Mechanic

^ Boomerangs are fairly intense rides. Many smaller and more compact layouts can be considerably more forceful than taller or larger coasters. I would judge each coaster on its own merits, rather than expecting it to ride a certain way based on its height or size.

Well, while winning had nothing to do with getting everyone around you as wet as possible, that seemed to be the objective of the majority of participants.

^ You really should give Ghostrider another try. While far from smooth, it is much better than it was the last time I rode it a year or so ago when I agree it was nearly unrideable.

It that's true... Wow! Just WOW!

It gives a whole new meaning to Staten Island Ferry / Fairy.

^ Yeah, you'd think so, but the guy is actually straight. He even married some lady that's all into being Tinker Bell. Hey, as long as they're cool with it...

I realize this is all just opinion, but personally, I'd put Pony Express in the "disappointing" category, rather than the "worst". The ride itself isn't bad for a family coaster, just way too short.

First Park: Six Flags Magic Mountain for day one of WCB. First Coaster: X2 during morning ERT. First Food: A maple bar, a glazed donut, and apple juice. First New Credit: I hopped on Canyon Blaster just because I had never bothered to before.

I mentioned to Robb in a PM that a simple solution to the name tag thing might be to have the lanyard cards designed with a spot that is specifically designated for a stick-on name tag. That would save any hassles of custom printing lanyard cards, or having a mistake on the printing. The name tags tend to fall off clothing fairly easily, and some of us may change shirts during the day, but we can almost always be counted on to have our lanyards. I am also a little shy sometimes and may think I know who someone is, but not be entirely sure, so I will often avoid the possible awkardness by not introducing myself only to regret it later. The name tags really do help in that respect. (As long as none of the ladies think I'm just staring at their chest when in fact I'm trying to read their name tag) Even though I did recognize Jeremy of Hoodie fame, I also didn't say hello. I apologize and will be sure to not make the same mistake next time. If nothing else, I'd just like to thank you for the hoodie movies. They're awesome!

I often see discussions of flats vs coasters to round out a park's attractions, but it seems I rarely see much mention of dark ride installations. I certainly don't expect projects on the scale of what Disney and Universal bring forth, but a newer technology Sally (or whoever) shooting ride or haunted house attraction would be welcome additions. Most dark rides seem to have fairly decent capacity as well. Am I just in the minority, or do others also wish for dark rides in addition to, or possibly in place of, flats?

I imagine there's the aspect of getting a reasonable return on investment for building molds and jigs to create the theming. It's certainly nice to see you take the high road and view the imitation as flattery. Luckily, it isn't a park that's in direct competition with you. You, and everyone here, will always know who the original was.

Are those theming elements custom made, or do you sort of choose from a catalog of different designs? I must say, the resemblance is uncanny. I guess great minds think alike.

That guy has been something of an internet sensation for quite a while now. Here's his site: Peter Pan

The closer this gets to opening, and the more details that emerge about the actual "ride" portion of the experience, the more it brings to mind the Vekoma "Panadora's Box" ride system. http://www.vekoma.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=35&Itemid=30

I noticed myself and my son in the front row of Terminator in one of the photos as well. Great shots, and thank you for sharing them.

Did anyone else happen to notice Scream running exceptionally well Saturday evening? My son and I had taken a ride with Shawn - packfanlv (nice to see you again btw) earlier in the day, and while it was a completely fine ride, it seemed pretty typical of every other ride I've ever had on it. Later in the day, after dinner but before night ERT, my son and I rode again (twice without having to leave our seats since no one was in line for the "big boy" rows) and the ride really seemed faster than I ever remember it feeling before. It still had it's noticeable, while acceptable, "rattle", but it really felt more forceful and was just ripping through the course. I'd imagine that the parks keep track of ride cycle times to help them determine if anything is amiss. Does anyone know if it's typical for the ride to speed up noticeably later in the day? Not a huge deal really, but I figured it was worth mentioning that I had a couple of my most enjoyable rides ever on it.

Yay! A Chuck trip report! I've been waiting for this one. (and Nay's as well) It was nice to finally meet you Chuck, if only briefly, on the SFMM morning of WCB. I will semi-patiently await the rest of the TR.

