natatomic

Here's my Waterworld sign. I KNOW I also had a picture of the Banana Split sign from Gilroy Gardens, but now I can't find it anywhere. Must have deleted it. Maybe ask Robb, though. He uploaded my memory card to his drive, and I know I had the picture then. If he's not gone through and deleted down our photos yet, he might still have it.

Day 6, Part 2: Scandia & John's Incredible Pizza First of all, I DO apologize for how long it's taken me to get around to updating this trip report. School has been taking up a lot of my time lately, and then on top of my camera dying (which I just got back a couple of days ago, all repaired and perfect again, thank goodness), my laptop started smoking and died on me too, and this very minute my 3-lbs dog is having Very Serious & Very Expensive surgery. So, I've been a little distracted and busy. And back to my laptop, I had backed up my WCT photos onto my external hard drive mere DAYS before it blew up in my face, so WOW did I ever dodge a bullet there. And despite the fact that I now have to work from my ever-slow desktop, I'm going to try to go back to updating the TR regularly. Once a week maybe? Wish me luck. So, Scandia and John's Incredible Pizza, let's see.... I actually liked Scandia for the glorified arcade that it was, but I feel that way about anything that brings out the Svenska Flicka in me. Having said that, I was pretty sure I wasn't going to make it off the Screamer coaster alive - it looked like it was made of macrame. Also, there was the kiddie coaster. That's all I have to say about that. It was a kiddie coaster. As for JIP and it's Miner Mike, you can't really get any whore-ier than that, and considering who's writing this trip report, that's saying quite a lot. As for the pizza, I suppose it was rather incredible, but keep in mind that I had only had pizza once - ONCE! - in the 24 hours previous to that meal, so my system was in serious pizza withdrawal mode, and I would have found saucy cardboard to be divine. (Pizza truly is the backbone of my existence.) And sadly, I did not get any pictures of John's Incredible Pizza, but I DID get a picture of Ben's Incredible Ice Cream Cone, so I hope that will suffice. Thanks for reading. Next up: SeaWorld. Ben, I think you need to heed the words of your t-shirt. Now onto John's Incredible Pizza I am going to take this sign as LITERALLY as possible by rushing over to Scandia as soon as my water breaks so I can give birth to the baby in the station and then hop the coaster immediately afterward. And they'll try to stop me, I'm sure, but I'll be all "YOU SAID DELIVERY! THE BABY IS DELIVERED, AND I DON'T CARE IF YOU DIDN'T SPECIFICALLY INCLUDE THE AFTERBIRTH TOO, I'M RIDING NOW, PUNKS." And the coaster cars do seem a bit bizarre to me. Oh, and remember back in my SFMM update when I mentioned about naming my future daughter Lia just so I could take her picture in front part of the "LIA" portion of the Goliath sign and how it'd work out perfectly since she was gonna be born in CA anyway? Well, here's the explanation: I'm just saying it doesn't exactly inspire confidence, what with those flimsy supports and all. And then this toothpick-constructed thing. Say what you will about me and my whorish ways, but I'm not the one with a video camera taping it! First on the coaster agenda was a take over of the kiddie. Anyone else get a mental image of the Pied Piper here? See? Exactly like the real Sweden. Palm trees and everything. Why would you spend all that money on the Scandinavian TPR trip when you can have the same experience on the WCT? Honestly, some people did not think that one through... Once you get past the obnoxious, crowded arcade inside, the outside is quite pretty and well-maintained. Yet we were still let in despite that approximately 38% of us were wearing TPR shirts which obviously designated us as members of an organization. Probably could have brought my booze in after all. Vi anländer till Skandia, och det är underbart. (Okay, I'll stop. I don't really speak Swedish, anyway.)

YES. MY ELECTRONICS HATE ME. I got my camera back and sent my laptop out on the same day. My laptop was smoking. And I aged ten years after spending an hour on the phone with a million different people trying to figure out where to send it (it wasn't a simple send-it-to-the-manufacturer solution), and the amount of drama involved had me SOBBING on the phone to some woman who decided that she didn't want to listen to me anymore, so she PUT ME ON HOLD WITHOUT TELLING ME until I calmed down. Good times. Bright side is that I had just backed up all my photos (including the WCT trip ones) onto my external hard drive THE DAY BEFORE my laptop died. Talk about luck! So I can technically still do my trip report, but my desktop is impossibly slow. I'll have to do them on days when I am in an extremely patient mood.

