Scaparri

^Face/Off... err.. Invertigo at Kings Island in 2001.

No. I had an experience on a coaster where my harness unlocked. The only thing that kept me in the train was the seat belt that attached the restraint to the seat itself and prevents the harness from completely opening. While I'll still ride coasters that don't have secondary seat belts, I tend to feel pretty uncomfortable on coasters that don't, depending on the nature of the ride. EDIT: As for your third question, it's actually a little vague, but I'm going to assume that you mean "have ever had a health issue that has affected your coaster ride?" And the answer is sort of, with two separate examples. I'm lactose intolerant so it's not uncommon for me to have stomach issues, and I've ridden coasters while having stomach problems where the stronger g-forces causes severe stomach pain. Second, I have a few back problems from a car accident I had when I was 17, and that tends to make me a little more sensitive on rougher coasters. I've ridden coasters that were excruciatingly painful to a point where I'm trembling from the pain after I get off the ride.

There are a ton of things wrong with it. In my opinion, Voyage and Beast shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence. Now if we were dealing with the Beast ten years ago, then we'll talk. But nowadays, it's like a celebrity who goes on the Surreal Life; played out and used up. The Beast's problems boil down to two simple things. The entire layout is overly braked and there are spots that are a bit too rough. They not only put a trim halfway down the first drop (that they use), but they put at least TWO trims down the drop into the double helix (that they use). If they can't take care of the ride enough to leave the double helix and it's drop as is, then they should just take it out because that is what makes that ride. What used to be the greatest moment on any coaster ever, is now a bone-shattering, over-braked experience. Yeah, most of the ride is just bumpy, but then you have the double helix which they obviously don't feel the need to take care of, and is now brutal. Furthermore, I'm pretty sure the train is braked ever harder now through the shed since they added the magnetic brakes. In my opinion, it'll never be a 'really good' ride until they get somebody who takes enough care of it to be able to remove the trims from those drops. There's what's wrong with it in my opinion. Like Ginzo, I wouldn't care if they tore the thing down because, given the history of its current owner, they will never invest the money to restore it to its former glory. It's a flat out shame.

Actually, those shorts are still wrapped in a plastic bag inside my trunk, so I'm not sure which shorts you washed. Did you have another accident you'd like to share with us, Amarillo?

SPECIAL UPDATE! MUST READ!! I didn't plan on including this part, but I have received multiple requests from friends, and the member this revolves around has given me approval. Alright, so during the second night of the trip, we stopped at a mall in Amarillo, TX for dinner. We weren't really sure what we wanted to eat so we figured the food court would be a solid choice. At this point, we'd been in the car for quite a while so we all needed to pee pretty bad. So, I'm in the bathroom doing by thing, and Tyler is a couple urinals down from me. The entire time, he is staring at me, trying to make me uncomfortable. I finally finish and start to head for the sink when I hear Tyler go "Ohhhh!!!" I asked him what his deal was but he didn't respond. A couple seconds later, he turns around and reveals his dilemma. He was so focused on trying to weird me out, he was completely oblivious to the fact that he was pissing down the inside of his shorts the entire time!! Hilarity followed. Tyler, a fairly laid back guy, just slapped a grin on his face and waltzed back through the food court and changed his shorts in the back of my car. Afterward, we gingerly walked back in, still laughing, and grabbed a bite to eat. He'll never live that moment down, and he knows it. Thus, he will forever be known to us as "Amarillo." Thanks again to everybody who checked out this TR and to those who commented. Hope you all enjoyed it. And now, on to the evidence... And out with new shorts on. It happens to the best of us, Tyler! At least its not like you just lost it! Maybe it's a little weird I took pics of this, but seriously, you can't pass up comedy gold like this! Time to change out. And here it is. He was a good sport about it. You can't see it very well in this one, but WAIT! THERE'S MORE!!

^Nope, hydraulic. That's pretty much the same thing, chief. Both consist of magnets. Anyway, I'd say the strongest I've felt is probably Maverick or Mr. Freeze. It's hard to say. I need a Maverick refresher.

Ahh what I'd give for a ten box of jalapeño cheese sliders right now. I don't care how close they look, Krystal is not the same! I'm having a serious crave attack right now. Awesome video, Robb!

