Happy National Roller Coaster Day! Last week, Dorney Park announced Iron Menace – the park’s first ground-up roller coaster to be built since Hydra: The Revenge in 2005. Standing 160′ tall, with a 95-degree first drop, Iron Menance will truly...
Continue reading...Andrew Stilwell
Silver Dollar City Adding Fire in The Hole in 2024
As the original Fire in the Hole slowly becomes “extinguished” at the end of the 2023 season, Silver Dollar City has been teasing for months as to what the next great attraction coming to the park will be. Today, we...
Continue reading...The Coaster101 Podcast: As the (Deno’s) Wonderwheel Turns – 1 on 1 with Deno “DJ” Vourderis
You never know when you’ll find a podcast guest in the wild. During a visit to Deno’s Wonder Wheel earlier this summer, Andrew was riding their new roller coaster, Phoenix when he struck up a conversation with a ride operator....
Continue reading...Holiday World Announces “Good Gravy” Family Coaster for 2024
It’s time to go “Over the River and Through the Woods” for Good Gravy at Holiday World – America’s “Graviest” Coaster! Traveling more than 1,500′ of track, riders will reach heights of 77′, going both forwards and backwards at speeds approaching...
Continue reading...Cedar Point Officially Announces “Top Thrill 2”
For years, riders of Top Thrill Dragster often wanted just one thing – a rollback off the coaster’s signature 420′ tall tower. Now, every rider will get their chance with the spiritual successor to Top Thrill Dragster, Top Thrill 2, coming...
Continue reading...The Coaster101 Podcast: The Universal Draft
It’s a big week for theme park news, so before all that drops, we wanted to have a little bit of fun. Andrew, Shane, and Nick join forces for a 12-round Universal draft to try and create the best Universal...
Continue reading...The Roller Coasters of Adventureland Resort, Ranked by a First-Time Visitor
Living in North Carolina, I typically find the amusement parks of the midwest as places that are best described as “inconvenient to travel to.” Of course, that makes me want to visit them even more, and when I found myself...
Continue reading...Small Park Showcase: Iowa’s Lost Island Theme Park
One of the best things about the amusement park hobby is finding so many hidden gems that are located well off the beaten path. Located about 2 hours northeast of the state capital of Des Moines, Iowa’s newest theme park,...
Continue reading...The Coaster101 Podcast: 1 on 1 with “Chief” of Lost Island Theme Park, Eric Bertch
We can count on one hand the number of new, full-scale theme parks that have opened in the United States in the past 15 years. One of those parks happens to be Lost Island, located in Waterloo, Iowa. By all...
Continue reading...Ranking the Roller Coasters of New York’s Coney Island
Growing up as a young coaster enthusiast in the pre-to-early internet era, I would try to get my hands on any form of roller coaster media that I could – those usually were coffee table books from the sale section...
Continue reading...The Coaster101 Podcast: Let’sa Go To Universal Studios Japan and Super Nintendo World
Despite living in California, Eric has not yet made it to Universal Studios Hollywood to experience Super Nintendo World stateside. He has however, now officially done the next best (and to be honest, probably better) thing: Visited the original land...
Continue reading...The Coaster101 Podcast: Rocky Mountain, Hi!
Earlier this year, coaster enthusiasts on the east coast were blessed with not one, but two brand-new creations from the wizards at Rocky Mountain Construction – Arie Force One at Fun Spot Atlanta and Wildcat’s Revenge at Hersheypark. Luckily, we...
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