Rob562

I haven't gone through all the posts again, but did anything in the press release say that it's specifically the heartline roll that's being worked on? Or is that just conjecture on peoples' parts? The only thing i've read is "three sections of track after the launch tunnel". Could the three sections in question be the left-hand turn coming out of the tunnel? That turn will definitely get the full force of the 70MPH launch. And watching the on-ride animation, it almost seems like there's an odd shift to the right before it banks into the left turn (though that might be a trick of the animation). As this will be my first trip to CP, I don't know the layout very well. Are both the heartline and the end of the launch tunnel visible from the midway? It'll be interesting to see exactly which three pieces are removed. -Rob

What if they altered it so that they take out the inversion and the trains roll from one direction to the other *above* the track. So it becomes a hard right-turn followed immediately by a hard left-turn. (or vice versa, I'm a bit lost on the direction of travel in the pic). -Rob

Already got 'em a couple years back. I was planning on hitting the family coaster at the Palisades Mall on the way home from this trip. But now I need another... -Rob Edit: I think I found it... There's a Fiesta Express north of Pittsburgh that's only 2.5 miles off the highway along our route to Sandusky. Hmmm.. That's a wicked 8' tall lift-hill... The things I do to make my coaster list interesting.

Join the club. My friends and I are taking a road trip out to CP in two weeks for our first visit ever. Although I'm not HUGELY broken up about it (nor will my friends), I'm still a little disappointed that I won't get to ride. I thought that by avoiding opening weekend and going the second weekend we might miss any minor glitches in Maverick's opening. Guess it took a bit more than a minor glitch... But we'll have a great time despite it being closed. Lots of other fun stuff to do across two full days in the park. Heck, we were supposed to go last September but ended up cancelling because of a forecast of thunderstorms all weekend. So we would have missed Maverick anyway. They're actually very accommodating, as long as they have availability and you're re-booking rather than cancelling. When we cancelled our trip last September, they were willing to waive the $50 fee if we re-booked for a date this year. We decided not to re-book at that time, it was only $50 split by four people. This year we first booked at Hotel Breakers, but then decided to save money by changing to Lighthouse Point. They gladly changed the reservation (though the first operator I spoke to didn't know how to do it and needed to ask for help). Oh well. Now I have to find TWO additional new coasters to ride to make Expedition Everest my 150th... -Rob

Now, if only they could bring back the rotation of the mirror maze it'd REALLY go well with the adjacent Wipeout. A Huss Frisbee would be a great addition to the park. That area is really barren-looking without the Galaxi being there. (And the plopped-down look of the Skater doesn't help) Any word on whether they're buying it new or used? (Am I mixing things up in my head, or didn't SFGAdv recently get rid of theirs?) -Rob