Day 10: Kemah Boardwalk The final park of our trip was Kemah Boardwalk. As most of you probably know, there's only one real reason to come to Kemah and that's for the Boardwalk Bullet. I was fairly excited about this because Gravity Group is yet to produce a ride I don't extremely like. Voyage and Hades both blew me away, so I had high expectations for Bullet. To be honest, I still don't know what to make of the ride. It's so good, but so bad at the same time. I'll start by saying the first drop is absolutely amazing. The way it twists to the left and then rips you to the right was incredible. The rest of the ride is hard to really explain. There are sections that are blistering fast with multiple pops of airtime, and then there are sections where the ride nearly stalls or just doesn't go fast enough. The last third of the ride completely dies out. There are places where it seems like GG thought the train would be going faster than it does because some turns just feel too banked. Then you have the roughness, which I never figured out. There are parts that are completely bone-jarring, and there are places that are fairly smooth. However, if you don't ride in the right place, bone-jarring turns into bone-shattering. By the end of our time at the 'park', I refused to ride anywhere but the very front or the second to last rows. Everywhere else just wasn't enjoyable. Wheel seat, non-wheel seat, it didn't matter. At one point during a ride in the middle of the train, I got knocked so hard that I had a welt on my knee when we got back to the station. That welt remained as a bruise for the next week. Brand new wooden coasters aren't supposed to be like that. So, with that said, if I'm riding in one of the two rows I mentioned, it's a borderline top ten woodie. If I'm riding anywhere else, it's one of the most miserable coaster rides on my list. It's really unfortunate that's the case. Either way, we had a good time at Kemah, which was sadly, the last park on the trip. Thanks for reading and enjoy the pics! There will be a special update in the near future that you won't want to miss! It is being brought to you by special request! And we end just like we started. The trip of a lifetime. Thanks for reading everybody. There will be a special update in the next few days that you guys will NOT want to miss! In Louisiana, I spotted one of the funniest un-intentionally funny billboards I've ever seen. Rice. Awesome!!! As if teenagers are completely mind blown from a steaming bowl of white rice. Well done, Louisiana Rice Promotion Board. Hey look, Tyler sleeping. No freakin' way... Three days earlier, we were at the Pacific. Now we're at the Gulf of Mexico. This was a crazy trip. One more of Bullet. Hopefully they'll invest some serious money into fixing this thing. With as bad as it is right now, I can't imagine it five years down the road. I wonder if the neighbors are pissed they built this? And then just to the left of that, you have the rides. Actually, I'm pretty sure all of them are seen in this picture, minus the obvious. This is where most of the restaurants are. The trio. I had to slap a fairly fake smile on. I was slightly uncomfortable because you could really feel the tower shaking. Some nice views up here... I was fairly stunned when we pulled up to the park and then saw the observation car go up the tower. Until you see that, it looks like a cheap drop ride. They had this cool miniature train that went through the property. I stayed on the ground while Robby and Tyler lost there inverter virginity. Torture device if you ask me... They definitely used just about every inch that they could. It's really amazing how much they fit into such a small area. I just don't understand what went wrong with this ride. Some parts are fairly smooth, then other parts try to shatter your femurs and tweak your back alignment. They tried to warn me though! After most of my rides, I was really excited to see this sign. The front and second to the back gave really great rides. And the first drop is ludicrous!! This is the part where the ride almost stalls out. They are smart... the front was one of only two rows that didn't beat the excrement out of me. Robby and Tyler go for another whirl. When I said I was down for the count, I was serious. I actually had a welt on my knee at the end of the day, which simply became a large bruise that I had for a week. You really haul some major ass through half this ride. After trying a few other seats in the train, I ended up getting put down for the count. Some of the seats are tolerable, while others are just flat out brutal. This was the best lift hill shot I could do. Ehh... a bit disappointing. The first half is nuts, but the second half just dies out. And I'm pretty sure first year coasters aren't supposed to be that rough. The guy on the right sure looks to be having a good time... Lookin' back from the queue, you can see that Kemah is a really nice place. Alright, let's do this. Last coaster of the trip... We didn't come here for overpriced seafood and steak though, rather, this bad boy... Kemah is a really nice little tourist trap, filled with restaurants owned by Landry's. I feel like one of these boats should be named Jenny. There's a coaster in there somewhere. Here we are at our last park: Kemah Boardwalk. Here's a view of the Houston skyline.

^Actually, for the record, unless you live within 25 miles of the park, you are required to stay in the housing on Point. So they'll probably know automatically if somebody will be staying in the housing.

That makes little to no sense. It's not like the train will weigh less by changing their direction. I'd almost bet money that Robb hit the nail on the head with this one. I guess we'll find out on the slow days.

^Yeah, it's amazing how often I see drivers keep their hands on the wheel in top level series, like F1 or Indycar. Do they really not know any better, do they not realize how close the barrier is, or is it just less of a threat for some reason now? As for the traction control issue, while it may have caused a few crashes so far, I think it's definitely a great improvement. If too many technological advancements are added then you threaten to neglect the skill of the driver. If it becomes a serious safety issue, then I'll be all about re-instating TC. And by that, I don't mean waiting 'til somebody gets seriously injured or killed. But rather, if the number of shunts seriously increases in quantity or severity, then re-instate it. However, for now, I figure if these are the best drivers in the world, then it shouldn't affect how often they take the car off course too much. Just my thoughts. And while we're on the topic of crashes, after Canada last year, I'm pretty sure Robert Kubica is indestructible. How he came out of that with just a concussion and a sprained ankle blows my mind.

