digidude18

My first inverting coaster ride was Stealth at Paramounts Great America, now California's Great America of course. I am always amazed that my first inverting coaster was a Vekoma flyer rather than the nearby Demon which would have been a more milder choice in my opinion. Too bad Stealth isn't there anymore I miss you little buddy

I had to choose Disney, personally. It was a close call between them or Universal, but I think that there is something about a Disney park experience that you can't really get anywhere else. Not really sure I can explain it any better than that.

Wow, amazing pictures of an amazing park. I think I just added a new park to my list of "Parks I Must Visit". I mean, seriously, there wasn't a single coaster in this report that I saw and didn't like, they all look like fun. I think I know where I'm going on my next vacation!

Enjoying the foreign park goodness so far, gotta love Europe! My only question, what is this?

Despite how absolutely crazy and messed up those Pax coasters were, they look kinda fun. Wish we could get a POV of those coasters but we were already promised a POV of the "wild-n-wacky rope ride of doom", so I'm not gonna complain . Looking forward to seeing the rest of the trip.

^ That seems like so much more of a hassle than just trying to pass a bill. But lets speculate and say that it does pass in November, could that decision also be reversed?

Ok, so if the courts decided that it was unconstitutional to ban same sex marriage, then why are they allowing voters to vote to make an amendment to ban same sex marriage? Or is not allowing them to put that on a ballot unconstitutional in itself?

First off, thanks Wes for keeping this thread on track, I was really nervous when I started this thing and I didn't want to be responsible for any negativity. Ok, so the judges do have the power to overturn voters, got it. I knew about the whole checks and balances thing but I never knew to what level they were able to go. And I'm glad for the extra examples of similar cases. As you can clearly see, I don't really study law, well not past what I learned in High School anyway. Being able to see the other kinds of cases that are similar puts me at ease with the situation. Because of my limited knowledge of our judicial system I didn't know it was possible to overrule a voters decision. Although if I really think about it, not being able to do that would make ours a broken system I guess. I was thinking that the only time voters could be overruled was if whatever it was that was being voted on was unconstitutional.

So, for those of you who don't know yet, California judges recently overruled California voters defining marriage as being between a man and a woman. The first Same sex couples were married today in various counties. Now let me say this first: I am not against same sex marriage. People have been waiting a long time for this right, and good for them for getting it. The reason for this post is this: Does anyone know if it was legal for the judges to override the voters decision? What makes me a little irritated about the whole thing is that the vote of the people was overturned to easy, and especially in a country where the people have the voice, what gives the judges this power to just dismiss votes like this? So I thought I would see what everyone's opinion was on that (on the vote being overruled not on same sex marriage), and I was also hoping that someone with legal knowledge could help me answer my questions. Just to reiterate: This topic is not for posting whether you think same sex marriage is right or wrong. My concern is not the outcome but whether the judges were within their power to override the voters.

So, on a scale from 1 to 10, exactly how rough was Toboggan? Sounds about as rough as it looks. When you went in 06, did you get a chance to ride Leap-the-Dips? Did you like it any?

Nice TR, it's always nice to see other countries and get some kind of feel for how they live. But that traffic! Seeing all that mess makes me somewhat thankful for the kind of traffic here at home. I don't think I could survive walking in Moscow lol.

Wow, Lakemont Park looks like a nice place to visit. I remember seeing Leap-the-Dips on some kind of PBS special, or something. It looks like a lot of fun. I mean how many 100 year old coasters without seat belts are there? The train on it looked pretty comfortable. Toboggan looked interesting too, I'm not so sure about the cars though. I really like the idea of putting a roller coaster next to a baseball field. I wonder if there have been any problems with the two being next to each other?

Wow, that sounds like more fun then sliced bread! (Because sliced bread is fun for some reason) I will definitely have to check that out sometime. Get a chance to go to a park thats not in California. I thought Mantis looked like a stand-up. It looks very wicked indeed. Thanks for the info!

Congrats on number 600! Man, I am having coaster withdrawals. I haven't been to a park in a while, and seeing all of those awesome looking coasters makes it all that much harder. I couldn't tell from the picture, but is Mantis a standing coaster? And what exactly is Coastermania and how do you get tickets for it?

It is the epitomy of a family coaster. It's more of a tour of the park than a roller coaster. A little more than half-way through, it goes through part of the log chute and up a second lift. Lots of helicies and small hills. None of it anywhere near the floor. Aww, well that doesn't sound nearly as cool as I thought. When I saw "coaster/dark ride", it really perked my ears up. But oh well.

I happen to like this park a bit, it's a nice little park that you can easily enjoy for a day, and it's nice that it's not to far from where I live. I do have to say that I am going to miss hearing "Highway to the Danger Zone" while in line for Top Gun (I refuse to call it Flight Deck. You hear me!? I will not accept it!!). Very nice pictures too, quite artsy.

These parks look like they would be good for a little day trip. I was surprised at the Nick themed park at Mall of America. It actually looked like it would be fun, which is weird sense "Nick park" and "fun for adults" never seemed to be able to come together. I do wish we could have seen more of that Pepsi ride, it looked pretty interesting.

Foreign parks are fun, but I have to say that I have never seen a park so deserted in my life. Do these parks ever get enough business to stay open? It would be interesting to see a attendance report of these parks. Looking forward to the next installment.

While I don't cosplay myself I know some who do, and it really all depends on your point of view. Although making your own costume can be very expensive and time consuming (some people take years to make a costume just right), thats why most people I know can care less if a costume is bought or made. So if there is one you're looking at to buy, go for it.

Nice TR. Definitely have to make a trip out there, ride El Toro and get me some of those S mores Dippin dots. No seriously, those Dippin Dots looked epic.

While people can change their behavior (for instance, a straight woman can go have sex with another woman, and plenty of essentially gay guys are married to women), there's little evidence that people can change their actual orientation, and certainly not on the spur of the moment so they can be the cool kids in school. I mean, could you? I think you just said what I meant, but in a much better way

Goldrusher at SFMM is pretty fun. Sure it doesn't invert or break any records but it's a nice, fun coaster. Also, Revolution at SSMM. I'm not sure if this is an underrated coaster, but I also don't hear much about it these days so I'm putting in my list.

I remember riding this at SFDK (Marine World at the time). I had mixed feelings about it. Personally, the tire driven lift hill and the weird curved drop were the best parts of the ride. Most of us who rode it that day left with a slight head ache. Nothing a good ride on Medusa didn't cure though.

Some of my favorite series include: Love Hina Chobits King of Bandits Spiral Outlaw Star Naruto Bleach Azumanga Dioh to name a few anyone here going to Anime Expo this year?

I love EVE. My brother got me started on it and now I'm looking for a better job so I can pay for the monthly fee. As for SL, I don't play it but I know people who do. My best friends sister practically lives on SL to the point where she really doesn't have much of a real life. Of course I guess thats the danger in any online game.