Well, my friend Erik was in-town visiting, so we (me, Brian and Erik) decided to head to Canobie Lake Park on Sunday. Just a quick TR (more just highlights and observations) with a few pics at the end. I took more video than photos this time, and it'll take me a bit to grab frames off of the videos. We got a much later start than we meant to (the park was open 11A-6P). We didn't get there until just after 1PM, and stayed until closing. First off, the park was EMPTY! At 1:00 there were maybe 100 cars in the parking lot. We entered the park to find noone in the park and very few lines anywhere. They were only running one train on Yankee Cannonball, and our longest wait was about 4 trains. The only other wait we encountered all day was at the Mine of Lost Souls, and that was less than a 10-minute wait. Everything else was walk-on or a one-cycle wait. I don't know what's really new, or what was just new-to-me because I didn't make it to Canobie last year. A few points: -Rides closed today: Matterhorn, USA Missile (though does anyone really think it will ever reopen?). When we walked by the Psycho-Drome noone was in line outside and none of us felt like riding, so we never saw whether it was open or not. -Rode Wipeout for the first time ever, and probably the last. While the three of us couldnt' stop laughing, it was PAINFUL! I think it was mostly because of the speed. The worst was at the very end where it spins relatively flat to the ground. They've re-themed the adjacent mirror maze. What used to be the Crystal Orbiter (or was it Crystal Maze?), is now the Tiki Maze, with some tacked-on Tiki and Easter Island statues. -They've built a wheelchair access ramp onto the Yankee Cannonball station. Looks very nice, though all day people were trying to use it as an exit from the platform. -The Galaxi is gone, and in its place is what I assume is a Zamperla Rockin' Tug with a skateboard theming. But it's a trailer-mounted portable version and a very temporary queue setup, so it's not clear how long it'll be staying. -At the adjacent Tilt-a-Whirl, they totally re-did the queue and operator's platform. Not sure I like the style of the re-do. I'll miss the old wooden ramps. This is also another location they've added a wheelchair ramp. -Mine of Lost Souls had the usual off-season tune-up. Still a couple things not working properly, and the sound can't be heard in places, but it's doing OK. -We actually went into the Vertigo Theater. We've been in here before, but it was fun. We have decided to refer to it as "Soarin' 1.0". -What is it with STUPID people and trains?!?!??? We saw FOUR people get on the moving train and two people get off! First, just after we pulled out of the station at the center of the park, a family of three adults and a young kid is standing watching us go by. I can see them itching to jump on, looking for a place with open seating. Sure enough, the guy lifts his kid up and into the moving train and then hops on himself. The employee that sits at the back of the last car wasn't on-board yet, as he was closing a gate we'd just gone through. Later on as we got to the north end of the park, a supervisor was walking by just as two teen girls hopped OFF the back car. When I turned around and looked, the guy and his kid were no longer back there, so they obviously hopped off at some point. (I just hope it was into the lake). Lastly, as we completed the loop by the boat dock this couple that was blocked by the train from exiting the dock decides to hop on. Of course they only travelled about 50 feet, as the train was coming into the station and stopping... Where do these idiots come from??? That's about it. Nothing majorly exciting to report, no major goofy photos. That'll have to wait until we go to a park with my friend Scott. He always brings the oddness and silliness to the group. -Rob And just for Erik.... Am I the only one who thinks twice about why an amusement park has sharps containers in the bathrooms? Does Salem have a worse drug problem than I thought? Side Boob! The new Tilt-A-Whirl queue and platform. Though I like the new color schemes on the ride tubs. Backside of the "Skater" The (new?) Zamperla Rockin' Tug Driving Miss Brian While I found this Creepy Space Dude to get a picture with. (The sign with him said to come ride the "KosmoJets". Ahhh, memories...) "We come in peace"... Erik tries to fly with the birds The usual stockade type pic. (Though I think we left Brian out in the sun too long) Erik under glass, stuck somewhere within the Maze. The new "Tiki Maze" It was quite dead in the park today... Dear God! Erik, NOOOOO!!!!!!!!

Any thoughts on a weekends trip in September? My friends and I are looking into out first visit, and we're tentatively planning on the first Hallo-Weekend, Sept 22-23. We could potentially move that a week or two earlier if the Halloween stuff will make the crowds too big. -Rob

I don't know the actual figures, but let's say the ride E-stopped once a day. If one particular issue was the cause of those shutdowns 75% of the time, eliminating that problem would greatly increase the ride's reliability. (From 30 days a month in my scenario, down to 7.5 days a month) -Rob

I've been going through the older Tower of Terror threads. I know this thread died out a couple months ago, but I don't think I saw anyone actually answer the question of why the ride system was changed between Florida and DCA. The main reason for the change was to make the ride system more reliable. When the ride vehicles leave the load shafts, they follow a wire buried in the ground similar to other attractions at WDW. If the car loses the signal or starts to stray too far away from the wire, the ride E-stops. According to a former ToT CM I know, this is the #1 cause of ride breakdowns at the Florida Tower. So, when designing the Tower for DCA, they eliminated their #1 source of breakdowns. While space may have also been a factor, increased reliability was their first goal. -Rob

