mr bad example

On a completely different subject, thought I'd write about the only two times I've been lucky (if you can call it that) enough to test-ride or pre-ride a coaster. The first was Colossus, after the rebuild following the unfortunate death that occurred on the ride (don't know how much I can write about that-we'll cover that later)...after 17 months of rebuild, including the main hill being completely toppled in a windstorm as it was nearing completion, anticipation within the ranks at MM was building towards the reopening of the ride, and the surge in business this would bring...one day in late April/early May, while the park was still only open on weekends, a group of ride mechs came into the cafeteria at lunch and asked for volunteers to test ride, saying "We've been running it with 160 lb. sandbags in the seats, but we need to test it with real bodies". They also made the point that only MM employees could participate, as we were the only ones covered by the insurance policies...why this mattered became apparent when we got to the station-they hadn't yet installed seat belts or working lap bars on the trains. we were told to hang on and not let go or "You will die". With all that on our heads, that trip up the first hill seemed to take forever, and you can bet we all had death grips on the handle rails until that train got back to the station. The ride itself wasn't too bad-much smoother than the original Colossus (since we weren't getting pulled out of our seats by g-forces, that makes sense) and quite a bit faster through the first half of the ride. The second one I ever pre-rode was the Grizzly at what was then Marriott's Great America. I got off it with what I now find is everyone's opinion..."That sucked. What else can we ride?" In fact, the highlight of the night was getting free tickets to a Ramones show the next night in San Francisco.

Not only is Disney a huge company, they're the largest single employer in Orange County...they pretty much own (via campaign contributions) any and all politicians in the area...to the point where, if you spend any time (like I have) up here in Sacramento at the state Capitol, eventually, you'll run across some ludicrous piece of legislation that, while having Disney's name on it, has it stamped all over the legislation. Things like making it illegal for more than one adult to occupy a hot tub at once in an area that surrounds Disney by about one mile (I kid you not-Disney was afraid of organized swinger groups using the motels around their park-this was eventually defeated by pointing out that as written, it prohibited legally married couples from enjoying themselves, EVEN IF THEY WEREN'T MAKING WHOOPEE!! )... The point being, when Disney wants something done, they get it. Six Flags, on the other hand, has always had to deal with LA County, which has a bureaucracy so entrenched that nothing seems to change it...I can remember when I worked at MM in the late 70's, for a while I worked in the laundry department, where we employed an individual I'll grudgingly describe as "Challenged"...when, after the third time she'd ruined a brand new purchase of uniforms by taking it upon herself to wash them incorrectly while I was on a lunch break (Despite direct instructions not to start any new loads of laundry), I asked why she still had a job, my supervisor told me her father was the county official in charge of fair hiring practices, and that as long as his daughter had a job, there was no way anyone could argue that MM practiced unfair hiring. And of course, since she couldn't possibly be put in a job where she interacted with the customers, she ended up in the laundry. To be fair, the supervisors from MM knew what was going on, and none of us who had to deal with her ever got in trouble for the problems she caused...although I did chase her out of the laundry room once with a broom, when I knew I was about to transfer to another job in the park.

Some friends and I are going to try to score some tickets for opening day at AT&T Park...not only are the Giants taking on the Dodgers, but it's also my 52nd birthday...this will be the 3rd time the Giants home opener will take place on my birthday, and both of the other times it was pretty easy to find tickets outside the park...but of course, the team was coming of a WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP!!! Sorry bout the caps, but it's still a great feeling that they won it in my lifetime...

There are no navigable rivers in Mexico.

The first coaster I ever rode on was the old wooden coaster at the old Elitch's Gardens in Denver-I think I was 9 years old, and barely made the heighth marker. As I remember, it was a completely different feeling ride than Colossus-more like the Big Dipper in terms of smoothness (all wood coasters are gonna be bumpy, but some are worse than others). The next summer I remember going to the Pike after my dad had a really good day at Hollywood Park-instead of driving home to Palmdale all pissed off cause he lost all his money (the usual outcome), he got a couple of motel rooms, fed us kids Mickey D's and then took my mom out for dinner, then took us to the Pike the next day.

No, I have no photos older than 5 years ago-I had all my old photos and stuff in a storage locker that was seized and auctioned off while I was in the hospital.

My history of coasters at SFMM-Part 1 Since I'm new, I thought I'd cover some of this stuff in a couple of posts...I'm pretty sure my first visit to MM was in about 1973, and after that I spent a lot of time there every year until 1981, including working there from 1979 to 1981...I only went back one time after I left employment there (and sooner or later, I'll get to that story, too) and then moved to Northern Cal in 1982. The first coaster I ever rode at SFMM was the Gold Rush-I was 13 or 14 at the time, and it was the ONLY coaster of any kind in the park. I remember that even on that first visit, people had already started sticking their wads of gum on the rubber matt that covered one of the stanchion going up the first lift, a tradition which was still being practiced the last time I was there. Along with a long up-hill walkway, the Round-Up centrifuge ride and the bumper cars and boats, it was stuffed into what was then the very back corner of the park. Once we found our way into that corner, we rarely left until closing time. Considering that by that time The Pike in Long Beach (still the scariest coaster I've ever ridden) had closed, I think that only the Matterhorn at the Mouse and the Gold Rush were the only permanent coasters in the greater LA area at that time. Two summers later, the oversized Mouse coaster (can't remember it's name) that was next to Guest Services opened, but after riding it once or twice right when the park opened, it lost it's appeal due to the endless wait time in line-they just couldn't cycle riders fast enough. My friends and I still spent most of our time either in the back of the park or at the arcade, but after the first year, our parents all got smart enough to just drop us off at the gate in the morning and pick us up in the evening . Finally, in 1976, the Revolution opened, and even with the long waits, it was worth every minute-smooth, fast, and ya went upside down! Woo hoo! It took a year and a half for my best friend and I to get tired of the Revolution...something that didn't happen until we both won $93 from KHJ radio for riding the damn thing 93 times in one day (it was a special promotion during Easter week to build attendance). We got one cycle of the trains off an hour to run to the restrooms, grab something to eat or drink (they let us keep sodas along the wall of the station) and then get back on. By that time, preliminary construction had started on Colossus. Next time-working on, around and riding on Colossus

Hello everyone...I'm a 51 year old estate manager in Northern California who worked for a few years earlier in my life at SFMM, in a variety of jobs-including ride operator, laundry room foreman, parking lot attendant, and audio technician. I also played on MM's travelling softball team-in those days, each park in California had a team, and once a month or so, we'd make a road trip to another park, get a backstage guided tour (with line privledges, sometimes!), spend the day in the park, then play their softball team in the evening, then going to the nearest pizza place to scarf pizza and drink large amounts of beer. Then we'd all climb on the charter bus and pass out until we'd get back to SFMM (when we went to Great America in the Bay Area, we pulled up to the gate at SFMM at 3:45 in the morning-I had an 8am clock in, so I just went to my shop and took a nap on the shag carpet in the recording studio). A couple of weeks later, we'd host the other park's team when they came to visit us. I'll add some stories as I catch up on what's already posted here-I worked at MM at the time Six Flags took over, and a couple of years before that, so I've got some good stories about "the old days"...