Mr.Wood

I was there last night with my daughter for her 9th birthday and you are correct Revolution has 2 completely reconditioned cars on the track. Seeing the white car with stars and strips on it (like it was orgionly painted in 1976) was sweet. The ride was soooo much smother it kinda reminded me of when I was 13 again. It even made the OVH seem tolerable. Great job SFMM. Park was empty went after work around 4:30 but it was really messy. We had to go to 4 different bathrooms to find a fairly clean one.Well we still got our garlic fries and hell isn't that why we love MM?

So now Disney can outsource jobs to them without paying the overhead costs associated with having them on the payroll. Win-Win. I know of a guy who is a friend of a friend who actually made more when WDI had to contract him as an outside vendor, but the costs were still probably less for WDI because all of the hidden costs (like insurance, payroll taxes, training, etc.) are no longer there. Do you really believe that TDS didn't involve hundreds of vendors as well? FWIW, everyone seems impressed by the animatronics on Mummy @ USF. Guess what? A company in Valencia (technifex) made those. One of my best friends was a top guy in WDI creative for 25 years. When things started falling apart after Frank Wells died he left. He has been hired back twice (as an outside vendor) Maybe I'm not making my point well here. I don't care who they use to make a QUALITY PRODUCT. There's the issue weather it's outside vendors or in house the quality of Disney's product (for the most part) sucks and that kills me to say that. IMO it looks like who ever comes in with the low bid gets the job.

600 !!!! I think I'm on 18. Congrats on some well traveled fun. Great pics. Looks like a good time by all.

Holy crap that Big Dog is just stupid.WOW!

And that shows. DCA is the big hunk of crap. You guys are correct about the vendors. I really don't think that people care that every part says Disney on it. We all just want quality and that company does not care about quality (as much) anymore. Walt didn't design everything. He knew who to hire and who to bring in when he wanted something done. Mary Blair a Disney legend subcontracted for years. Now they seem to only hit it right once in a while but let's face it when was the last thing ( locally) that made your jaw drop? While most of the DCA crew is still employed the crew that brought you Tokyo Disney Seas is over at Think Tank now. Quality is not what is most important anymore.

What else do you except ???? This is who they are now. I know they can do better than they have. Hell look at Tokyo Disney Seas. That's the most beautiful park in the world but who cares about quality and your own history? Not Disney.

Best....Space Mt., Silver Bullet, Riddlers Worst....Jaguar I say that because my 9 year old daughter loves it and we have to ride it about 8 times every visit. I DON'T FIT IN THOSE CARS!

I have a bit of video tape shot from on top of the Matterhorn looking over to DCA when it was under construction. I would have to get it to digital. With what all you guys were saying about the structure. The Matterhorn has major metal rot at the base and it will be a major undertaking to repair but one day they will have to do it. They get new cars soon. I wish they would reopen the top of the lift hill. It was cool to be that high and look out of the Mt. I love how jerky it is. It's Arrow rough.

I think that's what they tried to do this last time. When it was finished all of TL was copper color. That's that whol H.G. Wells look. I do like the steam and machine feel though.

I think everything that is old is new again. Look at the new Monorail. It looks like the original 1959 version.The 1967 Tomorrowland remodel was great.The newest one was just a high priced paint job. The whole H.G.Wells look is fine but I think it's done. Star Tours will be fine. Space Mt. is good. Red Rockets is a good place to eat with a fine "Retro" look. (Hell who doesn't love looking at the old ride posters?) The Rocket jets have to be put back on top but they have to solve the load issues. Look at what they could do now with Carousel of Progress with todays technology. Plus who doesn't want to have 15 to 20 min. of resting your feet and cool air in the middle of a 102' summer day. Peoplemover berm has to have something going on it. I'm sure we have all heard the Incredibles rumor.I feel they should look into their past to look to the future. If you look at the early concepts drawn be Herb Ryman, Sam Mckim, John Hench,Collin Campell, Claud Coats Their Tommorwland was so futuristic looking and it still is.

I've been lucky enough to get all over that Mt. It is crude and wonderful at the same time. The view at the top is great. After the basketball court you have a 12' (or so) latter going to the top trap door. You get up top and see the fiberglass door that opens up to let Tinkerbell out for her flight. It's funny, even back in 1959 Walt wanted it to to be an all encompassing experience. You should see all the air conditioning units all through the ride. I think there 5 units just to drop the temp a few degrees to make it a little bit colder for the rider. Bob Baranick did a nice tribute to the great Frank Wells after his death by putting the Wells Expedition on the climbing equipment high in the ride.

pony express at Knott's. Fun but too short.

Knott's is still a great park. They have made some mistakes but we all still love the park. I mean sad eyed Joe? come on Ghost Town is still one of the best areas of any park. Ghost Town Grill is a god place to eat as well.SS doesn't spin that much if you take the front car. If you like old style rides you have to do Calico mine ride. It's old and kinda corny but I love it. Universal kinda stinks. You can do everything in about half a day. Not worth the price. Knott's is all about charm but it has lost a little.