Hey Robb. You should look into getting a roll of Gaffer's Tape to tape down your lipstick cam. A bit more expensive than your run-of-the-mill duct tape, but has a greater tensile strength and leaves little to no adhesive residue behind. (I'm sure the park's cleaning crew would thank you for that) -Rob

Ah, but the thing is, they're *not* plain brown sides. It's *ALL* brickwork. This site has better pics with a lot of closeups of facade details: http://www.dlrp.fr/actulargeasia.php?id=47 And another couple pages with pics: http://www.dlrp.fr/actulargeasia.php?id=43 http://www.dlrp.fr/actulargeasia.php?id=48 Certainly looks like it'll be four shafts to me... And the large broken window feature looks quite interesting. -Rob

This reminded me of a few video clips I had of my friends getting some impressive RPMs out of rides... So I threw them up on YouTube.... (pun semi-intended) First is my friend Scott going solo on Canobie's "Over the Rainbow", (a Zamperla Samba Tower), as Erik and I are in the next basket. Unfortunately, the lower video quality and the fact that it's night make it a little difficult to pick out how fast he's spinning at times. And I wish the video had picked up clearly the massive creaks that were coming from his basket. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc_Q1jXSx5M There was another time when I didn't have the camera, Scott along with my friend Brian were in one of the tubs together, and were spinning it so quickly that their weight pushing outward apart from each other caused the tub to warp to the point where the door popped open because the latch no longer met the strike plate. And they hadn't even gotten off the ground yet. The other video includes a cameo of USRoadTripper (aka Julie) of Brian, Scott and Julie on the teacups at SFNE. Julie's hair flying horizontally outward from the cup a few times is funny. I just wish I'd been able to zoom in more. Hopefully this year with my new camera I'll have some higher quality spinning videos... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXpsGV857PI (It wasn't until I re-watched this video that I noticed toward the end of the ride one skinny kid by himself had gotten his cup going pretty good, too) -Rob

Interesting... A few comments: -The load/unload swap on Cyclone actually brings it back to the original setup from when the coaster first opened. It wasn't until the early/mid-90's when they added the queue house around back that they swapped sides. It's been the horrible traffic flow nightmare since then. I'm glad to see that someone finally got some sense and put it back the right way. Now, if only they could do something about fixing B:TDK's woefully inadequate platform... -They took out the Penis Tower?!?!????? NOOOOO!!!!!!!!! -Rob

They did something very similar on the Magic Kingdom's train station last year. You sometimes had to look a few times in the pics to figure out where the fake building really ended... It looks like Disney's been going the extra mile lately on construction walls, etc. The train station, now this, the Monsters Inc doors on the construction wall outside that ride at DCA, and the latest I've seen are the two photo murals outside Pirates in Disneyland, that look like the jail scene on the ride. -Rob

Hey, all. I've been away a while, and finally am getting caught up on the forum (not that I posted all that frequently anyway....) Anyway, this photo is real. I came across it online last fall. I'd e-mailed a link to a few friends, it was posted on webshots.com. I looked back through my sent mail folder, found the e-mail with link, but the link doesn't work anymore. So, if people are wondering the full story behind the pics... This particular pic (and most that were in the album when it worked) was taken backstage at Disneyland. It was a group of face characters that were rehearsing for some live special event or TV show. Which event they were rehearsing for was never stated, but my guess would be something 50th anniversary-related, I think Regis & Kelly taped out there in the time frame the pics were taken, too. Other shots in the album included the princesses in full wig and makeup, but in street clothes, the buffet lunch backstage, and other assorted photos from them getting ready for the day. There were a few other "not-quite-Disney" pics in the bunch. My guess is that someone at Disney saw them and had them taken down. (Or the CM fired, or both) -Rob S. (Just got through the whole Florida thread. Gee thanks for keeping me up hours later than I wanted to be...)