^Definitely Titan. Goliath was great and all and definitely had the better theming, but the extra helix before the mid-course on Titan definitely gives it a defined edge. ^^^Thanks Jahan! It was great to see you during the trip! It was kind of funny. We had been keeping our eye out throughout the day for you and then I just randomly asked this guy on the Ninja platform if you were his supe and he said yeah. Then, we got back from the ride, and poof, you were there. It was kind of crazy. But yeah, great to see ya again. And thanks again to everybody who has commented. Glad you guys are enjoying it. Kemah will be up later today!

For those interested, here's the video of Lewis' shunt during practice for Bahrain: http://youtube.com/watch?v=pTU-xRTgQtc

^Wait, FoF is on pansy mode too? I mean, there was nothing intense about Poltergeist. The first three inversions weren't even intense at all, as opposed to FoF, which was always insane. Please tell me it isn't so... On to the update! Day 9 (Part 2): SeaWorld San Antonio and a brief return to SFFT While planning our massive trip, we all expressed interest in going to SeaWorld, but simply couldn't find the time so it was left off the schedule. However, with Fiesta Texas sucking, we spontaneously decided to leave and drive over to SeaWorld! We were really excited because, well, Fiesta Texas really didn't set a very high bar for SeaWorld, so it couldn't be much worse. We were pleasantly surprised by the place! While the park definitely lacks, animal and exhibit-wise, from Orlando, the rides were great! Steel Eel was a major surprise. I was really curious about it because I never hear anything about it. I always assumed it was sort of like Wild Thing at Valleyfair; a ride that looks cool, but is actually the lamest, most forceless hyper coaster in the land. Though it's not a genuine hyper coaster, it was far from lame! During our first ride in the back seat, we got completely ejected over the first drop!! The rest of the ride was filled with strong floater air. It was really a great, medium-sized 'hyper'. Great White was a bit of a surprise too. That probably sounds stupid, seeing how it's just a Batman clone, but it seemed unusually intense and was still smooth as glass. Maybe it was just a breath of fresh air after the pile of 'meh' at Fiesta Texas, but it just struck me as abnormally good. Journey was also a little surprising. As we waited the 45 minutes in line for it, I repeatedly asked myself "Why?" I can't even really explain why, but I ended up really liking the ride. The nature of it is just unusual, from the turntables to the backwards drop. Then, once the boat is released from the second turntable, it agonizingly creeps toward the edge of the drop so slowly. And suddenly, wham, the boat shoots down the drop. Again, it's hard to explain, but it was a lot more fun that it looked. After spending some time at SeaWorld, we headed back to Fiesta Texas to give Superman another try and hopefully ride Rattler and Boomerang. Unfortunately, because I didn't realize what time the park closed, we were only able to ride Superman. While it gave a much better ride during the second time around, it was still very disappointing. Honestly, I really enjoyed it, but it still didn't beat any of the other floorless coasters I've ridden. It's just too drawn out and weak. Thanks for reading, and enjoy! Kemah is up next! This place will get a second chance... one day.... maybe. This concludes this update. Thanks for reading! Kemah next! The park really did have an awesome atmosphere. It's a shame the operations weren't on the same level. Unfortunately, due to time issues, we weren't able to get our Rattler or Boomerang credits, but that's my own fault. Alright, so while Superman was running much better at night, it still was an overall disappointment and failed to pass any other floorless I've been on. Did I miss something with this ride? Six Flags TV! Andre 3000 = Awesome However, Andre 3000 < pelicans I think this was the point where one of us said, "Wait, why did we leave SeaWorld again?" We definitely had a MUCH better time at SeaWorld than we did earlier at Fiesta Texas. However, it was time to head back so we could hopefully get our missing credits and give Superman a second chance. For some reason, Tyler didn't take off the yellow lap bar pad thing for kids, so he got zero airtime. I'll spare you guys another Nemo quote. I re-iterate: Best Pixar film ever. "Oooh, let's name the zones, the zones, the zones. Let's name the zones of the open sea..." SeaWorld is just filled with awesome animals. However, I wasn't as impressed with Texas' collection and exhibits as Orlando. They really seemed to lack at times. It's still a really nice park though. I had to take advantage of the free beer over in the hospitality house. Cool plaque, wrong race. Mhmmm... beer horses. Beer horses = awesome, however, beer horses < pelicans. We considered whoring, but the saw the line for it, and opted not to. And while Robby and I, who sat on the inside of the row, were slightly spritzed, Tyler was flat out drenched. Alright, so, I can't lie... As simple as this ride may look, I was really kind of surprised by it. The entire turntable/backwards drop thing is a little intimidating when you are 100 feet in the air. Not to mention the massive flume-feeling drop. It was a lot of fun! You get a really good view of Steel Eel over by Journey. Wow. Just when San Diego thought THEY got screwed... Pelicans = Awesome So, this would have had a train in it, but it broke down right after we got off. I'm telling you, we brought the Fiesta curse over! Still one of my favorite shots of the trip though. Seriously, has anybody else found this one to be particularly good? I don't know what it was, but this clone clearly stood out as the best in the bunch. It was still glass smooth and gave a really intense ride! Great White takes the win in the "Coolest Ride Entrance Sign Ever" category. Before heading over to Great White, we took a quick trip through the Penguin Encounter. How's it going, Jahan? We brought a curse over from Fiesta Texas. We were the last train dispatched before it broke. We were all really surprised by this ride! It was a darn good coaster for a ride you don't ever hear about. It was loaded with airtime. Mostly strong floater air, but still air. Yeah, notice how the drop suddenly becomes steeper after the first 10 or 15 feet? Well, you get ejected if you're in the back seat of this bad boy. Makes it look huge, doesn't it? Here we are... first credit of the park. This ride seemed slightly mysterious, in that, I really didn't know a whole lot about the layout and you never really hear much about it. Here we are... at the only park on the trip that wasn't even planned! Steel Eel! Hopefully this park provides a better experience than SFFT. Continuing the "Tyler Sleeping" installments, I present the icing on the cake. After stopping for lunch, he FELL ASLEEP DURING THE FIFTEEN MINUTE DRIVE TO SEAWORLD! WITH HIS DRINK IN HIS HAND!!! Tyler, you are a pro.

