The year 2005 was pretty good for theme parks across the world. We saw the premiere of record breaking attractions, new high tech thrill rides and traditional forms of amusement park entertainment.

We'll take a look back at the highs and lows of 2005 with Arthur Levine from about.com. We'll talk about the attractions that were big hits and some of the ones that missed the mark. We'll also preview what could be big in 2006.

We'll also talk with Ian Clark from ozcoaster.net. He was one of the very first people to ride Superman Escape, the new Intamin Launch Coaster at Warner Brother's Movie World. He'll give us a review of this new attraction that opens this week.

After the show, join us in our forums to talk about your opinions. You can also record your thoughts on the CoasterRadio.com Voicemail Line at 206-339-RIDE (206-339-7433). Let us know what you think by e-mailing us at feedback@coasterradio.com.

We'd like to wish each of you Happy Holidays and a successful 2006.

When we started the show back in April, we had no idea what the reaction would be to a bunch of unknowns talking about theme parks and roller coasters. We figured that a couple hundred people would listen each week at best. But now, here we are eight months later, and a couple thousand of you are listening to the show each week. That totally exceeded our expectations.

As cheesy as it sounds, we're really honored that you invite us into your lives (iPods, computers) each week. Like we've said on the show, we're not theme park or coaster experts. Most of you out there know more about this stuff than we do. But the people who truly "get" the show understand that CoasterRadio.com is simply a show celebrating the fun that we all have when we visit the parks. That's all it is and all it ever will be.

We appreciate the e-mails we get every day and the many posts on the forums. We appreciate the people who have added themselves to the Frappr map and the people who have left messages on our voice mail line. But we also appreciate all of the people who listen each week that we have NEVER heard from personally. Hopefully we'll get to meet some of you this year.

2006 should be fun and we're glad you're along for the ride.

Have a wonderful and safe holiday with your family and friends.

If you've every spent any time watching ESPN, you've probably seen a program called "Pardon The Interruption" (PTI). It's a daily show where Washington Post columnists Tony Kornhsiser and Michael Wilbon debate the the biggest stories in sports for exactly one minute at a time.

In these days of short attention spans, it's the perfect format. So, we decided to follow the homage "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" and do a direct rip-off of PTI. So, that's why this week's show is called "Pardon The Ripoff".

We'll discuss 5 different topics for exactly two minutes each. Once the buzzer sounds at the end of the two minutes, we have to move on or else EB will throw a fit. It's the fastest theme park talk out there.

After the show, join us in our forums to talk about your opinions. You can also record your thoughts on the CoasterRadio.com Voicemail Line at 206-339-RIDE (206-339-7433).

Also, don't forget to check out our CoasterRadio.com Holiday Gift Guide. It's filled with ideas to find the perfect gift for the theme park enthusiast in your life. We've searched the internet for the most interesting toys, gadgets, DVDs, books, calendars, posters and other gifts that are made specifically for a fan of theme parks. We'll also found some outrageously expensive stuff that you can buy to bring the theme park experience into your home.

Thanks for listening to the show. Let us know what you think by e-mailing us at feedback@coasterradio.com.

This year, Hades, the monstrous wooden roller coaster that opened at Mt. Olympus Water and Theme Park in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin won the Amusement Today Golden Ticket Award for Best New Ride in 2005.

Riders were amazed by it's steep drop (140-feet at a 65-degree angle), two underground tunnels (one of which was the longest underground tunnel on a roller coaster ever), and the extreme 90-degree banked turn. The ride was designed by The Gravity Group.

One of the most anticipated rides for 2006 is The Voyage at Holiday World and Splashin' Safari in Santa Claus, Indiana. This wooden coaster will thrill park-goers with a 154-foot drop at 66-degrees, five underground tunnels, three 90-degree banked turns and a total of 24.2 seconds of airtime. This ride was also designed by The Gravity Group.

So, it goes without saying that the designers at this young company are pushing the evolution of wooden roller coasters. We're happy to welcome GG designers Korey Kiepert and Chad Miller to CoasterRadio.com this week.

We'll talk to the guys about their design philosophies and how they are trying to take the development and technology of the wooden roller coaster to new heights. We'll also talk about the pressures of designing a roller coaster in the age of the internet, where hype knows no bounds. Korey and Chad will also tell us some behind-the-scenes stories about Hades, The Voyage and other projects that they have worked on during their careers. After the show, join us in our forums to talk about your opinions. You can also record your thoughts on the CoasterRadio.com Voicemail Line at 206-339-RIDE (206-339-7433).

Also, don't forget to check out our CoasterRadio.com Holiday Gift Guide. It's filled with ideas to find the perfect gift for the theme park enthusiast in your life. We've searched the internet for the most interesting toys, gadgets, DVDs, books, calendars, posters and other gifts that are made specifically for a fan of theme parks. We'll also found some outrageously expensive stuff that you can buy to bring the theme park experience into your home.

