The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 155

Family feissfeM a i tKJ--' KARI RENE HALL Los Angeles Times GhostRider rises to 1 18 feet and takes passengers on a two-minute ride of drops and 42-degree banked curves. G-forces? Try more than three times the force of Earth's gravitational pull. "The World's Most Unique Toy Store" Riding the Pine Knott's Berry Farm is home to GhostRider, the area's biggest wooden roller coaster. Come meet MARK McBRIDE (Team Yomega Pre Oemonstator) and his friends action! Watch and leant from the pros! Best selection of Yomega high performance yo-yos. Saturday, December 5 3-6 pm Choose from any of the fallowing Iomega yo-yos: Vo-yo with a brain The World on a String! Fireball Raider Sabre Raider RBII Wing Fore Metallic Missle Panther Power Spin All Accossoreies Special! YovuptfUUer Roller Bearing Yo-Yo! Maximum Spin! At the Unbelievable Price of $19.99 tei $24.99 thu Saturday only 12598 1413 Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica (310) 393-9201 Hours Monday-Thursday 10am -11pm Friday Saturday 10 am-midnight Pasadena's Largest Finest ANTIQUES the ride doubles back on itself before returning to the station.

Dinn-Larrick says she is most proud of its 108-foot plunge. "It's unique because it's not just a straight drop. It swoops and turns in," said Dinn-Larrick, who has helped build 24 other coasters around the world with Custom Coasters, which she founded with her husband and brothers in 1990. "It's going to fool people because they'll think, We're not going down the drop but they'll be halfway through it and suddenly realize they are." A drive-tire unit starts the ride off with a bang. Where other wooden coasters lumber out of the station, the drive tire actually whisks out the car, giving the train some speed as it goes into the lift.

Dinn-Larrick said GhostRider is the first wooden coaster in California to incorporate the device. More than 2 million board-feet of southern yellow pine from Alabama and North Carolina went into the gigantic structure. The wood construction distinguishes it from the park's four other major roller coasters. Passengers should be able to notice the differences between GhostRi-Please see Coaster, Page 45 3.14, or more than three times the force of Earth's gravitational pull. Yet as scary as it sounds, the coaster can accommodate younger riders too anyone who can hit the 48-inch height requirement.

"When we designed the ride, we had the whole family in mind," said Denise Dinn-Larrick of Ohio-based Custom Coasters Inc. "We wanted to make sure that the teenagers were loving it, because it's a thrill-packed ride, but we also wanted to satisfy Mom and the smaller kids and Dad." The ride is near the former site of the pan-for-gold attraction, now in another part of the park. After walking through a rustic mine shaft, riders make their way through a wooded frontier wilderness to the three-story GhostRider mining company station, where gold-, silver- and copper-colored cars sweep riders away on a highspeed journey. Hard-core coaster enthusiasts will be thrilled with the amount of air time the weightless feeling you get when you hit zero Gs built into the ride. In the middle of the ride is a section of twists and turns that Dinn-Larrick calls a double helix.

In a classic "out-and-back" segment, By KEN WILLIAMS TIMES STAFF WRITER It's gift-giving time, and you're wondering, "What do you get for a county that already has everything?" More carpool lanes? Yeah, right. As if they'd make a difference. A new airport? Not in MY backyard! Another 30-screen movie warehouse? Geez! How many dozens of screenings of "A Bug's Life" is enough? Well, Knott's Berry Farm has the answer. On Tuesday, the park debuts GhostRider, Orange County's first and the Southland's biggest wooden roller coaster. It's the latest addition in the park's $35-mil-lion renovation project.

Rising from the heart of Knott's Ghost Town, GhostRider's mountain of lumber rises to a summit of 118 feet and sprawls over more than three-quarters of a mile. Riders are whisked away on a two-minute romp of swooping dropsincluding an 108-foot, 51-degree banked plunge sudden dips, 42-degree banked curves and speeds of up to 56 mph. Along the way passengers will experience G-forces the backward pressure you feel under rapid acceleration of SHOW SALE Am December 3, 4, 5, 6 Pasadena Center 300 East Green Street, Pasadena, CA Enter at Green or Corner of Green Euclid 235 Quality Dealers Rare treasures furniture, art and accessories SAVE $1. ON EACH GENERAL ADMISSION -Show Hours: Daily 12 8 p.m., Sunday 12-5 General Admission: $5., with this id $4. each Children Under 12 Free.

Senior Cititens (62 years) S3. Free Return Privileges iiitPi'viOT'gj 'tag; Closed December 25th Paper antlers for the kids on weekends while supplies last Daily 10am 5pm Now through January 4th 6 1 Supported by TARGET Holiday Discount! Bring this ad to the LA. Zoo Ticket Booth to receive: $2 off Adult Admission $1 off Children's Admission. Offer good through January 4, 1 999. Come to the LA Zoo this holiday season and see Santa's reindeer! They're here Los Angeles Zoo Griffith Park, Intersection of Not valid with any other oner.

visiting from the North Pole ya' know. And they'll be at the Zoo from now through January un jiut.waiwag roce0.you.ana ttyjoa tffff, L0S 3NeEfceSJRME9- f-.