Jeezus Juice

February 13, 2006

Hey, It's the Disneysea pictures. The park is awesome, look at the pictures.

I still have a ton of pictures so if you guys want to see something specific just post it here!

Thanks for reading!!

-Don

I wonder where I'd have to connect to fly with them?

And then we had to leave and come back to our own country. We were both sad for a few days. Japan was just so cool, we didn't want to leave!

If you're waiting to go to Japan you're waiting too long! We were going to wait for a group trip in '07 but we ju

Right next door to the Dreamgate is this Newdays convience store. When it started raining and umbrellas at the parks were going for over $20 I went here and got one for less than $5! This place is awesome!

OK, here's another thing I didn't know about. There is a secret hotel right at the Maihama train station! It's actually currently the closest hotel to TDL. I'm going to look into this place next time I come here.

OK, nobody told me that there was a skatepark across the street from the Miracosta! I'm kinda dissapointed with you guys. If I knew I totally would've packed my board. Next time Don, next time.

Tower just looks massive. Much better than the DCA building IMO, even if it will have the same ride system.

An overview of the park enterance with Tower over there in the background.

Ahh, there we go!

Wow, the cool thing is this pyramid has nothing to do with the actual ride building. They built the whole thing just to look bad-ass. It just needs a coaster going around it.

Here's Monica and I out in front of 'good' Indy!

At one point late one night i was the only person riding this. The three hot girls working the ride asked me how old I was. I left to go find a buffet to go cry in my gravy. The coaster was pretty fun btw.

Whoever told me that I wouldn't be able to find food that I liked was way wrong. This thing was like chocolate covered crack, I loved it!

The line for the Gyoza buns. This was during that crowded day.

I was here for 4 days and I was never at a loss for things to do. I don't get how IOA keeps getting voted the best theme park.

First off Gondola Rides weren't like $100!

Nobody really talks about the Venice area. I thought it was so much better than the real one!

I didn't know that this was actually inside the park. Before I thought it was just like an entry plaza.

What did I eat in Japan? This is what I ate in Japan. And it was really good!

This update brought to you by Crunky Kids!

February 13, 2006

It's not just B&M's either. I remember seeing one on Steel Force last year.

As far as riding in one, didn't Knotts auction off a ride at Solace last year?

-Don

February 13, 2006

Still more:

Back to the massive monorail station to head to Disneysea! Soon they'll be an equally massive hotel behind it.

Oops, forgot this one earlier. This one was pretty good as well.

Once you reach the ticket booth there is still a huge queue to get through. While waiting for the park to open we timed this small part of the line at just over 30 minutes! By the time we were ready to park hop the line was still full of people waiting to

This happy little line is just to buy tickets! THEN you get to get in the outher line.

Dude, seriously.

Did I mention that it was only a little bit crowded on our last day there? This was the line to enter the park at opening.

So for all of those who asked me to pick up pins, this was all I could find.

Did i mention how much bigger their Main Street is? For point of reference, I'm standing at the Carnation cafe looking across the street toward the dentist office.

February 13, 2006

More:

Ugh...Do we really have to go!!! Oh wait, I forgot about DisneySea! Let's get the crap outta here!

February 13, 2006

OK, I've got a break between patients so I'm going to update the pictures right quick.

Tokyo Disneyland:

We stayed at the Tokyo Disney resort for 3 nights onsite at the Ambassador Hotel. It was such a change from our Shinjuku room! The beds we're easily 3 times the size and the toilet and shower/bath were in two seperate rooms!!

Since we were onsite guests we were able to buy a 4 day pass that allowed park hopping all 4 days! It was an extra 1000 yen for the pass but it was totally worth it being able to park hop all of the days we were there.

As much as I really wanted to go to DisneySea, we stuck with the plan to hit TDL first so I could finally check out the awesome Pooh ride.

Pictures!

Oh yes, Pirates chasing women without food! I love this park!

Except um...yeah, hi...It's not 'Club 31' and it's definately not a glass shop. No, nothing about this adds up at all!

Yeah, this looks crazy familiar.

Their Jungle Cruis was pretty good. Our skipper was telling a ton of jokes and getting really into it. The ride itself looked just like the CA version with the FL temple at the end.

