Scaparri

Day 5- Part 2: Disney's California Adventure After finishing Knott's, we headed to DCA for the rest of the day. Again, I was really looking forward to it, simply because it seemed quite a bit different than other Disney parks. It actually had more similarities to Hollywood Studios than I expected, but only in certain sections. I was impressed with how Disney-ish they made it feel. I really liked the place, particularly at night though. It's a pretty spectacular atmosphere once dusk rolls around and the park lights up. Enjoy! Disneyland is up next! The riverboat came out, filled with dancing characters, at the end. This concludes day 5. Disneyland is next! I'm pretty sure I would have crapped a brick in my pants if I was a kid watching this. I definitely didn't expect them to set the freakin' river on fire. And when you come back the next day, you can't even tell a show took place here. Fantasmic was pretty cool. Later on in the trip, Robby and I came to the conclusion that being a pirate would be the ultimate. You get to float around on a boat all your life, swinging from ropes, shooting cannons, and treasure chests. DL's fireworks kicked the crap out of Magic Kingdom's. Mainly because it's like 20 minutes longer. They really know how to take something innocent and magical and make it devilishly creepy. Pretty much all Disney parks are pretty sweet at night. And it had this nifty Space Mountain model. I think there was a show or something in the building. We hopped, skipped, and frolicked the seven feet to Disneyland to catch the fireworks and Orgastic... err... Fantasmic. Dane and Chris took us into some build near the entrance. I don't even remember what it was, but that they had this cool mosaic in it. Hidden Mickey! DCA is definitely one of my favorite parks to be at at night. Night rides on Screamin' were glorious. This ride felt less "Disney" than any other in the park, but it still looks cool at night. While in line for giant orange, I remember getting annoyed at how every 'idiot' on the ride slammed their harness-bar up and down. Then, once I was on it, I found out they tell you to do that. DCA was cool during the day, but night time is when it becomes awesome. Night falls on DCA. We actually had fast passes for GRR, but it was a bit chilly out by the time we were able to ride. It'll have to wait 'til tomorrow. I liked this Mickey fountain. They need to make a full length Mickey Pixar film. We just briefly passed by the Pixar Play Parade on our way to use our ToT fast passes. I just want to establish that Finding Nemo is the best Pixar film ever. This train/store setup was really cool. Sometimes I wonder how Disney comes up with some of this stuff. Soarin' (EPCOT) = Soarin' Over California Nevertheless, it's a cool, relaxing ride. Tyler scores that elusive Sun Wheel POV. I can't lie, it was a lot more fun than expected. Robby and Chris look to be havin' a good time on the Sun Wheel. I am still slightly baffled as to why they built the ride like this. Height issues? Uh oh... empty train. I really enjoyed the ride. Nothing extremely thrilling, but it was lot of fun and had a much faster pace than expected. Tyler never misses an opportunity for a post-ride interview. Danes expresses his feelings on the ride. The Screamin' crew has the load process down like clockwork. A train full of riders dives down Screamin's biggest drop. Next, we headed to Screamin'. I wasn't really sure what to expect from this ride. It's always looked pretty tame. This was definitely my favorite area of the park. We didn't make it on Grizzly River Run today, though we would the next day. Tower of Terror is one of the few rides at Disneyland that isn't as good as its Florida counterpart. Still a fun ride though. It was cool to see some cast members actually acting the creepy part. It just never ends. At this point, I'm still in slight belief that I'm actually in California. I was starting to think I would never make it out here. Anyway, yeah, it's DCA time... You know how you can charge people to go to the bathroom in RCT? Yeah, places actually do that in SoCal... We stopped at a Burger King on our way to Disney from Knott's. I campaign they build all BK Lounges like this.

I think minute mark 1:25 sums up Circus Circus perfectly... trashy and creepy! Feel fortunate we didn't have to go through the rest of the casino! Sersiously though, my neck ached for the rest of the night after Manhattan Express. They need to ax that thing. Charging $14 for one ride should be illegal. Great vid as always, dude.

