pianojohn

And when I can valet park at Universal for $25 (or free with my Preferred Pass), $20 seems like they are really sticking it to their customers. No Six Flags for me this year.

I worked for USF/IOA from 1999-2002. I also helped open Universal Studios JAPAN in 2001. But I've been at Disney since 1999.

Awesome update! (Or should I say Aussie-some?) Thanks for keeping us abreast of your adventures! And if you get a chance, pick up a box of Tim Tam's. Enjoy!

Weird to think of this as retro, but I found my pics I took in March/April and may of 1999 while Islands of Adventure was doing soft openings. Notice the BRIGHT paint everywhere! Enjoy! Dueling Dragons from the now Hess station Dueling Dragons The Hulk from outside Dr. Doom also from outside the fences The old logo (EPIC Fail....seriously!!) Fire Dragon (now THAT's some red paint!!) Hulk from a distance The dragons dueling And another shot of DD Good Poseidon Before they ruined the show! Hulk from the back of Mythos Now THAT's a green train and track! Dr. Doom Toon Lagoon Seuss from across the lagoon Dueling Dragons with the old statues Hulk in action And Fired Dragon in action Green Eggs and Ham (when it was open all the time!) Hulk sign The Enchanted Oak (where Three Broomsticks now stands) And me at work! I used to play organ at Circus McGurkus when IOA first opened.

2011 marks my 12th year working at Disney! You can catch me in one of two places: playing piano at Hoop Dee Doo Revue playing piano for Princess Tea Party at the Grand Floridian. If you plan on going to either show, drop me a message to see if I am working that day! And have a great summer y'all! (What..too early?)

I have several friends who just moved to Tokyo to work for Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySeas. Yesterday, they decided to fly all of the performers home to their respective countries. According to him, " OLC (the company that actually owns the parks here) is paying for the flight. They are sending us home, and giving us the option to come back if we wish. Best possible outcome. #Disney #Japan #Quake" If you wish to follow him or find out 1st hand info from someone who actually works for TDL, find him on Twitter @JarrodLentz He also posted a whole bunch of videos and did interviews with tons of TV stations around the world. Very interesting first hand account of this disaster.

Have you ridden Gwazi with the new trains? Seems kind of unfair to pass judgement on the coaster if you have not ridden it yet. I did and it is worlds better than before. And the track was rehabbed over the last few years.

Getting into WWoHP for a preview about a month before the madness began...and tasting my first Butterbeer! My first Butterbeer Notice the empty streets? Ahh.....previews!

I rode it many times from 1992-97. I worked full time at the park from 94-97 so I rode it both in the original and altered forms. I never found it too rough, but I did find it disorienting. And in 1995, I had to ride it for about an hour for a commercial. NOT fun! (see pic below!) 4th row, right side, yellow tank top.

Found some old pics from 1991 of Drachen Fire under construction. enjoy! The site around November 1991 Another shot of the construction site me on site! In the employee parking lot

Awesome report! This is why I love TPR...so I can live vicariously through your adventures and share some of my own! Now....I need to go on a cruise STAT! Oh, and when you see CHICAGO, my friend Victor is the lead. I think he's still on the ship!

Before they completely leveled the area where Maverick was built, there was remaining cement troughs from the original Shoot the Rapids which were visible during the first part of White Water Landing at Cedar Point. The rumor I heard was that the cement was so thick, it would be impossible to get rid of it, so they just built around it. Of course, they did manage to clear it all out for Maverick. Sorry no pics!

Well, when I rode it yesterday, they still did the seatbelt check row by row, and then checked the lap bars on their second pass. Why they can't do both at the same time like every other park on the planet is beyond me. I went back later to ride it, and the dispatch times were really slow. Here's hoping it was just opening day jitters!

Just got back from Media Day for Gwazi's new trains. In a word: awesome! The coaster is much improved both in smoothness and re-rideability. (Is that a word?) Adam and I got to ride front and back seat on Tiger (Blue) and back seat on Lion (yellow). We agreed that Tiger was a bit smoother than Lion, but they were both great. No more jack hammering around turns or lower back compression on the drops. And the trains themselves are truly beautiful with the dark wood running boards and the open sides. All in all a major win for BGT! We also managed to take a lot of pics of Cheetah Hunt (or as I like to call it TCFKAC....The Coaster Formerly Known as Cheetaka) and got some interesting shots. Also, we counted about 4 open construction gates which enabled us to get pics of.....big piles of dirt! And track too! Enjoy the pics and video. Not much coaster footage as they don't allow on ride cameras and Gwazi is pretty much hidden from the main paths at BGT. [coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=Gwazi_Media_Day_kp6q[/coastertube] Bob Dean from GCI and Mark Rose from BGT Both trains in the station using the 360 View app on my iPhone The whole layout again using the iPhone app Keep scrolling.... MORE PHOTOS!

