TheStig

Woooo I got a clear one with a little red box inside!

Sorry, I just assumed that from the video that only the clear ones counted.

Pretty sure it's set up so that if something falls through the chute it will trigger that message. It wouldn't really make sense for them to have it set up to specifically pick out just the prizes. But who knows maybe you're right. I just don't see them handing out THAT many prizes. 10 to go until my turn again.

Haha I just watched that. You guys know that you don't get anything for the balls, right? Just the ones with prizes in them.

I did this earlier and won a pink ball that I never got a popup for, booo! In line again, about 90 people to go.

I remember meeting these people! I would love to venture down there one day and sample everything, looks like a really cool place.

Water Vortex and Triceratops Encounter working again!

The trains weren't that incredibly complicated, especially by today's standards. They may have been way back when, but considering what goes in to a new ride vehicle the BBW trains are tinker toys. I would honestly say that the Arrow looping and suspended trains are similarly complex, if you want to even call it that. I never saw the big draw about BBW, or any Arrow suspended to be honest. They are great family rides but that's about it (well minus EF apparently, but still I think that with a 42" height requirement it would fall in to that category, much like the insane PAX coasters). Out of the three that I've ridden Ninja was okay, Iron Wolf...was Iron Wolf, and Top Gun was probably the best, but still nowhere near the top of my list. I'd be more upset of a ride like SFGAm's Viper got torn down, or even a B:TR clone because those are GOOD rides worth visiting a park for.

The "new and improved" space mountain music wins for me. Although it's more of a fail than disappointment!

That's a very interesting bogey design, I've never seen a B&M with anything like that. Every B&M has had the bogeys mounted directly to the top or bottom of the chassis, not sort of "off to the side" like that picture. It very well could be a new chassis design. Here's what I'm talking about:

A MIG welder, and a TV. That's really it.

^^Surely you can't be serious?! This is really sad news, Airplane is my most favorite movie of all time.

Parks can make their rides go however fast or slow they want. In fact they use the wheels to do some. Some wheels run faster then others, and mixing these wheels will give you various speeds. It's not uncommon for rides to run faster wheels during the colder months, and slower ones in the summer. I'd say about 99% of rides don't hit their advertised speed and either run faster or slower.

My only question is why there are none of the "pop-up anti-rollback brakes" in the video. I'm assuming they are there and perhaps they only pop up when the vehicle doesn't clear the hill or something.

Colin sucks, why would you even put him in this report?!

I was there today, got in line at like 7am right in front of River Adventure. At 10 it opened, and by about 10:30 I was in. Rode Journey three times, saw that the butterbeer cart was like an hour wait, then went over and rode ET. Successful day.

I like this holiday. More of this holiday please.

Goooo Team TPR! And for the record I didn't walk for a week after doing Goofy Challenge, I personally would not be able to do a day at the parks after that!

Something tells me trains are starting to fall victim to the extreme maneuvers of this ride. I'm guessing that drop will soon be trimmed. You think they would have learned with Maverick.

I had a Double Down yesterday. It was like eating a bag of salt. I finished it, but I don't see how anyone can have this sandwich more then once just to say they did it! It was terrible, but a life changing experience.

^Exactly! Just look at the Challenger accident. The mission was scrubbed several times before it launched. Everyone remembers that the previous night was one of the coldest nights in the history of Florida. Some people remember that this was the coldest environment that the shuttle had ever launched in, but what NOBODY remembers is that it launched in temperatures FIVE degrees warmer then it's minimum launching temperature. If they thought it was going to explode, they would not have launched it. The launch director gives the final say when that clock gets down to the wire, and if he says no then it doesn't go up. He said yes, and up it went and boom it went. What did they learn? Don't launch after extreme temperatures, and reformulate the rubber and other O-ring materials so that they do not become brittle in such temperatures. And look at Columbia. Did they know that foam was ripping off the external fuel tank? OF COURSE THEY DID! That is why its surface is made of foam! The foam is there to prevent ice from forming on the tank, as liquid hydrogen is incredibly cold. What would you rather have, foam or ice hit the vehicle? Anyway to get to my point, nobody thought a chunk of foam impacting the incredibly strong leading edge of the wing would cause the fracture and hole that it did. I mean think about it, it's designed to not only be launched in to space, but also return in to the atmosphere which involves incredible amounts of heat caused by air friction. It has to be strong right? Well apparently it wasn't, and at the speed that that little piece of foam hit that wing caused MASSIVE amounts of damage and then obviously the catastrophic failure of the wing and finally the shuttle during it's return to orbit. What was learned from this? Don't use such high density foam, and only put it in necessary places. The chunk that hit the wing came off of the support brace that attaches the vehicle to the tank. While some foam exists there now, it is MUCH less and less dense. Also every flight now has dozens of cameras mounted on the vehicle, SRB's, external fuel tank, and launch tower that can capture every angle of the vehicle during launch. Mid-mission inspections are also done to prevent this from happening again. When something goes wrong people don't just say "oh bummer, well lets just keep doing this until it happens enough that we have to stop." The problem gets solved and fixed. I guarantee you that the Space Shuttle is safer now then it has ever been. They aren't retiring it because it's old, unsafe, and a time bomb waiting to explode. They are retiring it because it has served it's purpose and now it's done. There will be no use for it once the space station is complete. I am sad to see it go. I'm planning on going to the next launch to see it go up. I watched this one in my back yard, and sadly it was the first time I had ever seen a launch ever! It really is a bummer that this amazing piece of technology AND history is being retired, and that no further projects are in the works. I would really like to see the world excited about the space program again like it was in the 60's.

I don't necessarily think that's true. Sure there have been two major accidents with the space shuttle, but if for one second they didn't think that it would be safe to fly for an undetermined amount of time they would have completely shut down the program. However instead of doing that the space shuttle was modified so that these things wont happen again. Remember all the talk about different types of foam used on the external fuel tank after the Columbia accident? The space shuttle is designed to withstand this stress, it's not like it's made out of paper. There is a reason it flies like a brick! Consider the amount of B-52's that have crashed for various reasons over it's service life, which has almost been SIXTY YEARS. I don't think anyone has ever said "well if we keep flying them they will keep crashing." Stuff like this happens, traveling in to space and even flying itself is a gigantic risk. No o-rings have failed since Challenger, and obviously no leading-edge fractures have occurred since Columbia. If they were not certain that the shuttle was safe, they would not continue to launch it.

No, just had them there to install the wheel. I took these right after I put it in. It took a lot of effort to get the old wheel out, I almost rounded out the original bolt holding it in. Luckily it came with a new one.

I recently installed a Nardi steering wheel on my car, Norm. I think it looks pretty good as opposed to the big black one that it used to have.