1. What do you find most useful about the front page? -It usually showcases the best of what's floating around TPR. 2. What do you find least useful about the front page? -Maybe older updates? I don't actually visit the front page that often though, so I'm probably not one to say. 3. Is anything on the front page confusing? -Not really. It's fairly straight forward in my opinion. 4. How far do you scroll down the front page looking for updates? -Usually just a tad to see if there is anything particularly recent that I might not have caught on the forums yet. 5. How often do you click on the "whatsnew" link? -I'm slightly embarrassed to say that I didn't even know what exactly it consisted of until you asked this question and I clicked to find out. 6. What would you like to see added to the front page to make your visits to TPR better? -Again, I don't actually go to the front page as much as I probably should anymore, so I don't really have complaints. I've always thought it was nice and simple though. 7. Anything else you would like to mention? Like any thing else you would like to see us add/change/etc? -The special features sections seems a little out of place. Would it be possible to do three columns on the front page? Would that make it look too cluttered?

^Yeah, I was wondering if anybody would catch that. I changed out of the first shirt for, umm, an unusual issue. I changed out of the second shirt because it was starting to really cool off so I went with a long sleeve shirt and the zip-up hoodie. Day 5- Part 1: Knott's Yet again, I wasn't sure what to expect. I had heard nothing but smack about this park, but it never looked that bad to me, even for a CF park. While there were definitely some downfalls (one train op on SB, Ghostrider kinda sucked, Boomerang and Riptide blew, PP was down) I was impressed by the actual atmosphere of the park. I really wasn't expecting much theming at all, but it was definitely there... all over the place actually. I'm sure CF had nothing to do with this, but still made the park look really good. Xcelerator met all my expectations, which were pretty freakin' high, and Montezooma was definitely the sleeper hit. I had no idea it was possible to be that much better than Greezed Lightnin'. Overall, we had a pretty good time at the park and actually finished after three hours. Enjoy! DCA is up next. After three hours, we owned KBF, and it was time to head to DCA. Overall, I enjoyed the park. This random dancing alligator reminded me of something Indiana Beach would have... They need to do more of these Stengel dive-turn-thingamajigs. I actually really enjoyed Silver Bullet. It was one of the worst B&M inverts I've been on, but then again, the worst B&M invert is still a pretty good ride. Yeah, I seriously geek out over lift hill shots. Overall, it wasn't THAT bad, but it wasn't really good either. Plus, I rode on a non-wheel seat. Tyler opted for the wheel seat and said that it was the worst coaster he's ever ridden. It was time to meet our doom. I had heard a lot of bad things about this ride. Speaking of which, here's a Pony Express photo I forgot to add earlier in the TR. There is so much going on in such a small area. For some reason, half the park is jam-packed with rides, and the other half only has Ghostrider, the Screamin' Swing, and Pony Express. I spy 10. Ugh... anybody else in favor of starting a support group for those who have been sterilized by Rip Tide? This ride was terrible. For getting so much flack, I was surprised how nice most of KBF was. It definitely didn't really feel like a CF park to me, though I'm sure the things that made it feel that way weren't CF's doing. Chris or Dane pointed out these two don't really seem to go together. "You know what? %&$# it! Let's just make it an elevated train for a couple hundred feet!"- Zierer Jaguar was an interesting family coaster, to say the least. The real reason is because you get fudging ejected in the back seat on the rear spike! Montezooma made me realize that Greezed Lightnin' blows something wicked. I thought it was just because Montezooma was supposed to have a better launch than Greezed Lightnin' and it doesn't brake you on the return trip... I was kind of right. Kind of... Chris and Dane seemed fairly excited for this one. They kept the biggest reason why a bit of a secret... We were pretty bummed... Perilous Plunge didn't want to play today We gave the Log Jammer a try. Why must all logs on flumes smell like a high school locker room? It looks nice, but wow, this one was a lot worse than any other Boomerang I've been on! Dane originally wasn't going to ride Boomerang and changed his mind. Afterwards, I understood why. Gotta love the RCT canvas station... That launch was such a rush. I can only imagine what Dodonpa must feel like. Plus, that top hat left me out of my seat for like three seconds. Yeah, you'll notice the Christmas tree isn't quite timed up with the launch. That's ok though, 'cause Xcelerator kicks the crap out of TTD. Dane and Chris' turn! Robby is about to catch comedic gold. Copy and paste the following link and wait for the 2:20 mark to come around on the first video: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=42626 Tyler was really hittin' it off with his riding partner, Mantis Woman. Xcelerator was quite possibly the most anticipated coaster in SoCal. Word on the streets is that this has the most intense Intamin launch. The main event, boys and girls... Knott's won 50 cool points because they play a Nickel Creek song for the theme music in Bullet's station. If you know Nickel Creek, then you're mandolin-rockin' awesome. A storm is a brewin' o'er yonder... Next up was Silver Bullet. Again, yet another ride that I was particularly looking forward to. Seriously though, the drop left something to be desired. Is B&M losing their touch? Chris and Dane load up in the goofy lookin' Mack trains. It was a fun ride, but no Gerstlauer spinner! First ride of the day was Sierra Sidewinder. I hadn't heard much of anything about this, so I wasn't sure what to expect. We went to Knott's during the first half of the day before heading over to DCA. I have to be honest, I was really looking forward to this place. It's another park that gets trashed so much and I've never really seen what is so bad about it. We crashed for a few nights at GotDane's place. The main street of his town look like something out of a movie. Plus, it had a coffee shop that makes Starbuck's look like dirt-flavored tap water.

