DerekRx

^Smart move saving the big thing for later. Funny though how you paid as much for your big bottle as Heath did for like 2.5 times as much, and doesn't have to drink it all at once. After a beer on Friday I was feeling somewhat back to normal and was ready to try my luck at the original weekend plan. And so, Friday night sent me to York to the fine home of the Rhoads. Where Heath chose another Terrapin, the Imperial American Pilsner It was very hoppy and strong in alcohol. yum! Finally time to try the Terrapin Rye Squared. Check out those floating unfiltered goodness particles! Would you like a beer? Of course!

I feel a bit better, so its time to feel A LOT better! I'll be well in no time mmmm, Pale Ale, for the pale sick people

Today was a no drinking day for me, as I had a stomach virus. I even missed taco night yesterday because of it! But that didn't stop other family members from drinking. and none for me :'( Turns out Nan drinks usually when I'm at work!

Poor Bells. I held off on a visit there hoping to wait for the new coaster as well. Hopefully they can work things out, or say F you to the state fair and move elsewhere. That'd show em!

The park doesn't necessarily need a hypercoaster, that was just the first thing that came to my mind. The park DOES need stuff that is unique and something no other park in Florida has that they can market the crap out of. When SeaWorld took the steps into becoming an "Adventure Park" they did so by first getting a watercoaster, something no other park in Florida has. Next up, a floorless coaster. "Florida's ONLY" seems to work really well for marketing down in that area and SeaWorld seems to attract a lot more visitors than before. I could totally envision a Eurofighter, Booster Bike, Motocoaster, or even a Volare being good for marketing there. "Florida's only flying coaster" would sure attract some attention on billboards up on I-4, even if the coaster would be brutally painful. The park just needs unique stuff to that area, like a Maurer Sohne spinning coaster instead of the crazy mouse also found at Disney. Or instead of grabbing a Roller Skater found at both Disney and Universal, why not go for a Zierer Tivoli? When parks are competing for business with other parks in the same region, you don't go out and get the same exact thing another park has, especially at the same time. You don't see Dorney going out and buying a Batman clone to compete with the Batman that Great Adventure put in the year before. When Hershey put in their inverted, it was a completely original layout. That same year to compete with Hershey, Great Adventure went with an indoor coaster, something that neither of the parks nearby had yet. And to compete with them both, Dorney got a hypercoaster, which none of them had yet. When Disney announced Everest, Busch didn't rush out to get a mine train with a backwards section, they decided to go for something Florida didn't have yet, a dive machine. If Cypress really wants to draw in people and have them keep coming back, they need to be original in their rides. Starliner will be a good backbone coaster, as a wooden out and back is something the other Florida parks doesn't have. But its not going to draw in the big crowds, it didn't up in Panama City. At least, it won't draw them in if it runs in the same condition as it did in Panama City. Now if they tweak its profile so its a bit more peppy like Phoenix, maybe they'll attract some attention eventually. But its not going to be an immediate thing, its going to take a while.

^^Wow, that ain't the Maharaja I'm desiring, thats for sure. Avery makes an Imperial IPA and calls it Maharaja. No beer for me last night (or probably tonight either). Stupid stomach virus. Why couldn't it be something that won't waste my beer!

Wait, lets try that again.... Its STILL funny!! When has a park realistically EVER accepted any old season pass from any old competing park? Sure, it would be a good way to get people into the park if the park is amazing and wows everyone into coming back again and again, but its not going to happen. Sure the gardens are nice for the nature people, but they don't normally buy season passes to amusement parks for the flowers alone. Ride wise, the park has nothing outstanding, and very few things other than kiddie rides. The best ride in the park is the spinny raft ride! If nothing else, the pass deal sounds like they're screaming "look at us, please please please come visit. We'll LET you in for free! We're just desperate for attendance of any sort!" (then they can claim next year that the attendance has gone up even more this year)

How did Cypress survive for 70 years? Well, it didn't! In case you missed it, people weren't going there anymore after about 60 years and the park eventually died. You can blame it on the terrorist attacks, global warming, AIDs, overpopulation of sea monkeys, whatever! The point is, waaaay back in the 1970s and even the 1980s there was only Disney, consisting of 1 or 2 parks, and all the other local stuff. The more Disney (and later Universal) added, the less time people had to venture to the local places during their week long vacations. Cypress survived for so long because of the old people who just wanted the peace and quiet of the gardens away from all the touristy stuff and the tourists who came once or twice to see the nature. But with more time at Disney, they stopped coming. Passholders kept it barely alive in the 1990s and its not too expensive to maintain local gardens and model railroads. Now we've got the gardens for the old people, but they now gotta put up with the whiny kids, rides nearby, and the more theme park like atmosphere (including paying to park). Many retirees down there stopped supporting the park when they refused to honor the old passes from closing year. Being 35 miles out in the middle of West Jabip isn't going to draw the tourists from the Orlando area too much. If they want a few kiddie rides, there's also Magical Midway, Fun Spot, and Old Town much closer to provide them with a cheap fix. Waterpark-wise, there's plenty down in Orlando, so that's not going to draw people in either. What the park needs is a stand out attraction to make people notice. A 200 foot tall hypercoaster would draw people in, as there isn't one of them in Florida. Then add a different sort of spinning coaster, a simple launched shuttle loop or something, and you'd have a collection of coasters unique in Florida. Getting a roller skater and an unthemed spinning mouse much like Disney has isn't doing themselves any good. After all that, presto, the place has some thrills for the teenagers, lots of rides for the little kids, gardens for grandma and grandpa, and mom and dad can take in a concert on a Saturday, as they're big Creedence fans! I don't want to see the park fail, but getting the stuff they are isn't going to be the big draw-in they need. Face it, all these rides cost money to maintain, a heck of a lot more money than a bunch of native plants does on their own, and that only lasted them so long.

