AllenA07

I grew up in the LA area so basically every year for as long as I can remember (I'd say my first memories of being at a park as a little kid were from around maybe 88-89... I've got vague memories of Shockwave at SFMM, so 1988 is a good guess.). Anyway one of the things that I had noticed over the years is that Knott's took the most drastic fall. Every year SFMM was basically the same park, plus a new ride. Disneyland is just Disneyland. Knott's starting from the time Cedar Fair took over to present has taken such a drastic fall. I find it very sad the state that once great park is now in, and I truly hope that eventually the park will return to what it once was. What's funny is I can remember a time in the not so distant past when most of the people on here would have raved about Ghostrider, and how it was one of the (if not the) best wooden coaster out there. Now a few years later it's ranked right next to Psyclone and Grizzly. Just shows how lack of maintance can kill an otherwise great coaster.

I loved the fact that when you read that it ruined his life you're thinking "wow the guy got lung cancer or something." But then out of nowhere boom, he hits you with divorce.

Actually once as I was returning from lunch I did see some activity behind the wall. I went to investigate and discovered two kids (13ish) attempting to unhook the sound system and make off with it. They wouldn't have made it very far, the thing weighed a couple hundred pounds, and was a pretty decent size. However that is the closest one ever got to running away.

I'd take the time look for a good thread to put up here, but I'm too busy preparing for the world to end in 2012.

I agree with what one of the above posters said, that boredom likely becomes a problem from employees, and causes them to act rude occasionally. When I was working at the park I remember become incredibly bored by the end of my shift. I would sit behind a sound system all day and watch the same show over and over again. During Fright Fest I would run the Roadkill Kitchen which had me working for 10-15 minutes an hour and basically sitting around making sure the sound system didn't run away for the other 45 minutes. To avoid going crazy I ended up walking around and giving information to anybody who wanted it, I actually loved when guests needed directions or anything, because it gave me a chance to interact with people. A lot of time before shows I would talk to people in the audience and ask how their stay at the park was.

I had this same thought the pother day, if the park did remove the old dragon station, and used the surrounding hill side, I think there might be enough room there for a small to medium size coaster.

Glad to hear the park does plan to protect the stuff, I too was worried about some of it growing legs and walking away as soon as guests were allowed up there.

Happy Birthday Elissa.

The last "fun" thing I bought was a Garmin Nuvi 350 GPS. The last real thing I bought was an oil change yesterday for $26.99.

Thanks for the cases, you saved me time from being nerdy and looking them up myself. Alright so I went and skimmed over this case, and sure enough the court says that "Under our Constitution, anonymous pamphleteering is not a pernicious, fraudulent practice, but an honorable tradition of advocacy and of dissent. Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority." As other posters have said as well the court paid a lot of attention to the history of anonymous writings, in particular the federalist papers and great works of literature by authors such as Mark Twain.

^While bullying isn't protected I think a court would find this speech to be overbroad. There are likely more narrow ways in which law makers could seek to get some control over online bullying. As Wes said, this country has a long a rich tradition of people writing under false names. The guy who proposed the law said he knows that it is unconstitutional, which means that likely he only put it out there to make a point.

It violates the 1st amendment? That's a little bit surprising and I'm curious why they say that it does. I think if you really want to push things a little bit, you could also make an argument (granted a rather poor one) that this violates the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. I'm for one not going to stay up at night worrying about this bill passing. Even if it did pass, it's not like you all can't figure out my first name already.

Professors who had back property midterms right before Spring Break. I'd be happier not knowing until after.

^I took a date out for breakfast once and all went well. She asked to go home to get ready for dinner, but called about 2 hours later to tell me she just wasn't feeling well and we'd have to rain check. I find out shortly thereafter that she actually had another date that night. See so it can be worse then getting broken up with the day before Valentines day.

Just seeing the parks presence here really gives me hope for the future. It really shows that they do care what the guests think, whih I think is something that has been absent from SFMM for a very long time. After reading about the dedication of the new managment, and seeing them post (and I'm sure lurk) here, I really can't wait to see where this park is in 5-10 years from now.

Wonderful visual there Wes! In all reality though while you should be careful, I don't really think it is necessary that people hide away in their homes from the evil STD.

I agree with this policy, you should have to pay a yearly fee. Plus you get a simi-cool cup for your money.

I have the same story, I was 14 and thought I'd be the coolest person ever if I got my ear pierced... I had it in for about three years before I decided that the whole earring thing and myself didn't work out as well as I had thought we would.

The problem with love is that it is something you can't understand unless you're in it. I thought I loved a certain girl in High School, I really believed it. However years later looking back at it, I only thought it was love because I didn't really know what love was, and just told myself that is what I was feeling. Again the best advice I can give is enjoy High School, and don't be too much on the look out for love.

For a very long time I went around trying to find "the one." Generally speaking it was a bad idea when I look back. Figuring out who "the one" is takes a lot of time and is not something you come to over night. I passed up dating a lot of people because I didn't think the relationship would last forever, that is no reason not to date in High School however. It's good to be broken up with a few times, it teaches how to actually survive a relationship. Go out and look to have some fun, chances are the person you meet who becomes "the one" will only do so after you've been together a while. My girlfriend and I didn't really care for each other for the first three weeks we knew each other. We're getting married at the end of this year. When we first met, it wasn't like, "Wow she's the one," but things still just worked out that way.

Eric, it was actually a very nice park. I think it could use a nice B&M floorless, however as is I had a good time. I was only there a couple of hours, and then I swung into Dallas to do some sightseeing. Overall though it is a nice park in a really fun area.

Wow someday I've got to venture into my "nerd" box. I know it's sitting in my closet (I tell them every time I'm there I plan to take it, but in all honesty, I plan to let it stay there) at my parents house. Anyway inside you'll find all the best, recorded discovery channel shows, dozens of coaster shirts, including a Windjammer shirt! My personal favorite, a land marker from X construction, as well as a complete set of blue-prints for the coaster. Along with all that are dozens of press kits, and even a catalog from Vekoma (no clue why I got that). I also have a bunch of coaster magazine from Vekoma laying around in there, they used to actually send out a quarterly magazine with a bunch of company news. Never was quite sure how I got myself on that mailing list, but it made for an impressive array for nerdy coaster junk.

^RCDB doesn't have any special information, I wouldn't take their word any further then anything I've heard here. Honestly, we're going to have to just wait and find out when work begins.

Sfotkid, were you at the park in a TPR shirt? If so I'm pretty sure I aw you as I was heading out. Anyways good report, and I'd add my own if I thought there was much I could add, but there isn't so I won't bother. I was a little bummed that Shockwave was down (in a big way) but it was still fun.

I would actually that a ride like Viper at SFMM would bring in a lot of money. While the ride isn't as popular as it once was, it does offer a high ROI. The ride has decent ridership, can move through huge amounts of riders quickly, and has low maintainance costs.