KBrylczyk

ADMIN EDIT! LINK REMOVED! THIS VIDEO CONTAINS ONRIDE FOOTAGE THAT WAS OBTAINED BY BREAKING THE PARK RULES!

Hiya, dudes (and dudettes)!! Looky here, my buddy Mike and I are looking into a vacation for mid-October. October 12-18th, to be precise. A little backstory, you ask? Why, certainly! As you may know, I went on a vacation to California earlier this year with my sister for a week, same type of dates (Wednesday thru Tuesday) and had a blast, aside from a pretty crappy day at Magic Mountain. I would love to go back, but it seems like it would be too soon in October. My buddy Mike, well, he doesn't have the experience I do. He has been from NJ to VA and back again, with one trip to Florida, and he's two years older than me. I kind of feel bad for the guy since he hasn't gotten to experience half of the things I have. Anyways, one of the things Mike has not experienced is Halloween Horror Nights. He also hasn't experience California. I've looked on Priceline and found similar deals for the same dates, but I'm still undecided on which I should push him towards. Florida would be Universal and Busch Gardens, along with area attractions, for the week, with HHN being on Thursday and Sunday (Frequent Fear). California would be Disney, Knott's Scary Farm, and USH HHN. Now, I've done HHN in Orlando many times and loved it every time. My main concern is if the smaller scale of USH's HHN plus Knott's Scary Farm is worth it over HHN in Orlando. Any advice would be excellent. Thanks!

Great TR, man. By the way, I just found this picture on Reddit of a Raptor, um, "moment." Any idea on the culprit?

^ I agree. I've had many days where there's crappy weather and the parks are empty. My concern, though, is the park closing the big rides (I305, namely). If the rain is consistent, I stand a good chance of getting jilted, haha.

Thanks for all of the advice guys. I'm hoping this weather clears up for the weekend. Right now both parks are scheduled to have scattered showers on Saturday while Sunday should be nice. Ah, well, take what you get, I suppose, haha.

Yes, and extremely efficiently. I never saw the line go further than half of the staircase.

Eh, I'm aware that the park hasn't been the greatest in the past, but with Cedar Fair now in charge, I'm hoping it'll be fun. Also, having not been there in over a decade and with the park having Intimidator 305, I'm not skipping it, haha. I appreciate the concern, though.