WDWMagic has links to the best approximation of the track layout, including animation of the trains... http://www.wdwmagic.com/animations.htm# -Rob

I'm just hoping beyond all hope that I catch it for a soft-opening in early December... I know it's doubtful, but I've been lucky like that before... Got to tour Asia on the very first day it opened in previews to Guests. (It just had the walking trail, Kali was still under construction) Was one of thie first 200 or so to walk through the trail. Then in June of '03 I caught Mission: Space on its' very first day of Guest sneak previews. It opened up at 4PM, and I had just one hour before I had to leave for the airport to make a 6:30 flight home! -Rob

Well, seeing as how we're all posting our own IMDB listings... http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0824879/ (From my friend's student film that was then shown in a number of film festivals. He's now moved on to writing TV movies) -Rob

Hey there. One suggestion to look into (though it may be too late in the planning stages for it), is to see about getting one of those pre-paid debit cards to use for your spending money. Over all my vacations I've done cash, traveler's checks, credit cards, debit cards, heck one year I even had half of my spending money set aside in Disney Dollars... (made my cash VERY hard to use before the trip) Back in Decmeber I decided to try the pre-paid Visa card route. I really liked it. I got it through my local mall (Simon Malls), on their website. They charge you a couple dollars' processing fee (I think it was $4-$5, though I found out after-the-fact that if I'd gone to the service desk at the mall, the fee was only $1.50. But, it came in the mail in time for my trip, and I was able to personalize a comment line at the bottom "Disney Trip 2004", so it'll go into the scrapbook at some point. It was very convenient, as I was able to use just a small front-pocket wallet/money clip, and only had to have the card, my license, park pass and room cardkey. Only carried around a few dollars in cash. The card is accepted in 95% of the locations you'd need money at Disney, with only small snack-stands that accept cash only. About the only glitch I came across was partway through the trip, I bought a bunch of souveneirs at a store, but forgot to tell the clerk that I wanted them sent back to my hotel (BIG perk for Disney hotel guests). The clerk had to void the transaction and start again. But, this blocked that money for a couple days, because it was a sale, then a refund, then another sale. So on my next-to-last day, the card came up declined, and I had to pay with cash the rest of the trip, but the day I came home the refunded money was available on the card again. One thing to keep in mind is that if you don't use the balance up within 6 months, they start charging a monthly "maintenance fee" of like $2.50. If you have any other questions about going this route, let me know. Another alternative, if you're going with traveler's checks, is to ask at the hotel's front desk (you said you're in a Disney hotel, right?) about using your room cardkey to charge everything back to your room. Normally this requires a credit card number on file, but I've read that you can pre-pay with cash (or in this case traveler's checks) and debit from that amount. Plus, when you check out you get a snazzy line-item report of evvvvvverything you spent Ask, and they may be able to set that up for you, eliminate the need to carry cash or the checks. Solo visits to Disney can be a blast. I've done 2 out of 3 days solo before, and every group trip I've ever taken, we've planned a "solo day" partway through the trip where everyone goes off alone, does whatever they want, and then meet up for dinner. Keeps us sane... Best things about solo trips, you don't have to worry about anyone else. If you want to ride Spaceship Earth twelve times, you can! Feel like stopping for a churro? Do it! I like being able to wander and just take pictures and people-watch. Also, strike up a conversation with a Disney Cast Member. I've learned some interesting things about Disney this way... -Rob S.

Caption suggestion: "Expedition Or-Ge Force?" -Rob S.

OK, after a couple false-starts, here's the pics.... And of course, the sky just HAD to start to clear as the park was closing. :-\ ...though has to admit that the "Eiffel Tower Hat" is kinda funny. ...wonders how many freakin' times people have done this pose at the park... A contemplative Rob... Scott forgot to set the parking brake. Yeah, it was raining just a little bit that day Erik surveying his path of destruction... Erik decided the trees around the Flyers needed trimming. Careful, or the Reptar Police will get you for breaking the rules Whee... Abbey Road..... Sorta... This is what the aftermath of a Dippin' Dots Stand explosion looks like... (Erik, Scott and Brian maintain their innocence) Erik, the camera's over here... Erik... Eri---- Aww, nevermind... The Dippin' Dots Guy dishes out some awesome park rumors... Sayyyyy "Jinkies!" Erik's looking a little TOO happy being in that position This is why you should get rid of your gum *before* you get to Volcano's launch... Scott demonstrates his talents on a breadstick The guys are excited to be on the Flyers Brian and his "Pet Milk"

