pianojohn

Cleveland Indians. Born and raised there, and have watched many games at the old Municipal Stadium and the new Jacob's Field. GO TRIBE!!

I find her hilarious, esp last night's show when she was the victim of a "hate crime" since the country club would not let her play. Not because she is Jewish, but because she is not a member. Of course, she turned the whole thing around and ended up walking around the city in black face. Truly offensive yet very funny.

I am all for new restaurants, but the food cannot suck! In my opinion, other than Latin Quarter (I have not had the $$$ to do Emeril's yet), all of the other eateries at CityWalk are mediocre at best. Save your money and go across the street to the Orlando Ale House. Good food, much better value. Hmmm...this is pretty off track, so how about a coaster themed restaurant? Use old coaster cars for seating....

And it just out and out sucks. Until they finally admit they need new trains and serious maintenance, I will be content to ride Sheikra over and over. This is sad since Thunderhead is an amazing ride, and Gwazi has the potential to be fun again. And the damn seat belts don't help with the ultra slow loading either.

While I am not a pin collector per se, my partner picked up a few framed ones when he worked at Tokyo DisneySeas. Check 'em out! I LOVED this show: The Porto Paradiso Water Carnival. Amazing park....wish they could afford to build one in the states! New Year's Day 2004

I collected park maps (the big souvenir ones they used to sell) and have quite a few rare ones, including opening year for EPCOT. I also have Cedar Point from 1977-present. Below are a few of my favorites. And the holy grail: my collection of name tags from 1986-present. Includes some cruise ships too! A Drachen Fire keychain The Wild Izzy pins from BGW 1996 The complete set of souvenir pins from Busch Gardens VA 1996 celebrating the Olympics. Another Ebay find And the back side of the booklet A Cedar Point ticket booklet. OK, I actually got this on Ebay, but it is still pretty cool!

I went to HOS last night as well. Some of the houses were very cool. Even though it was the least frightening one, the 3-D one had the best effects. I was disappointed in Catch Your Breath. I think we may have hit it during a changeover since there were NO actors in any of the first few scenes. Trapped in the Walls was well done, esp the headless man effect. I THINK it was in this house, but I don't remember since I hit all 6 houses in about an hour. It was that dead!! I actually thought some of the scare zones were better than some of the houses! Eternal Midnight has some cool effects, as did Wicked Woods and Zombie Junction. I also saw all three shows. Fiends is just plain fun, not too dirty, and great dancing and high energy. Freak Show was also cool, and the last effect is pretty disturbing. Sweet Dreams had a cool concept and some talented people in it, but it didn't seem to click with me. And after awhile, all of the sex jokes just got old. Great weather and virtually no one in the park made for a fun night. And I was able to get everything done and head home before 10pm!

I had been planning to go to Epcot on October 1, 2007 since it would be the 25th anniversary of opening day. Since that time, the powers that be decided to actually commemorate the event after guests complained that there was nothing special planned. I arrived at the park about 8:30am, and there was already a crowd forming. We were given a cool 25th anniversary button and the park guide. Once you opened the guide all the way, you discovered they reprinted the opening day guide inside. VERY cool! They were also playing all of the old theme music in the park from World of Motion, Horizons, Imagination, etc. I had heard about special 25th anniversary merchandise for sale, so I wanted to beat the crowd. I ended up getting into Mouse Gear about 9:50am and finding the limited edition shirts and Figment. (pics below of course!) My friend Tim and I then found the Epcot display next to the exit of Club Cool. It is a great collection of the original drawings and models for Epcot and lots of cool souvenirs on display as well. I asked a cast member how long it would stay open, and they told me that they hope to keep it open indefinitely. A must see for anyone into anything Disney! We then made it to the main fountains at 10am for the re-dedication ceremony. Quite a large crowd had gathered, and the ceremony was pretty brief. They had reps from all of the Future World pavilions as well as World Showcase. Then the reps from the different countries brought water from their countries to pour into the fountain, just as they had done back in 1982. Fireworks, glitter, streamers erupted and the crowd dispersed. We then made it to the Circle of Life theatre for a special presentation by Marty Sklar, executive VP of Disney Imagineering. It was a fascinating 1 hour talk with pictures and video from the early days of Epcot with lots of great info. We were not allowed to take any pictures or video inside, but it was well worth the wait. Tonight they are doing a special finale to Illuminations, but I will be playing piano at Comedy Warehouse. Enjoy the pics! And me and Figment! Thanks for reading! Where am I again? The original logo The ceremony The crowd for the re-dedication ceremony Opening day uniform Remember this guy from Horizons? More cool retro stuff Opening day VIP program Merchandise from the early years A cool model of Figment An overview of the room The museum display entrance And inside a replica of the opening day guide The guide for the day with original logo And the back with the 25th logo The front of the limited edition t-shirt (which sold out in about an hour) Me and my Figment Me and my button The cool 25th logo One of the many different home made t-shirts Ah, the unfettered Spaceship Earth!

