robbalvey
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Posts posted by robbalvey
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SFMM is my local park, and what coaster is the best is a tough question since I'm not a big fan of most of the popular ones. The coaster we probably like to ride the most is Ninja, but I think my vote for best coaster in the park would probably be Batman. So one of those two....yeah.
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Robb, what photo are you talking about? I took that photo above a couple of months ago and the only thing stopping you from entering the queue where those little barriers.
Oh, whoops. Sorry, I thought that was the photo from our Japan trip (looks VERY similar!) But when I took this photo below, where I was standing (if I recall correctly) was the closest you could get to the ride due to a fence:
That sign that is in your photo in front of the little barriers is the sign that was out in front of the fence.
--Robb
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What have I gotten myself into on the UK trip.
Hopefully one of the best park trips you'll ever have!
--Robb
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Where do you get all that money :shock:
Well, for we both have full time jobs. Two, we really don't spend any money on ANYTHING else but doing our trips. Seriously, almost all of our 'disposable' income gets put into the savings account and put towards our trips.
People think we bathe in money, but really we are your typical average family living off 'middle management' salaries. It's how we spend, or rather don't spend our money that allows us to do these trips. Think about it, we live in a small one bedroom apartment and we don't:
- drink
- smoke
- buy many DVDs
- buy many video games
- have a home theater system
- go to the movies
- go to concerts
- go to sporting events
- have monthly subscriptions to anything
- have credit card debt
- eat out (in restaurants) much
- go over our cell phone minutes
- have premium cable/satellite TV channels
- don't celebrate holiday's in the traditional fashion (instead of buying b-day, anniversary and xmas gifts for each other, we agree to put that money towards trips)
- buy new computers (all our computers were bought used or refurb)
- don't have a car payment
Elissa doesn't:
- get her nails done
- get hair done
- buy jewelry
- buy purses
- what else am I leaving out that "normal" people do?
As much as we would like to do some of those things, we pick and choose things we want to do and trips almost always win out. Our spending budget is very tight and very limited which allows us to do these crazy trips more often.
For example, we haven't seen a movie in the movie theater since Shrek 2 and before that is was the original Spider-Man. We assume the average couple sees one movie per month, which for us would be conservatively around $30 for two tickets, drinks, snacks, gas, parking. Cutting out going to the movies saves us about $400 per year which is about equal to a week's worth of hotel stay on a Florida trip. So we have to figure "would we rather sit in a dark room and watch a movie for a couple hours once a month, or spend a week in Florida?" If you see TWO movies a month, then that's airfare to Japan!
The only thing we spend any kind of money on, which ties into our trips, is video equipment and the website which the DVD sales help cover the costs, but they don't ever cover all of it.
So really, the answer to "where do you get all that money" is simple - we don't spend it on other things. The trips we do are not THAT expensive, especially when you consider that we usually share hotel & car rental costs with other people, look for the cheapest airfare as possible, and we hardly ever buy any souvenirs. (I think I bought ONE T-shirt on the entire Europe trip!)
Our goal with the group trips is to make trips that would normally seem "far fetched" to some people as affordable as possible.
It may take some savings to do one our group trips, yes, but not as much as I think some people would expect and we hope people get as much value out of them as we do!
--Robb "Wishes he had as much money as people seem to think we do!" Alvey
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I thinking about buying it, I just wish that I had a wireless internet connection in my house. I would like to be able to play the wifi DS games online.
You CAN actually get this cool little item which turns any non-wifi DSL/Cable modem connection into a wifi hub:
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I have to be honest, I tried FireFox, and I just didn't see what it offered over IE.
Not to offend anyone who uses FireFox, I just didn't get what was so different about it. I'm sure it's great for those who use it, but with IE and browers are concerned I took the "if it ain't broke...." attitude.
Sorry, but IE works just fine for everything I need it to do.
--Robb
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Thanks everyone! I really just wanted confirmation that FireFox was in fact working. I've only tested it a couple of times as for the site, my data shows that less than 10% of the visitors use FireFox (although I'm going to assume that the percentage of forum users is higher) but it forces me to use IE as the 'lowest common denominator' that I have to cater to.
Some people were saying that there were problems with FireFox and TPR, but I had a feeling it was more of a browser setting issue, and now a site issue.
Thanks again for your help!
--Robb
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Fences were up all around the entrance
--Robb
I wouldn't call those little barriers, fences.
I actually shot that photo from behind the fence I was talking about. There was a sign up on it and everything. I didn't get a photo of the actual fence I was talking about.
--Robb
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So who here is getting Animal Crossing DS?
I have already pre-oredered our copies. I hope that the wi-fi systems works a little better than it did on Mario Kart.
From what I've been told though, as long as someone has their DS turned on and their "gate open" you can just wander into someone else's town. You don't have to "match up" like you do on Mario Kart.
