PAL

Mmmm, beer! OR Hooray, beer! Take your pick - I'll take both. How many brewery tour credits does that make?

^We're very excited - at last San Diego will have a full sized steel.

It really is that simple, yet so many fail to grasp this essential life skill. I feel for people brought to bankruptcy by an unavoidable and uncovered medical expense or this or that catastrophe, but the people for whom it's self-inflicted? You dug your own hole.

^You're welcome!

^They're always overly frozen. This stuff is eating ice burn. Except when melted into overly expensive mush.

Unsubstantiated rumor that was questioned by the rumor source. Who knows?

^I count it, but just once.

The current annual pass price from the Legoland CA website for an AP including SeaLife Aquarium is $179 for adults 13+. This offering provides more for a little less money. Not for me, but interesting.

Let me guess. The Coaster Guy heard it from the (bankrupt) Dippin Dots guy. Wish he'd get his rumors straight. Can any of the park-wise opine on the wisdom of the park's 2012 plans in context of the massive developments at DCA and Universal? Knotts is standing pat (as of this point). Although the world's tallest drop ride gives the Mt a heck of a sexy marketing hook. If you can't compete in dollar terms and PR splash, is it better to wait out the year and then strike hard in 2013 when the bigger-name competition has little going on? Or does it even matter because the markets are so different? People complain about the lack of family rides, but is it any wonder why Magic Mt focuses on the thrill sector they dominate?

^^Veterans and their families get in free / at sharply reduced prices from Nov 1 through Thanksgiving. It makes for a few busy weekends. The program started when the Knotts still owned the park. CF to their credit kept it going. My family has always appreciated it. It's good to see so many veterans of all ages in the park enjoying themeselves.

^Are you a betting man? Bought that season pass already? No stake in this either way, I just wonder how much the tumult will stunt pass pre-sales. If it were my home park, I'd wait until next year.

Shane, you might find this story about Marshall Scotty's partial revival interesting. From m.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/nov/03/new-life-for-part-of-east-county-landmark/

The first Manta track is vertical. Read the rest at the San Diego Union Tribune: m.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/oct/31/roller-coaster-update-seaworld-ride-moving-along/

Jet Stream is no Log Jammer. LJ was the best pure flume I've experienced, very scenic with a quality finale. It was also one of the final original remnants of what was once a charming family park. Other than Goldrusher, what's left? I'm not counting Jet Stream. That makes it two major attractions down this year, for an announced net gain of one low capacity extreme thrill next year. If the park leaves these plots vacant, or worse, allows a defunct Log Jammer to sit and rot, well, if it isn't a return to the bad old days it's close. Too much of the park infrastructure is in disrepair. Of all the Six Flags parks I've visited, this is the shabbiest. Gotham's rebirth for Green Lantern was an encouraging start. I hope we will see similar rehab work where it is desperately needed, particularly in the back of the park and on top of the mountain.

Woo hoo, better now! But damn, now I have more reading to do.

Oh yes, it's real and in our very own home town fish wrap, the ever-shrinking San Diego Union Tribune. Everyone loves a laugh.

^ I can believe it. Formatting for multiple browsers is a PITA. FYI, my resolution setting appears to be a new default for proper display of the recently revised Google Maps . I like the no-nonsens, quick Chrome browser, but the Goog is starting to piss me off with the massive wave of change they're pushing in their products.

You probably know this but in just in case you don't, the new vertical ad banners on the left side of the screen are not playing nice. They display directly over forum text, obscuring roughly one word per line. Reading is now a lot like a crappy Skype call - lots of blanks to fill.

I'd like to hear the back story on how the park came to lose Deja Vu mere months after crowing about the coaster crown. As an outsider, I can only speculate ignorantly on the contributing factors. Park staff seemed proud of their ability to keep Deja Vu up and running. Last year's rehab took forever, something like November to April or May. I believe they installed new cables. It has the feeling of a corporate edict suddenly handed down from on high. Meanwhile Scream continues to be lost in its little alley. Holy oxidation - the track looks BAD, absolutely sun blasted. Does the lack of a new paint job say anything about its long term prospects? If there's one coaster that would do better elsewhere, it's Scream.

Where's the cheese? They must have vats of the stuff in the place.

The heart of DD was ripped out a couple of years ago. It's a poor fit for Potterland; the retheme was a mistake. Universal needs to expand Potter stat to help spread the crowds. Unfortunately the resources they'll devote to that project seem likely to prevent necessary work on the other side of IOA. The park would benefit from a new attraction, a counterweight to add capacity and redistribute crowd flow.

^^I have the same photo on my phone. Interesting to see deconstruction on a Sunday. They're in a hurry!

1. Kraken - It's big, like a B&M hyper with inversions. 2. Medusa - Extra credit for its Discovery Kingdom headliner status. 3. Superman Krypton Coaster - Great setting, but the second half meanders. 4. Dominator - Epic loop. Rattles more than any other in the family (that I've experienced). 5. Bizarro - Shrug. The layout is as incoherent as that audio mess of a soundtrack - almost. 6. Hydra - The Jojo roll can't save an otherwise tiny ride. 7. Scream - The last of this list would rock at Knott's, but it's lost among Magic Mt's extensive line-up.

^What he said. We don't all have minions a la Robb.

The OC Register interviews new / returning Knott's executive Kaprelyan, who hints at improvements that will make Knott's a must destination once again: The rest: ocresort.ocregister.com/2011/10/12/new-chief-promises-new-thrills-alongside-old-charm-at-knotts/89973/ Hyper / giga? He doesn't say. Any guesses when will they announce what's coming?