GriffyTiffy

Well I'm gonna go by my own opinion here, so don't expect this to be the representation of YOUR perfect park Location For me, the location should be somewhere memorable, that may have an effect on the park itself. Examples include SFFT in a quarry, Kennywood by the ravine thingy, etc. Bonus points if mountains are involved. Landscaping Shouldn't be TOO extreme, but just enough that the park doesn't look like an "industrial family fun factory" with attractions just plopped around. Don't get me wrong, parks like Indiana Beach are awesome, but I just don't think they look as good as they could. Architecture Again, nothing too extreme or Disney like. But at least have it correspond with the theme of the park/themed area/ride it is near. Good example: Southwest Territory at SFGAm. Bad example: Dark Knight coaster's box in Orleans Place at SFGAm. Theming Should be enough to immerse yourself in whatever theme the area is, even if it is just a little bit. X Flight is a good example of this. Not the most elaborate theming, but it looks quite nice. Better than a parking lot, that's for sure. Now for the good part.... Rides/Attractions The focal point of any park is the attractions. Show's should definitely be featured in any park. Even if you're at a Six Flags park, generally not known for amazing productions, it is always nice to go inside to beat the heat. For some reason, parks like Michigan's Adventure feature NO shows. (MiA barely has anything indoors anyway. Or buildings, for that matter.) Shows/gift shops/dark rides/indoor restaurants are VERY important to help guests cool down in the Summer (or warm up in Fall/Winter, depending on the park location). As for the rides, a good collection of flats is required, from thrills to kiddie rides. Parks like SFGAm and SFSTL have very good flat ride collections. Parks like Michigan's Adventure and Mt. Olympus have totally lame (and in Mt. Olympus' case, nonexistent) flat collections. As for the coasters, a good amount for a good "big" park is 8-10 coasters. Again, parks like SFSTL have very well-rounded collections, while MiA has one GREAT coaster, and 6 sub-par coasters. (I'd like to add at this point that I actually REALLY LIKE Michigan's Adventure, but I feel it is lacking in certain areas) Alright, I could go on for days on what I think makes a great park. But I'll stop here. If I think of anything else, I'll add it.

Best: Phantom's Revenge, the random bunny hills before the breaks are both awesome and hilarious. Worst: The former Iron Wolf. The oddly banked turnarounds and the terrible head bashing make it terrible.

Lookin' good Sam! I dig that night shot. The coaster looks so... pronounced! Keep it up!

Alright, now it's time for part 2 of the Hollywood Studios report! I don't really have much to say, so we'll just jump right into the report! It's morning at the Studios! I wonder what ride I'm going on first.... I don't feel like walking down that way. I have an irrational fear of hats. Go? Go where? I think I'll go down this way... (That pun was TOTALLY not intended) I really like this ride. The waits, notsomuch This ride, however, didn't have a wait over 20 minutes during my visit! Sweet! Trees, through the hole! This is why I am afraid of hats. You never know when they start to glow/shoot lightning/eat people This park is so pretty. Bye Hollywood Studios! Now where do I go? Epcot! Yay! Stop. Report's over. Time to leave. Leave a comment, that is! Thanks for reading! Next up... City Museum! Yay!

This place is awesome! Makes me wish Old Chicago was still open, so I could have a park to go to in the winter! I guess 6 duckies! Great Report, and I may see you when you travel to the Chicago area this weekend!

My new personal favorite coaster in the park. The front row, twisting into the first dive while looking out at the horizon is simply amazing. A perfect addition to SFGAm!

Thanks again everyone for your replies! I know I promised the next report would be part 2 of my Hollywood Studios photos, but I figured X Flight pictures were a bit more important So lets take a look at X Flight, and some other changes from 2012 at Six Flags Great America! The Go Karts got a new station this year. Combined with the new coaster as a backdrop, the area looks quite a bit nicer. Iron Wolf's replacement sucks just as bad Now back to X Flight. It looks awesome. Eagle provides a nice backdrop. The ride is very twisty. This will be a signature shot once it opens, I'm sure! The drop is HUGE. Another new thing for this year is the Whizzer! Well, the sign got painted. Looks good! East River Crawler was temporarily removed for the season, and replaced with an old ride from Bugs Bunny National Park. Looks out of place. The Antique Cars are still here. Now time for a bombardment of X Flight testing photos! The ride is VERY quiet. There are so many angles to view the ride, since it is so close to the midway. LOTS of mist shoots out from here. Signature shot! This will be my view in 6 days! Turned out blurry, but I still think it looks cool. My favorite picture from the day. Enjoy your last days as the most popular ride in the park, Bull. Alright, thats all for now. Tell me what you think of the photos! Thanks for reading! We will return to our regularly scheduled Hollywood Studios report shortly!

Thanks for the replies everyone! You're awesome! 1pizza14: Yes, I thankfully did. On the first day, I rode it after waiting in the regular queue for over an hour. Still a fun ride though! Luckily, I rode it the second day with help from the awesome Fast Pass Keep those replies coming eveyone! Woo!

