talfonso

I did not see this phenomena on my visit. I bet a few swimming programs were offering free lessons to those who are needy back then. The proof was from a report about a drowning in the Grave (sic) Pool in 1987. "Action Park attracts many people from urban areas who have few chances to swim and frequently must be rescued from the water," said an official, "They don’t know how to swim and jump right into the water." Again, lifejackets were all but far from existent at the time, though even the most skilled swimmers weren't aware that they are swimming in less buoyant water.

When I found out the dangerous aspects of the park later in adulthood in not-always-sunny FL, I started to covertly thank my parents. They said that they couldn't take me to Action Park as a kid because it was "too far." But I soon realized that the duration of the drive, with Route 23 comprising the bulk of the route from my old house in Clifton, is just a small reason why. Oh, and watching videos of the park that I actually thanked my parents for not taking me to is an allegory of water park safety. Did you know that the vast majority of AP patrons didn't know how to swim because they were low income or live far from a public pool? And oh, the lack of lifejackets at the time!

I came across a video that describes it all: the MK's Main Street USA BGM playing at a spot on Legoland. Hate to break it to you, Orlando Theme Park News, but this is just public domain music. Public domain music. Played by the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra. (Yes, they also play at non-Disney venues and concerts, like silent film viewings elsewhere.) It's not like you'd hear "When You Wish Upon a Star" at the park entrance of a non-Disney theme or amusement park. But I have a story to tell. On my first-ever day-trip at Great Adventure (I'm a native New Jerseyan who now knows well not to cal it "Six Flags!") I heard the Beauty and the Beast soundtrack playing in the Enchanted Forest section. To a 7-year-old's mind, that's weird, since Great Adventure is a WB theme park. My grandparents used to tell me that it was an old person who mixed the music loops up. Same there with the theme music of The Land Before Time, but that time I barely minded at all. I have to admit that when I rode Journey to Atlantis at SWO in 2001, I barely remember the Beetlejuice theme playing in the coaster segment. My hunch is fictional auditory crossover, which is playing something out of context in another situation, usually music from a licensed media in another media under a different company. (Remember Kidsongs: A Day at Camp, when the kids sang "Whistle While You Work" from Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs? Weird knowing that Kidsongs is a non-Disney home video and TV series.) What fictional auditory crossovers have you experienced from the parks?

Slide O'Death 2.0? I thrice conquered Blizzard Beach's Summit Plummet back in 2009 (and that's one day). That monster should be a piece of cake and the slide I mention would look like a kiddie slide to my eyes.

Vegas in a few weeks! I'm hitting the Adventuredome for Frightdome! YEAH!

Geez - you guys are making me old! I'm pushing quarter-century now! I remember going to LOMB in Hope, a town that is over an hour's drive on Route 80 West from my childhood home in Clifton, NJ. My first coaster was the Thriller. It was a kiddie coaster (I was, like 4 at the time.) Proud to be living about 16 miles or so from BGT, where I rode my first major one (Scorpion) at age 6!

So far, I visited: Disney's Hollywood Studios Epcot Will head to LV early next month to checkout Frightdome in Adventuredome!

Two Words. Kingda. Flutin'. Ka. I was born and bred in Not-So-Dirty Jersey, and used to survive Parkway and Turnpike tolls for day trips to Great Adventure before this coaster was built. My last trip there in 2011 sealed the deal for me! It was my first time riding it and I saw this as high-class. Can't wait to go to Great Adventure to ride this beast again!

I live in the Tampa Bay Area, and our Busch Gardens, I can honestly say, is one of my personal favorites. But my favorite theme park is an hour away from my house. (I'm talking about Epcot, folks!) I love being cultured and hands-on!

Tampa Bay Area local here! Proud of the area's BG, our local park. Proud also to be living an hour from Mickey and pals!

Second Tampa too! The suburbs and vicinity (I happen to live between Brandon and Plant City) are also great! (On a side note, you can easily reach Port Canaveral from there, especially if you are hankering a Disney cruise!) And if you're rich enough (I'm soooo not exaggerating, folks), you can actually live in NJ! Great Adventure, a small park called Land of Make-Believe (my inner Mangione plays when I hear and read about it, I have to admit), its waterpark Pirate's Cove, and Mountain Creek, the successor to (Tr)action Park, are all there. Dorney Park is worth surviving Route 78 (We'd usually take Parkway south, then 78 west to there). Other places worth driving to include Coney Island, Rye Playland, and even Sesame Place.

Mine's the Runaway Mine Train at (Six Flags) Great Adventure. Not really well-known, but it was a pretty good ride. My first one really well known for ages the world over was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which is accessible via an hour's drive from my house, if you know what I mean!

Even as a born and bred North Jerseyan (now living near Mickey - go flutin' figure) I haven't had the chance to experience getting scarred physically at that place off Route 94, even through begging after seeing myriad commercials on cable TV. My parents said that it was too far away. After reading about it and watching this video, I have a lot to thank them for not taking me to the first place.