^ Good eye! That tractor is very Trevor-ish.

As TTD indicated, the escalators provide a convenient way to travel between the upper and lower lots at USH. What's shown in the picture is only a couple segments of the 5 (if I remember right) seperate sections of escalators that make up what they call the "StarWay". It actually is something of an attraction in itself with very nice views of the surrounding area. I'm sure glad the escalators are there because walking up stairs to make the trip wouldn't be any fun at all.

Okay, I actually did get a decent number of useable pictures from Knott's, so here are the rest of them. I hope you enjoy them. After lunch we walked over and checked out the Independence Hall exhibit. Here's a replica of the Liberty Bell. The lady in the gift shop was happy to answer any questions we had. She told us this was an actual antique carriage from the 1700s and not a reproduction. The Knott family purchased it in France and had it shipped over here where it was completely and beautifully restored. The Knotts rode to the opening ceremony and dedication of Independence Hall in this very carriage. This is an antique desk displayed under glass at the exhibit. I didn't get many of the details on it, but it certainly is intricate. Another antique desk on display. This is the enemy. This is how to identify the enemy. (Terminator would so totally kick this guy's ass) "Hey baby, want to go get some chicken dinner across the street and see where things go from there? If not, it's ok. I could always go check out the Glory Hole, if you know what I mean." - wink, wink - Insert random cock joke here. Actual Ghostrider on ride picture. Just kidding. For the first time ever, Ghostrider didn't physically injure me. While it's not butter-smooth, it's improved over the last few times I rode it a year or so ago. I think this guy wrote the screenplay for the movie, "2012". Or something like that. Okay, at this point I'm just kind of randomly adding pictures in no particular order. Here is another of the park's locomotives. Hey, loco and motives... Hmm, maybe that has something to do with the axe on board? Axe murderers pretty much have "loco motives", right? Okay, I know that sucked. Just shoot me now. I now present.... The backside of water! Oh, wait, wrong park. Ye Olde school house in ghost town. And no, they didn't spell it "olde", or use the word "ye". I just added those for effect. I had to try this bench just to see if it was as uncomfortable as it looked. It was. I'm sending Knott's a bill for the ointment I had to buy as a result. Native American stereotype perpetuated? Check. Hey, at least he didn't have a bottle of "firewater" in his hand. Xcelerator's new trains look great. More realistic than ever. For no particular reason, I'll end with a couple pictures I forgot to add earlier from SFMM. This is a troll, and some mascot in a furry costume. Another troll, with the same mascot. Thanks for viewing the thread and see you all again at next year's WCB!

