tntornadox

Here is a relatively new pic of my 2010 Mazda3... the color is very weird- but it has grown on me. It's copper red, during the day it LOOKS red but at night and during certain other times it looks maroon... I think that's awesome, personally!

Well, Norwegian Epic was handed over to Norwegian Cruise Line on Thursday and left St. Nazaire not long after- she cruised to Rotterdam where she boarded her first paying guests for a 1 night cruise to nowhere. The following link is to a discussion on Cruise Critic that is focusing on the latest photos of Epic... Personally, I am quite surprised at her interior- it's quite classy, actually... not very bright like the previous classes of ships for NCL. A few teaser shots: Honestly, she didn't turn out as bad as her original renderings would have suggested. LED Chandelier hangs over the 'Taste' Main Restaurant. Spa reception area. Manhattan Dining Room LeBistro, NCL's signature French restaurant http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1101970&page=15 Images begin on this page and continue for the next several, including images from a passenger who is currently aboard. Also, NCL is posting videos to their channel on a regular basis at www.youtube.com/NCLFreestyle including this one, which I figured the TPR crowd would enjoy:

Dude, I actually just got a 2010 Mazda3 myself and it is the same exact package and trim level as yours, except mine is a copper red in color! I absolutely LOVE the drive... I had forgotten how much 'fun' driving could be until I got my Mazda! As for the grill, it really grows on you... 'Happy Mazda' and zoom-zoom!

Longer Answer: (Sorry, I was typing this up before the previous post was posted) Gaylord Entertainment (GET) from the 80's onward shifted its focus to the Hotel business and left the park to coast on cruise control, after the installation of CHAOS in 1989, they didn't build anything until 1995 when they installed Hangman, but the damage had been done... the theme park business (especially in a tourist market like Nashville) is one of 'build or stagnate'... attendance plateaued and began to drop slightly, and they had used up what expansion space the park had in favor of expanding the Opryland Hotel to include the Delta atrium. Executives in the mid-90s decided the park was not performing to their expectations and would likely never return to it without major work and investment, so they decided to bulldoze it and build a year-round venue where money could always be made. At the beginning, GET owned a minority interest in Opry Mills, along with the Mills Corporation (later merged with Simon Malls) and it opened with quite a roster of stores, but the mall has slipped quite a bit in recent years with the loss of a few key anchors which were replaced by generic companies... so GET sold its shares in Opry Mills back to the Mills Corporation, now it's only tie to the mall is they lease the 'Opry' name to them. Ironically, the land where Opryland once stood where it didn't make enough money is now earning them absolutely nothing... The current management at Gaylord have came out and condemned the actions of the previous management team, the current CEO, Colin Reed, has said it's obvious to him the previous management team had absolutely no vision or plan for Opryland and it was a mistake it was closed in the first place. In recent years, rumors have been abound that Gaylord is seeking to rebuild an entertainment venue to help support Gaylord Opryland (the current name of the Opryland Hotel), perhaps even another theme park in the near future... we shall see... local residents are very NIMBY around Opryland, so we shall see...

I figured this was as good a place as any to post some chilling images from last weeks flooding in Nashville that claimed the entire Opryland complex. Water rose to almost ten feet in places at Gaylord Opryland, Opry Mills and the Grand Ole Opry House itself. The following images were taken by an Opryland employee who visited the Hotel the day after the flooding and posted them onto his Facebook, where he has given people his approval to re-post them since it's a public album. Escalator to nowhere. Delta Island living up to its name. The entire first floor of the Delta area was submerged, we found out later 117 guestrooms were affected. The Cascades Lobby was completely submerged. Gaylord released the following images this afternoon, showing the damage sustained: Cascades atrium One of those zero level guestrooms in the Delta. The Cascades Lobby. Convention Center lower level Gaylord officials say over 800,000 square feet of the 4,000,000 square foot Hotel were damaged, mostly the atrium spaces. Their concern is the underground tunnels and technical equipment as well as the power plant. They hope to re-open Gaylord Opryland before the year is out, with the Grand Ole Opry returning to its home a lot sooner than that... it's just sad that it took a huge flood to have water running in Grizzly River Rampage again.

Is it just me or does it hit that turn after the first set of brakes really hard?

I assume so, the consensus amongst most people who have saw the concept art is it is a very 'RCI-centric' ship... not that that's a bad thing, I love how well rounded she is.

It's a very nice design... rounded stern with a ducktail wake similar to that of Celebrity Solstice. The only thing that will bother Princess guests' is the lack of a formal promenade deck due to the lifeboat configuration... which also means these new ships will probably not have the "Duck beak" at the bow like her Grand-class sisters.

