A.J.

Aaaaahhhh! Everyone's progressing so quickly and all I'm doing is selling overpriced candy in a store most of the public thinks is closed! I'll start on page 9 tomorrow then. EDIT: 9 is finished. EDIT II - THE SEQUEL: Starting on 8 tonight, should be finished tomorrow. EDIT III - IMPORTANT: What should we do about RCT3 parks with custom scenery? The custom scenery isn't automatically added to your program file like RCT2 - you have to install the scenery yourself or it won't show up in the park.

I guess I'm a wee bit biased. Either way, I think a lot of our contests should be unique challenges and not the typical "build this kind of coaster" that everyone aged 16 and under seems to do these days.

New Element is very stringent on the "quality" standards of their submissions. If I were to submit my Lakeshore Boardwalk RCT2 park, which looks like this, they most likely wouldn't even consider it because my park doesn't meet their standards for how well the buildings are designed. Because, in this particular park, I put more emphasis on the atmosphere and attractions of the park than the buildings. A panel of their own "experts" (nerds who religiously play the game in every moment of their spare time (something I used to do)) judge the parks and give them ratings. A park that we would traditionally think is "good", such as my own, would be absolutely slammed by their panel. They're kind of like the private school guys who pick on public school kids because they're not "good enough". They only handle RCT2 parks and tracks, and absolutely nothing else. All sorts of the RCT2 community strive to be at New Element's level (I personally think they can kiss my [censored]) - those who are good enough get praised, and those that aren't get whored.

I for one enjoyed RollerCoasterPro's setup - having separate spotlights for parks and tracks. We could take the [insert number here] highest-rated files (if files had the same rating, we would look at how many rates the files had) from each category, and choose one from each category to spotlight - probably monthly. They could be featured on the splash page with several other links - one to the game exchange itself, one to a page with information on the spotlight, etc etc. This would encourage players to do their best and get noticed.

Doing a March Madness-style challenge would be sort of a challenge - it would be difficult to keep players interested for the whole duration. Also, we have to keep in mind that not everyone on the forum plays RCT2. Farfetched idea - redesign the splash page to incorporate a section for the game exchange?

Working on 20 again. There's a thread on page 20 where a bunch of people posted their first NoLimits tracks. You want me to go through and grab every one of those, or leave the thread alone? EDIT: If the answer is leaving the thread alone, page 20 is finished.

Called into work early, working until 1AM EST for Extra Magic hours. I'll have 20 finished tomorrow.

Great Escape's predecessor was called the ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter. Even though most people who have seen Alien Encounter think that it should return to the park, I do not. I didn't want to mention this in the trip report, but before I got on Space Mountain Alpha the second time, there was a situation between two parents and a child who didn't want to ride. I was lined up to get in seat 3 (first car, back seat), and I was next in line. There was a group of five riding ahead of me. There was a teenager in the front, a small little girl in the middle, another teenager in the back, a grown man in the front of the second car, and a grown woman in the middle of the second car. The back seat was left empty. The little girl had been ordered by the man to sit down in her car, and she hesitantly sat down and pulled down the bar. She began to tremble and cry. When the cast member was going back to the dispatch control panel, she took notice of the little girl crying. She asked the little girl if she wanted to get off the ride, and the little girl said yes. They opened up her lap bar and she began to crawl out. Meanwhile, the man in the fourth seat became furious. He yelled at the little girl, "get your [censored] back on the ride", and the little girl let out a crying "noooo". The man also yelled at the cast member to put the girl back in the seat. The cast member said a stern, "if she doesn't want to ride, she doesn't have to" as she gave the little girl to another cast member to wait with her at the unloading zone. I personally am glad the lap bars lock as soon as you pull them down, because if they hadn't, the man would've gotten out of his car and probably done something cruel to the little girl. That man is the kind of person who makes me glad Alien Encounter was replaced with a show adults would think is boring. The Magic Kingdom is a place where children are the guests of honor, and being dragged on a terrifying ride or show against their will is absolutely wrong.

Great. That saves me some time - I went through each file by title looking for duplicates before I finished page 24.

Fair enough, I'll do a quick scan of 23 and 22 just to make sure we're all squared away. EDIT: They look okay. I'll call dibs on 20, starting it in an hour or two.

Starting on 24 now. EDIT: Finished with 24, with some exceptions: I need screenshots for: Six Flags World Tour by GriffyTiffy Dendrophobia by coasterguy99 I also need to know if the parks mentioned in this topic are allowed to be hosted on our exchange, because they are linked to another site. It seems like a few files were uploaded from each page of the forum when the exchange was still in beta. Was that the case?

