Reality15

Thanks Derek and Big Mike. Just because you guys are awesome, I'll post more. Late last year, I realized that Kara had yet to go on a GCI wooden coaster and had a pretty negative view of wooden coasters in general (if all you had ridden was rides like Son of Beast and Mean Streak, you would too). In addition, I really wanted to check out Nick Universe after hearing great things about all of the different rides, so a trip up to Minnesota was born, called... VALLEYFEST 2010 Since this trip was SO 1337 (words can't even describe the epic-osity of this trip), I'm going to have to split it up into three parts, starting off with... SUPERDAWG and NICK UNIVERSE! I'm a big fan of local food specialties, hot dogs being my favorite. Our local hot dog shop, Yesterdog, had what I considered the best hot dogs in the world, and Superdawg wanted to challenge that. (As always, if you can click on a picture, click it for SUPER HD RESOLUTION!) Superdawg is a drive-in restaurant on the north side of Chicago, and should be a must-stop for ANYONE who likes to eat (like this fat kid). Of course, they are famous for their Superdawgs, a Chicago-style hot dog. Yes, I know, I wish I could eat my screen right now too, but unfortunately you don't have a USB flavor adapter to make it taste the same. From now on, every time I go to Chicago, I'm going to Yesterdog. And you should too. Well, unless you live in Chicago, then you should probably just be at Yesterdog 24/7/365, because, let's be honest, it's better than oxygen, and about as essential for life. Next stop on the road to Valleyfest 2010 was in the Wisconsin Dells to check out Timber Falls and HellCat. Yet, for some reason, HellCat is CLOSED! This should have been sign #1 to turn around and go home. Continuing on, we get to Nick Universe, home of this kickass little coaster, Spongebob Squarepants Rock Bottom Plunge (say that five times fast! ...now say it again... don't give me that sass, maybe I have a lisp. Yeah, you just made fun of a kid with a lisp, how does that make you feel? ...alright, I don't really have a lisp, but I still hope you feel bad). This picture describes our attitude starting out the trip at Nick Universe. Unfortunately, in less than 24 hours, all of that would change forever. But first, a quick game of "Which of these is a cartoon character?" Through the wonders of my camera, we go from Amanda eating dinner with a strange mexican torso... To nighttime at an indoor amusement park! Oooooooooh! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah! (See that, I just Harry Pottered that right there. Eat your heart out, Wizarding World) Nick Universe is really a beautiful, colorful and fun park. And it gets even better at night. If you haven't ridden the new sensation the Unicoaster, you real- YES, I KNOW IT SAYS BRAIN SURGE, MAYBE I WAS TRYING TO EXPLAIN THE RIDE FIRST! ...alright, sorry I got angry. Sometimes I just lose my temper. It's okay now. Cookies for everyone. But yeah, check this thing out as soon as possible. And, see if you can do what we call, the... ULTIMATE BRAIN SURGE RIDE! Step 1 - Get on Brain Surge Step 2 - Strap yourself in and hope they dispatch the ride promptly Step 3 - Once circular motion starts, let the ride get fully up to speed Step 4 - Do one full forward flip Step 5 - Without stopping, do one full backward flip Step 6 - Repeat steps 4 and 5 until you make a strange puddle on the platform This, well... this was okay. I didn't see the fun in it. Maybe I'm just not a spinny kind of person. And this... well, this is a swing ride. That's about it. Moving on... So yeah, that's about it for Nick Universe. There's lots of other rides and stuff, but I spent most of the time actually riding and not taking pictures. Hope you enjoyed it, Valleyfest 2010 Part 2 is coming up next. Didn't get enough Nick Universe pictures? There's a couple more in the Flickr set. Until next time, -Jon (Kara's in her cage for the night)

Moving quick and already sent mine in. 72 steel coasters included this year on my ballot. Top 5: 1. Maverick @ Cedar Point 2. Incredible Hulk @ Islands of Adventure (Favorite Wood Coaster) 3. Diamondback @ Kings Island 4. Phantom's Revenge @ Kennywood 5. Magnum XL-200 @ Cedar Point Bottom 5: 68. Trailblazer @ Hersheypark 69. Favorite Zyklon Loop 70. Favorite Galaxi 71. Favorite Zyklon 72. Favorite Vekoma Suspended Family Only change for my top/bottom was the addition of Hulk at #2. Top 10 changed quite a bit, however, with five new-for-me coasters.