That's it. I'm making that my facebook profile picture (if you don't mind). It's just WAY too good. My WCT trip report is gonna be on hiatus until I can get my laptop repaired. At least I can look at your awesome TR and reminisce till then.

Name: Natalie Visage Age: 23 What is your roller coaster count? 297 What is your home park? Kings Dominion, Carowinds, and Busch Gardens Europe are all about equal distance from me. However, I’ve only lived in NC for a couple of years, and since I spent most of my life in TN, I still consider Dollywood to be my home park. What is the nearest big city? Raleigh, NC What is your occupation? Student About how many times a year do you visit a park (including your home park)? A couple About how many times a year do you travel to a park that is not your home park? 1-2 When you travel do you go primarily to amusement parks or do you also try and hit other sites? Mostly parks, but I often try to stay with family if they live nearby to save on money and also just to visit. What is the farthest you’ve traveled to go to an amusement park? By myself, I took a 3-day trip up to PA and OH for a few parks. I think it was something like 21 hours driving time total. With a group, I’ve traveled to California. Does roller coaster time get in the way of family time? (Do you choose to miss your children’s or family’s sporting events, holidays, birthdays, etc…) I have no children presently, but I would certainly at least bring them with me if I had them. I have missed birthdays of older cousins, and I once spent Thanksgiving at Disney World when everyone else in my family was splitting up to do separate things for the holiday anyway, but for the most part, I don’t miss anything major. Do you have any other major hobbies? Photography and the clarinet Do you get feelings of sadness in the offseason? Do you even have an offseason? Do you travel during the offseason? I do, but the off-season is also a good time to make a trip to do the Florida parks, which I’ve done the past two years. Do you consider yourself friends with someone you met who works at an amusement park? (Or reverse it, if you work or worked and an amusement park have you made friends with enthusiasts?) I worked at WDW for a season, and met many friends there with whom I stay in touch. While I was working there, however, I did not meet an enthusiast (guest) who I stayed in contact with, mainly because my position did not allow me more than 10 second interactions with people, which didn’t exactly bode well for making life-long friendships. Would it bother you to go to an amusement park by yourself? It never does. I always enjoy going with friends, but it is nice to go by myself sometimes so that I can do the coasters and rides that I prefer in the order in which I prefer to do them. Have you gone to an amusement park by yourself? If so have you ever ran into another enthusiast and tagged along with them? Yes, on both accounts. Do you find it easy to make friends with other enthusiasts? I do, however there was this one time when I met an enthusiast who was also by himself, so we decided to hang out the rest of the day. The problem was that I had already done many of the coasters he had yet to do, so I felt obligated to do them again, though in the end it prevented me from finishing the park (it was Cedar Point). I'm just so darn nice, you see. How do you get your coaster news? Screamscape.com and themeparkreview.com How many different forum sites do you regularly post on? Just TPR. If there was a poll that asked a large pool of enthusiasts what their favorite roller coaster is, what do you think would be the top 3 responses be for wood? And for steel? It greatly depends on which group of enthusiasts you ask. But I’ll hazard a guess and say 1. El Toro 2. Boulderdash 3. Voyage 1. Bizzaro 2. Expedition GeForce 3. Nitro (TOTAL guesses) Same scenario but for amusement parks, what would be the top 3? 1. Walt Disney World Resort 2. Cedar Point 3. Holiday World (allow me to reiterate the fact that this is not MY personal ranking) Have you ever “stolen a kid” to get a credit on a kiddie coaster? ALL. THE. TIME. YES. Do you cut other categories out of your budget to make trips to parks? (Entertainment, fast food, holidays, tobacco or alcohol, etc…) Yes. I really don’t spend money on anything. Ever. Just trips (that’s mainly because I’m lucky to make $100 a week lately, though. I'm supa poor.) Before you visit a new park do you research the park finding the best way to navigate the park, get the best deals, or what days to go? Usually, yes. Do you feel the roller coaster enthusiast community is a warm and accepting community, or a negative and discouraging community? Depends on which group. Do you like to talk about your hobby with people who are not roller coaster enthusiasts? I do, though I’m not sure how much they like to listen.