I'll be able to start really chipping on 'em Sunday morning EST.

"Excuse me, where's the Matterhorn?" "We don't have the Matterhorn Bobsleds here. Let me show you on the guidemap..." "Oh, I don't need a guidemap. I've been to Disneyland, I know where I'm going." "That's perfectly fine. The Dream Along with Mickey show in front of Cinderella Castle starts in a few minutes." "Where's Cinderella Castle?" "It's the large castle at the end of Main Street." "Oh, no, that's Sleeping Beauty Castle. I've been to Disneyland, I've told you." Proof that you don't know everything about Disney parks if you've only been to one. And, all that time, I was wearing a large four-fingered white glove on my hand. Kind of hard to take me seriously, no?

Referring back to what I said before, with the kind of space Hersheypark has (or doesn't have), a ride with really wide trains doesn't make sense. A B&M hypercoaster could possibly work, but the other two wouldn't if we expect this ride to be semi-compact (for a 212-ft monster) and able to twist itself around the Comet Hollow and Minetown areas which are already occupied by Comet, Superdooperlooper, Great Bear, and Coal Cracker. How wide are those 10-across dive machine trains anyway? Aren't they like...20 or 25 feet wide including reach clearances?

Well, hello there Title Fairy! With my exploits in the Magic Kingdom, I've become hooked on something I watched on a TPR video - saying, "We're in SPAAAAAAACE!" every time I go over the lift of Space Mountain, no matter if I have five buddies in the train with me or a bunch of Spanish tourists. Would you be so kind as to change my title to something of that nature? I'm sure it will give TPR members a humorous kick whenever they read it. Thanks so much.

WELL HAI.

Right, so that the effects can be positioned appropriately on the guest's body. I get it! Unfortunately, the first time I visited Magic Kingdom was 2007. IMO, that still doesn't excuse how painful they are on small people. Maybe if they were padded more softly?

