New Merchandise Available
Jan 24, 2004The Merchandise page has been totally redesigned and looks approximately 600,000 times better than before. I also added some new products and designs - so be sure to check them out. It’d be a great time to start stocking up on gear for the upcoming coaster season. Those of you that have purchased coasterimage merchandise in the past few weeks - thanks a bunch! We appreciate every last bit of support you guys give.
New Roller Coaster Wallpapers
Jan 21, 2004What’s new this week? How about three new wallpaper images for your desktop? Top Thrill Dragster, Steel Force and Talon. How’s that for a trio? I expect the TTD one to leave the shelves in record numbers. Don’t disappoint me - it’s really a sharp desktop image. Good stuff. Go check it out.
I’ve been playing with the new camcorder for the past few days and now I’m just itching to get out and try it on some coasters. Expect good things in the video section of the site this year…real good things.
Other than that, we’re kind of coasting along on autopilot right now. A few more leisurely updates to roll out between now and spring then we should be riding coasters again and starting the 2004 season before the end of March. Keep yout eyes open for the fun little goodies we tend to toss out around this time of year.
160 New Dorney Park Pictures
Jan 14, 2004How do you follow up the largest update in the site’s history? With an even bigger one! Our Dorney Park Gallery is now the largest on the site with a collection of 257 photos. That’s around 160 new photos for those keeping count. (I got rid of some of the less flattering old ones) Some of the new photos are just amazing. It sounds like I’m tooting my own horn, but I’m very proud of many of these new pics. I’m just sad that we moved from Allentown about 2 weeks before demolition on Hercules began. It would’ve been good fun to document the destruction of Herc and the construction of the new coaster. Oh well, on the plus side, I did get out of Allentown.
I still have more updates coming, although the order is still up in the air. I’m still considering a “one year anniversary” contest for the site - we’ll see about that one, and I just picked up a new Sony DV camcorder. This means more videos in 2004… and higher quality than the old analog cam too! Things should keep growing nicely around here.
The South Florida and West Coast trips are still very “up in the air” - so toss a coin. Heads we go, tails we don’t. It really is that uncertain. Hopefully we’ll find out soon and I can let you guys know for sure what to expect and when to expect it. Keep checking back, you never know what might pop up around here…
62 New Cedar Point Pictures
Jan 1, 2004How about starting off the new year with some new photos? (God, that was corny) - I added 62 new Cedar Point Pictures. It is now the largest gallery on the site weighing in at 212 photos. Sadly, I can think of about 100 more I’d like to get in the future. There’s always 2004! We’re getting dangerously close to that 2500 photo mark. We’re also getting dangerously close to the one-year anniversary of the site and I’d like to do something (perhaps a silly giveaway or sumpin), so maybe I’ll throw that together in the next month or so. We’ll see.
As I’ve mentioned a gazillion times already, we’re starting 2004 in late March with a trip to South Florida. That gives me roughly 10 weeks to finish up the backlog of goodies. I still need to get the Stone Mountain special feature up (those pics are from all the way back in June - don’t tell anyone!), sort through exactly 347 new Dorney Park photos for a HUGE gallery update, add some of my new souvenir cups to that special feature and I even think I have 5 or 10 new Kennywood photos to toss in too. That’s all I can think of off of the top of my head, so expect all of that (and maybe more) to come your way between now and mid-March.
Expect more of the same in 2004 - we generally hit 10 to 20 parks a year, although this year I’m already catching crap from family and friends about a “real” vacation. No parks!? Blasphemy! I’ll still squeeze something in. At the very least you’ll get video of us getting drunk in a beach house or jumpin off of hotel balconies into the pool or something. Speaking of videos, We’re also doubling our server space (soon even) so I’d like to get WAY more than 3 or 4 new videos up this season…assuming I have the patience. Believe it or not, taking video is a whole different beast than snapping photos. Kind of time consuming. I often lack the fortitude to tough it out, however I do simply love editing the footage - go figure. With more space, I need to find the willpower to do some big video updates. Also, if things pan out like they look like they might, I’ll be hitting some parks this year that I didn’t expect to visit quite so soon.
At any rate, thanks for making the launch of the site (and all of 2003) such a success. Let’s keep coasterimage.com right up there as one of the (often THE) most visited coaster/park photo site on the web - The more you give me, the more I can give back. I do thank everyone for the support thus far. Never hesitate to drop me a line with suggestions or ideas or mindless babble. I like to hear what you guys have to say about the site.
And last but not least, thanks for showing support for the site in the Amusement Link One Source 6th annual poll. Coasterimage made our debut in the poll at the #7 spot. Nice way to begin the new year, don’t you think? Here’s to wishing a good 2004 for everyone out there - hit the parks this year, have fun - maybe we’ll see you out there!
