805Andrew

One or more of the following: Intamin Giga Coaster, Intamin Megalite, Intamin Pre-Fab Woodie, RMC woodie, RMC steel redo of existing wooden coaster, B&M Dive Machine - at any park in LA area or SF Bay Area.

Its good to see SFMM now has a decent amount of beers on tap at the Full Throttle Sports Bar including 805 from Firestone Walker Brewery.

This was a great event last year. I haven't decided if I'm going this year since I'm doing the East Coast/NYC trip but its a possibility. I'm also holding out to see if any other bash days **cough** SF Great America Goliath Bash **cough** are announced.

Thanks for the write up. Its a good read for the Travel Channel website.

I didn't get a chance to vote in this year's Steel Poll (I did vote in the Wood Poll though) but have ridden #8 Shambhala and I'm looking forward to riding #5 Skyrush this Summer.

Just joined Club TPR and mailing the check this morning.

Wow! This looks awesome! I have relatives in the Barcelona area and every 3-5 years I go visit, so I am looking forward to experiencing this in person on a future visit.

Kongos "Come With Me"

On the second part of the first episode, if that guy that got voted out (forgot his name) would have kept his mouth shut then the woman who threw the rice in the fire would have gotten voted off. I liked him in the first part of the episode when he got the tribe to vote out that CEO guy, but didn't like him in the second part of the episode where he didn't use his brain. Also he kept his hidden immunity idol at camp, so not only did he waste his opportunity to save himself, but couldn't even take it home with him as a souvenir, and someone else is going to find it at camp. The brain tribe definitely has issues, and who would've expected the Brain tribe to have less brains than the Beauty tribe, lol. This is going to be a fun season to watch.

I mixed some Seagrams Ginger Ale with Midnight Moon Apple Pie Moonshine last night. It tasted like an apple-cinnamon ginger ale.

They're not a big enough "fish" for CNN. These little Christmas-themed parks and zoos are always pretty dicey. You're right. I don't like visiting these small dicey/dingy zoos and parks and try to only visit smaller/medium zoos if they are AZA accredited.

It might have been going to Disneyland before I was born, or the subsequent years after that. Being born near Disneyland and living in OC until I was 7 helped.

The new Godzilla looks like it's going to be pretty good, especially with Bryan Cranston in it from Breaking Bad / Malcolm in the Middle. Going back on topic, the Camry Thrill Ride commercial was filmed in the SFMM parking lot with Colossus and Scream in the background. This is one of the coolest car commercials I've seen, where not only are there roller coasters are in the background, but a ride track for the Toyota Camry was made with "Camry Thrill Ride" being the emphasis of the commercial.

Looks like the water park is coming along nicely. How many months per year does Cowabunga Bay plan to be open? On the note of water parks being open late, a couple of years ago I went to the Island Water Park in Fresno which was open until 9PM on that Saturday that I visited. We had family business to do in that area until 3PM, and the Island Water Park had an after 3PM ticket that was very reasonably priced, so it worked out perfect for us as 5.5 hours was plenty of time for us there. It was still reasonably warm when we left there at 9PM, and since the water park was by the 99 Fwy noise was not issue. I feel having a water park open to 7PM or later on a hot summer day (especially on a weekend) is reasonable, and until 6PM on a slower weekday or early/late season when the temps are milder is reasonable. After the first year or two, Cowabunga Bay may want to consider being open later (like 9PM) on longer summer days with a afternoon ticket option (after 2-4PM), if it's feasible for the business. I understand them not doing this the first year as there are so many other things/ factors to focus on.

There's a couple of Strawberry Festivals by me but they're nothing like this. Just some produce/food/craft vendors and a few crappy kiddie carnival rides. The only good thing about our Strawberry Festivals are the delicious Arroyo Grande and Santa Maria strawberries, which I can get at local farmers market anyways. Cool pics of your Strawberry Festival, which looks more like a fair.

Cool UK photos. I would definitely like to do a UK trip in the future, especially Alton Towers.

Oh my god, they finally building the Operation Dumbo Drop ride I've been waiting years for!

Batman the Ride Backwards looks cool. This will get me back to SFMM sometime this year.

Sad to hear this. Next time someone mentions Blackfish on Facebook, mention this story.

Happy Belated Birthday Kirsten! Here's hoping you hit that 48" mark soon!

I would say either B&M or Intamin. B&M has the most reliable coasters in general and came up with the modern inverted coaster which was a game changer that may be imitated by other companies but never duplicated. You can tell when an inverted coaster is a B& M or not just by riding it. Intamin has the most buzz worthy coasters in general and ones that make the top of people's' lists and ones that enthusiasts go out of the way for. Intamin also has broken the height and speed barrier on numerous occasions and currently holds both the tallest and fastest coasters in the world. I might say Arrow if they were still in business as Arrow. They pioneered steel and looping coasters and came up with the 4D coaster, one of the most sought after coaster experiences and hard to imitate.

Okay, here's my two cents. If I was going to LA for the first time ever and only had two days for theme parks I would go to Disneyland and DCA most likely. Another option I would consider is one day Disneyland/DCA park hopper and one day at SFMM (not on a Saturday!). If you are a hard core roller coaster enthusiast/adrenaline junkie than Magic Mountain is a must for one of your two days. If you are more of a theme park enthusiast I would stick with the Disneyland CA resort for two days. If you are a movie buff and have never been to Universal Orlando then I would consider a day at Universal Studios Hollywood since they have the Backlot Tram Tour. Knott's is a nice park, but if you only have two days to go to parks on your first visit to LA I wouldn't pick it over Disneyland/DCA or SFMM. My Personal Ranking of LA area parks I've been to: 1. Disneyland 2. Six Flags Magic Mountain 3. Disney California Adventure (this may go up once I experience Cars Land) 4. Knott's Berry Farm 5. Universal Studios Hollywood (haven't been there in several years, this may go up once I experience new additions). What the hell are you talking about? X2 and Manhattan Express are nothing alike. That's probably the worst roller coaster comparison I've ever seen. Thank you! SFMM has its problems but it has an awesome coaster selection. I also think out of towners would prefer SFMM over Knott's.

I'm curious to see how the lightning effect will work being outdoors. Sounds cool.

I would actually like to do a WCB, MWB, and ECB this year, but it will all depend on timing and how things land with the tours. WCB is looking VERY good right now, so is MWB. We'll see how things go with EBC over the next few weeks... Here's hoping the MWB is going to be SF Great America right before the Mini East Coast Trip.

Cool pics! Did they fire up any of the rides for you guys? I'd love to see a park run coasters in the snow (even if it's just for a weekend) and they could market it as a Winter Wonderland coaster event. If it were on a holiday weekend and the conditions were clear (like in this picture) they could attract a decent crowd.