pianojohn

Let me try another for all those Winter Park moms.

This is my life!

Works for me too!

I didn't HATE it, but I wasn't crazy about Bizarro at SFNE. It could have been that I rode it opening weekend in April when it was in the 40's and cloudy, but the ride did nothing for me. Kind of rattling and not that exciting. Just my 2 cents! And I felt the lap bars were REALLY tight.

The joys of Orlando parks in the off season is that sometimes you get the whole ride to yourself!!

That video clip was PAINFUL. I knew that Live Entertainment was going downhill (see Mix It Up and the ensuing walk-offs), but those vocals and staging of "I Am What I Am" were straight out of BAD community theater. Here's hoping the other forms of entertainment aren't quite so abysmal.

Or running. Still annoyed by my horrible visit in April when X2, Tatsu, Colossus, Gold Rusher, and Canyon Blaster were never running. And of course no Lex Luthor or Sky Tower either.

a classic The early morning for Maverick was a walk on! Since summer is almost over (Labor Day and all), I thought I would finally upload a ton of pics from two different trips I took. The first set is from June and my trip to Idlewild Park, Kennywood, and Cedar Point. And the next set is from July and Dorney, Six Flags Great Adventure, Sesame Place, and Busch Gardens. Enjoy! Yay Demon Drop! What a horrible set. Looks like the theatre is falling down. yeah. Closed too. Entwined: worst show EVER Celtic Fyre: great show.

Now that the Zumanjaro Drop of Doom Teaser Video Six Flags Great Adventure video is nearing 1 million views, it's time to check out some of the most asinine comments made so far: Huh? I HATE when idiots write LOL after their comments. As if the comment is so hilarious they laughed at it. Dumbass. Origins? Hmmm.... What if you learned how to spell and speak proper English? Literally, look at the title of the video and do a 2-3 second search on Google. Time to thin out the gene pool with that comment. And the battle of the idiots continues:

And in English (courtesy of Google Translator) It's official: In July 2014, the Holiday Park in Hassloch / Pfalz new - open roller coaster - one in Europe. The Thrill Coaster is peppered with many exciting elements such B catapult launches, cool twists / twists, extreme forward and backward acceleration, vertical drops and breathtaking loops. Highlight - in the truest sense of the word - is one slow motion 'in around 50 meters. Passengers are asked high above the treetops slowly through a 'twisted Heartline Roll' on the head and thus experience intense moments with unique views before they race at speeds up to 100 km / h at the depth. Rollercoaster fans experience the unique magnetic technology launching forces of up to 3.5 times its own body weight. After the final drop of the special nature of the wagon train then returns to the starting plane, where it is one last time and is gently braked to a stop in the station. Around 8 million euros will be invested in this brand new coaster. An identical sister car, the "Superman Ultimate Flight" at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, enthusiastic since 2012, the California park guests. Park manager Bernd Beitz: "The construction of this unique European Thrillcoasters is - after the big investment and new buildings in the last two years - a further step in an attractive experience-oriented redesign of the park. We look forward to the new attraction! It is the long-awaited thrill coaster, the fans have been waiting for the roller coaster. This gigantic steel coaster is an ideal addition to our park and offers pure action to its diverse highlights.

On my most recent trip to Cedar Point in June, I got 5 rides on Millenium Force during Early Ride time. Not a ton, but more than most people ever get in one day! It was awesome!!!

Busch Gardens VA Entertainment Department reunion next week! Soooooooo.... road tripping to Dorney, SFGAdv, Sesame Place, then maybe SFA on the way down to Busch and KD.

Apparently the new CP head honcho is going to spend a ton of money to renovate the hotels at the park: http://www.toledoblade.com/State/2012/12/02/Firm-to-invest-60M-to-restore-old-hotels-and-beach-properties.html Finally! I HATE the new Breakers wing that looks like a hospital. I don't know what Kinzel was thinking when they built that!

More pics from the vault. These are of Geauga Lake mid 80's pre Six Flags takeover and destruction. Corkscrew. They were notorious for letting the ride run with the restraints locked but not pushed down! Corkscrew and Big Dipper Double Loop The Wave. at the time one of the largest wave pools in the country Big Dipper

Found some pics from 2000, the first year of Millenium Force. Also have pics of their FastPass system at the time called Ticket to Ride. Enjoy! And yes, the restraints on Gatekeeper do get tighter as the ride progresses. I crossed my arms UNDER the vest and held them there to prevent this from happening. Not the most comfortable way to ride, but I prefer that to suffocating!

