Louise

I pissed myself laughing at this, which makes me a total hypocrite, but I don't care.

I really have no idea....but if I had to "guess" I'd say $6,000 INCLUDING airfare in between all the destinations. YOU would be responsible to get from your home location to LAX and from Orlando back home. But again, that's a VERY rough estimate and it may change based on when we go, etc. --Robb I do understand that that's a guess and that obviously none of this is worked out yet, but if I had asked you to guess, I would have expected your estimate to be almost twice that, so that is a REALLY pleasant surprise to see, even if it does end up being more expensive than that! If this ends up being 2009 I would probably be willing to sacrifice any other trips that year or the year after to do this, especially with the cruise add-on, I've been itching to get on one of those cruises ever since I saw Tommy and James's pictures from theirs last month. Mmmmm, three weeks of Disney.

A few random rambling thoughts: * The link that was posted pages back about a potential other drop tower accident turned out to be from a year ago, though that wasn't made clear on the news site who linked to Coasterbuzz, hence a few of us being rather confused. Just thought I'd clear that up in case anybody else had been curious about it. We're idiots for not noticing the dates on the posts. * I too thought it was a little odd that all the other towers (of different models and generations) had been closed, but I figure as much as "erring on the side of caution", it's also helpful to put the public's mind at rest, confirm to them that investigations are being taken into many of that type of ride. At the end of the day, your average member of the GP doesn't distinguish between manufacturers or anything, they just see a tower that goes up and comes down, and assumes they're all the same. Makes sense from a PR point of view and as comfort. * Eye-witness testimony is notoriously unreliable and even little things such as the way a reporter phrases a question (I'm not saying deliberately, even unconscious little encouragements) can have an effect. Eye-witnesses to car accidents will statistically estimate the speed of a travelling vehicle as faster if they are asked "what speed did the car CRASH into the wall" as opposed to "at what speed did the car make contact with the wall". It's a shame that so much stock is put into what people say. * In regards to the conversations about the number of cables, etc etc, this is how it was put to me on another board, though nothing about anything this technical, I'm clueless as to how correct this is: I'm not sure how this fits in with peoples' theories and am too tired to really figure out how this would work, whether this would mean the car would drop earlier than it should have done or whether a back-up system was in place or whether the ride DID drop early, but seeing as drop towers are meant to, well, drop, it's an irrelevant detail... I guess it all depends at what point the cable snapped. * I'm not particularly surprised that attendance was high today. I'd imagine a lot of people went along just to see if they could see anything or find out what was going on. Human nature really, just a different form of what we're doing here, speculating and theorising. * I'm glad that Fox were honest enough to tell Robb what kind of spin they wanted him to put on things. Would've been very awkward to not find that out until you were on the air and being made to feel uncomfortable because of your views. * Does anybody else find it odd that there has been NO news about the girl's condition yet?? I wasn't surprised that there was no news LAST night, but I am a little surprised that there hasn't been anything yet. I'm guessing this means that her parents aren't willing to release any information, but in my experience the hospital usually at least convince them to allow them to make some kind of generic "it's early days but she's stable" type statement. Don't know why, but I find the lack of confirmed facts quite unnerving. It is very early though. We'll see what the weekend brings. * Oh, and I had a great conversation with my mother today! She was like "I know nothing will ever happen to you, and I know that driving, flying, and even getting out of the shower are far more risky, but this still scares me so I don't want to hear anything about it". Long post. Sorry guys!

Interesting, the CoasterBuzz page is obviously still there, but the Syracuse site that Buzz links to shows an error for that page and I can't find it on the main site, so... Seems from Buzz that there was fair detail in the original article that WAS there, wonder why it was pulled. Assuming that was a real event, scary that two cable snaps on drop rides could occur in 24 hours. Fucked up coincidence. EDITED TO ADD: ^ Way to SKIM the thread, ED!

^ Do you have the link of the page, Shari? The one that links to Coasterbuzz, I mean.

132 in 1.8 billion. Or, if you're including all injuries, including those which are very minor, 1713 in 1.8 billion, and you know about half of those (if not more) are due to rider error, operator error, etc etc, stuff that can be avoided. Basically, to those of you who are saying that if it *was* a freak accident, you'd find that more scary, I agree, I would almost rather hear that blame can be correctly placed somewhere simply for my own peace of mind... Even if it *was* a freak occurrence which no determinable cause for the cable snapping, look at the odds, and don't worry about it. I queried somewhere about the sort of safety checks that go into drop rides, I never knew how heavily they were inspected... At least this tells me it's a daily thing. Surprised there hasn't been more news yet, she should be out of surgery by now... I really hope they managed to reattach her feet. It will still mean a long period of physical therapy and trauma, but surely that has to be better than the alternative. Still *VERY* creeped out by this.