I love this tiny park! I had heard such great things about this place and have always wanted to go. I knew I would have a good time, but I didn't know I would have this much fun. I also didn't know that it would be so small. Of course, I knew it wasn't huge by any means, but I certainly wasn't expecting it to be this tiny, haha. This just goes to show you, though, that size doesn't matter (ladies?). They pack so many things into the footprint of this park that I'm still trying to figure out what parallel dimension some of the rides exist in. We got to this park a good half hour before opening and were lucky to get into the parking lot adjacent to Ghost Rider, rather than having to walk through the underpass from Soak City. The walk to the front gate afforded us a chance to see all of the Knott's shops along the road that I had no idea about. It really set the mood for the day; a quaint, family-oriented park that doesn't strive to be anything more than it is. Thanks again to Club TPR, we had our discounted tickets printed and ready to go, so we jumped in line and were among the first to step foot into the park. I made the executive decision to head to Silver Bullet first, namely because it is right by the entrance, haha. Silver Bullet - This is one sleek, sexy inverted coaster. Some may say that it is over-engineered, but I loved the floaty-ness of the ride. The first drop is a very shallow angle and gives a nice flying feel. The vertical loop is, well, a vertical loop, but it is followed by one of the coolest elements I have ever experienced. This inverted turn into the cobra roll really took me by surprise. I imagine it is very much like the crazy turn going into the helix on Holland's Goliath. I was flipped to the side, weightless, and upside-down all at once. Great visuals, too. The cobra roll was nice, and it was followed by a true zero-g roll. So many B&Ms I have ridden with a "zero-g" roll where, I feel, they are poorly designed. They seem to rise, plateau, flip, then drop. This one, however, had a perfect spiral motion that never interrupted the curve of the hill and it just worked. The corkscrews were fun, and the final helix managed to pull some good Gs. Overall, I wouldn't call this a thrill ride, but a very fun ride. All along the course it had great visuals and the elements just flowed into each other with no problems. This ride is just great. Everything just falls into place perfectly. Also, I have felt more like I was flying on this coaster than on any flying coaster I have ever been on, including Tatsu. After this, we spotted a spinning coaster. I've only been on one before (Pandemonium at SFNE) and I know how much fun they can be, so we jumped in line. Sierra Sidewinder - Fun. Simple as that. There wasn't a whole lot of spinning, but it was there in small doses. I find that, on these rides, you can't help but laugh like an idiot the entire time. The experience is just goofy. About now it was time to get serious, so off to Xcelerator we went! Wait, what's that? This part of the park doesn't open until 11am? Well, OK. It's 10:50, we'll wait here with you. I can't remember the name of the attendant, but the guy holding the chain between Camp Snoopy and Montezooma's Revenge was a good dude. He was joking with us and giving us tips, and once a few other groups showed up to wait he made sure everyone was laughing. Unfortunately I overheard him telling one of the "regulars" (he introduced us to a guy as "one of the regulars," haha) that he put in his two-week notice and was moving to North Carolina, so its a shame he won't be around anymore to be awesome at KBF. If you're reading this, though, you rock! Once the chain dropped, we made our way towards Xcelerator only to be met with a delayed opening sign. Oh, well, I guess we can go do Supreme Scream while we wait! Supreme Scream - Yep, just another S&S drop tower. I still had a good time on it. This one was freakin' tall, too! We got lucky and had the seats facing the rest of the park. With the park below us and the gorgeous SoCal landscape all around us, this is probably the prettiest drop tower I've ever been on. Once that was done we saw an Xcelerator train run the course and decided to hang around the games waiting for it to open. After a few more dry runs, I saw operators sitting in the first and last rows and told my travelmate to get up cause we're going to the gate. We were no more than 5 steps from the entrance when the attendant got the call to open up. Xcelerator - First ones on the ride? Yup. First ones in the front row? YUP! Let me preface this by saying that I have been on Top Thrill Dragster and Kingda Ka, so I've had experience with this launch system. Now let me say that Xcelerator is better than both of those launches. I'm not sure if its because it launches straight out of the station or if the launch is actually faster, but it sure felt a lot more intense than the bigger brothers. So here we go...we get in the train, buckle up, pull down those gorgeous, gorgeous Intamin lap bars that aren't ridiculously oversized (SFNE, I'm looking at you...), and we're all set to go. I'm watching the strip lights count down, I see the brake strips lower, lights are about to turn green so here we g- Wait a minute, the light is green but we're still here. What the heEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FRIGGIN' WOW! Sure, I know it's not as tall or as fast as Kingda Ka or TTD, but it sure is more fun! The launch scared the piss out of me, there was no deceleration towards the end of the launch track, the main hill was floaty-air good times, and the turns were big and fast. Excellent ride. After that jolt of adrenaline, it was time to take a gander at some of the smaller rides. First, though, we needed a refreshment break, which, for me, ended up being a cup of Boysenberry Punch. I'd never had it before and it was very good. Kind of like a fruit punch, but not as sweet, and better, haha. Anyway, I'm only three sips into my punch and we're heading onto the Timber Mountain Log Ride. The attendant to me I can bring the drink with me. WHA?! COOL! Timber Mountain Log Ride - This was a surprisingly long flume for the size of the mountain! Where do they fit all of the trough? There was a lot of charming animatronics, the flume moved pretty darn fast at times, the indoor drop caught us by surprise, and the picture on the final drop was hilarious thanks to me holding my drink in front of me like a boss, wearing sunglasses, and grinning like Joe Cool. The best part? You don't get very wet. Just enough water for a refresher, which was just what was needed since it was only around 75 degrees. Looks like it's time for another classic ride! Calico Mine Ride - This was very old school and cute. A nice and long meandering ride through the Calico Mine. By the way, just like Timber Mountain, where did they put 90% of this ride? I tried to find it walking around outside, but there's no way that building was big enough. From here we made our way around to the Screamin' Swing and just missed the early bird (2 for 1) special by two minutes. We decided to skip it and headed to the bumper cars. Wheeler Dealer Bumper Caps - After you've ridden the Knoebel's bumper cars, everything else pales in comparison. These were fun enough with a large arena and the ride op let everyone stay on for multiple cycles due to the lack of a line. We did four cycles in a row and always had a good time. It was time to move on, though, to Pony Express. Pony Express - This is my first time experiencing these trains, and I'm still not sure how I feel about them. The concept is pretty cool, but I'm thinking the design needs to be tinkered with a little more before it can truly take off. Short and sweet would be the best way to describe Pony Express. The launch, while only 38mph, surprised me with its force. Of course it was nothing compared to Xcelerator, but watching it in line it seemed to be extremely mild. Sitting on the train, though, it gives you a good pull right off the bat. After the launch its simply a turn, hill, turn in a tunnel, hill, brakes. Very short, but still a fun way to waste 30 seconds. If they can fine-tune the train design and someone invest in a full size version, this could be a very good ride concept. We ended up grabbing lunch at the Ghost Town Grill. My uncle had told us before the trip that the food at Knott's was incredible and he did not lie. I got the vegetarian sandwich with mashed potatoes on the side. This thing was like five salads on a gigantic loaf of bread, with a small corner of Idaho on the side. Did I mention it was delicious? We split an order of chili-cheese fries and those did not disappoint, either. I saved half of the sandwich for dinner back at the hotel. Speaking of which, we took this opportunity to walk back to the car to drop off the doggy bags, and for my travelmate's stomach to settle. They don't do well with coasters right after eating, haha. Once back in the park, it was time to tackle Ghost Rider. Ghost Rider - I have heard so many great things about this ride, but in the recent history I have been hearing things saying that it is but a shadow of it's former self, too rough, overbrakes, etc. I am happy to say that the recent reviews were wrong. This ride packs a punch and definitely ranks among my favorite woodies. From the first drop to the mid-course brakes, this ride never lets up. It is fast, rough (in a good way), and unpredictable. Sure, the dead stop on the mid course is a bit of a bummer, but it picks right back up with "the drop" out of the brakes. My main complaint about this ride is that the finale helix just seems like a waste of track. There aren't any forces, the train just goes around in a circle with nothing special happening. Anyways, in the front seat, this ride is a lot of fun with some good pops of airtime. In the back? Holy hell! The airtime was insane, the train attempted numberous times to shake me out of it, and I was loving every second of it! Yes, this ride is rough. Very rough at times, but its a good rough. Its the kind of rough that lets you know who is in charge rather than the kind of rough that leaves you with scoliosis. Excellent wooden coaster. As a side note, "the drop" will still eject you from the seat so long as you're in the back of the train. At this point it was around 2:15pm. We had done the majority of the rides in the park, some twice, Ghost Rider five times, and we still had about four hours until the park closed. Soooooo, we took the opportunity to do another loop around the park. We took the same path, essentially, but instead of going by Timber Mountain and Calico Mine, we went by Perilous Plunge (closed due to painting). We took this time to hit Montezooma and Jaguar, as well. Montezooma's Revenge - I love shuttle loops. I know they're short, but dammit, they're great! The g's pulled in the loop are strong and the spikes still scare the crap out of me because no matter how many times I ride, I still feel like we're going to fly off the end. Always ride in the back! Jaguar - This ride surprised me! I know its a kiddy coaster, but it was reallllllly long and interacted with the park very well. Whole bunch of fun! We also got a chance to ride Xcelerator in the back row. While it was still amazing and the airtime over the hill was terrifying, I do prefer the front row for these launches and views. We ended up hitting all of the major rides again (Silver Bullet, Pony Express, etc) and closed out the day with a 7-ride Ghost Rider marathon. I really enjoyed this park and cannot wait to come back. I'm thinking of heading back later this year for Knott's Scary Farm, but I'm torn between this and HHN at Universal Orlando. On with the pictures!!! Yay! The roll of cobra. "Art" shot. Through the trees! Floaty inverted turn goodness! 4 coasters, 0 trains. I have the worst timing. I'm sure a million other people have this exact photo. Same goes for this photo...but do they have the train centered up top? Did I mention the disassembled Silver Bullet train? Supreme Scream is the new Leaning Tower. Through the tre-SUPPORTS! Wheeeeeee! Awwww, darn. Closed. Mmmmm, Ghost Rider... I miss it already.

