805Andrew

You could try Tommy's. There just down the road on The Old Road next to Del Taco and Jack in the Box. Tommy's is a local LA area burger chain that specializes in chili burgers. You could also look up Yelp on your phone to see what has good reviews outside the park. And if you hop on the freeway south for a few exits there's an In N Out which in my opinion is way better than Jack in the Box or Wendy's which are near the park.

^That's a pretty bad one though.

Firestone Double Barrel Ale last night. Good local beer.

^ If you don't like it then don't drink it. And don't give me "but it was at a place that only has Pepsi products". Pepsi makes other products besides Pepsi, or you could drink juice or water. Just sayin'. My last soda was a Manzanita Sol apple soda yesterday. Made by Pepsi, deal with it

The most ghetto park I have visited was Flintstones Bedrock City in Williams, AZ which was barely a park and was mainly a campground. It was a family camping trip in 1996 through Southern Utah and Northern Arizona and we had stayed at two different KOA campgrounds in Utah and in Arizona we stayed at the Flintstones campground about 30 miles south of the Grand Canyon. I remember seeing all the advertisements for this place in the AAA Tour Books and was really looking forward to camping here and was sorely disappointed when we arrived. The place was so dusty and rundown and barely anyone was camping there (mostly old folks in RVs). We there mainly as a hub to visit the Grand Canyon, other National Parks and Monuments in the region, and Sedona. One morning my sisters and I decided to scope the park section, which was supposed to be free to those staying at the campground. Of course the park wasn't open and operating until after we left the campground each morning and was closed by the time we came back in the evening (we were basically at the campground just to crash, cook/eat some dinners and breakfasts, and shower). My sisters and I were able walk around the tiny park (although nothing was operating) and we saw the buildings and what looked like a couple of homemade carnival rides. The train looked like a golf cart that was towing a couple of cars. After about 10-15 minutes walking around, we decided we didn't need to come back when everything was operating. I've been to city park playgrounds that looked more fun. Leaving the park section to go back to the campsite we walk through the restaurant which looks more like a cafeteria with picnic tables and we saw a cook smoking in the kitchen. Gross! I'm glad we didn't eat there. Everything at Flintsones Bedrock City was so dilapidated and depressing and put a shame to the Flintstones TV show which I loved. Almost everything else about the camping trip I enjoyed and a nice surprise was Slide Rock State Park between Sedona and Flagstaff which had a natural water slide on the river and was so fun and ended up being my favorite place in AZ (I shredded a swim suit there). Some pictures/info on Flintstones Bedrock City http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/11289 http://www.ghosttownaz.info/flintstones-bedrock-city.php

Yay! I solved my own problem. When selecting pictures from my hard drive, I needed to press and hold the command button to select multiple pictures at once. Once I did this, it was very easy to select the pictures that I wanted. The command button is directly to the left and right of the space bar on the Mac keyboard with  ⌘ for those who don't know. Sorry if I caused you grief Robb. I totally forgot about the command button. I didn't click the iOS button by the way, I knew that was for iPhone/iPad. Anyways the new photo uploading system is great, especially for uploading pictures from one's iPhone. Funicular up to Tibidabo Welcome sign at Tibidabo Aladdin ride with communications tower in the background Upper level of Tibidabo with cathedral in background Tibidabo's newest rollercoaster It isn't very exciting or long, but it is built nicely into the terrain and offers stunning views Muntanya Russa is built over the park's log ride. Tibidabo's stunning views of Barcelona Lets ride Muntanya Russa again Tower on a stick to get even higher up views

Okay I tested the multi-file uploader again on my MacBook Pro using Firefox as my browser and my pictures coming from iPhoto. It won't let me check multiple pictures to be uploaded like it did on my iPhone but it will allow me to select the pictures that are next to each other by using the shift key. I'll make a video showing what I'm doing and post it to show what I mean.

So parking is included? If so that's so great. IS parking included the Knott's day also? That's less of an issue if its not because I can just be parked at my hotel instead.

I think some of Cedar Fair's ride names when they rename things are pretty uninspirating, like Flight Deck and Drop Tower at CGA.

I am testing the photo uploader on my iPhone 4S. It looks like the multi-file uploader worked fine here. It was easier to upload pictures from my phone than my computer. I am not home, but I will test the multi-file uploader on my Mac again when I'm home. I may have done something wrong. Last Sunday I went down to the LA area with some family members. In the afternoon we wanted to go to the beach so we went to Santa Monica. From the beach, there's a cliff dividing the beach area from the rest of Santa Monica. I was planning on getting this credit but queue was pretty long, so I decided to hold off. Oh well, it gives me an excuse to come back to Santa Monica. The Santa Monica Pier was packed on this Sunday in August. After walking along the beach and pier, we walked towards the Third St Promenade which was very nice.

I thought it is strange that FEMA is paying for a roller coaster, but my guess is because the park is city owned and the proceeds probably go back into the city or the city's parks and rec dept or something like that. I like the fact that the park is trying to get sponsorship of each car of the coaster train.