Great stuff, guys. It's really a shame. This thing used to be awesome back before they completely bastardized it with all those trims on the drops. I'd still love to see a company completely re-do the ride, Phantom's Revenge style, where they get rid of all the straight track and just make it turn and tiny dip after dip. But naturally, they can't touch that second drop and double helix. Yeah, that's my fantasy. Maybe that's sac religious of me to say, but like I said, the poor ride has been bastardized so much. It's really sad. Thanks for the vid finds.

^Yep. It was good that they had the three train operations going, but I'm pretty sure they didn't have many more than three, if any. One on controls and two on load if I remember correctly. Well, four if you count the person pulsing the line at the bottom of the station.

Day 9 (Part 1): Six Flags Fiesta Texas My Worst Six Flags Experience in Five Years So, we were all really excited about this park. We had heard so many people say that it was the nicest and best themed SF park in the chain. Well, it's hard to argue with them on that part. The place was definitely nice and well themed. However, the ride quality is mediocre at best, and the operations were horrendous. When the park finally opened on this spring break Saturday, we quickly were greeted with three closed coasters: Superman, Rattler, and Tony Hawk. In Tony Hawk's case, they simply choose not to open that section of the park until two hours after the park gates open. I could be wrong, but Superman and Rattler seemed to be closed simply because of staffing issues or something. This left Poltergeist, Boomerang, and Road Runner open. With the three most popular coasters closed, that meant everybody was crowding the other three coasters. Boomerang was lined clear out of the entrance, so that was as good as a closed coaster to us. Furthermore, Scream was only running one tower, the sensors on Scooby Doo weren't working, and when Rattler finally opened, they were running only one train. It was just pathetic, especially for a Saturday during spring break. We were all incredibly annoyed by how poorly the park was run that day. So much to a point that we decided to just leave at 1:00 in the afternoon and go to SeaWorld, a park that was never even planned for the trip. The two most anticipated coasters in the park turned out to be two of the biggest disappointments on the entire trip. I expected Poltergeist to be just as intense as Flight of Fear, but instead was blown away by how tame the ride was. It really felt like a family looping coaster at times. Then, I had always heard how Superman was the best B&M floorless, but it didn't even approach living up to that reputation. The drop was cool and zero-g rolls are always fun, but the entire ride was just too drawn out and forceless. Out of the four I've been on, SKC definitely bottoms out the list. It was so disappointing. The entire day at the park was just a huge disappointment. I had my expectations, but none that were unrealistic. Theming-wise, the park far exceeded my expectations. Rides and operations, on the other hand, were nothing shy of underwhelming. It was really too bad. Thanks for reading and enjoy! Next update is SeaWorld San Antonio and a brief return to SFFT! We all gave a collective "yes" to SeaWorld, so we bid this place adieu. We'll be back, to give Superman a second chance. Until then, this is all for this update. Thanks for reading. SeaWorld Texas and a brief return to SFFT is up next. Well, Rattler was open, but one train operation = two hour line. It's Saturday. At some point, one of us said "Screw this, let's just go to SeaWorld. Do you guys want to?" I'll give another courtesy shot to Road Runner. It wasn't half bad. Given that Boomerang was still lined out the entrance, we headed towards Rattler. The ride looks absolutely monstrous. The park looks so nice. Definitely a unique setting. We were able to score the roller skater credit. I never knew that they had a custom version. YOU were supposed to be good, too! Why!? Norville? Messy? Bell bottoms? No ambitions? Did it ever occur to anybody else that Shaggy is a stoned hippie? We decided to waste twenty minutes of our time on this house of crap. Would have been cool if the sensors were working. Four in one shot. Gotta love these Gerstlauer spinners... Probably because it's the best ride in the park and there was nothing better to do. How are you so disappointing? Why? Scream (SFMM) kicked your socks off! Finally, they opened the boardwalk and we partook in the mad rush to Tony Hawk. Scream. One tower. Saturday. Lame name, cool paint scheme. We went and waited for the boardwalk to open, where you can tell this guy hates his job. This was possibly the best part and it's saving grace, minus the pretty cool drop. As mediocre as it is, you can't help but take pictures of the thing. This is not sarcastic in the least. Again, the park *looks* really nice. Cool theming everywhere... well, except Superman which was pretty bland. I just don't get it! It looks so good! The drop was cool, but the entire ride was so forceless and drawn out. We'd be back later to give it a second chance, but it would have to improve a whole lot to redeem itself. Such a disappointment. This ride was SOOO underwhelming. I've heard so much talk of this being the best B&M floorless, and I have no idea how that is possible. We diagnosed it with Thunder Dolphin Syndrome. It looks so freakin' good, but just doesn't deliver. Finally, at 11:30, they decided to open this thing! It seems like they just had staffing issues... on Saturday. I was definitely amazed by in depth SF went with this ride. I was impressed. On the way over to wait for Superman, we came across this cool themed log flume and decided to give it a whirl. After all, we had nothing better to do. Boomerang won a courtesy photo, and then we moved on to try and find something worthwhile. But wait! See all these people in front of Boomerang? Yeah, that's the line. So, with a line out the entrance, that's pretty much equal to Boomerang being closed right? Seriously, I have not been this annoyed with a SF park in years. So, half an hour after the park opened on a Saturday, the only open major coasters are Poltergeist, Roadrunner and Boomerang... Rattler at least started testing... half an hour after the park opened. It wouldn't actually open until about noon though. Don't lie, a small part of you enjoys lift hill shots as well. This ride was actually a little surprising for a mine coaster. Not too bad, but no Gold Rusher. Well hey, at least Roadrunner is open. So with Superman and Tony Hawk closed, we decided to head over to Rattler, but GUESS WHAT!?!? It's closed!!! It's Saturday!! Robby and I were in agreement with Tyler. "Meh." It was practically a launched, looping, family coaster... if that's even possible. Hey! Maybe THIS is what SFMM is getting next year!?!?!? Wow, Poltergeist was so underwhelming. I naturally figured that this would be just as intense as its indoor kin, but man, was I wrong. They had this on pansy mode. So, after Scream, being the Premier fanboys that we are, we hopped over to Poltergeist. With Superman down, we decided to head toward Tony Hawk, only to find that they don't open that area until freaking noon! IT'S SATURDAY! So instead, we knocked out Scream, which was only running one tower... Should I remind you guys what day it is? Cool path theming though. So, once they opened the gates, we immediately headed towards Superman, only to be greeted with empty trains just sitting on the track, with nobody in the station. Did I mention that it's Saturday? They were doing some testing early in the day. Umm... here is "Goliath." It does make the front of the park look kind of cool. Six Flags Fiesta Texas... it definitely looks nice from here.