A little verklummt over this, having riddent it a few times with my late DF before moving here to FL. But when I first detoured Rolling Thunder for El Toro on my last trip to Great Adventure in 2011 (I'm former New Jerseyan and I still call Six Flags Great Adventure, well, Great Adventure.) and found that it kicked its rear and it became my go-to woodie. Anyway, that ride makes Great Adventure a future destination for a near-future vacation. This would spur even a move when I become a millionaire through a - *ahem* - legit entrepreneurship venture...

This ride looks SICK! I wish there are more attractions like this - this is a refuge from my state's sauna-like summers!

Bizarro at Great Adventure (we New Jerseyans past and present like me call the park in Jackson "Great Adventure" as opposed to the full name "Six Flags Great Adventure" BTW).

Love, love, love those photos, Adam! Especially with the food! Oh, and BTW, I'm sailing on a Dream-class vessel this September (on Fantasy's older sister ship, the Dream)! This TR gets me so pumped up!

I took my youngest cousin on Twilight Zone Tower of Terror in DHS back in Christmas 2005. (On a side note, it was Disney-MGM Studios at the time - le nostalgia.) Mom and I offered to have her ride that with me, BOY WAS SHE SCARED. I found the ride pic of us funny, especially with my cousin covering her eyes!

My first trip to the "World" started in that Christmas, when it was celebrating its 20th birthday. My parents and I just flew from not-so-dirty-Jersey to Florida. But despite my parents enjoying Disney more than me, I look back at how things were interesting back then... Yes, Dale - you can hold me. I'm just nipping at lace, so I don't mind... Waiting for "Sparkling Christmas Spectacular." Despite being too young to remember having seen it in person, it beats the current holiday show "Celebrate the Season" to the T! It's a small world after all... Ooh LA LA! Presenting - German Bandstand! "it's a small world" Edition! That was the first year when SpectroMagic ran. I see a zany pair of ears behind that metronome! I need Goofy to play for the local orchestra! Look at how enchanted and illuminated this garden is! Flora, Fauna, and Merriweather, please make me a garden like that! It's a pity when WDW recently announced that the parade is retired! But I'm posting those pics for nostalgia's sake! Me and DD at Epcot (Center) I found those faces too scary in Canada. Me and DD in Japan. I love how DD keeps the guidemap in his shirt pocket - nifty!

I bet you guys had a KLASSY time! I LOL'd hard at the photos - the pink golf balls (they look as if Domo is eating them), your reaction to Freeport, Bahamas, the towel 'gina, and more! Have you guys watched the production shows with singers, dancers, and a band with trumpets, trombone, and saxes? The dancers sometimes wear costumes with thong-like bottoms! Don't blame me, I was on another Fantasy-class ship Carnival Inspiration and saw those KLASSY costumes on the final production show! Doesn't get even KLASSIER than those shows!

ACK! I feel your pain, dude - with your vacay in turismo season! And speaking of which, I melted down at Epcot because a thunderstorm delayed the production of its nightly show, Illuminations. That was one July 4 there in 1995. (Trust me, all the turismos I thought I saw were Brazilian tour groups, blame my fuzzy memory for being so young!) We got ourselves cooped up in the shops in the Showcase Plaza at World Showcase. That long, nerve-pureeing wait made me have a bit of a tantrum (The Autism Demon came out of my shell and showed her true colors that fateful day!) When it stopped, I became satisfied and proceeded to watch the fireworks and lasers show Epcot is so famous for. The day at Epcot was peanuts compared to my worst experience in the Magic Kingdom, dead on Christmas Day 1996. (You heard me, I went to WDW on one of the most crowded days of the year - silly Muetti, Vatti, and me, the Disneyphiles!) Almost every ride had super-duper-extended queues, and we had yet to check out the new-to-us Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, but there's a long queue ffor that! Same with the greeting area in Ariel's Grotto - a super-long line to meet the Little Mermaid herself up close and personal! As a result, we rode just two rides for the day: Snow White's Scary Adventures (with her "Step out to your left please; step out to your left" spiel that get on your nerves) and "it's a small world" (doesn't need a description, for many of you who have suffered through it over 9000 times). Well, the shows and the old Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Parade (with Brer Rabbit, Brer Bear, and Brer Fox in their old seafoam green costumes and the then-extant Roger Rabbit to boot) were worth the Christmas compensation cheer, anyway! Lessons learned from the mistakes of the past: avoid peak seasons - you will surely save yourself and your family some grief.

First - for the most annoying: I can't decide, because I have so many pet peeves, but I choose that moment when one boy from some British family was putting mulch down my Bermudas like a half hour before Mickey's Once Upon A Christmastime Parade as I sit on the bench near the end of my half-day in the Magic Kingdom. (Can apply to any parade in a theme park that has one - there's plenty of mulch to go around and leave you wondering, "What is that?") Best thing about a theme park (besides rides): the walkaround costumed characters (Disney is one of them, fellas, and I'm loving it!)