Okay here's my test from a MacBook Pro. Pictures from Port Aventura from my Spain 2012 trip. The Multi Uploader only let me upload one picture at a time, but it let me rearrange the uploaded pictures in any order I wanted which is a huge +. I will have to test uploading from my iPhone 4S soon enough to see how that works out. #5 Dragon Khan in front of its new neighbour #3 Shambhala is next #1 We rode this first #2 Wait times after we got off Furious Baco #4 We are heading there #8 Shambhala and Dragon Khan living in harmony in the background. I'll have to post my Spain 2012 TR soon enough. #6 This has gotten really rough (especially Stampida on the left side of this pic) #7 One of my favorite drop rides

It will be interesting to see what CNL Lifestyle Properties does with this Palm Springs water park. CNL owns various ski resorts, golf courses, water parks, and some smaller amusement parks, so I'm not worried that the Palm Springs water park would close. Plus with the weather in Palm Springs, you want to have a water park there. I went to Knott's Soak City Palm Springs back in 2001 I think and I enjoyed my time there. It was nice to have a water park open in March or April (when I went). I don't expect any additions for 2014, but I hope in the future they add more things to the Palm Springs park and keep reinvesting in it as Palm Springs is a vacation destination and has weather that could warrant year round operations. This Palm Springs water park has a lot of potential.

I always check Yelp for great restaurants when I am traveling and Yelp doesn't disappoint 90% of the time. I have a laundry list of restaurants to try in the LA area from watching various TV shows like Anthony Bourdain No Reservations/The Layover/Parts Unknown and Man vs Food and reading food blogs like Zagat. When I go to West Coast Bash I'm thinking of going to Little Tokyo in LA after SFMM on the drive down to Knott's since its near the 5 Fwy and hitting up the famed Daikokuya which is on my list of places to try and is open late. Good thread by the way Chuck.

Great trip pictures so far. It looks like you made lemons into lemonade in the Dallas / Fort Worth area by heading over to the Texas State Fair. Just because a dish has more calories doesn't mean its more unhealthy. 2000 calories from a balance of grilled meat, veggies, and grains is healthier than 1000 deep fried calories. I disagree that Cheesecake Factory is the unhealthiest restaurant chain in the US, as Cheesecake Factory has many options for everyone with more balanced options than many chains. Eating at Denny's or Hometown Buffet is far more unhealthy. When I go Cheesecake Factory I usually get an appetizer as it is a smaller portion than an entree so I have room for dessert. I do agree that CF's entree portions are overly exaggerated and excessive, but that's also the case at many American restaurants. I'd pick Cheesecake Factory over most restaurant chains if a highly rated, local restaurant wasn't available.

Matterhorn at Disneyland when I was little. I'm pretty sure you only had to be 3 to ride on it back then.

I got both days cleared off from work. Just bought my WCB tickets for both days. This is my first TPR event. I'm so excited! Wooo!

Yep, it's a Halloween special that will debut on ABC on Oct. 16. Here's the description from the press release: The first 10 minutes were great. It looks like it will definitely be worth watching if you're a Toy Story fan. I'll have to set my DVR for this in October. I wonder if it will be a 30 or 60 minute special.

Cool D23 Expo pics. A friend whom I went to college with went to D23 and posted on Facebook that Marvel's Agents of SHIELD is going to be a must see on ABC this fall. I'm assuming that the Toy Story of Terror is going to be some type of Halloween special. I was going to ask about the weenies if someone else hadn't beaten me to it. I like the 10 Disney Commandments.

The Sapporo Brewery and Bier Garten looks really cool! I love visiting different breweries and trying different beers. I've been to Firestone Walker Brewery in Paso Robles, CA (my local brewery), Pyramid Brewery in Berkeley, CA, Lost Coast Brewery in Eureka, CA, Marin Brewing in Larkspur, CA, Moritz Brewery in Barcelona, Spain, and a couple of smaller breweries. Thanks for sharing Chuck. I love seeing the food and beverage side of these TRs.

Love that spread. I also get some for my fries. I guess you could order a In N Out burger w/o the spread and ask for mustard and ketchup instead but I can't imagine doing that.

You are probably right, but what I don't get is small parks with far less visitors (I think) like Canobie Lake Park and Indiana Beach were able to afford ones, but SCBB wasn't? Unless you work in a park's Finance Department it is impossible to know what is financially feasible for a park. The number of visitors doesn't matter. How much profit a park makes off each visitor determines the available funding. Profit comes from three many areas: tickets, food and parking (Yes, there are other minor contributors like games and sponsors). SCBB could have hundreds of thousands more visitors, but they might not be buying ride tickets. As far as I know, SCBB doesn't get any parking revenue. Aren't most of the food vendors independent at SCBB? Who do the vendors pay to operate their stands, SCBB or the city of Santa Cruz. Does SCBB own their own land or is it leased? Even if owned there are probably paying a lot more for property insurance being on the ocean than other similar sized parks. Point taken.

Good to know. I was poking around on Hotwire and Priceline a few days ago.

The last promo video with the crumbling SOB was pretty cool, and answered my question of whether this was going in SOB's old spot.

Seagrams Cherry Ginger Ale from a Coke Freestyle machine two days ago. It wasn't nearly as good as I was expecting it to be.