Free Republic

JACKSON, N.J. -- Six Flags Great Adventure is opening the world's tallest and fastest roller coaster this spring -- a thrill ride that accelerates to 128 mph in 3.5 seconds and rises 456 feet off the ground. Plans for Kingda Ka, which is expected to be the cornerstone of new development at the central New Jersey amusement park, were to be unveiled Wednesday. The current speed and height record holder is "Top Thrill Dragster" at Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio. Made by Intamin -- the same company Six Flags hired to build Kingda Ka -- Dragster shoots riders...

An attempt to break the world record for the number of naked rollercoaster riders has taken place at a Staffordshire theme park. Thirty-two nude people attempted to ride the Nemesis at Alton Towers, in which thrill-seekers are suspended at four times the force of gravity. A TV company filmed the stunt to mark the 50th anniversary of the Guinness Book of Records. The aim was to beat the record set by 28 riders at Thorpe Park, Surrey. A spokesman from Alton Towers confirmed the attempt took place but said they could not reveal whether the record was broken before the...

Disneyland ride shut down after accident-TV report LOS ANGELES, July 8 (Reuters) - Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride was shut down on Thursday evening after two cars bumped into each other and left an 11-year-old boy with neck pain, a Los Angeles television station reported.

Coney Island Cyclone riders had a hair-raising experience yesterday when the world-famous roller coaster stopped dead in its tracks at the top of a hill after a woman's wig blew off and got caught in the wheels. The bizarre mishap had riders stuck in their seats for nearly 30 minutes. "This happens sometimes where something flies out and gets stuck," said Cyclone manager Jerry Menditto. "Usually, it's a sweater or a pocketbook, but this time, it was a lady's wig." Witnesses said the ride ground to a halt at around 3 p.m. when the train reached the top of the...

LONDON (Reuters) - Over 80 British students threw caution and their clothes to the wind Friday to set a world record for the number of nudes riding on a rollercoaster. Reuters Photo The naked joy riders spent a hair-raising one minute and fifty seconds swooping around the rails of the gravity defying rollercoaster ride at a theme park south of London. A spokeswoman at the park said 81 students from 15 universities took part in the record breaking stunt, which had never been attempted before.

New Seat Belt Position Won't Fit Some People SANDUSKY, Ohio -- Some Cedar Point visitors may need to shed a few pounds to ride one of the park's most popular coasters. WEWS reported how new seatbelt positions on the Millennium Force may not fit some of the coaster's bigger riders. The ride has thrilled millions since it opened in 2000, but some riders who've been on Millennium in the past are now being turned away. Two summers ago, Tony Ventresco, of Youngstown, had no problem riding the roller coaster. But now, Ventresco, along with other borderline bigger riders, are finding...

State officials said yesterday that an overweight man fell to his death from a roller coaster last week at Six Flags New England because a park attendant did not make sure he was secured in his seat and he was too bulky to be properly restrained by the lap bar used on the ride. Thomas G. Gatzunis, state public safety commissioner, said that all rides in the state that use the lap bar restraint, including the Superman Ride of Steel in Agawam, will remain closed until amusement park operators and state inspectors agree on safety modifications. Six Flags officials said...

A 55-year-old man died yesterday afternoon after he was thrown from the wild and world-renowned ``Superman'' roller coaster ride at Six Flags New England in Agawam.       ``All of a sudden people started screaming: `Stop the ride, stop the ride, someone has fallen off.' They finally stopped the ride and it was extreme panic and we looked and all the people in the cars were crying,'' eyewitness Sara Syez told WHDH-TV. ``We looked over to the side and there was a gentleman laying by the fence.''      Agawam police identified the victim as Stanley J. Morbarsky of Bloomfield, Conn.      Park officials...

Home along with his soldiers after a one- year deployment in Iraq, the commander of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) called the division's experiences in Operation Iraqi Freedom "a roller coaster" of highs and lows. Since the first elements of the division began leaving their sprawling post that straddles the Kentucky-Tennessee border north of Nashville in February 2003, Army Maj. Gen. David H. Petraeus said they experienced amazing high points in Iraq. Division troops engaged and killed Saddam Hussein's two sons, Uday and Qusay, in Mosul, and also captured Asa Hawleri, third in the terrorist group Ansar al- Islam's...

American Sets New Roller Coaster Record BERLIN - An American set a world record for roller-coaster riding Tuesday, surpassing his own mark of 147 hours after six days of careening rides in a German amusement park, organizers said. Richard Rodriguez, 43, followed Guinness Book of World Records rules requiring eight-hour periods of riding with no more than 15-minute breaks, the Holiday Park in the southwest German town of Hassloch said in a statement. Rodriguez, who teaches English at Loyola University in Chicago, used two roller-coasters at the amusement park in his record chase. For the purpose, one car on each...

The Manhattan woman thrown to her death from an Indiana roller coaster had unbuckled her seat belt and was "virtually standing up" as the thrill ride careened along at 60 mph, authorities said yesterday. The stunning revelation came as 1,500 relatives and friends attended funeral services for Tamar Fellner, 32, who had earned a Harvard M.B.A. and ran her own business. Spencer County Prosecutor Jon Dartt said witnesses at the Holiday World & Splashin' Safari park saw Fellner unlatch her seat belt and get up in a bid to get what roller-coaster enthusiasts call air time. She made the fatal...

NEW YORK (AP) _ The Cyclone, perhaps the world's best-known roller coaster, turns 75-years-old today. The Coney Island landmark first opened to thrill seekers on June 26, 1927, and still offers a 60 mph ride on 1.6 miles of track, including 12 drops. When it first opened, a ride on the Cyclone was 25 cents. These days the same ride will cost you $5 _ except for today, between noon and 5:00 p.m., when rides will sell for 75 cents to celebrate the Brooklyn coaster's silver anniversary. There will also be Ragtime music, a 1920s swimsuit contest and a...