Looty

Last time I was at SFGAD, I got a gold QBot...it was totally worth it. I had such an awesome time and it was nice getting plenty of rides on El Toro. As far as Hershey goes...if you aren't doing the waterpark then you probably don't need 1.5 days. Knoebels is awesome although I ended up getting really lost. I also printed mapqwest directions and it totally messed us up so double check the direction you have for Knoebels.

APOLLO'S CHARIOT! I do not see how it is consistently placed in the top 10 year after year. It was one of the most boring rides I have been on. Goliath at SFOG blows Apollo's Chariot out of the water. Nitro isn't too far behind Apollo too.

That's Interesting!...How far is Gaitburg (or whatever) from Pigeon Forge?

I'll be working at Nickelodeon Universe (MOA) full time this summer. I'm usually dressed nice and you'll most likely see me carrying a little green bag...so say hi to me if you happen to see me.

I visited Knotts for the Solace event and I also was not impressed with their food service. We ate at TGI Fridays that evening and I can honestly say that it was the WORST Friday's I have ever been too! I think a place like Mrs. Knotts should be exceptionally maintained simply due to its reputation.

Wow that must have been a great event! I cannot say enough great things about Jay and Tim and what they have done with this park. I'm really impressed by how they have reached out to the enthusiast community and shown their appreciation. Jay kind of reminds me of Uncle Dave in Beverly Hills Cop 3...everybody loves him!

I have always enjoyed X...but I have to admit that I feel a little underwhelmed after viewing this update. I'm sure the music is cool, but the fire effect seems a little random. Like I said, I have always liked X and I am very impressed by Jay and Tim, but I guess I don't see how all of this cost 10 million dollars. Robb I'm not sure, but did you comment at all on the fog effect that they added too?

Dollywood last summer was amazing! The ride ops were fantastic and very hospitable. In fact, i recall the ride ops on Tennessee Tornado (all of which had to have been 50+ yrs) RUNNING to check the OTSR's. I didn't see any trains stacked all day and every employee i came in contact with all day really seemed to care about their job. Knoebels crew was also fantastic for many of the same reasons. Disneyland and DCA employees blew me away as well. Space Mountain dispatched trains in less than 10-15 seconds! Quick side note (I know this is supposed to be a positive thread) - I don't really see how Holiday World wins year after year for friendliest staff. It's not like they were awful or anything, but I didn't see anything memorable that would make me vote for them.

I was just at SFGAm last Saturday and bought the regular Qbot. They say that you wait just as long as everyone in line with the regular qbot, but our wait time was 10 min all day for just about every ride offered. Raging Bull had both sections of switchbacks filled and Superman's line overflowed out onto the midway (needless to say that it was busy)...so why didn't we wait "as long as everyone else"? I was perfectly fine with waiting only ten minutes, but I might consider purchasing the regular in the future instead of the gold if it is usually like this. I have purchased the gold before at SFGAd and didn't have to wait at all, but I would definitely rather wait ten minutes with the regular qbot than pay double for the gold. Anyone know anything?...

Mt. Olympus HANDS DOWN! I've never seen a park managed like Mt. Olympus. I have never encountered one friendly employee in all of my trips there. I only say that because it feels as if the ride ops go out of there way to piss people off. I feel like they antagonize people. They have no fences around their rides and their rides in general are not very well maintained (grass growing through Zeus). I've witnessed them having to physically push our train out of the station before on Zeus and when we got back to the station, the seat (yes the seat that we were sitting on) came up with us as we went to exit! I saw one employee one time walking around taking pictures of girls in bikinis (many of whom became very upset). I think the biggest thing that bothers me is who rude their employees are. I've seen "supervisors" dealing with angry guests and they show no sign of sympathy. The few incidences I've witnessed involved the supervisor interrupting the guest and basically asking them to leave if they are unhappy. It's as if they feel like they are providing some type of experience that we all should be grateful for (like the Soup Nazi on Seinfeld). I don't usually rant like this, but this thread got me going... The only reason why I go back is because Hades is amazing (although from what I have heard lately it isn't so much anymore). I would say SFA comes in a close second though.

Did you know that the Paul Bunyan and Babe characters on the Log Chute in the Mall of America were designed by the same team that designed E.T.?

When I was a ride op at Camp Snoopy/Park at MOA, I seemed to have people coming after me all of the time. I'm a little short and not very intimidating so I always had to be extra stern when enforcing policies. I've seen people get kicked out for being drunk among other things (liquor is served in many of the restaurants in the mall). The best would have to be when some kid got kicked out for jumping out of his boat on the Paul Bunyan Log Chute and slapping Babe on the butt before running to get back in.