They do have three car rides, the Turnpike Cars, Cadillac Cars and Antique Cars. I'm not personally a fan of car rides, but the Turnpike Cars and Cadillac Cars are the better of the three, in my opinion. The Turnpike Cars at least have an interesting layout and scenery to look at, and the Cadillac Cars get you right up and close to Raptor. The train is just like any other park train, really. It's cool because you get up close to Millennium Force, Maverick, Cedar Creek Mine Ride, Shoot the Rapids and Mantis, and on the way from the Frontiertown station to Funway station (main midway), there's Boneville (skeleton town and displays) to look at. I spent two weeks back in 2007 working as a conductor on the train, so my enthusiasm for it is a bit quelled, but it serves its purpose and is another great way to relax, just like Paddlewheel Excursions. Also, if you like to take pictures, they opened a new relaxation area right outside the Paddlewheel Excursions dock that gets you close to the drop on Top Thrill Dragster.

1. Wednesdays/Thursdays are going to be lighter, but don't expect light crowds. You'll still have wait times around or above an hour for all of the major coasters. At the same time, two days will be enough to ride everything you want, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. 2. Staying on-site is great, after having done it for the first time last year. I've been visiting the park my entire life, and just finally stayed on-site. Well worth the money we payed for it. 3. I'd recommend hitting a lower-capacity ride first, like Wicked Twister or Mantis. But again, since you have two days, I wouldn't worry that much about it and just do whatever you want whenever, and focus more on having a good time than riding rides. 4. My big don't miss is Paddlewheel Excursions. It's my favorite after-lunch/need a break ride. I've never missed it in ANY of my visits to the park. 5. Stick to the chain restaurants. Famous Dave's is easily the best restaurant at the park. TGI Fridays and Chic-fil-a are okay. Food isn't all that good at Cedar Point, nor in the city of Sandusky, actually. Chet & Matt's south of the park just off 250 is DELICIOUS, but other than that I think the best food I had in Sandusky were the brats I grilled at Lighthouse Point.

Great pictures, Dave! Sad I couldn't be there to see everything for myself, but seeing your pictures is just as good. Hope to see you around the parks this summer. -Jon

So, then, if a "Supervisor" is in charge of an area of rides, that's like what we have here for "Team Lead"s, as our "Team Lead"s are in charge of anywhere up to six different rides and up to 9 positions at any given time. What would the roles of a "Lead/Trainer" be? It sounds pretty much like your "Supervisors" and "Lead/Trainer"s are rolled up into just our "Team Lead"s.

I have to ask, how is leadership set up at CGA and the former Paramount parks? For example, at both of the Cedar Fair parks I've worked at, it's primarily: -Crew (Ride Hosts, Sweeps, Admissions, etc) -Team Leads -Zone Supervisors -Department Manager From what I've heard about the former Paramount Parks, they're setup so each location has a "Supervisor" (what we call Team Leads), but other than that I'm completely unfamiliar with how the rest is setup. I'd really like to hear how other parks go about this.

Two days at Cedar Point on Memorial Day weekend will be fine, crowds are nowhere near a Saturday in August/October, for instance. If you have the three days, I would definitely do two at Cedar Point and one at Kings Island, simply because Kings Island is a great park. Really, I would drive down there as soon as you're done on the second day at Cedar Point, as Kings Island is truly a park to experience at night, plus crowds die down near the end of the day there. As far as hotels, here are two that I can suggest from personal experience: The Best Western Plus Sandusky Hotel & Suites is a nice hotel, not too far from the park, and has several restaurants, gas stations, malls and grocery stores on the way to/from the park if you need to pick something up. Never had a problem staying there, and it's about the best part of town you can be in (Sandusky itself isn't all that amazing). We've always stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Middletown when we go to Kings Island. It's a couple exits north of the park, but it's in a nice area and isn't too expensive. Better than a lot of the places you'll find closer to the park. Both of those hotels are within a 15 minutes drive of the parks. Again, anything you find closer to the parks won't be as nice or as cheap, especially on Memorial Day weekend. My two cents. -Jon