and to think, had I saved my trip to Cypress for this month or next, I could have totally gotten into the park for free... Its cool that they continue to add stuff for the kids, but isn't going to make much of an impact with big ole Disney down the street (and by street I mean many miles away). If the park wants to survive in themeparkville, they need to attract people with more than kiddie rides and native gardens. Someone please send Kent an Intamin catalog, getting something no one else in Florida has is one of the best ways to draw the peeps in. An old mediocre woodie that didn't attract anyone where it was before certainly isn't going to save this place. I still think the main reason they can afford this new stuff is from the parking fee that Joe had to pay!

Coolness. Its good to see Universal going for a show to add to its Citywalk in an attempt at competing with Disney and Pleasure Island. I've never really been interested in seeing La Noube, but I may want to see BMG at some point. Glad to see TPR was there representin'.

^Rumors are just that, rumors. Sure, a rumor may end up being true, but looking back at rumors posted on Screamscape and other websites in the last couple of years, how many of them actually have happened? People in the know don't talk, thats why they're trusted with future information. I know some people who knew exactly what Maverick was going to be months before it was announced. If you keep shooting blindly into the air, eventually you're gonna hit something

I only got a 50%, I need to pay more attention, or I'll never get my beer flume!

I wasn't that impressed with the "fall" finale. No "oh s**t!" moments or anything to end it. And you'd think that if you were having your "enemy" operating on you, you'd have some sort of collateral, like "if I die, so do your friends" or something like that. Surely someone as diabolical as Ben would have figured that out I won't be watching this Groundhog Day/Deja Vu show just to see teasers, as I'm sure they'll also be on abc.com or some Lost forums. At least now my Wednesday evening tv schedule has cleared up until February

Tonight it was time for my final Flying Dog beer to try, the Road Dog Scotish Porter. It wasn't really like other porters, smelled of hops in the bottle, with a licorice like taste which turned into a more red ale at the end. Ah, now thats the taste! Next, my old buddy Pretty tasty, sorta chocolate, sorta licorice Road Dog, love the sayings on the label

I'm sure it could happen, but I really don't buy it. The people stating these rumors on Screamscape are probably the same ones who insisted that Mantis was going to get floorless trains instead of standup ones way back in 2000-01. Its something that could be done to this ride, but it would cost a pretty penny to change the station (and the drop, and the other clearances) and the GP wouldn't know the difference anyway between the two, seeing how you really don't even touch the floor unless you're over 6 feet tall (especially in the back).

Tonight I tried something my grandmother keeps buying (and drinking!) While it wasn't the greatest beer I ever had, it wasn't too shabby for something an old lady picked out It wasn't as mellow as I thought it would be. Actually had a bit of flavor and hops to it Lionshead, a pilsner from Lion Brewing in Wilkes-Barre

Hmmm, maybe Cypress's announcement is that they sold the Starliner's rotting corpse, and SFOTs announcement is that they bought it! I hope its something good though, Texas has been going thru a major coaster drought for the last couple of years!

Sweet stuff dude, loved every moment of it except.... Miller?! Bleh! Totally random stuff, perfect for this site! Loved the cameo from SB too!

Definites for me next year: April: WOF May: PGA, SCBB, BonGard; Holiwood Nights, SFKK; CP, GL June: July: Kennywood, Del Grossos; Valleyfair, MoA, WisDells Aug: Dollywood Sept: BGE, PKD; Halloween Horror Nights Oct: PPP; KBF, DLR Others I'm hoping to do as long as work allows it: TPR Japan Trip, Carowinds, Ghosttown in the Sky (if Red Devil opens), LaRonde, Great Escape, and maybe another trip to Orlando. And thats in addition to all the local stuff, Hershey, SFGAd, Dorney, and Knoebels that I don't include because they just happen anyway.

^Poor Dave, first his mp3 player, now his digital camera. I know somebody who will be getting a Best Buy gift card for the holiday season Or would you prefer a Home Depot card so you can start investing in axes?

^I would say you peaked at Thorpe. All poundings after that have been dismal at best.

If I hadn't already retired for the season, I'd think about it. Of course I live nowhere near Disneyland, and if I did go out there, I'd hit up some Pizza Port and such and that would get top priority. But I also have no vacation days so....I'm out. Oh, and don't you ever have school!?

Tonight I went back to the Flying Dog variety pack that Adam had given me for my birthday. Only a few left in the pack to try. Tonight will be the Golden Ale (which I thought would be a Belgian Golden Ale, but I guess if it was that, it would have said "Belgian" on it) It hardly tastes like beer at all! I think I could drink this at work and no one would ever know I was drinking a beer! Tire Bite, the Golden Ale (served up in my VIP glass)

I take it all the DC Comics and Warner theming will go away too then, eventually leaving us with Movie Park Spain. So much for the cool Arkham theming of Batman and stuff.

^^Wow, Hoegaarden served in a Guiness glass. Maybe if someone didn't steal all the Hoegaarden glasses already there would still be some there