! If you have any questions, you may drop me an email or PM. We hope to see you on a TPR trip in 2009! --Robb Alvey

The TPR Video Contest is BACK! For details click here: http://www.themeparkreview.com/videocontest/ Video entries need to be submited by Feb 2nd, 2008. Good luck everyone! --Robb

Hey everyone! Just to give you all an update - We still have a few spots open for Mainland Europe 2008, East Coast USA 2008, and Tokyo 2008 trips. China 2008 is full but you can still get on the waiting list in case someone drops. For more details about dates, parks we will be visiting, and pricing please visit: http://www.themeparkreview.com/trips/ Hope to see you on a trip! --Robb

It really did kick ass. One of the few coasters out there that actually exceeded my expectations. --Robb

Hey everyone! We have just finished up the Maverick segment from our new DVD "Roller Coasters in the RAW!" For you coaster footage and POV fans this is probably the most comprehensive video of the ride ever! It includes tons of offride shots from just about every angle and a complete POV from the lift hill to brake run totally unedited! Enjoy the video!!! Yup, that's Maverick with that more-than-ninety-degree drop! It's got lots of twisty gooeyness. It's got lots of airtime that makes grown men go "WHEEEEEEEEE!" Download the Cedar Point Maverick Video HERE! Order "Roller Coasters in the RAW!" - Only $10

Here's just a little update on TPR's 2008 trips - Spots are still open for East Coast USA and Mainland Europe. If you're interested, get your deposit in now! Initial deposits for the China trip and Tokyo trip are due on November 15th, 2007. We have made paying the initial deposit even easier! You can now pay your trip deposit via the TPR Store: http://www.themeparkreview.com/store/index.php?categoryID=84 For more information about these trips, download the flyers here: http://www.themeparkreview.com/events/events.htm People who have been on a TPR trip say they have had the "time of their life!" It's a great way to see lots of parks, ride lots of coasters, and meet new people who are interested in your hobby! We hope to see you on a TPR trip in 2008! --Robb

Hey everyone! We had a film shoot out at Kemah Boardwalk last weekend and now I've got the photos & video to share with you all! We arrived at 9:00 in the morning and met with about 25 TPR members for a filming session that would take them through 17 rides on Texas' most aggressive, most INSANE wooden roller coaster! Let me warn you now, Boardwalk Bullet is NOT for the weak! This ride will tear you a new soul!!! If you're looking for an intense roller coaster, Boardwalk Bullet is THE place in Texas to be. The ride covers a serious amount of track in a very small, compact space. The design of the ride is fantastic, although I do have to say that some of the trackwork leaves a bit to be desired. It sort of feels like a "GCI woodie that doesn't track very well." I am told though, that a lot of the track work will get attention over the off season. That's a good thing! It was nice to see Houston get a wooden coaster so quickly after Texas Cyclone was destroyed. At least this is a tradition that will live on in Southern Texas. Anyway, onto some pictures.... There sits Boardwalk Bullet. So innocent looking. It's about to make me scream like a little girl! The TPR gang showed up and was ready to ride. They look happy now...I wonder if they will still look this way in 2 hours! =) You guys ready to lose one of your nine lives? Do NOT let that first drop fool you! This is some insane s**t!!!! Just look at what it does to that perfect hair-do....let's take a closer look... Hair explosion! Geesus, you can't even SEE the track! Everything is such a blur. Once again...the track disappears out from under you. KidTums wants to ride SO BAD...maybe next year? =) Here's one for the lift hill enthusiats. From here you can see how insanely dense the structure is. Boardwalk Bullet should be the first coaster with a boat dock. And just in case you have forgotten what coaster this update is about... You can download the POV video which includes tons of footage of the ride here: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/files...let_640_190.zip Enjoy! --Robb Alvey www.themeparkreview.com