^I'm probably the wrong person to talk to. The only small park we made it to was Belmont (which happens to be this update) and we enjoyed it. It was worth an hour or two. Thanks for the comments, guys! Glad you're enjoying it. And yeah, I must say, we were pretty lucky to come up with this idea and have it work out as well as it did. It was definitely an unbelievable experience. On to the update... Day 7: Belmont Park and Castles 'n' Coasters So, sadly, this would be our last day in SoCal. After crashing with Chris, we headed down to San Diego and met up with our friends Steven and Chelsea at Belmont Park. I thought it'd be cool to check out the Giant Dipper, given how old it is, and just see a little bit of San Diego. It was a cool little place. Definitely what I imagine when I think of a beachside amusement park. We were all really impressed with San Diego, too. It was quite possibly the nicest city on the trip. Giant Dipper was a lot of fun as well. Nothing thrilling, but I really enjoyed it. Just pure fun. After a couple hours in San Diego, it was time to check out from SoCal and head to Phoenix for the night, where we'd hit up Castles 'n' Coasters. If you simply walk around, Castles 'n' Coasters is a really cool, nice place, especially for a 'family fun center.' We started to get a little excited that this might be the gem of the trip, but our excitement was premature. The place *looks* nice, but it's a pit! The operations were unbelievable. At one point, we sat in the Desert Storm train for almost ten minutes, just waiting to be dispatched. If you've ever been on the ride, you know there is no momentum issue. The guy just didn't feel like starting it yet. Later, Robby and Tyler decided to do the Himalaya they have there, and I went to the bathroom. When I was finished, I walked back over to find that they hadn't even started the ride yet! I went ahead and hopped in with them. BUT, then there's the story that is the icing on the cake. Actually, no, it's the WHOLE FREAKIN' CAKE!! STORY TIME: So, while we were loading onto Patriot, there was a kid about our age that was dressed in regular street clothes, on the platform, having a conversation with the actual ride-op. The kid, let's call him George, then begins to check the lap bars, and the actual ride-op makes a comment about how George obvious misses "it." It can be assumed that he is referring to George working at the park. Fast forward fifteen minutes later... We are sitting in the train on Desert Storm, waiting for our lap bars to be checked, and again, George is there checking the restraints as the actual ride-op just sits Indian-style behind the controls. George finishes, then as the train is rolling out of the station, HE HOPS INTO THE TRAIN!! He is standing up in a car, leaning against the head rest as the train rolls out of the station and HIGH FIVES THE RIDE-OP!!! It isn't until a third of the way up the lift hill does he finally sit down and pull down a lap bar that apparently was left open simply for this purpose! Unbelievable! We were stunned. Unfortunately, we didn't catch it on camera. But yeah, that pretty much sums up how this park is run. Simply stunning! Anyway, it was an overall interesting day, to say the least. Thanks for reading and enjoy! SFFT is up next! This picture really shows the bizarre nature of the ride. Nice place, but horrible operations! It could be a really cool 'park' if they just got their junk together. This concludes this update. Thanks for reading! SFFT is up next! The ride was pretty short, but really unusual and had some sweet head choppers. For the record, they blatantly acknowledged our cameras and were perfectly fine with it. Honestly, I probably would have crapped a cinder block if they had a problem. If you haven't already, read my 'story' at the beginning of the TR to find out why. That's what sheer, straight-up terror looks like. Falling Ride of Death was the scariest freakin' ride on the trip. You slowly go up this rickety, shaky tower, and with a slight warning, you plummet down with the car making this rubbing, grinding sound. Then, at the very last second, you slam onto the brakes. Utterly terrifying. My life flashed before my eyes. Next, we tried the Falling Ride of Death, or something along those lines. So, the picture is blurry, but you have to admit, it was a slick idea. The palm trees were all really close to this thing. I think I got eight palm tree credits during my ride. Seeing how most of our whoring attempts thus far had been blown, we took advantage this time. The loops on this bad boy were both fairly bizarre. Lift hill shot!!! Except on this ride, the