Thanks again for all the comments guys! You are awesome! Now it is time for my FAVORITE of the WDW parks, Hollywood Studios! During my 2 day visit, I meet TPR members Sean (DarkStitch626) and Andrew (Pufferfish). They were both hilarious, and fun to be around! This was finally the day that I decided to totally ditch my group. They ended up spending the day at Magic Kingdom, and were only able to ride Splash Mountain. I, on the other hand, rode pretty much every major attraction at DHS, most notably Rock n' Roller Coaster 15 times, and Tower of Terror COUNTLESS times. Both rides were totally amazing, exceeding all of my expectations! Let's get on with the pictures! Yay! I arrived at the park at about 7:30, and was inside within 5 minutes. I had never seen a park open so early! "One early April morning, one Illinois native stepped through the doors of an elevator and into a nightmare." I loved this ride. I ended up buying a service bell, and a "Do Not Disturb" sign. After my first ride, I had a chocolate chip muffin from the conveniently placed pastry stand! I somehow ate most of my meals here during my stay. mainly the mango smoothies. Yum! My view from my breakfast bench. After breakfast, it was Vekoma time! Sweet Hanes pick, bro. RNRC was awesome. Just plain fun. And after the coaster, it was not hard to pick my next destination! I had another reservation. I admit, I'm an addict. Such a fun ride to ride, and photograph. Dat hat. It's a tad big. Meanwhile, in San Fransisco, jaywalkers attack! THIS JUST IN! New York suffers the same fate! The horror! QUICK HIDE IN THE SUBW- NO IT'S NOT REAL! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! CHAOS ENSUES! LOOK OUT FOR THE PIXA- err.... ummm... I got nothing for this one. At least I got that out of my system. Now back to the normality. Rock N' Roller Coaster is still awesome! Clever I love the entrance. I love this ride. The Great Movie Ride was great fun! Night falls on Hollywood Studios. The ever-changing colors was a nice touch! One of my favorite pictures of the trip. And goodbye DHS! I'll post photo's of my second day soon! Thanks for reading! Remember to comment!

Thanks everyone for the replies! And Brian, I was the most "prude" of the Disney virgins. For some strange reason, I knew barely anything about WDW before I went. I was confused when I got to Magic Kingdom and couldn't find Matterhorn or Indiana Jones. But now, thankfully, I know better

Thanks for the replies! Now it's time for Animal Kingdom! Animal Kingdom, like all the other WDW parks, is an amazingly well themed, high quality park. Plenty of shade for the hot days, interesting animal displays, and some top notch rides (namely Everest and Dinosaur) make up this park. Let's take a look! Fortunately, this elephant was not a moose, and did not deny me entry. A view of the Tree of Life over the heads of the crowds. First ride of the day was a no brainer to me. Expedition Everest! I never had any trouble waiting in a line for a Disney attraction. There is always something cool to see or do. Shortly after I took this picture, I ripped off my finger. Gah. I waited in that 45 minute line. Twice. Then I found the single rider line. Lake! Credit! This ride was fun, but no where near the level of quality I'd expect from a Disney attraction. It's twisty. Yeah! Credits! woo! It was weird to see an area themed to a parking lot. This is Bob. He likes to watch. Run dinos, run! Bye Dino Rama! Time for Dinosaur! This ride was awesome. I got pretty scared during the meteor shower! This was cool, made out of license plates and all. Sly smile there, buddy. Then it was time to go back to Everest to get some more rides thanks to the awesome single rider line. And you're also at the end of my report. Stay tuned for my two days worth of photos from Hollywood Studios! Don't forget to comment! Thanks!

1. I totally agree! 2. Thank you! 3. I ended up visiting MK one time, Epcot for one full day, plus about an hour later in the week to see IllumiNations, AK once, and Hollywood Studios twice.

Sorry of the double post, but it is Epcot time! Epcot is one of the most unique attractions I have ever been to. The amazing blend of thrills and theme immersion creates a partk that is without parallel. I decided to spend this day by myself, as I wanted to get all the attractions in, even though everyone else decided it was a good idea to get to the park at 1 PM. Let's take a look at my day! Spaceship Earth, the amazing centerpiece of Epcot. It was mind blowing to finally see in person! Amazing! First ride of the day! In the queue, I had some camera trouble. The display would turn black, and then the camera would shut off after a few seconds. After a few calls to my dad, I decided to press random buttons and shake the camera. It worked! Want. Next up was Mission: SPACE. I ended up riding both sides (for some reason). The "Intense" side was awesome, especially the liftoff! Ellen's Energy Adventure was quite funny. And Bill Nye is awesome! Bill Bill Bill Bill The Seas was a cool section. I liked browsing through the aquarium (I ended up losing track of time, and almost missed a lunch reservation that ended up not existing.) Every theme park, zoo, restaurant, household, school, government building, and prison needs a Soarin'. It's just plain fun. Living with the land was very relaxing, and informative! The Land, The Seas, are we at SFDK? The only "major" attraction that I skipped. I want an upward waterfall in my yard. It would go nice with my Soarin' that I also want. Hey Spaceship Earth! This would go nice in my yard with my waterfall and my Soarin'. While I'm at it, put one of these in my yard too. But the AvengeRail train. Or the Tron one. And maybe the new Tron ish Test Track. I love this ride. And a blurry end to a busy day. Sorry, I have no pictures of the Countries side. I was over there for a few hours at night, and the few photos that I did take turned out terrible. Thanks for reading! Animal Kingdom is up next! Remember to comment, little monsters

American Eagle backwards, front row (Last row to crest the lift, but the front row of the train if it was turned the regular direction). It just felt so... wrong.

