BarryH

I don't think I can make this one. BTW, if you're going to eat at Japan, they give you chopsticks to eat. Robb likes chopsticks. Robb and chopsticks can't be a good combination.

I thought for sure there would be rodents on the shirt. Clearly, Robb designed it. I think the donkey's name needs to be "RobbTums."

^It's a night ride! That's why it was black! No really, it was lighter on my computer. CS was a pretty good coaster I though. The launch wasn't too thrilling, but the part after the lift hill was pretty good. The turnarounds were pretty quick. Strangely, some of the CS trains didn't have to cool music playing. I think the music adds a lot to the ride and makes it more exciting than it should be. Oh, someone in the CS line said, "Six Flags Magic Mountain is better!" What crack was he smoking????

Hey R&E, if you two are passing through France, go into a McDonald's and see what a Quarter Pounder is called. You can even take a photo of the name! I know you eat McD's for like breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

Here's some photos of a night ride on California Screamin'. They're captures from my video. The video came out pretty good, surprisingly. I videotaped 3 or 4 rides and the CMs never told me to put away my camera. Disney is a lot more liberal with cameras on rides than any other park I've visited. Enjoy!

Just remember, for those who go to Typhoon Lagoon, you will have to see Robb shirtless. That is a sight worse than death!

^I forgot to mention Belmont Park! I visited there after Legoland. Belmont Park was pretty dead. I got the $16.95 armband and rode the Giant Dipper 5 times. I rode Chaos, which I had never rode. It looks scarier than the ride. The Giant Dipper was fun, but it gave no airtime. The front is the smoothest. The back will just toss you around! I also ate the big calzone. I saw it in a photo with Elissa and I just had to eat the calzone! It was huge, but not to filling (oddly enough).

Well, I'm back from coastering at SoCal and I've got 33 more credits, bringing my coaster total to 270. Here's a brief overview of what I thought of the parks: ADVENTURE CITY This reminded me of a Six Flags looney tunes play area, but cleaner and with nicer employees. Treetop Racers was one of the best wild mice I've ridden. It has some serious headchoppers. Freeway Coaster was like Taxi Jam, but you didn't need to borrow a kid to ride it. It seems to have been built around a tree. The branches and leaves hand down to make killer headchoppers! I also rode the train. The park gave me the ACE discount and I got in for $6.00. I forgot to bring my membership card (well, my membership expired long ago), but they still gave me the discount. I guess wearing a FLCC t-shirt is good enough. UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD I did the VIP Experience tour. It was pricey, but well worth it. The backlot tour was almost twice as long as the regular one. We got our own trolley tram car. We also talked to a foley artist, walked through the prop department, and walked around the "Crossing Jordan" set. We got front of the line access to the major rides and even rode the esclator ride! Florida has the far superior Mummy coaster. Hollywood's isn't half the fun of Florida's version. KNOTT'S BERRY FARM People dis Knott's a lot, but I had a good time there. It didn't sprinkle, so they didn't shut down. They were running two trains on every coaster except for Boomerang and Montezooma's Revenge (obviously). I didn't get stapled in Xcelerator. In fact, I had some airtime while going down the 90 degree drop! Some things annoyed me about Knott's. The head of the Xcelerator crew was saying over the speakers who could go on break. Such things need not be announced. But it was a better park than I had read. LEGOLAND I was the only childless adult there! Still, the day was very quiet and I did the coasters several times and a few other rides. Technic Test Track was one of the better wild mice I've rode. The Dragon coaster had a neat dark ride portion at the beginning. Coastersaurus was a good kiddie coaster. The ride ops gave me two laps! When the line was shorter, people were getting three! Legoland had the friendliest employees outside of Disney. SEA WORLD SAN DIEGO I thought it was a pretty good Sea World park. I still think Florida has the better Clyde and Seamore show. I thought Journey to Atlantis was better than Florida's version. The storyline was more coherent and was more fun. It had more coaster track than Florida's too. A cheap shot on JTA is that during the drop, they dump a waterfall on you. So if your mouth is open during the drop, you will get a tasty treat! It doesn't taste like Evian, folks. SIX FLAGS MAGIC MOUNTAIN I'm going to say a lot of bad things about this place. But first, here's the good... - Batman: The Ride and Riddler's Revenge was fun - The park is nicely landscaped - Deja Vu was running (don't faint!) - The nicest employee there worked Canyon Blaster - I met Elissa there! Now the bad... X was bumpy and a terrible ride. I was looking forward to this coaster, but it really was a big letdown. Who cares if it is cutting edge or yada yada...the coaster is just plain bad. Many of the coasters gave me bruises and headaches. Scream, er, the Parking Lot Ride, was forceless. And why is the Revolution an ACE landmark? The OTSRs beat my ears to death. I guess it was a better ride without the OTSRs. There was also a one train wait for everything and SFMM employees aren't the most expedient. X could have used another train, but I ended up waiting 1 hour, 10 minutes to get beaten up. I wanted to ride X first thing, but it didn't open until 11:00. The employees weren't the peak of efficiency either. For example, when Deja Vu opened, a few employees were taking a test on ride operations. The Supervisor was reviewing the test before taking it. Couldn't this have been done before the ride opened? Oh wait, I forgot...I'm at Six Flags. The crowd at SFMM was about as heavy as Knott's on Sunday, yet Knott's had a better operation. I got all 14 coasters at SFMM in one day, but I still felt like it was a bad day. When I talk to people about SFMM, most give me a look on their faces like they bit into a lemon or smelled a nasty fart. When someone asks me about SFMM, I will have the same expression. SFMM is one of the worst SF parks I've ever visited. It made SFWOA look like Disney! DISNEY'S CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE Say what you want about this park...I enjoyed it. OK, Florida TOT is way better than CA TOT. Some of the rides seem off the shelf. But I still managed to have fun. The Block Party is one of the best Disney parades I've ever seen. It gets the crowd so involved and is high energy all the way. I rode my favorites many times. I even rode Hemlich's Chew Chew Train twice! DISNEYLAND I had a good time at Disneyland. I was able to do everything I wanted and my favorites several times. I decided to hit the rides around Fantasmic. I was able to do most of Tomorrowland and Fantasyland during that time. I even got rides on Big Thunder Mt. Raiload and Indy Jones during that time. The parade was pretty good, but the Remember fireworks were excellent! That is all from me about SoCal!

