chadster

IDK, i just found it to be somewhat comical so I had to post it....now I just need to find the 40 y/o virgin to check for the red dot It's an acutal AP news story... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38051788/

Patiently awaiting the next installment of TPR UK story time with Elissa

Like the article suggests, I doubt they will ever incorporate the design into a new coaster, however, there is a part of me that would like to see it happen just to try it out. I would almost fly to Sweden if they built the thing over there, TPR Trip anyone? But, in all reality, about the only people who would be able to tell any difference would be those of us in the coaster/theme park community. The GP probably wouldn't notice too much as most get on a ride, say they rode it, and never think twice about it.

^^agreed 100%

OMG, was Sea World ever packed this past Friday. They were comning in by the bus load. That was my first visit there in, well, since after it opened many many years ago. They were busy finishing up something in the kids area and again, most were in the water park, Shamu, or the three water rides. That being said, I very much agree they are taking a chunk out of SFFT's market share and have this refill bottle promo for season pass holders, pay 25 bucks and get free refills all year.

I've got nothing.

^^Thanks, glad you like. I have more to add tomorrow on SFOT (it was hot hot hot and I didn't stick around long) SFFT had mediocre crowds, most were in the water park or at Goliath/Rattler/Superman. You could tell they were skimping on staff to make up for the attendance short fall. It's in a great area of town IMO and a clean solid parke, and for their sake would like to have seen the park busier which would add more trains to the tracks and more staff to the payroll. The new CEO is definitely looking at each park individually and making adjustments as needed. They have billboards up all over town and frequent radio ads, so they are trying to build a report with the locals, that's for sure. But like so many SF parks, they need to add something new (besides a parade) or refurbish/retheme rides every few years to keep the locals coming back.

Since we are on the topic of cost, I just looked at UO's website. I see they are right in line with Disney as advertised that they would be earlier this year. 1 day two park = 100.00, 2 day two park - 122, 3 day two park = 125 and for 25 you can add wet-n-wild (I must have missed something on Wet-N-Wild, did UO buy them out or is it marketing to add value to attract people?) Then you add on the Express Pass which please, correct me if I am wrong, and I hope I am, that depending on the operating day 26-70 extra gets you 1 shot to bypass the line and not unlimited and then add this NOT AVAILABLE ON THE FOLLOWING ATTRACTIONS: Universal Studios Florida •Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit® Universal's Islands of Adventure •Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey™ •Pteranodon Flyers® It becomes not worth the extra money. Bottom line, if you have a family of four and don't have an annual pass or have access to discounted passes, to attend Disney for three days and UO/IOA, could easily set a family back a grand just on entry tickets/parking/taxes and add ons. And of course the kids will want to go to sea world, so add another 300. People today are frugal with their money, myself included, so when the kids prefer Disney, they go to Disney, as they get older and understand the IOA concept and are extremely familiar with and fanatics about Potter, the family could switch over to IOA, but again, it's only good for two days tops, or 1 day in the off season to hit up both parks. Bottom line, IMO, UO/IAO and Disney court two different markets. Disney - 12 and under and those reliving memories or enjoy the Disney experience. IOA/UO is hitting the 14-30 crowd with rides geared towards the tween crowd and nightlife geared toward the 21 and up crowd. If you do the math with attendance, formulate out the season pass holders who go once a month or more, and calculate revenue, they are doing just fine. If they weren't, they wouldn't be able to build potter and make other needed improvements to IOA. UO, needs to update their "movie" based attractions, twister is long gone, lasts about 2 minutes, and takes 10 to hit all the pre shows. Jaws has lived it's life and in all honesty IMO, its now become cheesy. MIB is still realitivly in the minds of the current generation, ET is past it's prime, and the Simpson's ride is so so. Much like the carousel of progress, you must update with the times and build attractions in a manner that they can be re-themed/recylced once the novelty has worn off and people have forgotten about the movie the ride/attraction was based off of. I am glad to hear customer service is improving, it sucked major in Feb of this year at the hulk. I did get the crew at the Dragons to open up and be friendly which allowed for an almost unlimited amount of re-rides, however, the UO folks clearly were more interested in capacity and people herding. For the money we pay to attend these parks, I expect a level of courtesy beyond what you get at the local gas station. The flood gates are now open to shoot holes in my humble opinion on IOA/UO

