cfc

Hooray for Hollywood . . . Good luck and knock'em dead, Diablo!

And if they sell t-shirts, one size will have to be X2 2X.

Yes, I always look forward to Big Mike's TRs . . . Wait, has he ever posted a TR before?

^Lightwater Valley also marks the first (and, so far, only) time that I've ever seen a duck eat a hotdog.

^Seems to me that the resulting brain damage from the OSRs would render one incapable of coherent thought. I'm glad you recovered.

They should retheme the ride to The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde. First half--Jeckyl. Second half--Hyde. I bashed my right elbow on the first drop of "Hyde," and it remained numb for about five minutes. The ride is actually bearable toward the back, oddly enough; the front seat is where it tries to kill you.

^The cobra makes sense for Forbidden Eye because the setting is an Ankor Wat style, Asian temple. Lost River Delta is themed to Central and South America, hence the anaconda. At least that's my theory.

For me, I like the way the Crystal Skull ride is worked into the whole Lost River Delta area--how there's actually a series of smaller "ruins" leading to the pyramid itself. (Of course, Crystal Skull was in TDS's plans from the start, as opposed to being worked into an existing park, like Forbidden Eye.) Crystal Skull's queue is nicer, too--but it was good to see most of the queue gimmicks working at DL last month. As for the rides themselves, I like the smoke effect and the whirlwind in Japan--a nice change of pace from all the fire effects in Forbidden Eye. But the edge between the two rides is pretty slight (at least for me). And, hey, ya gotta love Paco's safety spiel.

Dinosaur is the Superstar Limo of Florida--but one has to ride it simply because it is so amazingly stupid. It like Ed Wood, Jr., got to design and build his own attraction. I went with Crystal Skull because it is the updated version of the original Indy ride in California (which is still great, I think).

The Six Flags chain isn't known for dark rides, but a good shooting dark ride can be an attractive feature for families. Has consideration been given to adding dark rides to parks that lack them, such as Magic Mountain?

I did. The Phantom's Revenge, oddly enough, turned up as no. 1 for me--I guess because it was my most pleasant surprise of the year. Great American Scream Machine at Great Adventure was at the bottom--call it the biggest non-surprise of the year.

Help! All of Hector's pictures are crashing my virtual memory! The dolphins at Journey to Atlantis look like they're living in a supervillain's secret base from an old James Bond movie. "Do you expect me to talk, Flipper?" "No, Mr. Bond--I expect you to die!"

^OK, it is moved that all Flash Passes should come with supermodels and chilled champagne. All those in favor say "aye." All opposed, say "nay." Motion carries. On to more new business.

Depending on how well they theme the ride itself, this could be a good fit for Knott's (much more so than Silver Bullet, at least).

The Japanese are particularly concerned about loose objects on rides. For example, you're not allowed to carry anything on Hollywood Dream at Universal Osaka. Before you're allowed in the queue, a host or hostess directs you to a locker, where you have to empty your pockets and stow your other gear. The locker costs 100 yen, but it is refunded when you return for your stuff. LaQua's Thunder Dolphin has actual lockers, which can be actually locked with a key which you can take with you attached to your wrist. (Hmm--a bit of an exception to the loose-item restriction.)

I don't know about SFOT, but I tend to think this is more about the money at SFA. Yeah, they don't allow loose items to be left in the stations of Wild One or Superman. Yet they have the little cubby holes for people to leave their stuff in the stations of Roar, Two-Face, Batwing, and Joker's Jinx. Who knows? Maybe SFA will apply this policy to all their coasters this season. As it stood last season, the policy was inconsistent and irritating.

Universal Osaka was great--and you haven't experienced Jaws until you've heard it in Japanese.

^The Star Wars prequels operated under two major handicaps: 1) George Lucas's script (the man can't write dialogue to save his life) and 2) very poor casting choices for Anakin Skywalker. I have higher hopes for the new Indy flick. And Wes, as I recall, the idea was for Indy to be noticeably older in this one--isn't the story post-WW II? (Or am I mistaken?)

You can hit the coasters at Dorney in a few hours (they have a cool little log ride, too), then make the fairly easy drive to Hershey. Last year, Larry and I bought our tickets for Hershey at the main gate shortly after 7:00 pm; this got us into the park for the remainder of the evening and for the entire next day.

^They discovered this formula when they created the atom for the Adventure Thru Inner Space ride in the late 1960s. But seriously, folks--rumor has it that Disney's legal staff once pushed for the logs to be equipped with OSRs. (I read this on the Internet a few years back, so take it for what it's worth.)

I say, uncanny deduction, Holmes! How do you do it?

I was a bit bummed that I never got to check this place out--was always rather intrigued by that pinball ride. Thanks for the article, Shane. The OMNI itself is also gone, I think.

"We have no 'n'est pas,' sir--only Hershey's." (Name the movie.) We now return to our topic, which is already in progress.

^Or it just might be a quick gag.

^Talk about your nightmare fuel.