DerekRx

Don't worry, we won't say anything! Nothing better than grabbing a nice cold beer after mowing the grass. Time to enjoy my last Hop Wallop of the case, what a better way to drink it than in the new Hop Wallop glass I picked up last weekend down at Victory. This one's for you, Mrs Phishy. Happy B-day! I could turn this guy in for a re-ward, but I think I'll drink instead Tis a good beer, I reckon

If James doesn't like the ride, it must be really good! I only rode the Cyclone one day, like back in 1999. It was enjoyable, but extremely rough and I didn't really care for the trains, nor the padding. I will say that the airtime in the backseat was ejector though. Still, I think I enjoyed Viper at SFGAm, Georgia Cyclone, and even Texas Cyclone better than the original (probably because of the trains). I'll find myself back in NYC sometime in August, so maybe I'll go back down to Astroland and ride Cyclone again a few times.

I'll also vote for the Universal/Busch trip to Florida. Just keep in mind, its now hurricane season, so that may put a glitch in your plans unless you can wait until November or so. Keep in mind, I believe there is still the SeaWorld/Busch shuttle between the two parks, so you could get away with not taking a bus if your friend can't drive either. Save Cedar Point for when/if you get your license back, its not too terrible a drive from the Richmond area, especially if you stop at other parks along the way, like Kennywood and Geauga Lake.

Australia is known for their beer? I learned something new today.

Nice(?) tour dude. I also recommend not telling people you're a brewer until after the tour ends. Kinda like how when the nurses at work have to teach a patient about their treatment, and then finding out at the end that the patient used to be an oncology nurse. If they find out before, they get all nervous and don't want to screw up.

At Knoebels its called the Looper. Fairly similar to the picture show, it is currently next to the area where the Flying Turns is being constructed, near the Flyers and Cosmotron.

^Yup, thats a side effect from my transforming powers. Kind of annoying, especially when a random bird tries to make a nest there, but they usually come off while on Intamin Rocket coasters.

Oooh, I hadn't even thought about them moving the LeMans to the old Drachen Fire site. Not sure how "quiet" those cars would be for the Kingsmill residents though, but it sound like it could be a pretty good way to keep an old favorite AND add a new coaster at the same time!

OK, that double killed my taste buds, so much for tasting anything but bitter the rest of the night. That said, we'll continue with more IPAs that I've had before! As you'll notice, all the taste buds on my tongue are screaming "HOPPY" Hops Infusion by Weyerbacher, which Wally really needs to check out

Nicole! Keep my GAP persona apart from my TPR credibility! People here don't need to know that stuff, unless they were on the trip and Robb got pictures of it!

Um, then why are you dating me? ... Crap

Nice! Thanks for the photo update, ChloroFloro. If I get down to HOS this year, I'll be happy to see the LeMans in some aspect. Glad I rode them last year when I was there in October, I hadn't ridden them since I was like 8, and it brought back some good childhood memories. But I'll happily trade them for a dive machine. Bring on Le Hawk!

^Hey, no problem, I know how the blending goes (or at least I used to). Now I know when its not Monday-Friday because I'm actually free. I just didn't want other readers who haven't been there to ride El Toro think "well maybe it won't be bad this weekend, forget waiting until September to go ride it, I'll go now" and then wait 2 hours for it, and then get line jumped 12 times. You're lucky you can ride it after work if you're on dayshift (and even luckier if there is little wait) because its really a great coaster, probably one of the best ones out there for people who don't travel the country and the world to ride coasters. Keep hoping for the best from the park, and doing your part to make it so!

Someone sent me this article from the Los Angeles Times. I agree with the article, and honestly am a supporter of Shapiro if he can get the parks turned around. At least he sees the problems. The only thing I don't like about the article is interviewing Jeff "CP Rulz" Putz. Like the guy has even been to SFMM lately, alone outside of Ohio.