Well, it's a few days later than I anticipated, but the next of Jon & Kara's CHEEZIE PARK ADVENTURES takes us to the land of... well, corn! And because of that, our first annual trip to Indiana Beach could only be named one thing... CORNCON I We're lucky enough to live within a day's drive of Indiana Beach, what was once one of my least favorite parks in the world and is now one of my favorite. Sure, they may not be the best looking or best operated park in the world, but it's a one-of-a-kind experience that everyone has to do at least once. As always, if you can click on the picture, it will take you to the full resolution image to download to your computer and do who knows what with it. Welcome to Indiana Beach! Home of corn, coasters, corn, some awesome flat rides over water, corn, an awesome classic midway game, and more corn! Hoosier Hurricane is the park's largest wooden coaster, and was running surprisingly well compared to my first visit. The ride itself is still very "meh", but it's not as bad as a Dinn. From up in the ferris wheel (excuse me, GONDOLA wheel), you can see pretty much the entire park. If you can't keep track of what's what because there's so much track and rides in the picture: don't worry, neither can they. Brock, Josh and Kali making their first appearance on Jon & Kara's CHEEZIE PARK ADVENTURES, showing off the lovely photography rules Indiana Beach has: none. And with that notice, I immediately feel 100% safer riding the ferris wheel. Thanks to that lovely sign, I spent the rest of the ride gripping the center of the gondola for dear life. Indiana Beach is known as one of those parks with some great opportunities to get right up close to the rides. No really, RIGHT UP CLOSE. Good thing this is taken right next to the bathroom! Unfortunately for the others, Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain was closed. I was very willing to kick them repeatedly to give a similar experience, but no one took me up on the offer. At the time, I thought this was the second best park food in the world (second to Cesari's at Knoebel's). It now ranks third as Mythos has surpassed it, but it's still the best value park food you could ever find. Five tacos? Two cents. Ten tacos? They give you a dollar. Sounds a bit like Taco Bell to me. Indiana Beach is home to several coasters. The two big wooden coasters sit on top of each other, also on top of the midway, parking lot, a house, kiddieland, and some restaurant. Confused yet? We are too... After a terrible ride on Cornball Express back in 2006, I was reluctant to try it again. Needless to say, it was running good enough that I couldn't get enough of this thing. My tip? Ride in the "PTC Seat" otherwise known as the front row of the last car. Airtime heaven! No trip to Indiana Beach would be complete without a few rounds of Fascination. We all absolutely loved it, but made a break for it when a couple of hardcore coaster enthusiasts came in to play. How do I know they were hardcore? They had socks, sandals, and gravy. If that doesn't prove it, then perhaps the vintage Banshee t-shirt does. Note to the kids reading at home: fashion rules still apply, even at amusement parks. Kara and Jessi (also making her first appearance) survived the Tig'rr coaster. The ride was formerly named the Roy Horn Experience, but renamed after the incident in Vegas. Neither Kara nor Jessi had problems with this Tig'rr. (And don't worry, there's plenty more jokes that aren't politically correct or funny coming up soon) Of course, the real reason for going to Indiana Beach is for their newest coaster, STEEL HAWG! While it may not be the favorite in the coaster world, Steel Hawg was definitely the favorite amongst CornCon attendants. Definitely one of the coolest little coasters out there, and we all really wished there could be more of these to ride. Josh seems to have liked it, but Brock... well, he's contemplating whether or not he peed himself in excitement. Hey look, it's a frog! But not any frog... this frog we have officially dubbed the PEDO FROG! After a long, fun day at Indiana Beach, it was time to head home and start planning CornCon II this upcoming July. The group (minus myself), with five new guest appearances on the CHEEZIE PARK ADVENTURES! If you haven't been to Indiana Beach, you need to. Ask me a year ago today and I would have said the exact opposite, but after CornCon my opinion of the place has been flipped like a ride on Steel Hawg. Best to get out soon, as it sounds like the management is making some changes to things and it may not be the same for much longer. I'll leave this Trip Report with one final image, the most epic image in all of the CHEEZIE PARK ADVENTURES. With all of us being (or formerly being) employees at parks, we've walked away with great hand signals. Josh decides to drive over the cement parking space, causing Zach to call a hold to stop the ride unit from moving. Unfortunately for him, Josh had already called an e-stop due to a Brock in the ride's track. Epic? You bet your ass it is. Didn't get enough CornCon photos from Indiana Beach? Check out the Flickr set for more! Until next time, -Jon and Kara

Plenty of advice. How about: enjoy being a kid, because getting involved with relationships at a young age is just more drama than you want to deal with? Heck, I'm 22 years old, and the drama from my wedding this upcoming September is too much for me. I almost wish we had waited a little longer, even though: -We have both lived away from home for five years -Moved in together two years ago -Both graduating college within the next few months -Both have full-time jobs and fully support ourselves Trust me, it might be "cool" to have a boyfriend/girlfriend, but is all the drama really worth it at that age? I'd be more embarrassed that you can't even drive yourself on a date than I would be worrying about needing a relationship. My two cents.

