iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Jeremy Thompson

Gemma Hazeborg @gemmachaos.bsky.social · 16h

Did you know Dollywood isn't the only theme park named after a beloved country & western singer? I don't know how popular Bobbejaan Schoepen still is in Belgium, 16 years after his death. I expect the park might outlive his fame. The guy was a true exponent of a very European view on North America.

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Reposted by Jeremy Thompson

Gemma Hazeborg @gemmachaos.bsky.social · 16h

Theme park thread? Theme park thread! I've been to Bobbejaanland! I've been here previously in 2004, annus horribilis for Belgian amusement parks. That was a very formative visit for me as a theme park fan. But I haven't been back since. Rectification time!

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 29/09/2026

So I guess my favorite roller coasters in California and Florida both closed in 2026. *Eyes Ohio nervously*

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 29/09/2026

RIP X2. For years you were my favorite ride on the west coast, even if the last couple curves always made me question riding again. But there's nothing else in the world like that first drop. I even got the LA Times to officially recognize X2 as the best at SFMM: www.latimes.com/travel/list/...

latimes.com

Every thrill ride at Six Flags Magic Mountain, ranked

The Valencia amusement park is cherished for its mix of coaster styles — be it wooden, loop-based, single-rail or ones with mind-confounding seats that rotate 360 degrees.

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 28/09/2026

There are only two weekends in the entire year where it's possible to experience both of Washington State's wooden coasters on the same day. And today was the very last day ever that will be possible again.

Classic Coaster at Washington State Fair

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 28/09/2026

Stopped in at Wild Waves Theme Park for two hours this afternoon. Got four laps on Timberhawk, once on the other three coasters. Not a great park but the setting is nice and it certainly deserves better than permanent closure next month. Glad I didn't miss it.

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 27/09/2026

A few highlights from North Cascades National Park today. Didn't do any major hikes, but still took plenty of photos of the mountains and alpine lakes. With this one I have now completed all but two of the National Parks along the Pacific coastal states.

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 26/09/2026

Just arrived for a quick weekend trip to Washington State.

Seattle Space Needle across Lake Union at sunset

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 25/09/2026

The thing that makes the Matterhorn a classic is all those tight reach envelopes that could never be recreated on a modern build.

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Reposted by Jeremy Thompson

Park Journey @parkjourney.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I did receive a statement from Six Flags regarding our merchandise AI Rant. The crazy thing about this statement is that it doesn’t actually say they don’t use AI.

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 21/09/2026

Sad that an Intamin Dynamic Motion Stage like Efteling's Danse Macabre isn't in the rumored mix. But I guess I won't turn down a new coaster credit.

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 16/09/2026

Stopped by USH this afternoon to check on Fast & Furious now that it's officially open. Hung out a little over an hour, it was either closed or operating at half capacity, with single rider always full and not admitting. Had better luck during technical rehearsals, going home empty handed today.

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 11/09/2026

One of the things I remember about being a kid during 9/11 was very early on trying to figure out what we would call this event. I had just learned about "Watergate" and obviously stuff like "The Great Depression" and "World War 2". What shorthand would I use to refer to all of this 25 years later?

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 11/09/2026

Worth pointing out that by this reasoning, Thrill Glider also takes the records for the World's Briefest, Slowest and Shortest Thrillglider with the fewest inversions.

Upon opening, Thrill Glider will set a collection of records, including:

World's First Thrillglider
World's First Multi-Launch Thrillglider
World's Longest Thrillglider – 3,380 feet, which is more than half a mile
World's Fastest Thrillglider – 50 mph
World's Tallest Thrillglider – 107 feet
Most Inversions on a Thrillglider – 5

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 10/09/2026

I don't know if it's just the generic model name, but for some reason this feels like something I'd see built in China. Given the ambition of a lot of Chinese parks, I guess I mean that as complimentary?

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Reposted by Jeremy Thompson

andy™ @andylevy.net · 08/09/2026

werner herzog on AI filmmaking (from here www.indiewire.com/features/int...)

Q: A couple years ago at IDFA, I saw this movie "About a Hero," which is this partly Al-generated hybrid documentary that tries to recreate the atmosphere of your films.

A: The intention of this young filmmaker was never to remake any [of my films], but making something in the spirit. And I immediately said, "You will fail. It is such a stupid idea. It's phenomenally, abysmally stupid. I will not take part in it." He wanted me to explain things and have my voice in it.
I said, "You are alone. There's such a thing as free speech, which I respect. So go ahead and fail." And it is a failure, period.
It's so standardized that Al can step in because there's not real storytelling. It's mimicry of something that has happened before. And I welcome Al to replace all the idiots who are into nothing but repeating, repeating, repeating until it's ad nauseam.
When it's ad nauseam, please, please, please let Al step in and do the job.