WCB rocked harder than ever before with Six Flags Magic Mountain outdoing themselves once again and a second day added at Knott's Berry Farm. Magic Mountain stepped it up with customized night time ERT including all operating coasters AND Racing Colossus AND a soundtrack on Terminator that was created especially for the event! This was, of course, in addition to morning ERT on several awesome coasters, a breakfast with drinks, donuts and muffins, multiple tours of backstage areas, a great lunch, a scavenger hunt, a management presentation, and an optional add-on dinner at the nicely themed and very relaxing Mooseburger lodge. As if all that wasn't enough, we were also given a voucher for a free photo! Picking up our welcome packages went quickly and efficiently, with many familiar faces from the TPR website manning the tables and getting everyone hooked up with their swag. Many a TPR member donned their newly acquired WCB shirts, or the even more enviable Club TPR shirts, and the event began with Neal Thurman welcoming us, and then playing an early April fools joke by telling us that Revolution was going to be running for one day only with no OTSRs. (You got me on that one! You really did!) Anyone that may have been disappointed to find out Neal was joking was soon over it after they experienced TPR's version of ERT, which basically means you don't wait more than a train or 2, and usually you don't wait at all, even for rides like X2 and Tatsu. My son and I had arrived early Friday morning after a long drive down from our home near Sacramento and had done a full day at USH the day before WCB, so being a little weary and needing to catch up on sleep, we ducked out on a few hours during the middle of the day and headed back to the hotel. I'm sure we missed out on some great fun during the day with the events planned, but we still had an awesome time. As a footnote to our little trip back to the hotel: I was fully aware that the free parking offer was only supposed to be for those arriving early for the event and fully expected to pay for parking upon our return. Imagine my surprise when we returned and the parking attendant who noticed my WCB lanyard and badge just waved us right through the gate and said, "Welcome back and have a great evening." Honestly, I had my wallet in my hand and was grabbing the money to pay, but he wouldn't have it. Little things like that really go a long way to making a customer appreciate how much they go out of their way for us at these events. Thank you Magic Mountain! Sunday again started early and we were off on our way to Knott's Berry Farm. Picking up our event packages once again went very smoothly and before we knew it we were in the park and riding Monty, Jaguar, Boomerang (only once though) and Supreme scream. We mixed all of those in between our tours of the Railroad workshop and the Calico Mine Ride. I appreciate Knott's setting up the tours for us and I hope these can be expanded upon for future events. After ERT ended, and before the park got busy with regular guests, we got in a few rides on Pony Express (We took the tunnel!) and generally ambled around the ghost town area, taking in the theming and ambiance of the area as well as buying my son a customized belt at the leather goods shop and a few trinkets to bring home. Soon it was time for our lunch across the street in the picnic groves. Lunch was very good and the employees of KBF really did a good job of keeping people entertained with fun games. After lunch we walked to the nearby Independence hall exhibit, which I had never taken the opportunity to visit before. We really enjoyed the displays and the sense of real life American history in this beautiful building. We bought a few souvenirs to take home to family and friends and enjoyed the stories related to us by the nice lady working in the gift shop. If you have never visited this free attraction, I would strongly urge you to check it out. It was now nearly time for the presentation in the Charles Schulz theatre, so we made our way back into the park. We did have a few minutes to spare so we took a quick spin on the bumper cars, which was fun. I went into the presentation mostly looking to rest my feet and enjoy the air conditioning. I sometimes have trouble staying awake through these things, but not this time. Right from the start, they had my attention and maintained it throughout. Jeff seems to be doing just fine in the theme park business, but if for some reason it doesn't work out, he won't have to worry as he'd have a bright future as a stand up comedian. His comedic timing and delivery are brilliant. It was refreshing to see just how in touch he was with the TPR forums as well. There were more than a few examples of him playing off of some of the running semi-inside jokes from TPR. Getting to hear about a new concept from S&S, as well as inside information about a haunt maze, and how it comes to be, were very nice touches. Everyone at KBF seemed genuinely engaged in and passionate about their work. They showed us a very good time and were well deserving of the applause they received. After picking up our free shirts, we finished off our night with a ride on Ghostrider where we got our complimentary on ride photos, then a few laps on Silver Bullet with no wait at all, and finally about 4 or 5 back to back cycles on Sierra Sidewinder before calling it a night. Between the 2 days of WCB we ran into several people that we'd met and spoken with at previous events at SFMM and also from Bay Area Bash last year. We also got to meet a few people that seem so familiar to me from having seen them in so many trip reports and videos. I'd list each one, but I'd probably forget someone and end up feeling bad for excluding them, so instead I'll just say, "Hi again, and it was great to see you!" to everyone we ran into and spoke with. If you've read this far, then you're probably one of the few like me that actually reads all the stuff people write before getting on to the pictures, and I thank you. Without further ado (because there's been plenty of ado), here are the pictures! I hope you enjoy them. Our flight conveniently crashed right into the USH backlot. This guy was there. And seriously, how many times have you seen this picture WITHOUT someone's head, arm, leg, or other body part in its mouth? That's right! Never! I want my originality points damnit! Hello Terminator. Tomorrow at SFMM we'll be visiting a factory where some of your brothers were built. Is it odd that I sort of wish Sideshow Bob would succeed with his sinister plans? I think this counts as a credit. Waterworld was a fun show. Too bad I only took pictures before the show started. Riveting, isn't it? Okay, okay... I promise, last non-action Waterworld picture. And this shall conclude my epic fail of not taking enough pictures at USH. On to Magic Mountain! Although this picture was taken when we left, just pretend that we got there really early and the sun wasn't up yet, okay? Good. Thank you very much. It's Batman logo: the ride! Hello Terminator. Tomorrow at SFMM we'll be visiting a factory where some of your brothers were built. Uh oh... Now he's all red! I think he's angry. My son has been assimilated. As have I! Oh, the horror! Upon returning from our afternoon nap at the hotel, Colossus and Goliath were enjoying the sunset. A trip to the dizzying heights of the Skytower yielded the following spectacular views. Shur is purdy up here. And so I conclude the SFMM portion of the pictures, once again realizing I took far too few. Well, at least far too few that came out as something identifiable. On to Sunday and KBF. We took the tunnel, on foot even. Backstage Glory Hole action. Train parts, or medieval torture device? You decide. Random axe on a train. I think it's placed here in case you decide to go on a random axe murdering spree. Unless someone else has a better reason, that's the story I'm sticking to. The official Club TPR shirt: It's what all the cool kids are wearing this year. As promised earlier, here's that Terminator factory tour. The big announcement at Knott's was a new bobsled coaster. One of the ride vehicles had already arrived and was on display. Waterfalls are so soothing, so I'll end this first post with one from Timber Mountain Log Ride. More pics from Knott's to follow soon.

