disneyfan1313

Magic Castle did rock - I wish I had the cash or connections to get a membership. Hopefully someone else will go on Desperado soon so I can find out if it was just having wheel problems or the fact that it feels like Gwazi on a bad day is a permanent...um.. "feature"

Huh? The Disney Cruise Line is no where near Hawaii - they are on their normal Caribbean Itins.. The only outside the normal 3,4 and 7 day cruise plans are next years trips to Europe. Nada for Hawaii.

Heh! This has been going on for a bit. There were tests last year that went well so it is going forward on a semi-perm basis. These are designed as high-end family vacations. Really no disney touches except the guide and the planning. The general market for this is someone who gets a VIP guide (or would consider getting a VIP guide) when they visit WDW.

You can see a photo of the train from Mine Train through Natures Wonderland in my latest trip report. When you are walking past the side of big thunder you can see an arch from it across the water as well. The cactus in the middle of Big Thunder Mountain in FL are the original ones from Mine Train through Natures Wonderland as well.

Thank you for the kind words Robb - but sucking up won't stop me from telling Elissa about your Japanese Tenticle Porn fetish. Rollercoasters in Japan - HAH! If only she knew the real reason you like to go there!

We headed off to Vegas for the last leg of our trip. We enjoyed our first time there - it's kinda like a cruise but with more walking (and lots more smoke!) We headed back to DCA for one last fix before the red-eye. See ya soon So-Cal! Thanks for eveything everyone who we saw. We had a blast! Breakfast the next day was at an amazing restaurant in the Venetian called Bouchon. It's Thomas Kellers restaurant and was amazing. After the show she won about $50 on nickel slots. Not bad! We saw Penn and Teller at the Rio and it rocked! Here is Stacey with Penn. Fremont Street was cool as well. We didn't feel that safe but it was fun. We loved the circular elevators that Ceasars Palace - they also had an amazing chocolate shop there. We finally got to ride Manhattan Express. It was actually... OK. A bit of headbanging and it felt very slow but not as bad as I had expected. We had dinner at an amazing restaurant in the Bellagio called FIX. The Black Angus Mini Burgers were to die for and the white truffle and mac and cheese that look like mozzerella sticks rocked as well. The fountains at Bellagio were amazing - we wish we had more time. We are having a drink in Quark's Bar.. /geek Star Trek Experience was a must see and very cool - I wonder if it will last with Cedar Fair buying it. Mommy - What are those lions doing? After that torture device we made it to Vegas and NY NY - We ate pizza next to a footer for Manhattan Express. How lovely! It was doing things that no steel coaster should do including bizarre painful shuffling that felt like Gwazi on a BAD day. Is it always like this? Although it did have a crazy baby japanese game outside it! Our first stop was the Desparado at Buffalo Bills. This was quite possibly the roughest coaster I have ever been on. Before our drive we had to get some Breakfast - Nothing better than Roscoes Chicken and Waffles! YUMMY!

Next Day? Back to DL - We usually just do Disneyland on our trips so we actually went less this time than we usually do. Another Shooting Gallery credit! Did I mention I love food? This is from Rancho Del Zocalo in DL - Really good mexican food! Our friend Joel getting his Golden Zephyer credit. If you haven't ridden it - it's actually really fun! It is MADNESS to wait for this ride! We love King Tritons Carousel. Stacey always rides an Otter. Here is an example of a menu - they used a lot of food locations which are not currently open which was cool. Friggin Huge Strawberries! Here is an example of one locations selection. There is not as much as Epcot's food and Wine but it is a good start. We did try all the food and I liked most of it. Food and Wine festival is going on so we *have* to try everything!

The next day we went to E3 which was TONS of fun! Joey, Stacey and I waited about 30 minutes to get a DS Lite case - this is how I entertained myself. They got to stare at flashing lights.. Here is Robb being interviewed about Japanese Tentacle Porn - who knew he was an expert! DDR = FFUN! Next to the Pirates of the Caribbean game they had tons of cool props from the movie! Don't turn around .. there is a giant transformer RIGHT BEHIND YOU! Awww.. It's the PS3 booth - too bad only 20 people visited it after they spent the millions to build it.. Here is Robb playing Wario Ware - by contract I am only allowed to show the back of his head. The Wii controller was very easy to use. Here are all the accessories - it really is an amazingly versatile machine and controller. Here we watched a bunch of guys play with their Wii! (ahh...it never gets old!) The nintendo booth was amazing and by far the winner of the event. This is what is called an establishing shot.

