Sean Menefee

Here are a few more photos to finish up this update. The pictures below are of the Gentle Jungle/Animal Adventure part of SFMW. When Tava's was announced this was the section of the park that was taken out and remodeled to its current form you see today. These pictures were taken the last operating day in November of the 2005 season. SFMW Gentle Jungle Area: The Shoreline Express was retired from service the weekend before this photo was taken to make room for Tava's Jungleland. More Shoreline Express. Gentle Jungle signage. Random cages around the Gentle Jungle with nothing in it. The place was really looking like a ghost town at this point and you can now see why that happened. What's a TPR photo update without an evicted donkey? Poor evicted donkey! Last I heard he was still looking for job and looking to ask Robb and Elissa if they needed someone to lick packages for them. More random photos of the weathered Gentle Jungle right before demolition. I'm on a roll, rodents and a donkey in the same update! The prairie dog crawl has been around since the Marine World Africa USA days and was a favorite of the kiddies, (if their parents could find it!) Mr. Prairie Dog's last stand! I'll leave you guys with a shot of the Animal Adventure sign that was torn down over the off season. It was replaced with the Tava's Jungleland birdcages and entrance signage. The Gentle Jungle section of the park will be missed, but it was looking very old and weathered as the years went on. This new addition should help bring people to the back part of the park to really enjoy what Marine World was always about in the first place, the animal & show experience.

I'll be at the park on Sunday to snag some shots, till then I'll post a gallery of all the pictures I have taken of Zonga since 2003, while it was operating (and not) at SFMW. I'll have a link up later on this evening.

I'll be at HW June 8th & 9th, ending my week long trip back east. I'm sure by the time we get to the park we will all be ready to kick back and unwind, (aka sleep) a bit so it should be a realy nice visit. Voyage & vacation can't come soon enough.

So I was invited to SFMW's 2006 Media Day and I came away with a ton of really fun photographs of the event. A large majority of them were PR type reaction shots but the other set was a more general look at the new area of the park, (the set that's now on SM2.) The whole update can be found on my site by clicking the link below: Click Here: Tava's Jungleland Media Day http://www.sm2designs.com/thumbnails.php?album=21 Now some teaser photos: The star and namesake of the new area at SFMW, Tava the elephant. The Looney Toon's crew was on hand to start the media event off. Bill Davis gave an opening speech about the history of Six Flags Marine World, and then passed the show to Tava the elephant to officially open the new area of the park. Tava works at pulling the tarp off the new entrance sign for Tava's Jungleland. Batman "survived" the tree top slide, and looked tough doing it! Congo Queen taking her first public riders. It's a cool little flat ride with the word "relaxing" coming to mind as I type this. You can check out a small video I put together below: Random sky shots of Tava's Jungleland. Mark Shapiro and family attended the media day. The support structures for the entrance sign of Tava's Jungleland are two giant birdcages. Close Up.... To end the update: Here is one of SFMW's newest arrivals "Taini" kicking back in the vet building after a long nap. Some final thoughts on the new area: Tava's Jungleland is going to be great for the small kids. The place feels a bit thin theme wise, (themed benches, cans, scenery, art, etc,) but Ocean Discovery was greatly improved as the year went on so I have a good feeling it will get better with time. Jungleland's landscaping will look very cool as it's given a chance to grow in, for now it still looks a bit brown but I can't believe how far along it's come since my last visit a few weeks back. The kids all seemed to like the new play structure, and the water fountains added are a very welcomed addition to the warm/dry summers we get here in California. For the thrill seekers, Tava’s will not be your boat this year, but it does really help round out the back portion of the park that really needed to be revitalized. Be sure to check it out if you get the up North, and if you have little ones it will be an added bonus for the whole family. Thanks goes out to the whole staff at SFMW for the event. It was a great day of sun, photos, and great friends. Thanks for reading, and if you would like the full size/hi-res PR shots of the day send me a PM and I'll post a link for you. Sean "The" Menefee BTW, did I mention crews are on site now at SFMW tearing down Zonga for the next few weeks?

