disney4me2001

I would love it if RipTide had this theme! I wonder if the theming in this concept inspired Hammerhead (operated from 1996-2003), which was eventually replaced with RipTide? If by chance that happens to be the case, it would be cool to see RipTide get some of this theming to bring things around full circle!

I agree, but I was given an explanation why they require the lockers. One of the leads/supervisors told me that the fire marshal now requires that the pathway to the exit remains clear in case of a fire, and since bags can partially obstruct the path, the lockers are now mandatory (you used to be able to leave your things outside). Doesn't change the fact that they could at least offer them for free since it's not the guests' fault (similar to how Manta at SWSD or Revenge of the Mummy at USH offer free ones for 60-90 minutes), but it's for safety reasons from what I was told. Yes it's only $1 for an hour, but it sucks having to go to the machine, inserting $1 or a credit card, and then entering your pin and storing your stuff before choosing a row! I know we hear a lot of things from employees that just aren't true, but this sounded legit. Side note- I didn't own a refillable cup at Six Flags for the first couple of years I had a season pass because at the time they were doing mandatory lockers on almost all of the rides, and I didn't want to fall into that trap of paying for the cup plus refills on return visits plus lockers at each ride (this was also before they offered the all-day ones that are valid at all the major rides). I only started buying them when I found that they had stopped that policy and were allowing riders to leave things in the station!

I'll be there at both parks/days! I've attended the SFMM day of WCB every year since 2010, and this will be my 2nd year attending Knott's (first time was last year). While I appreciate the fact that SFMM still does WCB and I'm looking forward to it, it is sad that there's nowhere near as much offered now as there was in the past (examples- no backstage tours, formal Q&A session, etc), whereas Knott's has been stepping up their offerings. So that probably explains why it's shifted. The reason why I haven't been to the Knott's day of WCB as much as SFMM is because in past years I haven't been able to stay for Sunday due to school. But I enjoy both parks (have season passes at both!), and I'm looking forward to this weekend! I'm especially excited for ERT on Full Throttle and X2! Although I'm not counting on it, I'm hoping that maybe more details will be revealed about Twisted Colossus during lunch since there will be some Q&A. Obviously we're aware of the layout thanks to the video, but maybe we can get questions answered such as how long this was in development, and get the debate settled as to how loading will work (some think it'll be dual station loading like Tatsu, others think it'll be one station, the question of how many trains it'll have when it opens, etc).

I was going to say when I saw the TR that I thought it was odd that the Boxtrolls characters were at SFMM when I saw them at Universal a couple of weeks ago! It makes sense to reach out and market where they can, but it's still odd! To me that would be like seeing Bugs Bunny meeting guests at Knott's (which I realize would never happen under current contracts/rights)!

I'm impressed! Looks like they paid homage to the original version of Colossus while really giving it a good update! The first drop looks amazing, and I like how the inversions sort of "interact" with the other side of the track. I'm genuinely excited for it. Can't wait!

Received a Bag of Crap in the mail the other day! I was surprised at how much was in here that I literally said, "Holy crap!" when I opened it! So thank you! Here's what was inside: Team TPR backpack! TPR merch- a Club TPR car magnet, TPR fridge magnet, TPR DVD (haven't had a chance to see what it is yet, but I'm guessing it's a volume of Coaster Expedition!), a Club TPR Christmas ornament, and the famous TPR magical pen! A close up of the Club TPR ornament- this is going to look great on the tree this year (and in future years)! I got a nice wall map of SFMM as it looked in 2006! A look at the map- quite a bit has changed since 2006! Remember when X2 was simply X? Remember when Deja Vu and Psyclone existed? Superman: The Escape before becoming Superman Escape From Krypton, Log Jammer before YOLOcoaster replaced it, and the old tree from Bugs Bunny World! Remember when the action theater was actually used as a theater? Though in all fairness, it's actually pretty awesome as Aftermath (Fright Fest maze). Remember Flashback? I don't...never got to ride it, but from what I've been told I should be thankful for that! And of course, Colossus (soon to become Twisted Colossus). Maps from international theme parks! Got quite a few from the Happy Valley parks! Cedar Fair maps- 2013 Cedar Point and Kings Island maps! Six Flags maps- SFGA and SFNE! So happy to have these Six Flags parks in my collection now! Disney stuff- Maps from Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea, Hong Kong Disneyland, and a promotional button from the Disneynature Chimpanzee film! Maps from different U.S. parks- Legoland Florida, Schlitterbahn (New Braunfels), Holiday World, Silverwood, Waldameer, and Lake Compounce! This is a seriously awesome Bag of Crap. Thank you, Robb and Elissa! I really appreciate your generosity!

