Give 'em Coasters for the Holidays

Here at About.com's Theme Parks site, I get to pursue my passion for parks and share it with you. Not a bad gig. Some of my online park enthusiast colleagues obviously love what they do also. Consider the husband and wife team, Robb and Elissa Alvey, at Theme Park Review. They run a wonderful site that's jam-packed with videos, photos, trip reports, and other park goodies. Many of the chronicled trips are group tours that they organize. The trips are open to all park fans, and in 2009 they'll be visiting parks in Scandinavia and all over the U.S.

A few times a year, Robb and Elissa issue DVDs of their park exploits with a focus on roller coasters. The latest batch, Roller Coasters in the Raw! Volume 2 and Coaster Expedition: Japan-A-Mania 2 continue the Theme Park Review tradition of mixing great coaster footage, including lots of wild onboard, point-of-view shots, with a good dose of comedy. The Japan DVD, especially, showcases the Alveys and their merry prankster bunch of park junkies as they tackle some of the Far East's fiercest--and sometimes wacky--thrill machines. As the name implies, the Raw video foregoes most of the shtick and focuses on coasters. There are 30 thrill machines from around the world included on the 2-disc set. The DVDs would make great stocking stuffers for the coaster fans on your holiday list. To learn more about the videos, visit the Theme Park Review site. Tell them Arthur sent you.