Part IV - Tomorrowland After romping through the wilderness (?) of Frontierland with eight or so hours left in my day, I decided to skip today and head for tomorrow (Get it? Tomorrow? As in Tomorr...never mind). I personally really like Tomorrowland because I'm a big fan of progress, but I think it's always the most drab-looking section of the park to me whenever I visit. Maybe it's all the gray from the theming, but it all just looks drab. The splashes of color from the ride logos really do this section of the park huge favors. Before I dove into the big attractions in Tomorrowland, I decided to take a tour: On the WEDWay Tomorrowland Transit Authority Peoplemover! The Peoplemover is a great way to explore Tomorrowland in its entirety without having to walk everywhere. It's great if you have never been to the Magic Kingdom before, because it's very informative. Apparently, Walt Disney had quite a vision for the future: It's the Community of Tomorrow! Just looking at it, I think it's a great concept. Not sure how it would be built to today's standards, however. Of course, no Peoplemover update would be complete without a picture of Space Mountain... ...on the INSIDE! The ambient music inside Space Mountain really makes the trip through on the Peoplemover a little less scary, especially for children. Back when I visited Magic Kingdom in 2007, my poor little sibling was scared for her life when we went through and heard a train whoosh by. Now, you can say, "hey, there's a cool ride going on up there". HOWEVER...the refurbishment of Space Mountain has eliminated any opportunity to snap a photo of the unloading platform from the Peoplemover. There is now a large wall in the place of the old window, unfortunately. We'll have more on Space Mountain a little later. After getting off the Peoplemover and seeing the wonders of space travel right before my eyes, I was driven to travel to space and save the universe from anything in my path. Unfortunately, the being known as the evil emperor Zurg is quite scary. Not to worry! Buzz Lightyear to the rescue! My hero! UNFORTUNATELY...Buzz said that he was staying behind to coordinate the mission from Star Command (What a [censored]!) Guess who had to face down Zurg? This guy, that's who. This was my craft. It was an XP-37 Space Pod with twin ion cannons powered by a Crystolic Fusion power unit and 360-degree spin function. BOSS. Only ion cannons work to defeat Zurg's minions, so that made flash photography utterly useless and redundant. The battle was so taxing, so intense, so brutal - that Star Command prohibits me from talking about it. However, they did let me take a photo of my galactic ranking... ...which makes me a GALACTIC HERO! Take THAT, Luke Skywalker and your "force"! I have Star Command on my side! After my triumph over Zurg in a dinky little space pod, I decided to upgrade to a slightly more powerful vessel to aid me in my intergalactic journey: The Astro Orbiters! The Tomorrowland Intergalactic Authority is much nicer than Star Command. They even let me take my camera on my ship with me so I could chronicle my journey! Unfortunately, I need more training. WARNING! Aerial photo FAIL ahead! Turn back now if you are uneasy! AAAAHHH! The horror! The Intergalactic Authority passed me anyway. One of the officers told me this: "Where you're going, you don't need cameras." The final leg of my training was upon me! It was time to conquer the ultimate training test - the legendary Space Mountain! Dun dun dun... Wait a minute, you can't see it. Hang on a second... DUN DUN DUNNNN! The first test in my final training was navigating my way through the complex space station known as Starport Seven-Five. Along the way, I was informed that I needed to memorize ten maps of local star systems to aid me in my journey. At least they play soothing ambient music while you are in the corridor! After I memorized the star system maps, I was told to take part in a mock space simulation where I had to deliver fuel to a local station. The Intergalactic Authority prohibited me from taking photos of the actual gamepla...I mean...training, but I was allowed to show the general public how the mock vessels were controlled. It's an interesting system. You merely touch the buttons and the simulation responds. The left and right buttons change angle, and the center one pushes your vessel forward. The buttons are overly sensitive, however. After I completed the simulation with flying colors, I was cleared for my final mission! I was going to go into space! SPACE! SPAAAAAAAAAACE! In case you didn't know, Space Mountain at the Magic Kingdom is actually two separate tracks intertwined within each other, and that the trains are two cars with three people sitting inline in each car. Subject one - the refurbishment. Personally, this refurbishment has done more wonders for the ride's atmosphere than the ride itself, and you can take that as a good thing or a bad thing. The ride has gone from a modern (for the 1970s) space travel theme to a retro theme which is most apparent in the ride's music and on the poster in the front of the Magic Kingdom. The ambient music played throughout the interior of the mountain really makes the ride a lot more exciting than it was before the refurbishment. The only thing I do not like is that you can tell where the speakers are along the track. When it comes to the theme, if you've ridden Space Mountain before the refurbishment and refuse to ride it now because "it's the same old ride", you may be pleasantly surprised. Or, you may not be, which brings me to subject two. As a roller coaster, both sides are pretty much the same as they were before the refurbishment. They are still fantastic little coasters by any standard. While they don't have many large drops and not much airtime, the sides of Space Mountain are still wicked fun for anyone. However, being the same is not as much of a good thing. Both sides are a little rough at times, and the Omega side (the right side as you are going up the lift or looking at my Peoplemover photo) is rough a lot of the time. The Omega side's laterals are not very good for a skinny person like myself either, and I was thrashed about during the ride. Also, the first time I rode the Omega side this trip, I had sat in the front of the second car, placed my backpack in the small space next to my foot and wrapped the strap around my ankle. About halfway through the ride, I glanced down and saw my backpack dangling halfway out of the car (Thankfully, it was the top half - all the straps were still in the car). I reached down during all this thrashing and got