^If it makes you feel any better, I at least find baking pie a LOT more fun than baking a cake. Besides, I make a MEAN Bananas Foster Bread Pudding that I bet could win you over. I'd say that's a nice happy medium between pie and cake, wouldn't you?

^I know it's gonna be weird for me to say this after my pie-making report, but I actually MUCH prefer cake. I'd take cake ANY day over pie.

I thought the same thing until I tried this pie. Think of the cheese as more of an herb or a spice rather than a main ingredient. It compliments the apples and sugar instead of taking away from them. Gives it that salty/sweet combo lots of people are fond of. I know here in the south cheddar cheese is common in apple pies. Maybe we're just a weird bunch. I do enjoy Boston Cream Pie, though. I'll have to find a good recipe for it and try it out sometime.

(Inspired by the TPR twitter contest thing) One of my friends is a HUGE Pushing Daisies fan, and because I don't have enough things in my life to obsess over, he decided to get me hooked on the show as well. And it worked. I watched all the older episodes online first, but I just bought the first season on DVD the other day, and I've already come up with a few ideas on how to convince my future hypothetical husband that we should name our future hypothetical daughter Chuck (that tends to be a theme with me, coming up with allusive baby names for children I don't even have yet; and at this point, I'm going to have to have 80 kids just to use all the names up). Some of you may know this about me, but in case others of you haven't noticed, when I get into something, I really get into it. I either love something completely to the point where I carve out a little nook in my heart for it to live and thrive, or I don't give it the time of day. That's just my style. And so that may explain my sudden inspiration to bake a pie entirely from scratch (something I've never done before), a pie whose favor I first heard about on Pushing Daisies (tart apple with Gruyere baked into the crust, sans the homeopathic anti-depressants). And I don't even like pie! I may have more than my share of faults, but lack of dedication and loyalty ain't one of 'em. And, the lovely mess afterward. I have some dough left over as you can see, so I think I'm going to add in more cheese and put some sort of jam or jelly inside and make some turnovers. Ta-da! I cut myself a small sliver about an hour ago, and for being a person who doesn't generally like pie, I thought it was quite yummy. So! Success! Yay! If I ever make it again, I think I'll go ahead and use a full cup of sugar and even more cheese in the actual dough, just because I like flavors to knock me off my bum, but otherwise, I thought it was pretty excellent. After I glazed the egg on top and cut three slits for steam to escape out of, I shredded a bit more cheese on top. The recipe didn't call for that, but one can never have too much cheese. Ever. Wow! You'd think I actually knew what I was doing! I think it could have used at least 1/2 an apple more, but no biggy. Starting to look like a real pie, eh? The recipe suggested rolling the dough on parchment paper so it wouldn't stick. Well, I don't have any parchment paper, so I just wiped down the counter, threw some flour on it, and shrugged at the mess. The apples mixed with all the other ingredients: Here's a totally staged photo of me peeling the apples with a paring knife I got for Christmas. I didn't even ask for it, but look at how handy it came in! I'd never peeled apples before, but if this becomes a habit of mine, I think it would be a worthy investment to buy an actual peeler. And yes, that is my dog on my lap, but she's under the glass and away from the food. All good. The next day, I gathered all the ingredients to finish the pie. Lemon juice, cornstarch, cinnamon, and sugar (the recipe called for regular granulated sugar, but I ended up increasing the amount of sugar from 1/2c to 3/4c and using 1/4c white sugar and 1/2c brown sugar. That just seemed more appropriate to me for an apple pie). Also, one egg to cover the pie with and 3 apples for the actual apple filling. I went with Empires 'cause they're just so darn pretty, but any tart apple I suppose would work fine. Rolled the dough into two balls, and then let them sit in the fridge overnight. I rarely use beaters or food processors in my cooking unless it's absolutely necessary. It's just one more thing I have to clean, and I think things taste better with my own sweat and blood baked into it. Figuratively speaking, of course. There is no sweat nor blood in this pie. But I read somewhere that with pie crusts, it's best to leave pea-size chunks of butter so that they spread out in the dough when you roll it, which leads to the maximum amount of flakiness, so the hand method seemed to be ideal, rather than machine mixed. Oh, and don't worry - I washed my hands a couple of days ago, so I'm good. Here's all the ingredients I used for the crust. Flour, ice water, sugar & salt, butter, and gruyere (a delicious hard, salty, nutty cheese. It makes my hands smell like a bathroom, but the taste is fantastic!) Supposedly, leaf lard makes the best pie crusts, and I was all about to go buy some (the fat shaved from pig kidneys doesn't gross me out), until I realized that it's extreme hard to come by. I couldn't find anyone local who sells it, and while I found a cute Pennsylvanian butcher who would be more than willing to send some to me so long as I would send a check first (snail mail! isn't that cute?!), I didn't have time seeing as how I wanted to make this pie for Christmas (i.e. tomorrow). So I opted for the next best choice and went for an all-butter crust. Hence the giant bowl full of the stuff.