Thanks, guys! My goal is to do one update a week until summer hits, then I'll start doing them as I take them and have the time to post them (not very often, but whatever). I am also pleased to announce that we're in talks with Big Mike Productions to do a meet-up in early June. As soon as we get final dates and confirmation from his production team we'll post it here. "CornCon I" will be up next Sunday. -Jon (& Kara, somewhere)

Our first official trip of 2010 was originally going to be an epic Canada's Wonderland / Kings Island trip, but because we love the place so much, we decided on just spending two days at Kings Island instead. Because of that, this trip earned the name... THE QUEST FOR BLUE ICE CREAM The trip started as most of ours do: leaving the amazing road conditions of Michigan and entering the fresh air of Ohio (even if you leave the state from the other corner, you get to go through the amazing city of Gary, Indiana, so you can't win). Joining us on this trip is Amanda, self-proclaimed ACE mockery master and resident "grown up kid" of our little group. Jon: "Hey look, we're here! And it's the southern Ohio home of Dick Kinzel!" Amanda: "I'm not so sure that's a good thing..." Kings Island definitely has a great first-impression upon walking in with the royal fountains and the Eiffel Tower at the end of the street. First ride of the trip is always Adventure Express, one of my personal guilty pleasures (come on, the lifthill to nowhere is the best thing ever), but it's always followed by Racer, or as we called it, the Not-So-Racer, for in all of the times I've been to the park, not once have I seen both sides operating at the same time. If you want, I can save you the pain of riding Vortex. For the low price of $20, I will come to your door and beat you with a coat-hanger. I call it the Ron Toomer treatment. Call it over-rated all you want, but the Beast is just one of those rides that when you jump on it in the dark, it just rocks your world. I could ride the Beast all night long. I like it rough with a lot of people I know. Nothing's better than the howl as you pound the curves. ...too much? Finally, the reason we took this entire trip (well, other than Diamondback and Adventure Express), BLUE ICE CREAM! There it is, heaven in a bowl. Blue ice cream is the greatest thing to ever come out of the Smurfs, and most importantly the best food you'll find in a Cedar Fair park that doesn't cost $15*. * - Price does not include drink, napkins, or condiments. Additions available at gift shop for $5 each. Kara's first time having blue ice cream resulted in... well, I don't really know what this face means. Maybe "I like ice cream but the camera is freakin' annoying"? Amanda prefers the more sarcastic approach to eating it, where you don't even touch it until the jerk with the camera stops taking pictures. I prefer the "one bite followed by blueberry brain freeze where Smurfs appear in front of you from the pain" approach. Kings Island also added a new roller coaster in 2009 (for those of you who haven't heard, of course) called Diamondback. It's based off the popular adult film "Diamond's Back" but Cedar Fair didn't use that to promote it for some reason (I think it has to do with the Paramount licensing). Diamondback is truly an amazing coaster, and while I can make fun of it all I want, it's easily one of the best steel coasters I've ever ridden. I can never get enough Diamondback. Luckily, on the second day, early ride time (you know, one of the AMAZING perks of the ever popular Club TPR that you should go join right now) let us get about 6 or 7 rides in without getting off, as well as a couple on the Beast. Did I mention that if you join Club TPR (make sure to mention that Jon sent you!) and participate in early morning ride time, you get to hang out with the two hotties in the front seat?** ** - Hotties vary by day and availability. May be substituted for gravy-loving ACErs And now, for this TR's edition of "Why the HELL do you look like that?" Our first contestant, Mr. Mullet! Did someone forget to turn off the Married with Children re-runs and drive you to the barber? Contestant #2, Ms. Dayum My Feet Hurt! This might be worse than sandals with so- nope. Nevermind, still not as bad as that. And finally, contestant #3, Mr. I- HEY WAIT, THAT'S ME! In all my years going to Kings Island, I had never been up in the Eiffel Tower (probably thanks to my extreme fear of falling). That was all about to change. Whatever this is, it doesn't exist. Move along. Ooooooh, pretty... ...ooooooh, not so pretty! See that thing behind the bent coat-hanger? No? Look harder, it's disguised as a really tall tree with no leaves. Yes, yes, I know this is here, but I just don't care. Maybe someday when someone can figure out how to run one of these efficiently I'll enjoy it, but until then, let's just forget these ever happened. Sorry, Ohio doesn't allow you to improve the state by throwing crap off tall objects. Though if you throw it out the window while driving, they'll mail you a nice thank you letter. Down in Planet Snoopy, the girls enjoy a moment with some furries. But then Kara found her arch-nemesis, the Evil Dr. Snoopy. No one knows just what he did to piss her off, but whatever he did he's going to pay for it eventually. ...I think I just found out what he did to piss her off... Seems to be the Cedar Fair policy. Sorry for the massive amount of ride photos in the TR. Next time I'll try taking pictures of bushes and manhole covers instead. I promise, this is the last roller coaster photo of this update that you'll have to see (or, if you didn't get enough, there's a link down there to see more!) Early on day two, Amanda somehow stumbled into an employee tour group and felt right at home. Then Kara joined, and somehow it felt like they had done this before at a different park... Handy technology, this little bit of text on a park map. Now if only they could do that on the one I have in my pocket... No trip to Kings Island would be complete without the sighting of BIG BUTTER JESUS! Sadly, Big Butter Jesus burned down less than a month later on June 15, 2010. Kings Island will never be the same. Well, THAT'S IT! Our first adventure here on Theme Park Review. Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as we enjoyed doing it (get your mind out of the gutter, you pervert). Didn't get enough pictures? Check out the Flickr set of photos from the "Quest for Blue Ice Cream" Until next time, -Jon and Kara