After the camp out we headed to our hotel to shower and nap. We made it to SFMM about noon and spent some time with a very tired Robb and Joey (thanks guys!). They introduced us to the wonder that is the revolution! Overall we were kinda meh about SFMM - it really could use a few non-coaster rides.. but the company was great! I think I know these blokes! Careful - the one on the right has a knife concealed in his fist! .. And here are the wrist bands to prove it. This is where we slept last night... This was actually a pretty cool shooting arcade! It had an interesting twist where the color of the LED's on the target dictated the tickets you got. We did find a place with good Italian ices - yummy sour apple! This hill should be illegal! Its insane! We had to stop on the way up to catch our breath - are we that out of shape?!? This ride did not agree with us. Perhaps it was just having a bad day, perhaps the sun and lack of sleep was getting to us but I might never ride a stand-up again! Speedy Gonzales in a car? WTF?!?! Can't he outrun the car?!?! I thought this was the best ride in the park. I had ridden Titan already and enjoyed it as well. Hey! Were going to place this coke stand right next to Superman so it distracts you from realizing you are paying $5 for a bottle of water.. Good idea? Pigs on a Stick! Look Ma - It's the underside of a torture machine! We hit mooseburger lodge when we got into the park. We would have loved to see the moose talk though. Stupid moose gag order!

Another day of fun! This day we woke up late since we knew we were going to be going to the Tatsu Media Event and hit DL in the afternoon. Then we drove up to SFMM and had a great time. Sad thing is - this is the best shot I got.. but it was like 4am! It's time to ride the beast! I really enjoyed it - very forcefull! We are so. friggin. tired. We tried to sleep but the excitement was just too much! Thanks again to R&E for putting on a great event and always having something going on. Here we are at SFMM! This is an interesting first trip to the park! Signature DL Castle Shot! I love the way it is done up for the 50th. Very classy! Awesome Penny Press! The penny goes down Splash Mountain! Splash Mountain at DL was the first...and boy can you tell! Give Brer Fox a new hairstyle! I love that their security wears a special costume on Tom Sawer Island. I'm not sure what i'm doing with my hands in this pic though. Mine Train Through Natures Wonderland... Does this count as a SBNO credit? Lots more paths than at WDW. Tom Sawer Island rocks anywhere in the world but it does have a special charm here at Disneyland. Bengal BBQ rocks! Meat on a skewer - whats not to like about that! I love the theming on the rehab wall at pirates. It's sad its closed but I am excited that Captain Jack Sparrow will be coming soon! We randomly found the 50th anniversary Mickey walking around in Tomorrowland. Picture time! I love the new Disneyland Space Mountain. It is a great upgrade to an already classic, amazing ride. It is so friggin smooth and fast!

The next day we hit Knotts and had a great time! The middle of the week lack of crowds helped and a great chicken dinner did not hurt either. Desert was at Mel's Drive in. I was sooo tired at this point! For dinner we went to the Magic Castle in Hollywood which was AMAZING. It's a private magic club with great shows and good food. Plus you have to say Open Sesame to an owl to get in. How cool is that! I never knew my water was a perfume! Yae! No more showers for me.. oh wait.. I *guess* I should throw in a coaster shot.. I thought silver bullet was OK. The first half reminded me of Dueling Dragons.. The second half was pretty forgettable. Any park with a real stage coach is OK with me! This had the longest wait we had all day. About 20 minutes since they were only running on train... er... coach. DAMN YOU KNOTTS!!! 2 credits closed in one trip. ARGH! Another credit Stacey will have that I wont. Scary cat child.. evil..EVIL! We left for some fried chicken action. Imagine this - Knotts Berry Farm jelly is used here... Coincidence?!?!? Stacey fits in with the boys.. I think Calico Mine Train rocks. Retro, bad-ass dark ride on a train. Is it a credit? Didn't there used to be a crappy dark ride up here? 1+1=5? Its a DONKEY! Stacey can drive the real thing! Beautiful theming for everything except the worlds crappiest shooting gallery. WTF?! I *love* this half of the park and how themed it is. I do wish they kept up this level of detail for the rest of it. First coaster of the day! CLOSED! Argh! I will never be able to get my Ghostrider credit. Signature shot! On our way we saw this motel.. look at the sign... All we could come up with was "Erotic"!