my backpack in the car and held it down for the rest of the ride. I was in a crouched-over position for the rest of the ride, and when I came off the ride I was a little motion-sick. Since then, when I ride Space Mountain with my backpack I wear it backwards (with the "pack" forward) and hold onto it for the ride. I gave the Omega side a second chance, and it was much more fun since I didn't deal with my backpack, but it still thrashes about! Both sides of Space Mountain are still very re-rideable, especially when waits are short. I ended up riding a total of four times (two on each side) before deciding that I was burning daylight. I am human! Fear me, you robot slave! Also, in case you didn't know, the right wall of the last moving floor room in the exit is a giant green screen. Pretty cool, huh? I didn't notice it at first, because it fits in with the ride's theming and sky blue/lime green color scheme! Pretty slick if you ask me. With my training complete, it was time for me to explore the rest of Tomorrowland. Ironically, all the attractions I had yet to do in Tomorrowland (save for the speedway) were shows. I personally liked that, because it meant I could sit down. After seeing the Community of Tomorrow on the Peoplemover, I was curious to see exactly what Walt Disney was thinking. Coincidentally, I never saw the Carousel of Progress show when I came to the park in 2007. So... ...There's a great, big, beautiful tomorrow... I got in line, and noticed something strangely peculiar... AAAAH! The doors are moving away! WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!? In case you didn't know, the Carousel of Progress is a rotating theatre! There are six seating sections that rotate around a static, circular stage that's divided into six sections. I thought the show was pretty cool at first. However, the very last scene (won't spoil it) is quite cheesy. After seeing the progress of human technology, I decided to check out the progress of alien technology, more specifically prisoner transport systems: This is NOT the Stitch we all know and love. Apparently, these aliens have their own language that we don't know about: Blap bleep blorp? Also apparently, their leader doesn't like being made fun of: Durrrrrrrr... Okay, okay. Let me sum this review up in a few simple words: THIS. SHOW. SUCKS. [censored]. I don't even know where to begin! The stupid shoulder harnesses are incredibly painful! The signs said that they would automatically stop when they touched your shoulders. Mine didn't. Mine wanted to go further, and when you have boney shoulders being pressed on by an inch-wide block that's hard as a rock, it's painful! I actually had to push upward on the harnesses to get them to stop. To make matters worse, the dark part where Stitch "bounces" around the room made the restraints press hard again, and I was forcing them upward for pretty much the entire show. The seats were also uncomfortable, with no sort of backrest I wasn't sure to sit up or sit back. Which, I understand the need for a restraint system because there are lots of moving parts in the room such as a huge ray gun up top, but a simple locking lap bar would have been perfectly fine! As for the show itself, it sucked, but nowhere near as hard as the restraints. I actually found it funny when Stitch talked through a speaker close to another rider, and it scared her! But, other than that, the show was incredibly dull for teenagers like me. Little kids would probably wet their pants. I think they should gut the inside of the entire building and put a cooler show in there. THIS is a cool show: Life's a joke, right? Want to know what's even cooler? When you submit a joke for the show, Disney will say it's theirs forever! Isn't that awesome?!? [/sarcasm] Apparently, Monsters don't like scaring people anymore... ...except for Roz. She's scary. Now, for the show. Like I said, this is a cool show! I'm fully aware that there are people backstage who tell the monsters what to say, but it's still pretty cool! The only thing I don't like is that it doesn't "feel" like you're watching a comedy show. From any angle, you can clearly tell that they are screens - everything is just flat. Perhaps adding 3D for a refurbishment would add more "depth" to the visuals of the show. One more shot for the road. Speaking of roads... I gots a neeeeeeed for speeeeeeeed. I can, without a doubt, say that in my opinion, the Tomorrowland Speedway cars are the WORST cars in history. The cars don't accelerate, they lurch forward. The cars don't steer, they just go where they want to. When you hit the center railing, the rubberized wheel spins insanely fast, and burns blisters on your hands. The car is left-hand drive, but the accelerator pedal is controlled by stretching your right foot to the passenger side. Any more criteria you wish for me to evaluate? DEATH!!! Even with my ridiculous road test, I was able to keep the car steady in a straightaway section: Exclusive Speedway PEE-OH-VEE! After the driv...I mean...rid...I mean...torture, I was able to get a photo of a rather large mass of cars sitting still with no drivers. But wait, why could this be? Well, I can show you! They're reconstructing the last turn on the track! Lines have been unusually long for a while, because only two lanes of the four are open. Finally, I'll show you an example of how our world can achieve peace: Through the wondrous connection of cars that are incredibly terrible to drive! After I was done at the Speedway, I toured Tomorrowland looking for fun stuff to do to pass time. I found Push the Talking Trash Can... ...'s cousins. I found some food prices to yell at... ...but now I appreciate the quality of food I am getting for the price. I found the legendary Cool Scanner... ...but when I stepped under it, it said I wasn't cool. Sadface. Then, I went back to Space Mountain and went inside the Video Arcade. What lies within? Inside the Video Arcade, I found what could be the greatest time-waster EVAR... ...UNFORTUNATELY, I didn't have four tokens. I resisted the urge to buy tokens by...leaving. I still had a good three-and-a-half hours before the Magic, Memories, and You started at 7:45pm. I didn't know what to do with myself, except to get the heck out of Tomorrowland, because I was getting sick of it. Parting shot of the Astro Orbiter. Look at all the space trainees! I was one of those! Coming Soon! The Mad Hatter that ISN'T Johnny Depp! Toontown Fair's last hurrah, for real this time! The BEST projection show on the side of a castle larger than Disneyland's...IN THE WORLD. AND...fireworks fallout! Stay tuned!

