Bolliger&Mabillard

bad park operations go far beyond just crappy ride ops.

Though you are absolutely right about this kind of behavior not being governed by the park, I think it is necessary to help create a good time for those who are waiting and those who work there.

The CSI show is going to be in Magic Moments Theatre, right?

We might see that one hour thing pop back up if the line gets up to 2-3 hours during peak.

^^^ B&M and Intamin are both in Swizerland, so they can still have decent rides. I bet Sea World San Diego would be the first to go. Sure the attendance is great and there is not much competiton within range, with the restrictions, it's hard to make it marketable. That is why I'm surprised Six Flags is sticking it out with DK. It's hard to build a record breaking ride with a 150 height limit. It's not impossible, but the odds arent on your side either.

Viper at SFMM. Having a train in the Butterfly loop and one appoaching lift gets a thumbs up from me any day.

...King Kong themed B&M Hyper would help ease the pain. Just throwing ideas out there.

I would imagine that the tour will be closed for some time, which sucks, because I know tons of people visit that park JUST for that tour.

^ I got hit in the chest with a cell phone while working at Xcelerator. (Standing at Load 1 position, which is in front of the Christmas tree). I almost got hit with a PSP training someone at Tatsu and performing a Gate-Walk.

I checked out that video...Wow. It impressed me. That says a lot, because i'm not highly suggestable. I am however partial to B&M's (obviously)

SFMM: A Bathroom closer to the Viper/X plaza. Open the Cyclone Bay Grill (Near Deja Vu) as it the onle place in the park that serves hot dogs Put something under Scream. Grass, paint over the parking stalls, be creative. Expand Hurricane Harbor. Create some type of 2-fer or joint admission a la Kings Island/Boomerang Bay etc. Bring back Metro. A major rollercoaster that IS NOT a Diving Machine KBF: Get rid of the hotel. Knott's is not big enough to be a "resort" as they claim they are. Relocate warehouse/backstage areas to far end of Cresent Ave. Repaint Either Jaguar or Sierra Sidewinder so that there is not a "cluster of orange steel" in Fiesta Village/Camp Snoopy Redesign Xcelerators queue so that the front car line splits closer to the station. This way guest know why that line takes longer than cars 2-5. Car 1=4 seats Rest of train=16 seats, no brainer) B&M Hyper Disneyland: Nothing California Adventure: B&M Flyer aptly themed "Darkwing Duck" (A stretch, but admit it would be cool) More tweener rides Another rollercoaster NOT Intamin or Vekoma.

I saw how efficient this ride is with all three trains. A huge step forward for the ride, but I still feel something could have been don with the old unload station. With all three trains running, a train still sits in the old unload for a good 45-60 seconds. that time could be used for something...or at least put a screen in the back station to entertain the folks waiting there.

^Lol! I was in charge at Riddler's one night and someone came up the exit with a handicap pass The park's policy is that you have to WAIT at the EXIT rather an waiting in line for rides where the standby line won't accomidate a wheelchair. You still have to wait the length of the line. I told here it was about a 45 minute wait. She told me "The guy in GR told me I could get right on". I love that line, becuase "that guy" never has a name. I showed her on the pass where the policy was, and even called GR from the ride and confirmed the policy. After they were convinced I would not let them right on they were arguing for a refund-at 8pm. I told them that there was no way that GR would give them their money back for being in the park for so long. What made the situation even more funny, the lady I was talking to (middle aged woman, with her husband and sister) told me she couldn't stand there and argue with me because her leg was starting to hurt because she had just had surgery on it. Hello!!! Doesn't every rollercoaster in exsistence tell you not to ride if you have had recent surgery? After she told me that, I recommended that she not ride at all (Stand-up ride+Leg problem=worse leg problem). She demanded to speak to a supervisor and would not leave the loading dock until she spoke with a supervisor. I can tell anyone here that If you obstruct the operation of a ride intentionally at MM that causes them to halt operation, there's a 99.9% chance there kicking you out. As they were waiting for that supervisor, a group of five people came with the same pass, and jumped on the same band-wagon. As we were waiting there, I was called all kind of names, which is funny because I still spoke as nicely to the group as possible, because if you tell a guest something they don't want to hear, they'll make up enough stuff anyway. In ethier case, when supervision came, the group thought cursing out the supervisors would get them somewhere which it did. Kicked out.

^True. I may have been "less than correct" on previous predictions, but two road wins...didn't really impress me. Sure they beat the team that mattered, but talent-wise, and in style of play, the Lakers are a much better team than the Pistons, so I think that this will be a hard fought series. I don't think that either team has gone this far to come runner-up. I call this series 4-3 in favor of L.A. I think Boston will fall short when it counts.

^I have found by working at Magic Mountain that people love arguing and yelling because they think they'll get comped for something. In the seven months I worked there I've had about 15 people kicked out for arguing.

^One thing I can (and always have) applaud Magic Mountain for is their ability to operate yearround outside of peak season. Many people may like coasters and things relating to coasters but not have an actual understanding of how to run a park. Tatsu, Scream, Riddler's Revenge, Goliath, Ninja, Viper and X all have 3 trains, but these rides may not be able to run all three trains at once. It is a maintainece requirement that once a train reaches 10,000 cycles it has to be rehabed. The wheels, shocks axels have to be replaced/serviced. This can take up to 30 days to do. Magic Mountain does not have the advantage as other parks to say "We're closed for 7 months while we fix everything, sorry." They have to rehab the park while being open at least weekends, so MM has somewhat of an excuse. Paying nearly 70 bucks for just Disneyland, 11 bucks for parking to stand in line for Space mountain for 45 minutes with them running 6-7 rockets....slightly more upsetting.

Xcelerator-Knott's Bery Farm

I like the Lakers' chances. The Celts seem to have a solid team, but I have a feeling that they will (gasps for air) CHOKE!

I don't see why SLC's are doing so well. It's almost as if those rides were engineered and designed by the devil himself.

IMO The 2009 coaster is a GCI. Companies always buy rides in bulk. They may not open at the same time and are hardly ever in the same park, but I would not be surprised to see something along the lines of an EK clone. I'm sure we're going to see some 2x4's show up in the overflow lot in December.

Wildcat was closed! Outrage!

^Thanks for the updates. This is the first coaster I've followed from a "hole in the ground". So i'm excited to see the track show up for this ride.

In any applicable case, I will walk around tomorrow with a huge "HONK IF YOU LOVE THE LAKERS" sign. Anyone driving arould Compton tommorow (I doubt) you know it's me.

What kind of incentives/rewards are there for ops who do a good job? Obviously you can be reprimanded/denied a raise/etc. if you mess up, but does that go both ways? When supervisors walk around the park do they take note of people who are doing things well in addition to people who aren't? In a nutshell, your incentive is keeping your job. Few people get promoted, by there's like a 10 cent raise every year...If you can last in the rides department that long.

Great TR and even better photos. I enjoyed reading the entire post-as most reports bore me halfway through, but nice knack for story telling.