Coaster Radio: The Original Theme Park Podcast

Happy Halloween, everybody — Mike and EB kick off spooky season with the old Crypt Keeper cold open before diving into one of the strangest stories in recent Six Flags history: a leaked survey sent to passholders asking how they'd feel about renaming flagship parks like Cedar Point, Carowinds, and Magic Mountain into options like "Six Flags over North Ohio" and "Cedar Point, a Six Flags Experience...

Coaster Radio is back after a week off, and there is a lot to cover. First Drop: Cotaland, the park next to Circuit of the Americas outside Austin, Texas, just held its grand opening as a full-time amusement park. It now has the world's first shuttle Gerstlauer Infinity Coaster (Palindrome), a tilt coaster (Circuit Breaker), a Schwarzkopf Wildcat, a log flume, and a 150-foot Star Flyer. Mike and E...

Mike holds down the studio solo this week while EB spends a spontaneous day at Six Flags Great America — but the real story is one nobody saw coming: Six Flags has officially purchased ArieForce One, the beloved RMC that was headed for demolition just weeks after Fun Spot Atlanta announced its closure. Mike breaks down why this genuinely surprised him (the budgeting alone for a chain like Six Flag...

This week, Mike and EB pay tribute to Dolly Parton, reflecting on a career and a spirit that somehow united an entire divided country in genuine admiration — from her decades of quiet, unpublicized generosity to the way Dollywood itself became an extension of who she was rather than a monument built in her name. In Quick Hits, the guys cover a CNN investigation into a string of serious injuries on...

It was one of the biggest weeks in the amusement industry in years, and Mike and EB have a ton to cover. First up: D23 - Disney's biannual fan convention, which featured Neil Patrick Harris hosting a full award-show-style presentation packed with 33 announcements about the future of Disney Parks and Experiences. The guys break down the highlights, including a Carousel of Progress refurbishment fea...

Mike spends National Roller Coaster Day right where he wants to be: at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, riding walk-on after walk-on during the park's Brews & BBQ festival. Between food samples and short lines, he gets reacquainted with old favorites like Apollo's Chariot and Escape from Pompeii, takes the family on Roman Rapids for the first whitewater ride he's been on in years, and gives a full brea...

Six Flags Great America is getting a brand-new family area called Camp Timber Trail, anchored by a Vekoma family suspended coaster that's essentially a clone of Phoenix at Deno's Wonderwheel Park. The area has nine attractions total, mixing new builds with clever re-themes of park classics. Mike and EB break down why these smaller, heavily-themed family coasters might matter more for a park's long...

Closing weekend arrived for two very different roller coasters: ArieForce One at Fun Spot Atlanta and Kumba at Busch Gardens Tampa both took their final riders this past weekend, and Mike and EB dig into the real math behind why an $18 million RMC almost never survives in a family entertainment center, no matter how loudly the enthusiast line chants "save this ride." Listener trip reports roll in...

A shorter episode this week, and a special one: Project Purple at Six Flags Great Adventure finally has a name and a POV video, and it might be the strangest thing we have ever seen a roller coaster do. Bakunawa — named for the moon-eating sea serpent of Filipino mythology — launches riders 60 mph out of the station, sends them upside down into a vertical stall while launching them a second time,...

This week opens on sad news: Dick Knoebel, the iconic owner of Knoebels's Amusement Resort, has passed away. He was one of the true greats of the family-owned park world. Mike and EB share a piece of an interview they did with him back in 2006, on the midway in front of the Phoenix, and talk about why Knoebels still feels different from every other park in the country — and why that's exactly what...

Busch Gardens Tampa is closing Kumba, one of the most beloved B&M sit-down coasters ever built and the fourth-oldest operating B&M in the world, on August 2nd. Mike and EB spend the first drop giving a 33-year-old classic its proper send-off — the terrain-hugging layout, the iconic photo op under the corkscrew, the fact that it opened the same year Mike graduated high school — before digging into...

Six Flags Over Texas finally "drops the gate" on Tormenta: Rampaging Run, the massive new B&M dive coaster, and the early word is exactly what you'd hope: no rattle, great reviews. Mike and EB break down what a park gets right when a new ride opens with an entire refurbished plaza around it, and whether "biggest dive coaster yet" actually means anything anymore to hardcore enthusiasts who've done...