lift hill actually shook when the train got near the top. Hmm... The graphics on the trains look pretty cool. Lots of parks say stuff like this, but we didn't realize that we should actually be a little concernicus here. Desert Storm is the big attraction here, so naturally, we headed there first. We were all in agreement, this place *looks* really nice. Boy, were we deceived... Alright! Back to coaster pictures! We finally made it to Castles 'n' Coasters in Phoenix. While driving through AZ, this fine gentlemen at a border patrol checkpoint apparently thought we looked suspicious so he felt the need to drill us with questions. Yes sir, we are American citizens. Yes sir, we drove across the country for spring break. So yeah, we eventually figured out they were talking about a date, as in the fruit, but we still got cactus banana shakes that made our taste buds dance. Well crap, they are apparently world famous so we have to try them, right? Wait, what? Truth be told, we saw billboards for about fifty miles for this place and were slightly baffled. Robby and I decided we had to check it out to see what the scoop was. Tyler was obliviously sleeping in the backseat still. I take it back, I'd hate to break down out HERE. Hey look, Tyler sleeping. Imagine that... 200 miles, folks. 200 miles. I would sure hate to break down out here. This was the part of the drive to Phoenix where I popped tranny in neutral and coasted down a mountain for almost ten minutes straight. This was the bumper car showdown between Tyler, Robby, Chelsea, and Steven. Sadly, it was now time to check out from Belmont and the rest of SoCal, but we'll be back one day. Plus, we still have another park ahead of us today! Tyler is mildly retarded. Down near the beach, you can get a nice overall shot of the Giant Dipper. Behold!! The California Burrito! This thing had to have at least a pound of carne asada steak, with a ton of cheese, and get this... french fries in it. It was practically the most amazing thing I've ever put in my mouth. Well, if you don't count In-N-Out at least... or Pink Things. Yeah, this place really was RIGHT across the street from Belmont. Just an FYI, there is a minimum $5 purchase if you are using your 'devit' card. Our friends that we met up with that day took us across the street to Roberto's for lunch. It was a walk-up Mexican food place, and as our friend, Steven, said, "You know it's real Mexican if it's called 'Roberto's' or ends in '-erto's.'" We couldn't pass up the Flippy Wheel of Doom. Especially since they don't charge $7 for their's! coughvegascough I hadn't done these land bumper boats since I was probably 7! They were awesome! Is it bad that I find the crying kid in the bottom right to be pretty funny? I really liked the wrap-around first drop or whatever you want to call it. The entire ride was a lot of fun. Kind of a surprise actually. We encountered quite few woodies with these Morgan trains. I kind of liked them. This park really reminded me of the beachside scenarios on RCT. They had this cool model of the Dipper in the shop where you buy tickets. Anyway! After 15 minutes at the beach, we came back to find that all the rides had finally opened! That smile is the "hurry up and take the freakin' picture, my feet are turning to ice" smile. The Pacific would be the first of two major bodies of water that we'd encounter on the trip. You guys can probably figure out where all we're headin' during the rest of this trip now. Robby and I thought this was hilarious. There were a bunch of old ladies just wandering the beach with metal detectors. Not exactly how I envision my retirement, but if that's how you get your jollies, then awesome. From what I saw, I really liked San Diego. Most everything was pretty nice. Going to the Pacific has always been a bit of a goal of mine, so it was cool to finally make it. These morning test runs were pretty slow, but overall, it was looking like a pretty fun little coaster. However, we showed up a little early, so we strolled down to the beach for a short bit... They started their morning testing right as we pulled into the parking lot. So yeah, here we are... our final park in SoCal. **tear** There's what we're lookin' for. For some reason, I really wanted to come down and ride this 80 year old coaster. Plus, I thought it'd be cool to see a little bit of San Diego. Journey taunts us as we head to Belmont. Unfortunately we had neither the time nor the money to hit up SeaWorld San Diego on this cross-country trek. However, there is still another SeaWorld that we'll be passing by later in the trip Well look what we have over in the distance...