I plan on having my DS turned on most of the time while I'm work.
Don't everyone come steal my fruit!
--Robb
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^ It would probably be better to try and keep the size smaller. Most of the entries are around 20ish megs.
--Robb
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Hey everyone,
You know what happens in just three weeks right?
No, no, it's not some silly holiday where an ACEr sized old man runs rampant around the neighborhood in a red jump suit, it's....
Theme Park Review returns to ASIA!!!!!
Starting right around Christmas we'll have daily updates from our two week trip in Hong Kong and Japan.
We plan on visitng the following parks/coasters:
Hong Kong Disneyland
Ocean Park
Tokyo Disneyland
DisneySea
Galaxy 999
Kijima
Wonder Rakutenchi
Harmonyland
Mitsui Greenland
Space World
Central Park
Kobe Portopialand
Nasu Highland
Hanayashiki
That scary new Half-Pipe on top of a shopping center :shock:
And more "smaller parks" if time/weather permits.
So if you end up with coal in your stocking, you'll have something to look forward to this holiday season everyday from Theme Park Review!
As a little teaser, here is a short video of one of the crazy Japanese coasters we hope to ride during the trip:
Nasu Highland's Spin Turn Coaster!
--Robb "We'll post more about the trip closer to when we leave!" Alvey
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What trouble are you having? Also, I'm online now!
--Robb
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^ I agree. That's what I've said all along. The trims are a bummer, but it's not as bad as it could be. I still think the ride is great.
--Robb
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Ok, here one very simple rule of this thread:
"If you are posting about drinking and you are underage, your account will be banned."
'Nuff said?
Thanks for your understanding!
--Robb
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Hey everyone! Remember that this Friday is the deadline!
I will post later this week who we have gotten submissions from so that way we know we have them all.
--Robb
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Personally, when I see someone roll eyes at someone else, it isn't in "jest" - it's basically saying "fuck you, you stupid idiot." That's at least how I use it.
There are other smilies to imply something sarcastic "in jest" for example, I use this one:
"Taylor, you realize your rolling eyes is only going to piss people off, right?"
--Robb
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^^ What a great ME photo! In fact, I'm pretty damn sure that ALL of the onride photos looked like that!
--Robb
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Honestly we've just been REALLY busy lately. Things have really kind of piled up with us planning a two-week trip to Asia over xmas, working on next year's UK trip, getting DVD orders out in time for the holiday, our pick n mix video contest, having friends out recently and doing trips, the general upkeep of the site and on top of all that I've just picked up a major new project at work. So all that adds up to "no free time to do battle of the websites."
As much as we'd like to, I don't think we'll have any free time until after the new year.
--Robb
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Yeah, the location one doesn't really work and I'm thinking about just removing that module. It's based on what people put into their profile and since you can put in ANYTHING is creates false data.
In fact, now that you've mentioned it, I think I'll just remove it because until PHPBB offers a 'choice' of location rather than an input box, it will never work quite right.
--Robb
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I haven't really said much about this so far, but my two cents.....
I actually really liked Rush at Thorpe Park and I enjoyed both Pay-Per-Ride Screamin Swings I have done (Knott's & Orlando). Granted I don't think they are a good upcharge attraction, but I thought the Thorpe Park version was a GREAT "filler" ride for any park.
While it's not some blow-you-away ride, it sure is a lot of fun. And on moderatley crowded days when it's only a 15 to 20 minute wait, it should do just fine.
Honestly, I'd probably be more excited about riding the swing than WoF's new version of Talon!
And who cares if CP gets to rides in a row that happen to "swing." Do you think you'd hear complaints from people if CP built two rides in a row that happened to "coast"?
--Robb "Didn't CP get two launching, coasting rides in a row too?" Alvey
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^ Well, did you notice any of us getting airtime on any of the bunny hills?
It's not as bad as it could be, but there isn't much air left.
--Robb "Did anyone notice the crazy stuff in the video????" Alvey
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We've been having a few problems with the search function, but I think I've got everything indexed now so if it's contained within the posts of the forum, it should come up!
Let me know if you have any problems.
--Robb
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Ok everyone,
So the back-story to this video clip is simple. The audio wasn't working so Derek and the rest of us decided to make our own "soundtrack."
Um....words cannot describe, so here you go!
http://www.themeparkreview.com/screaminderek.zip
Enjoy!
--Robb
Theme Park Review's "Pick N' Mix" Video Contest
in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Posted
Here are some more detailed instructions on how to FTP your file using IE:
In your browser type: ftp.themeparkreview.net
(get rid of everything including the Http:// part)
You might get some kind of error that says "windows cannot access this folder, etc, etc,) - just click OK
Click on "file" (upper left hand corner of the screen) and select "login as"
Username: videocontest@themeparkreview.net
password: contest
You should see two folders that look just like your desktop window folders. Drag your video into "contest submissions"