Sometimes the roller coaster world hands you a story so absurd you don't even need a punchline — you just need to read the facts out loud. This week on Coaster Radio, the original theme park podcast, Mike and EB dig into the sudden, bulldozer-bound death of one of the best roller coasters in America: Fun Spot Atlanta is closing on August 2nd, taking Arie Force One — an RMC hybrid barely four years...

The guys are on vacation, but the show must go on! We recorded this listener question episode just before heading out, covering everything from the best back-to-back coaster combinations to which IP should come to the parks next, whether Disney would ever tear down the Matterhorn, and which rides sound way better than they actually are. Plus, EB shares two fun stories from a recent Kentucky Kingdo...

What's better than a theme park podcast? A theme park podcast recorded while a tornado is actively threatening to rearrange EB's house. Welcome to another completely unhinged episode of Coaster Radio, where we somehow manage to discuss the future of Disney Imagineering, a legendary wooden coaster's potential comeback, and the glorious grit of America's boardwalk parks while EB monitors live storm...

It's a trip to Kentucky Kingdom — and the Curse of Coaster Radio strikes again. EB heads to Louisville with daughter Madeline, son Dean, and friends, only to find that Flying Fox, the brand-new family inverted coaster they were most excited to ride, is still under construction. No matter: Kentucky Kingdom's gorgeous new Discovery Meadow area more than makes up for it, and EB files a full walking t...

The first ever Coaster Radio panel discussion is here — and it did not disappoint. Joining Mike and EB are three guests who come at the theme park world from completely different angles. Jessica Gardner — the Theme Parkette — is a Los Angeles-based travel content creator, actress with over 50 on-screen credits, USA Today 10Best theme park expert, and host of the ACE official podcast Ride With Us....

Internet sleuths just pulled permits for a brand new building in the Dark Universe portal at Epic Universe. Building 1570. Area 680. Listed as a special project. And the building numbers line up with exactly the kind of show building you'd need for a new attraction. Mike and EB have a theory about what it is — and it involves a glass bottom boat, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and an idea tha...

The Hot Take Hoedown is officially here — and the "Sons of Sandusky" are already $150 richer. This week Mike and EB debut their brand new segment featuring the spiciest opinions from around the theme park internet — and then decide whether each one is a genuine hot take, a bad take, or just something EB has been saying for years. Is Iron Gwazi actually better than VelociCoaster? Did Cedar Point pe...

Every coaster enthusiast has one. A specific ride. A specific day. The moment that turned a casual park visitor into someone who plans vacations around roller coasters, studies manufacturer lineups, and listens to theme park podcasts at 11pm on a Tuesday. This week Mike and EB asked the Coaster Radio community to share theirs — and the response was overwhelming. From Steel Phantom at Kennywood to...

They're back. Two weeks off, one terrible cold, and one truly spectacular failure in Las Vegas. Mike and EB return with a packed show — but first, an apology. The Universal Horror Unleashed trip report that was promised at the end of Episode 2114 is not happening. Not because the show didn't go to Las Vegas. Not because Mike didn't convince an entire table of colleagues to pile into taxis at 9pm o...

Something strange is happening at the portals of Epic Universe — and Mike and EB saw it coming. Weeks ago, walking out of Isle of Berk, Tom from Louisville spotted three capped utility holes flush in the concrete right at the portal entrance. Nobody knew what they were. This week, Universal installed facial recognition turnstiles in those exact spots. And Universal has said absolutely nothing abou...

It's a shorter show this week but don't let that fool you — there is a lot happening. Project Purple at Six Flags Great Adventure is going vertical fast. Like, suspiciously fast for a ride that isn't supposed to open until 2027. Mike and EB break down what the unofficial animations are showing — a launch into an upside-down stall, spinning cars, a 375-foot spire that wraps the track sideways aroun...

Part two of the Coaster Radio Listener Question Show is here and this one gets personal. Mike and EB answer the question every longtime listener has wanted to ask — what would you tell your 2005 selves knowing what you know now? The answer involves regretting the name, wishing they'd bought Facebook stock, and making friends with Neil Patrick Harris sooner. Standard stuff. Also this week — is the...

You asked. They answered. Sort of. The 2026 Coaster Radio Listener Question Show is here and there are so many questions this year that it's taking at least two episodes — possibly three — to get through them all. This week Mike and EB tackle the big ones: If you could only live in one non-Disney, non-Universal theme park for the rest of your life, which would it be? What five existing attractions...