MrSkyWhirl

See, haters, the Bigger-Than-Most guy addressed my questions and added to his epic thread. Not sure why the Peanut Gallery gets so fired up with my questions. Thanks, Michael, your candor is truly admirable.

Large Michael, I appreciate your candor in replying to my questions. A few thoughts and questions: * Give the people what they want - start a new thread. How great would it be for multiple Mammoth Miguel threads to be battling eachother? Since you're so amazing, why not create a battle against your only real competition = yourself? * Take a year off, say in 2010, and donate the funds that would have gone towards another epic coaster season to a worthy cause. That would be awesome. * Refrain from contests and other lame attempts to up your view count. Do it naturally, resist the urge to use the steroids of thread views and go natural brother. * Let your minions, which are many, blow your own pipe. Too often I click into your thread, which I know you enjoy thinking about, and see you posting the latest power rankings. Trust me, if you went a few weeks without tooting your own horn - one of your peeps would do it for you. And your doucheyness factor would go down quite a bit. * Are you saying that if the park says no, you will not take a picture? That is, is every picture you've ever taken on a ride "legit"? Or do you simply not ask at some parks knowing that the answer will be "no" and go stealth? * I assume you are sticking with horribly annoying yellow/gold color for this year's shirt? Why? Wait, I just answered that question. * What do your fellow UPS workers think of your hobby? * What would you think the majority of folks the frequent this fine site would think - that you're awesome, and posting the blow by blow exploits of one Massive Mikey is super cool and entertaining OR that you're incredibly annoying? Obviously you have your fans, but if people were asked to answer honestly ... which side do you think the majority would fall?

Hi Big Mike, Hoping this post will not be edited or deleted or moved ... although I'm sure I'll receive some snarky messages from your minions, at least. *Do you get permission from each and every park for the coasters where you decide to take an on-ride photo? If so, how does that work? *Do you ever feel a bit creepy charming your way on to kiddy coasters where there are, in fact, usually only kiddies hanging out? Have any parents ever asked you what you're doing? *Are you adding your 2009 trips to this thread, or are you starting a new epic one? *I appreciated the photos of Great America - how would you compare the one in Gurnee to the one in NoCal? *How do you get so much time off of work? *How many of the parks, that you've been to, are no longer in operation? That's it - hope you have the time to answer my questions. Enjoyed your appearance with Jay, by the way.

ADMIN EDIT - See previous Admin Edit. cfc I am still amazed that you were able to hang on to ALL of this stuff for ALL of these years, have taken the time to scan it all in, and upload it here for everyone to check out. Very cool.

Was there anything more to the "campaign" with the Asian dude other than his face appearing in the corner of photos/posters/commercials? Was silly to walk away from Mr. Six - glad to see that they're going back to him. I assume they feel it a sound business decision to do so, but it'd be great if they didn't and were going back to him to simply spite the old management

Thanks for all of your work in loading in all of this interesting stuff - and posting it here. I'm sure most of this stuff would be hard to find elsewhere on the 'net. This is by far the Biggest and Best thread on this site/messageboard...I know there have been many thanks and tons of pats on the back, but I just wanted to add one from me. ADMIN EDIT - Removed another totally unnecessary dig at another TPR Member.

I think I've kept up with this entire thread thus far ... has anyone mentioned the possibility of it being for that new park in Cozumel (Mayan Adventure Land)? I have no idea how firm the plans for that park really are, and if this is way too early for them to be ordering track, but maybe?

Big Mike, Epic trip reports for 2008. Awesome. I suggest you start another thread for your wacky 2009 adventures! Just imagine what it'd be like to have another thread in the top 10 of replies/views/blowhardisms/etc. Then, what you could do, is to add together all of the stats of all of your threads and cross check them against combined stats of other topics and once again prove your awesomeness to all. I think your fans deserve a new thread, and to not have to sift through hundreds of posts to keep up on your '09 adventures! I'm sure it'll be refreshing for you to start off with a fresh new thread. Please let me know if I need to get in touch with your HQs on this - or if this is a decision you can make on your own. Humbly yours, MSW

Wow, that's too bad. Although I've read some crazy estimates in regards to how many retail locations will close in the first quarter - I can imagine a family park is even tougher to keep afloat. And I thought that THIS trip report of Nut Tree Park was pretty awesome ADMIN EDIT: Please stop with the underhanded remarks.

I've been surfing around the internet trying to figure out what's going on with Six Flags New Orleans. I've read in a couple of places that, quietly, SFI has been released from their lease with the city for the land. Additionally, there have been cranes on site for some time now and rides are leaving. Anyone in the area have an update? Anyone have photos? I realize that the city STILL has much bigger fish to fry than a theme park, but also find it bizarre the lack of news about the park.

I agree--a very nice TR with good pics and good info. (I've never been to Boomers, but will avoid the place on Saturday nights.) Thanks for sharing. And MrSkyWhirl, methinks that, for a member with so few posts, thou doth protest too much. Touche', Sir, as there is no doubt that there is a strong correlation between post count and, well. I don't know. Mostly in lurker mode, I appreciate this place quite a bit - and when someone can simply post a trip report that is entertaining, informative, and douche-free I "must" say something. As far as the rental car, it's amazing that Enterprise had the best deal. In all of my US travels, they are usually the most expensive. By the way, sounds like you guys got your money's worth out of that rental (quite a bit of driving on your quick trip)! Again, thanks and hope you're enjoying the latest round of winter weather

Am I the only one who assumed that the original poster IS the owner of that site that was taken d0wn!!11!!!!!1!!!?