Dominators 135 foot loop is close to 200, well, closer to 200 than 100 is....lol

When comparing Six Flags parks to IOA, you must also consider the fact that while some of the SF parks operate all year, it's not everyday that they operate like IOA. Numbers can be twisted to however which way you want them to go to help back your point and/or give it a little more pazazz. Bottom line, I can run through all major and semi major attractions at IOA and UO in one day (of course I go in the off season, Feb/Mar) and honestly didn't plan on going back on my last visit to Orlando (no, I didn't go for Disney, went for a Shuttle Launch and went to BGT and Sea World, had a much better time at those parks than IOA) had it not been for finding a hotel in the area that I wanted that was cheaper than anything else I could find AND included tickets and transportation to Universal. (59.00 per night) Had it not been for that, I wouldn't have gone as there are only three rides worth getting on, Hulk and the Dragons. Potter may be cool now that it's open, and should I go back I will try it out, but still, they have fewer thrill and flat rides there than the crappiest CF or SF park. Hey, but it has great theming!

From Fox News: I just hope at 74 I can still ride...

Here's another to take off the list Sea World Texas Splash Down link to thread http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=56036#p916311

last of the pics Shark!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! what do you mean shark, this is no shark, liar. oh, @#^@#^@*&@!#) Shark!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! weee i could ride this all day, much like patriot birds, in their natural habitat "hey, what are you looking at, perv" "i heard what you did, we all talk over here" "so quit riding Shamu, you whore. Now leave me alone, I can't even look at you, sad sad man" the rapids will get you wet, 100% positive of that Journey to Atlantis had a 1 hour wait, for me, a 1 minute wait. those people in line were so pissed but i don't care, I'm now wet, and they aren't. Its now 99 outside. noted. those are some steep rocks they have here.... pretty The EEL had some surprising and welcome air time over all hills, just brace you self for when you get the bottom of the hill and it slams you into the seat Testing for some reason, but who really cares. time to feed the dolphins, such a small swimming pool for all of them, but i suspect they don't care, they get fed and played with all day cheap cakes lets check this out nice jaws "you can't see me" "you can't see me" but we can see you, you lazy shark "#@#$^@$&%&^@ Leave me alone, YOU CAN'T SEE ME!!!!"

Next up I ventured over to Sea World San Antonio (7/16/10). I have never had a disappointing experience with any of the Adventure Parks, and this was no exception. The park was in terrific shape for being hotter than hell. The park opened at 10, closed at 9. Rides opened at 11, closed at 8. So unless you want to see the penguins or coral reef after 8 or before 11, there isn't a whole lot else to do. Shamus last show was at 7:30ish and they put on a good performance. I ended up getting a quick queue wrist band and glad I did. The Steel E had a 1 hour wait early in the day and the water attractions, specifically the rapids ride had a two hour wait. For those not familiar with hour it works at SW, its simple, pay 15 for one front of line ride on each attraction, or 25 for unlimited with double rides. I chose the 25. Basically, you go up the exit ramp, and wait at the exit (except for Atlantis) The attendant sees you, and puts you on the next boat/train. No waiting, to QBot scrolling or waiting for it to tell you when you can ride, you just ride. Pretty cool I thought. The only exception was on steel eel, to make it a little more fair, they only put quick queues on every other train as they only had one train online. With an hour wait, I'd have to thing there was something wrong with the second train to not have it on the track as The Great White eventually went to two trains. But it was a good day despite being hot and my having the worst sunburn I've ever had, I even went as far as to use sun screen multiple times, and finally when I got to the hotel, but burn gel on my head.... I have arrived! Greated with a fountain First up on the list, getting my whoredom out of the way on the Shamu Express Noting the performance schedule I thought about riding this too, but the parents were already looking at me like i was some kinda perv for riding Shamu. I told them I was scared of the big rides. place to cool off Ahh, my now 3rd favorite invert, behind Montu and Patriot Anyone up for some EEL? woa there sod buster, not quite yet. be patient wait for it weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee these guys weren't doing much, so I'll skip the portraits hmmm, what is this? Something to get wet on, it's already 93 outside, might as well you really don't get wet at all on it but it is a really good log ride layout besides the lack of themeing i think these guys were going to count it as a credit quaker catcher game this ones for Mr. Gator so is this one and this one, for the hell of it, I'll send them his way later. Speaking of late, more pics later

last of the six flags fiesta texas pics gotta have a ship the ss overboard frisbee broke... took apart tony hawk look, robb, twistyyyyyy and twisttyyyyyyyy ohhhhhhhhhhhh crap so does the little bunny hill on this log flume ride count as a credit? don't answer that. indoor food court not sure why i took a picture of this, and since i'm not sure why, I'm also not sure why I'm posting it. wrapped stairs to go with the wrapped coasters with strident, you too can practice safe breath and finally, we end our journey with one picture of a water slide. Next up, Sea World