They are, for lap bars anyway. You just get in the seat like you would have done from opening to 2010, then pull down the bar. I still had plenty of room to keep a rather large waterproof backpack with my Mac and its cables between my feet. It's not like Dudley-Do-Wrong where you have to be a contortionist to get in the log and remove several body parts to get out. There already is a hungry bear in there, but Br'er Bear isn't really that smart.

Honestly, I have not been to a Cedar Fair park since my parents stopped paying for my food in amusement parks (several years ago). I guess I'm so used to having meal plan discounts at school. I've also been trying my very hardest to avoid using my other friend the debit card lately for food inside and outside of the parks. I've actually found the Busch parks to have the most bang for your buck when it comes to food, but things could have changed since they changed ownership. The last time I was at BGW the food was expensive, but actually worth it. Maybe I'm just cheap. Maybe I'm just not getting paid enough. Who knows? Nope, that will not be happening anytime soon. While the logs are still comfortable, they've lost about two inches of lateral legroom on either side, and a poor little sap in the middle would get crushed by two full-size adults. However, two children and one adult is still possible, if you look in the front row of this photo you can see one adult in the right-hand seat and two children in the left-hand seat. The concave-down lap bar gives them room. Comfortable and un-intrusive, as long as you don't staple them to yourself. The cast members only check that the lap bar can't be unlocked when pulled upward. Thanks, I had no idea! [/rapidquoting] [goingtobedafteraninterestingdayonstage]

