jmicha

^No. Although certainly not a bad movie it never really stood out in my mind. I've tried watching a few times since I saw it in theaters and never get more than halfway through before I turn it off out of boredom. Although I do want to see the second one, I felt beyond Robert Downey Jr.'s performance the only thing that stands out in my mind about the first one is Tony Stark's incredibly awesome house

I used to live one city away from Whalom Park and would visit either the beach or the park at least four days a week in the summer. My first coaster was the Flyer Comet and I have so many memories of this place, but it's gone. The area didn't support it, it didn't make money, and it just wasn't meant to be. I supported the whole buying of 'whales' thing and bought three, but those efforts didn't work for a reason. It's time to let it remain a (good) memory and move on.

So my studio friend Marion and I are both interning at the same architecture firm in Bluffton, South Carolina and are living in Savannah, Georgia. Of course first thing I did when I got down here was find how far away any worthwhile parks were...and the answer was far. Carowinds and Six Flags Over Georgia being the two closest big parks meant that when I decided I wanted to make myself a roller coaster trip I needed to decide between these two. According to my GPS there was only a ten minute difference in the amount of time it would take to get to each of these parks from my house (about 3 hours and 45 minutes) so this factor didn't play into my decision. I looked at each of the park's lineups to try to make a decision of which I would enjoy more. Although I very much wanted to try out Intimidator after seeing it from the highway on the way down to Savannah, I decided that SFoG would offer more rides that I would be interested in riding. My credit count is exceptionally low (unfortunately) as I don't really have anyone to go to parks with outside of Cedar Point, Kings Island, and formerly Geauga Lake and SFoG offered several coaster types/models that I had always wanted to try out, such as B:TR, old style B&M megacoaster trains, Schwarzkopf looper, and B&M flyer. Plus all the other rides in the park seemed like fun so I felt it was the better of the two parks to go to. Plus it had a smaller lineup which was actually a good things since I wasn't about to leave my house at 6 in the morning to get there by opening and stay until closing and get home at 2. We left my house at 7:30 in the morning and got to the park at exactly 11:00. it seemed like a decent amount of people were waiting to buy tickets and get in but I stayed optimistic that it wouldn't be too crowded. Due to my work schedule Saturday was really the only option I had if I wanted to go to an amusement park as I work every weekday and would be exhausted Monday if I went on Sunday. But thankfully when we got through the obnoxiously long line to buy tickets (only complaint of the day. Open more windows when there are that many people waiting to buy tickets. More time in the park=more money spent in the park, so why make them wait in line to buy tickets?) we got in and headed to Goliath first. The only other B&M megacoaster I have ridden is Diamondback at Kings Island which I thoroughly enjoyed so I was anticipating a great ride. When we got to the station we headed towards the back of the train and got in line for the second-to-last row. This was Marion's first roller coaster in about 7 years so she was a little nervous. The lift hill offered a great view of the surrounding area and Atlanta was faintly visible through the haze. The first drop was very good as were the second and third hills. Nice sustained airtime, similar to the hills on Diamondback's outrun. The helix on Goliath was awesome as well, much better than either of the helixes on Diamondback. The return hills on Goliath also offered some nice sustained airtime, much more so than Diamondback. That was my biggest complaint with Diamondback. The train seemed to be too long for the size of the return hills which meant that you'd get a pop of airtime then fall back into your seat for the rest of the hill. Goliath didn't have this problem and was a great ride. The last small hill into the brake run was also a nice surprise. Definitely a fun ride. Next up was Batman: The Ride. I have always wanted to ride a B:TR but have never had the chance due to my travels never taking me to a Six Flags Park other than the former SFWoA or any other park with this model. Marion was excited to ride this as B:TR at Six Flags Great America (she's from Chicago) is the ride she remembers loving the most. We moved to the front hoping to get a front row seat but we didn't want to wait the extra few trains to get that row so we opted for the second row. The ride was very intense and great fun in this row. The theming, although not extravagant, fit the feel of Gotham City very well and was a nice touch. Waiting in a building was also nice as the sun had started to poke through the clouds and the air was heating up. The first part of the ride (loop, zero g, loop) was great fun and had me getting tunnel vision pulling out of the second loop but I feel the second half was the more intense part of the ride. The upwards turn after the second loop was crazy fast and both corkscrews offered some nice forces and great footchoppers with the ground. The ride was over quickly, but exceeded my expectations. Of the four B&M inverts I have ridden I think I would place it behind Raptor, on par with Fir Dragon, and ahead of Ice Dragon. We then headed over to Mind Eraser. The only Schwarzkopf coaster I had ridden prior to this ride was Wildcat at Cedar Point, so I was excited to ride one of his normal coasters. First thing I noticed when looking at the ride in line was how ridiculous the Stride train looked. I felt kind of bad for it as the non-Stride train looked nice. The pinks and yellows of the Stride train just clashed way too much with the ride and area of the park for it to make sense, but I'm not going to complain about it as it really isn't a big deal. Just goofy looking. We sat in the second-to-last row of the non-Stride train and headed for the