We have announced our China 2008 and Tokyo 2008 trips. Deposits for all 4 of our trips are due soon, so if you're interested get your deposit in now! And if you are planning to send it your deposit, and have not done so yet, please email me at robbalvey@themeparkreview.com so we can "pencil" you in. This will help us with planning how many buses we will have, etc. You can download the trip flyers here: www.themeparkreview.com/trips/ In summary, here are the four trips we are offering in 2008: Mainland Europe! June 22nd – July 6th, 2008. Parks include: Disneyland Paris, Europa Park, Phantasialand, Holiday Park, Tripsdrill, Walibi World, Walibi Belgium, Heide Park, Efteling, Toverland, Parc Asterix, Bobbejaanland, Drievliet, Movie Park Germany, and more! 18 parks in total! East Coast USA! August 7th – August 19th, 2008. Parks include: Six Flags Great Adventure, Six Flags New England, Six Flags America, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Kings Dominion, Hersheypark, Knoebel’s, Dorney Park, Lake Compounce, Dutch Wonderland, and more! 12 to 13 parks in total! With the exchange rate in your favor, this is a great way for Europeans to see many of the USA parks at a really good price! China Trip! August 30th – September 11th, 2008. Parks include: Happy Valley, Beijing Amusement Park, Hong Kong Disneyland, Mysterious Island, Fisherman's Wharf, Ocean Park, Sun Park, Chimelong Paradise, Shijingshan Park, Pearl Land, and more! We will even spend some time at the Great Wall and other China landmarks "TPR Style" (meaning we go up to the Great Wall on a skyway and come back down via Alpine Slide!!!) 13 parks in total! Tokyo Trip! September 14th – September 22nd, 2008. Parks include: Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo DisneySea, Tobu Zoo, Fuji-Q, LaQua, Toshimaen, Sea Paradise, Cosmoworld, Nasu Highland, Yomiuriland, and more! 14 parks in total! If you're looking for a cheaper, shorter alternative to our Japan trip this year, this is a GREAT way to see a good amount of Tokyo parks in a short amount of time. Theme Park Review’s trips include: • All ground transportation • All park admissions • All hotel accommodations • Park perks such as Exclusive riding sessions, photo walkbacks, interviews, etc. • At LEAST one meal per day • Snacks, drinks, trip T-Shirt, TPR goodies, etc. • A DVD and photo CD of your trip • A LOT of fun and a chance to meet new friends who share the same hobby! For information about how to sign up for one of these trips, visit: www.themeparkreview.com/trips/ We hope to see you on a TPR trip in 2008! --Robb Alvey www.themeparkreview.com

BTW, for those of you who are interested in our trips, but may have a few questions about them, we have posted a transcript of Sunday's chat, which we have turned into our "TPR 2008 Trips FAQ." You can read the Q&A here: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39067 If you have any further questions, please ask! Thanks! --Robb Alvey

Hello Everyone! In case you haven't heard, Theme Park Review has announced two of our 2008 trips: Europe and East Coast USA! The trip flyers are now available here: http://www.themeparkreview.com/events/events.htm We will also be announcing our China 2008, Tokyo 2008, and Mini-Korea 2008 trips in early October so keep an eye out for those flyers to show up soon as well. Europe 2008 will visit: Parc Asterix, Disneyland Paris, Walibi Belgium, Walibi World, Europa Park, Heide Park, Holiday Park, Efteling, Toverland, Bobbejaanland, Phantasialand, and much more! East Coast 2008 will visit: Six Flags Great Adventure, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Hersheypark, Kings Dominion, Six Flags New England, Six Flags America, Knoebels, Dorney Park, Lake Compounce, and more! I know we had some RC.AU members on our trips this year and I hope they have good things to say about them! If you have any questions about our trips, you can email us directly at robbalvey@themeparkreview.com or you can stop by our chat room on Sunday, September 30th at either 11am PST (7pm GMT) or 5pm PST (1am GMT) for a TPR trips chat. Obviously everyone from this site is more than invited and we hope you'll join us on one of our 2008 trips. --Robb Alvey