more pics the gully washer, line closes at 6:30 so they can get your the $%$%!@ out of this part of the park for their night show more atmosphere, well kept and in working order. nice view for ten bucks you come back again, just not after august 22, and now, not during the holidays six flags wouldn't be complete with this for you menu freaks decent ride program noted ahhh, now in my top 5 of favorite B&M's weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee wiggles world yes, i was THAT sad and pathetic...i feel like such a whore 2 wide swing, yes! wanna bet? dry as a bone

pics.... Ahhh, it's Batman, opps, sorry, I mean Goliath, I just get used to seeing the Batman layout and all that I just assumed this was another there she goes! weeeeeeee atmosphere pic more atmosphere look daddy!! look, they have a boomerang!! can we? can we? this will be the only picture of the water park you will get. fillerup film festival? The rattler...up, up... up some more...and.... awayyyyyy..... official six flags repair this thing is quite large noted.

stayed tuned for the pics, hit submit instead of save....

I let me tired a$$ donkey rest over night and made the short drive from Houston to Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio on 7.15.10. Got a nice room on the riverwalk (ok, at the end of the riverwalk, but it was cheap, and that's what I like) Judging by the parking lot, the park seemed to be at about 50% capacity. They had one ride down, the Frisbee, which didn't look like they were working too hard on it. In a sign of the six flags cutbacks to impress their investors with a $30-$35 stock price (no thanks) the staff cut backs were obvious. The only two coasters that were running two trains were Superman and Rattler, however, each of those rides only had to employees on the platform making for a slow load/unload process. These aren't short tracks and takes several minutes to run the course and often times a train sat in the break run for several minutes waiting. On Superman, there was only one loader which made it even slower, although she was trying as hard as she could to keep up, you could tell it was wearing her down. They also took the rattler off the flash pass list for the day as a result of manpower, making it mostly useless except for maybe Goliath. Goliath was only sending out about 12, maybe 14 trains an hour, average wait time was about 20-25 minutes, kinda aggravating knowing they could have adding capacity and still sent the trains out full or close to full each time. Also missing was Mr. Six (screamscape said he got the ax) and locker attendants. With reduction in staff comes longer wait times and many of the major attractions. I spoke to one employee guarding the flash pass entrance for a bit and just made a random comment that it sucked only having one person checking seats and that it was a cheesy way to save money, they chuckled a bit and said yeah, I know. Another thing I noticed vs. other SF parks is that a security guard was stationed at each the four rides that required you to put your crap in a lock box, don't know if they always do this, or they are making use of staff on hand after others have quit? But all in all, it was still a nice clean park, in a really nice part of town, the staff were friendly, and the rides were performing very well, and with the exception of the coasters with little staff or only one train, wait times were short, good thing I didn't get the flash pass! The Rattler is true to it's name and although it is a long ride with a large footprint, the almost triple circle (i won't call it a helix) was kinda boring. The best part of the ride was the first 1/4 and last 1/4. Poltergeist was awesome, and made me a little dizzy, which was cool. The Boomerang was surprisingly smooth, and Goliath was a nice ride, tho very suspiciously similar to a batman, hmmm.

and last round of pic's Bell's used to have one of these....ahh. bell's, RIP stairway to heaven guarded by this freaky character full shot of the double decker The Big Wheel Flyer, it was actually a fun ride, made me smile anyways. Drop in the back ground. That was an intersting experience, jerked so bad when it let go that it felt let someone punched me in the nads. Inverter, no thanks. for you train nerds. The wipeout had a really good ride program, lasted a while and good variations, foward, backward, and high spped backward spin Swing batter batter batter The Boardwalk Beast The observation tower control panel, aka nerd shot it's been inspected and ready to run. good to know from the top of the tower say good nite gracie

Ok, next up Landry's Kemah Boardwalk. Small, but a good collection of rides. ClubTPR got me a 12.00 wristband at the ticket booth. They had to get a supervisor to sign off on the discount, but quickly got me on my way. Nice peaceful area, and everything was clean and in working order. When combined with other activities in the Houston area, this would be a great way to cap off the evening. Everything was walk on, or wait one cycle (Bullet) We arrive to the boardwalk free parking lot and the first thing I saw was a big woodie. I rode the front, middle, and rear. And much like an Ex, kind of a rough ride, but the more I rode it, the better I liked it. Ultimately I preferred the middle, gave me a better sense of speed. The train did seem to hunt a bit, but I can live with that. Observation Tower. But that's kinda, um, obvious tho, isn't it? Entrance. Off we go in seach of a funnel cake. Restaurant Row Natural Spring we're being invaded by aliens@!!!! "Dancing" Fountains Choo Choo!! Boardwalk, peaceful, and dead. Ahh, Mexican food, Spring Specials in July......hmmmm.... maybe those sping specials went right through everyone, cuz no one's in here eating. sunset Ike leftovers? fresh seafood, where the only thing they overlook is the water.