You mean this X-rated thing? (Photos stolen from Ben) Yep. Yes it is. (And unfortunately, that IS my "naughty" face.) Holy crap, we're hot! Oh, and is that more coaster fluid on me?

Excellent trip report, Hanno! I'm such a fan of your photos. And you've now convinced me to forgo all TPR trips so that I can save up for the next Scandinavia trip. That part of the world (and it's parks) looks AMAZING.

That's better than what I've got, so thank you! And my camera RECENTLY broke. It was fine during the trip.

True, except that since I've been drinking two Nalgene bottles full per day, EVERYDAY, for the past 5+ years, I think the damage is already done. So what if my future kids all have three arms or half a brain? At least I was hydrated. How do I keep forgetting to mention all these Oscar-worthy movies you introduced to us? I recorded it when it was on SyFy a few weeks ago so I could watch it over and over again and over again. "It rises!" I have a few extra that I didn't post in the trip report. I sent them your way via a PM. an SNL reference? Hah! Indeed it is! ^^And sorry you hate it so much, Disneylander.

Oh my gosh, is that really what I look like without my glasses on?! My eyes are so TINY! That's so weird... Anyway, I love your night shots of Disney. They're beautiful! Great TR!

Day 6, part 1: Universal Studios Hollywood OmgomgomgomgomgomgOMG. I. LOVED. THIS. DAY. Or rather - specifically - I loved the super-early morning walk-back of Revenge of the Mummy that day. Even though I still prefer Florida's version, I finally had the chance to touch, caress, spoon, and rub up against real, live coaster track, and it was pretty much everything I imagine sex to be BUT BETTER. The rest of the park was only okay, for it being Universal. I like Hollywood's version of Jurassic Park better, but overall, Florida's park beats up and steals the lunch money of USH. It was just very small and very compact with far fewer attractions, and everything seemed very thrown together without being put in any distinct "land." I did enjoy the Studio Tour, but word of advice: sit on the left side of the tram. THE LEFT SIDE. Trust me and HEED YE THESE WISE WORDS. Oh, and Creature from the Black Lagoon? Those are 25 minutes of my life that I will mourn the loss of for all eternity. Stay away. Staaaaaay awaaaaaay. Alright, that's it for USH! Up next is Scandia and a super special secret bonus credit place! (Except I'm sure most of you know what it is by now if you've read other WCT TRs. But humor me, please. Kthx.) But I don't mean "eat her" in some vulgar, sexual way. No, I mean he LITERALLY ate her. And that was the end (of both the show and my faith in theme park musical theater). And since the girl fell in love with the creature in return, she decided to let him eat her. Then he accidentally got shot with a growth hormone - and really, who didn't see the coming? The creature fell in love with the girl and sang her a ballad. (And sadly, I'm not even joking, but at this point 100-200 people got up and left right in the middle of this song) A half naked man got a boob credit (totally family appropriate, as you can see) The main female character took a swim in the very lagoon in which some horrible creature was supposed to be living, because, you know...that's what any intelligent person would do. It started off normally enough, with a group of scientist/explorer types looking for a creature which resides in a lagoon of a blackish shade. Finally, we did...this. Next we saw the Backdraft show/attraction thing. I prefer the Twister version in Orlando, though. He grew so attached to the little fella that he ended up trying to steal it from its masters. Outside, Neil was given a dinosaur egg to safe and warm with his farts. Mike certainly got *ahem* wet. This is a far better effect than a crate above your head dropping four inches. How very cruel. You don't see this in Orlando. All the wetness? Ah. They must have turned your mom on. After the Studio Tour (sorry there wasn't much of a segue there), we headed towards Jurassic Park. And you know, it's a good thing I'm not, oh say....SCARED OF FLYING AND DIDN'T HAVE TO FLY BACK HOME IN A WEEK. Else this might have made me a bit queasy. Eugh. This was a scene from "War of the Worlds." It was actually quite incredible to see in real life. No, no, no, Mr. Tram Driver! Why are you pulling away so quickly? He's making one last valiant attempt to chop those pesky split ends of mine off by leaping toward me, but alas - we've pulled away too fast for him to reach. Oh, the horror. And now he's heading my way with a knife? Oh, he must have noticed my split ends and decided to give me a hair cut! Adorable! Oh goodness! He sees me! Our eyes have met, and he is clearly taken aback by my beauty! There's probably more room in the trunk for her to lie down in. How