This just in: Cedar Fair opts for new Chairman of the Board http://www.sanduskyregister.com/news/2011/jan/11/cedar-fair-opts-new-ceo Discuss! ADMIN EDIT: I went ahead and quoted the story so people wouldn't have to make the jump to read it.

Hard Rock Park (though I visited it in its original form, I couldn't help but feel the owners were too arrogant for their own good and assumed people would just flock to the park with no advertising. Fools!) Geauga Lake closing. I grew up with this park, and it was sad to see Six Flags come in, basically rape it, and then Cedar Fair try to make a go of it, but eventually killing it. Sad. WDW closing Pleasure Island. This was just a mistake from the beginning. They closed it right at the beginning of a recession and when all of the businesses who were going to build pulled out, they were left with a bunch of empty buildings. And CityWalk is laughing all the way to the bank. Son of Beast. What a piece of crap! And I rode it opening season too. Astroworld. Never got to visit it.

My year in pictures! Magic Kingdom on my birthday. It's a yearly tradition for me! My first trip to VA in years! and a pre-trim i305 Finally got my Griffon credit! I still prefer Sheikra. and let the credit whoring begin! Python Pit in Williamsburg, VA. Back home to Ohio for my yearly CP visit. I worked there 1986-1990, so it will always be my home park! And one of the theaters in which I worked. Me and TTD The highlight of my year: the first of many visits to WWoHP And the first of MANY Butterbeers! Stitch and I under Spaceship Earth at Epcot Lotso and I at DHS HHN in Orlando with Jack Is it Christmas time already?? IAAPA in Orlando More IAAPA Cheetaka under construction More characters at Busch Gardens. This was taken during a FRIGID day (lows in the 20's!!) And feeding the kangaroos! See you at the parks in 2011!

My two cents: As someone who has actually purchased a roller coaster car (from the Idora Wildcat), I can almost guarantee that the Big Dipper trains are either a) In the station b) On site but in storage c) Off site but also in storage. When they auctioned the Wildcat coaster, the trains were a separate item. Why? Since they are custom made and one of a kind (more or less), they are worth far more than a ton of lumber. I highly doubt the trains were included in the sale of the Big Dipper. Also, on the day of the Idora auction, the trains were on display on the midway. Again, I doubt the Big Dipper trains are sitting on the midway, especially 2 years after the auction. If so, they are basically junk since they've had to endure 2 years of rain, snow, bird poop, etc. When I purchased my one train, it was loaded onto a HUGE flatbed that was pulled by another truck, secured with chains, and lifted on and off the flatbead with a crane. Even though it was only a 2 seater, it weighed a ton, literally!

Thankful for: ---Living in Orlando where I can ride a coaster 365 days a year ---Harry Potter Land and BUTERBEER ---Cedar Point where I got my start working in theme parks ---Walt Disney World where 24 years later I am still working for a theme park!

$2500 for the lifetime pass? This is assuming several things: 1) You will live at least for the next 25 years to get your money's worth 2) You will not move out of where you live for the next 25 years 3) The park will still be around in 25 years. That's a lot of ??? when dropping that kind of money. I wonder if Hard Rock Park offered the same kind of deal!