I feel your pain about Superman: ROS being closed. The one at Darien Lake (not nearly as good) was closed for me this season, and the one at SF America was closed the first time I visited that park in 2005. It sucks to be me.....anyone??

Great photo TR! I can sympathize with the flight drama. When I went to Tokyo a few years ago, I got bumped from my flight 3 days in a row (I was on a buddy pass) and I ended up buying a one way ticket from Tokyo to Orlando,FL for $2000!

As someone who grew up going to both Geauga Lake and Cedar Point, this is still sad news. The two parks were never and would never be on the same level. Once Six Flags bought GL, it still could not compete with Cedar Point. They just grew too fast and too quickly. Whoever heard of putting 4 coasters into a park in one year?? Even Cedar Point would not do that, although they did open two coasters in 1979 (Jr. Gemini and a newer version of the Wildcat) Still, I hope that some of the history and tradition from the park can be preserved, especially the Big Dipper and Carousel. And the water park is a good financial decision, even if it does not sit well with coaster enthusiasts. Water Parks are cheaper to run and maintain, and if the weather cooperates, they make money hand over fist. We used to go to Holiday Sands in Ohio, a really crappy pre-water park with no water slides, just some water obstacles and such. And the place was always packed! Good luck Geauga Lake. I will be rooting for you!

Sad indeed. I was at the Idora Park auction in the fall of 1984. It was so sad to see it all go, and no matter how nice the day was, it still left a lump in your throat when you realize the park will never come back. I did end up getting a car from the Wildcat which sat in my parent's garage for about 5 years until I sold it. Neat to sit in, but I would have preferred to have it running the rails. Williams Grove, while not a great park, was still fun and quirky. I remember riding the Cyclone and thinking to myself that it would fall over any minute! But that was half the fun!

Now I wish I would have made it up to Holiday World this summer! Oh well, it looks like they are taking care of the Voyage and their other coasters, so I will have to make an effort next year! Nice pics!

Just rode it yesterday. WOW! It looks great, all of the new effects are really cool, and seeing as the line was a 30 minute wait when I got there, I think the general public loves it too. My only complaint would be the lack of merchandise at the exit. There is a cart there selling....Nightmare Before Christmas stuff. Cool, but they could have really added some new Haunted Mansion merch to tie in to the renovation. The audio in the stretching room is great....you really get the 360 degree effect no matter where you stand. And the addition of the creaking helps to create the illusion of the room really stretching. This will be a definite ride every time I got to the Magic Kingdom. Great work!! I love the fall....now if only the temperatures would become more fall-like in Orlando! And the park is all decked out for Halloween....1 1/2 months early! Of course, the 1st Mickey's Not So Scary is Friday Sept. 14th. Opening Day!

Have a great time! And I hope that Fuji Q's lines move faster for you than they did for me!

Missed GEO Panic at Tokyo Dome and the flying hamster coaster at Fuji Q (Fuwa Fuwa Osora No Dai-Bouken ). The first one just forgot about it, and the 2nd one the line was way too long.

WOW! Since Apollo's Chariot is my fav B&M hyper, this looks to top it in my book. The cars.....eh....will have to see them in person to pass judgement. I guess I need to plan another trip to CW next summer. AT least I got all of my other credits, so I can concentrate on just riding and re-riding this monster!

The reason can be summed up in one word: Money. If you ever get to visit the parks in Japan, you will weep when you return to the ones in the states.

Loverboy at Epcot last fall....sounded great, looked OLD. Scandal and Rick Springfield at Universal Studios Florida. Donna Summer during Mardi Gras at Universal Studios Florida. She sounded great, and it was a good warm up to Gay Days! Fun crowd!

Yeah, that's pretty much how I felt after watching it. My friend hosts it, and the bug stuff is definately real.

Chaos at Opryland with the 3D glasses and projections of the clock on the floor and ceiling. Strange....but I still miss it and the park.

Not a coaster view per se, but the walk from MGM to EPCOT is very nice. Lots of trees and waterways, and you can see Tower or Terror as well as the countries of Epcot as you approach the park.

Born and raised in Cleveland yet I did not get to the park until this past July! Cute little park and I didn't feel too pathetic riding the coaster. Anything for a credit!!

Great TR! Awesome pics again. What kind of camera did you use?

Current car: a 2000 Toyota ECHO with 165,000 miles on it. Don't laugh: it's paid off and gets 35mpg usually. I still miss my favorite car: my Nissan 240 SX SE Convertable. Ah....it was fun to drive, but surprisingly, I did not drive with the top down in Florida in the summer (too damn hot!)