Cool photos! I can't wait to see how Power Keg was. Too bad you can't ride the Runaway Ore Cart anymore! I wonder why that was taken out. Did they need extra steel for Power Keg? BTW, I rented a car once from Florida and it had Alabama plates on it! Gee, it's 1:25 AM EST and I have a 5:20 AM flight! I'll be sleeping on the airplane, all the live long day...

Jesus Juice sounds dirty for some reason. AAA has a deal on Holy Land Experience tickets. Through June 30, you can buy one admission and get one free. So the per person cost is $15. Personally, I'd rather use that $15 for an armband at Old Town.

Personally, I know who wears the pants in the family. I've only seen the both of you in shorts, though.

More photos! Jersualem Market Herod's Temple Pretty! The Scriptorium Down the Holy Land Experience "drag" "Did you see me at Sam's Club?"

Why did I visit the Holy Land Experience? This theme park in Orlando seems to be geared towards Christian people who worship the Lord and the Bible. I don’t consider myself religious. Religion never appealed to me. When I went to church, I was like Homer Simpson – I fell asleep! If church were more like the one in The Blues Brothers, where people are singing and dancing on Sundays, perhaps I would be more interested in attending. After viewing The Passion of the Christ, some of my friends say that it has renewed their faith in the Lord. My response to the movie was, “Cool, blood and gore! Yeah, baby, yeah!” I did see the musical “Godspell” a few years ago. Although I gained a better understanding of the Bible, I still was not going to convert. I don’t mean to offend anyone, but I view the Bible as modern mythology. The Good Book has interesting stories, but it isn’t something I would base my life on. I do respect and appreciate all religious beliefs. Even though I was not one of the faithful, I was still interested in visiting the Holy Land Experience. First, the design team who was responsible for creating Islands of Adventure worked on the Holy Land Experience. If they did such an incredible job on Universal’s theme park, I wondered what they did with the Holy Land Experience. The second reason why I visited is the most important. The Holy Land Experience attracted a lot of controversy when it first opened a few years ago. I wanted to see what the fuss was all about. I tried to visit during the theme park’s first year of operation, but a torrential thunderstorm prevented me from visiting. The park had shut down early due to the storms. Over the years, more important things prevented me from visiting. Also over the years, I had forgotten what all the controversy was about, but I still had the desire to visit. I decided to visit the Holy Land Experience on a Saturday in April. The park wasn’t a major Orlando park, so I was expecting the big crowds to be at the Magic Kingdom and away from where I’ll be. The Holy Land Experience is located off exit 78 on Interstate 4. Because the park is so close to the Interstate, you can see the entire layout as you drive. Regular admission to the park is $29.99, but I had bought my tickets ahead of time at www.ticketmania.com for $25.75. I arrived at the Holy Land Experience a little after 9 am and there were about a half a dozen people in the parking lot. I had hoped crowds would stay low. The park is fashioned after the city of Jerusalem. The main entrance is the city gate. The entrance did not have any signage that you were entering the Holy Land Experience. The park has a similar layout to the Walt Disney World theme parks. You enter through a “Main Street USA” area of shops. The main “castle” icon is the Temple of the Great King (Herod’s Temple). The attractions are laid around the park. The theme park is about the size of one of the “lands” at the Magic Kingdom. As I entered the park, I walked past the shops in Jerusalem Street Market (save shopping for later!). The street market looked pretty neat. I’ve never been to Jerusalem, but it looked pretty accurate. I don’t think Jerusalem had a pretzel and drink stand, though. I felt a little uncomfortable when I first entered. I felt a little out of place, since I wasn’t religious. I should just run out and ride the Incredible Hulk Coaster! However, I had paid $25.75 to get in, so I might as well see what it’s like. A park employee said that the Wilderness Tabernacle show was going to begin, so I followed the small crowd to the show building. The Wilderness Tabernacle was a stage demonstration of the tabernacle that God had commanded His followers to build. You may have built a model of this in Sunday school. It was a nice presentation, but it