PART III - The Monorail and Frontierland After leaving the park early the first day I was there, I was determined to tough it out and stay from opening until closing. Well, I guess I had a reason to tough it out besides being completely stupid... SPLASH MOUNTAIN WAS RE-OPENING! I got on Monorail Silver this time and headed toward the Magic Kingdom...at 8:00 in the morning... The Tron-o-rail only runs to Epcot...sadface. Along the way, I caught a glimpse of Monorail Teal as it went by. Zoom! While SOME OF US were waiting to be let into the park, others were let into the park early. That was not because they were members of a fantastic coaster club that I unfortunately can't afford to be a part of right now, but because they had early morning restaurant reservations. Although, there have been some "fake-out" cases where a family makes their reservation, but decides to ignore it all together and go explore the park before it opens. Those people get in a lot of T-R-U-B-L. This was my first time outside of the park when it opened, so I got to see the opening show. Unfortunately, to my position being pressed against the entrance rope in anticipation of sprinting to Frontierland when it was dropped, I didn't get the best shot: All the gang was there, with Smokey the Fireman as a bonus! He's a pretty good speaker. You can't really see him though. He backed up so we could see the characters better. Then, the inevitable happened - the rope dropped. I have never ran to a ride at opening before in my life. It was a fun experience. I got to say a quick "hi" to my managers and colleagues along Main Street, and give a few high fives. Upon reaching Frontierland, something unexpected (to me) happened - I was stopped. Since I had never been inside Magic Kingdom at opening before, I didn't know that entrances to areas are blocked by cast members until a certain number of people get there. While this was incredibly annoying to me because I would then have competition, I understood and waited patiently. The cast members eventually walked our now 25-strong group into Frontierland, with about two-thirds of the group following the cast member to Splash Mountain. Unfortunately, I was not the first rider. I was third. However, I was in the very first log with people sent through in 2011, which ironically was sent with only four people - two in the front, myself in the second row, and one person in the third row. WARNING! The following four photos have been watermarked with the date and time for legitimacy's sake! This was a huge deal for me, as I've never been one of the first people on any ride. If you don't believe me and think that I tampered with the time presented on the photo, I respect your opinion. Empty log, almost-empty loading area, 65 degrees fahrenheit - it's a great morning to ride a log flume! Now, the moment you've all been waiting for... The EXCLUSIVE LAP BAR REVIEW! In my humble opinion, the lap bars installed on Splash Mountain have little effect on how much fun the ride is. The operators only check that you can pull the bar up and not have it unlocked. That means that the lap bars don't have to be stapled to your lap, which in turn means that you still get some wicked log flume airtime going over the largest drop. I'm actually skinny enough to fit in the center of the row where the lap bar sinks down a bit. Unfortunately, the use of the lap bars restricts ridership to two adults per row, which means no more twelve-person "party" logs. However, you are still able to fit three children in a row in case you have a family of five. My first ride had no line and my second ride was on Fastpass, so I have no idea what the reduced capacity does to the wait times. I didn't whip my camera out until after the largest drop because I was unsure if there were any extra water effects added to the ride. Other than the lap bars, the ride is relatively unchanged, but I think they may have changed some of the interior lighting. That's unfortunate. Br'er Rabbit learned his lesson for the first time this year - only [insert insanely large number here] more lessons to go. After the ride, I picked up a complimentary 8 x 10 photo from Photopass for being on the first log of the day. I didn't take a picture of the picture, but once again, if you don't believe me that I was on the first log this year, I respect your opinion. Because...I'm LYING! They actually soft-opened the ride to some resort guests the day before! When I heard that from a Frontierland cast member after remarking to the people I was riding with how awesome it was to be on the supposed "first loaded log" of 2011, I was extremely furious. I realize, yeah, that happens all the time, blah blah blah, but the cast member could have been nice and not told me. There's a little thing called "protecting and preserving the magic", y'know. It really put me in a bad mood for the rest of the morning. It didn't ruin my entire day (I got over it), but if the park's main goal is to give guests the "happiest place on earth" (which is what I have been trained to do), someone should be yelled at. I got a FastPass after my ride anyway, and being in the first "general public" ([censored]!) log was props enough for me. Anyhoo, we'll pick up on Splash Mountain later! There was a locomotive with my name on it - and with only a ten-minute wait! That's-a-right! It be them-thar Big Chunder Mountain Choo-Choo! Big Chunder Mountain Choo-Choo was running great today. I had only two "Ker-chunk! Oi!" moments (in English: jerks on the lift hills) throughout the entire ride. All the effects were running, too! In my opinion, riding in the second row of whatever car you're in gives the best ride experience because of how long the cars are. Honestly, I also think Walt Disney World has done a fantastic job of making each land feel like its own world. After riding, I want on the satellite pathway to snap some more photos when I came across a peculiar sign: This sign is prejudiced. It's implying that you need a Kodak camera to take a picture there. My camera was obviously a Nikon. Take THAT, society! After experiencing a moment or two of blind fury, I actually snapped some photos of the ride: Chuggin' into the wild blue yonder...only to turn around and come back in a matter of seconds. Some adventure... Apparently, trains in Frontierland aren't equipped with on-board brakes. Artsy shot WIN! Even after riding the choo-choo and taking all these photos, I still had a good hour until my FastPass expired. So, I decided to take a vacation to a secret, remote island...just off the shore of Frontierland. For some reason, I wasn't feeling very good about this... I'll let the captions speak for themselves for a while. I din't know Injun Joe had a boat... Remember when I said I had a bad feeling about this? After -trying- to read this sign, my feeling got worse. Mill. Can't figure out what else to say. Fresh cut spring flowers spewed across a babbling brook with a hint of lemon. TAKE THE TUNNEL! Step 1 - take a deep breath. Step 2 - calmly make your way onto the bridge. Step 3 - OHSHI- HELP! I'm stranded and can't get off this blasted island! I KNOW you can hear me! Don't act like you can't hear my cries for help, you're only 250 feet away! Mystery Mine...I didn't know there was a Euro-Fighter in the Magic Kingdom. Oh, wait...it's just some stupid rock formation that lights up and growls for some reason. Sadface. I actually was able to signal a helicopter, get off the island, and get to Splash Mountain with enough time that my FastPass was still valid. How do you do? It's going to take some time for the cast to get used to Splash Mountain's lap bars and people. During my second ride through Splash Mountain, the logs were stopped on the block sections a total of seven times. In turn, this caused lots of log pileups along the route, and plenty of "wait for it, wait for it...BUMP"s along the route as well. I had only been on Splash Mountain with lots of people once before in 2007, and while there were stops, there weren't near as many. Maybe that day was a particularly good day - I don't know. Lots of people in line. Several managers watching the cast. Lots of cast with lots of pressure. I think they're cracking. I do think that Splash Mountain is one of the most photogenic rides in the park, however. It's also good if you want to test your reaction time by trying to take a picture of a log going down the drop. It took me...several...tries to get a good one. Down the hatch! On a side note, you can see that three children can fit in a row. Kersplash-ish! It's okay! The laughing place accepts anyone, even if your butt is soaking wet! One more splash for the road. After taking photos of Splash Mountain, I got hungry. So, I toured Frontierland's robbin...I mean...shopping district to find some food. Looking around, I saw a finger painted on a wall. Refreshments...looks good so far. WHOA! Not anymore! Expensive food alert! The overpriced food made me want to shoot the owner of the joint: This guy. He probably doesn't even know what money is! After gawking at the overpriced food, I decided I was done with Frontierland, and headed toward a great, big, beautiful tomorrow...land - but not without a wild animal sighting: Br'er Rabbit is lookin' for trouble... Coming Soon! PART IV - Tomorrowland A road test of the WORST car in history! The BIGGEST fail of an aerial shot ever taken! Flying through SPAAAAAAAAACE! AND...a talking trash can's cousins! Stay tuned!