We've been contemplating starting a thread on here for a while (and when I say we, I mean me. I don't think she really understands what a "Theme Park Review" is yet), but the day has finally come! Jon & Kara's CHEEZIE PARK ADVENTURES have finally made it big time: a thread on Theme Park Review! Now you can enjoy all of the pictures and videos from our crazy adventures to ride roller coasters and eat delicious food. Who are we? Well, obviously we're Jon and Kara, two young coaster enthusiasts with a goal of traveling around the country (and hopefully the world someday) to ride the best coasters and eat the best food we can find. ...Alright, let's be honest here, I'm the coaster enthusiast, she's just along for the ride, and while she'll ride anything once, it usually stops there. But, I digress... We might not take a lot of trips every year, nor are they very big trips, but the adventure is most of the fun. We've had some good times at parks, and some where we spend more time in the bar watching football than actually riding rides (I'm looking at YOU, Valleyfair). Now we have a way to show you just what happens on these crazy adventures. ================================================== A lot of our photos can be found on Flickr at a higher resolution. If the image is clickable, that means a better quality and larger image can be found on Flickr, and the image will link you to it. Just another way we go above and beyond the competition! ================================================== Upcoming Adventures: "MooseXpo" ~ Canada's Wonderland - May 14 and 15 ~ Kokomo's Family Fun Center - May 15 "Dear baby Jesus... where are my teeth?" ~ Cedar Point - June 3 ~ Kings Dominion - June 4 ~ Carowinds - June 5 "CornCon II" ~ Indiana Beach - July "You mean we have to go through Ohio?" ~ Waldameer - TBD And other unannounced adventures to Michigan's Adventure, Cedar Point and Six Flags Great America ================================================== Completed Adventures: "The Quest for Blue Ice Cream" ~ Kings Island - May 25 and 26, 2010 "Corn Con I" ~ Indiana Beach - July 11, 2010 "Valleyfest" ~ Nickelodeon Universe - October 1, 2010 ~ Valleyfair - October 2, 2010 ~ Mount Olympus - October 3, 2010 "Spring Break at Hogwarts" ~ SeaWorld Orlando - March 7, 2011 ~ Islands of Adventure - March 8, 2011 ~ Busch Gardens Tampa - March 9, 2011 ~ Universal Studios Florida - March 10, 2011