I think these park boards look at these beasts as Icons. Look at how Disney did Indy. Most of that ride was designed by Bob Baranick. He fought like hell to have the show building built inside the berm but it didn't happen but they hid that ride really well. I don't expect Knott's or SFMM to be Disney (nor would I want them to) but let's put the shoe horn away and start some real planning.

Sometimes I just try not to see it. I still love the place. Just keep everyone away from Sad Eyed Joe.

I see your point. They already moved buildings when Ghost Ryder was installed. It's kinda funny , I like all the twisted steel in that area. I love Silver Bullet but it is an eye soar. Indian village.......... Here's a GIANT support right in the middle for ya. Look back on when they moved the Church. They took out the last remaining original boysenberry vines. That's a crime But hey we got Silver Bullet. Also they have a problem. Knott's is in a residential area and the neighbors have raised a lot of hell (and lawsuits) in the last few years.Tunnel over GR's drop, Tunnel over Pony X. I just hope they don't lose their charm. Knott's has a whole lot of charm. Hell I'm older and I wish Knott's still had the Haunted Shack and not that stupid Swing. Or Bear-ytales bring back the one ride that was Knott's and Knott's only.

I think all we ask is to keep the park clean. In Jan we saw tons of trash cans overflowing at SFMM. So people seeing this just kept throwing trash on the ground. Timber Mtn. queue at Knott's is just sick.Clean the F'ing gum up. It's really not that hard.I do enjoy a lot of the old time employees at Knott's but you all have it correct. Most young employees just don't care. You can tell they were not raised with the saying "If there's a job worth doing there's a job worth doing right." This has even gotten to Disneyland.

Rode it yesterday 5-26 and we had a great time. My daughter who is 8 years old rode on the front horse with her hands up the whole time. Smooth as can be, nice launch, fun little transition before the tunnel. Yes, the ride is too short. I think if the ride was 1600 ft and not 1300 it would have been better. Don't get me wrong it's a hoot but too short. Good craftsmanship and themes. The ride just looks really good. Plus it had a nice western sound track all through the area. Now for the bad.I'm not happy with Boothill. I'm happy it's still here but the clutch and flywheel motor is too loud. The box they put around it is ugly and the one support in the middle of Boothill kinda stinks. Cover that box with some landscaping and maybe some rock work over that support and that would help. Now, it might not be finished so I have to give them some slack. All in all I would give it a solid grade of B. We enjoyed the give aways (hat,map,poster,scarf) It was great to see kids running around with cowboy hats. Great job by all who worked on the ride.There is a lot of TLC put into that whole area and your hard work really shows.

You think that area was nice? To me that was easily the ugliest, most boring area of any theme park ever. Thank God they spruced it up. Well the area by the old Scrambler and Bigfoot Rapids was kinda sleepy but Boothill was one of the best little areas of any park. Hell it's only over 60 years old. I guess it's all on your perspective. IMO Ghost Town is one of the warmest most beautiful areas in any park . The Pony Express queue is nice. Nothing fancy but nice. It's in between the ride tracks the walls are cattle fencing. It's like Sierra Sidewinders queue.

42" would have been fine. Although you are pretty exposed on these ponies.

Rode it today and we had a great time. My daughter who is 8 years old rode on the front horse with her hands up the whole time. Smooth as can be, nice launch, fun little transition before the tunnel. Yes, the ride is too short. I think if the ride was 1600 ft and not 1300 it would have been better. Don't get me wrong it's a hoot but too short. Good craftsmanship and themes. The ride just looks really good. Plus it had a nice western sound track all through the area. Now for the bad.I'm not happy with Boothill. I'm happy it's still here but the clutch and flywheel motor is too loud. The box they put around it is ugly and the one support in the middle of Boothill kinda stinks. Cover that box with some landscaping and maybe some rock work over that support and that would help. Now, it might not be finished so I have to give them some slack. All in all I would give it a solid grade of B. We enjoyed the give aways (hat,map,poster,scarf) It was great to see kids running around with cowboy hats. Great job by all who worked on the ride.There is a lot of TLC put into that whole area and your hard work really shows.

Going there today 5-26. I've watched this ride being built from day one. I haven't been in 3 weeks and from everyones pics I can't believe they got it finished by Memorial day. Looking forward.

Bear-ytales.net has recent pics up on Pony.

I know it only goes 35miles an hour but I still love Space Mt. at Disneyland with Ghostrider at Knott's a close second. But let's face it we owe all our steel wonderment to Walt Disney and Arrow with the Matterhorn.

I like the cans and shirts. Let's face it SFMM (until recently) was a mess.No one wants to go to a park that's a mess. I wish they would get on people for using profanity. It's really bad. I know that's a tough thing to govern but if you want families there.... it's a must to keep on that. I'm with all you guys. I have always been a Disneyland and Knott's guy. I live 25min from SFMM and I just started going this year. They have worked their asses off and they are getting my money now. I'm very proud of the management.