Keasbey Nights

In my AP Physics textbook, a picture of Steel Dragon is shown, along with a caption that says the ride's vertical drop is 95.3 meters long. Alright, I can understand an ordinary textbook making this mistake, but this is a college-level physics textbook. The authors obviously should know that vertical equals ninety degrees, which Steel Dragon's drop is clearly not. There's even a picture that obviously shows the drop being non-vertical. How the hell do physics professors make this kind of mistake?

Oh, how I love the BBC Proms. This is Danzon No. 2 by Arturo Marquez, a beautiful Latin piece. I really admire that black bassoon. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vwZAkfLKK8

I saw the Progressive Nation tour on the 24th with my friend Ryan. We mainly went for Dream Theater but were pleasantly surprised with Zappa Plays Zappa.

My school orchestra played Shost 10. I absolutely loved it. As for Barber's Adagio for Strings, it is massively overrated, in my opinion. Another overrated piece is Ravel's Bolero. Even Ravel can't stand it, and he was the composer. One of Ravel's best compositions was his arrangement of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. This is the first of four parts (I'm sure you can find the rest): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_98452AxFI

My AP Psychology summer homework is to read 40 Studies That Changed Psychology and write a summary of each study. Wonderful. Anyway, on the 36th study (I'm almost there, come on!), I read an interesting sentence: The book was originally written in 1992 (although I'm reading the fifth edition, printed in 2005), but did Batman ever have the height record? I think that they were referring to Superman. And mega-roller coaster made me chuckle.

Well, I was in 8th grade the last time I rode it. I'm now in 11th. Considering that I've matured more, it would make sense if the ride felt easier on me.

Goodwin is a wonderful jazz comopser, but I'm afraid that he is outside the limits of this thread. Festive Overture is wonderful. Right now, one of my favorite pieces is Il Pini di Roma (The Pines of Rome) by Respighi.

...I know. That's why I mentioned them in the first place. And heck, my avatar is the cover of the Catch-22 version of Keasbey Nights. That's pretty awesome that your friend is taught by an ex-Catch drummer, though. It'd be amazing to have, say, Jim Conti give me sax lessons (I've played for six years). Anyway, back to theme parks. Mission: SPACE was running more intensely than a couple of years ago.

Every time I hear that comment, I smile. I feel like more people should be exposed to the greatness that is Streetlight Manifesto. Catch-22 is awesome as well.

Harry Potter won't be done for another year. It says coming in 2010, but I suspect a summer/fall opening at the earliest. You won't have to worry about HRRR, though.

disneymoc - unfortunately, no. I didn't have a waterproof camera (or a waterproof case). dragsterfan420 - to be honest, it feels like Islands of Adventure doesn't make updates very often. I suppose that the others do. Universal has packed in a solid selection of rides over the past five years.

This is a shameless bump.

Soon is a relative term, and hey, it's just a marketing technique. Universal wants more guests so they can rake in more money. If you talk to a staff member at Universal, they will tell you that they have no idea when it's going to open and that you should check the website for any information. I'm not sure whether or not they were instructed to say that. My best bet for an opening would be the end of July.

Driving down I-95. At an inaugural gala with friends after Barack Obama's inauguration. I can't believe I was there. I'm the second from the left.

I rode it when I was 7 or 8 and didn't appreciate the ride at all. Now that I am about ten years older and more mature, I was able to understand the ride and the humor...I just thought that Ellen wasn't funny. No worries. I'm glad that you like it; the attraction is highly underrated.

redacted

Yeah, I was at the parks on Tuesday, and there was a crane working on HRRR's lift. However, I got to see a practice train run. One of my friends up there today texted me and said that it was open and he was able to ride it, but I don't believe him for a second. I asked him to send a picture of it running, and he refused. However, if anybody would like to prove me wrong, I'd be more than glad.

A friend who went today said that nobody was riding and it was still "under construction".

Nice photos, witty captions, and wonderful watch. (: As somebody mentioned, your crappy camera sure takes some nice shots. I liked your Raptor photos. Don't be so harsh on Mantis. When you grow some more, you'll fit into the restraints better, and you won't rattle around so much.

I'd hate to make a non-contributive post, but I absolutely love the new wordfilter. I heard rumors of soft openings, letting some lucky guests ride who happen to be in the right place at the right time. This is after they let ride ops test it, of course.

From what I remember, Batman The Ride at Magic Mountain was very intense. My vision dimmed the first time I went on IOA's Incredible Hulk (it was during the cobra roll), but that was because I was young. I'd call it a toss-up between BTR and Mantis at Cedar Point - whichever one happens to be running better that day.

I wasn't aware that the rings weren't up, and I'm sure that the ride can operate without the rings without losing the full HRRR experience. With that being said, they do look pretty cool, as I believe I've mentioned previously. My post was more wishful thinking than anything else, I suppose. I have a friend going Universal tomorrow, so I'll have her tell me what's going on and maybe take some pictures.

I feel like I need to add my two cents here. There are going to be some parks that either don't care or will let you take POVs and photos. By all means be responsible when doing this. Just because you're allowed to take a video doesn't mean that you should recklessly disregard safety. If your camera has a neckstrap or wriststrap, wear it. If you can duct tape the camera to your hand, that's good. There is always the possibility of an accident happening, and in the worst-case scenario, somebody is dead, their family is grieving, you are responsible, and the park will no longer allow cameras. A similar thing happened at Holiday World after the Stark Raven Mad 2003 incident. For those of you who don't know, a woman was believed to have unfastened her seatbelt and stood up while on the Raven. She was ejected from her seat and killed. Will Koch, the president of Holiday World, almost immediately issued a Zero Tolerance Policy - any violation of park rules means a permanent ban from the park. He explicitly said that if someone discusses sneaking a camera onto a ride on the internet, they will be banned. I believe that Robb has said several times that if a park asks for the information of a poster, he has no choice but to give it up because he wants to maintain good relations with the park. Come on. Be intelligent. Also, I believe that it should go without saying that you shouldn't sneak a camera onto a ride if you aren't allowed.

One of my friends reckons that it'll open tomorrow to celebrate July 4th. I'm going up to Universal/Islands on the 7th (and possibly the 8th as well; our plan is Blizzard Beach, but if it's raining, we'll probably go back to Universal), so I'm hoping that he's true. I'm also hoping that the lift hill speeds up if they really plan to dispatch trains every 29 seconds or whatever they said.

Even their normal food has huge portions. I'm pretty sure that their hot dog was about two feet long. o.O