ginzo

Wasn't there an attempt at a Disney boycott by a hardcore religious group that failed? My guess is that the religious extremist types, the ones that don't believe in Halloween and such, aren't coming to WDW anyway. They're probably loading up their 25 home schooled kids and a cooler full of baloney sandwiches into their 1987 Dodge Caravan to make the pilgrimage to the Creation Museum.

^And those age groups just might coincide with a very important demographic to WDW. Everyone get ready for Jar Jar's 4-D Adventure.

I think the last three films demonstrate that's not true. Star Wars can suck when it wants to. As to the actual topic, I'm cautiously optimistic about this. For me, it's much more about what they do with the franchise than what franchise it is. For example, I probably would have liked Harry Potterland if the main ride didn't suck and the land wasn't cramped like a Tokyo subway car during rush hour.

Good news for me. Now I only have one more park to visit in order to have been to the entire CF chain. Realistically, CF did OK here. This wasn't a highly strategic property for them and they were never going to "win" against a major sports team. Their best bet was to "take the money and run" and apparently this was as good of an offer as they were going to get. I sure hope this place stays open long enough for me to get the credits when I visit SF next summer.

I wish I could go this weekend. My suggestion for an interesting place to eat in Atlanta: http://www.flipburgerboutique.com/ For something really messed up, try the Krispy Kreme milkshake.

What's sad is people just want Indiana Beach to produce a similar product to before. That's it. There is no expectation for a world class, Europa Park-like operation with huge rides, resort hotels, etc. No, all we want is a fun place with basic flat rides and coasters and the the park to be open with most of the rides running in good condition.

From the Indiana Beach Facebook Page: Compare this to Knoebels who is hoping to re-open this weekend despite horrible flooding.

It has happened before. About a thousand years of idiocracy in Europe followed the fall of the Roman Empire.

I'm still hoping for an Intamin woodie.

Wouldn't an A380 make a terrible private jet since it couldn't land at smaller airports in exotic locations?

For an old hotel in downtown Chicago, I didn't think that place was too bad. I've stayed in smaller rooms in Europe.

^Yeah, the show seems to be on auto pilot now. It's just the same tired Ron/Sam drama that got old in Season 1 and faked scenes where the guys bring "DTF" chicks back. Who can even watch Sam without hitting the FFWD button? I guess the show was basically always 100% scripted, but they don't even try to hide it now.

Police respond in force when you start a fight with them? Who knew?

Right now it's Catherine Tate.

^Interesting, it looks like Legoland Windsor is selling their Legoland Lifetime Pass for £695 or ~$1,144 based on current bank exchange rates.

It's just a pricing exercise. The trick would be to make it obnoxiously expensive so that not many people would get it. But if a few lottery winning idiots want to write big checks, why not take their money? The thing is I can't see anyone other than Disney getting much interest in this sort of thing.

These things are true, but the similarities stop there. European parks are different from American parks in that they focus on the overall experience, not just coasters. Europa Park is European style park that happens to have a large coaster collection.

Bummer on the no dueling thing. I hope they can bring it back soon.

Wow, I never thought I'd make it back to Canadia's Wonderland. I was wrong.

I came to the same conclusion: Modern point-and-shoots are good enough. They don't cost much, the image quality is surprisingly good, they fit into your pocket, and some of them take OK video. The main thing a point-and-shoot can't do well is action shots.

I have noticed that tendency in many ride ops: They staple the hell out of you, but they never bother to pull up on the bar to make sure that it's secure.

I'm no economist, but I believe this is supposed to work like this: 1) Incompetent people (Hard Rock Park, Freestyle Music Park) fail and go bankrupt. 2) Competent people (every successful theme park company) buys the assets at the bankruptcy fire sale. 3) The assets are put to good, productive use elsewhere. For some reason or another, the process is getting short circuited by the shady people running this con. FMP fucked over a bunch of local businesses and still owe them a bunch of money. How they are able to make a "credit bid" on anything is incomprehensible. They should have NO credit at this point.

If you're ever embarrassed about this hobby, watch this video:

Make it a party of two. Sooperdooperlooper is a fine family ride, but it is very weak for a Schwarzkopf.

Although I haven't been to Holiday World in a few years, the rides side always seemed to empty out when the water park opened up. Whether this is now a self-fulfilling prophecy with the continued addition of water rides is an interesting question. For my part, I'd like to see the rides side get some love in the near future. Reports of Voyage running more smoothly with the new trains would be more likely to get me to make the 400 mile round trip than the addition of a new water ride.