carolinacaniac

I have not seen any ads like that here, I was simply assuming that things had gotten so bad with the auto industry that offers like that could not be done. Might be different though since the LA area is a completly different beast than that of Eastern NC.

That almost makes as much sence as going to a Ford dealer, and asking them to pay you 5,000 bucks to buy a new car. I would assume that the city and county are also facing budget issues as they probably didn't recieve the same revenues they did a year ago. It will be interesting to see what happens. -Gary T.

In my two seasons at the park, I never thought to take any pictures like so....... Kind of wish I did, there were some good shots to be had in places not normally seen.

To be fair, there were some that were putting forth the effort, but the number of those who were just there, eating on the job or using their cell phones, seemed to out number those that were honestly trying. I do think they have great coasters, but when the person at the controls and the two other ride hosts are talking to each other while people are in their seats waiting for the hosts to check lap bars and dispatch the train, even the best coaster seems a tad less fun.

In my one visit there, I ran into some of the worst operations I have encountered yet. One train operation on most coasters while the park was fairly crowded, very apathetic ride hosts, and so on. I understand that operating rides may not always be the best job in the world, as I lived it for two seasons at Cedar Point, but with any job that a person has, they should put forth an effort to provide a good service for the customers. Much like the fact that I HATE my job at Lowes Foods, but I am still going to try and do a good job for the customers that come in, whether it is checking them out quickly, or helping them find a particular item. I have had a season pass since '06, but I am not sure that I will renew it. If I do, I would probably do it with the intent of visiting other SF Parks. I will third Erik in that they need to fix the operations at the park more than adding a new coaster. Improved operations would be enough to make me want to go back, but right now, I am not in any hurry to return yet.

Kings Dominion really is a hit or miss park. I know I usually have good visits when I go, but there are some aspects to their operations I am not a big fan of (like one trian operation on the woodies on even moderatly busy days). At least there are some good stories to share from the day there. -Gary T.

I wouldn't say that Kings Dominion is in a "much" larger market than Carowinds. Carowinds is within an hour or two of much of the Peidmont Region of North Carolina, and only a bit longer for a lot of South Carolina. I would be hard pressed to believe that if they do add a hyper, that it would be as tall as Behemoth or Diamondback. I would guess that it would be more like Goliath at SFOG or Goliath at La Ronde. I agree that the first drop under the bridge would be wicked awesome!!! -Gary T.

1. Derrick Jeter 2. Eli Manning 3. Bob Dole

No, I havn't been since a couple days before Thanksgiving Have you ever driven more than 14 hours in a day?

1. Dark Knight 2. Changeling 3. Tie between Quantum of Solace and Wanted 4. Kung Fu Panda 5. Incredible Hulk

Hey Big Mike, I think all of your loyal readers are wondering when they can expect to see the release of the 2009 Big Mike Road Show Schedule. I know I am curious! -Gary T.

I am going to admit that I was a fairweather fan of the Sonics, mainly because I am not huge on the NBA, but that is just because I prefer baseball, hockey and football. When they started the whole thing about moving them to OKC, I didn't care for the idea. Growing up in the Seattle area, the Sonics were a constant for Seattle, with the likes of Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp, Hersey Hawkins, and Detlef Shrempf in my youth in Seattle. The Sonics had been a part of Seattle for longer than either the Mariners or Seahawks, and the only one to have won a title, and until the Seahawks lossed Super Bowl XL, the only of the three to play for their leauge's title. I remember how awesome the atmosphere was around the Pacific Northwest was when the Sonics made it to the Finals in 1996, as it was an exciting a time, second only to the Mariners 1995 playoff run. My dad and I went to the Key Arena to watch Game 2 of the Finals on the big screen, and it was fun as they did things as if the game was being played there, such as the chants and cheers, and the between quarter entertainment. Now that they have moved the team to OKC, It just caps off a s*itty year for the Pacific Northwest in sports (The Mariners loosing 101 games, the Seahawks are 2-11, and the Huskies finished the first winless season in the Pac-10 and in school history). I hope that the Thunder makes a good run for the record for worst record in the leauge as it would show, like Wes suggested before, that Karma exists. So as some t-shirts around Seattle have said: BUCK FENNETT!

While the stage for live music around Hurler would be pretty cool, I would imagine that if they actually did it, it would be had to follw the show sometimes as the coaster is pretty loud and the screams would have an effect as well.