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Reposted by Jeremy Thompson

Park Journey @parkjourney.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

I don't know how they got them to keep the name, but I'm guessing it was something like this. Love you Six Flags, thank you for saving this coaster! #SixFlags #ArieForceOne #FunSpotAmerica

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 08/09/2026

Always appreciate a good dispatch from an obscure park:

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 08/09/2026

One insane detail I haven't seen talked about yet: wherever it goes, Six Flags is going to keep the ArieForce One name and theme. That's a nice gesture, but they really really REALLY didn't have to do that.

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 07/09/2026

I appreciate that Robert doesn't just copy from the press release when announcements like this are made.

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 04/09/2026

Well this is a rather distressing sign that I've been in California too long and am losing my Michigan roots.

Mydialect map with the darkest orange over California and more broadly the west coast, plus some lighter orange shading around the upper Midwest. The south and east coast is blue.

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 02/09/2026

Finally a good day for riding Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift during technical rehearsals. Managed five rides in about 2 hours using single rider, although standby has gotten pretty short after the initial rush when it opened around noon.

Entrance to Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift

Train in the zero g stall with another below it

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 31/08/2026

I hope to have a detailed Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift review posted at some point by or before the ride's official opening. FYI my main points of cinematic reference have turned out not to be the Fast & Furious movies (I haven't even seen any), but Mulholland Drive & Holy Motors. 🤷

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 31/08/2026

Looking forward to this actually being open officially instead of the endless guessing game that is technical rehearsals.

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 31/08/2026

I truly love Carl Sagan's COSMOS, but the segment where he takes aim at not just Aristotle but several schools of the Ancient Greeks was always the one part that stood out as odd for reasons explained in this comic's post script.

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 30/08/2026

My concern is that the current corporate thinking towards SFMM is that the park is currently too big and requires more labor than the market can bear, and we'll be in for a period of 2-3 closures for every one new consolation prize.

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 29/08/2026

Got to spend an hour and some $600 on the grossest day of the year waiting to retrieve my impounded car for failing today's game of "spot the no parking sign"! How well can you do?

A sidewalk with a tree partially obscuring a speed limit sign on a light pole. There do not appear to be any other signs.

A closer view of the pole, the speed limit sign fully visible now, and a bit of tree hanging below it. Look really really close and you can barely glimpse another sign below it.

A side shot of the pole, revealing that the small bunch of branches perfectly conceals a no stopping sign from all other angles except here.

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 28/08/2026

I can't wait for Alejandro González Iñárritu's DIGGER to finally hit theaters!* *So I can be spared from having to watch that god-awful trailer before every single recent movie I do want to see.

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 28/08/2026

I was thinking of going out to see COYOTE VS ACME soon, but instead the coyote came out to see me.

Coyote wandering around a playground in the early morning

Coyote sniffing around a pathway in a small community park

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 27/08/2026

You know what... okay. It's certainly better than "Enchanted Park Mid-America" or whatever was previously proposed. It calls back to the park's history while also being generic enough to roll past without much notice. Not the worst qualities in a name.

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 26/08/2026

I spend a lot of time trying to be reasonably knowledgeable of popular media, but whenever there are celebrity deaths and the outpouring of sentiment that comes with them, I almost always become acutely aware of how many huge blind spots I have remaining.

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 26/08/2026

This is always my least favorite season in LA. I want to start transitioning into an autumnal frame of mind (with accompanying media choices), but it always ends up having the hottest days of the year.

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 26/08/2026

I first learned about Buc-ees through several theme park fan accounts that had some intense brand loyalty for reasons I didn't understand at all. Now I'm even more confused given that they're starting to make mainstream media, and everything about them sounds absolutely terrible!

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 25/08/2026

Frankly, this park is almost certainly going to be a boondoggle. But it's still interesting to read how Iran's first themed park is being designed with great intentionality by a very well-educated Iranian woman. www.aboutthemeparks.fun/p/getting-to...

aboutthemeparks.fun

Getting to the core of themed entertainment

Adeleh Basiri’s extraordinary journey to design a theme park in Iran

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 25/08/2026

RIP Dolly. What I wrote about her and her theme park last year: www.rollercoasterphilosophy.com/2023/dollywo...

But anyone watching the global cultural arena over the past decade knows it’s obviously a risk to tie the fortunes of a major business to a single living personality.2 People can change, and very successful people in the 21st century have proven particularly susceptible to all manner of brain rot and reactionary politics. (You know who I’m talking about, except you don’t because that’s at least a dozen people among the most famous examples.) At first blush “superstar country music singer” isn’t exactly the kind of vocation for someone whom you’d want to bet big money on remaining a non-controversial figurehead for your business well into their octogenarian years.