^ Yeah, I was mainly referring to the fact that I was finally getting to coaster related pictures. The entire north half of the strip is a crap hole. They pretty much need to destroy anything north of the Wynn!

Day 4: SFMM! After staying the night in Stevenson Ranch, got up bright and early and headed for the most anticipated park of the trip: Six Flags Magic Mountain. I'll spare you guys of all the details, but we had an awesome day at the park! After hearing so many bad things about the place for so long, I was really stunned by how nice it was. Out of the seven current SF parks I've been to, it's my personal favorite (though not the "best"). The park had a really cool setting with its placement on the mountain, and the ride selection was stellar. We were pretty surprised that almost all of the coasters exceeded our expectations, at least mine. The big surprise of the day was Riddler's Revenge. We were all blown away by it. It is definitely one of the best B&Ms I've ever been on and by far the best ride in the park. Well, I'll leave the description at that and let the photos and captions tell the rest of the story. Overall though, it was an amazing day. Enjoy! Unfortunately, this concludes our day at the Mountain. Thanks for reading. Knott's and DCA are up next! Goliath's entrance almost looks kind of creepy. The Goliath crew was really movin' fast that night! I've heard through the grape vine that Jahan showed them how it's done. My slightly stuck lens cover made this Scream train shot look kinda cool. The night ride on Scream was even better. You couldn't see the parking lot! The same can be said for myself. Such an amazing ride. Have I said that enough yet? Riddler re-rides pleased Robby. Naturally, we headed straight to Riddler, which had an empty station. After dinner, it was back to the park for some night rides. Yeah, there's a reason I've never heard anything bad about these burgers. I'm going through withdrawal as I make this TR. Heck yes! It was finally time to see what the scoop is with this In-N-Out stuff. We caught one more ride on Tatsu before heading out for dinner in Stevenson Ranch. It could have been a fun ride, but those horrible restraints ruined it. Revolution was really the only disappointment of the day. This view was awesome. Tatsu looks ginormous from the bottom of the mountain. And look who I ran into when our Ninja train came back into the station! Jahan was crackin' the whip around Samurai Summit! It was good to see you again, dude. After being down for the first half of the day, Ninja opened. Yet again, I was stunned. Going by what other people had said, I expected it to be the best suspended coaster I'd been on, but that doesn't really require a whole lot. Ninja pretty much destroyed the field. Check out that hot lift hill action. If it were up to me, every sit down looper would be floorless. That whip was pretty sweet. Can't they throw some sand or gravel down on top of the parking lot? Anything would make it look better. Heck, paint the pavement green! I must say, this was the only part of the park I didn't care for. It just didn't seem like they tried at all. I still loved Scream though. There was a decent sized lizard roaming the Scream line Parking lot coaster or not, I was really psyched about trying this ride out. Goliath really makes "Colossus" look pretty pathetic. I loved the tropical theming. It's generic for a reason, and that reason is because it's still a really cool shot. I have no idea what the point of this tree is, but I thought it was cool in a random sort of way. I loved Viper. It has what is easily one of the greatest drops I've ever experienced. It's a little on the jerky side, but is still a great ride if you know how to brace yourself. Viper **In the reflection of the freakin' Panda Express window!** I've hit a new low... *thinks to myself* "Why must it be closed when I finally make it out here!?" My day will come. "Holy crap... what just happened?" We were all expecting a fairly tame coaster, but this thing was quite surprising. Neither does Tyler, as he is obviously in deep thought after that stunning ride on Riddler. Robby doesn't seem to be expecting much from Gold Rusher. I bet you've never seen this view before I just want to throw out there that this is personally my favorite Batman paint scheme. After our amazing ride on Riddler, we headed over to get the Batman credit. Riddler gave a fairly intense ride, had great pacing, and an awesome layout. It set the bar pretty high for the rest of the coasters on the trip. Why do we not hear more about this thing? We were blown away! What a freakin' ride! Honestly, this might be the best B&M I've ever been on. With Deja Vu closed, we headed straight toward Riddler's Revenge. We had no idea what was in store... After Tatsu, we headed straight for Deja Vu, however it was down, and remained so for the rest of the day. We weren't too heart broken though. Actually, the rest of the rides in the park pretty much made us forget it even existed, especially since it's so tucked away in a corner. Here's an artsy one for ya'll. I'm a die hard lift hill enthusiast. The placement of this thing is awesome, as with many of the SFMM coasters. First up, Tatsu! I really enjoyed the ride. It definitely kicked the crap out of the SUF clones. Yeah... everybody has seen it, but when you see it for the first time in person, you can't help but take a picture of it yourself. Next year... next year. This ride looks so awesome. Fortunately, it's not very visible throughout most of the park so I didn't have to think about not riding it too much! X2 looks really good with it's new paint. It's hard to notice the real color of the supports with my camera. I really like the charcoal color though. Wow! It's 9:30 and the park doesn't open until 10:30! We draw near! Just out of curiosity, has the park ever actually been called Six Flags California? I've waited to see this sign for years...

