Josh Imbriani with a coaster

About Me

Hey! I'm Josh Imbriani. By day I'm a developer but by night I can't get enough of theme parks and roller coasters. You're visisting my internet home where I catalog my obsession!

Updated 01/25/2024

I started getting into roller coasters around 2007 when I finally had the courage to ride *all* of the rides at Cedar Point. Ever since then I've been hooked. Although I've faded in and out of the hobby over the years, I always come back!

Currently my home park is California's Great America but I've been lucky to also consider Kings Island and Cedar Point as my home park. Every year for the past 8 years I've gone to Universal Orlando Resort and consider the two parks there my favorite parks in the world.

My Top 10 Coasters

  1. Steel Vengeance @ Cedar Point
  2. Iron Gwazi @ Busch Gardens Tampa
  3. El Toro @ Six Flags Great Adventure
  1. Revenge of the Mummy @ Universal Studios Florida
  2. Hakugei @ Nagashima Spa Land
  3. Twisted Colossus @ Six Flags Magic Mountain
  1. Lightning Rod @ Dollywood
  2. Skyrush @ Hershey Park
  3. Formula Rossa @ Ferrari World Abu Dhabi
  4. Velocicoaster @ Islands of Adventure

What do I shoot with?

Along with my love for theme parks came my love of photography. I started shooting back in 2008 with my trusty Kodak V1073 point and shoot. Eventually in the Fall of 2009 I upgraded to a Nikon d3000 DSLR with the kit 18-55mm lens and an additional 55-200mm lens. Over time, I started to realize that I disliked carrying the big heavy camera bag to parks so I went looking for a smaller camera that would get me similar image quality in a smaller package. In 2016 I managed to find an open-box Sony a6000 which I snatched up and have been using ever since. I have been looking for something to replace it, something to invest money in. I keep going back between Sony and Nikon but I plan to make a decision soon!

So I actually finally did make a decision! I decided on Sony and bought a a7III. I quickly added the Sony 50mm f1.8 lens to go along with the kit lens. Since then I've also added the Sigma 35mm f1.4 as well as the Samyang 16mm f2.8 to handle my wide angle needs. I've been extremely impressed with the camera so far and have gotten some awesome shots, which I can't wait to share with you all soon!

Update 1/2024: I still shoot and love my Sony cameras. I added a a7SIII to my a7III as well as plenty of other lenses. My most used lens is probably the Sony 24-105 f4 although my newest and favorite lens is definitely the Sony 85mm GMaster. Such a great lens! Hoping to upgrade my a7III to a newer camera this year.

My favorite scenes to shoot in parks are night-time scenes. The neon always look amazing and I love the challenge of working with little light. I'm still not an expert by any stretch of the imagination but I've gotten a lot better and will continue to do so as my skill and equipment improves.

My Top 10 Steel Coasters

  1. Steel Vengeance @ Cedar Point
  2. Iron Gwazi @ Busch Gardens Tampa
  3. Revenge of the Mummy @ Universal Studios Florida
  1. Hakugei @ Nagashima Spa Land
  2. Twisted Colossus @ Six Flags Magic Mountain
  3. Skyrush @ Hersheypark
  1. Formula Rossa @ Ferrari World Abu Dhabi
  2. Velocicoaster @ Islands of Adventure
  3. Fury 325 @ Carowinds
  4. Kawasemi @ Tobu Zoo

My Coaster Count

  • 444 Steel
  • 97 Wood
  • 541 Total

My Milestone Coasters

100
Unknown
200
Whizzer @ Six Flags Great America
300
Predator @ IMG Worlds of Adventure
400
Candymonium @ Hersheypark
500
Thunder Dolphin @ Tokyo Dome City

My Top 10 Wooden Coasters

  1. El Toro @ Six Flags Great Adventure
  2. Lightning Rod @ Dollywood
  3. Goliath @ Six Flags Great America
  1. Voyage @ Holiday World
  2. Outlaw Run @ Silver Dollar City
  3. GhostRider @ Knott's Berry Farm
  1. Mystic Timbers @ Kings Island
  2. Hades 360 @ Mt Olympus
  3. Renegade @ Valleyfair
  4. Mine Blower @ Fun Spot America Kissimmee

My Coaster Related Projects

P(y)arks

Pyarks allows developers to access theme park wait times via a simple Python API. Currently it only supports the Universal Orlando family of parks but it will be expanding to Disney and other parks soon! Check it out and let me know if there are any features you want to see!

Parktimizer (Coming Soon)

Parktimizer uses extensive wait time data and cutting edge machine learning algorithms to map out your optima day at the park. Mark the rides that you want to do and receive a personalized, minute-by-minute plan for how to get the most out of your day!

HHNH2H (Coming Soon)

HHNH2H or Halloween Horror Nights Head to Head will be a web app that allows HHN fans to rank their favorite houses and hopefully to settle the age old question of what's the best HHN maze of all time.

My Top 10 Parks

  1. Islands Of Adventure
  2. Warner Bros World Abu Dhabi
  3. Universal Studios Florida
  1. Cedar Point
  2. Kings Island
  3. Dollywood
  4. Busch Gardens Tampa
  1. Nagashima Spa Land
  2. Motiongate Dubai
  3. Thorpe Park

My Coaster Related Bucket List

My count definitely isn't what I want it to be but I'm working on it! The following experiences are the ones I want to have!

Take a coaster trip through Europe

There are so many parks in Europe that look incredible, specifically Alton Towers, Phantasialand, Liseberg and Europa Park so I hope to one day get to hit all of them. Not to mention that I really like the look of the rest of the British parks, Alton and Thorpe Park. They look like Six Flags with more themeing so I really want to get a chance to ride!

Progress

No Recent Progress

Ride every RMC in existence

Pretty self explanatory. RMC is by far my favorite coaster manufacturer and I've been lucky to be able to ride 18 of their rides so far (Railblazer, Steel Vengeance, New Texas Giant, Iron Rattler, Goliath, Outlaw Run, Twisted Colossus, Wonder Woman, Storm Chaser, Wicked Cyclone, Lightning Rod, Joker, Hakugei, Iron Gwazi, Stunt Pilot, Twisted Cyclone, Twisted Timbers and Wonder Woman Flight of Courage) but I want to ride all of them that they've built. That means making the trek to Sweden, The Netherlands and wherever else they end up!

Progress

Rode Hakugei on Oct 1, 2023

Ride every Revenge of the Mummy

I recognize that this ride isn't the best one but it's really meaningful to me for whatever reason so I hope to be able to ride every RoTM that has been built. Luckily there are only three of these, with no more that I know of in the works, so this goal is reasonable!

Progress

Rode RoTM at USS on Jan 21, 2022

Ride every Dark Knight Coaster

You probably think I'm pretty weird now. Not just one less well acclaimed dark ride/coaster but two? And one at Six Flags nevertheless? Yep, for some reason unknown to me, I really want to ride all of these! I think it has to do with the fact that they were being built when I started to get into coasters or the fact that The Dark Knight is still one of my favorite movies or maybe that I was thoroughly impressed for that level of theming at a Six Flags park. Regardless, I've ridden the ones at Great America and Six Flags Great Adventure and am just missing the last one!

Progress

Rode The Dark Knight at Six Flags Great Adventure on September 7, 2019

Upcoming Trips

  • Mass MoCA - January 2024
  • Universal Orlando - February 2024
  • Six Flags Mexico - March/April 2024
  • Universal Orlando - May 2024
  • Silverwood - June 2024
  • Portland Parks - July 2024
  • Wild Waves and Enchanted Kingdom - July 2024
  • Hersheypark - August 2024
  • Six Flags Great Adventure - August 2024
  • Universal Orlando - September 2024
  • Universal Hollywood - September 2024
  • Universal Studios Singapore - October 2024
  • Other Asian Parks - October 2024
  • Cedar Point - October 2024
  • Taiwan - March/April 2025 🤞

Past Trips