Hiya, dudes! I've got a bit of a last minute long weekend trip that I'm planning and I was hoping for any tips you could give me. I have a function going on in Philadelphia on Friday night, April 1st. I've decided that, once the event is finished, I'm going to do a mini-road trip to King's Dominion and Busch Gardens before heading back home to NJ. The way I have the route planned now is to leave Philly around 10pm and try to make it to Fredricksburg, VA (approx. 1 hour north of KD) that night. King's Dominion would be all day on Saturday, afterwards I would head down to Williamsburg and shack up for the night. Busch Gardens would, of course, be Sunday, sleeping at the same hotel, followed by the trip home Monday. Now, I was at Busch Gardens in 2009 mid-august and had a great time. The lines were small and I managed to ride everything at least twice. King's Dominion, though, I have not been to since 1999 and am clueless on how to attack the park, especially since I'll be there on a Saturday. Should I think about swapping the parks so I would hit KD on Sunday instead? Its the very beginning of both parks' operating season and I have no idea what kind of crowds await me. Any help would be great. Thanks!

Wow, this is something I've seen a lot of. I don't bring a lot with me. I brought my wallet, car keys, phone, and a camera. These are things I cannot afford to lose on a ride when I'm 2,500 miles from home. I'd rather them be kept safe rather than lose them going through a loop. The fact that the just had to nickel and dime us for this security ticked me off. The cubby holes at KBF were perfectly fine (and secure) and Disney never told us that we "absolutely must" remove all loose articles, so why SF can't extend the same common courtesy is beyond me.

That's not the case at all. I'm a very positive person, I just did not enjoy my day here at all. As I stated earlier, the park has a ton of potential, but it's squandered by horrible management. Even if every ride in the park blew my mind, I still would have had a crappy day. The rides do not make the park. The park makes the park, if that makes any sense. Maybe the fact that the three days preceding the visit to Magic Mountain were spent at Disney and the San Diego Zoo had an effect, what with their incredible friendliness and well run parks. I had extremely high hopes for Magic Mountain when planning the trip and when we first got there, but both of us ended up hating the park.

Oh, I have no doubt. I know how the system works and it is an excellent thing to have in the parks. However, the front row should not be allowed. People wait extra time for the front row and it should never be given away like that. HappyEisentrout - First off, your post is hilarious to read with the word filter. Secondly, the single use lockers are excellent when they're free. I use them all the time at USF and love the system. Single use lockers or cubbyholes should be everywhere, so long as they're free. After paying the ridiculous parking fee ($15. Ha.) and the gate price, I don't want to be nickel and dimed into oblivion once I actually get into the park.

rcdude - We were there on Sunday, March 13th. The park wasn't what I would call "packed," but it had a pretty good crowd. Also, I'd like to clarify one of the major themes I'm seeing here: single train operation. Its not so much that they were running one train, moreso the fact that the crews were not being efficient at all with it. When dispatches take seven minutes, there is something dreadfully wrong. It seemed like, since they didn't have to clear the station for another train coming in behind it, they took their sweet time to do the checks. On Apocalypse we were sitting in the train for two minutes, all strapped in, while I watched the ride ops stand around the control booth and chat. On Tatsu it seemed like nobody knew where to go or what to do. Is there a reason we had three separate ride ops come and check our side of the train, and four ride ops check the other side? Sure, there is a slight chance that there was an actual reason, but I doubt it, since it was happening for every dispatch. When you're running one train, run the ride efficiently. If they were able to get the trains in and out of the station in a decent amount of time, we wouldn't have been nearly as turned off.

Oh no, I mentioned many times how the rides are good and the park has great potential. The way the park is run, the unsupervised teenagers wreaking havoc, the absence of any sense of cleanliness (we saw one sweeper in the entire park. One.), and the use of single train operation on their most popular rides was inexcusable. I know it is a year round park, but so is Disneyland and Knott's and we had no problems with ride operation at either of those parks. Knott's had single train operation on its two most popular rides, as well (Silver Bullet and Xcelerator), but those ones were actually undergoing maintenance. You'll see in the pics from Knott's that the second Silver Bullet train is literally in pieces on the transfer track. Xcelerator was being repainted. I never saw anything remotely resembling maintenance on the single-train rides at Magic Mountain. Once again, good rides, even a few great ones, but the overall park experience is horrible.