Thanks for listening to the show. Let us know what you think by e-mailing us at feedback@coasterradio.com.

This week, we hit soft-of a milestone and podcast our 30th episode.

To help celebrate, we'll play highlights from some of our favorite interviews that we have done over the past seven months. We'll play clips from Disney Imagineers Eric Jacobson and Joe Rohde, Holiday World's Will Koch, Curse of DarKastle designer Brent Young, travel author Kelly Monoghan, backyard coaster designer Jeremy Reid and many more. We'll also share a few behind the scene stories about each of the interviews.

Also, don't forget to check out our CoasterRadio.com Holiday Gift Guide. It's filled with ideas to find the perfect gift for the theme park enthusiast in your life. We've searched the internet for the most interesting toys, gadgets, DVDs, books, calendars, posters and other gifts that are made specifically for a fan of theme parks. We'll also found some outrageously expensive stuff that you can buy to bring the theme park experience into your home.

After the show, join us in our forums to talk about your opinions. You can also record your thoughts on the CoasterRadio.com Voicemail Line at 206-339-RIDE (206-339-7433).

Thanks for listening to the show. Let us know what you think by e-mailing us at feedback@coasterradio.com.

In America, the day after Thanksgiving is the busiest shopping day of the year. Everyone crowds into the shopping malls and collectively spend billions of dollars on holiday gifts.

If you listen to this show on a regular basis, odds are you're interested in buying presents for theme park and roller coaster enthusiasts. You might be looking to buy for family and friends or maybe, you're interested in buying for yourself!

You won't need make a frustrating trip to the mall because we've done all the work for you. We surfed the internet looking for some of the most interesting gifts we could find for the theme park fanatic. You can find them all listen in our CoasterRadio.com Holiday Gift Guide.

During this week's show, we'll talk about the toys, gadgets, DVDs, books, calendars, posters and other gifts that are perfect for a fan of theme parks. We'll also spend some time talking about outrageously expensive stuff that you can buy to bring the theme park experience into your home. For instance, haven't you always wanted to own your own full-size Skee-Ball machine? You'd be the envy of your neighborhood!

After the show, join us in our forums to talk about your opinions. You can also record your thoughts on the CoasterRadio.com Voicemail Line at 206-339-RIDE (206-339-7433).

Thanks for listening to the show. Let us know what you think by e-mailing us at feedback@coasterradio.com.

It's the week of Thanksgiving here in the United States. For most people, that means stuffing themselves full of turkey and then passing out while watching NFL football.

We decided to celebrate the holiday in a different way. We asked out listeners to let us know what they are thankful for within the theme park industry. We received a lot of interesting responses and we'll share some of them with you during this week's show.

Next week, the entire CoasterRadio.com gang will be back with a special show dedicated to theme park and roller coaster related gifts. We'll talk about the toys, gadgets, DVDs, books, calendars, posters and other gifts that you can buy for the coaster nut in your life. (Heck, you might even want to buy some of this stuff for yourself!) We'll also spend some time talking about outrageously expensive stuff that you can buy to bring the theme park experience into your home.

After the show, join us in our forums to talk about your opinions. You can also record your thoughts on the CoasterRadio.com Voicemail Line at 206-339-RIDE (206-339-7433).

Thanks for listening to the show. Let us know what you think by e-mailing us at feedback@coasterradio.com.

If you're a theme park enthusiast, you've probably had a dream of building and owning your own theme park. But odds are, unless you're very well connected or a multi-millionaire, you'll never get to see your dream come true.

If that isn't discouraging enough, most people would probably tell you that your dream was crazy anyway. Heck, people even told Walt Disney that his plans for a new type of amusement park were a horrible idea. They even went so far as to call it "Disney's Folly".

But that folly eventually became Disneyland and those critics had to eat their words.

So in that sprit, we welcome Brian Temmer to the show. Brian is a theme park fan just like all of us. But he's doing whatever he can to bring his dream of a new type of theme park to life.

He'll give us a behind the scenes look at what it takes to push an idea like this from a dream to reality. He'll also give us a few hints as to what this new attraction might be and where it might be located. It's a chance for us all to watch an amusement industry project from it's conception to it's completion.

After the show, join us in our forums to talk about your opinions. You can also record your thoughts on the CoasterRadio.com Voicemail Line at 206-339-RIDE (206-339-7433). You can also let us know what you think by e-mailing us at feedback@coasterradio.com.

Next week, we'll celebrate the American holiday of Thanksgiving by talking about what our listeners are thankful for at their favorite theme parks. You can participate in this show by leaving your thoughts on the CoasterRadio.com Voicemail Line at 206-339-RIDE (206-339-7433). You can also post your thoughts in our special forum topic.

Thanks for listening to the show. Let us know what you think by e-mailing us at feedback@coasterradio.com.

