milst1

This shirt is half-cool, half ridiculous. SFOG.

^^^I'm so sorry, I posted that shirt a year ago. Should have looked at my list first. So here's a substitute: Wild Adventures, a Herschend park in Valdosta, Georgia, home of the CCI woodie, Cheetah, which wasn't that bad!

Love me some Boardwalk Bullet!

Home park again.h

Not my favorite park but Steel Force is pretty great.

Thanks for the love, Nrthwnd and everyone else. Uh, larrygator, we saw that and freaked, but we still haven't checked it out. I think Jollibee is even less healthy than McD's, if that's possible.

Excellent report. You've reported to rcdb? We rode one of those "Spinning Yacht" coasters at Crab Island Children's Park in Beijing with TPR.

Day 4 was our last amusement park day, so I'll just add a few highlights of the rest of the trip after that. That island there is Taal Volcano, which has erupted 33 times since the 16th C., causing 5000-6000 deaths. It's in a lake so you need a boat to get there. Then you need to pay the tourist tax. Many tourists (largely Korean) ride horses up to the top. Many of the horse managers are children. We hiked it. The steep beginning becomes flat in the middle, then steep again at the top. That's a seismic measurement station. You can see steam coming out of the ground. At the top, you're looking into the caldera, which is now a dead lake because of sulfur and boiling. There's a little caldera on the bank of the caldera lake. Refreshments and souvenirs are sold at the top. Back across the lake. To Sky Ranch Tagaytay! There's the credit, Nessi Coaster! Since the park is on a cliff overlooking the giant volcano lake, you get some great views. There's a carousel. Kiddie flats. F&B. I admit that the place looked kinda sad. But it grew on us. It was empty and cloudy when we got there, but crowded and sunny when we left. A few random flats. There was a really cool two-way zip line that ran over the cliff edge. Great views flying through space. You can see the lake and the zip tower from the ferris wheel. Another zipper. The park actually used one of these pics on its Facebook page. I'm standing on the far zip tower. You can see a powered coaster going up. This has been reported and updated on rcdb. This was the Storyland credit that we missed at the beginning of the trip. I also checked with the park's office and they said they are adding a bunch of other rides too. They said all done by February or March, I can't remember. And the most hilarious sign of the trip. This was at a pony ride area. Well, that was it for amusements, unfortunately, but we spent another week in country. Here are a few highlights. First we took a grueling full day to drive up north... To see the famous Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras, a UNESCO World Heritage site. We did some intense trekking into the rice terrace mountains. Then another drive to Sagada to see the famous coffin caves, an alternative to burial. There used to be more, but a lot fell into the cave after an earthquake, so our guide said. Yep, that's an arm. Or a leg. Or something. But no snacking! We did a little caving ourselves. I found it quite challenging, climbing around in bare feet after they made us take our shoes off. Watch out for bat guano. Sagada is famous for its hanging coffins. After the even longer drive back to Manila, we took an internal flight to the Philippines' top beach resort... Boracay! I loved it, but it may not be for those looking for a tranquil private resort, at least in the part where we stayed. Big beautiful beach and hopping night life. We had fun. You can get a couples massage for something like $10 an hour! And we were there during the Ati-Atihan festival. There must have been a hundred different marching groups with drums and glockenspiels. It went on all night and all day all over the island. Back in Manila, we discovered the biggest and most elaborate breakfast buffet we've ever seen at the Manila City of Dreams Hyatt. And for our flight out of Manila to Tokyo, I got the thrill of my life when I asked to take a picture of the 747's cockpit. And that's our trip to the Philippines in a nutshell. Thanks for joining us!

I should have taken pictures. No, we're not huge fans of spinny flat rides. I rode the one at Coney Island with Robb once and I was grateful when the cycle ended. In any case, the line queue was really too long for us.

We love them and we almost always buy and use them, even if it's just to ride something once to get a credit. It can get expensive because we do a lot of trips, but of course it also depends on crowds, day of the week, etc., which people have already mentioned. Six Flags really milks you for major new rides, demanding the highest price pass AND limiting the number of rides. For parks that need to constantly look for new revenue streams, fast passes are a no-brainer. Cedar Fair didn't introduce Fast Lane until Ouimet, and I always thought that Kinzel and Co. were hypocrites, saying that fast passes were undemocratic, all the while offering VIP tours (with VIP queue privileges) for $400 a head. I always feel a twinge of guilt at the GP merge point because of all of the ethical issues that have been raised here. It is sanctioned line jumping and it does discriminate against those with lower incomes. Once we merged with a line at some SF (I think it was X Coaster at SFGA the year it opened) and there was no attendant managing the merge point in the queue. The GP did everything to make our merge as uncomfortable and awkward as possible. You're not the only person paying the price when you buy a Fast Pass, that's all I'm saying, and I know I disagree with Rubysparkles. Someone (XII, K1ngdaKa88) gave a hotel analogy earlier, that it was like some people being able to afford a suite at the Ritz-Carlton, while people with lower incomes get a standard room at Motel 6, but I disagree because in the hotel example, both people get a room for the night. Coaster queues are a zero-sum game: if I get to cut the line, then someone else has to wait longer. Schrecken made a similar point. The classic FastPass at Disney avoids this by strictly limiting the passes, making everyone wait equally (either in the queue or virtually), and giving everyone an equal chance to get the passes (Unfortunately the new FastPass+ system, as it currently operates, restricts everyone's access (only 3 at a time, one park only, etc.). I half agree with PeoplemoverMatt. People who spend $200 on sneakers and have the last 5 Xboxes and an oversized off-road vehicle for the city shouldn't complain about not being able to afford a fast pass. OTOH, I think FPs do degrade the other guests' experience, to some degree, so there is a negative externality that shouldn't be ignored.