Far and away, Riddler's Revenge is my favorite. Nothing really touches it in my opinion. 2. Goliath 3. Scream! 4. Tatsu 5. Viper or Ninja

You are a winner! We should have had three boomerangs actually, but for reasons that will be explained later in the TR, SFFT's was lined out the entrance and we weren't about to wait for it. UPDATE! Day 3: Vegas! So, we woke up bright an early in Albuquerque because we had quite the day ahead of us. I was pretty stunned when we walked out of the hotel in the morning. Turns out our hotel overlooked most of the city, we were surrounded by mountains, and the New Mexico Rattler was about a half mile down the road. Of course, if it was their operating season, we would have planned to ride it. But, it wasn't, so we didn't. Anyway, the plan for the day was to drive to Vegas, hit those rides as fast as possible, and then head to L.A. in hopes of hitting up Scandia and PacPark if time allowed, since both are open late. Unfortunately, a major snow storm in the Flagstaff area and almost two hours of barely-moving traffic at Hoover Dam killed our Scandia/PacPark hopes. An hour's worth of traffic from a wreck right across the Cali state line. Vegas was great though, as always. I wish we had more time to spend there, but I think we'll probably budget a little more if we decide to do another cross-country trek next year. I sat out on the Strat rides because I did them a few years ago and didn't really care to spend the money on them. Speed was great like usual. Canyon Blaster was quite surprising. I definitely don't remember it being as fast and intense as it was. Honestly, it gave Speed a run for it's money in my eyes. I had high hopes for Manhattan Express since it received new trains after my last visit. Unfortunately, it was more brutal than I remember. However, Robby discovered that if you lean your head a bit forward, it's actually not so bad. He didn't share this info with me until about halfway through the ride though, so it was already ruined for me. We had hopes of riding Desperado but we didn't get out of Vegas until 8:30 and found out the ride closed at 6. I was a bit disappointed, but at the same time, I didn't care too much because, hell, we were going to SFMM the next day! Enjoy the pics! SFMM will be the next update! The rest of the camp had mixed reactions... SFMM is up next! This face sums up my feelings on my decision to spend $14 on giving the ride another try. The sign says Manhattan Express, the painting is of Viper, but the ride's official name is "The Roller Coaster." Nice. It definitely has one of the coolest settings for a coaster. Manhattan Express time! I'm glad I'm spending my $14 towards such a quality attraction! Seriously though, it looks like one of those rides that should be so much fun. Such a tease... Lady Liberty welcomes us to NY, NY... Casino. The Paris is my personal favorite casino in Vegas, but unfortunately, we didn't have the time to stop in. We had jaws to break! Wastin' away again in... I love Chaos', but not for $7! I'd rather pay twice that for terrible rides on the south end of the boulevard! Kind of a crappy photo, but I still thought it was cool. Canyon Blaster sports Drachen Fire trains with pimp paint on them. For the most part, the ride is actually fairly smooth! Next in line on the Strip was the Adventuredome. Seriously, why pink though? I don't have a male complex, but the color on the entire building is just hideous! The coaster inside is a lot of fun though... It's expensive, but the best ride on the Strip. And then goes through this little section, where it feels like you get a rocket strapped to your ass. Whip around the building, up the spike, and do it in reverse. Most of you probably already knew all that. Then it goes through some Derek action... That train gets whipped through this overbank at some speed that feels faster than advertised... Mhmm, check out that Premier goodness. I will argue that these are the best looking non-custom coaster trains with any fellow coaster nerds who want to contest that notion. I know this ride looks and sounds pretty lame, but it's actually pretty freakin' sweet. Vegas' main event is fortunately just a block down from the Strat. The Strat was my abode during my only other visit to Vegas so it was cool to go back. Unfortunately for the wombmates, Insanity was down due to winds that day. I bid these guys adieu. I didn't care to pay the money for the rides again, nor did I care to eleven freaking bucks to go up the tower. So, I just stayed in the casino and celled some honeys. That's how I roll. Tyler is excited to tryout the Strat rides. Alright, here you go kiddies. The good stuff. Here is a dam picture for all you dam enthusiasts. We were stuck in dam traffic for about two hours. Apparently, Hoover Dam is the only way to Vegas from AZ. Yeah, it got bad. I haven't seen weather like this since I moved out of Indiana at the beginning of the year. Robby is all "What the heck? We're in Arizona!" Welcome to the West. I promise, I'll get to some coaster pictures shortly. Remember how I said Tyler was only awake for 200 miles of the trip? I'm tellin' you, that's not far from the truth. Taking pictures of Tyler asleep became a hobby for Robby and I. Hooray!! 4th new state credit of the trip! Just amazing... New Mexico was my favorite state to drive through during the trip... well, at least northern New Mexico. Outside of Vegas, I had never really been out West, so landscapes like this were completely new to me. "How come every time I come around my London, London Bridge wanna go down"... Yes, we know how to boogie to crappy music in the morning.