Is this where I rent a locker? Where is the wave pool?

Their Adventureland sure is much bigger than any of the others (save paris). Even if it does look REALLY similer to Typhoon Lagoon!

Who knew that this would be one of the best popcorns on the trip?! This stuff was awesome!

You were right Robb, this TPR hoodie really is a chick magnet! It must mean something else in japanese! lol

Here they are! You know those leather bracelets you can get with your name burned into them? Yeah, that's what they're waiting hours for, to make thier orders to pick up later.

Man the japanese can be really weird. I can give you 10 guesses as to what they're waiting for and you'd probably not get it. Remember, this was taken 20 minutes after the park opened.

Having spent a lot of time at the origional park as a kid, walking around TDL was much like stepping into a time machine. sorry I'm geeking out on you guys here...ahem, moving along...

No way! Tucked away in the corner of the park I found a Mile Long Bar! And it's not some stupid Pooh candy store! Damn you Disneyland! Why do you have to ruin everything!

I really liked the overall look of the land. Their island looked really cool too, unfortunately we ran out of time.

They even have a 'Mark Twain' here too, none of this 'Liberty Belle' nonsense!

Westernland's layout really made a lot of since here. Since it was built later, none of the recent additions at other parks are shoehorned in here. Splash and Thunder are at either sides of the river, and the train just makes a small loop around the area.

This really is a 'best of' park. Too bad they were still taking down the NBC overlay.

When it did start to rain a little, this roof sure did make alot of since. It totally doesn't distract from Main Street at all either.

Big Al can still bring a tear to your eye. I miss you man.

You know, this Magic Kingdom might not be as beautiful as the Paris one, but at least here they know well enough to leave the damn rides alone! Pirates chase women, Space Mountain has cheesy effects, and the Country Bears have a theater to do their show i

This castle has something WAY awesome in it's basement though! I hope they're not really getting rid of this. Long live Black Cauldron!!

Yes, yes, you can actually see the castle...

We turned around and saw literally the ENTIRE park lined up for something. We asked around and found out that it was for a souvineer cup that was being released that day. The line easily wrapped around most of toontown. No wonder they got rid of Pin tradi

One morning, on our morning pooh run there were tons of people making a mad dash with us. Just before they got there though, they all went for toontown (wtf?). So after pooh we went and walked-on Roger Rabbit and wondered where all the people went.

Oh man, it starts!

This ride is so damn fun! It was nice having walk-ons all morning too!

Wow, Star Tours has it's own building...and it's huge!!

Boy did these things get used!

Allright we're here!

February 12, 2006

On a Zyklon? Maybe if you jump off of the structure.

Seriously though, I'd try the front seat of the back car. You may get some air riding in the back, but you won't be over the wheels so you should get a smoother ride.

It's just a small portable coaster, try all the seats and tell us what you think.

-Don Airtime

February 12, 2006

Guard your wallet in Venice, and don't touch ANYTHING from an unlicenced steet vendor. And bring a hat, a nice big wide brimmed hat. That Italian summer sun is ferocious!

I don't know about any tours to Mirabilandia, it's pretty far from any sort of touristy area. It seemed like it was mostly locals when I was there.

Gardaland is right near lake Garda though, you could probably get a taxi to the park pretty easily if your staying near the lake. Movie Studios Park is right on the waters edge practically and their waterpark is going to look pretty sweet in that heat.

I think some of our group took a taxi from Gardaland back to our hotel in Verona for about 50 euro. Ask Viking86, he'll know more.

Dammit Yngve! I should have went with you!

-Don

February 12, 2006

Oh man, Haunted Hospital was so worth the $4.25 or whatever it came out to. First off it was 3 floors, full of live actors, and had at least one spot where there were 3 different paths we could take!

The themeing was really good, very gloomy/creepy, with a ton of old hospital and surgical equipment, and even some old X-ray stuff!

When I wasn't being chased by mental patients I was actually getting distracted by stopping and reading the xrays on the walls! It was cool seeing some of the old equipment I used to practice on when I was in school.

So yeah, it was much more elaborate than some Knotts maze, and was actually on a much larger scale than even some of the stand alone haunts that I've been through.

February 12, 2006

No way, you have GOT to post more pictures of this place! Is this the park that has the "Space Mountain" in a similer looking building to the disney one?