I had a Groupon to get 1000 pictures scanned and put on DVD, so here are some from my one and only trip to Boblo Island back in 1985. I remember the Vekoma corkscrew was new that summer, and it was not too bad. Here is more info on the park itself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boblo_Island_Amusement_Park Now on to the pics!

Hmm...this person has ONE post and it is a negative attempt to make Idlewild look bad. I don't buy it either.

I cannot say enough about this great little park! I have been going every week now sometimes twice a week to ride their great coaster and enjoy the friendly service provided by everyone. It's a nice change of pace from the huge theme parks, and I wish them nothing but success for many years to come!

I really like this park a lot! It's great to just pop in for a few laps on a GREAT little wooden coaster and know that 1) Parking will take 2 seconds 2) There will most likely be no wait to get on the coasters 3) The employees seem genuinely glad that you spend time there. And I am really glad I bought my season pass back in November for 1/2 price! It has paid for itself many times over already!

Question: I have a Six Flags Platinum pass and plan on visiting SFGAdv in July. What is the info for exclusive ride time? I know at SFMM they let us in 10 minutes early (which was useless since none of the big coasters were even running!) Thanks!

I am so glad I bought my FunSpot season pass in November! $50 for the year! Woo hoo!

Sea World Orlando Fun Spot USA Magic Kingdom Disney's Hollywood Studios Animal Kingdom Epcot Universal Studios FL Islands of Adventure Disneyland Disney's California Adventure (1st time!!) Knott's Berry Farm Six Flags New England Six Flags Magic Mountain (NEVER again) Oaks Park Still to come: Cedar Point, Idlewild, Kennywood, Busch Gardens VA, King's Dominion, Dorney Park, and maybe Six Flags Great Adventure

I'd say the chances of this happening are slim to none. 500 acres? Cedar Point is only 365. Hotels? Restaurants? Have we learned nothing from Hard Rock Park? And yes...the clientele will be worse than any Six Flags.

This is the show I was doing: http://www.wakeupyourweird.com/ And we have a full week of shows coming up in Austin, TX May 8-12th Austin Scottish Rite Theatre (map) 207 W 18th St Austin, TX 78701 I wrote some of the music for the show, I music direct it, and I play piano for it!