Scott, why do you rock so hard? Proceed on over to the DL update of my road trip thread and you will be graciously rewarded. And I'm going to have to second your notion that OG's Gotham City is the best. I, also, am yet to find better. Great TR, dude. Wish I could have made it out there with you guys!

Day 6: Disneyland So, we spent our final full day in SoCal at Disneyland. Like almost all of the parks, there was something that made me particularly look forward to each, and for Disneyland, it was the idea that I would finally be able to compare it with Magic Kingdom. As much as I love Magic Kingdom, I prefer Disneyland, despite it's puny castle. I just found that out of all the common rides, DL's versions were almost always better. Not only that, but I kind of liked how everything is so close together. Magic Kingdom feels a little spread out at times, while DL is just attraction, after attraction, right after attraction. This did, however, make the park feel pretty crowded at times. The place just had a special charm about it. I only had three complaints, but you'll have to check out the photos and their captions for those. Enjoy! Belmont and Castles 'n' Coasters are up next! And this concludes the Disneyland update. Thanks for reading! Next up, Belmont and Castles 'n' Coasters! On our way out, we caught the fireworks again, this time from the parking garage. It became a little too much for Tyler... The ride was pretty cool though. It amazes me that they built this back in '94. The theming for this ride was awesome. I wish they'd do an Indiana Jones ride with this much theming in FL. With Space Mountain notched, we headed into Adventureland to do the only remaining major ride left: Indiana Jones. Alright, so Cali Space Mountain definitely had the better ride experience. The theming was great and the music added a little something. However, I still have to say, from a coaster stand point, Florida's gets the nod. Wait, Dane! What was his name, again!? Ahh crap. NEVER FORGET JR RODRIGUEZ One of the few major rides left is Space Mountain. For the record, we did Thunder Mountain the night before, after Fantasmic. Sorry, no pictures of the superior DL coaster. Scott, if you are reading this, this is monorail shot #4. This update has seriously hooked you up. I'm expecting some sweet lift hill shots from your next TR in return. I'm talking something really slutty. Heck, I don't even know what ride this is, but it has a giant beached whale with a canal running through its mouth, so its automatically cool. I probably should have put this at the beginning of the TR, even though I took it at this point in the day. Hmm... Tyler looks a little miserable. That wind was brutal afterwards. The rapids enthusiast enjoyed it, as did most of us. I personally thought it was great... second only to Popeye and Bluto. Most of us kept fairly dry until a geyser at the end doomed us all. And to think, we thought we were safe. We were all pretty psyched about this thing... minus the whole "it's only 65 degrees out and windy" thing. We headed on over to DCA once again to get our Grizzly ride in... Hey look, there's another. I don't care how much they are, you have to get a Mickey ice cream bar when you go to Disney. I suppose that probably makes me a prime target for Seth Stevenson. Toontown was pretty cool! Our intention was to do a little whoring, but turns out, the little roller coaster had a 45 minute wait, so we settled with some Goofy water and Roger Rabbit fast passes. I guess they saw the light on my camera come on and all managed to get in the picture. Slick, guys! Who needs on-ride photos when Disney lets you bring your camera on the rides? I thought it was really cool how the entire ride was sculpted to like it really was ON the mountain. They run a ton of trains at once, but wait... Holy crap!! What is that? I didn't even mean to get that monorail shot! Excuse me, Matterhorn BOBSLEDS. Got it. Alright, I was excited for this. I didn't really know much of anything about the layouts of the Matterhorn coasters. Here, you see my only other problems with DL. First, half of the lines are simply made up of ropes that separate them from the actual pathways. Second, NEMO IS IN TOMORROWLAND!!! Tomorrowland just