First, I definitely agree that Forbidden Journey is just... wow. We rushed through the Studios just so we could go back over to Islands of Adventure and ride it a few more times. I'd ride that over most of the coasters I've ridden, and will definitely take time out of our honeymoon to WDW later this year just to get over there and ride it again. As far as everything else, Dueling Dragons is great. A little too intense for my tastes (though that might have been the lunch from Mythos that was fresh in my stomach), but definitely two great coasters. Only got to experience half of Jurassic Park as the ride broke down and we got walked-off, but it seemed pretty well done. Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls was a fun ride, and probably one of the best log flumes I've been on. Popeye & Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges was amazing, especially since I'm a big fan of rapids rides. That drop off the lift is just awesome. Spiderman continues to be amazing, but I'm still not a big fan of any of the 3D attractions, mostly due to not really being able to see that well on the ride (can we PLEASE get some 3D glasses that go over regular glasses?). Dr. Doom's Fear Fall is just another S&S drop tower, nothing special there. Incredible Hulk quickly became my #2 steel coaster after two great front-seat rides in the morning and one AMAZING front-seat ride at night. Seuss Landing could be re-done for all I care, but then again I'm not exactly who Seuss Landing is marketing to. Over at the studios, T2 is okay, but really out-dated. E.T. is also out-of-date and some of the features are in need of an upgrade. The Simpsons Ride was fun, but being a huge Back to the Future fanboy I'm sad that I can't chase Biff around Hill Valley anymore. Men in Black was fun, but pretty much on-par with all of the other shooting dark rides out there. Jaws... will someone PLEASE give this ride a make-over? There's so many great things that could be changed about it or even using that space for a newer attraction. Disaster has an AMAZING pre-show, but the subway portion that's leftover from Earthquake needs updating. While everyone raves about Revenge of the Mummy, the only part that I thought was really "amazing" was when Brendan Frasier dies at the end. Just wasn't a fan of it. Twister is still pretty cool, but they could do a special effects show to a newer, more popular movie. Shrek 4D is awesome, love all the cultural references and the fact that it's not just a standard 3D show. Thank god Jimmy Neutron is being removed, the ride broke down twice while we were on it and wasn't that great anyways. So many of the references are outdated for today's kids (Rugrats, Ren & Stimpy, Rocko's Modern Life... when was the last time any of those were on TV? I might love them, but not a whole lot of kids know what they are anymore), and the simulator itself is rough and in need of a refurbishment or replacement. Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit surprised me a lot. After hearing fairly poor reviews of it, I couldn't disagree more with people. It's got a great, interesting layout and the entire experience is AMAZING. So, all of that mumbo jumbo text aside, I'd have to say outside of Forbidden Journey, my favorite rides at Universal Orlando are Incredible Hulk at Islands of Adventure and Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit at the Studios. Not counting coasters, I'd have to go with Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls and the Simpsons Ride.

Thanks for posting that, at least there's a way around that little problem. We had a lot of trouble getting the show online because it's so long, and when Big-Mike gets back from West Coast Bash we'll be looking at getting this last problem fixed for everyone. -Jon "Editor of the Big Mike Road Show " Roost

I'm just curious if you found out what the salary would be for a public relations or a quality assurance person? While I enjoy my current job as a customer quality assurance engineer, I have always wondered what theme parks would pay for someone that deals with public relations and works on projects that would positively impact the overall customer experience. I would imagine it would vary per chain, but I have just always wondered/dreamed about it. First off, the PR department there is just one guy and then two college interns. From what I gathered, the interns are payed minimum wage at 40 hours per week. No clue what full-time staff makes, as it's been really hard to even find full-time marketing jobs at parks.

Glad to see this thread returning! I'm just about to get started with year five working for Cedar Fair. The original plan was to transfer back down to Cedar Point as a Public Relations Intern, but things didn't work out for a wide variety of reasons, so I decided to stay up at Michigan's Adventure. Luckily, I got a promotion from Team Lead to Supervisor, and will be doing all of the auditing, training, hiring and a bunch of other stuff for the rides department. Should be a nice change to get away from actually operating and instead learning how to run the department. 2011 - Michigan's Adventure - Auditing and Training Supervisor 2010 - Michigan's Adventure - Shivering Timbers TL 2009 - Michigan's Adventure - Logger's Run TL 2008 - Michigan's Adventure - Adventure Falls TL 2007 - Cedar Point - Maverick Crew Still hoping to get into marketing/PR eventually, but for at least this summer I guess I'll just have to stick to operations.

Sorry, completely forgot to post this here yesterday when I updated my thread on RCT Lounge. Been a while since my last update, but I was busy rebuilding my desktop computer as well as spending a week on vacation in Florida. Now I'm back and ready to keep building Lakeside! Hopefully the updates will be on an every-other-day basis from here on out, with a few exceptions due to life getting in the way. ========================= Goodbye, Year 17! September 14, Year 17 It's that time again. Another season at Lakeside has come to a close. We're hard at work preparing for the Year 18 season, with a brand-new ride that we're sure everyone will love. While the announcement is just around the corner, here are some pictures to hold you over: The back corner of the park with the Carousel and Antique Cars is often the most forgotten section of the park. Sad, considering it has the most history. The new area of the park has been really well-received and is looking great. But, just like usual, this view will be changing a lot in the coming months. It wasn't formally announced, but we also added this lemonade stand back when Hangman was built. Wild Mouse looks great with the refurbishment this year, and comes really close to the turnaround on the Cyclone. Without a doubt, Parachute Drop is a huge success and one of the most popular rides at the park. There is no greater feeling, however, than the Cyclone rushing past you. Wind blowing your hair, airtime over all the hills... I can only hope the ride will always be here. That about does it for today's photos. Stay tuned for our Year 18 announcement! Sam Stillwell Marketing Manager Lakeside Park

I would call and ask, because I'm pretty sure Castaway and Breakers Express are on the resort shuttle system. I could be wrong, but back when I worked there in '07 the shuttle stopped at all the resorts, the marina, the main entrance, and Challenge Park. It might not be on the website because it's the offseason, and there's no need for a shuttle from Castaway Bay to the park.