First, a note for everyone here - I understand that many of you enjoy Magic Mountain. I respect your opinion. However, be warned that this will be a pretty scathing review. Also, you will notice a complete lack of photos. This is because we chose to not take any pictures so we wouldn't have anything to remember this day by. Now, on with the report. This was, without a doubt, the worst day I have ever had at an amusement park. Some of the rides were great, but overall this place is a craphole. I couldn't believe how terrible out day was after seeing all of the reports that it was among the better Six Flags parks (which isn't a great claim to begin with, honestly). Our day began well enough. We didn't run into any traffic at all, which shocked us. We were tavelling on I-405 from Anaheim to Valencia and we were expecting to crawl past LA. Instead we had smooth sailing the whole way and made it to the park with an hour before the opening. We were among the first in the parking lot and were smiling like idiots at our good fortune. Unfortunately, these smiles would not last past the next couple of hours. While waiting for the gates to open (pre-printed tickets, thanks Club TPR!) I asked one of the survey guys if they knew where I could grab a park map. They directed me to the Guest Services window. Here I was told that they did not have any maps and I would have to wait for the gates to open and get one from the ticket takers. Why doesn't Guest Services, the people who are supposed to service the guests, have park maps to hand out? At this point we had about 45 minutes until the gates opened and we were hoping to plan out our day. Neither of us had ever been to the park before and we had no clue where to go for which rides. After that incident, we hung around cluelessly until the gates opened. We promptly grabbed a map and made a left turn towards X2. We ended up waiting about a half hour even though we walked into the queue right up to the point where they split the line. Look, I understand that this loading process is a bit different from regular coasters, but this ride has been here for years and they still can't figure out a more efficient way? Wow. Oh yeah, this was also our first encounter with the $1 single use lockers. Horrible idea. Just put some friggin cubbyholes in the station instead of charging people. Moving on... X2 - This ride managed to scare the living daylights out of me, and I loved every second of it. I was screaming like a little girl from beginning to end. It is such a funky concept, I really don't understand why this hasn't been a more widespread design. The first drop almost made me pee my pants and the rest of the ride was just a blur of insanity and fireballs. I loved it. After getting off of the ride, things were looking up. We had out adrenaline shot to start and we were going to get our chance to say a proper farewell to the good ol' Arrow Megaloopers with a ride on Viper. This was a walk on, but we chose to wait the extra time for the front row. Viper - There is definitely something to be said for nostalgia. While many people hated it, I loved the Great American Scream Machine at SFGAdv. It was a shame that it got torn down for a repainted Chang (seriously, you could have put it in a different location rather than replace a classic). Riding this guy was like visiting an old friend. While it has some slight design differences, the layout is essentially the same. Simply a fun ride. Oh, and we got the train that wasn't a rolling billboard! Bonus! So, to recap - We were excited, had a bit of a downer, but things are now looking way up after two excellent rides. Now, pay attention, because this is where things go downhill. Fast. After Viper we continued around the loop, planning on paying Tatsu a visit next. As we passed the big eatery, we see the entrance for Tatsu and grab a locker for $1. As soon as we're done putting our stuff in the locker, we turn to get in line, and they close the line, saying that operation is going slow. They give us tickets saying to return between 1pm and 2pm. Well, slap my arse and call me Sally, but if you're going to close the line, shouldn't you have someone by the lockers informing people to not waste their money? After retrieving our things from the locker we closed no more than 45 seconds earlier, we grudgingly move along to see what awaits on the other side of the hill. Oh, look! Termina-uh, I mean, Apocalypse. Let's get in line! What's that? $1 locker? Oh yeah...fine. This is also the point where we realize that most of the coasters are running one train. The line doesn't look too bad, though, so we don't mind terribly. About 45 minutes and 4 trains passing later, we made it to the first room of the neverending preshow from Satan's editing room. Apocalypse - I'm not even going to get into detail about the preshow. This was so ridiculous and horribly-scripted/acted that I was laughing uncontrollably the entire time. When we got to the third room I asked to nobody in particular, "Wow, can we just ride already?" to which the preshow attendant replied, "Sorry, man, but there's still another room that's even worse than this one." We finally made it to the loading platform and opt for the front row. There were only three people ahead of us for it, so we figure a two-train wait. First group goes, one person standing between us and the ride. Next person goes, we're up next, right? WRONG. Apparently Six Flags allows baby swap to use the front row. Screw you, Six Flags. Anyways, we finally get onto the ride and settle in to the nice Millennium Flyer train. My friendly ride op felt the best way to make friends was to jam the lap bar so far into my gut I'm sure he cracked my spinal column. Thanks, buddy! The ride itself was alright. It had a good amount of airtime, lots of twists and turns, but it felt like it was lacking a certain oomph. Oh, well. Still nice enough. Oh, also, let me take this moment to mention that the on-ride sound systems weren't working today for Apocalypse and X2. Boooo. After glancing at my watch, I suggest we grab some lunch and by the time we're done, out tickets for Tatsu would be good for entry. On our way, I suggest we hit Superman because I saw it running earlier. After our trek to the top of the hill, we're met by a nice big fence saying it's closed. Well, poo. We grabbed our lunch at the big eatery next to Tatsu. I had myself a grilled chicken sandwich with cold fries for $14. Thanks again, Six Flags. Tatsu time! Whoo! Hey, the line is really short, too! After using those $1 lockers again, we flashed our passes and we were on our way... Tatsu - ...to a complete halt. There were 15 people between us and the staircase that leads to the loading platform. How those 15 people took a half hour to go through, I will never know. Once we made it into the actual loading station, I made a startling discovery! They were running one train on one of the most popular rides in the park! AND IT HAS A DUAL LOADING STATION! What kind of crap was this?! Anyways, we got lucky when the group ahead of us asked if we wanted to jump in front of them so they could line up with the rest of their group. This ride was excellent. Unlike the craptacular Superman clones and the Vekoma tragedies, this is a flying coaster that actually makes you feel like you're flying. It also pulls some stupidly insane g-forces in the pretzel loop. Really fun, lots of "Wow, that's cool!" moments. Also, the lift hill was nerve-wracking thanks to the location at the top of the hill in the park. It seemed so much higher than it was. Finished up on this side of the park, we decided to make the loop around the front over towards Goliath. Along the way we stopped to ride Revolution. Revolution - What's this?! A single riders line?! NO WAY! Let's take advantage of it! Oh, wait, there's absolutely no line in the normal queue. And they're running two trains. Wait, what? One of the oldest rides in the park and obviously the least popular has both a single riders line and multi-train operation?! Why the heck hasn't this been implemented on the rides that need it?! The ride itself was fun. Nice piece of history, but those OTS restraints have got to be burned. There is absolutely no reason for them to exist. Their only purpose is to smash one's jaw into millions of hurt-filled pieces. On to Goliath! Goliath - Half hour wait, two train operation. This is one of two rides in the park that had crews that knew what they were doing and were genuinely nice to the guests. When we got to the station they were joking around with everybody and having a grand ol' time. It was a much-needed lift after so much crap earlier. Unfortunately, the ride was simply "meh." Sure, its big and all, but nothing really made it stand out. The only part that really got me was the infamous helix. I got slight tunnel vision, but I've gotten worse tunnel vision on Nitro's helix. The first drop was too angled. It hit the drop angle and just sat there. That first turnaround was alright, the airtime hill provided absolutely no airtime, and the twists and turns to finish everything up would have been really cool if I could see something aside from Collossus parts on asphalt. It wasn't a bad ride; it just wasn't a great ride. Collossus was closed, so boo for that. After the day we'd had, we made the call to do Riddler's Revenge and call it a day. Riddler's Revenge - I love standup coasters. I'm not sure why, but I do. We rode in the front row and it did not disappoint. This thing was pretty darn fun and surprisingly long. The double Immelman was really good at throwing off my sense of direction, and the little airtime hills thrown in made for some cool moments. After walking down the exit, I discovered the single-rider line and immediately went up the stairs. The ride op saw me and point me straight to the seat I had just climbed out of. Two rides, same train, same seat, same dispatch, essentially. My travelmate decided to sit a second run out. Also, this was the only ride aside from Goliath with an excellent ride op team. Good on you, guys! Oh, and this was running two trains, as well. Its a miracle! Final Thoughts - This place is crap. It has a few good rides, two great ones, but it is so horribly run that I will never recommend this park to anybody. Thankfully we did not end the vacation here. We saved Knott's for that honor (which ended up being one of the greatest decisions ever). We left this park with the general opinion being "never return." Robb, I thank you a ton for Club TPR and those hugely discounted tickets. If I spent any more than I did, this place would have been highway robbery. I invite you guys to change my mind. The park has excellent potential, but the way it is being run is just killing it. I've seen the Superman grand opening pictures, the WCB pictures, all of that fun stuff, and it looks like you can have an excellent time here. It really does! But from what we saw and experienced, we have no intentions of returning in the future. Sorry for such a negative review, but I had to share my feelings. On a more positive note, keep an eye out for my Knott's Berry Farm Photo TR! It is full of happiness, fun, and petite lap giraffes!