I love the "Small World" entry gate, and those palm trees we're way creepy.

-Don

February 12, 2006

So after Cosmoland we had enough time to finally go and check out Joypolis. When we got there we realized that Joypolis is only a small part of another huge japanese shopping/entertainment area!

We got to play with condoms, watch a monkey walk on stilts, and play absurd electronic games of skill. It was awesome!

OK, now we're really, finally done with everything in Tokyo! Can we go to Disney now?!

Somewhere in that blur Monica is being underwhelmed by Linear Gale!

WOW! That really WAS faster than the train!

Screw the train! Let's take the teleport over to LaQua!

Next time Palette Town, next time!

It's not a giant japanese shopping area without the requisite Giant-ass Wheel! Palette Town from the joypolis side of the expressway.

"Don! It's an inflateable cat with cats for arms! We're totally going in there!"

We almost made it out of there when Monica spotted the kitty store.

After that we took in the usual sights.

OMG the stilts were just too much. Funniest thing ever!

MONKEY!!!

I'm still amazed that there was still snow around by this point.

Wandering around outside we caught the Tokyo Rainbow Bridge at sundown.

Now I'm finally starting to get into the capsule machines. It's a keychain of the train we took to get over here. How existential.

Oh yeah! That has got to be the crepe of crepes.

Finally, a way to inflict pain on my girlfriend! This was just before she swept me 3-0. Next time I musn't duel her left handed.

Luckily these...uh...cats with bats...were pertty docile.

Man, that Doremon near the top of the pile was furious at having his picture taken!

Kind of a strange ride, almost like a stand up 'rockin' tug' only you can (somewhat) control the rotation.

Halfpipe canyon looked like fun but there was about a 45 minute wait. Plus they were only running 2 of the tracks. I'll wait until I can get all four credits thanks.

At least the restraints are comfortable, otherwise this jerky ass ride would surely draw blood. For some reason I kept picturing Dan talking about how this ride "Hurt my ass". Weird.

Hey look! It's the reason we came! Personally I thought Speed Boarder was a fun little ride, but it is in no way smooth AT ALL and doesn't really require a re-ride. Still, I did enjoy my one ride, and the wait was only about 10 minutes.

I shot a lot of video but I didn't really take too many pictures of the inside. It's hard to tell, but the entire complex is awash with neon, dance lights, pumping music, and plenty of energy. It was also pretty humid due to all the peeps, yuck.

Yay! After nearly a week of dodging this place we finally found time to check it out.

No we didn't go in, but we couldn't help wondering, just what the hell would be inside the Shell museum? A food court with really oily fries?

February 12, 2006

^ Hey, work was really crazy today. I've already let 2 people die while I've uploaded pics for you guys, how much blood do you want on my hands?!

The rest should be up tomorrow, including the awesome Disney pics!!

-Don

February 12, 2006

Man, Dubai never fails to impress me. Those pictures are awesome.

How far along is Legends now anyway? It's been awhile since I've seen any new info on the whole Dubailand project.

I can't wait to go snowboarding in the middle of a desert. Looks like we have another awesome off-season place to go!

-Don

February 11, 2006

Allright guys, time to get this train rolling again. Sorry I've been slacking, insert your own new apartment, video project, girlfriend, skateboarding injury excuse here and away we go!

Day 5 continued

Yokohama Cosmoworld

Brief syopsis; the park is located in an awesome setting by a bay in Yokohama. I had seen pictures and video from this park but only at night so it was nice to get to see all the shiny white skyscrapers in bright sunlight!

pictures:

We did good and finished the park in about a half hour. Then we went across the street for some crazy Japanese mall shopping! Joypolis photos will be next!

Here's some Cosmoclock porn for you giant wheel lovers...sickos!

Looking down through the ride ending helix to the omnipresent Log Flume. This ride seems to wind through the entire complex. It's like the heartworm of log flumes!

The spinning mouse was pretty standard, but spun way too much for it's own good!!

Vanish taking the Togo Toilet Bowl, our second one of the day!

Vanish is of course the big draw here and it was actually pretty fun. It takes this drop into a tunnel about midway through the ride and then decends into a pretty powerful helix.

