skaunit

Darnell and I are walking into the park right now, there is NO ONE HERE! Sun is out with chance of showers, looks to be an awesome morning session! Construction update soon to come!

Actually, you bring up a good topic of conversation... I wonder how the Memorial Weekend crowds will be affected IF LL:DOD opens before then? I don't have personal experience, but I would venture to guess that that Tuesday shouldn't bee all that busy, as I have heard that even the "holiday Monday" of a holiday weekend sees noticeably smaller crowds than the respective Sat/Sun. I'm sure others can give more specific examples/information... Edit: I meant to say that if LL:DoD opens prior to memorial weekend, or ON memorial weekend, that MAY change things significantly, but again, I expect there will be others who are better informed.

With a GIGA!.... HAH, there putting a descent amount of work into Grizzly, I doubt they are going to get rid of it any time soon. Being my first woodie, it holds an unworthy special place in my heart, but then my 2nd woodie ever is the Giant Dipper at SCBB, which is so awesome... I am anxiously waiting for the voting etc. to happen on this new coaster, and hope like hell it's true. Maybe I can actually have a reason to go to my "home park", even though I'd much rather call SFMM at 4 hours away my home park.

In defense of Goliath, it isn't easy to theme a hyper outside of the station... and the ride's overall awesomeness makes up for the lack of on-ride theming. I am disappointed there's not tours or anything "extra" at SFMM for WCB this year, outside of the ERT and announcement/Q&A. I'm hoping for some last minute surprises! CANT WAIT for Saturday!

SOOOO EXCITED for this! Will Friday get here already! Hey, is anyone driving down from the south bay Friday evening? We [sCVnizzle, me, and friends] are looking to leave somewhere around 4-4:30 in case anyone wants to caravan! We may stop at sonic in gilroy off the 101. Traffic's gonna suck but people gotta work... oh well. TEAM 408 BABY!! Woot!!!!!!!!

I'm actually surprised that the hampton is only rated 2.5 stars... It may just be because the decor is a little out-dated, but I have never had much to complain about at my many many stays at hampton properties. I work for a hilton family hotel and the hampton line is the cheapest in our employee travle system, yet still includes breakfast, so the value usually wins me over... I won't put what I pay to stay there, don't wanna upset everyone... heh. I know there standard rates are more than many of the other value brands out there, but if you can get a descent rate as in this example, it's definitely worth it. Of course, for $10 more a night with my benefits, I am staying at the Embassy Suites for the weekend... This will be my 3rd [or is it 4th?] stay there, and it is quite a nice property. So... is it the 18th yet????? 10 more days!!

I'm completely with you guys... I would have no real fear of going on a 400ft coaster, but even the idea of LL:DOD scares the heck out of me. I still get freaked out the first time I ride Drop Zone also, but once it's done I'm all set to do it again!

wow, after the incident in 2010, and the rain-out in 2011, we will FINALLY be able to get some much-needed ERT on Xcelerator! Super excited, the Knott's day is shaping up to be awesome! However, I have to ask Rob, is there anything else that Magic Mountain is going to do for us? I mean, the ERT and lunch activities are always awesome, but the only other thing is the Lex Luthor presentation? I can only assume that that would be coupled with the usual management Q&A session... Is there anything else in the works for SFMM? Don't think I am complaining, more inquisitive really... From what I remember the past 3 years I have come to WCB, most of the special activities etc. have been announced by this time, 2 weeks from the event.

Hey another bay area native coming down for the bash, we should try and meet up... I'll be hanging with my good friend Darnell [scvnizzle screen name, doesn't post much] and his wife, and a friend of theirs I don't know. PM me for my cell if you wanna hang out. Were heading down Friday evening. As far as night ERT... you can count on it, and it's always amazing! I'm bummed because I missed last years, had to leave the park just after dinner that day. Not so this year!

so who else got the email to take the planning survey? I noticed it only asked about roller coasters... any chance this could point to a new coaster for 2013? I hope I am in the majority in wanting a giga. I took the survey with that in mind so hopefully it helps?!?

thanks guys, I think we are going to forego USH now... we went ahead and upgraded to annual passes for disneyland since theres plenty of fun things to do there and were gonna do that and just see some sights and stuff around SoCal... thanks for the advice.