It's not up for download and it never will be up for download. You can pretty much see the park from all the screenshots I'm showing, I see no need to provide a link to download it and check it out for yourself. The good news right now is that I've got all of the updates through the end of the Year 18-19 offseason done and ready to be posted. The bad news is, and hopefully it won't come to this, but I'm in the process of doing a complete refurb on the computer I was using to build the park. Hopefully I got everything backed-up properly and I'll be able to continue building soon, but in the event that I didn't, Lakeside might come to an end right before the start of the Year 19 season. If I am able to continue building, the park will be going on a short hiatus to regain the time I'm losing the next few days, probably while I'm away on vacation early next month. Anyways, let's do the photo thing... ========================= A trip to the top August 3, Year 17 Well folks, one of the great treats about my job is that I can take pictures from places guests normally can't, and today's update is no exception to that rule. Maintenance invited me to take a trip to the top of Parachute Drop for a view of the park from the new ride. And no, we're not talking in a parachute, we're talking on top of the actual tower as they did their morning inspection! Check out the pics... First we start by looking in the direction of all of the new expansion over the past few years, including Lake Wilde. Of course, the older part of the park is truly our heritage and life, and can't be forgotten. Hangman still proves to be the best coaster in the park. The new entrance area looks really nice and will be a great addition as we try to increase our attendance to 1,000,000 visitors per year! These next two weren't taken from the top of the Parachute Drop, obviously, but rather from a helicopter as we did a video shoot for this year's commercial. Here's the "new" front of the park area. And here's a look at this year's additions. And just remember, our goal is to eventually have this be the middle of the park! More updates coming soon. Sam Stillwell Marketing Manager Lakeside Park

I want to say it was BigBurger's timber set that I used to custom support. Again, not really sure, I just know what sets to use when, really. I've been having a problem the past week with taking screenshots that hopefully someone can help me out with. When I press F10, it should be taking a screenshot. It's saving the file, but it's just a 54kb file with no image. Any help? ========================= Nothing below your chair but air June 7, Year 17 It's tall. It's fast. And for most of the time, your feet are above your head. No, I'm not talking about the swing-set in 4th grade, I'm talking about Hangman, our Year 14 "Vekoma Suspended Looping Coaster" that has given almost 3 million rides since it opened. Today we're going to take you behind-the-scenes for a closer look at this thrilling ride. Hangman features two trains of ten rows, and if the crew is going fast enough can put through almost 800 riders every hour. The crew who runs Hangman also used to do the Chaos and Wild Mouse, but is now its own crew. It takes four people to operate the ride. Unlike other SLC's, the lift motor on Hangman is actually under the station, whereas the others have it on top of the lift. We opted for this change so that the motor wouldn't be exposed to the harsh winters we have here in Michigan. Hangman actually has not only a minimum height requirement (54") but also a maximum (80"). This is due to several spots on the ride where the train comes within feet of supports, the ground, or even more track. When Hangman opened in Year 14, it featured on-ride videos. To help reduce costs and the price of souvenirs, we had a camera installed the following year. Hangman continues to be our most popular ride in terms of number of riders every season. Well, I hope you enjoyed our in-depth look at Hangman. We have another fun feature coming up sometime this summer to give you a bird's-eye view of the park. Stay tuned! Sam Stillwell Marketing Manager Lakeside Park

As some have already said, the Log Chute at Nickelodeon Universe and Logger's Run at Six Flags Great America really don't seem like that much, and I've had rides on both where I didn't have a drop on me, but every once in a while those things soak you to the bone. Another one that surprised me was Diamondback at Kings Island. I had heard rumors of people getting wet if they sat in one of the rear seats and stuck their arms out for the splash, so had to try it myself. I came back to the station soaked on that whole side of my body.