lift. The entrance to the lift isn't exactly what you'd call graceful and made me chuckle when Marion's face because suddenly concerned by the banging and jolting. Good times lol. The top of the lift is a little odd as the ride feels like it just barely makes it over the lift when it disengages and took a few seconds to really get going, but once it did it was great. The first loop was intense and quick and led up into one of the most fun helixes I've been on. The entire section of the ride in the ravine was a lot of fun and offered for some cool views and scenery. The ride was a lot of fun and had some pretty intense moments despite the trim brakes throughout. I'm glad to have this coaster in my credit count. After this we started heading around towards the back of the park and made a stop at Dahlonega Mine Train. Expecting a pretty slow, uneventful mine train I didn't expect much. This ride actually has some kick to it. Not so much in speed or heigh (obviously) but in very sudden transitions. I was thrown about and giggling like a six year old school girl the whole ride. This is one of those rides that's just plain fun to ride if you are with the right people. It doesn't do anything amazing and doesn't even come close to breaking any sort of records, but is still great fun. My idea after this was to head over to Superman, Ninja, and GASM, yet due to my apparent inability to recognize a pathway heading away from me towards these rides, we wound up by Georgia Cyclone. Knowing I definitely missed a path somewhere we decided to ride and just backtrack afterwards. I've heard mixed reviews of this ride so I wasn't sure what to expect. I've never had a problem with roughness on any ride so I figured I'd be fine, and in the end this was exactly how it turned out. The ride wasn't anything amazing, but it was a fun wooden coaster. It's obviously past it's prime but it wasn't really that rough at all and had some fun moments. There was one hill next to the station/exit that offered a great pop of airtime for the back part of the train. Not an amazing run, but just like everything else so far, a lot of fun and had me laughing the whole time. After realizing my navigational mistake we headed back towards the back part of the park and found the path we were looking for and headed to Superman. This was by far the longest line of the day. Had we gotten to the park closer to opening I would have headed to this ride first but since we arrived a little later I figured the line would be as long as any other time of the day. We waited about an hour and fifteen minutes for the ride in the blaring sun and by this time I was in serious need of some food, drink, and rest. But we waited it out and got on the ride in one of the rear cars (can't remember which). I've ridden Vekoma's version of the flying coaster and always enjoyed it so I was interested in comparing the B&M version to it. Although I always enjoy riding X-Flight, it never felt graceful enough to really get the whole flying sensation down. Plus the layout has a lot of laying-on-your-back parts which although fun, don't get that sensation across at all to me. The fact that you start off on the B&M version by getting into the flying position in the station greatly increases this feeling. The ride was also a lot smoother than X-Flight meaning that it felt a lot more like you were soaring through the air gracefully rather than jostling about. I hah heard good things about the pretzel loop and was excited for it, but this didn't prepare me for the intensity of this element. Being pulled down into it was one of the most disorienting things I've ever experienced on a coaster and the entire thing plastered me into the seat. Definitely the most intense part of the ride. From reading a lot of reviews of the S:UF models I've heard that everything after the pretzel loop is generally regarded as pretty weak/boring yet I found this to be nowhere near the truth. Definitely not as intense as the pretzel loop, but it was a ton of fun soaring through the turns and swooping down towards the landscape. Simulated the feeling of flying pretty nicely and the inline twist at the end was a nice finale. I definitely enjoyed the B&M version more than the Vekoma and would have liked to ride it again if it wasn't for the fact that the line had increased in size from the time I got in line to the time I exited the ride. After this we got some food in the Superman area. I got chicken fingers and fries and a large drink. Although expensive (as is it at every park) I didn't feel ripped off as the food was pretty decent. The chicken was a little dry, but nothing ketchup didn't fix. Definitely better than most of the food at other parks I've visited (cough*Cedar Point*cough) so nothing to complain about here. Service was friendly and quick too and that's always a plus. Nothing is more frustrating to me than having to wait in a huge line to get food when all you want to do is sit down and take a relaxing break from riding. After a nice lunch we got in line for Great American Scream Machine. I had watched a bunch of videos of all the rides in the park before visiting and this ride looked like it had potential but looked as if it ran way too slow to meet this potential in the videos. I don't know if I just caught it on a good day or if the maintenance department has done some serious work since those videos were shot, but the ride was flying through the course. The first time I watched the train come down the return run I was amazed at how quickly it went over the hills and how fast it whipped around the last turn. I was definitely more excited about this ride than I had been. We went to the back of the station and got in the second to last row and prepared for our ride. The first drop was decent, nothing amazing, but had a nice pop of airtime. The first turn was a little slow but offered a nice view and set up the second drop nicely. After this drop the pacing of the ride really started to pick up. The two smaller hills between the second drop and the turn around offered fantastic sustained floater air and led up into one of the quickest turnarounds I've ever experienced on a wooden coaster. I was flung