ginzo

I'm for late term abortion, but against the death penalty.

Although I generally think that species preservation is the only legitimate use for zoos, watching pandas is a hypnotic experience that no camera could ever reproduce. I remember trying to photograph one of the pandas at the San Diego zoo, and the sucker basically turned his back to me for a good 5-10 minutes. Before I could get a decent shot of him the zoo workers started telling everyone to move along to make room for more guests.

Six Flags passes are an amazing deal if you buy them at the right park and time. I think ours were $60 each this year with no extra charge to hit all their parks. You can't beat that price. Some parks charge more than that for a single day.

OK, so hitting is out. What about caging? Dr. Phil approves of that, right? You just lock the brat in a cage in the basement for 3 days every time he doesn't finish his dinner. Harvard studies show that it works.

Great WDW stuff. You're getting me pumped for my trip there in January. I just took gold at the Special Olympics!!!

Yeah, I just gave XXX a whirl today. It reminds me of diluted juice. It certainly tastes a lot better than sports drinks do.

I just picked this up today. I'm not a big Zelda fan or anything, but this one is pretty fun so far. Using the stylus to control everything should suck big time, but it hasn't been that bad.

Damn it. Now I want to go back to Great Adventure, like yesterday. Best coaster line up anywhere. Hands down.

I've never had vitaminwater, but it appears that XXX is the best as far as health benefits go. It contains Blueberry, the most antioxidant-rich fruit. Otherwise you're probably a lot better off just drinking grape juice for the polyphenols. This is from a purely health oriented slant. I can't comment on the taste.

They should move Thunderhawk to Gitmo. We'd win the War on Terror in about two weeks of interrogating the Al-Qaeda guys detained down there. Anything other than selling this Vekoma garbage for scrap is crime against humanity. Even my super defensive Vekoma SLC riding technique didn't save me from getting a serious neck smashing on this awful excuse for a ride. I can still hear the echoes of my screams.

As a newer enthusiast I've found Mitch's poll to be quite useful in planning out where I want to go. Obviously I'm the final authority on what I like, but it doesn't hurt to see what's popular among other enthusiasts. And top rated coasters are usually going to be better than lower rated ones, unless you have bizarre taste. While I seldom agree with the exact ranking, I do generally agree with the range that a coaster is in (top 20, middle, bottom, etc).

No sir. Where was that? Festhaus?

We went last night, and here are my comments. Yes, Haunt is a big improvement over last year. It's not HHN, and never will be. However, they really seemed to try this year. There was a decent amount of creativity in how they set up some of the props like a Chick-Fil-A ad modified to say "Eat More Humin". We only did one maze, which was Death Row. That maze really sucked. It was just a bunch of strobe lights and some annoying guys yelling at you. Totally not scary and I thought I was going to have a seizure. My main complaint is that the scare actors who roved the park just weren't that scary. A bunch of short teenagers wearing $20 costumes just doesn't do it for me. The event is far too well lit for the most part, which makes surprising people next to impossible. There are a few darker points in the park, like back by Montgomery Inn, that could have been better utilized to this end. Probably my favorite part about Haunt was riding the coasters in the dark. Lines were minimal, which has been a rarity at Kings Island this season. So we mainly took the chance to get some rides in.

You're making far too much out of this. Stand up coasters were a bad gimmick because they make the entire ride uncomfortable. Beyond vertical drops are just the natural extension of the trend towards having steeper drop angles. It's nothing more than that. Really it's *not* a big deal. You get a more intense drop, and that's it. Why don't you talk about the rest of the ride, which seems absolutely fine. As someone who has a truly crappy home park (Kings Island), it amazes me that people whine about a park installing a decent looking Intamin.

Excellent. This looks like a great addition to a park that could really use some better coasters. Actually, this is even better news because of Flying Turns at Knoebels. Now I'll get two awesome new credits in one trip.

Maverick didn't beat me up at all, but the wife whined about that. You guys must be doing it wrong. Maverick is my #1 steel. The only reason to go to CP.

Why hasn't this user been banned? Edit: Ha. Thanks Wes.

I thought they closed the park down because the attendance was too high. My bad.

O RLY???

Yeah, I knew what you were saying. It's just amazing how people throw the word clone around like it's some kind of dirty word. I can think of about 50 rides I'd like cloned at Kings Island. Rides that would make me want to actually go again. You don't have to be original. You just have to be good.

You are so right. I notice a shortage of locals willing to applaud this "business decision". So maybe Six Flags was more to blame in the downfall of Geauga Lake for overexpanding it. But Cedar Fair took on the task of trying to save the park, and they didn't seem to give it much of the old college try. Moving rides to parks where they are more appropriate is good business, but not giving the locals something to make up for the loss is not good business.

Kings Island has one of the best kiddie areas of any seasonal park. This plays a major role in the high attendance that Kings Island gets. They actually get more guests than Cedar Point does. But I wouldn't call their kiddie area well themed. At least not compared to a Disney park or Legoland. But regional parks don't need that level of quality. They just need to have a lot of decent kiddie oriented attractions; "good enough" quality if you will. If Six Flags can get their kiddie areas to Kings Island level, they'll do exceptionally well.

The best part of this, to me, is that now a fricken' zoo is going to have a better coaster than my home park (Kings Island).

Whining about clones is one of the most silly phenomenons in all of coaster dorkdom. Individual parks in the CF and SF chains are marketed almost exclusively to local customers. The enthusiast who tries to hit all of their parks is not a high priority in their decisions because frankly there aren't that many of them. If they can save money by not having to pay for custom designs then it's just smart business. The issue is not whether or not a ride is a clone. The issue is quality. If Six Flags installed an El Toro clone in 5 of its parks would people complain? Well, yes they would, but they would be dumb.

Huh? Cedar Fair is going to increase attendance by *updating restrooms*? Huh? "Gee Bob we should really get down to Geauga Lake this year. I hear the restrooms really look great." "Sure thing Martha. I'll round up the kids." Amen to that. I view CF parks as strictly credit runs, and I avoid spending any money in them. We did Kings Dominion in 4 hours back in July, and spent $0. It's amazing that they try to pass that place off as a real park with BGE close by.