tntornadox

I'm just glad they still called it the Sears Tower in the illustration. Who calls it Willis Tower? Who was stupid enough to change the name on a building that iconic and expect it to stick?

Eh, not necessarily. But I do believe we arent being told everything. From an engineering standpoint, you design a building to withstand a plane crash. There is no way one plane can take down a 110 story building. Simple, burning fuel with unlimited materials (furniture, paper) gets very hot and melts the truss floor structure the WTC had and the floors begin to pancake onto one another, eventually gaining enough momentum to bring the entire tower down vertically. The World Trade Center had an open floor plan with NO vertical columns inside, all weight was shifted to the central core and exterior. The floors were simple truss in design, which enabled the towers to be built very fast, but as any firefighter will tell you, a truss structure goes pretty quickly in an intense fire. The WTC's fire suppression system was in the central core which was severed by the airplane's impact. So, without anything to cool the fires, they got hot enough. The Government has evidence, whether they want to or should release it is another matter.

Gotta love those Wall Street speculators pushing oil prices through the roof... this is probably the first 'gas crisis' where there was NO shortage of oil... as a matter of fact, there is a surplus on the market right now. >.>

Then again, some companies could care less what your degree is in, some could care less if you have one at all while others are picky indeed. I concur, it is best to make contacts at your park of choice (or choices). Dollywood doesn't even require a High School diploma to be a Team Leader and only requires one to be an Attractions Supervisor. So, it varies by park and company greatly.

I introduce an alternate history version of events at the new Opryland USA. Let us go back to when the park was under management contract with Six Flags, but still owned by Gaylord Entertainment. The park will take a different path in development, indeed. Track pieces are laid out in the Transportation Plaza, what could they be for? The Coming Soon board shows the major festivals due to take place this season at Opryland, this will change to introduce new shows, attractions and festivals. Entrance plaza - I changed the path pattern to brick and added a large Guest Relations building to the bottom next to the Tram stop. Guest Relations building. Inside Guest Relations - here guests may purchase tickets or accommodations at any of the Gaylord properties in Nashville. Train station by day. Train station by night. More to come.

I loved the hourly test rides when I worked at Dollywood on the Tennessee Tornado... would have the entire train to myself, wherever I wanted to sit... LOL!

Flights booked through the cruise line are always more expensive than if bought standalone, the cruise lines get kickbacks by the airlines.

From what I understand, it has improved leaps and bounds since the Herschends bought it. I think they have been putting alot of effort into their water park since they bought the park, which may show why they've won this award. I am sure HFEC is continually improving the park experience there year over year. P.S. As a Dollywood fanboy, I am a bit jealous Wild Adventure hosts HFEC's only Halloween event. Dollywood could host an awesome one, given the chance...

That's a bunch of bull that was completely and utterly blown out of proportion... being gay and having worked at Target for several years myself, I can honestly say there are not many companies of their size who do AS MUCH for the larger community as a whole than Target. They offer full Partner benefits, including insurance and discounts... It's a very gay friendly company that did not deserve the flak they received for it. Could they have done more research on it? Definitely. But I don't think a donation to a PAC should erase 20 years of Target promoting the gay community, personally.

I always considered it a graduation present from Disney more than a money making event, if you look at it that way, then it's kinda sad, IMO.

Shorter cruises do tend to get that designation, some cruise lines are worse than others for it, however, Carnival namely. Your options from SoCal are pretty limited and will continue to get worse as more and more lines are pulling their ships from the west coast. Your only option for a short cruise that time of year appears to be the short cruises offered aboard Carnival Paradise from LA. Given that time of year, there should be an abundance of families aboard though, so that may lessen the 'booze cruise' effect. The only other lines are Princess and Holland America (which I hear is livelier on the Mexican Riviera route), unfortunately they only offer 7 night cruises. Basically, Carnival Corporation now owns the west coast of the United States... RCI and NCL have pulled out.

Alot more has actually occurred, but the interest level is very low, so I haven't been posting updates.

At least we have Dollywood...

For what? Thunderhead couldn't operate a third train unless they merely intend to use them for parts...

That is quite hilarious. I admit I do go with realism with my RCT3 projects, but this is a bit much. LOL! Had they read on, it becomes fictitious pretty quick... haha!

Welcome back to Tennessee Adventure & Wildwater Kingdom! Over this off-season, I would like to give everyone a glimpse of where the park currently stands! The park currently has four themed lands open to guests: - Opry Plaza - The Delta (which includes the New Orleans sub-section) - Do-Wah-Diddy City (A 50's themed area) - Grizzly River Country Wildwater Kingdom is nearing completion and is preparing for its 2011 opening! Also coming to Tennessee Adventure in 2011 is Snoopy's Starlight Spectacular which uses a combination of fireworks, lasers and waterjets to make for an amazing experience! Screens: Park logo. The Delta overview. Do-Wah-Diddy City overview. Grizzly River Country overview. Snoopy's Starlight Spectacular construction wall in Grizzly River Country, lakeside. Waterjets testing for Snoopy's Starlight Spectacular. Wildwater Kingdom's wavepool undergoing testing and final preparations. Overview of Wildwater Kingdom. View of Park's signature waterfall, as viewed from Snoopy's Starlight Spectacular viewing deck. As with most parks, Tennessee Adventure & Wildwater Kingdom transforms once night falls, included are a few night shots from around the park: Do-Wah-Diddy City. Wildwater Kingdom. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more updates!

