JimmyBo

I like both but I do prefer the Forum. I like to see comments from fellow readers and give insight on my opinions of some of the amazing Trip Reports that TPR does. The only thing I don't like about the Forum that is that sometime between updates with pictures there are several comments and it takes a couple of pages to get to the next update. On the Index page it is nice to see all the pictures at once. I still prefer the Forum because I do like reading the comments...but sometimes it takes awhile to get to the next update. Jimmy "What happened to the video updates with pictures?" Bo

Well, here it is. My first trip report in what feels like forever. I guess it makes sense since I haven't been to a Theme Park in forever so why not choose the BEST amusement park in America...Nickelodeon Universe! Why is it the best amusement park in America...because it's in Mall of America. If this is America's Mall then that means that the theme park within in it has to be America's best theme park...right? Well...probably not, but at least it's something. The main reason why I visited Minnesota was because my dad only had 2 states to mark off his list and then he'd have 50 states. Unfortunately for him (and fortunately for me) they were Minnesota and North Dakota. I told him I wanted to come as long as I can go and ride some coasters. He agreed so off we went. Friday night was spent at the Mall of America, not a bad deal at the park for the twilight deal, after 5:00pm, all day wrist band was pretty cheap. Saturday was spent driving...ALL DAY...literally! We left our hotel parking lot space at 8:00am and returned at 8:01pm...5 states later. He hit up Minnesota (duh), North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska. Why? because I needed all those states to check off my list. Anyway, on to the pictures with super serious commentary following each picture. We're here! And random Nick characters welcome you. Sadly, there was no Ren & Stimpy, Rocko, or AHHH Real Monsters invading this park. Unfortunately, America's friendliest Sponge welcomes everyone. Damn, he's got a big nose! Since my dad doesn't ride coasters and I was a single rider, this thing spun like CRAZY! I'm glad I didn't go to the bar before this ride! First up, spinning death. No everyone imagined Robb saying "weeeeeeeeeeee". Don't know what I'm talking about? Watch almost any of his coaster videos. Then you plummet down (only exciting part of the ride) Loop de Loop! SpongeBob is peeing in his pants at this point.... Seriously, he probably urinates throughout entire episodes but you can never tell! By SpongeBob and who ever the hell you are behind him. First you go up, nearly hitting the ceiling! ...but you can't tell because he's underwater. Only saw 1 person all the way at the top. That slide looks pretty sweet Pretty amazing up charge ropes course. Here's the main ride of the park...SpongeBob's Pants Fall Off! Now there's a James Cameron Avatar I can deal with! One for the kiddies! And themed to cows! Makes perfect sense since we are in a farming state. el Circulo del Cielo...which means Circle of Life (stolen from Disney's Lion King) for those of you that don't know English. Avatar! Coming to Disney's Animal Kingdom soon! Swings... Here's the entrance...too bad this entrance was closed because they are making additional parking for all the handicap spaces to be closer to the entrance. Mall of America...where America is always under construction. Here's the Mall map...I don't care about anything on it except that orange blob in the middle. Here's the Park Map for all you Park Map enthusiasts...you're welcome. Ok moving on, here's the original coaster from back in the day when this park used to be Knott's Camp Snoopy. I think if this was a Coke themed coaster train, they would be longer... ...and I've never seen Orange Pepsi. Why couldn't it be themed to Fanta? That's so much better! Weeeeeeeeeee! Jimmy Neutron got his amazing hair after riding this ride This used to be my favorite ride at Knott's Berry Farm when I was a kid. Log Chute. This was interesting because there was still Knott's theming within the ride. Sploosh! Another ride that scared the crap out of me while it was at Knott's Berry Farm. It goes over the entire park Pretty fun ride. BrainSurge = vomit! Oh look, they had a LEGO store! We had some company while we ate. They watched me eat my food the entire time! Ok, park done...now it's time to eat. We had priority seating because of the hotel we stayed at. Boo-Ya! SpongeBob likes water to be shot up his @$$. He's a sponge...why not? Ninja Turtles had a ride...to bad Megan Fox wasn't there to promote the new movie. Awesome Shooting Dark Ride... not sure what the theme was but I shot the crap out of a lot of ghosts. I think it was themed around this guy but not entirely sure...I shot him anyway Stuff for thee lil ones Aren't those lil cars so adorable Here's a flying bus. It's not the Magic School Bus though so I was disappointed. And for all the girls...they had this store. I think it would be terrifying if they had a store like this for My Little Ponies! That is probably the most horrific thing that could ever be conceived. I remember the Tumbler way back in the day...so fun! Say Good-Bye to the Mall and Nick Universe! ...it had a lot of lakes. Then made it to North Dakota... Next South Dakota... ...where family dining meets family/adult entertainment! ...where there was a lot of farm...uh...things...yeah that's it. We hit Nebraska (sadly no picture of the sign) and then finally Iowa... The next day was a day of driving...we started in Minnesota... ...where the eyes were watching us the whole way. And that's all folks. Now the eyes will watch you while you sleep! Nice architecture though.