into the seat divider and had to put my hands down and hold on to recompose myself. Definitely wasn't expecting that. Again, the small hills between the turnaround and the last turn offered sustained airtime over all of them, only this time a lot more intense, flinging me into the lap bar. Knowing that I should probably prepare myself for the last turn after experiencing the first turnaround I put my hands down and held on and for good reason. This turn was taken at even greater speed and slammed me into the side of the car (in a good fun way ) and I was soon thrown into the lap bar again heading into the final hills. The last few hills were the most intense and each threw me up into the lap bar and had Marion and myself laughing like crazy. Then one of the biggest surprises of the ride caught me completely off guard. I was not expecting the shed over the brake run to be so incredibly low coming over that last small hill into the brakes. I had my hands up and laughing and was honestly shocked by how close this felt. Definitely one of the best headchoppers I've ever experienced. This ride was the best surprise of the day. I wasn't expecting much from it and was very pleasantly surprised by how much fun it was. Next up was another great surprise of the day. Basically every review of Ninja I read said it was extremely uncomfortable and was not at all enjoyable. Either these are greatly exaggerated or I caught it on a good day (I feel its the former) as I really enjoyed this ride. I was amazed by how much twisted track they were able to fit into such a small area and the ride had a good assortment of inversions. The butterfly was a lot of fun and I wish a company like B&M or Intamin or even Vekoma with its new track and trains would look into using this element more. It was a very fun element. The dive loop an corkscrews were also a lot of fun and quite intense, taken at a pretty good speed. This ride was also filled with a ton of headchoppers. There were several times where I was amazed at how the train squeezed through such apparently small openings between track and supports. For a ride I wasn't really expecting anything more than a headache from, I really enjoyed it. Also the Axe Twist train on this ride was actually pretty cool looking. Although it doesn't necessarily fit the theme at all, it was cool looking and was a lot more noticeable from a distance than the normal train. At this point there was only one ride left I was looking to ride and this was Georgia Scorcher so we headed that way. The only other standing coaster I've ridden is Mantis which, although fun, is the only coaster I've ever really felt any discomfort on. Thankfully this discomfort was nowhere to be found on the Georgia Scorcher and it was a very enjoyable ride. The layout was very twisted and offered a lot of really nice turns. The loop/turnaround/helix beginning was great and the quick highly banked turn into the corkscrew was very nice. I enjoyed this coaster a lot more than I do Mantis and was pleasantly surprised by how smooth it was. Also the Georgia Natural Gas wraps on the trains were quite nice looking. The blue contrasted the yellow nicely and was definitely the most fitting of the train wraps at the park. It was about 6:30 at this point and although I would have loved to stay at the park until close I wanted to get a head start on driving home as I didn't want to be putting myself or Marion at risk by driving later at night, so I picked one last ride to finish off an already great day. I wanted this to be Goliath but because Marion was finished for the day I decided to go over to B:TR as I knew it would have a shorter wait than Goliath so she wouldn't have to wait for me as long. This time around I waited for the last row that was open to typical guests (fastpass for the last two rows) but there was nobody in the fastpass line so I sat in the last row. This ride is definitely a backseat ride for me. The opening sequence was a lot more intense as were the final corkscrews and turns. I definitely now understand why these rides are praised by almost everyone. A great ride especially for how small it is. Small, but intense rides like this are great for pretty much any park and are a lot of fun. A great way to end an already awesome day. Overall I really enjoyed Six Flags Over Georgia. A great selection of coasters and a really nice setting made this park a lot of fun to visit. The staff was very friendly and efficient and with the exception of Acrophobia being closed (not that I'd ride it anyway, I don't do drop rides) I didn't notice any other downtime except for Ninja stopping on the lift for all of two minutes when I was in line for Superman. The park was extremely clean, there were no overflowing trash cans, no garbage on the ground, and surprisingly I didn't see a single person smoking in the park. Either visitors follow this rule or the park strictly enforces it (much more likely) which was a nice change from the EXTREMELY loosely regulated smoking policy of Cedar Point. I've watched employees walk by people smoking in line for rides and not do a thing which is frankly quite annoying. I don't care if people smoke, but do it in an open area where it's not going to bother those who don't. A line is not the place to do this and it was nice that I didn't run into this problem at all at SFoG. Having only ever visited one other Six Flags park (former SFWoA) I was excited to compare operations to a Six Flags park that I had generally heard is a lot better run and I was very happy with everything about the park. The landscaping was nice, there were a TON of large mature trees throughout the entire park which was nice, and the general upkeep of everything was obviously an important matter for the park. Theming was in good shape, paths were clean, landscape beds were maintained nicely, etc. The park had a very comfortable/relaxing feel to it and I had a great time visiting. Hopefully when I'm back down here next Fall I will be able to visit this again as well as get to Carowinds to increase my coaster count to a respectable level If you got this far, I hope you enjoyed reading my photoless trip report and thank you for reading.