There really aren't many rides or attractions that theme park fans won't try at least once.

But there are a few rides out there that even the most hardcore enthusiasts think twice about before riding.

Some people won't ride certain types of freefall rides while others won't ride attractions that spin you in circles. Some people won't ride skycoasters and some people could never bring themselves to ride any of the attractions on top of the Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas. (That picture over there on the right is X-Scream. You can read our review to find out what it's all about.)

We'll spend this week's short "off-season" show talking about the different theme park attractions that freak people out. We'll talk about the attractions that scare us the most and we'll also hear about some of our listener's picks as well. You'll be surprised at some of the responses we got.

After the show, join us in our forums to talk about your opinions. You can also record your thoughts on the CoasterRadio.com Voicemail Line at 206-339-RIDE (206-339-7433). You can also let us know what you think by e-mailing us at feedback@coasterradio.com.

Next week, we'll be talking with a man who has a dream of building his own theme park. Everyone says he is crazy, but he is actually moving ahead with the idea and has had some early successes already.

He'll give us a behind the scenes look at what it takes to bring the idea from a dream to reality. He'll also give us a few hints as to what this new attraction might be and where it might be located. It's a chance for us all to watch an amusement industry project from it's conception to it's completion.

Thanks for listening to the show.

All month long, we've been on-location at different theme parks celebrating Halloween. Now that it's finally here, we'll spend this week's show talking about your favorite haunted, spooky or scary themed attractions.

We'll talk about attractions like The Haunted Mansion, Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, The Exterminator, Revenge of the Mummy, The Beast, The Freezer, Burg Falkenstein and more.

We're also are really excited to welcome Joe Rohde to the show. Joe is Executive Designer for Walt Disney Imagineering and the Lead Designer for Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park. Since this week's show is all about mysterious attractions, it's a perfect time to ask him about Expedition Everest, the new thrill ride coming to Walt Disney World in 2006.

We'll ask him about the attraction's storyline, the immersive theming and how the legend of the Yeti will come to life.

We'll also talk with Joe about and how he and his team of Imagineers are embarking on a real-life trip dubbed Expedition Everest: Mission Himalayas in the search for new species and ancient legends. The scientific and cultural journey to China and the eastern Himalayas began in August and continues though October 2005. We'll find out how this trip to the Everest region will help to create an extremely authentic experience for park guests. Don't worry, we'll ask him about the roller coaster too.

We'll also talk with EB about the annual Halloween Extravaganza that he puts on at his house. We'll talk about the process of Backyard Imagineering and go into detail about the unique setup at EB's house. We'll also provide you with some links to other "home haunts" so you can get a few ideas for your own house.

After the show, join us in our forums to talk about your opinions. You can also record your thoughts on the CoasterRadio.com Voicemail Line at 206-339-RIDE (206-339-7433).Thanks for listening to the show. Let us know what you think by e-mailing us at feedback@coasterradio.com.

This week, we're on-location from Fear Fest at Paramount's Kings Dominion. It's the 3rd stop on our month-long CoasterRadio.com Halloween Terror Tour.

Since Paramount is a movie company, Kings Dominion uses film-like storytelling to create their haunted mazes and attractions. When the sun goes down, they specialize in delivering intense environments that make you scream as much as they make you laugh.

We'll talk about the evil carnie folks running amuck in Freakshow in 3D, the insane residents of the Maze of Madness, the carnage caused by the Headless Horseman in The Curse of Sleepy Hollow and the terrifying drive you can take on R.L. Stein Fearstreet.

In this week's Great Debate, we'll talk about what horror movies would make excellent theme park rides. Then, we'll talk about new attractions coming to Paramount Parks in 2006. Of course, we'll highlight the new "family-thrill" coaster coming to Kings Dominion - Italian Job Stunt Coaster.

After the show, join us in our forums to talk about your opinions. You can also record your thoughts on the CoasterRadio.com Voicemail Line at 206-339-RIDE (206-339-7433).

Stay tuned, because next week we'll have another Halloween-themed episode of CoasterRadio.com. We'll interview Joe Rohde, Executive Designer for Walt Disney Imagineering and the Lead Designer for Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park. We'll talk with him about Expedition Everest, the new thrill ride coming to Walt Disney World next spring.

Why interview Joe on a Halloween-themed show? Well, the new Expedition Everest attraction brings guests face to face with the mysterious (and terrifying) Yeti!

We'll ask him about the attraction's storyline, the immersive theming and how his team of Imagineers are visiting the Everest region to create an extremely authentic experience for park guests. Don't worry, we'll ask him about the roller coaster too.

We'll also be revealing your picks for the best spooky/haunted/scary themed attractions at theme parks around the world. If you want to participate, post a message in our special forum topic or leave us a voicemail message at 206-339-RIDE.

Thanks for listening to the show. Let us know what you think by e-mailing us at feedback@coasterradio.com.