almost put me to sleep. It’s like church over again! The part that I do remember is the Ark of the Covenant in the worship area of the tabernacle. It let off a huge smoke stream. I thought it would be like Raiders of the Lost Ark. I almost closed my eyes because I was afraid I would melt like a candle and then explode. Alas, that did not happen. You can buy a DVD or video of the Wilderness Tabernacle show in the gift shop. The show guide had indicated a historical presentation at the Plaza of Nations in Herod’s Temple at 10:15 am. I headed over there since it was near show time. I wasn’t sure what the historical presentation was, but it ended up being an employee walking back and forth on the stage, explaining what Herod’s Temple was. I don’t remember much about the presentation, but I do remember there was very little shade, it was hot, and a steady stream of people walked out on the show. The presentation almost put me to sleep! The next show was Praise Through the Ages at 10:45 am. Since this was the only show on the guide that was coming up, nearly all of the park guests headed to the Shofar Auditorium to see it. In the waiting area of the Shofar Auditorium was a model of Jerusalem, 66 A.D. It was a very large model and nicely done. If you wanted more of the model, you could buy the DVD or video in the gift shop across the way. Praise Through the Ages was a multi-media production that showed how music and art have been used to praise God. It was mostly a musical presentation of different praise songs through time. The music started through ancient times and monks, went through the Renaissance and the Romantic age, headed through Southern Gospel, and ended at Contemporary Christian music. The performers sang well and were very talented. The Southern gospel performance was my favorite. I listen to Southern gospel, not to praise the Lord, but because I think it has a good beat and you can dance to it. I got the Contemporary Christian song stuck in my head all day. I was busy humming, “Lord, You are good and Your spirit endureth forever.” That’s the It’s the Small World song of the Holy Land Experience! The next show was Centurion at 12:15 pm. Even though it was early, I decided to eat since I figured the food line would get worse throughout the day. The park had about four locations for food. Two were stands. One was the pretzel stand in the Jerusalem market. Another stand was in front of the Shofar Auditorium and it had some wraps and snacks. The park had two counter service restaurants: The Oasis Palms Café and the Royal Portico Eatery. The Royal Portico Eatery was mainly an ice cream shop. I chose the Oasis Palm Café for a real lunch. This café had no sign or any indication that it was a restaurant. I didn’t know where it was until someone opened the door and I found food inside. The café had wraps, salads, chicken dishes, and the good old theme park standby, the hamburger. The hamburger was called the Golitah Burger and was pretty good for theme park food. If there were a David Burger, it would probably be a White Castle-looking burger. Centurion was about to start, so I headed over to snag a good seat. Before the show started, two employees walked around and sold turkey legs, water, and a fruit drink. When the employee sold a guest a turkey leg, she gave the guest a plate. I don’t think I’ve seen that before. When I get a turkey leg at the Port of Entry at Islands of Adventure, I have to hold it like a caveman! Who needs a plate for a carnivorous pleasure? Centurion was a musical about a Roman centurion who is hunting down the Jewish Messiah, but the centurion needs him to cure his dying servant. Since it is a theme park, we know the story will have a happy ending. Like Praise Through the Ages, the performers were quite talented dancers and singers. The Jewish Messiah was given a five-minute song and dance number. You’d think he was important! The actor who played the Jewish Messiah really looked like Jesus! He had the hair, the beard, everything! I wondered if he had problem walking around in Sam’s Club. There he is, rolling his cart down Wal-Mart aisles, and someone shouts out, “It’s Jesus!” Now if Jesus is in Sam’s Club, the question I ask is why Jesus wants to buy 100 rolls of toilet paper? Inside Herod’s Temple was the Theatre of Life. It runs a film called “Seed of Promise,” but the theatre was closed during Centurion. The performers used the theatre as a dressing room. As soon as Centurion ended, the performers left the theatre and it opened again. I decided to check out the film. The park guide described the film as “an original film that powerfully