Well, here it is, my first Trip Report on TPR... Hope I do OK. It's been a month, but I thought I'd drop one in here anyway. Decided to do PKD first, because I remember the day better, though we went to BGW the day before (and PKD had better pics to attach). (Careful, I get long-winded sometimes, you might just want to scroll down to the pics instead) Paramount's King's Dominion Sunday, May 15, 2005 This trip was made up of me, and my friends Erik, Scott and Brian. We all live in different states, and this trip was our first true road-trip since everyone moved away. I was the only one who's ever been to PKD: once as a kid, and again the year Volcano opened, though I missed it by about 2 weeks. After waking up around 8:30AM, we departed from the Rodeway Inn of Williamsburg by 9:30. After a quick stop for breakfast items off the highway somewhere, we were on our way to PKD. Weather was overcast, with a forecast of scattered showers. We arrived at 11, half an hour after opening. The first coaster we would ride today would be Erik's 75th coaster credit, so we let him choose the coaster (after looking at the park map, and him knowing absolutely nothing, he chose Rebel Yell. So, we trooped to the back of the park. They were only operating the forward-facing side at that point, so we got that credit with a 2-train wait. Then over to Ricochet with no wait (tight fit, but we all fit in one car), and then Hurler (1-train wait). After confirming that Hypersonic wouldn't be open at all that day, we headed for Grizzly. Of course, what do we see before that, but their Flying Scooters, so we HAVE to hop on. Of course, we end up doing three rides in a row without even having to get off, getting some good swings and swoops, but little-to-no snapping of the cables. We'd be back later, though. After a wrong turn trying to get to Grizzly's entrance, we eventually found our way and rode in the back with more than a half-empty train. I'm not sure what so many people see (saw?) in this, but Grizzly just doesn't do it for me. Of course, I was half expecting to get smacked in the face by the head or other body parts of the guy two rows in front of us, who decided he'd unbuckle his belt and stand up during the ride... (Middle-aged guy by himself, and he was a good foot above his seat the entire ride, judging from how little of his back I saw after he sat down again on the brake run...) From here, we went over to Shockwave where we encountered one of the longest lines of the day. The queue was full out to the midway, but the ride ops were just SOOOOOO slow. Also had a pair of line jumpers with attitude push in front of just about everyone in the line... Erik wasn't sure if he wanted to do Drop Zone, but we talked him into it. So we joined the line, and waited about 3 ride cycles. While we were boarding, Erik made some off-hand comment about how it'd be cool to be on it when it was raining, and fall down with the rain drops hovering in front of you. Would you know it, but we're halfway up the damn tower when [plop plop] some giant raindrops start pelting us. When the ride was over, we all gave Erik a smack for that one... With it raining, we decided to take the opportunity and grab some lunch. So into Country Kitchen we went. Decent pizza, but not enough for the price, I think. With the sprinkle of rain stopped, we headed to Volcano, stopped to watch one ride cycle of the new Tomb Raider Firefall. The theming was very well done, and it was hilarious to watch two women shriek at the first water "explosion" amid the flames... Into the Volcano queue for about a 20-25 minute wait. I knew how it launches, but none of the others had ever been on a launched coaster that didn't stop and sit before its launch. And Erik gets very apprehensive waiting for the launches. (you should have seen hum when Storm Runner broke down as we were sitting on the launch track, not knowing if it would launch at any moment or not) So I decided to mess with them, telling them that the wait for launch takes forever, and there's no real cue like on Storm Runner or RnRC. It also helped that my friends aren't as observant as I am, otherwise they would have heard the launch right after the coaster went around the corner. So, we ride in the last two rows and as we complete the turn, *BAM* we launch, totally catching Erik off-guard. After we get off, Erik hit me for messing with his head like that. From here it was over to Outer Limits with very little wait (SOOOO much more comfortable without the OTSRs). THe first half I was just so messed