What a crazy trip! Some of you may have seen my Sesame Place trip report - well after that we flew to LA and spent some time in SoCal and also Vegas.. I still feel like I need a vacation from my vacation! Right after we landed in LA we hauled butt over to the Disneyland Resort and went straight to DCA... why? Cause we "Love LA!". I can't wait for this to open next year.. guess I have to plan another trip! This is my version of a SIGNATURE SHOT! It always makes me laugh how long the line is to get through the Disneyland Turnstiles. You would never see that at WDW! We hustled over to Monsters Inc. which is brand new for this year. It used the superstar limo attraction and is *great* in its new form. Really fun ride with cool special effects. Food Rocks! (not the show..but real food!) The meatball sub was amazing and Staceys Tomato and Mozzerella Sandwhich rocked as well. Can we go back now!! Being a weekday the Vinyard Room was closed (awesome place to eat if you get a chance) but the Wine Country Trattoria was open. This is one of the best places to eat in DCA Here we are in said plaza on said important date. ... Awwww The sun wheel plaza! Those of you who know us know why this has such special meaning to us.. Hopefully they do not change it as they are rumored to. I *heart* the giant hub-cap! Welcome to the Disneyland Resort! It makes me sad that the 50th anniversary will be over soon. The park really has a great feel to it and has never looked this great.

I have to get the motivation to drive the 1/2 mile to seaworld to get the credit. Hmmmm.. Eric - next time your in O-town you gotta say Hi!

Sigh. Let me address some of the issues that you have... No. It is not a "cover charge" - it is a "Parking Fee". These types of fees are charged by almost every major theme park around the world, sporting events, parking garages in major cites, hotels, fairs, state parks, the list goes on and on. This fee is used to pay partially for the cost of the land (as opposed to using it for some other profitable function), to maintain the land, and provide security and more. If you get to the gate and find out what you came for is closed (hopefully you will have called or checked the internet first as well) then ASK FOR A REFUND! Folks do it all the time! No biggie! Or - ask the person taking the money if the attraction is open! Huh? I really think you are comparing two VASTLY diferent things. Also - cover charges have been in place at nightclubs for much longer than 10 years. I remember reading about the cover charges in NYC niteclubs in the 50's. You make this seem as if this is a new thing - Theme parks have been charging for parking since they started! So have things like baseball games, theaters, etc. That put aside - it is the goal of a company to make a profit - why is that a bad thing? My opinion - you are going after something that *will not change*. It is also not really even an issue. I recently paid $14 a day to park at a hotel near Disneyland - Disneyland only charges $10 a day to park and has services such as trams, security, etc. Should I be mad at the hotel for wanting to make a profit?!?! I also have recently paid $30 to park at a football game, $50 to park to see a broadway show in Manhattan, etc. Why is $7-15 to park a big deal? Lets see what you get when you pay to park - 1) Cost of the land - The land has probably been paid off many times over, but don't forget that it could be used for other purposes (some of which might be more valuable) or sold to another company that would love to have their product right near a park. In order to justify keeping it a parking lot they have to make a small profit (and it is a *small* profit) 2) Employees in the parking lot - People collecting money aside you also have tram drivers, security, maintenance on the trams, etc. Don't forget you also have to pay them benefits such as health insurance which ads up as well. 3) Trams - they are not cheap to purchase nor upkeep. Don't forget the cost of fuel! 4) Electricity - Lighting in the parking lot is nice - but you also need to maintain the lights as well! 5) Paving the lot - VERY expensive! 6) Signage in the parking lot - these will need to be updated and maintained as well. 7) Insurance - don't forget that accidents will happen in the lot and those will need to be covered by a policy taken out by the theme park. Wow! As you can see - the parking lot is not where the money is made in a theme park. It scrapes by to justify its existence but it is not particularly profitable.

Can you add Pepsi to the list?

The time you are choosing to go will probably not be too busy - but it is a bit too early to be 100% sure. Last 2 weeks in september and most of october are very slow times... but probably a little further in the year than you would like.

I would actually recommend looking into the new Family Suites at the All-Star Resorts. With how many people you have coming it might end up being your best shot. They are in the process right now of converting pairs of rooms in the all stars to very large family suites with a kitchenette setup (if you wanted to cook a bit). Here is a link for you to look at .. www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/resorts/asm-suite-review.html If you are dead set against the all-star I would recommend Port Orleans Riverside. It's very quiet, nicely themed and has a great foodcourt and full sized restaurant. Plus you are a quick boat ride away from Downtown Disney. I've stayed in them all - so if you have any other questions please ask.

