BrownStreak

So I am wondering if you know much about parks by train in Europe? I am hoping to make my first trip to Europe this summer (well I was born there and lived there for a year afterwards but still...) CURRENT PLAN: Day 1- Land in Paris, RER to Disneyland, stay either near Disney or in Paris Day 2- Early train to Strasbourg, Local Train/Bus to Europa, stay near Europa Day 3- Europa, overnight train to Hamburg Day 4-6- Weekend in Hamburg Day 7- Shuttle Bus to/from Heide Park, overnight train to Mannheim Day 8- Train/Bus to/From Holiday Park Day 9- Mannheim Sites, overnight train to Berlin Day 10-15- Berlin Day 16- Berlin, overnight train to Amsterdam Day 17-22- Amsterdam, possible trip to Dutch Parks (?) Day 23- Travel to Brussels/Antwerp area Day 24-27- Brussels/Antwerp area, possible trip to Belgium Parks (?) Day 28- Travel to Cologne/Koln Day 29- Phantasialand Day 30- Travel to Paris for departure Too much? Too little? I don't have a great deal of money but I have a month off between the end of my contract job and the start of Grad School... Its looking like my train trips and transit cards will run around $600 - which includes four overnight trains which will save on a hotel. My biggest concern is on luggage. If I travel straight to a park before stopping at a hotel - what can I do with my luggage? All of my parks would be Monday - Thursday and I'd be 'going out' on the weekends in the big cities.

The BTTF Building (which now holds the Simpsons) is actually resting on giant rollers so that it moves during an earthquake - you probably wouldn't want too much under a structure like that. The current Tram Loading area is in like the 4th location in 'recent' history, It used to load from the lower lot.

Just gonna throw this out there, but although the Books say Kings Cross, the film says Kings Cross, and the internal shots are Kings Cross, the external shots are of St Pancras Station... Not to go completely off subject -- but this never made much since considering the Leaky Cauldron is supposedly on Charring Cross Road - just up the street from the Charring Cross Station - yet they travel 1 1/2 miles to Kings Cross instead...

You can't really do much 'underground' in Central Florida due to the water table. The MK's 'tunnels' are actually at ground level and most of the MK is actually 10 - 20 feet above the real ground -- kind of like downtown Chicago! One would assume that there are trains that travel to other destinations in the Wizard World - otherwise the Candy Trolley lady would only work maybe 8 days a year

Really? You realize that it's been almost 15 years since the first book came out already (and 10 years since the first movie). With a franchise that large with seven books in the series and eight movies, plus scores of additional books around the subject, HP has proven staying power over the long term. 1 million people registered for Pottermore the day it started Beta Testing and it is currently so popular it has to keep shutting down and getting rebuilt to handle the influx of visitors.

Adjusting for inflation and remembering that a clip of 'Gone With the Wind' plays in the Great Movie Ride, the highest grossing film of all time without a theme park attraction is...The Sound of Music! But the Von Trapps already own a ski resort...so let's move on. Next up...well #5, The 10 Commandments has a scene on the USH Backlot tour...then comes Titanic and oddly enough after that comes JAWS! The we've got Dr. Zhivago, The Jungle Book, and the 1959 version of Ben-Hur (is that on the backlot tour?). My personal favorite out of the Top 50 is #48, Blazing Saddles - that would make a great name for a floorless coaster...

Knowing that the parks abut one another my first thought was Diagon Alley; however, looking at the map below I realize that wouldn't really work. I am thinking that maybe a smaller attraction will open over there where JAWS was and then maybe some of the smaller backstage buildings northeast of Dragons will be moved (rebuilt) over there to provide Potterverse Expansion. On an unrelated note, is that Walgreens really right there or is that a misplaced label?

My initial thought with this was 'How Many Jobs are going to get cut as the result of this thing?' Its like when the Indy Toll Roads installed the ATM-like Machines to collect the tolls - it saves money, but costs a lot of humans their jobs.

Ummm....