up as to which way is up and which way is down. But the almost dead stop on the mid-course brake ruins that for you. Then onto Anaconda with a 1-train wait (yay, Arrow...) :? Brian and I get into the Firefall line, while Erik and Scott wait outside. As we're in line, it starts to sprinkle, and they start to make announcements that severe weather is entering the area, and they may need to shut rides down if it approaches the park. Brian and I stick it out, and get on the back side of Firefall as it starts to rain a little more. (Of course, leave it to me to get the full brunt of one of the water explosions...) Let me jsut say, they need to work a little more on theming and effects for people riding on the back side of this ride. While the front is amazing to look at, there's not a whole lot for the other half. Plus, you can see backstage areas with tanks and other equipment for the ride. It's starting to rain heavier as we get off, and we can't find Erik and Scott anywhere. After a couple minutes of searching, we hear them calling from the platform of Avalanche. So we run over there. Due to the grouping of other people, we decide to ride separate trains, all int he back seat. First Brian goes, then Scott and Erik share the back seat, and lastly me. Turns out, I got out on the next-to-last train before they shut it down due to the "severe weather". It's now about 4:15 and raining pretty steadily. I know that Scooby Doo Haunted Mansion is an indoor ride and probably not affected, so I lead the group over there. Sure enough, it operating, and the crowds of families apparently haven't made it here yet, as we have only a couple minutes' wait. This is essentially the exact same ride as Ghost Hunt at Compounce, jsut with the Scooby Doo characters thrown in every now and then. But I like the 4-person ride vehicles better, even though I didn't get as great of a score as I usually do. Over the next half hour, it began utterly pouring. I know we rode Ghoster Coaster three times in a row without getting off (the ride op thought we were nuts). We were denied by the ride op on the other kiddie coaster, said we needed a kid, and there were none in sight. And then we went over to Outer Limits, assuming it would be running in the rain. Well, it wasn't. Apparently they were worried about power fluctuations of lightning strikes. So, we passed some time inside the Tomb Raider Grill (where Erik and Scott proceeded to hit on the cute girl passing out guest feedback cards). With the rain not really clearing up, we headed for the only other attraction that I knew of that was indoors, the Spongebob Squarepants ride simulator. By the time we came back out, it was almost done raining, so we went right for the Flying Scooters again. Three more rides in a row, but this time we had to get off and run around again. On one of the cycles I learned that you get a very crappy ride if you're in exact sychronization with the person in front of you. Scott and I were doing the exact same things at the same time, but it's like his wind currents were throwing me off or something. Also on the last cycle, Erik got high enough to clip a tree with the bottom of his tub that was surrounding the ride (he took great pride in that). We stopped by Rebel Yell to hit the backwards facing side, now that we saw it was open. Then trekked across the park again for one more Volcano ride towards the front, and then to Outer Limits for back to back rides to close out the park. (I passed on the second ride). All in all, it was a great day, despite the rain. Crowds were low, and wait times were short for most rides. And any park where you can get some decent Flyer rides can't be all that bad. We were lucky we had dry clothing in the car to change into, though. Wet, wet, wet.... Got on the road up to Erik's place outside DC, where Scott hopped on the road to PA. Brian and I stayed with Erik overnight, and then flew home to New England from BWI. There! Whew! See, I warned you I get long-winded sometimes. (You should see some of my Disney World trip reports....) Now to see if I can get some pics in here... (To be on the safe side, I'll post the pics in a follow-up to this post) -Rob Steere

First post! (After being a long-time lurker...) Looks like the European parks are a ton of fun. I can't imagine what my hyperactive friends would do if they were let loose... My co-workers couldn't believe the "Bodily Functions" park... (And am I the only one that thinks Joey looks like he's having the s*** scared out of him on that boat jump? -Rob S.