HighRoller

I was able to participate in the filming of these media-day videos; and I'm now much more excited about the Dinosaurs Alive installation than I was a week ago. They really did a great job putting it in back there and keeping the area pretty well forested. The area is much more extensive than I expected, and really well done. Definitely a must-do for anyone who's into dinosaurs, and certainly worth the $5 upcharge. When I take my kids out this summer, I'll undoubtedly be taking them. Oh, and if you're interested, I'm the guy in the mint-green shirt and jeans through the videos.

I loved the idea of "Glow Golf" - shame that the glowing wasn't terribly bright in the photo. Looks like a fun place, especially for locals looking for a toned-down experience.

Sounds to me more like a fail-deadly system.

Adam - I've missed it the last two times I've been down (both in the last year, no less), but keep meaning to get to the Disney Rewards Photo Place. Where exactly is it located?

^ So you're saying we need a giant mongoose wrap on another train, and have them on the express and resort beamways? Works for me.

Big Mike - Though I have no chance in this contest, I've gotta say: That's an OUTSTANDING choice for a wild card contest! You have demonstrated much creativity with it! Looking forward to the next 28 weeks' worth of updates for the year, and, of course, this year's SUPER EPIC CONTEST!

I'm planning to do the Goofy this year. Though I confess I've no idea what a TPR team would look like in a non-relay, I'm game to be part of one.

The one with lots of wood is Hershey... with Lightning Racer in the foreground.

I'm supposing because the staggered seating isn't as sturdy, seeing as they have developed pretty noticeable rattles, and putting them up to 95 mph would be pretty risky. I honestly prefer the 4 across seating, because it keeps the train more compact so there is less differential in airtime from front to back. I'd have thought it's simply a space issue. In the past, it's been stated that the parabolic (airtime) hills on each coaster were designed for the type of trains it runs, and that you couldn't put Diamondback Trains (staggered) on Apollo's Chariot (straight) or vice-versa because the forces wouldn't work out properly, and the ride wouldn't do what it is supposed to do. The extended, staggered trains of the newer Hypers cause the ground footprint (length) of the airtime hills to be longer than a corresponding hill of the same height on one of the older, straight row trained hypers. In other words, in order to successfully put the staggered trains on Leviathan, the'd have needed to make the track length somewhere in the neighborhood of 50% longer (rough guess), and there simply wasn't the space available to put that kind of length in and do what they wanted at the speeds and heights they're talking. Just my logic, for whatever it's worth.

I would suggest that it was a phonemic error.

Can anyone make any sense of this whatsoever? How about "So want to go on that, please can I be a test rider?"

419-foot Strata Coaster. Can't be taller than TTD now You sure it won't be 457 feet? Gotta reclaim that title from that other chain...

Finally got around to hunting for duckies. Just with my eyes, don't get nervous! With that said, please lock me in for 3 duckies!

Gotta say, Big Mike, you're a lucky man, as Megan looks Smokin' in her bikini this update! May I suggest, though, blue instead, next time?

Ugh... that rain looks like lots of no fun. Good luck on the race anyway!

As for me, I'm going with 3 duckies. Lock it in, please!

I would suspect that they "haven't taken advantage" because they have a contracted construction company to put it up, with contracted dates, that the contractor has scheduled to dovetail along the end of some other project that they have. While it would be nice to say that the park is doing the erection themselves, I would submit that it is unlikely that they would either a) have a dedicated construction crew on staff for the short time that they're doing construction on new things or b)pull their entire maintenance team for construction, leaving the rest of the park without maintenance during construction. Granted, it's just speculation, but would seem to make sense to me.

Big Mike - Have to say you were certainly missed at West Coast Bash. With that said, Let me share a picture that I got my 9-year-old take today on the way home from one of his activities. I <3 Big Mike... Today stopping by SFA just to say so!

I'm going with 4 duckies, please.

Interesting. Personally, I've never been able to marathon Wild One, but rode Roar 12 times in a row without getting off on one early-season afternoon. But, with that said, to each his own, right?

Sounds like an interesting addition for TPR Quest Robb?

That's how my Mom taught me to fold a towel! She never ironed them, but I guess the ironing part wasn't as important to her. I still fold mine that way.