I agree, I like the idea of the two parks having two totally different coaster experiences. Not that I don't love having SheiKra and Griffon, I just prefer the parks coming up with something a little more than an extra immelmann. Personally I think Busch shouldve built the first giga diver. I'm still waiting for a Twist/Dive - a dive coaster where the coaster twists on the drop - that way when you crest the top and are held you are looking at bare ground and not the track ahead of you...

I've never been on the ride, however I have heard that the 'Dueling' only ever really worked visually if you were sitting the the front seat...

Actually that policy puts it even more on their heads as they don't really do much to enforce it. Granted in order to enforce such a policy efficiently guests would either have to ride nude or in spandex clothing. As far as these 'two isolated incidents,' these were two that were reported and more importantly they were reported and serious. Situations where things are reported and 'not serious' don't get documented many times (and when they do, they are often only on the park's personal records and not those reported).

For some reason to me that 'cliff' looks a lot smaller than it used to. As to the noise issues with the track - don't some parks fill the tracks and supports with sand to reduce the noise?

Is it just me...or does anyone else see an almost hidden Mickey?

Oh cool...a roller coaster themed to Dave Batista in his younger years!

Hi, okay...just to fulfill my odd fascination with logistical items I have a few somewhat related questions about the Main Street Electrical Parade at WDW's Magic Kingdom (although the same questions could apply to Spectro-Magic. We are assuming that the parade is stepping off from Main Street and heading towards Frontierland for these questions: 1. How long does it take for any particular float (let's just say the Circus Train from the beginning) from the second they enter the parade route until they leave the parade route? In other words, how long is each float in the park for? 2. When the back of the eagle from the last float enters the parade route, where along the route is the first float (Tinker Bell?)? 3. How long is the entire parade in the park? 4. How long is any part of the parade in the park? In other words, how much time passes between the first float entering the parade route and the last float leaving the parade route? I know these are odd questions, but I am often more interested in these behind-the-scenes facts than I am with the attractions themselves.

Evinrude was/is one of my favorite characters! Orville is mentioned in one of the David Koenig Mouse Tales books as a costume that started to fall apart as he was walking around the park one day. Have you ever seen the pics of Pluto when he was played by two people and walked on all fours?

Where are the Loops? Its interesting that for nearly three decades (mid 70's through mid-to-late 90's) nearly all "Major" Steel Coasters had loops. Now there are hardly any looping coasters in the Top 10 and the two that are Top 10 are both inverted.

My favorite hidden Mickey got slaughtered when they added Sunset Boulevard to the Studios and was further destroyed when that hat popped up in the middle of it. I'm sure someone knows that I am talking about...and those that do...was that the largest ever hidden Mickey before it was ruined?

Who's permission do you need to get to touch the bird? The birds? Don't most people request that you ask their permission before you...touch them? Okay...everyone knows I'm a bit odd, but I found the sign on the left side of the Blue Dog to be really funny!

I would suggest the park at Mall of America...at least when I worked there it wasn't too hard to get a full time position...if you wait until they are hiring for "bulk positions" leading into summer. Originally I was going to be hired for the standard summer and part-time winter; however, I got "promoted" before I even began working. The only problem with working there (keep in mind this was 15 years ago) was there was a Born Again college not far away and a lot of the employees were from there and they had a problem with me being gay and constantly made stuff up to complain about me with...

What is the ride on the left of this photo? ?????

You guys are still missing the clue! Amazing! It's so obvious but no one can see past the hot asses! We need a gay TPR member to look beyond the hot asses and decipher the clue here stat! Guy "It ain't ranin' men." Koepp I am gayer than a picnic basket and I can't stop staring at them either -- only for me its like trying not to slow down to look at a car accident. I can't look at the picture long enough without getting grossed out...hee hee

^Yes, you are correct, that dot in Montana is for the Amusement Park Drive-In. I included many tiny parks in my map - one of the two dots in Phoenix is for a tiny little park that has a roller coaster that looks like its home made. Oddly I live in the Cleveland area (for another month and a half) and I forgot to include a dot for Kiddie Park, which is about five miles from me.

This is all I got right now... Hmmm, which airline has that carpet...