^That's more intense than TTD. And that launch isn't exactly weak. It's not the most powerful, no, but trust me, 1.7 G's of acceleration for 4 seconds is going to be a nice time.

So I decided to have myself a zombie movie night with some movies I randomly heard of and had never seen. Well I just finished the movie Deadgirl...if any of you have seen it I'm sure you'll agree with me saying it was one of the most disturbing movies especially in the zombie category. And not in a good way...at all. The story isn't exactly family friendly so I'm not going to go in to details as they're easy to come by (wish I had read a little more about it before I watched it) but the movie is just all kinds of wrong and disgusting. In unrelated news a roach crawled onto my head as I watched the movie and made me freak out like a school girl. But that's not important, what is important is that if you like movies that don't do things that shouldn't be done, don't see this. If you are one of those ultra strange ones that enjoys truly disturbing ideas such as those implemented in this movie, then go for it. I personally did not enjoy this film. 3.5/10 (for the pretty good acting throughout and...originality...I guess...)

I'm also happy this ride didn't get scrapped just because it's now such a rare commodity. That being said I've never been a fan of these (or any drop rides for that matter) and am not really sad it's going to be gone from my home park. But the skyline sure is going to look strange this year when getting to the park. I reckon it's going to be like the first time I drove to Geauga Lake after X-Flight was removed. It felt oddly empty even though it was only one ride missing (granted that was a MUCH larger part of the skyline than Demon Drop ever was). I'm interested in seeing the first pictures of Cedar Point without Demon Drop as well as hearing how this ride is met by its new market.

