ILoveRides

By the way, did anyone catch Gertrude in the group photo? She's hard to spot, but she's really there. She's way in the back and REALLY tiny, so I zoomed in on her.

Knott's really upped their game this year despite horrible weather. It seemed like they took the feedback from the previous year and used it to make the event a lot better. The tours were really unique and informative this year, the "save" of night-time ERT was unexpected and maybe even more fun than the scheduled ERT would have been, and even the little details like the custom West Coast Bash shirt for Snoopy and attendees didn't go unnoticed. Seriously - great job Knott's. And not to leave Magic Mountain out - their event was the same great event it always is - neat tours and tons of awesome ERT with really unique and creative bonuses that you can't usually experience. Thanks to both parks, Robb, and all the other people involved with the event. As always, I'm watching the calendar counting down the days until next year.

^^ That reminds me, I forgot to post a picture of Gertrude on Superman! Gertrude loved riding Superman backwards! Gertrude is a Supergoose!

West Coast Bash 2011 was great! Here's just a small taste... The night before West Coast Bash, SFMM security cameras caught some abnormal activity. The night before West Coast Bash, SFMM security cameras caught some abnormal activity. The night before West Coast Bash, SFMM security cameras caught some abnormal activity. Brittney and I arrived bright and early to Magic Mountain. That poor sign has no purpose! Just before opening, Neil gave some announcements. The huge crowd was excited for morning ERT. Once inside, we ran into Gertrude. Gertrude belittled the useless sign. Gertrude started feeling bad for Mr. Sign when he started crying. Being the nice goose that Gertrude is, she decided to help Mr. Sign become important. We couldn't hang around with Gertrude because we didn't want to miss morning ERT. We'll check back with Mr. Sign later though! After ERT we had a tour of a haunt maze. Brittney fell in love with the attraction. Big Mike got spooked! It was neat seeing a haunt with the lights on. There were lots of spooky things like these tombstones. After a ride on Superman (which is WAY better than it used to be), it was time for lunch. And then came our behind the scenes look at Tatsu where we saw tons of stuff you can't normally see. More stuff you can't normally see. And something you probably wish you didn't see! We took a spin on Goldrusher, then headed over to the Q&A session which was hilarious as always. Then came a special announcement in a big envelope... Yay!!! After the Q&A session we headed outside the park to Tomato Joe's for our (now annual) vegan pizza adventure. Then back to the park for night time ERT. X2 had a cool new soundtrack. Scream was re-themed to dance party Scream. The whole ERT session was the manliest ERT time since the invention of the manly pose. It was absolutely ridiculous. Thanks to Brittney, The Bebes, Matt, and Paul for being extra manly - it was really memorable! And probably the coolest bonus was Batman with lights and fog. Everyone agreed, this just "worked." It's too bad it can't always be foggy. Thanks to SFMM for a great day with tons of fun suprises!

Inside joke? What joke? Prince Desmond is real and he is going to save teh dipper - which is more than you can say for yourself.

I've seen Prince Desmond's piggy bank, and I must say, I have my doubts about whether he was able to afford the Big Dipper. Prince Desmond's Piggy Bank.

Rideaccidents.com confirms it is the Hi-Miler.

^ It must be a really good trip report!

SFMM Security Update 3 of 3. Camera #38

SFMM Security Update 2 of 3. Camera #16

SFMM Security Update 1 of 3. Camera #7

Oh, and a tip for anyone having trouble with the video freezing: Click "Click to download video to your computer or iPod/iPhone" which will take you to the Coastertube page for the video. Then, on the Coastertube page, click "Download Original Video File." This will download a .wmv file to your computer which shouldn't freeze and will allow you to fast forward and rewind. Enjoy!

Big Mike, that was so much fun to watch! Brittney and I just watched the whole thing and we really enjoyed it. Way to start episode #1 off with a huge celebrity - Santa Claus! Also, you had us LOLing when Rudy started talking, hilarious! We like to make inatimate objects talk too hehe. The whole show was a blast to watch, and I know we'll look forward to every future episode you make. That must have been a ton of work to put together, and it shows! Congrats on trying something new and doing such an awesome job at it on your first try! We're going to have to mail you something for show #2!

Song #4 is Kelly Clarkson "A Moment Like This"! *Back to watching the show*

Cool report! That picture of Superman with the confetti is sexy hotness. The ride looks great, and I can't wait to ride it at WCB. Gertrude tried her best to convince everyone that she was media, but sadly they didn't let her ride. Looking pretty manly! Gertrude left upset. It looks like we'll have to wait until West Coast Bash to see if she gets to ride.

For some reason my computer won't load past 11:23, so I haven't been able to watch the POV yet. But here a few thoughts from what I was able to see so far: - The ride looks awesome! It looks like a really nice mix of scary and fun. I think I would actually be a little scared to ride it, especially with so little in the way of harnesses. - I can't imagine this thing ever running again in sue-happy America. (But I would make a point to seek it out if it did run again!) - This video must be really cool to see if, unlike me, you were someone who actually rode it. This video is probably going to bring back a ton of fond memories for people. - It was neat seeing the owners ride it with no one else. It made it much easier to see what was going on, and it was nice seeing experienced people riding it. - Those owners are like 100x cleaner and nicer than any carnival worker I've seen in so cal.

^ I'm about to watch the vid... and I must say, I'm pretty much more excited about watching this video than any in recent memory. I've read so much about this ride on here that I've become quite curious about it!

^^^ I draw the line at Mickey and Pluto coming into the operating room and signing autographs.

Yay for Club TPR taking the stress out of getting tickets. I'll be getting mine tonight. I hope Gertrude got hers in time .

I missed it the first time so I'm glad the video is back up. It looks incredible! Also, you gotta love the watermark in the video!

*Resumes dirty talk*

So I came back to the chat room, then TPR went down for like 30-60 minutes, and when it came back up no one was left in chat . Oh well!

I'm happy Ninja was added to the SFMM night ERT, especially since if I recall correctly it was down last year. Ninja doesn't get too much attention anymore, but it's still one of my favorites. I'm looking forward to a bunch of rides on it.

The Knott's ERT looks great! Night time Xcelerator should be a blast, and two hours of Silver Bullet ERT in the morning sounds like just what the doctor ordered. By the way, I love that Knott's logo Robb posted on the last page. They should use that!

I love LA food trucks cuz they tend to have vegan options that are really good. I've never been to an event with more than 3 or 4 trucks though. Looks like fun!