communicates God’s master plan for redeeming mankind.” The film showed a crucifixion and hammer pounding the spikes into people’s wrists (ouch, that’s got to hurt!), Adam and Eve (Eve was sporting a nice bikini tan), and Abraham’s story. I couldn’t figure out what “God’s master plan for redeeming mankind” was, though. I headed over to the Scriptorium next. It was a 55-minute walking tour that was the history of the Bible. The Scriptorium was divided into a series of rooms that was themed to the specific time period that was being presented. A recording described the period and how it relates to the Bible. Each room had Biblical antiques in protective glass cases. The journey began in Mesopotamia and ended in modern times. It was pretty interesting to learn about the history of the Bible and see Biblical antiques. I never knew that the Bible was being written in the cradle of civilization. The Scriptorium also showed what people did for the Bible. Around the 17th or 18th century in Europe, people were being hunted down and killed for trying to present another version of the Bible. It’s a good thing you don’t see that in the United States. Thank the founding fathers for freedom of religion! In the group that I was in, there were a few young kids who seemed bored throughout the presentation. The Scriptorium exited into the Ex Libris gift shop. I walked around the Holy Land Experience and checked out the different gift shops. The park has a small children’s area called Qaboo and Company. This area consisted of a rocking-climbing wall, an archaeological dig, a tapestry showing a knock-off of Aladdin and Jasmine, and a gift shop that showed religious videos with animation that was worse than Filmation. A small animal area consisted of camels, goats, ponies, lambs, and chickens. An employee was feeding milk in a baby’s bottle to a lamb. He passed the bottle to the park guests so they could feed the lamb for a few moments. I had missed seeing the dramatic vignette “The Ministry of Jesus” and the musical Vu Dolorosa Passion because I had to meet friends at Universal Studios’ Mardi Gras later that afternoon. As I walked around the Holy Land Experience, employees were saying “Shalom” at me. The performer in the Wilderness Tabernacle explained that “Shalom” would be heard throughout the park all day. It means “Peace,” but it can also mean “Hello” or “goodbye.” It’s like a Hawaiian saying to you “Aloha.” The employee’s costumes looked very accurate for Jerusalem, right down to the footwear. When I’m at the Lost Continent in Islands of Adventure, the Team Members there are dressed like knights or peasants, but if you look down, they’re wearing Nikes! At the Holy Land Experience, the employees were wearing brown sandals. I don’t know if they had Tevas in Jerusalem, but it looked a lot better than sneakers. The Holy Land Experience did assume you had a working knowledge of the Bible. Many times as performers were setting up the scene for the Wilderness Tabernacle or the historical presentation at Herod’s Temple, they said, “As you know, the Bible said this” or “As we all know, the Bible said that.” I had leafed though Bibles while staying at hotels, but I never really read it. I felt a little lost sometimes during these presentations. We all have different religious beliefs. We may worship Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, the Boston Red Sox, or Robb and Elissa Alvey. No matter what your religion, I think it’s good to at least understand the Bible. The Bible has been a key or a large part of many historical events. For example, brave men and women boarded the Mayflower, crossed the treacherous Atlantic Ocean, and landed around present-day Massachusetts because they wanted to worship as they wanted. The Holy Land Experience gave me a better understanding of Biblical mythology. It didn’t convert me, though. I believe that the faithful will become more faithful after a visit. Others may wish they were riding Dueling Dragons instead. The presentation was well done and the park looked great, but I couldn’t help thinking the Holy Land Experience was church with a $29.99 admission charge. In the meantime, I think I will watch “Godspell” again and sing a rousing chorus of “Day by Day.” For more information on the Holy Land Experience, please visit www.holylandexperience.com Da Man! Centurion show Cool, violence! Centurion show Herod's Temple Typical gift shop merchandise Take a wild guess what attraction this is Dead Sea Scrolls (future attraction) Stage area Camel Baa! Oasis Palm Cafe menu The clearly-marked Oasis Palm Cafe Pretty! Jersualem model Jersualem model Entrance