^^Donnie Darko is an amazing movie. If you are looking to watch it again to gain a better understanding of it, try viewing the director's cut. It's a heck of a lot less complicated as it uses pages from Grandma Death's book to basically spoon feed you what's going on. Now I want to go watch that movie again... Just finished watching the movie Moon from last year. Very interesting movie, extremely well done especially for such a low budget film. I enjoyed every minute of it and they really nailed all of the various emotions that went along with every part of the movie. An interesting sci-fi movie for sure. 8/10.

I used to work at a KFC and the thought of this kinda makes me lose my appetite lol. Not because of any health reason or whatever, just because I can just imagine how much of a pain it would be to prepare tons of these (just like the snacker and the mashed potato bowl) during the dinner rush. In reference to the 'healthiness' of this (as well as pretty much every other item offered at KFC) like others said it really isn't that bad. I know that it was possible to buy a meal (a true meal too, not one of those 'meals' that doesn't fill you up at all offered at some places) with under 500 calories at KFC. There's hardly any calories in the mashed potatoes, green beans (obviously), macaroni and cheese, etc. and most of the chicken really isn't that high in calories until you get into the extra crispy stuff. The original chicken was always surprisingly low in calorie count and we used to have nutritional facts pamphlets from the other places around town (McDonald's, Arby's, Taco Bell, etc.) for certain people to use as a comparison when they'd come in and basically blame us as they ordered for our country's weight problems, as if the 16 year old me had any say in how the food was prepared. I am curious how this thing actually tastes though, as it has cheese, and I know that when I worked there it seemed like that was something that KFC had trouble doing properly. The cheesy Snackers used bottled 'cheese' which was absolutely disgusting stuff, and the mashed potato bowls used grated cheese that was far below the quality of the other items used in the store.

I've only been to Kings Island once and while in line for Invertigo it broke down. It was closed for most of the rest of the day but I got on it towards closing after it reopened.

^They're pretty comfortable rides. Nothing extraordinary obviously, but they are very easy cars to drive and actually feel like they are responding to your actions. When I turn the wheel or press either of the pedals in my Sonata, the car does what it's supposed to unlike some cars I've driven that felt like I was stepping in warm butter rather than trying to accelerate. I would definitely take one out for a drive if you get the chance as it might shorten any searching in the future when you do want to replace your current vehicle. The new Tuscon is supposedly a very nice vehicle too from what I've heard. I've yet to drive or ride in one and they just updated it for the 2011 model.

^I remember the first time I was reading about the standard features in the car and I was honestly shocked. Some of them aren't even standard on some Mercedes, BMWs, and Audis, yet are standard on a Kia? That shows some serious commitment to building an overall better car. My dad rented a Forte when on a business trip and was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the car, especially in comparison to the other cars he had rented when on business, a Sebring (blegh) and a Cobalt. I'm really impressed with all Hyundai products as of late. The new Sonata is a very interesting car and I would like to test the turbo version whenever it becomes available. They seem to have found their design language which was pretty nonexistent until recent years and I'm very happy to drive a product from them. 102,000 miles and my 2006 Sonata still drives like it's new.

^Yeah all of the products from Kia recently have been very good buys. The Forte is no exception. The amount of standard features and the like for a car in that class is pretty uncommon and it's a perfect car if you don't want to give a hand and a foot to have a nice economy car. The Forte Koup is a pretty sexy car too

^^As long as the ground is similarly flat the differences are made up in the supports. Although not a relocation, the two S:ROS coasters at Six Flags America and Darien Lake have the same layout/support (although mirrored) design and the difference in the terrain is obvious in the Six Flags America version when you look at the footings for the ride. Some of them are absolutely massive to make up for the difference in ground levels between the two parks.

^Which is so upsetting since there is so much diversity to see in this world. My parents have always been very open to diversity and taught my brothers and I to never judge based on differences and were always very realistic in their views of the world. We weren't really ever sheltered from anything and I know this is part of what makes me who I am today. I feel bad for these people that are so scared of the rest of the world that they feel this is necessary. I'm not usually one to talk down about another group's beliefs, but this is such an extreme case of religion ruling absolutely everything in a person's life that I don't know if I can understand their reasoning. If anyone knows of any insider stories posted around the internet and would like to share I would love to read up on some first hand accounts from students.