Hello all! I am on my honeymoon, and right before the wedding we just found out we are pregnant!!! 5.5 weeks right now. We were planning on spending one day at Universal Studios Hollywood, and I have some questions... It has been probably 10 years since I have been there, and I don't remember any of the rides. I would love a breakdown of what rides are 1st-trimester pregnant safe? AKA, tamer than star tours... Also, what rides have a single rider line? I would like to ride some of the jerkier rides even by myself, but I am not going to make my wife wait for me to go through a whole que... only 10-15 mins. I think were going to try and do a lot of the shows. Anyone with any other advice please feel free! Thanks!

well my TPR friends, we are here and ready for a long and crazy day tomorrow at disney. We didn't get a chance to pre-book tickets, but I am at Hilton Anaheim and am going down to the front desk FIRST thing in the morning [7:15 am] to get 3 day park-hoppers. There's a rumor they might have the Just Married buttons at the disneyland desk here at the hotel. The plan is to head straight to DCA before they open so we can get fast passes for the WoC midnight show. Not sure if we are going to try and park-hop tomorrow or just stay in DCA the whole day... I have reservations for dinner at 5:30 [i think] at the Wine Country Trattoria. We are planning on sticking around that end of the park from then on for the midnight show. It looks like we will be around SoCal until next Friday, but we have a pretty good plan on stuff to do... anyone with more advice is welcome to chime in though... thanks!

Thank you so much Chris, that's alot of very good info for us! And yeah I beleive I meant the Chineese theater. You know, I would love some suggestions on inexpensive yet good restaurants around the Disneyland area, say Chineese, Japanese, and mexican. We just really aren't quite sure of our budget yet though. Thanks again! Too all of youthat have posted so far.

If our tickets aren't gifted to us for the wedding [our registry is honeyfund which is basically money for the honeymoon, or tickets etc.], we will definitely pre-book for sure. One thing I forgot to mention, is because I work for Hilton, I get to stay virtually for free at the Hilton Anaheim [there was no comp rate available for the first 2 nights because of NYE, so we have to pay a little bit for those nights]. So we are locked in on where we are staying, and are basically looking for things driving distance from Disneyland. Not that I don't appreciate the suggestion Elissa, thanks. Things on the list so far: Hollywood walk of fame [neither of us have ever been there, or down hollywood blvd in general] The Getty Museum, that really famous theater in hollywood [i forgot the name], Venice Beach/Canals, and Rodeo Drive maybe. Thanks for the info so far though. Sounds like we really need to make a decision between DL and the Castle for the countdown, or DCA and WoC... anyone else want to try and sway our decision, or just have experiences/info about the 2? I DEFINITELY want to make dinner reservations for that night somewhere in one of the parks, and even if it's not near where we want to be for the evening, it should probably be in the same park [hmm... maybe I'll make a reservation in both parks and pick which one to cancel a few days before...] Anyway, hoping there's a little more input, maybe bumping this up the list will help... thanks alot!!

Ok, I have been doing some research but I thought I would get some help from some of my fellow theme park nerds. My wife-to-be and I are planning our honeymoon in Southern California from Dec. 30th through Jan. 7th. We are driving down on the 30th, and doing Disneyland on NYE, and doing a 3,4,or 5 day park hopper, not quite sure yet [i don't think 3 is enough, she thinks 5 is way too much, it'll probably end up being 4]. We also want to spend the day at Universal Hollywood, and hopefully we have enough to splurge on their VIP package. Neither of us have been there in years so it'll be fun. We also want to do the Pirate Adventure Dinner near Knott's one night. Ok on to the questions/requested advice: 1) can anyone give us any other great ideas for a Socal Honeymoon in the winter? 2) I need tips/advice/help on how to plan for and handle DL on NYE. I hear it's crazy. I know we need to be there by 10am latest, preferably 8 or 9, because the park reaches capacity early. Is there a prime spot to "occupy" for the countdown celebration? I know there will be fireworks and music, is that viewable/audible all over the park? Also, I want to make some dinner reservations for NYE, and was thinking of trying to pick a restaurant somewhere near the same general area we want to be for the NYE countown, and basically stay around there from after dinner till midnight. I think I also heard somehow there may be some kind of reservations that include priority seating for a show? anyone know more about that. 3) Does anyone have any insider info/ advice/ experience with the USH VIP tickets? Anything we should know [are they totally not worth it?] Mainly it's the Disneyland stuff I'm looking for help on... but thanks for any and all advice I can get!!!