So did anyone get all of the prizes from this event without spending money on clams? Just wondering. I myself got up to only the silver statue, though I chose not to spend any money on this update, and I didn't have as much time as I normally would to constantly check and play the game.

That's what I had thought- I was confused when I read that part of the article!

Found out yesterday that they are "not" offering items yet. They said that it will be a few weeks before they start. (Also menu did not list any on it either) Ah, gotcha. Well, at least they said they're going to be offering meals there in the near future! Thanks for the info!

On another note, does anyone know if YOLOcoaster Sports Bar is offering items on the menu for the Season Dining Pass yet? I believe the park map shows that there are options there, but I haven't seen any confirmation of this since it opened. It would be nice to be able to use it at an indoor location (besides Food Etc.) this summer!

YOLO! He should of tried YOLOcoaster, it goes backwards. Or NAMTAB. Or Colossus Backwards! Well, at least they're still options for now...

I think you're right about them trying to encourage guests to buy the souvenir bottles. As far as cost goes, if the deal they have with Coke is like Disney's, then they get all their Coke products for free, so drink sales are pure profit for the park. From what I've been told, Coke also supplies the cups (at Disney anyway), so there's no cost to the park in those terms either. The smaller cups would still make sense in order to stretch the product stock further and add onto the already high profits (in fact, Disney downsized their cups too about a year ago- I have proof!), but I think your theory is more correct. It certainly works- I've had a souvenir bottle each year for the past 3 years! The all-day wristbands they offer for purchase on return visits is a great value too- unlimited drinks for about the same price as one regular-size drink!

I have just updated my lists. If you have looked at my list before, you already know that there are some maps that I will only trade in exchange for something off of my want list (which can be found on the 2nd tab of the spreadsheet). This is due to limited supplies and/or high demand (such as with Halloween event maps). The rest of the maps are generally fair game- I'll do a map for map trade, so feel free to offer up anything for those! I will be in Southern California all summer, so you can expect that I will be picking up plenty of updated maps from all of the major parks- I have passes to all of them! If you are interested in making a trade, please PM me. I will reply when I have time (I'm pretty busy with school right now, and finals are right around the corner). I will let you know what new maps come in over the summer as I pick them up. Thanks! Check out my list here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AuBVggYaFgNkdF9aUTg0bUczcFYtNFpQSTBEd0pmTnc#gid=0

I guess it is truly random then...he probably keeps going to Flanders' because it's the closest house in my town.

I agree, though it is unique that you have character levels in addition to game levels. Adds something to it. The major complaint I have about the game so far is that there is no "tracker" like in Tapped Out, so you have to locate each character individually to put him/her on a task. But then again, Tapped Out was like this up until a few months ago, so it just made me appreciate that feature a bit more. I do like that they have the arrows to scroll through each neighbor's town already though, even if I only have 2 friends playing the game so far (not including Ollieland). With that said, on Homer's "Raid Random Fridges" task, has anyone else had their Homer raid Flander's fridge each time? Maybe it's just with mine, but I think it's hilarious that the "random choice" just happens to be Flander's house each time! It's definitely something he would do!