It's another classic TPR Tour shirt, Japan 2013, where we met so many great new friends. I know these are collectors' items, but I've started to wear them more and more...just because they're great shirts.

Lol

They had a lot of decent shirts at USS.

^ Actually, I looked this clown up on the 'net because he was at several different parks when Cheryl and I first visited Denmark. I think he has a standing run at Bakken too. It turns out that Pierrot is a stock character, the sad, naïve clown.

Tivoli Karolinelund had already closed by the time of Scandi 2014, but the shirt lives on!

One of several Legoland shirts from around the globe...these are great designs.

^^^I know your bar for amusement is set rather high, so this is high praise indeed!

My 2nd Rocky Mountain coaster. Looking forward to many more coasters and shirts.

We were in line for Mindbender at Galaxyland this past weekend (amazing coaster, btw) and some guy in the line was going on about some roller coaster that his brother had ridden that you had to sign a release for. I've never heard of such a thing for a roller coaster in recent history, except maybe as a publicity stunt for Th13teen when it opened. My wife, the former lawyer, says that such releases are rare (and pointless) because the rider legally assumes risk when he/she voluntarily and knowingly gets on the ride. I think we've signed 1 or 2 releases ever, for some crazy zip line or parasailing or SkyJump in Vegas. In the past I would have asked the guy what coaster or park he was talking about, but I'm just so tired of these shmucks at this point. Not the weirdest thing I've heard the GP say, but the most recent weird thing.

1241 Autosled Galaxyland Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Steel Sitdown Zierer Tivoli Custom Operating 1985 23-Jan-15

My clips aren't particularly good, but I threw them up on YouTube: [youtu_be] [/youtu_be][youtu_be] [/youtu_be][youtu_be] [/youtu_be]

Well, I'm just wasting time during the blizzard instead of doing work, so I might as well update this report. Day 3 had us getting a credit, then some culture credits, and then more credits! Fun Ranch! Yes, we live for these crappy kiddie coasters! Actually, it's a nice little private atmosphere in this FEC. Incidentally, "Kids Rule Here". So there are a lot of kiddy flats. And a coaster! Credit! There's also a play structure inside and party rooms and the like. Thanks, Fun Ranch! Time for some culture. Rizal Park honors the spiritual father of modern Philippines, José Rizal. Rizal is venerated throughout the country. Near the park is the actual site where he was executed by firing squad. The Spanish sentenced him to death for being a revolutionary. By contrast, he was actually a very cultured and learned man. He was an opthalmologist who was also an accomplished artist, novelist, and poet. There is an excellent museum dedicated to Rizal here where he spent his last hours in detention inside Fort Santiago, which is part of the old city of Manila known as Intramuros. We then visited San Augustin, a 400+ year old church. We did not visit the big cathedral that the Pope visited. Afterwards on the drive, we saw this statue of Ninoy Aquino. The airport is named after him too. I was in high school when he was assassinated by the Marcos regime upon his return from self-imposed exile. He was shot at the airport that now bears his name. The picture of his dead body was on the front page of the New York Times, if I remember correctly. His death launched his wife's successful effort to politically topple the Marcos dictatorship. Their son is the current president. Getting ready for the Pope! First a classic Filipino meal at the Manila standby, The Aristocrat. And now, Star See-Tee! I mean, Star City! No really, that's how they say it, "see-tee". Star See-Tee! Star See-Tee! Price board info! Surf Dance! This is an indoor-outdoor park. Argh, the only credit we expected to get and didn't. Star Flyer was down. Seems to be down a lot, which might be expected of an inverted Pinfari. Popperoo is pretty good. There's also a Giant Frisbee. And my best attempt to get the Frisbee and the Surf Dance at the same time. Dragon Express is a wacky worm. And Wacky Worm is also a wacky worm. They have this dreadful Peter Pan walkthrough. Most of it looks crappy like this. At brief moments, if you squint and huff glue at the same time, it gives a hint of Disney. But most of it is utter crap. Which is a shame, because then a little further down the hall they have some decent theming. The sign at the gate said that "Blizzard" was down, but then we found it operating after all. Slightly fun, but mostly violent and terrifying. There was this odd upcharge climb thing with a belay. You had to climb it and ring a bell in an absurdly short time, like 4 seconds. Games. Bumper boats. We did not partake in Snow World. For me, ice attractions lose their appeal after about 5 minutes, when I start to get too cold. Of course some of them are quite good. We just didn't feel like it. But we did have some ice cream, in deference to ice. The bottom scoop is ube, or purple yam flavor. Can't remember the top flavor. Both were pretty good. Facade looking good at night! Thank you Star Cee-Tee! Thank you for visiting with us, dear TPR readers!

Vin, just checked out your Philippines report and it's great. I'm glad that the Philippines is getting some attention here.

I think this was Walibi Holland.

Nice "new" little park in Florida, with a new woodie on the way!