nay

I saw Next to Normal when it played Off-Broadway last year but haven't seen it on Broadway yet, so I'm not sure how much of it has changed. I thought it was decent, but some of my friends liked it a lot more than I did. Only a few of the songs stood out to me - I don't remember "I'm in Love", but "I'm Alive" is a good choice, I think.

I hit my head quite frequently in different modes on transportation. 9 times out of 10 it will be getting a bag out of the overhead compartment on a plane. I also have managed to do that on trains, usually just by standing up and not paying attention. Car doors are not my friend either.

Well, I guess it was bound to happen someday - Sadly, Avenue Q will play its last performance on Broadway on September 13. At least it had a good run! It's been a while since I've seen it, but I'll have to try and go one more time this summer. And I also just read that The Little Mermaid will be closing on August 30. That show had some flaws, but I actually liked it a lot! Oh well.

Elvis isn't dead. He just went home.

Glad to see that your luggage finally arrived. Awesome TR as always! Can't wait to see the rest!

I have this on my DVR and will hopefully watch it today. Chess has some awesome music in it! I saw a concert a few years back, which sounds like it should be similar to the one shown on PBS - Adam Pascal and Josh Groban were in it, too. Julia Murney and Sutton Foster played the female leads though, and they were fabulous.

Ghostrider at Knott's - Waited about 30 minutes, we were next to board, and then it broke. I was stubborn and insisted on waiting, just because I needed the credit and didn't know when I'd be back there. Probably waited another 30 minutes for it to start running again, and of course the ride itself was just brutal. It was also over 100 degrees that day. The longest I've waited was probably 2 hours for Kingda Ka, only because my brother wanted to.

I haven't kept count of the number of rides, but if I had to guess, I would say Expedition Everest. Certainly not the best coaster out there, I know, but for some reason I ended up riding it a lot the first year it opened. And it's still a fun ride, even with the broken yeti!

Whoever was in charge of the sound for the Tony Awards telecast last night should be fired. But other than that, I found the show to be mostly enjoyable. NPH was a great host, though I wish he would have appeared more throughout the broadcast. His closing song was hilarious! Billy Elliot is a terrific show and I was happy to see that win - but I would have picked another song to perform, maybe "Solidarity". The performances from the cast of Hair, in the opening number and in the title song from the show, were my absolute favorites. However, this might be the best moment of the night... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IKC88I7hNg

GAdv will definitely be crowded on a weekday, even in July. I would recommend getting the Flash Pass if you want to ride everything. El Toro and Nitro lines move pretty quickly, even if they appear to be long. Roughest coasters would be Scream Machine and Rolling Thunder. I agree about Kingda Ka being rough in back seats. Go for the front for sure. I generally don't care for the food there, but they have places like Johnny Rocket's, Nathan's, Panda Express, Papa John's, and Cold Stone. And they do let you get a free cup of ice water if you ask. Have fun!

I also got an email this morning with a lovely "Skip the Line" pass good through July 15. I'll probably go to GAdv at least once this month so that will come in handy.

Got a 16/20 with lots of guessing.

KK looked like it was running around 5:30 today. The line was really long though, as was El Toro's. I don't know how often they update the board in front of the park, but when I left shortly after 6, KK, ET and Superman were all listed as being closed. Superman definitely looked like it wasn't running at that point.

"I Got Life" from the new Broadway cast recording of Hair. SO good!!

^I agree. Fiddler is a classic old-school Broadway musical, while Legally Blonde is obviously more modern, so it depends on what you'd prefer. Fiddler has some lovely songs, but can also get kind of long and boring. LB is definitely more fun and upbeat.

Just wanted to pop into this thread and remind everyone that the new Broadway cast recording of Hair will be released tomorrow on iTunes. I managed to get a copy of it early from a friend, and it is *awesome*! I can't stop listening to it. I seriously have an obsession with this show now, and even saw it again yesterday. There's no doubt in my mind that it will be winning the Tony Award for musical revival. If you're in NYC, go see it!!

Awesome TR! Monster Mansion looks great. I'm really looking forward to visiting this park on the Deep South trip!

Bizarro looks great!! I always really liked Medusa but I'm excited to check this out, hopefully at some point within the next month. Nice TR!

Aww, that's great - congrats!!

I saw Green Day earlier this week at Webster Hall in NYC. It was amazing to see the band up close in such a small venue. They played several songs from their new album and quite a few random old songs. It was a blast!!

I loved Glee! Really looking forward to seeing more of it in the fall. I hope it does well! The musical performances were great.

Damn, I was really hoping for Adam to win. I don't have any problems with Kris, but Adam is simply amazing. I have no doubt that he'll have a great career ahead of him no matter what. I hate myself for being so addicted to this crappy show!

I guess the rides they take you on may vary, if one of those attractions is closed, for example. We didn't ride in the Lilly Belle on the tour - Not sure why, but I did have a chance to ride it another day by just asking if it was available. I can't remember exactly, but I'm pretty sure there were two time slots for the tour. One was in the morning and the other in the afternoon. I went with the morning one, and it started at 9:30am, on a day that the park opened at 10am.

I took the Walk in Walt's Footsteps tour last year and thought that it was totally worth the money. I'm a huge Disney fan and learned quite a bit about the park. I would recommend booking the earliest time possible, as you get to walk around Main Street before the crowds take over. We got to go on the Jungle Cruise, see the Enchanted Tiki Room show, rode the DL Railroad, and went briefly inside the lobby of Club 33. The tour ended with a nice lunch in a little seating area on Main Street. A souvenir pin is also included with the tour. I don't know if you'll have time, but another tour that I *loved* is the Segway tour around California Adventure. Have fun!

Great photos! The Haunted Mansion is probably my favorite Disney attraction. It was interesting to read and see more about Phantom Manor - thanks for sharing!