SFA has a Falling Star?!?! This makes me want to visit! I wish Knott's still had Gran Slammer...

While that makes sense, in my experience with SFMM (I've had a season pass since 2010 and visit several times a year), they typically have kept the lines open until park closing, just like the other SoCal parks. The only time I can think of offhand where this hasn't been the case was with the original version of X, where they did close the line early, but they had plenty of signage out to warn guests about it (this was around 2004/2005), and the rest of the rides kept their lines open until closing. Just seems odd to me that they'd suddenly change this, especially since they stand to possibly p*ss off a bunch of people (locals and tourists alike) who are used to the policy of being able to get in line up until the minute the park officially closes at other parks like USH or DLR. Not trying to say that closing the lines early isn't practical, but it's unusual compared to my previous experiences.

So does anyone know if it's a new park policy to close the lines before the park actually closes? Reason why I ask is because I had a similar experience on my last visit (Sunday 3/16). My dad and I were heading over to Goliath to get in line before the park closed, only to find an employee out front blocking the entrance, saying that her supervisor told her to close the line. And the park was definitely still open- the official closing announcement didn't play until 60-90 seconds after we were told that the ride was closed. I understand that ride availability can change at anytime for any reason (especially since I work in Attractions at Disney), but it seemed odd to me that a supervisor would have made the decision to close a line before the rest of the park if there was nothing "wrong" with the ride. And as far as I could tell, there was no problem- they were still cycling full trains with guests on them as I got back to the parking lot! EDIT: On a sidenote, this was very frustrating after having been at USH the day before, where the rides stayed open for an additional 30 minutes after park closing due to technical difficulties experienced earlier in the day on Transformers. Initially the Studio Directory boards showed that Transformers would remain open until 7:30 (the park closed at 7PM), and was later changed to all rides remaining open until 7:30 (meaning Jurassic Park, Mummy, and Simpsons in addition to Transformers). Just goes to show how different the two parks can be! Hope SFMM can take a page out of USH's book...but I doubt they will.

Not on Flight Deck (I've never even been to CGA), but I got to do it on Batman at SFMM once. It was during ERT at WCB 2010, and they were running two trains. I got to the station as they were sending out the first train empty (because no one was there, and I got to the gates after they were closed already), and then the people on the 2nd train all got off! And on top of that, it was my birthday haha! So that was my most memorable ride on Batman...cool to hear that you got to do the same thing on Flight Deck! As for the weird policy, I'd send an email.

I didn't even know that was a thing! So yeah, I'll probably check it out. But I won't be abandoning my Springfield anytime soon! This will just give me another game to play.

If I remember correctly, Disneyland sold honey-flavored (stylized as "hunny") popcorn near the Pooh attraction around the time it opened (in 2003). Obviously it didn't last, and I don't know of anything similar being tried since then. But that's only as far as I know.

I already really wanted to go to Tokyo Disneyland, and this update only makes me want to go even more! As in, if I had the money, I'd be booking a flight to Japan tomorrow...

Aren't there other companies that make parts for Arrow coasters? If so then as long as it does not demolish itself the park could keep it going for a long time. If I remember correctly, during Q&A at WCB 2011 (it may have been 2010), someone asked if Viper would be removed anytime soon. Their answer ("their" referring to Jay Thomas, Tim Burkhart, and Neil Thurman) was no. But then again, things can always change. I personally don't want to see it removed in the near future, but if/when it does get replaced, I just hope that whatever replaces it can load and operate as efficiently as Viper has.

I lost it when I read "assholders"!

'Same here! Viper's actually one of my favorites at SFMM. I always go for the second to last row, and I almost never get headbanging in that row. It's a fun ride in my opinion, especially at night! I've also appreciated how efficiently this one appears to operate compared to other SFMM rides- whenever I'm there, Viper runs 2 trains, and there's minimal stacking. The other advantage being that there's almost never a line for it, so I can usually stay on for as many rides as I want!