Theme Park Review is latin for "Has Tastebuds" ....

Ya know it is interesting that most folks seem to assume that there are going to be new attractions right away or something will be re-tracked ASAP. I actually bet it will be the opposite. Cedar Fair has now just taken on a HUGE chunk of work / debt which they are not used to having. I would bet there will be a bit of an adjustment period before any large amounts of money will be spent. Paramount Parks had a much larger company above them so coming up with the cash if needed was not as much of an issue. I would imagine each park will have to prove its worthiness before much capital investment is made. But frankly I am most upset about the pepsi side as well!

Wow. I kinda feel in the minority here, but I'm leaning to the "I don't think this is that great of news" side. Paramount parks (imho) took the time to be a bit more themed, flesh out their attractions a bit more, and not fall into the coaster fan boy mentality that the Cedar Fair Parks seem to more often than not. Remember folks.. competition is a good thing - if you want to go to a park in Ohio now - you are locked into one of their properties - why would they want to innovate? I do think that we will see a property close within the next few years (cough Ohio cough) and unfortunately probably see the Star Trek Experience go as well ( which I really enjoyed on my last trip to Vegas).

They do! They have quite a few 'dry' attractions, most of which have a max. height. The net area was open to all ages and crazy scary! We had kids running into us at full speed as we were trying to walk across the nets without getting tangled up and loosing all our stuff. It was interesting to say the least. I wanted to do the "climb up the giant foam pyramid and slide back down into a pit of balls" attraction but you had to be tiny.. ahh well.

I recently got back from a crazy trip which took me to NY,NJ,PA,CA and NV. During the first 3 states we managed to get only one credit.. and that was at Sesame Place during opening day! We decided since we had only a few hours that SFGradv would have been a waste and since we had the Sea World Platinum passes... what the heck! This is actually a very cute park that if we had more time would have been fun to play around a bit more in. Thanks for humoring me with this update and hopefully making it all the way though. A decently themed station and overall a pretty fun attraction. Worth the 25 minute wait with one train operation? For a new credit... sure! Stacey is the same size as the height stick. Ha. Ha! Another photo of Vapor Trail - I was surprised how far you are off the ground at this point. Another oddly named attraction! You know your hot when your rat tail drags in the water on the lazy river! Thinest. Ship. Ever. Here are some more of the water attractions. It really is geared to be a pre-schoolers water park. Of course you can meet the Sesame Street characters here. They were out everywhere with huge lines. Yo. I'm the cookie monster gangsta! 2 Questions... Isn't Mr. Hooper dead? And why does every theme park have to have an Emporium? Here is Stacey worshiping at the altar of Big Bird. The park was so friggin crowded we even had to wait in line for this! This was the new area for 2006. It is called Elmos World and it features the Zamprela Catalog! Yae! This park had TONS of water rides. Unfortunately we did not bring our bathing suits! This one was a bit oddly named... Self Explanatory. MmmmMMmmmm... Delicious Elmo! We decided to get some lunch at a pretty decent buffeteria style restaurant. The food quality was great for a theme park, plus they offered a passholder discount.. yae! This was our first glimpse of Vapor Trail (a Vekoma custom Junior Coaster) as we entered the park. It is actually a pretty cool kiddie coaster. We decided to wait a bit to ride since we are hungry and it had a long line... Stacey was very happy that she had a topiary with her initials on it.. Not so happy it was in front of the boys restroom! Ahh.. the magnificent gates of Sesame Place! This is a very cute park that our Bling Bling Sea World annuals get us into. Yae! It was surprisingly crowded for opening day. We made a side stop in Red Bank to Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash. We had been there a few years ago and nothing really had changed.. Basically a glorified comic book shop with a few Kevin Smith movie memorabilia items. After we landed at JFK we decided to see if the Cyclone was open since it was on our way to Jersey. Unfortunatly it was closed and the folks around it were a bit too scary to ask questions about opening time.. So a quick photo and away we went!

They set them up for Halloween Horror Nites as well.

Awww. No Grad Nite? We have Fall Out Boy this year! What I find fascinating is how many schools come from very far away for the event. There are tons of schools from the New England area and even some from Europe. Talk about a senior trip!

Hey! Where is the Frontierland love?!?! No one stops by.. no one writes... cry...