They got about 5 inches, but it melted quickly. We didn't get anything up here but just a scant 30 minutes away Woodbridge sure got hit. Maybe so, but it was gone by the time I got home from West Coast Bash... perfect weekend to be out of town!

Robb - Thanks for the responses. Just a few things to go along with what you had to say: Keep in mind that I did announce to everyone that if you didn't have a ticket to the two other tours, to please try the stand-by lines. As it turned out, anyone that wanted to get into a tour, had no problem getting into them. So by electing to just do one tour, you kind of also elected to stand around and not do anything. While it's very easy to sit behind your computer keyboard and say "Just one ride would have made a HUGE difference..." you're right...having one more ride open during that extra hour WOULD have made a huge difference... in the PRICE of the event! Do you have any idea how much it costs in both operations and early morning maintenance that is required to get a single ride open at 7:30am? Because having a maintenance and ride inspection staff come in for one ride would have been totally cost prohibitive. We might as well opened another 2 or 3 rides, but then again, the majority of people were all in the tours, so it would have been a total waste. Seriously.... We had 4 rides and 3 tours going that morning, and you wanted MORE!?!?!? C'mon! I personally think we offered plenty that morning. Can't even believe someone would be complaining. I totally get that opening a ride during that time would have changed the price, considerably. As a matter of fact, i did stand by for a tour, and managed to get in the second round at Montezooma, even though I wasn't "scheduled" until after ERT began. My only thought was that, all things being equal (which obviously they're not), a ride during that time would have been a good thing. Had we done ERT from 10:00 - 11:30, I guarantee you not many people would have participated. That's a VERY long time to ask people to stay in the park, especially after a long weekend. The park did a spectacular job with dealing with that curve ball. It was a *bit* rocky at first, but I personally went to each ride that evening, spoke with the ride operations staff, and made sure that it would only be a one train wait for TPR members during that ERT/front of the line session. Agreed that the 10-11:30 thing would have made it too late. I was trying to express that I thought it was the best balance that could be made between TPR's desire to have 8-9:30 ERT and the park's desire to stay open for all until 10. Sorry if I fumbled that comment a bit the first time. GhostRider has traditionally been our least attended ERT session during the Knott's day. We offered it in the morning since our evening ERT lineup was already a bit top heavy, and there was NO WAY I would have replaced more time on Xcelerator with GhostRider. I think most people will side with me on that decision. Fair enough. That though probably also came out of the fact that I managed to miss the morning ERT session because of the soft open, and given how well it was running, I would have liked to get in a few more rides without the ridiculously long line that develops for it, especially as it was only running one train. Given the leanings of the group here on TPR, I can't say that I think trading the evening Xcelerator ERT for more GhostRider ERT for would have been a good choice either. You are very welcome. Appreciate the candor on your comments. Hope you can in turn appreciate mine! I do appreciate that you took the time to respond, very much. Again, I had a great time, and look forward to my next event! Hopefully at Deep South Bash again! Hope so - looking forward to hearing the date! -Frank

