Chrisrad

Anyone heading up to MM on Superbowl Sunday? I'm planning on going, but all of my friends are watching the game.. If anyone wants to meet up/plan something, let me know!

I went last year on Superbowl Sunday... crowds were VERY light - it was great! As a matter of fact, that sounds like a good idea this year!

QFT I will never go to the park on a Saturday unless it's WCB, or I take advantage of the Q-Bot. Regardless, I have had a lot of luck with the 'counter-clockwise' approach to SFMM. Toward mid-day, when people are most-likely heading down toward Apocalypse, take a ride on Viper to check out X2's lines.. if you sit in the first car you'll be able to see how bad things are.. If you wait to ride X2 at the end of the day, good luck! I've done it many times (on Sundays), and the line is usually ridiculous.

Wow! I'm thoroughly impressed with both the claw machine, and their attention to detail with their shipping procedures; as Robb said, a class act. It's unfortunate that the machine won't be around forever. Perhaps they can 're-skin/theme' it to be appropriate for the rest of the year.. It's simply too awesome to let this disappear.

Yeah, it definitely seems odd when you see the brakes in action.. the riders repeatedly thought that they were 'stuck'.. But in all seriousness, I'm not much of an advocate for our frivolously litigious society, so all lawsuits aside, how come CF has not done anything to GR to fix the problem (roughness). I'm young, and I can barely ride it more than twice, in the front; I couldn't imagine how the older riders fare, especially if they aren't forewarned of the ride's intensity.. What would it take? A band-aid solution of trims? Better trains? Or a lot of new structural pieces? Just seems like a fairly 'young' coaster to be such a POS...

You really couldn't sum it up better than this. The park was quite busy on the Saturday of WCB.. but in all honesty, with all of the planned activities, there wasn't much time to ride anything..

*the following is entirely false. No, there is. But they are simply emulating Disney's business practice of 'charging a premium for things that should be included.' New Years at SFMM will be a ticketed event - even if you're a passholder. *the foregoing message was entirely false. But in all seriousness.. That does seem odd that they are not scheduled for operation that evening. If it were 2012 I'd understand.. they would just be preparing for the end of the world.. but it's only 2011..

It's a lot like Pawn Stars.. Someone brings in an item and they want, say, $500. Then, a knowledgeable appraiser looks at the item and claims it's worth $1000. Immediately - in most cases - the person who is selling the item wants the higher price. While that's understandable, the pawn shop guys cannot buy an item for the exact price that it's worth. They have overhead, taxes, etc., etc... Sure, the owner can refuse the sale and sell it at an auction or privately, but again, there will be fees, and the possibility that they don't get anywhere near the supposed value of the item. So.. long story short - sure, the bumper car might be worth $1500 (to someone, somewhere). But just like the Pawn Star guys, that is their livelihood - they have immense costs involved with traveling the country looking for merchandise. And if you've ever seen other episodes, they never force anyone to sell an item, and don't always get something for the price they want to pay.

Any point in buying some of the "Terminator Salvation: The Ride" merchandise at SFMM? Last time I was there, there was a plethora of themed products.. Don't know if I should get some for the heck of it (might be cool down the road), or if it will all suffer the same fate as the DVDs and end up in bargain bins*. *On Black Friday at Wal-Mart, TS DVDs were a few bucks. I still didn't buy one.

At this point, I'm interested in this thread as a trip report.. It's great seeing other countries. For a while I've been wanting to post the significance of this photo: The reason it's a clue has to do with that fact that it was, at least a decade or so ago, the world's fastest coaster (and it's an Intamin). Oh gee.. where are you going? To ride what is currently the world's fastest coaster... Keep the photos coming! It's very fun following along.

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I guessed wrong..

EDIT: I can't add your pictures to my reply.. Someone asked you on FB if you were going to Disneyland in Anaheim.. and you said, no, that's a good guess, but you went there 16 months ago.. So.. Japan?

You guys are going to Australia.. to ride their version of Superman backwards.. ???

This episode??? I'll watch a bit of it to see what they say.. Don't know how much I can handle though.. Ok.. it's after the 16:30 minute mark.. goes on for a little bit.. Ben Affleck was at Disneyland recently (actually, a friend of mine took his picture last week at Disneyland ) so Jimmy asked for his opinion on Disneyland - Affleck said it was VERY expensive. Then they start talking about Magic Mountain - Affleck said he was there in his twenties and, hahaha (as he expresses), said they should have just left the car running.. place was like a mosh pit.. guys getting facial tattoos (?).. etc. Sad. And pathetic. Kind of a coincidence that he talks about Disneyland.. here is my friend's picture:

This episode??? I'll watch a bit of it to see what they say.. Don't know how much I can handle though..

I know I shouldn't add to all the food discussion, but I guess it's better than speculating about future rides at SFMM.. Have you been to the Pacific Wharf (I think that's the name) eatery at DCA, where they serve Boudin sourdough bowls and bread? That place is not horrible. I've had a few decent meals at the messican place by Thunder Mountain. But overall, I usually leave the park and go to Mimi's on Harbor.. A ten minute walk for pretty good food..

^^^ I wouldn't say there's a lack of interest. I read your posts all the time I just don't respond. Keep posting...I've enjoyed everything so far!

THANK YOU!!! I was beginning to think there was something wrong with me because I don't care for sports. I am into cars.. there's my sport.

Yeah.. I've seen that same situation on Riddler.. They hosed off the train and cycled it through about three times. It is annoying, but I've been pretty lucky.. it's about the only time (out of 20 or so visits) where I've experienced another person's uneasy stomach..

I just saw it. Toyota's latest ad campaign involves correlating their automotive technology to uses in everyday life. In this instance, the driver of the SUV in the commercial talks about using hybrid regenerative braking on roller coasters to eventually have a self-powered theme park. For some hybrids, braking energy is absorbed, stored, and re-used for acceleration. The commercial talks about doing this with roller coasters. I'm a Ford guy myself, but the commercial was still cool.

Wow! Incredible that she is still alive and recovering. While I understand the lawsuit and its extent, I'm quite surprised that the operator faces such immense punishment. I'm not familiar with how the law works if you seriously injure someone based on your neglect, but 25 years in prison? Is that a bit far-fetched? Or? Perhaps someone with more knowledge can shed some light.. I guess it would be similar to a pilot who 'blacks out' and causes a plane to crash, severely injuring passengers.. It would be sad to think that the operator was the guy from Bert the Conqueror.. I think he even talked about how many riders he had released..

Wow, that does look pretty nice - I'm quite impressed. In reference to moving the sign to the 'front', you mean the opposite side, right? So you'd be able to see it from the station? If so, I would have to disagree.. With the sign's current placement, you can see it from the freeway.. which is simply awesome, and is also good for attracting people to SFMM.

I went Sunday, the week before last; it was a great day with over 20 rides (combined). We got there at 10:45 and went the backwards route (opposite of the GP).. headed to Goliath/Colossus/Scream/Batman/Riddler. Then headed back toward the front to Viper/Revolution/Ninja/X2. Then back around to Terminator, and a repeat of Batman/Riddler/etc. Unless you get there before opening, do not go to X2.. the line will be huge. When we went on X2 in the afternoon, we rode twice without going through the queue again, after waiting only five minutes to ride it anyway. If you can search my username for my trip report, it'll have more info. But don't worry about a flashpass. We were done by six and ended up leaving to grab dinner. We got EVERY coaster in.. (except for kiddie rides..).