Ninja at SFSTL last Saturday, last train of the day. I've always had a soft spot for that ride. Not bad at all. And the headchopper under the lift is delightful.

Great photos! They make me miss the City Museum that much more Hard to believe it has already been a week! Can't wait for your SFSTL report! Griffin

Nice report! I really need to get to WoF sometime soon. Prowler looks amazing, and I'm quite a fan of Boomerangs A good head bashing does a body good. Also, what exactly is Cyclone Sam's? I hear it is amazing.

Thanks for the kind words everyone! And Sean, that was after a week of waking up at 6 AM and going to bed at 1 AM. I'm usually not that tired!

Hello all, and welcome to my yearly collection of park photos! My first trip of the year was to Walt Disney World! I had never been to Disney, and after years of seeing pictures, videos, and reviews, I couldn't be more excited to experience it all for myself. Unfortunately, some of the other people I was traveling with weren't as excited, as evidenced by their sluggishness and hatred for waking up before 10 AM. Even with the late arrival to the parks, I still had an amazing time, a time that could not be matched by any other theme park. Let's start off with Magic Kingdom! The first thing about the park that I noticed was the amazing architecture. The park was very crowded. A look at the castle. It's an amazing sight, and left me in awe. I love the buildings on Main Street. It looks so cool. Now we teleport to Fantasyland. Train! Cool! The theming for Barnstormer is amazing. Too bad the seats on the ride hurt EXTREMELY bad. Rocket! Cool station! Lift hill! Cool sign! Totally waited 30 minutes to ride a roller skater. I have no friends. #YOLO #ultimateswag I had ridden Space Mountain earlier, but I had no pictures. First coaster of the year! This is what gift shops look like in space. Fact. World's tallest ride sign move move move Cars Cars Cars There's a great big beautiful tomorrowwww shining at the end of every dayyy MILF Ended up riding this at about 2 AM. Amazing. zippidy doo da, zippidy aye And on the 7th day, God said "Thou shall not ride Big Thunder" Haunting! I love this Sunset Pretty Peoplemover. It is amazing. Wish I would have rode this. Looked like fun! Castle! Bye Magic Kingdom! Next day was a trip to Wide World of Sports! Braves vs. Mets. Mets won 8-2 Then the skywriter showed up. Who I would see pretty much every day after. Check back soon for Epcot photos! Comment away! Thanks for reading!

Hey guys and gals! I figured I'd join the cool people and introduce myself in this thread! My name is Griffin Eldred and I have been a TPR member for nearly 5 years. I joined the site when I was only 11 years old. Now, at 16, TPR is still a huge part of my life. I have met many GREAT people through TPR, which I am friends with to this day (and hopefully long into the future!) This event is PERFECT for not only me, but for all of us on TPR. Getting to raise money for a great cause is great by itself, but having a roller coaster marathon thrown in is just excellent. Even though it is only March, I am already beyond excited to be participating in this event. I am honored to have the opportunity to be on Team TPR, and help out Give Kids The World. I hope you all can help me reach my goal of $500. Knowing how awesome the people of TPR are, and how much time there is between now and June, I know it will get done. Here is my page : http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/griffineldred/MichigansAdventure And here are pictures of me! Yay! This was used as my entry to Big Mike's EPIC contest! You should join! Also, not the awesome hat. Here is me (on the left) with fellow TPR member Mr. Starr at SFGAm last fall. We're cool, I know. Here is us again at Midwest Bash in 2010. As you can see in this, and the last picture, we are the champions of awesome pictures. And finally, here's me with professional wrestler Colt Cabana. He's awesome! Thanks for reading and supporting the cause you guys. You rule.

Thanks. Now I'll never make it to May. The excitement hurts. Also, I hope the ho stays as part of the theme. It's hot.

Alright guys, long time no see! After about a month of no work, Lady Gaga's Visionland is back in action and even closer to completion! Let's take a quick look at the most recent addition. SCR13.BMP Introducing "Lady Ghosts of the Haunted Haus"! Ride through the abandoned Haus of Gaga and experience the spirits of the deceased, as they attempt to introduce you to their fate! SCR14.BMP Layout. Hope you like, and don't forget to comment, little monsters!

I'm also registered! 3 hours on an SLC then 3 more on Shivering Timbers... sounds good to me http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/griffineldred/MichigansAdventure I would just like to mention that whoever thought this up is genius. Riding coasters for hours is awesome, but coupled with charity, it just makes it that much more special. I am so excited to participate!

I love the landscaping, but the big trees, tents, tables, chairs, etc just don't "fit". They don't blend in with the rest of the game. Other than that, good start!

Count me in too!