thoughtful of him. Aww, look at that sweet young man, carrying his ailing mother to the car like that. What convenient accommodations for those visiting Whoville! *cue music* I think they said this is where Dr. Seuss grew up or something. Then we took a drive down Wisteria Lane. Um, can I get the number of his dentist? Those pearly whites - and my goodness, are they white! - of his are SPOTLESS. (Why am I even surprised at his perfect teeth? It's Hollywood. Everyone has work done. Even that firm skin of his is probably thanks to botox) He looks like an angry penis. At least the Jaws part was better on the right. Hah, just kidding. Well, not, that WAS an actual photo I took during the Earthquake scene (on the pitch black RIGHT side), but this is a picture on the better-lit left side. And then we went through the earthquake scene, which looked like this. These sets were all used in various movies, but I can't tell you which ones (not because it's classified information that I'd be killed for telling, I just have no idea). Sorry to disappoint. An exclusive look at the directors of the future. God help us. Because you really should sit on the left. By the way, have I mentioned that it's a good idea to sit on the left? And of course, there's the Delorean. Still not as cool as the Mule, though. We went by all these cars (on our, ahem, LEFT), and this was the best shot I was able to get of the Mule from "Serenity." Does ANYONE have a good shot of it? I love "Firefly" stuff, but I think I was the only one who cared on the trip as far as I know. I took this on the "collapsing-due-to-dynamite" bridge, which I think turned out quite lovely. This was where the fire was a year or however long ago it was. By the way, remember what I said about sitting on the left side? Are you starting to see why? Most of the indoor studios looked like this. Incredible, no? First, we did the Other Languages Studio Tour. (Really? Is that what it was called? Huh.) Okay, time to say goodbye to Mummy Because THIS was the magic place my deviance led me. I'm a pretty good girl, so doing something forbidden was a strange and foreign concept for me, but oh my...did it ever feel gooood. Ahh, one more look back at the ride. Oh, and we also got to see a room full of gold, but...whatever. It's not a coaster. Up the skirt of the track switch. You're welcome, boys. And I'm turned on all over again. And the coaster loved me back. Both my arms were covered in coaster DNA by the end of our romps. Oh, now that's what I'm talking about. A lot, actually. (This is such a horrible picture of me, but shoot that track looks fine, so I had to include it) Like, I REALLY love it. I love it! A room FULL of it! Coaster track! Yeah, that's creepy too. Actually, all of it was creepy, but I'm a horrible chicken, so don't go by what I say. Those hands were moving up and down the entire time, even though I don't think any other animatronic was during our walk-back. Creeeeepy, they were. It took every ounce of will-power for me to not throw my body on the track and lick it (maybe more, I dunno, it would have been a very in-the-moment thing, so who knows what all I'd have done.) Speaking of...let's get started on that. And a CONSOLE! I *love* consoles! What fantastic foreplay leading up to the coaster walk-back! We had something like this on Splash Mountains too! I love layout maps like I love NOT sticking toothpicks under my toenails, which is, like, one of my top 3 things ever! I know we usually call these "nerd" shots, but considering that most of us think stuff like this is awesome, we might as well call them "Super best-looking popular quarter-back cheerleader jock shots." I should have hugged the damn thing. Folks, learn from my mistakes: never pass up the opportunity to tell a coaster just how much you really love them. One of the reasons I prefer Florida's version is that its animatronics are more flesh'n'bone-looking as opposed to the pvc pipe variety. Ha. Ha. Ha? We had no badges, of course, so we all had to rely on our good looks and charm to get in. Some of us had a harder time of it than others. This, I believe, is where they filmed "The Mist." Honestly, I never knew that much about USH to begin with, but how I never knew anything about the hours-long escalator ride that splits the park in half I'll never know. Marvel Super Hero Island Lite. REALLY Lite. Like...MEGA LITE. Haha...mega lite. You know...like Intamin? Don't you love how I always point out my own terrible jokes? What can I say, I'm just so endearing sometimes. (Okay, I swear this TR will get better eventually.) First, we got to walk through the empty park, which is always nice. When I own my own park some day, it will be No GP Allowed Ever. It will also be called Nataliewood. Ha! Pun! I feel like I've gone back in time with this old-school Universal globe.