I work at the Mall of America so I see a ton of celebrities. I was leaving work one night around 11:30 and I heard terrible sounding music...I walked a little further and discovered that it was Ashley Simpson going through a rehersal for her performance on grand opening for Nick Universe. The worse celebrity though would have to be Lindsay Lohan! She was the ultimate drama queen when she visited. She demanded all of these random things like re-rides and I guess apparently people were trying to purchase her onride photo on Timberland Twister and she had a meltdown and demanded that it be erased. Other than that, I see a ton of local celebrities all the time. I'm a huge Minnesota Vikings fan so I see a lot of them all the time. Matt Birk (for those who know who he is) comes all the time with his daughter so it's cool to see him. Oh I heard an old story about an employee getting fired for letting Hulk Hogan ride Ripsaw with his son when his son wasn't tall enough (so this was a long time ago).

Last I heard, Stampede Steakhouse will become a new restaurant. As far as the Log Chute goes...I have no idea about the Barnyard animals. I was very surprised to see the banner hanging there. It wouldn't surprise me though of they changed their mind on it. They changed a lot of their initial plans to get to what the park is now.

Hello, I was just wondering what everyone would think of an indoor park building a coaster that goes outdoors? Let's use Nick Universe for example...It's in MN and it gets really cold in the winter so it wouldn't be operational that time of year. Assuming that it's a coaster that many of us would travel across the country for; is it worth it to build it for the summer revenue? What do you think?

Thanks for taking a pic of the "human airgates" on Avatar. I had heard about it and it sounded stupid. There were gates on the ends of the platform at one time, but the GM (who is about 6'7") could physically kick the gates as the ride was operating...so they took them out until they can think of something better. Nice TR though...I'm glad you liked the new coasters

I mentioned earlier that the park raised the price of an annual pass to discourage anyone from buying them. I know that sounds weird, but the park makes NO money off of them. They don't want you to buy them...they want you to spend $30 dollars everytime you come.

There were/are plans to convert it to Flying Dutchmans Revenge. Instead of "zapping" ghosts with the "Boo Blaster", the new ride would be a treasure hunt with flashlights. Not sure if & when this will happen, but that whole corner of the park would then be all Spongebob themed.

^That's an obvious error. It will have a 48" height requirement.

The price for an annual pass is crazy! You do need to remember that the park is open 364 days a year though compared to VF which is only open 4-5 months a year (i don't think the article mentioned that). If you are planning on going 8+ times a year, then I suppose it would be a good deal. The article said that one of the reasons for the hike in annual pass prices was because of the significant cost of the whole transformation....that is true, but the bigger reason, however, is because the park doesn't make any money off of the passes. Again, the park is open 364 days a year and they would much rather take your $30 every time you come. They aren't expecting to sell many annual passes. The increase in price is more of a discouragement than an encouragement. Camp Snoopy & The Park at MOA always had coupons out there for like $5-8 off of a wristband...I'm not sure how many coupon promotions NU will have.

Nice photos! I was also in your group that day (In fact, I'm the head on the left side in the photo of Viper in the batwing...hehe). I also felt as if the park really went above and beyond for everyone. I think that the current management is excellent (wish i had that kind of management at my place of employment). I agree too that some of the questions were inappropriate for the event...especially that lady and her dollar in the vending machine. I couldn't hear too well, but she looked really pissed.

Avatar was running today. Those people you saw in suits were ops supervisors who were there to write the SOP for it. They were supposed to ride it, but apparently is wasn't "ready for people" I know that the trainer for that ride is coming in tomorrow to learn it so look for people to be on it tomorrow. Hey so I'm looking to see how many people are planning on going opening day (or another day). If i find a group of at least 15 people, you can get wristbands for $16.27 each. There is going to be a lot going on opening day with different celebrities and other activities so spread the word and let me know. BTW...I just got two more rides on Spongebob tonight and it truly is getting better everytime i ride it (if that doesn't get you motivated, i don't know what will)

I was there and only got 2 rides today...o well

Wow...didn't know she would be there. I'm just glad my office is insulated

I JUST RODE SPONGEBOB!...TWICE! The Park was nice enough to run it today around 4:00 for the employees. I just happen to be there so I scored two rides on it. Let me first say that it is really short. But what it lacks in length, it makes up for in elements! Going over the crest of the lift was incredible. You are literally a few feet away from touching the glass and surrounding rafters. The first drop is really fast and catches you by surprise. The hump directly after the loop does indeed provide a nice moment of air before heading up into the half-back. Going into the half-back really looked like you were about to crash into the ferris wheel! The zero-g roll (the best part in my opinion) is taken at perfect speed. It provides a nice moment of hang-time, but not so much where it's uncomfortable. It's more of a floater-hang-time moment if you can imagine that. After the MCBR, you head into the turn around which was fine (nothing special) before the upward helix. The helix is so low to the ground, you almost feel like you can reach out and touch the cement. After that, you hit the brakes. Overall, I'd give it a 9/10