And here is some concept art someone snapped a picture of at Princess HQ in California:

I could definitely see an Intamin mega lite at Dollywood... hugging the terrain and such.

One of my all time favorites was "Amusement Parks: Behind the Fun" or something like that, it was a general overview of the theme park industry and covered BGW and Kennywood quite extensively. Although the show is now old, I have seen it re-air from time to time.

When it rains, it pours... just look at the rash of Disney Transportation incidents the past couple of years. Nothing major had happened with Carnival since the Ecstasy fire over a decade ago prior to this recent rash of incidents.

I am sure they would build anything you wanted to order, but you hit the nail on the head- no park wants one and hasn't for some time... anytime a 'new one' pops up, it's relocated from somewhere else. The only 'new' corkscrew I have seen is from some Chinese company using ripped off Arrow patents at some park in Mexico.

After viewing the photos, there was no way he could have saved himself given the destruction of Purple's cab... tragic.

It's a pity Paramount couldn't have operated real quality parks when they owned a chain themselves... oh wait, that would have meant Viacom would have had to spend MONEY, wouldn't it? My mistake...

All I saw were concepts for attractions already done... Snow Mountain and Adventure Mountain at Dollywood.

Maybe I have missed it, but the whole reason the trains have kept their whites and stripes is due to the System using the colors to identify the trains, correct? This is much more of an issue at WDW with 11.5 trains than it was at DLR with 3. So, unless they plan on painting a Coral or Teal colored Tron train, how is this gonna work?

Sadly, I don't think so. My first day should be around the 8th of April... (just so happens to be my birthday).

I will be returning to my post at the Tennessee Tornado at Dollywood after a one year hiatus... I last worked there in 2008 and will be returning this year, as long as everything works out in the next few weeks!

I have saw this site before, and it's sooooo inaccurate that it isn't funny. Disney did not build this facility- it was built by Premier Cruise Lines while they were the "Official Cruise Line of Walt Disney World" before DCL was even a thought to corporate management. Just because Premier was the official line of WDW doesn't mean Disney had anything to do with their private island.

Not trying to defend them in anyway for what happened to you, fore that is inexcusable. When did you cruise exactly? Norwegian Wind is an old ship by today's standards and has left NCL's fleet... their Jewel class ships look leaps above the old Wind.

I must have not read closely enough, my bad. I honestly thought the story of the Norwegian Sky was worthy of it's own post... only 11 years old and has had quite a history.

That's because it has been... several times. Norwegian Sky entered service for NCL in 1999, but was originally ordered by Costa Cruises before their merger with Carnival Corporation, the half-built hull was purchased and finished by Norwegian after the shipyard that was constructing the to be named Costa Olympia went bankrupt. In 2004, with the departure of NCL's famed SS Norway (Ex-France) to the breakers in India, Norwegian Sky found herself being amongst the oldest tonnage in the fleet, and was thus transferred to NCL's new NCL America brand in Hawaii, where she was renamed Pride of Aloha. She joined Pride of America and Pride of Hawaii as the first American-flagged cruise ships in over fifty years, while patriotic and all, this poses serious challenges to modern cruising- all the officers and a majority of the crew must be American and the company must pay taxes, pay the federal minimum wage and abide by all U.S. labor laws. On top of that, cruise ships flying under the American flag cannot operate onboard casinos, which are a huge profit for the cruise lines. In 2008, NCLA was running in the red by some $150,000 a month and hurting its parent company's bottom line- to stabilize the Hawaiian market, NCL pulled Pride of Hawaii (who would become Norwegian Jade) and Pride of Aloha (who would become, once again, Norwegian Sky) back to their International Fleet, leaving only the purpose built Pride of America under the American flag. It has been theorized that Norwegian Sky could be repositioned back into the Hawaiian market if the need arises. So, that is why Norwegian Sky has Hawaiian leis for its hull art, and why the sign looks like it could pop out on a moments notice.

^ Believe it or not, the story goes that HAL specifically designed the MS Noordam with brighter colors, more activities and she was supposed to stay year-round in the Caribbean to attract a younger audience... guess what? It didn't work. That aside, the images I have saw of their private island, Half Moon Cay, look absolutely amazing. But since HAL doesn't sail year-round in the Caribbean, several of the Carnival brands stop here throughout the year- Carnival and Cunard come to mind.

^ I am glad someone younger enjoyed X, and you are right that a 7 night Caribbean aboard the newer vessels in prime season should skew the demographic to something somewhat normal... it comes down to the fact that X is no HAL... I have heard horrible things about the demographic on HAL, even during the Summer months!