That was what I was thinking when somebody mentioned the words "cable snapping". Bar the whole ride tilting and her hitting something on the way down, I couldn't think of how her feet could be severed, but if a cable snapped and wrapped around her ankles... Yeah, strong metal cables of the type used in many rides can easily do that. How awful. Ortho surgery is so advanced these days, I really do hope they manage to re-attach her feet and that she's going to be fine. Shari, I know you said the age varies in different stories but is there at least a rough age level that's more common? I mean, by "girl", do they mean older teen/younger teen/older child??

I don't understand, how could her feet have been severed by this ride? I mean, what kind of malfunction could have occurred? Terrifying, how awful.

I'm not disagreeing with you, because I totally see your point, but I do wish to add to this that it's only a certain kind of person who lets their attitude (and far more importantly, their care and attention towards the safety of others) slip due to poor pay. I earn less than half at my current job as what I earned at my old job, and I can truthfully say I work just as hard and give just as good service as I always have, regardless of my earnings. Terrance is spot on with his assessment, but I think it's a real shame that this is the way it is for so many people, if they don't get paid much, they wonder why they should bother trying, and it leads to incidents like this. Sucks. So glad KidTums is okay, Elissa. I'm sure it was a much more traumatic experience for you guys than it was for her, truth be told. Idiot op should be sacked and flogged.

If this thread were "Lou's random thought of the day", I think my thought would be that I want to award a Poster of the Week plaque to BeemerBoy. This must be the tenth post of yours I've read this week that's fucking cracked me up, and I'm not even including the PTRs! [/ass-kissing]

The videos posted on this page won't stream for me so I'm waiting for them to download, but from the first one... I *LOVE* the sound of that first drop. Really looks like a lot of fun, I haven't ridden all that many woodies, and the only one I rate very highly is Balder, so I'm hoping this one will join it in my top selections.

God, I adore Andy Kaufman. Just wanted to throw that in there.

^ We always make allowances for those for whom English is not their first language. With maybe one exception, NONE of the mods or admins would be able to post on a board based on any language other than English, so we have a lot of respect for you guys. Generally speaking the non-English posters have better spelling and grammar than the others, especially as you guys try so hard, so don't worry, just keep going the way you are!

Can you be a bit more descriptive?! Maybe it's just me, but I have no clue what this thread is about!

^ Yes it has: http://parks.disneylandparis.co.uk/walt-disney-studios-park/lots/toon-studio/attractions/crush-coaster.xhtml (Somebody will have to let me know whether that link works or not, I'm never sure with Disney sites... If not, it's just under the Attractions section of the Studios Park website.)

This is what PMs are for! I'm locking but not deleting this, so even if he didn't get your emails he will see this, okay? Thanks!

^ You could at least have elaborated on your "proof"!! These are the RCDB pics. I love those cars, very cute. Looks like a lot of fun, looking forward to getting back to DLP in the next couple of years, haven't been over there since 2004 and the studios has improved a LOT since then!!

It's posts like this that get these kind of threads locked. It's nothing to do with having "more than 4 braincells", it's a personal opinion, and everybody is entitled to their own, whether you agree with it or not. Shepp, you've made your point. If you take issue with how Robb runs the site, that's absolutely fine, but discussing it on the public forums isn't the way to do it. Final warning guys, please keep this on-topic and as a civil discussion.

^ Ssshhhh, Larry, you're ruining my exaggeration!!

^ In my opinion Wes's post wasn't a threat of any kind, merely an observation that threads which concern any kind of religious debate *do* in general, one way or another, end up causing argument and upset. We did have a religious discussion thread last a considerable amount of time once, back in the day, hopefully this will make at least a few more pages. I'm not 100% sure whether I believe in a higher being or not, it changes day by day, but for the most part, I'm with Stan in South Park: Evolution is how it happened. God (or whatever form of creator you believe in) is why. I found the link that Julie posted quite interesting, I hadn't heard of that theory before.

AWESOME captions, and pics, Chuck!! Really enjoyed this. I like that you describe and rate the rides in order in your reports, gives me a better idea of things. The anti-drug-trafficking bear looks like the creepiest effing thing I've ever seen in that picture. Made me laugh to see you say that, Scott, I was looking at the Hershey pics thinking "What's different about Larry... Wait, I've never seen him with sleeves!!!" Glad all your trip plans came together and you got everything done guys, looks like a fun couple of days!

This would kick such a huge amount of ass that it's almost indescribable.

^ I already said this to you in my response to your PM, but I'm posting publicly too just so people see it: I wasn't offended by Tomi's comments, not really. A little irritated maybe, but not at all offended, it was the guy at the top of the page that pissed me off. Didn't mean to begin a derailment of the thread.

^ I'm still offended by Flipdude's constant "this being England and all..." commentary, I don't even know where to begin to respond to the post above yours, Kyle, except to say that it's an absolute load of bollocks which I won't dignify with any kind of argument as I don't wish to start a North vs. South war.

^ Same here. Drayton's X-Car had me in discomfort (and that aching dizzy feeling) just from the progression of the train down into the loop, and that was just a few seconds hanging upside down like that. I can't even imagine what I would be like after half an hour. Glad nobody was hurt. Those lifthills are the stupidest gimmick ever.