WCB 2012 was my first WCB, and my second TPR event, having attended Deep South Bash '11. I did both days, and seem to have some slightly differing viewpoints from those who've attended for many years: First, SFMM. This was my first trip ever to Magic Mountain. I really liked that the ERT coasters were all grouped by area, both in the AM and the PM. It saved on the walking, as the ERT coasters at DSB were spread all over the park. I was also glad to be able to get both Green Lantern and Riddler's Revenge with minimal waits - the one because it's a low capacity, slow loading ride, and the other because it was running only one train. This was a nice surprise, and didn't bother me that Scream wasn't open for ERT, as it was very easy to get to right at park opening, and is a people-eating machine anyway. Lunch was about what I was expecting, and didn't really bother me having "picnic food", it seemed the right idea and the right setting. I would have liked some more interaction with the Hosts, but as I came late to lunch (after worshiping at the altar of Anton), I realize that could certainly have missed the meat of the show. During the day, I had great conversations with several of the employees of the park, and operations seemed to be going well. My only significant complaint about operations is the way that FlashPass guests are managed. While I realize that the least expensive way, for the park, to implement the system is to use the exit gates as a FlashPass entrance, it makes it very difficult for those in the standby line to make good choices, because an apparent 4 train wait, when selecting a row in a coaster, can very easily turn into a 10 train wait if a significant number of FlashPass guests come up to ride, and I can't "budget my time" because of the exit gate loading. I would be interested in seeing the park implement a "2 train merge" where they must merge into the main station with about 2 trains worth of riders present. While I realize that such a system is easier said than done, I'm mostly thinking out loud on that one. Apocalypse seemed to work relatively well with that type of "pre-station" merge for the FlashPass guests. Speaking of Apocalypse, I would really have liked to see it on the evening ERT program. I understand that Robb and Elissa worked very, very hard to make that happen, and I appreciate that thoroughly. I would even have been willing to give up Viper and possibly even Revolution during evening ERT to make that happen. Oh well, you can't have everything. The add-on dinner was a little disappointing. Having experienced the awesomeness that was the Lasagna dinner at Deep South Bash '11 (SFOG), I was hopeful for something similar. Having spent a few minutes talking to the grill master over near Gold Rusher duiring the afternoon (and smelling the awesomeness that was emanating from the grill), I was hoping for some of the dry-rub brisket he was making. Alas, it was not to be, but I did meet some new TPR friends at dinner (here's to you, buckaroo 234), and it helped set the scene for the remainder of the weekend. Some light at the tables during the dinner would have been a much nicer touch. I do have to say that the Crew at X2 were running really well, and the ride was running awesome during Late-Night ERT. I had been excited about this ride for some time now, and it didn't disappoint. I was able to ride several times without even needing to get off to close out the night, and finished with the last train of the night to close out the day. Overall, I was very happy with the SFMM experience, and would certainly go again, though I might give up the dinner, as it didn't live up to my expectations. Next was Knotts Berry Farm. It had been 25 years since the last time I visited KBF, and I really didn't remember much about the park. I really liked the treatment we got at KBF, and the hostesses were outstanding in keeping everyone on track. I loved the available Behind the Scenes tours, I elected to do just the Montezooma's Revenge tour, and enjoyed it thoroughly. I would have liked something to do while waiting for my turn at the tour, however, other than just mill about near the front gate. Having just one ride open during that first hour would have made a HUGE difference. ERT was outstanding, and it was really cool to have ERT on things that weren't coasters. It would have bee nice, though, to know that the park opening time had been pushed earlier, though, as I had budgeted my time to hit GhostRider just before park opening, and would have been able to get probably 2-3 rides in before regular guests arrived, but due to the regular park opening being shifted earlier, the way I budgeted my time put me there after a 25 minute line had already formed, even though the announced park opening time had not yet arrived, making me wonder what had happened. While I know that this was a decision that was out of our control, being apprised of it as soon as it became know whould have helped me to adjust my plan to get to the ride before such a long line developed. The photo was fun, especially being able to be on the wild west stage, and Snoopy with the West Coast Bash shirt was much fun. Kudos. The lines were not too bad for any of the rides in the morning, including Timberline Twister, which I gladly whored with Buckaroo 234. Lunch, including Mrs. Knotts Chicken and Boysenberry pie, was heavenly. Count me in for a repeat of that. TPR quest was fun, as this trip I got to be a player, rather than just an audience participant. Sadly, I finished in the 6-9 range, and didn't win a prize - guess I just need to make more TPR friends so that I can get stuff from more people . The Q&A session was fun - but I felt like we heard less from the actual management than we did at SFMM; the MC did most of the talking here. Don't get me wrong, I liked him, and he was thoroughly amusing, but I felt like I got more from the "bigwigs" on Saturday. I liked the creative way that they solved the "The park is now open during scheduled ERT" issue; though I would really have liked actually ERT. An elegant solution that, while not perfect from anyone's point of view, was probably the best solution for all. I would have liked to have had ERT on GhostRider in the evening (either as well or instead). While I had heard that the ride was incredibly rough, Riding in my "preferred wood coaster row" (2nd last on a PTC train), it was running very well in the morning, and like a Bat out of Hell in the evening. Outstanding ride. As a WCB first-timer, I thought the event was nearly everything I expected, and more in some areas. Huge thanks to both parks and to Robb and Elissa for being the winch that pulls the whole thing together. I know I've written a novel here, but wanted to get my thoughts out there. Oh, and by the way: That would be me, my guest, and Buckaroo234 (among others). See you all again soon, I hope! -Frank