If I had time I would LOVE to be a more active member, but I'm sure you can appreciate the time it takes to run a site, plan trips, edit DVDs, and on top of all that have a day job and a new baby! I'm sorry you guys feel it's "advertizing", I see it more as inviting you guys to come on one of our trips. How would our announcement be any different from any other coaster club letting you all know about events? I would understand it being an issue if this site ALSO offered theme park tours, but as far as I'm aware, they don't. If someone from R-C.com.au join us, you could bring back LOADS of great content for your site in the form of trip reports, photos, videos, park guides, experiences, etc. We're inviting you guys to come join us on one of our tours. I can't offer any better way to "share an experience" than to have someone from the site join us. --Robb "It's not like I'm here posting a 'come join our forum' message...." Alvey

Thanks! Yeah, Elissa has been twice, and I've never been so it's someplace we REALLY want to hit! I'd expect that 2009 will be the year we're there. --Robb

Hey Roller-Coaster.au! We're currently in the planning stages for what our TPR group trips for 2008 and beyond are going to be, and we could use your input! If you are interested in going on a TPR trip next year or in the future, please fill out the following form: http://www.themeparkreview.com/2008trips.htm This will give us an idea of what everyone is interested, where you all want to go, and we can start to organize trips based around places you want to visit. Remember that you don't need to be a member of any club to take part in one of our trips. Everyone from ALL clubs, organizations, and websites are invited! Although do remember we have a limit of how many people we will take on a trip (max. 100 people) so that ERT sessions REALLY are ERT sessions. We absolutely ENCOURGE members of other websites to join in our fun! You get to experience a TPR trip first hand and you get to bring back great content to post here as well! And besides, the more Aussies on our trip the better! Again, please fill out the form if you are SERIOUS about taking a trip with TPR and thanks again for your input! If you have any questions, please ask. --Robb

Theme Park Review's 2007 Trip Information is here! Below you'll find loads of information about our 3 different Theme Park & Roller Coaster trips we are offering for 2007. You do not need to be a member of any club, organization, or website to take park in our trips. In fact we ENCOURAGE people who are members or owners of other websites to come join in the fun, represent your site, and bring back photos, videos, and updates to share with your readers! Download the flyers for even more info: 2007 Spain Trip: http://www.themeparkreview.com/events/TPRS...ipFlyer2007.pdf This 10 day trip from June 29th, to July 8th, 2007 will take to you the best parks in Spain (and pretty much all of them) to ride well known coasters like Dragon Khan, Stampida, Superman, Torando, Magnus Colossus, Port Aventura's new for 2007 Intamin Rocket Coaster, and much more! You will also have plenty of time as an option to check out Madrid, Barcelona, visit some water parks, etc. All the fun of the parks and sights in this awesome Mediterranean country! 2007 Mid-West USA Trip: http://www.themeparkreview.com/events/TPRM...ipFlyer2007.pdf This 12 day trip from August 2nd to August 13th, 2007 will take you to some of the most well known parks in the USA! Cedar Point, Holiday World, Kings Island, Six Flags Great America, Wisconsin Dells, and MORE! You'll get to ride Cedar Point's new Maverick, Holiday World's Voyage, Mt. Olympus' Hades, and lots more. If you live outside the USA, this trip would be a GREAT for you to see some of these parks as the dollar currency exchange rate probably works in your favor! =) 2007 Japan Trip: http://www.themeparkreview.com/events/TPRJ...ipFlyer2007.pdf This trip is going to be a little bit different from any of the other TPR Group Trips announced so far. The Japan trip is going to be what we are calling a TPR "Adventure Tour!" What does that mean? All the organization and planning will of course be done for you, but there won't be any main coach or bus, but instead we'll do the trip "Robb & Elissa Style" with bullet trains, busses, taxis, monorails, a bit of craziness and a LOT of fun! It will be a great exciting way to experience what getting around Japan is really like! Think of it as an "Amazing Race meets Theme Park Review" style of trip. This *17 DAY* Japan Tour will take place September 1st to September 16th, 2007 and focus mostly on the lesser visited southern Japan parks and some of the Tokyo area parks including: Space World, Mitsui Greenland, Kijima, Central Park, Universal Osaka, Expoland, Tivoli Park, Parque Espana, Nagashima Spaland, Hamanako Pal Pal, Lagunasia, Fuji-Q, Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo DisneySea & MORE! There will be 20-24 parks in total! This is sure to be an amazing experience. Japan became our favorite place to visit after our first trip 2 years ago and solidified its position on our visit last winter! I KNOW we will all have a fantastic time. What is a "Theme Park Review Trip" like? Just check out the photos and trip reports from our recent UK Tour where 50 TPR members visited 16 parks, had 17 hours of ERT, park perks like photo walk backs, group lunches, even a "pub quiz" and a heck of a lot of fun! http://www.themeparkreview.com/uk2006/ And if you have any further questions, you can email us directly or we will be having another "TPR Trips Chat" session on Monday, September 18th at 6:00pm PDT, 9:00pm EDT in the TPR Forum Chat Room so any concerns or issues can be addressed. Once the initial deposit date has passed, a private trip forum will be set up so all participants can join in the discussion, give us feedback, and we'll keep you updated with all new information and communication leading up to the start of the tour. Spots are available for all trips, but are filling up fast and we DO limit the number of people on our trips so that ERT will be REAL "exclusive ride time!" Deposits for Midwest USA and Spain need to be postmarked by September 28th, and deposits for Japan need to be postmarked by October 12th. For a complete listing of all TPR events and tours click: http://www.themeparkreview.com/events/events.htm We hope to see you on one of our trips next year! --Robb & Elissa Alvey http://www.themeparkreview.com/