The park enterance we used seemed buried beneath the huge rides towering overhead.

They had a nice assortment or rides on the other bank. Next time I'll try and make it over there and explore a little.

The main park sits on small penninsula between another amusment area and a huge shopping mall.

It was a nice clear day, slightly windy, but still pretty cold! At least the bay wasn't frozen over!

Then you are greeted with this once you cross the street.

This is the first thing you see once you exit the train station.

February 11, 2006

Hey man I'm glad you liked it! You know, with all the awesome food in Europe I really didn't have much time to improvise on my own.

But rest assured, more cooking show segments are being worked on for future projects. I just need to find a way to fry my own desserts in my hotel room sink...

Unfortunately both Monica and I are working Solace weekend this year. However we will be doing meet and greets/autograph signings at "Green Beer, Cheer, and Fear" this year. If you buy me a pint you can even have your picture taken with me!

Seriously though I hope everyone is enjoying the new discs. We'll be in FL filming the week after "GBCF" if anyone want's to say hi. I'll be the guy with the camera stuck to his face standing outside of a ride instead of actually riding it! lol

-Don

February 11, 2006

Wow man, that park looks pretty nice. It's really cool to see some parks that aren't in Ohio, Florida, or socal!

Between these awesome Brazil pics and the ones from Malaysia, we're getting some nice worldwide coverage!

-Don

:goes to check out the videos:

February 11, 2006

I agree with the extra time at SFGAM. It took me about 3 trips there to finally ride all of the coasters (even WITH fastlane tickets). Not to mention the park can get super crowded, like PCW crowded. Plus isn't PGA your homepark? You'll probably want some time just to wander around and geek out at all the similarities/differences.

Staying in Gurnee is pretty easy as there are a lot of hotels right at the park with plenty of restauraunts there and across the freeway at the huge mall. Chicago traffic can be hell though and you'll have to go through it twice the day you go to IB. Since you're planning on going to KC afterwards, would you be able to do IB on the way down? That might save you some time.

Little A-Merrick-A is just a few miles off the highway on the way to the Dells, though depending on when you'll be driving by it may not be open yet or already closed.

Usually with the Dells we start at Mt. Olympus in the morning, stop by Timber Falls for the after 5pm wristband for about an hour, and then head back to Mt.Oly for some night rides. Riverview park (across the street from Mt.Oly) is the crappiest park in the state of Wisconsin and should generaly be avoided unless you really need the credits (even I skipped it my first time there, lol)

SDC is one of our favorite parks. CC is best done in the late afternoon/evening after your day at SDC. The park looks much better at night and has very little shade but is really fun at night. Good idea with the second day at SDC. Make sure to go on the cave tour!

Other than that the rest sounds perfect! Have fun, it looks like a great trip!

-Don "Don't bump the nitro!!" Garrison

February 11, 2006

I have one from the third row that came out pretty good. Maybe I can see if I can get it posted on Monday.

Otherwise the Sea Paradise/Cosmoworld vid Robb just posted on the main page has a POV of pretty much the best part of the ride. So you can try that for now.

Unless Chris feels like riding it until he gets a front seat!

-Don

February 11, 2006

Oh sweet! We have a posse forming already! Now I don't feel bad about not hanging with you guys at solace this year!

And yeah Guy, 6-6 1/2 hours, I've made the drive many times. The 5 is your friend!

-Don

(let me know if you need a place to crash)

February 11, 2006

Dude, if "The Tampon Jet Coaster" has a good layout and is really fun I could give a crap about the name.

Trust me, it's much more fun to visit a park that is doing well than one that feels as if it could close at any minute. Even if that means riding the "Ex-Lax Speed Slide".

Besides, this is different from all the obnoxious 'Corn-nut' ads how exactly?

Money for the company usually equals a better park experience, I don't know about a 'T:JC' on ride photo though!!

-Don "Likes getting free sample packets from sponsors at the exit gate" Garrison

February 10, 2006

Is it allright if I bring the Flogging Molly and Dropkick Murphy's music?

Yes! I love microbrew food. I can't wait for the Extreme Pizza Nacho Poppers and the Bacon Cheddar Potato Quesadillas!