The Wild Mouse is using MouseWorks (don't know the creator), and the SLC is done using about... maybe 12 different sets? The SLC alone took about four hours to build, between the supports, low zone fences, station, and themeing, if I had to rebuild it from scratch it wouldn't be nearly the same. Another missed update yesterday... oh well, I'm trying to keep things going on a daily basis. ========================= Dropping into Year 17 May 30, Year 17 It feels like just yesterday I was making drop-related puns about Skyscraper, and now I have yet another drop ride to promote, the new Parachute Drop. Fresh from Six Flags Over Georgia, Parachute Drop is a great ride the entire family can enjoy, so head on out this summer and check it out. Onto today's pictures. Parachute Drop might have just become the best looking ride in the park. The end of the midway is now extended all the way to the beach. Can't go much further unless we start building into the lake! Wild Mouse still draws a nice crowd, and is much more scenic sitting out here on the beach. It seems like I neglect this corner of the park, but the Cyclone and Carousel are our two biggest classics. My personal favorite ride is still the Antique Cars, however. There's nothing like a nice, relaxing drive through the trees and getting right up close to the roar of the Cyclone! Here's a shot from the beach showing off our two newest changes (Skyscraper and Wild Mouse) and our oldest coaster, the Cyclone. Skyscraper really is an amazing ride for us to have here, and we're excited that you all love it so much! Another boat full of riders comes back on Splashdown. Guests just absolutely love getting wet. Parachute Drop's queue line is saddled between the new gift shop and Papa Romano's. We also installed some canvas awnings to provide shade while you wait. And finally, check out the shot of our new LakeCam online webcam! You can get the latest view from the main entrance 24/7/365! Hope to see you in the park this summer! Sam Stillwell Marketing Manager Lakeside Park

Sorry, I missed yesterday's update due to an appointment. Hopefully some of today's photos make up for it. ========================= Geronimo! April 15, Year 17 Well folks, opening day is just around the corner, and construction is finally wrapping-up here at Lakeside. For those of you who don't remember or haven't heard the news, our big new ride this year will be Parachute Drop. Similar to Skyscraper, Parachute Drop takes riders up 135 feet before letting them float back down to the ground with the help of a nice colorful parachute. It previously operated at a park down in Georgia who had to remove it to make way for a big new ride last year. Parachute Drop, will begin testing in just a few days, and workers are preparing to add last-minute details like flowers, benches and trash cans back on the midways. To hold you over, here are today's pictures. The big project this week was pouring the concrete outside the new main entrance. Here's a shot from last Thursday. And here's one from this morning. The new entrance and Parachute Drop make a great first-impression when coming into the park. It also looks great from all around the park. I can't wait to see all the little parachutes dropping around the tower. Meanwhile, our new picnic shelters are up and ready to go. Feel free to bring a lunch from home and have a nice little picnic at the park. Here's a look at the second phase of this year's additions. And here's a look from the turnaround on the Cyclone. The new entrance will allow us to get more people into and out of the park at a faster pace, resulting in shorter lines for you to get to your favorite rides. In addition to the entrance, we also added a small Gift Shop where you can purchase t-shirts and other souvenirs from your day at the park. The skyline here at Lakeside really has changed quite a bit in the past few years, and rumor has it there will be something else big next year too. Look at that parking lot, just waiting for cars. We hope to see you here on opening day! Sam Stillwell Marketing Manager Lakeside Park

@Doerzb91 - The park itself started out as a 50x50 map. Adding the parking lot and lake increased it to 100x100, and as I build more I'm expanding the map. I think right now I'm around 150x100? ========================= Construction continues November 15, Year 16 The snow should be here soon, and because of that, we've tried to get some of the smaller projects completed and the major project at least started before the winter hits. Meanwhile, I should mention that our newest ride is on its way to the park as I'm typing this! We're not prepared to announce it quite yet, but can I just say it's really a unique ride that hasn't been seen in the midwest before. We purchased the ride from a park down south that was removing it after nearly 30 years of operation, and over the past few months it has been undergoing refurbishment from the manufacturer. In the meantime, let's check out some pictures. Workers have poured the new section of the midway and set down some ground-markings for where the new entrance building will go. Meanwhile, the new entrance/exit for Hangman is done, and will really provide some cool pictures under the ride. This picture was taken a just a few weeks ago, showing off where the new Candy Shop will go and Wild Mouse's new location. And now here's the look today. The Candy Store really brings some color to the area, and will be awesome to have right outside my office. Wild Mouse looks really nice over by the beach. We also built a new, more open station that fits the beach-side atmosphere. The area looks fairly empty now, but eventually this will be the middle of the park. Here's the view from my office now. Plus, if I look straight out, I get a great view of Lake Wilde. Last picture from today, showing the hole created for the new ride. Cement workers are coming in the next few days to pour the foundation, and by the end of the week, all of the parts for the ride will be on site. I've been told that once the cement cures, the ride will go up fast. Stay tuned for more updates coming soon. Sam Stillwell Marketing Manager Lakeside Park