Thanks again to everyone who participated! We look forward to the 2007 Theme Park Review Video Contest! And now.... The winners are.... Theme Park Review's Picks: First Place - Paul Ruiz De Miquel's Parque De Attactiones Video Runner Up - Tom Mueller's Port Aventura Video Runner Up - Phil Hart & Alan Martin's Carowinds or "How to use your camera" Video Runner Up - Erik Johnson's "Expedition Everest" Video Runner Up - Albert Lam's Knott's Halloween Haunt Video Viewers Choice Picks: 1st Place - Paul Ruiz De Miquel's Parque De Attactiones Video 2nd Place - Nicolas Chavance's Efteling Video 3rd Place - Tom Mueller's Port Aventura Video 4th Place - Jarvis Morant's "My Hump" Video 5th Place - Phil Hart & Alan Martin's Carowinds or "How to use your camera" Video Viewers Choice Top 20 Rankings Here are the top 20 videos from the ballots we collected. 1. Paul Ruiz De Miquel's Parque De Attactiones Video 2. Nicolas Chavance's Efteling Video 3. Tom Mueller's Port Aventura Video 4. Jarvis Morant's "My Hump" Video 5. Phil Hart & Alan Martin's Carowinds or "How to use your camera" Video 6. Julian Johnson's "Don't Look Down 2005" Video 7. Erik Johnson's "Expedition Everest" Video 8. Albert Lam's Knott's Halloween Haunt Video 9. Nick Collins' "USA Coaster Trip" Video 10. Justin Saxe's Silverwood Video 11. Jonathan Hawkins' "Midwest Conquest" Video 12. Lars & Cornelia Theissen's "Coaster Season 2005" Video 13. Mark Owens' Busch Gardens Tampa/Cypress Gardens Video 14. Kevin Gillan's "What We Learned On Vacation" Video 15. Barry Hom's FLCC at Busch Gardens Tampa Video 16. Jim Williams' Six Flags Magic Mountain December 2005 Video 17. Connor Thompson's Magic Springs Video 18. Paul Fowler's Paramount's Canada's Wonderland Video 19. Colin Coon's Cedar Point Video 20. Dan and Jackie Collison's Epcot Video To download all the entries click here: http://www.themeparkreview.com/contest2006/contest2006.htm Personally, I'm kind of bummed that Blake's "Goat Encounter" didn't place in the top 20, and that actually suprised me, but oh well.... Ok, everyone...now this is open for your discussion..... --Robb