Yeah yeah, I know there aren't any rollercoasters here, but they do have a whole bunch of cute and fluffy things! There's really nothing to write, since it's a zoo. I'm pretty sure you'll know what you're getting when you walk inside. I will tell you, though, that this place is huge and it is a constant up and down hike. If you're not big on cardio, this is not the place for you, haha. Now, on to the pictures of cute things! This guy was hanging out on a tree right by the entrance. I'm sure he's the PR department. Frollicking! This guy enjoyed hanging out in his tree. Turtle must escape! Can't do it! ACTION SHOT! Hungry hungry elephants. These guys were fighting over whose trunk got to go into the hanging barrel. We got to the big cats just in time for them to enjoy their huge slabs of meat. Om nom nom... Camel. This guy and the other camel had a pretty big fight a few minutes before I took this picture. Hey, Monkey, make sure that Otter stays in his dome. Oh, great. You let him out. Good job. Capybaras!!! Capybaras sure are lazy. Are these white Zebras with black stripes, or black Zebras with white stripes? Baby ducklings and mama! I found Pumbaa, so where's Timon? Found him! I mean...them! And one more shot of the Meerkats to close it out.

Two more things I forgot to include - First, here's a link to Kaba Modern's dance routine that I filmed. Thanks to YouTube, it has been compressed and doesn't look as good as my master copy, but hey, what are ya gonna do? Also, I MET MICKEY!!!!!!!...again. Good times, though! That's my sister, btw. And yes, she is shorter than Mickey. I laughed at her for it. Mickey!