Awesome Pictures Michael! Definately shows how awesome Dollywood is. I agree that there will always be plenty of reasons to head back to the Pigeon Forge area. Here is the story about spotting Michael on the train. The four of us were heading for the carnival area just after seeing Babes in Toyland to do the Dizzy Disk and carousel, and as we walked by the train as it was just taking off from the station, I saw a guy on the train with a video camera filming the ride in POV mode. He had the same clothes on as Michael had described, so I guessed it was him, and so I sent him a text asking if he was on the train taking video. When the train came back, and I spotted him again, we were on the carosuel at the time, and I don't think they would have been so keen on me hopping right off, so it wasn't until a bit later in the afternoon that we caught up with each other. Definately glad to chat for the bit, and would certainly love to do it again sometime! -Gary T.

The West Edmonton Mall looks pretty cool! I know it is on my to do list, but you have the "out of the way" part right. I was trying to figure out a way to connect it with a possible NW tour involving Vancouver, Washington, Idaho and Oregon. The best bet I found was either to fly there and head down to Calgary for the Calaway Park credit, then hit West Edmonton, or the other option would be to drive from the Spokane, WA area up, which would be a good drive (6-8 hours I think). I love your pictures of Mindbender, it looks crammed in there! -Gary T.

Should we expect any cameo appearances in the sequel? Definately looking forward to it! -Gary T.

If this turns out to be anything like the Smokey Mountain Christmas Festival at Dollywood, then it shuld be pretty cool to see! Even if you have to pay each time, $19.99 is a good deal for getting into BGE. I could see it being a bummer for those who may visit the park on a more frequent basis, but for someone like me, who will probably go around once a month at the most, it isn't bad. I also like the idea of having the holiday traditions for each country, that would be pretty cool, and could make for a good field trip for a social studies class of the nearby schools. -Gary T.

At one point, my family used to live just down the road from Camp Union, and we made quite a few visits to the old Camp Union Cookhouse. Not sure if that may be familiar, but thought I would toss that out there. We were about 10-15 minutes out of Silverdale and about 20 from Downtown Bremerton. Wild Waves is good for a smaller regional park. Not exactly a destination park, but certainly a nice way to spend an afternoon. I always really enjoyed the water park half of Wild Waves. -Gary T.

And I thought we were touristy on our trip! Looks like you got to see a bit of everything though, which is fun with the Gaitlinburg/Pigeon Forge area. I never even noticed the indoor waterpark, where is it located at? I definatly looks like it would be worthy of a visit, is there an indoor waterpark with a tornado slide? Looking forward to your Dollywood pics! It was cool to chat at the park. Hope to do it again sooner than later -Gary T.

Yep........I am definatly getting a phillysteak on saturday.......seeing that giant skillet is reminding me how painful it was to walk by it everytime without getting anything

One of my co-workers is pulling a KI/CP trip, which is making me jelous, especially with the addition of Diamondback.

I know Melissa and I are heading back for SMC the Saturday after Thanksgiving. A couple friends of ours suggested we rent a cabin together in the mountains of Western NC. One of the first things Melissa and I decided we needed to do was visit Dollywood again. As we did our search for a cabin, we found that not many were available in Western NC, but we found one right in Pigeon Forge! We are definatly looking forward to visiting again! -Gary "I'll be fasting the day before since I intend to enjoy the Dollyfood more" T.

^Come on now, just because ECU has the party school rep..... There are a few things for tourists to do in this region, such as Kitty Hawk with the Wright Brothers Memorial and the Outer Banks. The problem however is that most of the tourism for Eastern North Carolina is condensed to the coast, and not a whole lot of it spreads to the rest of the coastal plains region (Theoretically, that is pretty much anywhere east of I-95). There are some neat things to see in other places, like the Town of Bath were the pirate Blackbeard lived, and in New Bern you can see the building where Pepsi was created, but these don't exactly draw a lot of people. Deadwood has a pretty good following, but I believe most of their visitors are local. I am a bit surprised that they don't advirtise over here in Greenville, as I am sure they could draw some people looking for a nice day out with the family. Perhaps this thread will help attract some extra visitors to get the Dinosaur Canyon credit! -Gary T.

I had thought that once, but I think it is more like Tumbleweed at Ghost Town in the Sky: Tumbleweed

YES!!!!!! You can always count on Team America! BTW, Will this edition of 30 lbs. in 30 days feature Icees?