I have posted this year's ballot: http://www.themeparkreview.com/contest2006/ballot2006.htm Go vote for your favorite video! Voting will continue until we get back from the TPR UK trip in about 3 weeks and then I'll post the winners! Good luck everyone! --Robb

The FINAL five...well, ok SIX videos have been posted!!!! http://www.themeparkreview.com/contest2006/contest2006.htm Turns out there ended up being 26 videos that made the cut, not 25. I didn't think people would mind watching MORE videos! Anyway, this round of videos take us to some interesting places like Japan's Yomiuriland and Tawian's Janfusun Fancyworld (you know the place with the OTHER B&M Dive Machine) and even to REALLY far out worlds like Canada. Check them all out! Voting will start NEXT WEEKEND!!!! So if you haven't downloaded all the entries yet, now is the time to do so. Have fun watching all these great coaster & theme park videos! --Robb

The next 5 videos have been posted! http://www.themeparkreview.com/contest2006/contest2006.htm In this group we've got videos from Efteling, Port Aventura, Six Flags Magic Mountain, and a couple that take us on a whirlwind trip of parks all over the world! (Well, one of them is all over hicksville midwest USA, but that's cool too, right?) =) Enjoy this weeks installment. It's going to be hard to pick a winner! Unless it's in my nose. --Robb

Hey everyone!!! It's that time! The first 5 contest finalist videos have been POSTED!!!! http://www.themeparkreview.com/contest2006/contest2006.htm This year the competition is a little tougher. We received more entries than ever before and I'll be honest, we were a little 'harder' with judging this time around. With the addition of the Professional Amateur Videographer forum there have been a LOT of great videos posted and we felt that ONLY the 'cream of the crop' deserved to be in the final running. Out of nearly 100 videos we narrowed it down to 25 finalists. We will be posting 5 videos a week for the next 5 weeks. And for the first time ever you can now STREAM the contest entries! So what are you waiting for? Go watch the videos!!! http://www.themeparkreview.com/contest2006/contest2006.htm --Robb

So we managed to catch a test run today!! Not the first, but hey, at least we were there to check it out! Yeah!!!!! Anyway, here's some pics from today. It does seem to fly (get it, fly) around the course pretty darn fast! And if SUF's pretzel loop is any indication, this one looks pretty damn good too! And the first part, the double inversion SMACKDOWN looks cool as does the "egg turn." Ok, ok....here's some pics..... Sure enough, there it goes, up the lift hill complete with 32 water dummies! (Oh, wait....two of them seem to be on a smoke break!) =) The view from the entrance plaza is forever changed, just wait till Revy is back running again too! Not only was Tatsu testing, but so was Sky Tower! Temporarily in the flying position between the first and second inversion. (Watch out, the water dummies pee on you!!!) Pretzel Loop goodness into a shed! Seriously though, the Pretzel Loop is HUGE, hopefully it will deliver! Water Dummies say: YAY FIRST DROP!!! A close-up shows the twistyness of the second inversion. Thanks worker guy for getting it testing, but you might want to get out of the way! Also, here is our testing video, this one in the daylight so you can actually see it! http://www.themeparkreview.com/sfmmnew06/tatsutesting.zip Hell, we've even make it so you don't even need to go to our site because we love you all that much! =) Enjoy! --Robb

Hey everyone, Took some new pics from the construction site of SFMM's new B&M Flyer yesterday. At the moment, it is still a lot of dirt and land clearing. But you can see they have started marking off some areas for footers and they have the steel ready to go. Here's yesterday's photos: http://www.themeparkreview.com/sfmmnew06/current.htm And photos from about a week ago showing some of the track and the new flyer parts that have arrived: http://www.themeparkreview.com/sfmmnew06/oct8_1.htm Also, that October 8th update shows a bit of the development going on in front of the park, which I'm now told has been zoned for "retail and residential." While I can't imagine houses going into that area it would be nice to get a few more restaurants within walking distance of the park. Enjoy the updates! --Robb