-Don "Yum" MacGarrison

February 7, 2006

^ OMG yeah the warped rails! Since it was just Chris, this 12 yr old japanese kid, and me we got on a few times with no waits.

I really noticed it the second time, it's like there was a lot of play between the rails and the wheel assembly. We got some really wicked side to side action going on!

-Donizzle fo Shizzle

February 6, 2006

Hey guys! I'm glad your diggin' the updates!

It was pretty busy at work this week so I didn't get to finish up the last few parks. I'll get on that later this week.

I just got a new apartment the day after we got back from Japan so that's taking up a lot of my free time.

Cheers,

-Don

February 6, 2006

Day Five: Yokohama, Sega Joypolis, and LaQua again!

This was our power day where we hit 4 parks in the same day! It was the last day before we went to Disney and we just wanted to finish up a few things.

We started out by heading down to Yokohama to Hakkejima Sea Paradise. It was pretty neat going from the icy slopes of the Mt. Fuji area one day to the ocean on the next.

Sea Paradise is a medium sized free entry sea life park with an assortment of flat rides complementing the two main attractions; Blue Fall, the 330 foot intamin 2nd gen (the one with the brakes just after the drop!) and Surf Coaster, the helix heavy curvy Togo over the water.

Dolphin Coaster has been removed and was replaced by the saddest looking mini golf this side of Williams Grove and some inflatable kiddie crap.

After hanging out with Chris again at his home park for a few hours we took the trains back towards Tokyo a few stops to Yokohama Cosmoworld. Cosmoworld is the smallish entertainment center located right in the middle of the most awesome business district I’ve ever see. It also has a big wheel with a clock in the middle.

The park is home to a standard Zamperla spinning mouse and the awesome Vanish: Diving Coaster.

After the coasters we checked out the huge mall right across the street which had the most awesome food court I’ve ever seen. It was like an enclosed open-air food market with a French bakery, some German place, a McDonalds and a whole grocery store attached. Everything was so open that it would be a mall security guards nightmare in the states with people ripping off stuff left and right. Imagine going to a mall and having all of the stores remove their walls and security scanners. Like so you could walk from Hot Topic right into Cinnabon, that’s kind of what this place was like, only quite posh, so no cinnabons for me…

After our mall rat adventure we headed back to Tokyo and finally made it to Joypolis with enough time to ride Speedboarder, play some games, buy more stuff from capsule machines, and take some pictures.

We then made it to LaQua with about 45 minutes to spare before Linear Gale closed. At no point we’re we really rushing though. We did take our time and re-ride stuff, check out shops, and take pictures. We were just able to get everything done on time, it was great!

Enough rambling! Start looking!

I leave you all with our greatest discovery of the day...a draft beer vending machine. Wally, can we order this instead of the kegerator? Please?!

Cosmoworld is next!

Ah geeze...you know, we really need to try to improve our image over there. lol!

OK, this is kind of embarassing...

Wait a minute, whats this...?

And Street Fighter roulette!

No way! Coin operated duck races!

Man these radish guys crack me up.

All right! My favorite ride! I hope it's a stand-up!

But first, we gotta hit the arcade.

AHA! She found an interesting place to eat!

Why is Monica smiling...?

Is this the only raft ride with a Dolphin pool incorperated into it?

Sure, it's blisteringly cold out, of course the raft ride is open! Let's go! Monica was the smart one and decided not to ride with us.

No boat jump, but the Pelican Raft was operating.

Wait, I just noticed this now! Does his shirt say what it looks like it says?! OMG! I totally missed that when I took the picture!

Oh man, more awesome diabetic coma park food!

For an Industrial area, it sure was a lot nicer looking than parts of Long Beach!

There are a bunch of rumors as to the fate of the boat jump. What we do know is it's still there with the boats parked at the top and it wasn't operating the day we were there. I'm sure Chris can keep us posted!

The park has a lot of space. We saw people here just waking their dogs around. The buildings there in the middle are shops and restauraunts.

Togo sure did design some cool layouts. This one was actually pretty smooth too.

Everyone loves the Togo toilet bowl!

Oh yeah! There's another reason why we're here!

Here you can see how the rows alternate between ones that have the brake and ones that don't. The 'holding brake' really adds a lot to the ride. I also like the fact that you can choose either or.