What does that say about his wife then?

I don't know about Robb, but I use a Sony DCRHC30. It's nice and compact. It's pretty easy to hold on rides.

I spent $120 to do the HHN VIP tour and I thought it was well worth the money. We got to jump the lines on virtually every house and ride, we got interesting stories about HHN and background material on the houses, and we were treated like royality. Plus, I had finally gotten into the Navigator's Club! It was pricey, but well worth it. In fact, I think I will do it again this year.

I was looking at the USH photos again and I wondered why Robb was playing with chopsticks so much. Does he like long and hard things? That didn't come out right...

Great video, but it still looks like what I thought it would be...Top Thrill Dragster with a bunny hill. I'll probably get up there to ride it, but I'm in no hurry. Kindga Ka was going to be a candidate for my 300th coaster, but perhaps I should do Power Keg instead. Hmmm...we'll see I guess!

I think you will have to change my custom title to something else after May 4! That's right...I'm getting an operation to be a short Asian!

Hey R&E, I'm sure you two are busy up to your hair follicies, but why did you decide to start these forums? It just sounds like so much more work in your busy life.

^For Media Day on May 19 and 20, I think you need to arrive around 4 am or 5 am! I don't get up that early unless I have to pee! Gosh, my flight on Friday leaves for Atlanta for a connection to LAX at 5:20 am. Yawn!

I think Astroland has a Wacky Worm that's named something else and a kiddie coaster at Deno's. Whore it up, dude!

I posted a meet post on Westcoaster.net, but I didn't get any replies. So it's just me, Gregg, and Elissa. So is Psyclone like Hurler? Hurler kind of bored me. I rode it 4 times nonetheless!

^^Thanks Robb for the explanation. Next year, I think I will put a lot of sex and violence in my video. That's a sure-fire way to win! No really...it's interesting to see people's reactions to Miracle Strip. I posted a TR on it on another board. People were talking about it like it was an old friend or a relative that passed away. I wish I had done the haunted house though. People said that I missed out on a good (or cheesy) thing.

It's official (I hope)...BGT's web site is showing SheiKra will open on May 21. Whoo-hoo! Take a look here: http://www.buschgardens.com/buschgardens/fla/sheikra.aspx