CoasterFanatic

The Cyclone may be 5 bucks, and it does bang around a bit, but cmon ... it's a piece of Americana. I always likened the Cyclone as sort of a "pilgrimage" for the coaster enthusiast. The first time you step off that train and see it in person ... wow!

I am partial to regular old log flumes (never miss 'em) My Faves: Knotts Dorney Waldameer

Dead Cow!

Wednesday is usually when the discount rates are published. Get em early or they may be gone. FareWatcher (Travelocity) is your friend. You don't need to neccesarily buy the tickets from there, but it will give you a good idea who is going where and for how much. Then you can cross reference them with other sites ... including the airlines. If Southwest sevices your local airport, make sure you check their site. They have some of the most competitive rates and they don't publish them to Sabre.

Urinating in the non-smoking areas ... Smoking in the grass ... What has gotten into these people. Too much western culture, that what I say!

For a much cheaper alternative you can always drink this: http://www.dogfish.com/beer/120minuteipa.cfm

Pictures of Magnum's upstop plates are pretty hard to come by. I have never seen it in person, but I did see one picture once (can't remember where). You can still see the same upstops on the Gemini (unless they have been changed also). The upstop wheels were added the first season (89?) at the same time as the following: - Padding added to cars - Seatbelts - Anemometers added to lifthill (Car vallied between drops 1 and 2 due to wind) About three years after it opened the 2nd drop was shortened. Somewhere around 95-96, the Pretzel turnaround was modified considerable. I think some of the banking was actually taken out of it. Hope this is fairly accurate and helps

Great TR Derek! I hope that second hill is just as F'd up as it was last season. Great shot of the "Helix of Doom". That has to be one the most WRONG moments ever put on a coaster.

I was always wondering if you were that good at it, or if you just did like 30 takes with $100 dollars worth of balls.

I was also wondering about Kenny aka Daffy. He won't have any more stories to post to RRC.

^ BGT used to right next to Gwazi. I guess it is gone now. I haven't really looked for it in the last couple visits.

Thunderbolt's 3rd Drop into the ravine (after the spaghetti bowl) was pretty good before they completely neutered it.

^^ You are buying Avid Pro and you have never even seen it? You must be hemmoraging money! My "affordable" picks are Vegas and Premier.

Canon is not quite as good as Sony in low light situations (but not many are). Even if you don't order online, make sure you price match with Best Buy. I am amazed how many people pay full price. If Sears actually carrys the item you want, you can get them to not only price match it, but also knock another 10% off!

^ I know that the 3 ft is usually in reference to "consumer" technology. Don't know if Disney would neccesarily fit under that category.

Pretty outdated, but this program has a ton of them listed. Download it if you are interested in the subject: http://www.outandback.com/coasters_in_movies.htm

Don't worry about it Erik. Nobody ever believes me

I think to succeed with any diet you only need to do one thing ... Burn more calories than you eat.

I would have to say Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at WDW. Easily one of the most accessible and ridden coasters in the world.

You may want to try to beef up your budget just a little bit to make sure that you get something that isn't going to p*ss you off more than you enjoy using it. I purchased my camera from Broadway Photo (bwayphoto.com) and they are probably one of the cheapest shops anywhere. They are kind of a pain in the butt to deal with, but this tends to happen when you deal with the cheapest retailers. Make sure you read lots of reviews from places like epinions.com and cnet.com before commiting to a particular camera.

Thank you.

Sounds like Kennywood has got ya a little spoiled Great TR. I was getting ready to tell you that the long line was definately due to "one side" operation, but I notice that you mentioned it later in the TR. I think that is the only way the line ever gets over 20 minutes or so. Good to see that Expedition Everest is coming along. It seemed like just yesterday (read ... 3 years) this thing was just starting to be built.

I have yet to cancel any of my plans, and I am willing to bet that I drive further to most parks than about the other 95% of it's guests.

^ They are still on the ride.

Go Stillas! Nuff Said.