805Andrew

Exactly! That's why I love In N Out. They are always consistently good.

Couldn't see the video, nice pics though. Rusutsu looks like a really nice place. It's really cool that it's both a ski resort and amusement park. I wish some of our ski resorts in the US had an amusement park like this for the summer time.

Even if you find nothing else to do at Mt. Olympus (there's more than plenty) there is an entire city full of attractions that could easily keep you entertained for several days. The trojan horse track is really unique and I thoroughly enjoy the massive wave pool at Mt. Olympus. Oh, okay. Mt. Olympus seems like a great place on paper, but I haven't heard anything remarkably positive about it (someone correct me if I'm wrong). I like the fact that they include all the go cart tracks with the admission. Of course if I ever visit the Dells (it would probably be an extension of a Chicago trip) one day wouldn't be enough as I would want to go to Noah's Arc as well and probably Timber Falls too.

^I didn't realize The Voyage was that rough. Many people rave about how it is the best or one of best wooden coasters out there. I knew Hades was rough. It's too bad because it has a cool layout going underneath the parking lot twice and now with a barrel roll added. Is Mt Olympus a fun place to spend the day with the go carts, water slides, and other rides they have, or simply a place to get the coaster credits and leave?

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? SCBB is the most famous small park in the West (I think) and one of the most famous coastal parks in the country so getting a Eurofighter or El Loco would have grabbed the park more attention as neither of these ride types are in CA. The only installations in CA I'm impressed with this year are Full Throtle (at least it's something different and looks like a fun ride) and Gold Striker (CGA finally gets a decent woodie).

We were told that there are no plans for it to return. "No plans to return" and "It will never return" are two different things - so it's possible it may show up again years down the road - but who knows. They just spent a massive amount of money upgrading the ride, and I'm sure they want to keep everything as nice as possible. Having people in there scaring takes its toll on the show scenes so I do understand the decision. However, I will also say that I'm going to miss the Haunt overlay. It was always a highlight of Haunt for me, and something that differentiated them from the competition. On this note - don't miss the Mine Ride overlay this year! The Mine Ride is likely to undergo a similar restoration as the Log Ride after this Haunt season, so it will see some changes, and who knows if it will continue to be Haunted or not. I wouldn't take any chances just in case this is the last time it gets a Haunt overlay. I was able to go on the Haunted Mine Ride two years ago, but the Log Ride happened to not be operating that Friday night I visited. It was one of the things I was looking forward to doing the most at Halloween Haunt, but I still had a great time there. I always thought, I'll do that next time...I guess not. But years down the road they may do it again. I hope the mine ride gets the overall next year, it has so much potential. I've always loved Timber Mountain Log Ride, it was the first log flume that I recall ever riding a year or two before Splash Mountain opened. I can see where Splash Mountain got its inspiration. I'm glad they updated it.

Wow St. Louis straight to WI, that must have been a loooong drive. Where you guys in and out of the Dells in a day or did you also visit Noah's Arc?

I still think SCBB should have gone with a more exciting compact coaster in that spot. Couldn't an Eurofighter or S&S Loco fit in that spot or do those coaster types take more space than I imagined?

Thanks for posting these Knott's Scary Farm preview night pics David. Is the Haunted Log Ride not coming back this year? It was down the night I did Knott's Scary Farm two years ago. Fixed infinity! Meh...I'm not sold on 61 year old fake boobs. They should have gone with Weird Al if they wanted a throwback to the old days! The great thing about 61 year old fake boobs is that they look just like 18 year old fake boobs. In fact, fake boobs that are 10 years burried look like 18 year old fake boobs. Just brown and leathery. So... ...tan 18 year old boobs! Any way you look at them, they still look like 18 year old fake boobs. So, count me in! Guy "Weird Al needs to get fake boobs to put the icing on his otherwise flawless image." Koepp I can't believe Elvira is 61. She looks great, and not just her boobs but her legs too. She is like the Dolly Parton of the horror-comedy world, although she definitely looks younger/better than Dolly. And by the way I'd say the fake boobs look more like 35 year old fake boobs than 18 year old ones, not that it's a bad thing though.

President Barack Obama. We could talk policy on the lift hill and then suddenly the coaster crests over the top and we forgot what we were talking about.

Imagine how cool Sea World would be if they had a "boat with dolphins experience" like the one shown here. Those jellyfish look scary, are they in the same lake as the dolphins? Sad to see the boat jumpers ride wasn't operating. I hope it isn't permanent, even if the jumpers never jump off the boat again. What is the false drop on Blue Fall btw? I have ridden Intamin's Drop Zone/Tower at CGA, Huracan Condor at Port Aventura, and their old Freefall at SFMM, along with S & S drop rides at Knott's, SCBB, DCA, and Stratosphere, and DCA's Tower of Terror so I'm not sure if I've experienced the false drop.