Yes. I requested attractions as well. However, I described a past job experience (working concession stands during the Little League World Series with my mom) which pertained to Merchandise, and that was the role I ended up with. Not that it's a bad role, mind you. I would much rather be moving around to different stores along Main Street and dancing along with guests during Move It Shake It Celebrate It than be stuck cooped up in a station building.

Robb/mcjaco, in case my PM didn't go through for some reason, I'm on board.

Part II - Adventureland, Liberty Square, and Frontierland After carefully choosing inexpensive food (is that even possible here?) for lunch along Main Street, I set off to cover another area of the park, still nonchalantly forgetting about getting a birthday button. I headed into a land of adventure, which ironically is called Adventureland. They're currently renovating/reconstructing/I-don't-knowing the bridge that connects the center circle and Adventureland. I couldn't get any pictures of the construction because A) I couldn't get a good aerial shot B) there was no really tall person around to take pictures over the colorful construction walls and C) I don't know any walking bridge enthusiasts on this site. So there. Since I had the time, I decided to take a trip back in time to a simpler time when time wasn't a timely issue. I took a trip into the Swiss Family Treehouse. Gorgeous, ain't it? It's a really elaborate structure, and the little ones seemed to enjoy climbing high up over Adventureland, even though they were walking up stairs rather than climbing (I try not to spoil their fun). I spotted this peculiar device along the way: Rumor has it that a member of this very message board is old enough to remember the time when this device was made. That's right, it was made in 1971. Approaching the tippy-top of the treehouse (alliteration, anyone?), I was able to get a cool aerial shot and a preview of what lies ahead for myself, Wobbuffet, and our trip: I see you, Tomorrowland! It's goin' down. Tuesday. I'm serious. Heading back down, I spotted another curious display of old-man engineering: It all looks so clean. I thought this place was abandoned! IS SOMEONE STALKING ME?!? And some construction, for what I don't know: Anyone know? So...have you ever noticed how Disney movies all have hidden sexual innuendos and meanings? Well, in Adventureland, kids (and adults too, everyone is welcome) can be taken on a "magic carpet ride"! Get it? No? I'll show you what I mean: Magic carpets! What? Did you think I was making a sexual innuendo? You all have dirty, dirty minds! Honestly, if I was your parent, I'd... ...give you a pat on the back. Heh heh. After snapping a shot of the Magic Carpets and quietly snickering to myself, I found an artsy shot opportunity using the architecture of the Enchanted Tiki Room and the surrounding sky. UNFORTUNATELY...someone got in the way... He said that he wanted to blend in with the sky so he could be in my shot but not be obtrusive. He also said he was lying. Not to worry! Photoshop to the rescue! Much better! After Wobbuffet ruined my shot, I decided to play hard-to-get and took a photo of two other fake animals. Zazu and Whatshisname! The Enchanted Tiki Room is still closed. I asked several cast members about the attraction, and they all told me that the resort is working very hard to fix the damages. However, the attraction is still closed indefinitely. Hopefully it will reopen before my program expires, because I personally have never seen the attraction. Maybe for another trip report? Anyway, I left Adventureland to spite poor Wobbuffet because he wouldn't stop complaining. I headed back to the center circle, turned north, and headed into Liberty Square to check it out. I wanted to take a ride on the Liberty Belle. However... ...it was closed for a week. [censored] Therefore, I have re-christened the Liberty Belle...the "Beached Whale"! But, in all seriousness, the Liberty Belle is going through annual refreshers/refurbishments, much like Splash Mountain is (but without the HIDEOUS lap bars, OF COURSE). It will start going again on February 5. I didn't take any pictures of the Liberty Belle (because I don't think there are any Liberty Belle enthusiasts in the audience right now), but for you beached whale enthusiasts... Even though the whale LOOKS like he's swimming, he's really stuck to that sign! So, he's TECHNICALLY a beached whale! After the disappointment that was the Beach..I mean...Liberty Belle, I headed toward the House of 999 Ghosts Who Like Bad Puns (known to you "civilians" as the Haunted Mansion). There's room for 1,000 - any volunteers? Wobbuffet was scared, and I had already gotten the credit, so I passed over it. The last time I rode Haunted Mansion (which ironically was only two weeks ago), I thought it was pretty good, but I was distracted in trying to