So god bless Dolly Parton for somehow being one of the other dozen successful people that has maintained and even strengthened her venerated reputation over her lifetime. When Herschend signed the contract with Parton back in 1985 to remake their eastern Silver Dollar City property into “Dollywood,” history could hardly have played out any better for them. Despite the growing political and cultural divide in recent years, Parton somehow has managed to remain beloved by people of nearly all political affiliations, even with her philanthropic efforts that have occasionally required her to wade into the political conversation in her own ways. Maybe that bipartisan agreement on her legacy won’t last forever, but in the meantime it’s nice to have an American theme park that outwardly offers conservative homespun Americana yet is also represented by a steadfast anti-racist and matron saint for the LGBTQ+ community.

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 25/08/2026

Looking forward to SINNERS at this year's Halloween Horror Nights but if next year doesn't have a house based on Camp Miasma then what are we even doing?

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Reposted by Jeremy Thompson

Jake Cole @jakecole.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Wide swathes of this country are Colonial Williamsburg but for a vague idea of Glory Days. People who buy F150s and Carhartt to go to their email jobs because they are putting on a show the same way colonial reenactors use looms and butter churns. The difference is their audience is each other.

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Reposted by Jeremy Thompson

beetle moses @beetlemoses.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

A New Color (1/5🧵)

Page 1: A man is walking home, smoking a cigarette, being quietly trailed by a UFO above him. As he enters his apartment, two aliens watch from inside the ship. Alien 1, who has a large head, says, “that’s him. Let’s move.”

Page 2: The man walks upstairs as the aliens watch from the entrance of the building. The man enters his apartment and greets his little dog. Suddenly there is a knock at the door.

Page 3: he peers through his peephole, and sees the two aliens standing in the hallway. Alien 1 is holding a briefcase. From behind him, the voice of alien one: “don’t scream.”

Page 4: The aliens are seated across the room on the man’s couch. Sadie is in her bed next to them. Alien 1 says, “you’re not in any danger. Have a seat.” The man looks at his dog and thinks, “sadie is unusually calm.” Alien 1: don’t scream, or it’s a problem.

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 24/08/2026

Having worked on a number of proposed theme park projects over the years in both Europe and the Middle East, all I have to say to this is: "Huh? Huh."

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 24/08/2026

Last week I finally got to ride Montezooma: The Forbidden Fortress... and did so eight times! Regardless of the changes made, I'm so happy to finally have this ride back, and am very happy that Knott's made the decision to refurbish rather than replace this classic coaster. (THREAD)

Montezooma's entrance area with the train atop the reverse spike

The station area with the train about to launch through the fortress mouth

The new train entering (or exiting) the vertical loop near Sierra Sidewinder

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 24/08/2026

Got another front row ride on Fast and Furious for Passholder Previews, my third ride overall. They're cutting wristbands at the exit even with no line and most seats going out empty. One of these times I'd like to get to ride it more than once in a day!

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Reposted by Jeremy Thompson

Le Parcorama @parcorama.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

While T. Fitzgerald diluted PhantomManor’s story to mirror his Haunted Mansion nostalgia, M. Den Dulk is restoring Space Mountain’s original storyline, done by others. It’s the right move but a very brave choice in creative industries where designers like to leave their mark. Consistency over ego.👏

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 21/08/2026

This week I took a quick detour around Pasadena to check out the site of the *original* Busch Gardens, where Adolphus Busch built his garden estate in the 1900s. Today, it's a private neighborhood. Apart from the street names and some stone walls and foundations, the history is well-hidden.

Mature trees shading a winding neighborhood street

A pair of street signs for Busch Garden Lane and Busch Garden Court

Stone staircases and retaining walls along a gardened hillside

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 21/08/2026

What I don't get is that even Dinoland had a couple of live animal exhibits in this space. I knew not to expect a full sized exploration trail, but if they can't find a way to include at least one capybara pond, then guest services are going to receive a lot of disappointed feedback.

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 20/08/2026

One time I participated in designing a theme park for this group. It was kinda culty! He insisted his design logic for apartment buildings would apply to ride show buildings. And had to have a personal air conditioning unit pointed at him at all times! I wonder what kind of AC Chinese prisons have?

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 19/08/2026

I'm seeing a lot of takes (both complimentary and critical) that D23 parks presentation slate was heavily influenced by fan requests for fixes and updates. But since most of these fixes and updates are very obvious things that should have been addressed long ago, how much is it really fan service?

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 19/08/2026

From as soon as it was announced it felt like Dollywood's ambitions were a little too high and beyond their reach.

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Jeremy Thompson @rollercoasterphilosophy.com · 19/08/2026

Okay, this looks really cool! I tend to alternate years at Scary Farm, but I think I've got to make it back-to-back years this time around.

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