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To hell with that, give me good old predictable detectable radiation. Every time I hear that siren at Mallinckrodt I almost wet myself. It sounds like you've been exposed to a lot more hardcore stuff than I have. They'd never let us college swine work with HF. Still, I've done some organic synthesis using pretty nasty stuff, had pretty nasty acids drip onto my bare arm, and only girls are afraid of chemicals

Respect the chemicals. Don't fear them.

Tatsu's loop is NOT forceless. Not that I think that Tatsu is all that great, but that loop hits you hard!

I hope Sanjaya wins. It would be funny.

To Do for 2007: Mystery Mine Maverick S:ROS (all of them) El Toro Storm Runner Phoenix Flying Turns I should be able to hit all of those this year, assuming that Flying Turns is open in August when I plan to hit Knoebels. There are a lot more rides that I'm going to hit this year, but those are the ones I'm most excited about. To Do for 2008: Balder Expedition GeForce Goliath (Walibi World) Colossos (Heide Park) Black Mamba I plan to hit the TPR continental europe trip for 2008. That should cover a few of those, but not Balder

I never rode this version. If it sucks as much as the Hollywood version, then it surely deserves to die. Simulators aren't great to begin with, but this one is just awful. The philosophy seemed to be, "if we jerk the rider around enough they'll be stunned into thinking that they're following along with the film". What I don't understand is why they aren't removing the Hollywood installation first. It's the crappy Hollywood park that is desperate for great new attractions, not Orlando.

Thanks for the pics! Even if the ride turns out to be average, the theming is obviously incredible. Take that Florida park bigots!

You'll have plenty of time at Knott's. We did that park in 2 hours. This was, of course, on a really dead day in January. I suggest driving up to Valencia after you leave Knott's. That way you'll avoid nasty LA morning traffic. The Hilton Garden Inn in Valencia is the closet hotel to SFMM, and is really nice. But, that might be out of your price range (~$100). You'd get your money's worth though.

That seems to be common on Arrows. I advise all midwest trip participants to ride Vortex at KI in that same row (second to very back). It gives a great ride there if you know how to avoid the head banging on the inversions. Really nice force on the first drop in that row! When I rode Viper I made the mistake of taking the very front. OUCH!

No pictures

The characters are there principally for children to interact with. Kids really seem to love the characters. I don't think Disney parks would work without them, because to the kids it's NOT just some person in a suit. They really think they're meeting Mickey, or whatever character. I agree that waiting in a long line to meet a character is kinda absurd.

It's true that it does not mean they will *never* work with them, but in one of my many conversations with B&M they said "Disney has more lawyers than we have employees. That makes us nervous!" Although granted, I would assume that so does Universal, so go figure. --Robb Maybe Disney draws up crazy overly litigious sounding contracts. I'd imagine it's just a matter of Universal being easier to work with. As I'm *sure* you know, a lot of bigger companies like to play "hard ball" with their vendors: being unrealistic with time lines, expecting the vendor to lose money on deals just to get a "marquee account", taking forever to pay, giving extraordinarily bad contract terms, etc. I deal with a few major enterprise customers at work that are as big as Disney, and I see a lot of this sort of thing.

I stayed in a Motel 6 in Lithia Springs that's right near that Fairfield Inn. It was only $42, and one of the nicer Motel 6 locations that I've stayed at. The stay was kinda ruined by the fact that the room was right next to the front desk. But, I imagine if you got another room it would have been fine. If you're looking for a cheap room, this would be a good bet as this place is newer and very clean. It's only like 5 minutes away from SFOG as well. Just don't get a room next to the front desk!

Oh. Well, who wouldn't want to pay extra for a pass that let's you in early to wait around for another hour! That's, in the language of the great K-Fed, "rollin' VIP".

KI gold pass holders got to authorize the gates opening at 9AM, and rides at 10AM? Wow they really liked their gold pass holders didn't they? Yeah, that whole Gold Pass thing turned out to be a bust. They gave you worthless stuff like double rides on the Racer on Tuesdays when it's walk-on anyway. Or, the dreaded bring a friend free day, where you got to suffer some of the worst lines imaginable. Cedar Fair should introduce a real premium season pass. KI is in a fairly affluent area. People would be jumping over each other to buy $250 season passes if they had real perks.

I think the comment about reading at home when they're bored was to suggest that although they look at Interweb forums it's just one research tool that they use. Disney already has excellent resources to help them manage their parks, like surveys, looking at attraction popularity, focus groups, etc. They ran the parks just fine for 40 years before the Interweb became popular. It's just another tool in their kit, and probably not the most important one. Let's face it- the vast majority of Interweb posts are written by people who can't even spell. It's not a gold mine of new ideas. BTW- I agree with your 10 point list, especially about Mr. Toad.

Hey, I know some girls who would really like a Hitchhiking Ghosts room! Your fellow cast members don't count! I love the Haunted Mansion as much as the next coaster nerd. But, I don't go theming out my living room with red velvet curtains and hitchhiking ghosts. It's possible to take things a bit too far, and I think that guy does.

And try not living 50 miles away from work. I know so many people that insist on living an hour away from work here in a city where it's affordable to live 10 minutes away. Complaining about gas prices makes for some extraordinarily dull conversation.

OMFG! Is it just me, or does Ricky Brigante scream "40-year-old Virgin"? Imagine taking a date home to the house, and she sees the "hitchhiking ghosts room". Isn't that the woman's cue to get the hell out of the house and never come back? I'd also like to know what journalism school Brigante graduated from. It's pretty much a farce to call yourself being serious in something you have no training in. He's pretty much insulting the few true "serious journalists" like, say, Daniel Pearl, who got kidnapped and had his HEAD CUT OFF while reporting in Pakistan. "The ride vehicles are going to accomodate up to 8 guests..." Give me a break.

Actually, we have excellent chocolate. It's just that you have to buy premium brands that go for for ~$3-$5 for a smallish bar. If you go for the $0.79 crap at Quik-E-Mart, you're probably not going to get good stuff. I'm curious to try this British chocolate. I'll give it a whirl next time I hit up World Market. At least we don't call Sprite "lemonade".

Unlimited for $200? Those are crack whore prices. Does Disney have plans to make a crack whore princess after Maddy?

$200 for churros! Sign me up!

Hair looks neat under a microscope. I'm nerdy enough to actually own my own microscope.

I didn't say that I wasn't lame myself, or that I wasn't a part of lameness. I was just pointing out the obvious.

Oh please, Old Stereotype Land is more lame than Drayton Manor. But not quite as lame as starting a thread about someone's teeth