Well, well, good day to everyone. I come bearing my trip report to the Disneyland resort last week. As I've mentioned in my other posts, this was my first ever time visiting California and I've been looking forward to the trip for quite some time. Let me preface this by mentioning that this won't be a blow-by-blow of what we did for the two days in chronological order. Honestly, the two days were so jam packed and incredibly fun that I cannot remember it in order, haha. So, without further ado, let's get down to business. Since we were staying at the Days Inn Anaheim, we decided to walk over to the park in the morning for it's 9am opening. We had absolutely no problems getting through the bag check and ticket windows. In fact, the ticket windows here are the fastest I have ever witnessed. We walked up, told the guy what we wanted (two 2-day park hoppers), and we had them in our hands and we were on our way in less than one minute. There was no "Oh, well why not upgrade to this for only this much?" or anything else of that sort. Extremely efficient, which we soon noticed was a major theme at the Disneyland Resort. The entry gate to Disneyland was also very efficient. The tickets are barcoded, not mag-strip (like WDW, though they may have changed, too), nor do you have to stand with your finger on a scanner for 30 seconds while it attempts to establish your identity. Simply walk up, they scan the ticket, and you're on your way. Well, now we're in the park and it all becomes a blur, so I'm going to give a listing of the rides followed by my feelings on them. Herrrrrrre we go! Space Mountain - Simply astounding. I've ridden the WDW Space Mountain many times and love it to death, but the one here at Disneyland just destroys it. First off, it has leg room, which is excellent when you're 6'3" like I am. Secondly, they pump people through this thing like nothing I've ever seen. I would swear that loading time is 15 seconds. The train stops, air gates open as soon as the restraints unlock, new people are climbing in as old people are climbing out, new people sit, train moves forward, restraints are checked, train leaves station. It was perfect. I did not notice a single hiccup in the operation. As for the actual ride, well, WHEEEEEEE! That's the best way to describe it, really. This thing is fast, dark, and completely fun. Constant twists, turns, drops, and rises to always keep you guessing no matter how many times you ride it. The effects in the second lift hill were really funky, especially in the back seat where you could really appreciate it. The finale effect was also really cool with the re-entry, followed by the camera flash, and suddenly you're back in the station before your eyes could adjust, so it is all seamless. Excellent. Purely excellent. Captain EO Tribute - I remember seeing this when I was a little tiny guy and my whole family went to WDW. Seeing it again after so long in it's original 70mm format with all of the effects, including the dancing seating, was just great. I love this show. Buzz Lightyear - This was pretty different from the WDW version, all in good ways, too. See, on this one, you can actually AIM THE GUNS! WOW! Isn't it amazing what a non-fixed laser gun can do? Still a bunch of fun so long as there's no wait. Autopia - This one was much longer than the WDW version. Unfortunately, though, the front of our pack was a bunch of idiots that did not understand that they weren't the only ones on the track. Nothing like getting halfway through and then stopping every 10 feet because they wantt o take pictures of themselves or talk to the guy on the other track. I did enjoy the way the Monorail interacted with the track, though. Finding Nemo Submarines - I never got a chance to ride 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. In WDW they ripped it out and replaced it with a photo op with Ariel. Here, they kept the ride system and just changed the story. It was fun to be able to finally ride those yellow submarines. As for the presentation, it is almost identical to the Finding Nemo omnimover ride at Epcot, but underwater. Nice way to waste some time. Matterhorn - I remember seeing pictures of this ride and always wanting to go on it. It just looked so cool and fun twisting in and out of the mountain. Let me tell you, it did not disappoint. Also, it was surprisingly violent! I was getting tossed around like a rag doll and loving every second of it! We rode both tracks, but I'm not sure which side I prefer. Both were great. Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin - I love everything Roger Rabbit. The queue line for this was really well done. Walking around ToonTown's back alleys, seeing the weasels, etc. The ride itself was a good concept, thought I found myself fighting the car more than I would have liked. It seemed to want to change which direction it was spinning while going through turns in the track. Oh well, still a bunch of fun. Small World - Yeahhhhh...the facade was nice. Didn't feel like torturing ourselves by going onto the actual ride, though. Disneyland Monorail - This was a nice way to get off of our feet for a few minutes, as well as get a nice view of the park. Also, did I mention that this thing hauls?! It seemed to go way fasted than the WDW monorail. The trains are smaller and sleeker, though, so that could be why. Disneyland Railrod - Another nice way to get off of the feet. We waved to the people on the canoes and they waved back. Fun times. Alice In Wonderland - Unfortunately the line was way too long all the time, so we skipped it. It looked like a fun dark ride, though, and I want to ride it on a future visit. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride - Fun dark ride that I never got to ride while it was at WDW. I'm glad I finally got to experience it because I love Mr. Toad. Unfortunately I managed to crash our car and send us to Hell at the end. Oh, well. Astro Orbitor - Same exact ride as WDW, only this one is on the ground. Yay for lateral Gs! Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - Excellent, as was expected. I'm still not sure if I prefer this one or WDW's version, but no matter what, this ride will always be wild and fun. I did miss the flooded town, though. Haunted Mansion - Such a great ride no matter how many times you've ridden it. I noticed that this one was significantly shorter than the WDW version, but the preshow and lobby were way better. By preshow I'm referring the to now-way-out room and how the elevat-ahem, room stretches much further than the WDW version. By lobby I'm referring to the area between the preshow and doom buggies. This lobby had a lot more going on and I was able to see where the patch was, as opposed to WDW's near pitch-black lobby and constantly running into the rope stands. Indiana Jones Adventure - Best ride in the resort, as far as I'm concerned. Its big, loud, wild, violent, and nonstop fun. I'd like to mention that I'm a huge fan of Dinosaur at Animal Kingdom, but this blows it out of the water. Dinosaur was great, but it was always corridor after corridor. Indiana Jones was just EPIC! When you turn left to avoid the doors of peril and go up the stairs, the moment you enter the actual tomb, I was in awe. The fact that this was one huge showroom and not a couple of different scenes blew me away. When you first get into the tomb, you see one of the cars crossing the bridge, you see one plummeting towards the lava pit, you see fireballs and geyser eruptions, just complete and total chaos. It looked and felt like an actual crumbling tomb. I couldn't stop myself from laughing like an idiot throughout the ride because it was just that much fun. I could sit down on this ride and just keep going through all day without a care in the world. Highly, highly, highly recommended. Jungle Cruise - This was shorter than the WDW version, but still a bunch of fun. Our guide was great and really got into the corniness of her jokes. I'm kinda upset that I didn't catch her name, though. Oh, well. Winnie The Pooh - Same storyline as WDW, just differently executed. Plus, we had a broken car. Rather than floating through the flood, then hopping with Tigger, and all of the other effects, our car was floating through the flood the entire ride. I prefer the WDW version, simply because of that version's LSD-induced Heffalumps And Woozles section. The Heffalumps And Woozles here weren't nearly as trippy, haha. Pirates Of The Caribbean - The first half of this ride was completely different than the WDW version. Bigger and more drops, a creepier cave, a Davy Jones projection that actually works, and a bigger sea-battle scene. Still great after all of these years. Splash Mountain - CLOSED! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! ScreamScape lied to me. Grrrrr. Sure, the dates are correct now, but right before the trip Splash Mountain was listed as closed until March 4th. I can't imagine it's too different from WDW, though, so no biggy. Alright, now lets head over to California Adventure - California Screamin' - This was a lot of fun, and much longer than I'd anticipated. There were surprising bursts of airtime throughout, along with the signature Intamin "There's no way that turn will be smooth...guess I was wrong!" twisty goodness. I recommend that front row for maximum awesome. Grizzly River Run - Yes, we wore ponchos on this ride. So sue me. It was about 65 degrees the morning we rode this, haha. Plus, I didn't feel like squishing my way around the park for the rest of the day. This was a lot of fun, though. The drops were a welcome change from the normal flume routine and the raft was constantly spinning. Not particularly thrilling, but a lot of fun. Its Tough To Be A Bug - Same film as WDW, but being a newer theatre, the effects were better. When Hopped attacked, the amount of smoke that fills the room was incredible. Also, this theatre floods with blacklight, whereas WDW just goes pitch black. I enjoyed seeing the other audience members' reactions under the blacklight. Lots of fun. Mickey's Fun Wheel - We got a swinging car and had a ball. I was the only one in the car that wasn't holding on for dear life, haha. I was thinking this would be a lot tamer than The Wonder Wheel in Coney Island, but I was wrong. When these cars get rolling, they swing a LOT! I swear we hit 90-degrees consistently. Definitely recommended if you like scaring yourself silly with no restraints. Monster's Inc. - I had heard the horror stories about SuperStar Limo, so I'm glad I got to ride this version. However, it was just Monsters Inc. shrunk down to 5 minutes. There were some nice effects, like Randall's camouflage and the door rooms. Ride it if there's no line and you're bored. Soarin' Over California - Exactly the same as WDW, complete with the ridiculously terrible "no transition" scene changes. At least we got the first row so we didn't see the edges of the screen. Fun if you wait less than 5 minutes. It is such a cool simulator concept, just with horrible execution. Patrick Warburton makes everything better, though, so yay for him! Toy Story Mania - Yeahhhhh, never saw the line go below 45 minutes. For a shooting gallery, I refuse to wait that long. Also, no Fast Pass. What? Turtle Talk with Crush - Same concept as WDW, just in a bigger theatre with comfy seating. Always a cute show and a nice way to kill some time. Tower Of Terror - I love this ride at WDW, and this one was pretty much the same. The lack of the 5th Dimension room was annoying, as was the elevator doors opening to a hallway thing. Horrible design choice right there. The drop sequence was pretty funky, though I'm not sure if there are multiple ones here. At WDW it's a different ride every time, but after riding this one 5 times, I couldn't tell any difference. Still, the mirror effect was really cool and the first drop I never saw coming. Regardless of the poor design changes, once this thing gets going, it is still ridiculous fun. Alright, I'm pretty sure that's about it for rides. Lets move on to the shows - World Of Color - WOW! That's all that needs to be said. This blew my mind. Fountains that put the Bellagio to shame, extremely clear water screen projections, lasers, and dancing flamethrowers. Go see this show ASAP. Make sure that you get a Fast Pass or buy the preferred seating dinner package, though. The general admission viewing area sucks. We saw this show on Thursday from general admission because we weren't informed of the fast pass system. On Friday we got the the park at opening and got Fast Passes right away and scored the blue zone. While we weren't right up front, it was still an excellent area to see the show. I have a full length video of the show, but it is over 2 gigabytes. If anyone wants to see it, let me know and I'll see what I can pull together. Fantasmic! - Way better than the WDW version. Lots of lights, pyrotechnics, lasers, and they didn't depend on the water screens nearly as much as WDW. When the pirate ship showed up I was blown away. They also have the dragon working properly again (probably old news, but last I heard was through Screamscape when the dragon nearly fell into the lake). Nothing like huge fireballs launching across the stage. I also have a full length video of this show. This one is about 1.75 gigabytes. Same as the World Of Color video, let me know if you'd like to see it and I'll see what I can do. Aladdin - A Musical Spectacular - This takes place in the Hyperion Theatre in California Adventure. It was about 40 minutes long and we really enjoyed it. Whoever the actor is who plays Genie is really good (he threw in a few current event ad-libs for the adults ::coughcharliesheencough:. I wouldn't say this is a must see, but if you're looking for a way to break up your day, give it a look. Sit in the rear orchestra section, that way the Prince Ali parade comes right in front of you. elecTRONica - One huge street party that is completely immersive. This isn't so much a show, but an ongoing event from 6:30pm until the park closes. The drinks are a bit steep, but now I can officially say I've had a drink in the world of TRON at the End Of Line Club. Make sure you stop by Flynn's Arcade for some classic gaming. There are special shows that take place on the Hollywood Backlot stage. We were there to see Kaba Modern (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaba_Modern), part of America's Next Best Dance Crew, who lost to the Jabbawokeez. Excellent performance. Make it a point to spend at least 15 minutes hanging out here. I do have a bunch of videos from elecTRONica, as well, including Kaba Mondern's full dance routine (realllllllly cool). Still, they're way too large to post here. Alright, I'm pretty sure that's about it. Now for the pictures. Unfortunately I only brought my camera on day 1, so I don't have a ton at this moment. The other camera, though, was with us both days. Unfortunately, that one is 70 miles south of my house since it doesn't belong to me. As soon as I get copies I'll post them up here. Yay! We made it! Squishy squish! Sleeping Beauty's castle is so small! I see a mountain! I see a mountain...THROUGH THE TREES! Does this count as THROUGH THE TREES?! Oh, Goofy. Captain EO is back! By God its comin' right for us! Oh, good, it turned. Say goodbye to the landlubbers. Hopefully our awesome guide can protect us from those pesky tigers. Would you look at that lens flare... Not as spooky a facade as WDW, but still nice. TRON by day... TRON by night. Tower Of Terror by day... Tower Of Terror by night.