Unfortunately, I've missed both GPs so far because of spring break, but it's good to see Nico Rosberg doing so well. I'm a long-time Williams fan. I'm so bummed that the USGP isn't returning this year. It wasn't the greatest circuit, but the race was still a lot of fun to go to. 2007 was definitely the best of the four I went to. Hopefully the race will come back in the not too distant future.

^^Ha, yeah, I totally acknowledge that. I still felt it necessary to throw it in there though. But yeah, I found SFOT's Freeze to be a little rougher. They are both still so awesome though. I love those things.

Awesome vids, Tyler. I feel like SFOT was a month ago. Such an awesome park though. I'm lookin' forward to the next videos.

Part 2: SFOT (Day 2), bizarre closed coasters, and driving to Albuquerque So, we headed back to SFOT to ride Mr. Freeze and get a few re-rides in. We successful did both, and then took off for our hotel in Albuquerque that night. During our drive to Albuquerque, we found out that the wild West doesn't believe in gas stations. We drove over 40 miles on E. We all collectively crapped bricks thinking we were going to run out of gas in the middle of nowhere. It was during this time that we also found out that tumbleweeds actually exist. This was discovered when I obliterated one that rolled in front of my car on the interstate. Fun times. Enjoy! Whoa! Tumbleweeds DO exist!!! Umm, yeah... my tank is only 15 gallons. This is why you tell the little sticker on the pump to go to hell and top off anyway. After driving 40+ miles on E, we finally found civilization!! Let's go clean our pants now! I don't even need to say anything... So bizarre... if only it were open. We drove a few miles out of the way just to see this thing in person. Hopkins must have been on some good stuff when he thought up this ride... Texans aren't big on gas stations, but dammit, do they love their porn... Apparently, the country is becoming over populated... While driving through the middle of nowhere, TX, we stopped at a gas station that was the only sign of civilization. There was a random dog just standing on top of a truck, staring us down. What!? They have QTs in Texas!? Heck yes! We're in Jack in the Box territory now! Goodbye Titan... see ya next year. Seriously though, forget Titan... forget Freeze... Forget Runaway Mountain. The main event is the Pink Thing! Cherry ice cream on a stick for $2. How often do you find anything for $2 at a SF park!? I wish they had these at all SF parks! Robby has another joygasm because Roaring Rapids is open today! Now I'm going all artsy on you guys. Seriously! This ride may be really short, but it packs one heck of a punch. The mid-course drop is ludicrous. Some more Batman goodness. Mmmm, yes. The trains fly through that overbank. Jackpot!! There it goes! Back at SFOT, waitin' for the gates to open, hoping that Freeze is open.