Oh my gosh, since when did Sweet Baby Ray's start putting their sauce in cute little packets for restaurants and other food places to give away with their food?! If I had been there, you better believe I would have stuffed my TPR bag FULL of of those. FUUUULLLL. Great TR!

Oh, so THAT's why my eyes looked like that! Well, seeing as how I post embarrassing pictures of everyone I'm not too sure it would make any difference. Having said that, I wouldn't want to be mean anyway. Been there, done that, and I ain't proud of it. Nowadays, I'm just too sugar and spice and everything (ugh) nice, unfortunately.

Day 5: Six Flags Magic Mountain First of all, sorry for the delay. Though in all actuality, what I really should be saying sorry for is getting your hopes up by doing the previous updates so regularly, because that's not like me AT ALL. This speed, one update every week or two (sometimes three!), is more like it. However, I really WAS going to be good about this whole trip report and be on top of things, but last week was just a bad week. A terrible, depressing week. I got my heart broken and then - even WORSE - my camera broke. My fancy-shmancy, very expensive camera. The one without which this trip report would not be possible. And then my Nalgene bottle broke, and I JUST LOST IT. LIFE WAS NOT WORTH LIVING AT THAT POINT. OH WOE WOE WOE. But I got over two of those three things (that damn Error 99 message on my camera is just MOCKING me), and I am now here to tell you, gentlemen and/or stalkers, that this girl is once again available, and that title of mine underneath my username is no longer a tease but true as the holy gospel. So, if any of you out there are about to pounce on this opportunity to woo me, feel free to buy me a new camera. Or just poke me on facebook. Whatever, I'll take either, the low maintenance girl that I am. Anyway! Trip Report! Six Flags Magic Mountain! I love Six Flags Magic Mountain! After all the negative things I'd heard about it in the past, I was pleasantly surprised at how wonderful it was. Of course, it didn't hurt that they gave us a bonus entry and ERT on Goliath the night before our official day at the park and then ERT on six - count 'em, SIX - coasters ON the official day. OH, and those fantastic Gold Q-bots, how deeply my love runs for them. It was all so perfect. The only thing that could have made it better would have been if the entire park was indoors and air conditioned because I really was this close *thumb and pointer finger only hairs apart* to dying from the heat. Dyyyyiiiiiinnnnnggg. It's not that I'm not used to the heat - because I certainly am - but between it, the exhaustion starting to hit from all the walking and lack of sleep from subsequent days, and me not drinking my normal amount of water (I drink 2 non-broken, 64-ounce Nalgene bottles-full a day, and my water intake probably dropped down to 16oz/day on the trip), I felt like DEATH. When I was a kid (and I swear I'm going somewhere with this), after a long day at the pool I'd get this really odd feeling in my lungs whenever I took a breath, and the deeper the breath, the more pronounced the feeling. It was like my lungs had turned to ice and with each breath it felt like the sides were starting to touch each other and stick or something (that's just what it felt like, I don't know what was actually happening), and if I took TOO deep of a breath, I'd go into this awful coughing fit. Since it only happened at the pool as a kid (where I'd spend hours and hours at a time), I assumed it had something to do with water. But then it happened at SFMM - no water there - so I then changed that theory to hours and hours of activity in the extreme heat. And since I never really did sit down and rest, it just got worse throughout the day, and I was almost expecting to just pass out and die on a coaster from whatever was going on in my chest. (Did it keep me from riding? Pshh. No. Not that I didn't care about my health, but I spent a pretty penny on this trip, and you better believe I wasn't going to let a little thing like MY LUNGS stop me from getting my money's worth). Anyone else ever experience anything like this? I've always been curious as to what it is. Quick notes about some note-worthy rides: X2 - In the dark? On an inside seat? Probably my #1 coaster. Or at least in the top 3. During the day, though? Eh, maybein my top 10. And on an outside seat? No. Just...no. Goliath - The helix broke my arms. For serious. Terminator - Amazing. Tied for best woodie on the trip for me (along with Giant Dipper at SCBB, but for very different reasons. Apples and oranges, really). Tatsu - That thing was GIGANTIC. OH MUH GUH. And thus this wonderful day comes to an end. Next: Universal Studios Hollywood. You know, with the lack of humidity, my hair loved, loved, LOVED all of California (oh, it had never been so manageable).....Except for the station of Terminator. Not that my hair looked that great by the end of the day after 14 hours of coasters, but still. With all the