OK. last post! They just published a story all about me in the Orlando Weekly: http://www.orlandoweekly.com/columns/story.asp?id=14378 Live Active Cultures BY SETH KUBERSKY James Brown is gone, but if they ever crown the Hardest Working Musician In Orlando Show Business, John deHaas has to be in the running. Have you been to the Treasure Tavern dinner show near I-Drive? DeHaas is the music director there five nights a week. Seen Michael Wanzie’s production of [title of show] at the Parliament House? He’s the deadpan onstage keyboardist. Sung at Universal Citywalk’s Rising Star karaoke club? He probably backed up your baying playing the keys. If you’ve been to any attraction in town with a live accompanist, you’ve likely heard deHaas play. So it’s no shock that Orlando’s most prolific freelance pianist has taken on yet another gig. This time, though, deHaas isn’t a hired gun. Instead, he’s calling the shots as the producer/writer/composer of Halloween: The Musical, a parody of John Carpenter’s 1978 screamer that’s carving out a two-night run at the Shakes this Friday and Sunday. DeHaas’ show started with a rejection from the Orlando International Fringe Festival producer Beth Marshall. In 2007, with the All Hallows Fringe fundraiser approaching, John was inspired to pen a 10-minute mini-musical retelling of Halloween, a film that fascinated him with its terrors and plot holes as a kid. Marshall told deHaas that submissions had to be original works, not adapted. So deHaas put the idea in a mental drawer until he mentioned it during a conversation with Wanzie, who offered an October 2009 slot at the Parliament House’s Footlights Theater. Despite the fact that he hadn’t written the show yet, deHaas agreed. He used downtime during rehearsals for a cruise-ship gig to adapt his original screenplay, deHaas says, and compose a score for piano and cello (his first time writing for that instrument, with the aid of cellist Paul Leiner). With director Douglas White of D-Squared Productions, deHaas staged six performances at the P-House. That initial production was exceptionally minimal, he says, and starred David Houde as the drag dopplegänger of Jamie Lee Curtis. (Heather Delmotte, an actual woman, plays Laurie Strode in the new production.) The next step was the 2010 Orlando Fringe Festival, for which deHaas applied and received a United Arts grant. Unfortunately, the Fringe lottery landed him at number nine on the wait-list for the May event, and by March he decided to bow out and begin searching for another venue. DeHaas soon discovered that there aren’t many affordable independent venues in town. “Some wanted a ton of money ... some wanted to wait and see if their other clients [would book],” he says. Salvation arrived via Jamie Mykins, the Lowndes Shakespeare Center’s operations manager, who discovered a two-day opening in the Margeson Theater’s calendar. DeHaas is enthused about the opportunity to work in the space, which he calls his ideal venue for the play. Audiences wanting a foul-mouthed gore-fest should go elsewhere; like the original film, this show is restrained by modern horror standards. “I don’t think there are any bad words, [and] the goriest we get is [a victim] pulling out a red scarf when she gets stabbed,” deHaas says. Halloween groupies should get a kick out of seeing John Graham, who played Bob Simms in the original film, returning as the psycho psychiatrist Dr. Loomis, the musical’s narrator. Graham’s role has been revised to be less self-referential, but still gives the musical’s Bobby incessant acting advice, an inside joke that should tickle true fans. Even if you don’t know the original flick, you can appreciate the range of musical styles on display in the score. Songs range from the Meatloaf “Bat Out of Hell”-inspired opening and a Music Man “Put on Your Sunday Best” spoof, to girl-group and Motown homages. And, as deHaas learned during his time with the Mama Mia national tour, “Every good musical ends with a mega-mix.” So even though the characters all die, he says they “somehow end up singing” an encore medley. Maybe the biggest mystery is how deHaas gets away with this unauthorized adaptation. He’s reached out to Carpenter, Halloween’s original director, and received a tacit nod of approval, but rights were sold to notoriously prickly producers, the Weinstein brothers, years ago. So far, deHaas is following a friend’s advice: “The best thing to do is do the show and wait until you get sued.” That hasn’t happened yet, but if you’re looking for deHaas and can’t find him at any of his many gigs, go check the nearest intellectual-property prison. skubersky@orlandoweekly.com

I've already attended HHN twice here in Orlando, but my biggest Halloween event is my show Halloween: The Musical! I already posted this in the Random thread, but since this is an event, I hope it's ok to mention here. I even got a write up on a horror blog: http://www.gorestruly.com/2010/10/19/halloween-the-musical/ So if you're in Orlando this weekend, check out my show and say hello!! (The show runs Fri and Sun Oct 22 and 24 at 8pm at the Shakespeare Center. More details at http://www.wanzie.com/boxoffice/#halloween ) I also did the Zellwood Corn Maze in Zellwood, FL. Very cool 6 acre maze mostly geared towards kids. But once you get in the big maze, it can take you up to 2 hours to get out!!

Of course, I may be partial since I wrote this! http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_stage_theat/2010/10/stage-frights-halloween-the-musical.html Stage frights: ‘Halloween: The Musical’ Orlando theater — posted by matt palm on October, 14 2010 6:32 AM ‘Halloween: The Musical’ The breakdown: The story is from John Carpenter’s film classic — Michael Myers escapes from a mental institution and returns to his hometown on a murderous rampage — but it’s a musical spoof. The basics: 8 p.m. Oct. 22 and 24. Lowndes Shakespeare Center, 812 E. Rollins St., Orlando. $15; go to wanzie.com. The burning question: Why would someone turn this scary film into a comic musical? “I used to watch the movie “Halloween” on VHS growing up, but I was always afraid to watch it at night,” says creator John B. deHaas. “After my 20th or so viewing, I began to find the humor in the absurdity of the situations. And I also like to take very insignificant details and turn them into full-blown musical numbers.”

Steve Baker This is the personal home page of steven baker. The Real Steven Baker. There are many fake Steven Bakers out there. Some of them may even be software engineers in the san francisco bay area, working at a search-related company. Don't be confused. Don't trust them. They're frauds. They're not the Real Steven Baker. Even the Steve Baker who is a harmonica player in Germany. And the Steve Baker who plays Aussie Rules Football and wears the requisite tiny short shorts. And the Steve Baker who is a Chemical Engineering professor. Charlatans, all. There can be only one; I am he, and he is me. Who am I? First off, I am a construction worker. When not constructing things, I am a software engineer at a search company that starts with a G and ends in an E. My wife and I recently traveled 3 months around the world. Here is our blog. My wife tells me that this page has absolutely no content, so it's no wonder people aren't reading it. Well then, here's my bio. You can also follow Steve Baker on twitter. http://www.realstevenbaker.com/ Translation: if THIS guys builds the park, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz