CLICK & DOUBLE CLICK: GOT THE VACATION BLUES? INTERNET GIVES VIRTUAL THEME PARK RIDE (COLUMN 41)

CYBERTIP: The staff of SEMissourian.com will present a lecture/slide show on the Internet Thursday from 7-8 p.m. at the Cape Girardeau Vocational-Technical School. A question-and-answer period will follow. The cost is free. Registration is requested but not required. Call 335-6611 to register.

Do you have the vacation blues? No time or money to travel? Relax, the Internet can provide a quick get-away to some of the most popular theme parks in the world.

No tickets are required. No advanced reservations. And these theme parks are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Peggy: So big, so fast, so close. OK, it's not quite the same as being there, but you can visit Six Flags on line.

http://www.sixflags.com

You can take your pick of parks in Atlanta, New Jersey, St. Louis, Houston, Chicago, Dallas, San Antonio or Los Angeles.

Joni: Hey, wait. That's more than six flags. I say we go to St. Louis and see what's new this year.

Peggy: To enter the park, you jump in a roller coaster with Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and the Tasmanian Devil.

Joni: I can get a calendar of events, directions from Elmer Fudd, click on the perfect day planner, or the latest and greatest.

Peggy: The new feature of the year is Mr. Freeze. You can click on any of the featured rides to learn more.

Joni: Mr. Freeze is one of the tallest, fastest, most technologically advanced roller coasters. And it gets it's name from the Batman movie. The ride launches guests through a 190-foot tunnel reaching speeds of 70 mph in 3.78 seconds. And you will turn completely upside down.

Peggy: They say you'll be frozen with excitement. Frozen with excitement? I think guests will be frozen with fear. After taking the trip, you take it again, in reverse.

Joni: Let's head a little farther from home, Busch Gardens.

http://www.4adventure.com

At this site, you can go through all nine Anheuser-Busch theme parks, watch video of the rides or book a visit.

Peggy: You can download Quicktime movies of the world's tallest and longest inverted steel roller coasters. We'll download Kumba, the coaster at Busch Gardens in Tampa. The movie took six minutes to load. Whee!

Joni: You can develop your own adventure by answering questions like "I'd like to see sharks ..." A) after I've had dinner. B) after they've had dinner. C) flossing their teeth. Then pick three adventure terms. I picked animals, thrills and celestial sightings. They suggest Sea World of Ohio in Cleveland. Hum, did they miss the thrills part?

Peggy: They have developed an animal database, great for school projects. The database includes more than 1,000 pages, and live cams for sharks and a gray whale. You can learn more about keeping an aquarium at home.

Joni: Let's zip on over to California and Universal City, home of Universal Studios Hollywood.

Peggy: Look! Experience the fear. Jurassic Park the online game won the Screamer Award of the week. Well, after much waiting and frustration, we couldn't get most parts of the game to work. Maybe someone else will have better luck.

Joni: The site has hundreds of pages, in addition to Jurassic Park, you can visit Totally Nickelodeon. Get ready to be green slimed.

Peggy: Take an online adventure called Waterworld: Quest for the Mariner. It didn't take us long to be dead in the water. Listen closely and you'll hear sound effects.

Joni: You can download very small movie clips, which take two minutes to download. That's my kind of download. The site has lots of other things to visit.

Peggy: While most everyone has visited Disney in Florida or California, thanks to the Internet we're headed to Disneyland Paris. It's available in six languages, and you select by clicking on a flag. Interestingly enough, an American flag isn't a choice.

http://www.disneylandparis.com

Joni: Mickey and Minnie are waving to us. It's party time at Disneyland Paris. The park seems to have the same features as the American counterpart -- Adventureland, Fantasyland, Discoveryland, Frontierland and Mainstreet U.S.A.

Peggy: You can check out the high-speed thrills, including Space Mountain or De la Terre a La Lune (From the earth to the moon), as the ride is known in France.

Joni: While the site is nice, it's not as fun as the U.S.A. Disney site. You can print a Disney board game or help Mickey learn to tell time.

Peggy: Let's head to Tokyo Disneyland to see if it's more fun.

http://www.tokyodisneyland.co.jp

The site comes up in English, but you could select Japanese.

Joni: You can download a magic panorama window of the park. Move your mouse up, down and sideways for different points of view.

Peggy: The original amusement park, Coney Island, is online at

http://www.brooklynonline.com/coneyisland

They tout the Wonder Wheel, 100 years old and rickety as can be. In fact, on a later page, they ask "Is that a 2x4 holding this thing together?" An interesting promotional concept.

Joni: I'm sorry. I don't think I'll be the first to go. America Online hosts the Coaster Zombie Homepage, "We Live to Ride," at

http://members.aol.com/SteelForce/index.html

Peggy: The zombies plan trips to ride roller coasters across the world. They also have a list of links to their online favorites.

Joni: What's your favorite amusement site? E-mail us at clicksemissourian.com

See you in Cyberspace.

~Joni Adams is managing editor and Peggy Scott is graphics editor at the Southeast Missourian.