I have a few hand fulls of SFMW maps unfolded I'll ship out in tubes for trade. Send me a PM if anyone is interested.

More from me:

<----- Has whored for the Tahoe credit. I payed the dude at the park 10 bucks and a 4 pack of redbull and he fired it up for us to get a few laps on. Most of the park was folded down and ready for the off-season it looked like, so it was a strange experince with the sun going down and a big ass snow storm coming in. http://www.rcdb.com/m/ig652.htm?picture=6 I think this was around the third week of November last year. I had a hard time talking my ride into pulling over for this one, but she caved finally before we checked into our hotel. Harvey's, Kiddie coasters, and beer = good times.

Exclusive shot I know!

One of my new favorites:

My full/random as hell photo update from my trip on Monday can be seen here: http://www.sm2designs.com/thumbnails.php?album=18 New photos start here: http://www.sm2designs.com/thumbnails.php?album=18&page=2 Thanks for reading! SM-

I was digging through the 600+ shots from my Monday visit to SFMW and just came across the photo below. It's cropped out of a set of photos that were taken during Boomerangs first lift/drop. I have a full burst set of pictures of this lady making crazy faces that I'm about to turn into an animated GIF. I've been sitting here laughing my ass of for the last 5 minutes so I figured I should share the goodness. The lady in the yellow is priceless. That's a Vekoma face if I've ever seen one! BTW I'm working on a huge update that includes all the images outside of the Tava's tour. Link coming soon. Sean- (Wally name the time and place dude and it's on, first and second round on me.) Animated version of this coming soon!

My girl and I visited our weekly spot at BJ's Brewhouse in Folsom. I had the badass french dip and a... that is slowly turning into my favorite brew. I didn't have the D50 with me to snag shots of the goodness but you can read up about "Nutty" below: http://www.bjsbrewhouse.com/home_page/home_main.html Nothing like good food and hoppy ale. 8)

I upped them to our server dude, check it out when you get the shot RD. ^

I've dug AFI since their hardcore days, and figured some of you guys may want to check this single out, it's not bad, not bad at all. AFI has gone pop radio over the last 4 years, but that's not always a bad thing. This song is catchy as hell to say the least. Left click the link below to download the song... AFI - Miss Murder (Promo Edit) http://www.sendspace.com/file/icy23m If you dig it or hate it, leave some feedback. SM-

Imageshack photos are dead.

A few more shots of Six Flags Water World...(AKA Water World USA) You can see Cobra twisting in the middle of this shot. Sunbaked slide tower. These are from 04' and the park has taken even more of a beating since paint wise. I have a ton of shots from WWUSA that I will have to dig up and place in a gallery now.

From the Sacramento area? ^ And he's right about Sun Splash, the place really has a nice selection of rides they have shoved into a tiny space. The park seems to add vertically to the tower ever few years and as of late you can see it towering over the arcade/golf area from I-80. It's a cool stop if you're passing through the Sacramento/Roseville area. I'll be in the area tomorrow so I'll snap a few shots of the park so the out of towners can see how cool this place is. Sean "Someone (PGA) save Cliffhanger...." Menefee

I get to check this park out for the first time in June and all PTR's are super appreciated. Thanks for the info and great pictures.

Zonga's closure is a done deal. The park isn't doing anything with the ride other then packing up the trains and spare parts and placing them next to the station. The ride structure and signage are still intact but It's only a matter of time at this point before stuff starts being broken down and packed away.