Gratings Coaster freaks (even the sad and pathetic ones). I have finally made the trip to the Southern end of Texas where I find myself hunting the elusive coaster credit. The first day on my journey (7/14/10) brought me almost 500 miles to the Southern Houston and the Houston Space Center and Kemah Boardwalk. Lucky for you, have brought my camera and ready to unleash a frenzy of culture and Texan Parks. I took the scenic route on my journey, taking the "business" route as much as I could off the highway and came across many interesting towns. Texas is great, where can you visit Paris and Palestine all in one day? Or run across towns such as Frognot and Gay Hill, or even a town called Lady Trin, heck most maps haven't even heard of some of these. They even had towns that had it all figured out. For example, one town had Prosperity Bank which was next door to Wilson Money Management, which was next door to a Bankruptcy Lawyer. Another town had a Church, which was next door to a Funeral Home, which was directly across the street (with crosswalk) from a hospital. One stop shopping at it's best. Take out the loan, mis manage the loan, then can't pay the loan back. Go to the hospital, don't make it, go to the funeral home, then off to the church, and then behind the church, yes, it's the cemetery. Easy and convenient, I'm impressed. But you didn't stop by this thread just to read now did you? Nope, you came by to look at pictures, so here were go. I will start off with a few pictures of Houston Space Center Culture. If you are coming down for the bay area (Clear Lake is a nice area) or just a day trip to Kemah and not have stopped by the Space Center, you should, especially if you have kids, they will love it. I don't have kids, but still enjoyed my day. Tickets right now on the internet are 14.95 (5.00 off) but they get that 5.00 park at the parking lot, which is the only NASA Space Visitors Complex that I can remember that charges to park, Huntsville may have started, but didn't last I was there.....So get your lean on folks! Steers are very important to the Houston Space Program. This one is arguing with a tree, I wonder who is going to win Inisde the Astronaut Training Facility you will find a mock up of the Quest air lock, you always hear about it, well, hear is a full size, ready to go to space, realife, test module The training area is setup identical to how the space station is setup Nerd shot! There is more power in my laptop than those things! See those rovers in the back left? They hope to put them in space.....in 2030. They will be about as outdated by then as those computers they are using, LOL. Modified Shuttle Robotic arm, this one works on earth, the real one doesn't This isn't your average pocket rocket boys. But there is one housed in this building! Nerd shot, I wonder what these wires do...hmmm... Finally we leave our culture journey and head up the road 6 miles to the Boardwalk, see you there in a bit!

I think CP and the CP "spy's" are going to screw with us a little, heck, we have gone from B&M dive, to a woodie, and now a Star Flyer. I rode the one in Orlando, and I agree with a previous post, it's a very uneasy feeling, and couple that with it being at a "fun" park that while I'm sure it's safe, kinda gives you a feeling that they may or may not inspect their rides everyday....This is one that I will have to see to believe.

boardwalk bullet, kemah boardwalk tonight, PTR coming tomrrow with that and more...

One thing you should keep in mind is that no operating system is perfect, even the MAC's. That being said, Win7 is better in many ways over XP, and not in others. The stuff the home user or office user will see and user will be leaps and bounds better over XP, the behind the scenes stuff, management, deployment, etc are more complicated. The kernel in Win7 is based off of XP's kernel so while some seem to have stability issues, there is a good chance that you won't. The causes of a computer to crash are complex and are not always the OS's fault, sometimes it's a hardware issue, such as compatibility with the mingling components, or drivers. Win7 is 2000% better than Vista and doesn't require a truck load of RAM to operate which is good news for makers like Dell and HP as they no longer need to offer a standard 3 or 4gb of ram, they can go back to two, (i reccommend 4gb with 64bit OS as a good basic everyday user, it will perform like a champ). So all in all Win7 isn't the death to computing, and each situation is unique. But always a good rule of thumb is to make a complete backup(image) of your computer to external drive or spare HDD before doing any upgrade, you don't want to get caught with your pants down!