Just returned from an 11 day business/fun trip. The business was playing piano for some shows in Boston and Portland. The fun would be the 5 days in between gigs where I managed to hit 6 parks! Started off on Sunday April 14th. Got a ride to Logan Airport in Boston where I rented a car for the day. Drove to Six Flags New England for some credits and to process my Gold Pass. Now, I don't live anywhere near SFNE, but with the pass, I get free parking, so I figured it was a good deal. The weather SUCKED! About 40 degrees and windy Luckily, I was bundled up and ready to ride! Season Pass processing took some time since they had about 20 computers set up to enter in your information, but only 2 people inside the building to do the processing. Luckily, more workers showed up, but not before a huge line formed down the midway. Bizarro. In my opinion, eh. The trains since they were modified for the sound system seemed tighter than other Intamin hypers I have been on. So after being stapled into my seat, I was not looking forward to any negative g's. It was fast and decent, but not what I would call the #1 coaster in the world. Plus, the train rattled a lot. AND if you are going to have the #1 coaster, you may want to run more than one train on it. Did Catwoman's Whip, Gotham City Gauntlet Escape from Arkham Asylum (way too long a name for a basic wild mouse), Batman - The Dark Knight, Great Chase (yay! A kiddie credit!), and Flashback, your basic Vekoma boomerang. Goliath was not running due to the new trains, but the park was thoughtful enough to have signs to this effect posted at the entrance of the park AND the ride itself. NOTE: this same decent gesture will not be in effect once I get to California). All in all, a decent day at the park. I had not been there since 1998, and it seemed to be in good shape considering this was opening weekend and the weather was cold. Got back in my rental car, drove back to Boston, and flew that night to Long Beach for 5 days in California! MONDAY: Disneyland Resort. I had not been to DL since 2000, and DCA was not even open then. Due to the fun of jet lag, I was wide awake at 5am! I took my time and headed over to Downtown Disney and the hotels. As a cast member of WDW since 1999, I am very familiar with the layout of the Florida parks, and I was really looking forward to seeing how CA compares. The hotels were very nice. I opted to stay off property to save money, and I am glad I did. The Red Lion Hotel was awesome! Very close walk to the park, a great rate ($59/night due to Priceline), and they played awesome 80's music in the lobby! Plus, when the park closed, all I had was a short walk home instead of dealing with the hassle of traffic, the parking structure, and crowds. Quick analysis of DL resort since most people have been there: GREAT! The parks were immaculate, CarsLand is awesome, and I was able to ride everything I wanted multiple times. Of course, I never did get my Soarin' or Space Mountain credits due to the DOSH issues, but that just gives me a reason to go back. PhotoPass. We have all seen this at the Disney parks. After I got a few pics taken, I was informed that as a cast member, I would get my cast discount on the basic package. End result: I bought the CD with 171 pictures taken of me at the two parks! Using this system enabled me to not worry about handing off my camera to them since I knew their pictures would turn out great. I highly recommend this if you are in the parks for a few days and want to get as many pictures as possible. I ended up back at the parks on Tuesday afternoon, all day Wednesday, and Thursday til about 3pm when I headed down to Long Beach airport for my flight to Portland. This airport is also great since it's NOT LAX and it's only about 15 minutes from Disney. JetBlue flies into here from most west coast cities and Boston, Austin, NYC, and DC. Cannot recommend this enough! TUESDAY Six Flags Magic Mountain and Knott's Or as I like to call it, a tale of two extremes. Got up early to avoid the LA traffic and get to SFMM when the gates opened. Didn't really need to since there seemed to be little to no crowds coming to the park. It was sunny but very windy. I have only been to SFMM twice before: 1st time in 1980 and 2nd time in 2000. Both times I had a great day being able to ride everything I wanted. Being a Gold Pass member, I was allowed in the park 10 minutes before the rest of the crowd. I was hoping to get a jump on X2 or Tatsu since I heard their lines can be long and slow. I got to X2 and was told it was closed due to "wind." Hmmm Walked over to Tatsu: closed due to "wind." Double hmmm Oh well, maybe I can do Ninja. Oh right, closed due to "wind." OK, now I was getting pissed. I ended up getting my Apocalypse the Ride credit 1st. It was ok though seemed kind of rough. Headed down to Green Lantern: First Flight and rode that once. Again, decent ride though I was getting a headache already. Thought I would get a ride on Gold Rusher, but it was closed as well. Now remember, not one sign at the front gate said any of these major coasters would be closed. Got my Scream credit, and headed over to Superman. Rode that twice, and actually had a good time and the ride op seemed to really care! Back down the hill and lo and behold, Lex Luthor is closed as is Colossus. Also, the tower (whose name I forgot) was also closed. I have been to the park 3 times over the last 30+ years, and I have never been up in the tower. DAMN!! Then I heard some screams and looked up to see Tatsu running. Now, it was just as windy now as it was when I got to the park, but the coaster was now open. When I got to the queue, I found a full 1 hour wait and one train running. F U SFMM! Not going to waste any more time here. Walked over to X2 but it was still closed due to "wind." I think the term wind means "we don't really care about our guests, and it's cheaper to not staff coasters and just tell people it's too windy than to actually deliver good customer service." I left the park vowing to NEVER return. They had just come off Spring Break weeks, so there was no reason for all of these closed coasters. I flipped off X2 and said, "Cedar Point kicks your ass and will ALWAYS kick your ass." Well, maybe I didn't say it, but I thought it! Down the road I went and luckily found an In and Out Burger which was the highlight of the day! Ended up at Knott's which was also a highlight. Clean grounds, great rides, friendly staff. This is how parks should be run!! Xcelerator was awesome! It was a little brother to TTD, and I got two great rides on it. That night, ended up back at Disneyland Resort and spent the new two days there. SUNDAY When in Portland, you MUST go to Oaks Park! They have two coasters: a kiddie one and a looping wild mouse. Both were decent, but the real star in the roller rink. It was built in 1905, and on Sundays features a live organist at the Wurlitzer! Totally worth the trip if you are in the area. And now.............. the pictures! Welcome to SFNE in April! Brrrr Bizarro DCA and Goofy's Flight School California Screamin' Awesome PhotoPass picture Awesome PhotoPass picture of CarsLand at night RSR Definition of a douche bag: guy who cannot wait til he disembarks Matterhorn to whip out his cell phone. As close as I ever got to X2 $17 to park. No thanks, SFMM The massive crowd anxiously awaiting the impeccable guest service at SFMM Superman logo still screwed up Closed Closed The empty parking lot at SFMM when I left. Yay!! Coast Rider looks ready to roll! Silver Bullet Windseeker was not running. Shocker! Looping Thunder at Oaks Park The train Ready to ride! Kiddie Coaster at Oaks A credit is a credit! Wheeeeeeeee! One of the awesome animals on the carousel the roller rink