misters constantly running in the station like that, I don't know how female ride-ops stand it. Oh, and take the tunnel. Part of the preshow, though I don't remember much about it. I was too distracted by the number of other people who also got sucked into the for-profit oxygen scheme. Wow, it got dark fast, eh? So time for Terminator ERT! I'm nothing if not lady-like. Hi Mike! I hope you don't mind, but I'm about to "borrow" a picture or two from you as well. Then we did the (almost) only flat ride in the entire park! This! By the way, this is what my feet looked like just THIS far into the trip. Even now, those tan lines still remain. All in all, (in my opinion) it either does nothing, or I was just too far gone for it to do anything for me. It sure did smell nice though. And we got to keep our nose things as a souvenir, so...not a total lost. So, I almost didn't include this picture because, you know, broken heart and whatnot, but it really is too good to leave out. There were two others, but this TR is really getting lengthy... And here are a few of the scents they laced in my oxygen to (supposedly) give me a boost. I look high, but I still think it was just the heat stroke setting in. British Neil thought it was decent. And since a couple of others weren't feeling so great, we decided to try this gimmicky pick-me-up: Oxygen! That's right, that stuff that you can get for free any time, anywhere? Well, now you can PAY for it! With your own hard-earned money! What a world. But we didn't ride it until night ERT. Also, I was too near death at this point to make my way through the exit to get better pictures than this. Sorry. Honestly now, they should have named it Amish Terminator. I did think I was going to die on it though. There were a handful of jolts that definitely did not feel, uh...right. The few times I went to SFoG while Deja Vu was there, it was always closed. So I was quite glad to finally get the chance to ride one of these. This picture was SO close to being clean and wholesome. OH so close... And as long as I'm on a roll with Neil pictures... Does that help at all? The joke here is subtle... But I DID get this awesome shot at least. ...I don't know WHAT happened here. I mean, I guess it's still an okay picture - the whole train is there and all - but I wanted it to look like the previous picture only WITH a train. What happened, Nat? The heat, it fried my brain. And while the trainless picture turned out fine... (Ahem, I "borrowed" this photo from Ben's facebook) As I was still feeling awful, I lied down on the concrete at the bottom of the skytower to get a photo of Tatsu flying by. I basically made one quick lap around the top to take pictures and then I lied down to rest and bask in the cool, crisp air of the A/C. Everyone else took their time to admire and take pictures of all the SF memorabilia also up there. I swear, I didn't see a single thing. :/ Next, we went up to the skytower thing, and it was at this point that I started going downhill in terms of feel-well-ness. Chris doing the Mr. Six dance. Obviously, these people have no shame. Whorey, whore, whore, whore, whore. So, when I have a daughter, I'm gonna name her "Lia" and bring her here to take her birth announcement pictures. Which will work out perfectly, since I'll already be in CA when she's born (you'll see why in a couple of updates from now. Sorry you have to wait for that to make sense). Oh my gosh, what is this coaster called? I KNOW this. Ugh, it's on the tip of my tongue. Colossus? More like a "Colossus" waste of time. Biiiiiiiitch please. And then we rode The Ride. It was for VIPs only, but they let me in too for some reason. Riddler's Revenge, which, as far as stand-ups go, wasn't too bad. Neil the Ninja It's nice to know that Superman supports polyandry, though. First, we headed to Superman, though it was more like Ordinaryman or Unremarkableman. At the apex of the climb, the car probably had 60-80ft of track left to go. And after ERT, we got our Q-bots. Which is all I'm going to say about this photo. Meeee! Screw a love-seat, I want THIS in my living room. X x x 2 2 2 Blegh. At least it was a credit. Then again, some parts of it were just huge, pure and simple. And it's not just the size that makes Tatsu so big, it's how they used the hills to their advantage. Being that high off the ground in the flying position...mmm, it was a rush. Neil also showed his dorky side, but at least he has a more respectable landmark number to show for it. And then Tatsu, which was my - bum buh-dah duuuum! - 250th coaster! And while I don't really consider 250 a "landmark" number, that didn't stop me from making a sign and showing of my dork-dome. First, ERT on Revolution, which, by the way, does NOT have girl-friendly restraints. Either I had something embarrassing on me like toilet paper coming out of my pants, or these people just happy about morning ERT. (The paranoid side of me thinks the former.) Wow, everyone in the west really is a cowboy! The stereotype is truuuuuuuue!