Well, Princess IS the 'love boat'... Ruby Princess is their newest ship and her Eastern itinerary is awesome... with a stop at Princess Cays, their private island.

Exactly, everyone's tastes are different... some lines are more like shopping malls at sea while others are like Las Vegas at sea while others are just a nice relaxing floating hotel. Thankfully, just like theme parks, there is a cruise line out there for everyone!

A couple of quick Halloween Haunt preparation screens from around the park: The Park Information Boards in the Entry Plaza have been updated. Grizzly River Rampage will play host to a maze, the safety signs have been changed to reflect this. The maze queue branches off the regular Rampage queue, crosses the Railroad tracks and continues on to the backwoods of the area. In all, Tennessee Adventure will host 5 different scare attractions throughout the park, a Halloween fireworks show and a child area.

Quick updates from Tennessee Adventure & Wildwater Kingdom: The park will be hosting its first ever Halloween Haunt event this month! The Halloween Haunt is a special event that runs on weekend evenings during the month of October from 6PM until Midnight for Haunt ticket, Gold and Platinum pass holders. Special mazes have been setup throughout the park including the drained trough of the Grizzly River Rampage rapids ride. The park transforms as night falls into what is being billed as the scariest destination in Nashville! Also premiering is a new Firework and special effects show just for the Haunt as well as a special children's area of the park named "Snoopy's Spooky Trail". Photos to come soon! Also, the park has cleaned up its logo a bit, adding a few very recognizable characters to market the park's family appeal as it prepares to make its announcement for next years' addition! Haunt Marketing New logo.

To me, that's the saddest part... having ridden and worked on Tennessee Tornado, I can say that I have never had headbanging issues on that ride. Then again, it's smooth and actually features banking, not hairpin turns. Arrow had finally figured it out, but it was too little too late.

And why is it none of the other HFEC parks can have a true Halloween event....?

But Diamondback is in the lower right corner of the picture! She's trying to edge her way into Eiffel Tower's picture!

Tennessee Adventure & Wildwater Kingdom celebrated its soft opening today with an estimated 20,000 patrons filing through its gates on the first day. The park is only operating currently with two areas open to guests, with a further two areas expected soon. Wildwater Kingdom will not open until Spring 2011. At opening the park features the current rides: - Screamin' Demon - B&M Flyer - Flume Zoom - Log Flume - Lakeside Carousel - Behemoth - B&M Hyper - Shake, Rattle & Roll - Vekoma Inverted Boomerang Park Entrance Plaza Important Soft-Opening Information sign. The only addition to Main Street after the Cedar Fair takeover is the addition of the Ride Warriors outlet. The next addition to open will be the Dominator roller coaster, located in the Delta area adjacent to the Lakeside Carousel. This B&M Floorless coaster is over 4500 feet long with 11 inversions and features 3 8-car floorless trains. Bear in mind, this attraction is not complete nor the area around it... Photos below: Dominator Plaza Dominator overview. Dominator station/queue at night. At opening, the park is kinda lopsided toward thrills. Bear in mind the next expansion areas will be Planet Snoopy and Grizzly River Country and the park features three indoor theaters at opening with live entertainment provided by Opryland Productions. Stay tuned for more updates from Tennessee Adventure & Wildwater Kingdom!

Gaylord sells majority stake of Opryland project NASHVILLE, TENN. Gaylord Entertainment (NYSE: GET) today announced that it has sold a majority interest of its Opryland USA project to Sandusky, Ohio based Cedar Fair Entertainment Company (NYSE: FUN). According to sources familiar with the situation, Gaylord Opryland experienced a cash flow problem resulting from the May floods which closed the complex to paying guests for six months resulting in the suspension of theme park construction and completion just as Phase I of the project was set to soft open to the public. Earlier reports were that Gaylord Entertainment had secured theme park operator Six Flags Entertainment (NYSE: SIX) to manage its new theme park while remaining majority owner, however this deal apparently fell through once Gaylord was forced to devote more resources to the Gaylord Opryland cleanup. The sale closed for an undisclosed sum of money. At today's press conference, Gaylord CEO Colin Reed stated: "The cleanup at Gaylord Opryland has taken more time and resources than originally thought, while it is unfortunate we must relinquish majority control of the new theme park, we know it is in good hands and promise to not be a silent partner as it goes forward." Cedar Fair CEO Richard Kinzel commented: "Nashville is such an undeserved market, as is the entire region with the closure of Kentucky Kingdom. Our experiences with our other parks in the South have shown us the strength of our brand is truly global and we are proud to open this new property to serve this great city and region." With the sale, the theme park will undergo several changes prior to Phase I of the project soft-opening in the coming weeks. While originally intended to be named Opryland USA, the park will now be named Tennessee Adventure & Wildwater Kingdom. Season passes and tickets already purchased will be honored for no charge, those affected should take their tickets and passes to Tennessee Adventure Guest Relations prior to entering the park on their first visit for an exchange. Included images: Changing of park information boards has already begun. Banners are being installed throughout the park, showcasing Cedar Fair marketing efforts. -Stay Tuned!