Very nice trip report - thanks. Again, simply amazing that a report can be enjoyable without some sort of game or made up backstory to it. You went somewhere, took really nice photos, and posted them (with just a bit of commentary/explanation). Methinks some blowhards around here could take a page out of your book! In any case, how much homeword did you do in regards to buying discount tickets for the parks/hotel/car etc?

I've actually "shopped" there before. Was unique, but definitely a bit pressure packed if you were really doing your weekly shopping. Was cool, but seemed like a pure gimmick rather than some sort of wave of the future. They've had some maintenance issues with the ride, and when I left China there was talk of either the store closing or a possilbe rehab (already).

Nice trip report, thanks. As I finished it I was thinking "wow, this guy has proven (as others have) that you can post a trip report without being creepy, blowhardy, or bizzare". Then sweet irony of ironies, King Creepy actually posted in your thread. Incredible. I had never heard of Nut Tree Park, really looks like a nice place for families. Between that and SFDK, you visited two really pretty parks! Thanks again.

Exhibit A why I voted "NO" to the prop asking if Michael should post about his travels in 2009. Yikes, you're one scary guy.

I post a hearty no thank you, Mike. Your ridiculous self promotion and inflated sense of self worth is not something I need to see repeated in 2009. As a casual lurker/reader of this forum, I honestly wonder if you have no gauge on how creepy and odd you come off as (most of the time). Evidently, you don't. In any case, YOU asked for votes ... theres mine. But something tells me that we'll all be treated to reading about your road trips in '09, how many great friends you have, how your thread is HUGE, and how hilarious your "tongue in cheek" references to yourself are. Mazel Tov to you, Sir. Perhaps in the next update to this forum they can figure out a way to block, from view, any thread started by Big Mike.

Thanks for the report, Robb. I need to figure out what type of jobs you, and folks like Big Mike, have that allow for all of these spur of the moment AND big trips. Besides the chicken joint, any trace of Back To The Future around (in or out of the building)? Great pictures.

That's great news. Even if it doesn't end up happening, great to hear that there are at least a couple of groups interested. Seemed like Jazzland/SFNO was never a strong performer PRIOR to Katrina/Rita, and now with half the population gone I can only assume they'd be banking on tourists to be a big part of their draw (especially with the type of up front investment that'd be needed to get it back up and running). I would love to see what the park looks like now ... does anyone know of any recent pictures posted anywhere?

Wow, that post was truly stream of consciousness! What I meant by progressing is that they are completing a lot of the changes they announced. With the park's official opening less than a week away, it'll be interesting to see if they get Deja Vu completely out of there in time. As far as the shows go, I basically agree with you. While this version of Great America has held on to it's "theming" a lot better than it's California cousin, it too is slowly losing the Marriott charm. It does seem a bit odd to me to take out a child friendly theater when all you do (as mgt) is blather on and on about being a family company, but then again I'm not in charge. At some point I think they need to retheme that little corner to SuperheroLand or something (with Superman and Batman not really fitting into the "Orleans" theme). Anyways, I'm glad to see Deja Vu go. Not just because it took the place of my beloved Sky Whirl, either. I never really enjoyed the ride and the maintenance issues the first few years became comical. Keep the faith Viva, maybe those bare spots of land will be covered with a mega theater complex at this time next year

Wes, thanks for the non-sarcastic reply. I guess I just missed the initial post you were bumping this for. PURE, awesome reply ... RTFM, classy. Looks like things are finally starting to progress at the park. Eagle is getting a lot of work done to it, Deja Vu is almost gone and I guess Splashwater Falls is completely gone (would love to see what that area looks like now). Additionally, it's too bad they had to butcher Theater Royale like that for the new Batman Dark Knight ride.

I have no idea how that bump helped anyone, but I guess I missed something. In any case, I just came across THIS Trip Report over at sfgamworld.com and it has several photos of the nearly completely removed Deja Vu. What I wouldn't give to have Sky Whirl and Hay Baler placed back in that footprint!

I have to comment on this. I've been perusing this forum for at least a couple of years now, mostly because I enjoy the Photo Trip Reports posted. Only posted a couple of times, and that was about a radio show. I do not know anyone here, have no allegiance to any group or person, will never attend a coaster event, and have to say I have been "this" close to posting about your "input" here. You ABSOLUTELY come across the way that Rob ranted about. Seeing your avatar at the start of a post is a quick, and also very annoying, heads up to keep on scrolling. I could elaborate on how you come across, but Rob pretty much nailed it on the head. If I were a moderator/admin here I would have probably been tempted to suspend or ban you because your only contributions are to: A) Piss on Magic Mountain and any improvement someone might point out. B) Remind everyone that you worked there. Again, pretty unbiased viewpoint here - you come across as a colossal prick in the majority of posts I've read. If that's not your intention, you need to work on your typing/conversational skills. As far as Magic Mountain, I get out there about once every few years and am very excited to make it back. Going to be odd not to stare at Flashback (or Z-Force as I still called it), not see Psyclone, and actually have a reason to head up the tower. Thanks everyone, except for you PURE, for your input/photos from the park!

Ok, great. I'm not a huge fan of Rome either, but seeing that Rome just said that he is going to talk to Shapiro ABOUT Magic Mountain (after the break), I figured it might be worth a listen. But you're right, he's so horrible that you couldn't possibly listen to a few minutes to hear the CEO talk about one of Six Flags' biggest parks.

Just an FYI to those reading this in the next hour or so - Mark Shapiro will be on Jim Rome's radio show today. Shapiro, of course, came from ESPN and is pretty tight with Rome - he's made several appearances in "The Jungle" over the last few years. The show has a pay-to-listen podcast, so if anyone can record that interview and share that'd be great! FYI - I know the Rome show streams, FREE, out of Houston via THIS LINK