I can't believe no one has said this yet but...can we count Cheetah Hunt as an Aquatrax now?!??! Jimmy "Ride it while you can" Bo

^ Holy Crap! The engineering nerd in me just had a major ... well ... accident. Tissues are required! That is some amazing renderings and artwork. Thanks for sharing that Chris! Jimmy "Still love this engineering stuff" Bo

I'm actually going to visit MOA this weekend?!?!? Why the hell am I going to be in Minnesota you ask? Well, that's a long story but I will make a pit stop to MOA and hit up the rides for a couple hours. Can't wait to visit my first theme park in over 10 months...holy crap it's been awhile! Jimmy "First new coaster and theme park in over 10 months" Bo

AWESOME! Can't wait for more pictures of the ride and the shenanigans that Robb always brings! Jimmy "Does Olaf move or is he stationary in those photos?" Bo

Pretty awesome update! I'm really excited and glad Knott's is taking the time a care into the refurbs. I'm excited to know that their improvements will be in place for generations to come. I can't wait to take my little ones there to experience Camp Snoopy like I did as a kid...although it will be completely different...but it's still awesome. Jimmy "Is there going to be a Gertrude animatronic someday?!?!?!" Bo

Castles N Coasters in Phoenix, AZ. We don't have much if anything in Arizona so why not try and squeeze another coaster in our only POS park. Jimmy "anything is better than what we got" Bo

I'm surprised that no one has said this yet... But it's going to be amazing Dark Ride WITH BOOBIES! We all know Robb loves boobs on dark rides. Boobs and fire in a deep dark tunnel... sounds like an amazing ride! Jimmy 'family boobies ride for the win' Bo

Great stuff Chuck! That was the demon slide that gave me massive wood burn on my arms and legs! This was the day where we went to 3 parks, Pleasure"woody" Hills, Joyland and Great "Yourmouth" Pleasure Beach. I think we left Pleasure"woody" Hills before lunch. It was a decent place and I remember that almost every ride had 2 names for it. It had an identity crisis. Jimmy "No Snake in the Grass Pictures Chuck!!!" Bo

It's either going to be an Intamin First Generation FreeFall ride through the depths of a mountain and popping out at the edge of a cliff...or maybe they are bringing the Orphan Rocker from Australia to the park. Either way, in order for Elissa to be excited, there is probably some theming around rodents. Maybe chipmunks are sick and tired of the Lumberjacks cutting down their trees so they take over the Saw Mill and all hell breaks loose...then a dragon from the depths of the earth rises and burns everything in its path. Or maybe, the ride will actually set people on fire!!!! and then spray them with a ton of water so it's only 1st degree burns! Jimmy "So many options!!" Bo

The Wheel of Doom was AMAZING! I think I only got about 6 wood burns from that damn wheel. And then I think it was the next day I got more wood burns from a damn slide...they were pretty cool battle scars when I got back to the states though. Great pictures Chuck! It's fun looking through this now and it brings back lots of memories. Jimmy "Who can forget 'Row, Row, Row' on Cyclone?" Bo

Awesome Chuck! I can't wait to see more! Too bad I wasn't into taking photos back then...only video. Jimmy "Oh, how some of us looked so young back then" Bo

Awesome stuff! I remember taking a family trip back in the 90's through Petrified Forest...I didn't really get it as a kid. My dad said, "We are going to look at trees that are hard as a rock>" I was like, "Wow...and I care because......" It actually turned out to be an awesome trip. New Years in Vegas is on my bucket list. I heard its a pretty damn good time and the fireworks are insane throughout the strip. Is that right? Great stuff and holy hell, that's a lot of miles! Jimmy "Winslow, AZ? WHY?!?!?!" Bo