I don't agree about Eurofighters (blegh), but I do agree about Speed being the best coaster in Vegas. I still thought it was a bit rough, but either way...for some reason the many of the Brits on the West Coast trip just LOATHED Speed and found Manhattan Express to be just fine and dandy. They must have still been too jetlagged to know any better or something. I don't know what else would ever make someone think so....WRONG!

Iron Wolf at SFGAm. I don't cry, because I have no emotions or feelings or any of that nonsense, but riding this horrible thing is the closest to tears I've ever come.

^I would have thought so too, except that it was the only park on the entire West Coast trip that had this policy. It's the only park I've EVER been to with it, actually. Although it was limited only to a handful of rides.

No problem. Thanks for the information. Do you know why Pony Express has the same glasses policy?

But it was probably the kid working the on-ride video booth, I'd imagine (the ride ops probably don't even have access to the videos, if it's anything like most parks). So what kind of age minimum should the booth require? And if there was a minimum age limit, well, there'd go the Disney College program, which most participants (including myself) experience before the age of 21. There are plenty of immature 21 year olds (and older) that shouldn't be allowed to operate heavy machinery. It's not an age thing, it's a maturity thing (and a thorough training thing as well).

At first I was thinking, "If I were ever in a situation like this, at least my eyes would probably be protected since I wear glasses." And then I realized wait, no, this is Knott's. They didn't let me wear my glasses on most of the rides, including Xcelerator (yes, even with croakies). Funny how I can wear them on TTD - shoot, I can wear them on any ride at any other CF park - but Knott's, for whatever reason, does not allow them. Okay, sorry to veer a bit off topic. But if this had happened to me after they made me take my glasses off, I'd be even more upset at the situation. Assuming my eye was actually injured, of course.

^Thanks Mike! And in case I haven't done this yet, thank you to everyone for all the lovely comments so far! The Utilidor, of course.