I may be totally wrong here, but wasn't Green Lantern: First Flight turned around in the concept video, with the lift facing batman? I could have sworn... Either way its just a concept rendering, nothing is set in stone so they could definitely have some kind of transfer or dual loading setup. Totally stoked for a new coaster in Norcal. It's no giga or hyper, but it's fricken sweet!

Honestly, it's not to obvious at ALL. Those videos are for the general public, not the >1% of us that make up "coaster enthusiasts". We can all hope for a full circuit launch coaster [the only one in the west is California Screamin' right? Or do we count Xcelerator?], but in all likely hood its a drop tower. P.S. Gigalyte, your avatar picture always makes me frustrated and sad. The one day I made it out to SFGAdv, I got to ride the mighty Kingda Ka, but EVERY TIME I went over to El Toro it broke down, throughout the day. I was so bummed.

See, you shoulda been at West Coast Bash and the Q&A session... It was there that we found out all about the new superman. The new cars are designed so that they CAN be turned around with very minor if any changes to the programming. And we knew all along that one side would be eventually turned around so you could pick forward or backward. Did you GO ON Superman the escape in its first season or 2 when it was realistically running near 100mph? If not, I dare say you can't really compare what the NEW ride will be like with the revamped launch system, even running forward.

I definitely agree, we need another launched coaster bad!!! Do they have room up the backside of the hill behind Tatsu and Ninja? That would be a nice area to add to the space already known. After looking at the satellite image, Imagine a launched coaster with good height like TTD or at least Xcelerator, launched from the lot cleared out for Mr Sixs dancecoaster, then a vertical hill where Deja Vu sits? Ok maybe that wouldn't work quite like that, but who knows...

I just found out I have to postpone my trip a week, so I will be down there the last week of august, Monday and Tuesday. Can't wait to ride GL:FF!!! And even road runner express. I'll have to make sure to get in a few "good" rides on Deja Vu, just in case the rumors turn out to be true [which I don't think they will be]. The last time I went on it, it was painful and gave me a horrible headache, hopefully not this time!

I'm with bluefire on this one. NOWHERE has it been said that SFNE is getting "Deja Vu", except in our enthusiast circle speculation. All they confirmed was they were getting a GIB. Who knows, maybe it's not even a Vecoma??? "The new ride will be about 267.6 feet at its highest and will feature a steel roller coaster running on tracks in the shape of an “X,” according to information on file in the Planning Department. " What's this about the shape of an X? that doesn't sound like Deja Vu to me, unless you are talking about an eagle eye view. I really think we are spiraling this rumor out of control. Sure, there is a POSSIBILITY they are moving DV, but I wouldn't even come close to betting on it.

Hmm.... Sounds like we have something to ask for if at all possible at the next WCB during ERT on goliath??? Less trims? certainly worth a try...

^, ^^ and ^^^ Am I crazy for getting depressed reading that? I remember my first few rides on the great Goliath, like back around '04-'07ish... Those MCBR's barely trimmed out, and the train seemed to just barely loose speed... I LOVED the ride back then! I mean, I still love that ride, but the horrid STOP in momentum there really changes that ride, and kind of kills it really. [earmuffs] Kind of like having sex and stopping in the middle for 5-10 seconds and then continuing [/earmuffs]. Oh well, I just have to consider myself lucky to have experienced the ride in it's original form...

Welcome RocketJet, good to have you here. I claim SFMM as my home park, even though I live in San Jose. Don't get me wrong I have many fond memories of [what is now] California's Great America, including my first coaster ride EVER on Top Gun [now known as Flight Deck], but it's just not worth going to anymore for me [aside from Haunt] I can't wait till my next trip down, which will be the 23rd and 24th, hopefully it will be a dead tuesday/wednesday, because I am counting on not needing flash passes and being able to hit all the coasters and some flats with re-rides over both days [maybe even 2 rides each on x2 and GL??? one can hope...]