^Considering El Toro hasn't even been opened for a month yet, and has had 2 train operation for less than half of that, I'm going to have to say "Shinannigans" here. There's been 3 weekends that the coaster has been opened, and only the last 2 of which had 2 train operation. I know the first weekend was a total flop, as many Coaster Celebrationers have reported having to wait until 11:30pm before the line was cleared out from the GP. Others have reported going the weekend of July 1-2 and facing the same "sorry folks, rides closed right now" issues that I've faced on both Monday and Tuesday before the "lightning" hit the ride (which consequently, from my inferior knowledge as to lightning and wood would result in splintering and fire if the lightning in fact hit the wood) as well as friends who were there shortly after returning from the UK trip and having long waits the weekend before that. Another friend was there on a Friday early evening and waited 1:30 in the stand-by line and even waited 20 minutes WITH an exit pass because that's how slow operations were going with 2 trains. I was going to be nice and give you the benefit of the doubt since you work at the park and seem to be trying to make a difference there, but honestly, there are too many other people here who have already posted the exact same thing as me with regards to wait times, etc, for you to need to brown-nose the park and make up falsities. I don't think the park even reads ThemeParkReview, as no one here was invited to the media day. Kiss butt over at Gain sider, etc, but let's be realistic and fun over here. Shapiro himself has seen many problems at parks (though he won't say which ones). Just admit that the ride (and park) are going thru a bad time right now, but hopefully the future will be better and that we shouldn't give up all hope and abandon the park just yet.

^Not quite that far, closer to less than 2500 miles. Oh well, there's always next May, which I'm already setting aside vacation days for. By then the Curve Ball should be on draft and tasting good! Until then, I'll survive with local stuff and stuff I pick up on travels (stuff that people gift me) Oh, that's double hoppy and I can taste the alcohol. This may not be pretty later! Speaking of locals, lets see if the Double Simcoe by Weyerbacher will slay me again tonight!

"Pain"- 3 Days Grace

I miss Wally and the good times we've shared back in March, so since I recommended this to him there, I figured I'd enjoy my last one in his honor. This one's for you, dude. Sorry we aren't coming out this year for the Stone event Apricot Weizen, good and apricotty

Well, if you're saving Orlando for a trip next year with your better half, I'd say you may as well put off Ohio for another year or so as well. Chances are, you may be able to also include Kings Island in there with your season pass (or at least a discount hopefully!), and Cedar Point will be getting a new coaster next year. Head to Holiday World and Beech Bend for Voyage and Rumbler. Or perhaps you haven't been to the East Coast lately, maybe hit up like Six Flags Great Adventure for a full day and Dorney Park for a half day...thats a possible 21 coaster credits right there!

Well God better keep working, or Shapiro will send him back to the unemployment line like the rest of the slackers at his parks! I'm amazed at the latest article from the LA Times released today about Six Flags and Shapiro. I'm glad to see that he also witnessed unfriendly, slow-moving seasonal employees, poor maintenance and popular rides with a single train running at a time on his last tour of the parks, this time in the busy season. At least he sees the problem for himself and its not just heresay. Maybe there is some hope for the future.

Finally I have a weekend where I'm not jetsetting to drink beer and ride coasters, so I have more time to sit at home and drink beer. As promised, I'm starting off tonight with North Coast's Pranqster, a really nice Belgian style golden ale. mmmm, tasty and not like hot dog water. Served in a Church BrewWorks glass to prepare for the trip there next week

I won't be doing it this year (can't justify flying out there twice in 2 weeks, plus I can't imagine the jetlag back to back). I'll definitely keep an eye out for next year's event, and will definitely plan a trip out there then.

"Blvd of Broken Dreams"- Green Day

I love tacos!

Does Gain sider have exclusive camera phone video of the rides getting struck by lightning, because that would be awesome! Of course the locals are the ones who catch the park on its occasional good days, its called Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of a regular week after 5pm when most of the buses start leaving. If a local drives to the park and its crowded, they'll just continue driving until they get to Seaside or something, at least that's what my local friends do. Thing is, I used to consider myself a local living 1.5 hours away. There'd be days when I'd just drive down for the day and have a really good day, but those days started really going downhill around the time of SUF. Now I gotta really fight to stay there for even half a day because I don't feel like I should need to shell out loads of cash for a Q-bot, nor should I be waiting in long lines for rides that even with full queues used to only take 45 minutes to go thru because they were running 3 trains and had excellent crews. I wish SF the best of luck in their attempts at making the park fun again, maybe next year will be different. At least the park has some ride ops and supes that actually seem to take pride in their park and are trying to make it better.