figure out how all the scenes work. I figured out how the ballroom scene worked (don't judge me - I had never thought about it before). The ride also made an emergency stop while my friend and I were in the portion of the ride where you go down backwards, and it was handled almost flawlessly. Now, for you bad pun enthusiasts out there... Go ahead! Use them! The people who were named those names are now dead! Copyrights are null and void! And some more... After taking photos of bad puns on fake gravestones and scolding Wobbuffet for being a scardie-baby, I decided to depart Liberty Square and head back for Adventureland. Along the way I passed by some overly expensive food... ...I'll go hungry, thanks... ...a wonderful Chri...I mean...holiday store... ...political correctness really sucks... ...and the Hall of... ...Shame. Anyway, since I had conquered most of Liberty Square, I decided to head to Frontierland. I was looking forward to see if Splash Mountain had been testing today. It hadn't. Disappointing nevertheless, but I kept going. I headed back into Adventureland, then moved toward a very Caribbean-looking building... Ironically it was built in the United States of America. Whoda thunk? This building had some theming... Not quite sure why people in the Caribbean would use cannons. Also, it had some boats. Apparently, it has at least 22 boats, as evidenced by the obviously stamped number on the back. In fact, it had so many boats that when the ride had to take some time to load a slightly disabled person in the station, there were at least fifteen boats lined up bumper to bumper. Unfortunately for me, we were stuck in a room with an animatronic Johnny Depp for a very long time. It's not like I don't think Johnny Depp is cool, but all the treasure he had in his room plus the talking parrot made me want to go live in a box and wallow in self-pity for being so poor. To make myself feel better, smarter, and quite wittier, I took a ride on the famous Jungle Cruise. It's advertised in places that it's a trip down the Amazon River. I'm not so sure about that, mainly because I didn't come off the boat with a contagious disease. Then, there was our tour guide, [name censored for legal reasons]. He was the person that made me feel better about myself. He wasn't a bad guy by any means! He took our boat to see some nice places! For example, he took us to see the only animal in the world that likes to eat marbles! The Hungry Hungry Hippo! Then, he took us to the eighth wonder of the world! The Backside of Water! Then, he turned us all into peeping Toms! I'd like to say that the stuff coming out of the elephants' noses is water...but it's snot. I don't want to spoil this fantastic journey along what isn't really the Amazon River any more! All I can say that it's so good, you'll go wild about it! Yeah... So, after feeling good about myself, I was in a good mood. I wandered around the Frontierland-Adventureland-Liberty Square area until I heard a light KER-CHUNK coming from somewhere... ...and then it hit me. SPLASH MOUNTAIN TESTING! Oh happy day (oh happy day...) Yes, I can also confirm that Splash Mountain will open on Tuesday with a new restraint system. The lap bars are like nothing I've seen on a coaster or flume before. They're M-shaped. While the curvature of the bars look like you wouldn't even notice they're there, the curvature of the bars also guarantees that not even a little tyke will be able to sit in between the parents, and a parent certainly wouldn't be able to sit in the middle of two small tykes. ou can see in this shot that the two front rows' bars are open, and the third row's bars are closed. This should give you an idea that the lap bars won't be as obtrusive as on, say, a stupidly-themed log flume that has a great airtime hill but was inevitably caught on fire for some reason that I personally couldn't care less about. Here's another view. These bars are obviously as far down as they can go, and lets us know that these bars will be click-click-click bars and not single-position ones. So, don't worry, big boys, you'll be okay! I think... With that, my first romp through the Magic Kingdom came to a close, even though it was only a little after 3PM. I wanted to get back to my apartment in a reasonable amount of time, because I wanted to post the first update on the same night and that I had to be in work early the next day. To conclude this update, here's an example of attention to detail in the resort that I personally think is fantastic: A manhole cover. Coming Soon! PART III - Frontierland and Tomorrowland A redhead's attempt at being the first Splash Mountain rider of 2011! Big Chunder Mountain! Becoming a planetary pilot! AND...a TALKING trash can! Stay tuned! This update will probably come on Wednesday, as I plan to stay late to get some shots of the night shows!

Don't expect to get the role you want. DON'T expect it.