Living in Tucson (or Arizona for that matter) really sucks when it comes to distances from theme parks. With that said, here you all go.... 1. Castles 'N Coasters, Phoenix, AZ ~ 140 miles 2. Adventuredome, Las Vegas, NV ~ 423 miles 3. Sea World San Diego, San Diego, CA ~ 428 miles So all you @$$holes that live 10 minutes from a park and bitch about it being crowded the day you decided to go...try driving 6 hours to that park. Let me know how you feel after that. Jimmy "desperately needs a theme park close by" Bo

Awesome trip across the country! You stopped in Tucson?!?!? I know you may have family here in the hell of the desert but why stay here? Glad you enjoyed the Desert Museum though, I really enjoy that place! Even though you visited Disney in probably the busiest time of the year, still glad to see through your pictures that you guys made the best of it and had a BLAST! Great pictures of all the parks in the Holiday decorations! Jimmy "Next time let the JimmyBo show you the sites in Tucson!" Bo

I really like option 1! I'm not a fan of Twitter and even though I have an account I hardly go on it but I feel that that I'm in the minority here. Having the Tweets on the cover I think would bring in more people because Twitter is so easy to access on phones and when people first visit this site they can be like, "Oh, they have a Twitter account? This website is awesome!" I like option 2 also so if either is chosen I will still visit this site. I just feel that option 1 might reach out to more people. Jimmy "Can option 3 be a HUGE picture of Robb that says "click here to enter TPR" right on his crotch? I'm sure everyone will enjoy seeing that every day" Bo

Awesome ride! I really need to ride one of these mini-beasts of a ride. It freaking has everything in it! Great stuff and the hair explosion is really entertaining! Jimmy "Are those the glasses they use for porn movies?" Bo

Can't wait to go in March for my 30th birthday...I will probably remember none of it! Jimmy "March is the month for awesome people birthdays to travel to Vegas" Bo

Most likely be one of the coasters in Mall of America since i'm headed there sometime in the Spring. That is, unless I want to take a trek up to Phoenix and ride the POS coasters up there....no, I'll wait till Spring for Minnesota! Jimmy "First time in Minnesota don't ya know" Bo

Great stuff Chuck! I like to see trip reports of Knott's during the Christmas time…brings back many memories! No Ghostrider pictures!!!! You should be ashamed…it's only the BEST ride at the park! Nice to hear that Coast Rider wasn't suffering the over-braked curse that most mouse coasters suffer after a couple months of operation! Jimmy "I've actually sat next to Mantis Man on Xcelerator before" Bo

Just watched both DVD's since I'm at home sick with the cold…watching these definitely made my day. Even my little son got into for a bit and though that all the coaster trains were cars and about to crash. When they went into tunnels he was like "where they go?" It was pretty awesome. Robb's commentary never fails to crack me up! Jimmy "Oh, this is gunna be an oh sh*t moment" Bo

This park looks great for the Holiday Season! I still have yet to make it to this park but it looks really great with all the lights. I really do love this time of year around parks because they seriously know how to do it up during night time. I wonder why parks don't just keep the lights up year round…it seriously looks better. Jimmy "Need to make it to Garlic Town" Bo

Great stuff guys! It's awesome to see Knott's doing all the things right. Seriously, this is great and I love that Knott's seems to be going back to the family friendly thing like when I was a kid a grew up going there every year. I like how they themed the new area of the Boardwalk Pier. Question…was the log ride themed to Christmas? I thought in the past they had some Christmas elements throughout the ride like treats and additional christmas lights. Jimmy "Can't wait to get back to Knott's soon!" Bo

We finally got all our decorations up so here's my tree with theme park related crap…I mean stuff… Enjoy! Jimmy "Next task is to make an ice slide in the backyard…which might be difficult in Arizona" Bo Here's our honeymoon ornament from Walt Disney World This puppy stopped working last year but it's still up and is still my favorite! Here's one we got when we visited Downtown Disney in Cali…but not Disneyland…no time for it. A La Nouba ornament we got on our honeymoon at Walt Disney World Who puts years on ornament?!?! This is pretty lame I love the Ron Toomer coat hanger effect with the squiggles! Another lame ornament It even lights up and moves and plays music really LOUD! Seriously, the music was so loud I had to put masking tape over the speaker to tone down the volume. Then there's this little guy my in-laws got me when they realized I loved theme parks. The beautiful, fake tree!