Meh, never great, but not bad. 8)

Having grown up near Cal-Expo/Water World it’s a true shame to hear this day is coming. I had heard a ton of talk about the park loosing it's SF's branding this year, but this comes as a bit of a surprise. Here is picture of the new half-pipe they added last year, (I shot it at the State Fair in August.) As for the park, it's not much of crowd puller anymore due to its location so I'm not all that surprised, that park only really did well during Fair season. Cal-Expo is a great place but you have to walk a bit to actually get to the Water World gates inside the Cal-Expo fairgrounds, (nevermind how crazy parking can get there.) What it will do is open up a ton of area for the fairgrounds to expand over the coming years but I'm going to miss the place when it's 100+ degrees at the fair and we want to cool off. That was always a great combination ticket that we would take advantage of during the summer, and it’s a shame it will be going away after this year. Sunsplash in Roseville it is then, and they have a larger selection of rides shoved into a way smaller footprint.

Mega Drops are fun, we always try to hit that ride when it comes to the State Fair in late August. Thanks for the photos, it looks like you had a good time, tripod and all. Sean "Can't wait to catch some flats outside of CA soon for the first time in a few years!" Menefee

Yeah we had to eat some layovers to save on ticket prices. We end up getting flown all over hell and back on the way there. The flights are: Oakland, To Atlanta, To Memphis, To Kentucky Then Kentucky, To Chicago, To Oakland. Were bringing the laptop with us so I'll be doing updates from the road with video. It should be entertaining for everyone else from our lack of sleep.

Here is an outline of what we have going on: NorCalCoasters Heads East.... June 2 – 10, 2006 Friday, June 2 -Depart from Oakland, CA at 10:30 p.m. Saturday, June 3 -Arrive in Louisville, KY at 11:15 a.m. -Visit Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom (Park open 10 a.m. until 10 p.m.) -Stay at Sean’s brother’s apartment in Louisville, KY Sunday, June 4 -Depart from Louisville, KY to Kings Island, OH -Travel Time: 2 hours and 20 minutes; 129 miles -Visit Paramount’s Kings Island (Park open 10 a.m. until 10 p.m.) -Get lodging in Kings Island, OH Monday, June 5 -Depart from Kings Island, OH to Sandusky, OH -Travel Time: 3 hours and 59 minutes; 219 miles -Visit Cedar Point Amusement Park (Park open 10 a.m. until 10 p.m.) -Depart from Sandusky, OH at 9 p.m. to Gurnee, IL – Stop mid-way for the night. -Travel Time: 5 hours and 45 minutes; 335 miles Tuesday, June 6 -Arrive in Gurnee, IL -Visit Six Flags Great America (Park open 10 a.m. until 9 p.m.) -Depart from Gurnee, IL to St. Louis, MO – Stop mid-way for the night. -Travel Time: 5 hours and 48 minutes; 354 miles Wednesday, June 7 -Arrive in Eureka, MO -Visit Six Flags St. Louis (Park open 10 a.m. – 9 p.m.) -Depart from Eureka, MO at 8 p.m. to Santa Claus, IN -Travel Time: 3 hours and 42 minutes; 225 miles -Arrive in Santa Claus, IN at Midnight – check-in to Santa’s Lodge. Thursday, June 8 -Visit Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari (Park open 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.) -Dinner at Schnitzelbank German Restaurant in Jasper, IL (Open until 10 p.m.) Friday, June 9 -Visit Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari (Park open 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.) -Visit the Holiday Drive-In in Rockport, IN (Evening) Saturday, June 10 -Depart Santa Claus, IN to Louisville, KY -Travel Time: 1 hour and 25 minutes; 79 miles -Visit Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom for a few last rides! Leave the Park at 4:30 p.m. -Depart from Louisville, KY to Oakland, CA at 6:30 p.m.

We have pretty much given up on any chance of sleeping on this trip, but It will be worth it for some of the people who haven't seen CP or Six Flags Great America!.) Not to mention it's been a few years since I've been up to Ohio, and Skyhawk looks cool after getting a chance to experince Screamin Swing during Solace this year. Voyage is icing on the cake, and we will get a shot to rest a bit before we gotta fly back to Oakland, (then drive back to Sacramento,) on the 10th. Redbull and cheap motels are the lick. Edit.... Side note: There are going to be five of us on this trip. Al and his girlfriend Kelly, Kelly and myself, and RD.