So, a few months ago, my buddies Tyler (CTU Agent), Robby (BamaRob21), and I started discussing what we should do for spring break. After contemplating trips to Texas, Missouri, and Virginia, Robby said, "Why don't we just go to California?" And so our crazy road trip was born. In 10 days, we drove 5000 miles to LA and back, hitting every open amusement park on the way. I just want to say thanks to everybody that helped us out and who met up with us on the trip. We all really appreciate it. Day One: SFOT (Part 1) & Speed Zone Day Two: SFOT (Part 2) Day Three: Vegas Day Four: Six Flags Magic Mountain Day Five (Part 1): Knott's Berry Farm Day Five (Part 2): Disney's California Adventure Day Six: Disneyland Day Seven: Belmont Park & Castles 'n' Coasters Day Eight: No update. Driving day. Day Nine (Part 1): Six Flags Fiesta Texas Day Nine (Part 2): SeaWorld Texas and SFFT return Day Ten: Kemah Boardwalk Special Update! CTU Agent has an accident! Part 1: SFOT (Part 1 as well) and Speed Zone We took off at the crack of dawn so that we could hit up SFOT during the latter half the afternoon and hopefully knock out some credits since we only had a short time the next day (Saturday). The park was dead! With the exception of Mr. Freeze, which was down, we got every credit! This park really is the "best overall" SF park in my opinion. The rides selection is solid and the theming is great. The only real disappointment was Texas Giant. My first ride was in the second to last seat, and though it was fairly rough, I really enjoyed it. My second and last ride was in the very last row, and it was easily the worst coaster ride I've ever had in my life. The jackhammering was so bad that I was screaming in awful pain. I'm quite stunned that Shapiro hasn't given it the ax yet. Overall though, it was a great day and a great park. Later that night, we intended to do the SCAD Tower in Dallas, but it was closed, so we went across the street for some friendly, violent go-kart racing/bashing. Enjoy! *Race Faces* before our showdown. And yeah, I let them know how it is Yeah, I'm that fast. Kimi Raikkonen doesn't have jack on this. Now THESE are some serious go-karts. "America is all about speed... hot, nasty, bad ass speed." While moping over the SCAD tower being closed, we look across the street at the Speed Zone and Tyler informed me that he could stomp me in go-karts. For those of you that really know me, you know those are fightin' words. Devastation followed. This is was twisted awesomness looks like. SuperDallas Hmm, something is missing here... Holy crap! Oil Derrick is actually open! There is so much good and so much evil in this picture. Robby, a closet rapids enthusiast, joygasmed over Roaring Rapids. Unfortunately, it was also down that day. Best large S&S tower. All in favor? We'll get to you tomorrow, Freeze. Gotham City overlook. Yeah, that's the best caption I have. Flashback was definitely the better of the two Boomerangs we rode on the trip. Plus, it provides some sweet aerial shots. Texas Chute Out is always worth a ride when at the park. We tried to whore ourselves out, but Wile E. wasn't having it. See... All SF parks should strive to be like SFOT in my opinion. Seriously, the need to either invest a LOT of time and money into this ride, or douse it with gasoline and let the highest bidder throw the match. Texas Giant **Through the trees!** Here's one for you coaster perverts. During my last visit in '05, I was really underwhelmed by this ride. However, we were quite stunned this time around! It's not an airtime machine, but it's one intense coaster. Titan looms in the distance. Fortunately, the hype wasn't excessive. They were in full agreement. Seriously, why doesn't nobody talk about this awesome little coaster? I hyped up Runaway Mountain quite a bit to these guys. Most underrated coaster in Texas. It's fellow Gotham City inhabitant was alive and well though. Look at it! I maybe a total Premier fanboy but look at it! Unfortunately, it was closed today. Cool sign leading up to the parking lot. SFOT! Is there a better skyline outside of CP? Robby, on the other hand, is a different story. Therefore, he won all-time shot gun privileges. This would be Tyler's theme throughout the trip. I'm pretty sure he only saw about 200 miles of 5000 we traveled. If competitive sleeping was an Olympic event, he would medal. When you're about to start of journey of this nature, a pre-trip photo is necessary. Tyler seems to disagree.