If this place is indeed real and these are the official rules, I have trouble believing they have any ability to enforce them. Beyond the dress code and on-campus rules none of them are legal. I suspect that this list of rules is not actually official however if this place does even exist in the real world. There's something very suspicious about how basically EVERYTHING is restricted which leads me to believe it was thought up by someone as a laugh. An entertaining read however, and if this is the truth...well...I feel bad for any students at this place and sorry for their parents for viewing life in this manner. Edit: After reading up on this place and what people here are talking about...well...I'm honestly worried about people that feel this is the way we are supposed to live our lives. This place honestly disgusts me and although I'm not Christian, I feel for the Christians that don't share these same beliefs (AKA, most of them) as this is the type of situation that gives a religion a bad name. I don't understand how it is possible for them to get away with some of these rules, but it definitely makes me EXTREMELY happy to go to my public school that has, oh, zero of the same rules as this place

^Even just walking through it without a line being there was a much better experience than using the Express Pass entrance. Last time I was in Orlando I stayed at the Royal Pacific hotel and decided against using the Express Pass entrance for Dueling Dragons for that exact reason. Granted there was no line so it didn't really change much but even so the line is an attraction in and of itself. Hopefully whatever it ends up being turned into isn't a disappointment in terms of quality of theming and uniqueness. This really was the only time (along with Revenge of the Mummy) that I felt a queue set up the ride perfectly. I wish a little more of this theming continued beyond the station, but that was never really a big deal. Hopefully I will be able to get back next winter and get to try out all of the attractions I've missed since the last time I was there.

Sorry if this has been discussed but I haven't really been following this topic all that much lately. Does anyone know for sure the extent of the retheming of Dueling Dragons' queue? Is it mostly speculation that this will be happening or is there evidence I'm missing that supports some major changes? Thanks in advance to anyone that is able to answer this question.

There is definitely a market for it in a city like Mumbai. With the way it has been expanding as of late and the already MASSIVE population of the city and the surrounding area this could be interesting.

This ride looks a lot better than it did in the rendered POV. The pacing is ridiculous looking. I wish I was closer to Kings Dominion...

So on my way down to Savannah this morning I rode by Carowinds at around 11:15 in the morning. Got to see this baby running but my timing was AWFUL. Literally right as the train got to the top of the lift we went into the little dip that 77 does under the overpass that says "Carowinds BLVD" and by the time I could see the ride again the train was finishing its run. Oh well. This ride is sexy in person though. That second turn looks amazing. Hopefully at some point while I'm down here I will be able to make a trip up there and get a bunch of new credits including this great looking ride.

I just realized a fun situation. I will be driving right by Carowinds on my way to Savannah for co-op on Saturday. Hopefully I will be awake lol, I'd love to see it operating on its opening day.

^That version of Mummy looks pretty cool. Very similar to Orlando's with some fun changes. I like the idea of actually being in a tomb looking for gold better than the Orlando storyline. The ceiling fire looked pretty lame though...hopefully that'll change with time as that's one of the coolest special effects on any ride I've ever been on. I love that part of Mummy in Orlando. Overall this park is looking like a really cool park with some nice new rides that will maybe spawn some nice new rides at the other Universal parks.

My house had a party this Saturday and Dinoshark along with Dinocroc and two encore presentations of Dinoshark were on in the background the entire time. From what I can tell both were pretty much EPIC. Dinoshark was of prehistoric decent, trapped in a glacier, and Dinocroc was created by the typical corporation in Syfy movies that has way too much money, poor intentions, INCREDIBLY white lab coats, the nerdiest glasses ever seen, fun little electric vehicles to travel around in, and the modern building to house their experiments. And if you are going to watch Dinoshark, the last line of the movie is AWESOME

Dang, that thing FLIES over those hills. That second hill is going to have airtime of epic proportions. I'm excited to hear the first reports once this beast opens to the public.

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