Now THAT is a winner! Thanks for the suggestions, guys! In N Out was already a must-do (it'll be dinner after Knott's on Monday, since it's pretty much halfway between the park and hotel). Medieval Times, etc, I've already done in other locations, so no need for those. Thank you, though! The Bruxie suggestion, however, definitely wins. I'll be looking that place up for tomorrow (Sunday) night. Thanks again!

Alright, I'm a day late, but gimme a break. Every day of this vacation is ridiculous, yet loaded with fun, haha. World Of Color from the Blue seating area (FastPass) - OH MY GAWSH! Remember how I said the show blew our minds from the crap seating? Yeah, try the same show from a proper viewing area. Incredible is the only word that comes to mind. Did I mention I have full video? That will be coming next week. Fantasmic! - WHERE IN THE HECK DID THIS AWESOMENESS COME FROM?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! I saw the WDW Fantasmic! a few years ago and left with a "meh" feeling. Sure, there was a special amphitheater, special truss, special lighting, yadda yadda, but the show depended wayyyyyyy too much on the water screens and not nearly enough cool stuff. Fantasmic at WDW is crap, basically. Thankfully, though, it made this version that much better. We went in with low expectations and were COMPLETELY blown away. When they broke out the pirate ship? WOW! When they broke out the full-size dragon? WOW! When they blew up the entire stage with a 30-foot fireball? WOW! I'll get more into this in the complete report next week. Also, full video. Booyeah. San Diego Zoo - Largest zoo I've ever been to. It was a whole lot of fun, plenty to see, and the animals, for the most part, were actually active instead of the usual zoo atmosphere of sleeping animals. Also, free parking! Yay! Alright, gotta head to bed again. Tomorrow is Magic Mountain and, judging by the posts I'm seeing as of late, I'm going in with low expectations. Leave it to Six Flags to kill an excellent vacation, haha.

Alright, I'm going to keep this short because I've got to get to bed soon for another long day at Disneyland tomorrow. My first impressions of the parks? Excellent. I've never been to Disneyland or DCA, but I've been to WDW plenty of times (even worked there as a tour guide on the Great Movie Ride), so this trip had me comparing a bunch of things, naturally. The first thing? Space Mountain. The one in Disneyland is FAR superior to the one in WDW. The next thing? Big Thunder. I'm leaning more towards WDW, though the one here was still great. Anyways, I could continue to compare the attractions, but I'm tired. All of that fun stuff will come next week when I post all of the full trip reports from this vacation. Anyways, I had an excellent time at both parks today. We (travelmate and myself) were able to conquer both parks in one day, save for a select few attractions. The only disappointment was that Splash Mountain is currently closed for refurb. As a final note, if you are going to be heading to California Adventure any time soon, make it a priority to see World Of Color. We got gypped out of good seats this evening due to being misinformed, but the show still blew our minds. Tomorrow we'll be seeing it again, but we're going to watch it from the preferred seating. All I'm going to say is that this puts the Bellagio fountains in Vegas to shame. Oh, and the encore? They turned California Screamin' into TRON. This was not a part of ElecTRONica, by the way. No, the show finished, there was silence, then the entire Paradise Pier, including the FULL STRUCTURE of California Screamin', turned into the world of TRON for the finale to blow your head into oblivion. Go see this show. It is incredible. Alright, sleepy time for me. I'll be posting full photo trip reports next week of Disneyland, California Adventure, Magic Mountain, Knott's, and the San Diego Zoo when I'm back home and get everything organized.

Hey guys, checking in at the last minute here. We're flying out tomorrow and I was wondering if anyone had any restaurant suggestions for the area. As stated earlier, we'll be staying right across the street from Disneyland, so restaurants in that general vicinity would be preferred. However, if you think it's incredibly amazingly awesome and all, maybe we can make the trip. What I'm looking for is a unique dining setting. I'm not in the mood for something like Applebee's and whatnot (I can go there whenever I want at home). If there is some gimmicky restaurant (not Rainforest Cafe gimmick, either) that you know of, please let me know. I'm talking the really funky places. Think of the restaurant from Pulp Fiction, haha. Any help would be great. Thanks!

Thanks for the help, guys. I'm not really concerned with traffic getting to Knott's as it is only 3 miles from the hotel. Going from Anaheim to Valencia, though, I figured only an hour, but I'll take the advice and shoot for 8:30. As for flash pass, I've never had a problem with lines at a Six Flags park. I live 15 minutes from Great Adventure and have never waited more than 30 minutes, even for Kingda Ka. Then again, I rarely went on weekends. I guess we'll go to Magic Mountain, get a feel for it and the crowds, then make the decision that day.

Alrighty, I've got this vacation booked (with one hell of a deal, I might add). We're going to be in LA from March 9th through the 15th and staying at the Days Inn Suites Anaheim. I figure we'll do Disney on Thursday and Friday, Magic Mountain over the weekend, and Knott's on either the second weekend day or Monday. Universal is out of the plan due to cost ($75 for one day? Really?!), so we have 4 parks in 5 days. Would it be smarter to do Knott's on Monday and do some sightseeing over the weekend? Also, I'd like to mention that Priceline.com is amazing. Flight, hotel, and car for the week was less than $550 per person.

Nah, flash passes and the like are a thing of hatred for me, namely for the prices they charge. When six flags decides to double your ticket price just to jump a line, I feel that I'd rather wait. The only time I ever use front of the line passes is when I'm as Disney World, where it's still free, or when USF still offered it for free. Thanks, though, for the information about scouting hours. I'll definitely look into it as the time draws closer.