I'm in as Scaparri. Hopefully I'll be able to make my bracket before the tourney starts. I'm gonna be on a road trip from the 14th through the 24th so I'll have limited internet access.

That pretty much sums this whole thread up. Is the extra $3 for a new cup really that brutal? Seriously, I didn't even know people brought them back after one visit. Actually, I didn't even know you could bring them back after one visit.

^^Typhoon Lagoon's wave pool also only does one wave at a time. The theming at this place is ridongculous. I can't imagine what the price tag would be if a place like this were built in the U.S.

Nice! Sounds like a sweet event. At this point, I am definitely interested.

While I can understand some of your view points, I feel like you're stretching your argument a bit. The POV pictures you compared are taken completely out of context. For instance, your comparison between the norwegian loop and the snake dive. Yeah, you pinpointed a section where the twisting of the track is kind of similar, but the nature of the inversions are completely different. None of the inversions on either ride are similar. Yes, the first drop is a "modified" version of SR's vertical degree drop. However, I think beyond vertical drops feel nothing like straight vertical drops. It's a unique experience. Lastly, I don't think I even need to argue the "ending" comparisons. Again, the nature of the two are nothing alike. I'm sure others, and maybe you, think I'm stretching things. Maybe. But again, this is just for fun debate.

Let's make this a theme... "Sweetest Thing"- U2

Wow, that's lookin' awesome! If Holiday World is looking to enter the steel coaster market, they need to do something like this. Hell, any park in the U.S. needs to do something like this!

Since I'm a champion procrastinator, I thought I'd procrastinate my homework and finally do some of the beer TR's I've been procrastinating. A week and a half ago, I went to ATL and spent the weekend drinking with Joe. It was a serious good time, and he hooked me up with some awesome new beers to take home and try. Thanks again, dude! Simply amazing. It's such an incredibly full, complex beer with great malty flavors. It reminds me of soft red wines in the way that it has a really strong, amazing taste that goes down sooo smooth, despite it's 10% ABV. Definitely my favorite beer to date. Yeah, it's like that... Lastly, to celebrate the open-wheel racing unification last Wednesday, I enjoyed a St. Bernardus Abt 12, which I was sure wouldn't disappoint after having the special edition the previous weekend. It didn't disappoint! I was very much surprised. It had a good malt flavor that was capped off with some really nice floral notes. Judgment time... I can't lie, I was a little nervous about trying this one, because it was quite possibly the worst smelling wheat beer I've ever had. The last beer I had with an aroma like this one turned out to be extremely disappointing. Next is Heavy Seas "Hang Ten" Unfiltered Wheat, a weizen dopplebock from Clipper City Brewery. I enjoyed it a lot. The first few drinks had an average malt flavor, which was good, but it didn't set itself apart. However, as it warmed up, the malt flavors really grew strong and made me wish I had taken more time to drink it! I wish I had another. Definitely a solid doppelbock. First up is the Celebrator Doppelbock from Ayinger Brewery.

^Says the guy who is scared of pretzel loops. That's actually one of the things I love about that ride. They seem to do something different every time. I've never heard the same taunt twice. My favorite is still, "You ARE the weakest link... goodbye!"

Well, crowds on a saturday are never going to be good. That's pretty much a given, with the exception of the early weekends in May in which the crowds are like a July weekday at best. Sundays usually aren't very bad at all. Often, they are actually one of the least busiest days of the week. Memorial Day (Monday) is hit or miss. A lot of parks advertise that they actually aren't that busy that day. The one time I was there, again, it was a lot like a July weekday, so it was busy, but by no means 4th of July busy.

^ Well, it's smooth for the Cyclone! It's still bumpy and has one or two bone jarring moments, but overall, it's MUCH better than it used to be. It's the first time I ever walked off the ride without any pain in my body. Now if they'd just take off that trim! Ha, yeah, about that... I transferred... again. But yeah, I'm at the University of Alabama now. It's pretty sweet. Definitely the favorite out of my collection. Ross, I'm glad we're seeing eye to eye on this! The other guys give me crap 'cause they are immune, while I scream my head off as if I'm getting stretched in a rack. That thing is awesome. It's a shame they haven't caught on more. Thanks for all the compliments, everybody! Glad you guys liked it. However, the majority of the photo credits and pretty much all of the video credit should go to Tyler and Robby!

UGLIEST. WOMAN. EVER. But her family is pretty freakin' awesome, and I'm sure she's nice.