After driving down, then spending a full day at USH on Friday (Thanks Joey!), I was so tired that I went back to the hotel for a few hours on Saturday, so I'm sure we missed out on some great stuff during the tours/scavenger hunt/presentation. That said, we still had a GREAT time at SFMM. It was nice to see some faces that are now becoming more familiar, and also meeting some great new people that I hadn't had the pleasure of meeting before. The customized night ERT was definitely the highlight of Saturday for me. Racing Colossus was a real treat. It adds a dimension of fun to that ride that I'd never been able to experience before. We rode it 3 times, "winning" 2 out of those 3. I couldn't quite hear all the custom audio on Terminator, but what I did hear was pretty darn funny and brought a smile to my face. All the employees at the park were super friendly and helped to make the day even better. I was secretly hoping the add-on dinner would be at Mooseburger lodge, and I was very pleasantly surprised when I found it was! The food was delicious too. I think I ate at least a dozen meatballs. Despite only about 4 hours of sleep, we showed up at Knott's ready for another fun day and they didn't disappoint. While I can be counted among those that found the Calico Mine Ride tour a bit on the short side, I still appreciate being among the first enthusiasts ever allowed inside. I hope that these types of excursions can be expanded in the future. Although the ERT was great, and the tours were fun, the presentation at Knott's was definitely the highlight of Sunday for me. The open and honest answers, not to mention the comedic ones, were great. I honestly went into the presentation mostly anticipating a nice rest in the air conditioned theatre, but found myself genuinely engaged in what was being said from start to finish. Hat's off to KBF's management team and to the Vice President of S&S for making it time well spent, and entertaining to boot. Finally, I can never say it enough, but THANK YOU Robb, Elissa, Chris, all those who help you before, and at the events, and to the parks and all the great people there that make this a reality. I look forward to WCB each year, and despite it seeming impossible, every year gets better than the last. I sincerely appreciate the passion for making these events great that I clearly see from all those involved in making them happen. WCB doesn't only appeal to the hard core enthusiast. It's a great time for even the more casual enthusiast like myself, and the families and friends as well. I will continue to look forward to this event as long as it goes on, which I hope is forever. I can't wait to see what you do next year, because even though I don't think it could possibly get better, I know you will find a way to surprise me. To everyone involved in WCB, YOU ROCK!

Tim Burkhart has answered the question about Colossus ever being reprofiled to its former glory at past WCB events and has indicated that it wouldn't be changing back. That was before this current conversion of Texas Giant though. I wouldn't be surprised if the question comes up again, particularly since there's a new variable in the equation now.

I'm very sorry to hear this sad news. Please accept my sincere condolences. You are in my thoughts and prayers. I wish you comfort during this difficult time, and the strength to provide comfort to your family.

Is there any sort of standard timeline that proceedings of this type would follow? I guess what I'm asking is: Is this likely to be wrapped up by any certain date, or can it plod along indefinitely?