Wow, that's a sad little fair for such a well populated area. It makes me thankful that really close to me I have a decent fair (which just ended a week ago). I have the California Mid State Fair near me in Paso Robles which is 10 days long and is packed with people, food booths, vendors, concerts, farm animals, and carnival rides. I went four separate days this year and heard Van Halen playing in the background, saw free concerts by Berlin and Brit Floyd, saw a Monster Truck show on the closing night, went on a few rides including a Reverchon spinning Crazy Mouse (the only adult coaster here), ate a BBQ Beef Sandwich, Dodger Corn Dog, Thai BBQ Chicken Skewer, half a Turkey Leg, Sweet Potato Fries, Deep Fried Twinkie (they came back two days before our fair started), Old West Cinnamon Roll, Lemon Sugar Crepe, and Cinnamon Sugar Funnel Cake (I ate all of this over four days), played some games, and walked around with friends with lots of crowds about. The first day I was there, people were bumping into me like Disneyland on a crowded day. I wish I would have taken pictures to show here on TPR. Our fair is the second largest one in Central California after the Fresno Fair I believe and brings in a lot of people from other parts of California due to the big name concerts (though this year's lineup was lackluster compared to other years). The California Mid State Fair is a big deal for people that live in my area and is like a big family reunion for people that live here as you run into people you haven't seen in years. A lot of people that live here don't get out of the area much so the CMSF is like their big entertainment for the year, meanwhile in places like the Bay Area, there are many places competing for ones entertainment dollars. Thanks for sharing btw.

Holy crap! Those City Museum videos are crazy funny. Those videos explain the place much better than photos. It looks like City Museum is the world's largest playground and not like a "museum" at all. I bet you guys had more fun here than at Six Flags St Louis. Silver Dollar City and Outlaw Run looks awesome. Does Outlaw Run top El Toro or Phoenix for anyone on that trip? Glad SDC was open to midnight, I love it when parks are open late, as the night time hours are often the most fun.

Oh man if the headliners are just 30-45 this will be glorious! Certain ones will most likely be more like X2, probably Tatsu and Green Lantern, and possibly Riddler's Revenge. Note that the time estimates assume rides are being run reasonably well. If there are one train operations or significant stacking, lines could be longer. I just know that last time I visited SFMM on a non-WCB Saturday (although one in December), I was able to get on all the coasters and leave by 6 P.M. even though I left the park for lunch at a sit-down restaurant. If you're trying to get on everything with minimal waiting, I recommend ending ERT at Goliath and going counter-clockwise from there. Depending on what time lunch is at, you could probably do Colossus, Scream, Green Lantern, Batman, Riddler's, Gold Rusher, Apocalypse, Superman, Ninja, and maybe Tatsu before lunch. It may be tempting to go to X2 first, but that ride rarely opens on time and the line will drop mid-afternoon (usually to below 30 minutes), plus Green Lantern and Superman have terrible capacity. This sounds like a good plan. I was almost thinking the exact same thing.

Cool pics so far. Can't wait to see the SDC ones and I'm curious to see how the Arkansas park went. When you were in Texas, did you do SFOT and Texas State Fair in the same day, or two separate days? Sorry to hear SFOT didn't go well.

^^Yeah, but Colorado more known for its Ski Resorts and mountains than its coasters. Don't feel too bad if you got to go skiing or snowboarding or got to go to the mountains. Now if you went to Ohio twice and didn't ride any coasters that would be sad. Last time I was at SFMM Apocalyse was down for the count, so I have yet to ride it. It's not a coaster credit, but last time I was at DCA, Toy Story Midway Mania was closed, so I also have yet to ride it as well. At least these parks are driving distance from me.

Oh man if the headliners are just 30-45 this will be glorious! Certain ones will most likely be more like X2, probably Tatsu and Green Lantern, and possibly Riddler's Revenge.

Love that Courtyard. I'm going try to stay there again this time. That's the hotel that Priceline gave me last time I went to Knott's. I love seeing SLO in the spotlight for a change too. I grew up in this area, I live here, and I am a Cal Poly Alumni. Now if only we had a good rural park like a Dollywood/Silver Dollar City or Knoebols type of park surrounded by beautiful scenery. I'm a bit newer than you, but I love it here! I'd love a decent little park too! I guess I'll have to settle with driving 3 hours to SFMM to get my coaster fix...better than nothing.

Well, they could add some High Five sections. I almost though about putting that in my post, but was waiting for someone to make suggestions. Well done!

Going down their other waterfall into a splash is more magic to me.

I love seeing all the SLO posts! If you or your daughter have any questions about Cal Poly, I'm a current student (Engineering) and can answer them! (Just PM me) I love seeing SLO in the spotlight for a change too. I grew up in this area, I live here, and I am a Cal Poly Alumni. Now if only we had a good rural park like a Dollywood/Silver Dollar City or Knoebols type of park surrounded by beautiful scenery.

Cool graphs, thanks for sharing this. What is a Big Apple coaster which is featured in a couple of your pie graphs?

^We'll see how crowded SFMM is. September is generally a good time to avoid crowds at SoCal parks before the Halloween events start, but it is a Saturday, and the weather will most likely be good (if its not too hot) so I am expecting there to be decent crowds. If I can get 6 rides each on YOLO and Lex Luther during ERT, I will be really happy. I have a feeling Knott's on Sunday will be less crowded, with both TPR and the GP. SFMM has 18 credits, so if you want them all you will have to ride the other rides in between the ERTs. If morning ERT is YOLO/Lex Luther/Goliath, then I am going head straight over to Green Lantern as soon as this ERT ends.

Why not?

We'll see how many times I'll get to ride each ERT ride during WCB. I'm looking forward to a lot of rides on YOLO, Lex Luther, X2, Tatsu, and Xcelerator.