wasn't right. Look at those poor souls waiting seven hours to ride Nemo. Neat ride, but not worth that wait. I felt it was my duty to score a picture for TPR's token monorail enthusiast. Here you go, Scott! I might even have a few more up my sleeve before this update is over with. Next, we headed over to the most impressive looking ride in this picture. If we were in Florida, you'd be saying, "I didn't know the castle had a ride in it!?" ...Splash Mountain is RIGHT next to it! I mean, right there. It's crazy how crammed the DL attractions are. I kind of liked it though. And Splash Mountain was arguably my favorite ride at the park. I was stunned. Thunder Mountain probably has the edge though. The first ride of the day was Haunted Mansion, which was fun as always. One thing that is bizarre about it though, is how.... We headed over to Adventureland where, if you didn't know any better, you'd have no idea that a show goes on here at night and that they actually set the river on fire. I simply couldn't resist. On over to Disneyland... I hate to join the bandwagon, but the castle really is pathetic. And we also met up with Chuck for a little bit during the day! Apparently, this is DCA's "wienie." First thing on today's agenda is to grab some fast passes for Grizzly River since we didn't get on it the day before... RIP Mitch Hedberg. I want to call them sellouts, but they were sellouts all along. It's just that their previous sellout name was much cooler. Long live Arrowhead Pond. Yeah, I'm a dork, but I was sort of excited about seeing the LA river. I can't lie, I've always been under the impression that, unless you are in Beverly Hills or Newport Beach, all of metro LA is pretty janky. I never really saw this. This is taken from the spot where I locked my keys in my car at Dane's place. That was a fun night!

That should be the line of the month in the racing industry!

I definitely agree, but his interpretation is flawed. It seems like the article was intended to rip the public's view of Disney by pointing out that it's not the most amazing thing on earth. However, most of the time, it seems like he's ripping Disney for not meeting the public's view of being the most amazing thing on earth. Ginzo is right though, if he had written half the article in a less-douchey manner, it would have been a lot better. But instead, he wrote the article with this "I'm so much smarter than all of you, I'm not impressed with Disney" outlook and he just comes off as a pathetic, single male trying to find every flaw with Disney and feel superior for doing so.

Holy $%!!!! It costs fifty freakin' bucks to get into Magic Springs!!

Wait, Nazi-themed orgies aren't acceptable in society?

I've been meaning to catch up on reading this article but haven't made the time yet. I read most of the EPCOT segment, and though I've found it well written and fairly entertaing, it made it sound like the guy is just going there trying to rip the place a part. He seems to criticize every ride and concept as if there is no reason why people should be interested, and blasts the technology because it's not all up to date. Then he rips apart the World Showcase because it doesn't feel like you're stepping off a freaking plane or something into that actual country. It just annoyed me 'cause the guy just doesn't "get it." I don't care how lame those rides sound, when I was a kid, I still looked forward to each and every one of them. And to this day, the World Showcase is one of my favorites sections out of every Disney park I've been to. Why does it have to be spot on? It's a freakin' theme park in Florida. The whole article is about how everybody worships Disney, so he's going in (single and childless, mind you) with insane expectations as if every single detail should be perfect and the technology should be the top of the world. While it's a very interesting article, it just seems like his intent is to tear apart Disney and make people feel like suckers. I mean yeah, I can see how a single, childless adult wouldn't get everything, and that's kind of the basis of the article. It just seems at times he's trying too hard to shred the place. Granted, I'm basing this all off of the EPCOT section that I read and not the entire article.