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This is the last trip report from my 2006 Southern California park tour. For the other trip reports visit: Disneyland - Jan. 3 Disney's California Adventure - Jan. 4 Knott's Berry Farm - Jan. 5 Six Flags Magic Mountain - Jan. 6 Adventure City - Jan. 7 Click the links for pictures! We drove down some freeways and arrived at Scandia Amusement Park about an hour after we left Adventure City. We bought wristbands. This park is similar to Castles n Coasters in the sense that you walk through an arcade to get to the rides. The first thing we did was get on Scandia Screamer, which is a Miler Coaster elevated about 10 feet so it can sit above the midway. I've been told this park has a sense of humor, and we saw a pretty funny sign in Screamer's station. We rode in the front first. The airtime at the beginning of the hills is crazy. You're ejected on every little hill. There are some camelbacks along the ride that give good airtime when you enter them. The headchoppers are great. The only real disappointment was the last hill had a trim brake on it that took away any possible airtime. I sort of expected a helix at the end of this ride, but it just turned into the brakes. 8/10. We tried the back seat next. The airtime is brutal in the back. Every hill gets you slammed into the restraint. Ouch. It's fun, though. We went to Olga's Tilt-a-Whirl next. I got a few good spins when the ride started, but I got stuck in a horrible rut and didn't get a full spin for most of the ride. Blah. I wish I knew how to make these rides spin. 4/10. Bryan and I went to Little Dipper next. My brother sat out because he's not a credit whore. We sat in the back, and a kid sat in the front seat, but the ride host told us they couldn't have empty rows of seats between riders. We had to move to the second and third rows. The lift hill has no anti-rollbacks, so I thought we were going to roll back every time we engaged the chain. The train actually rolled back a little before the chain caught. The top of the lift hill turns to the left a little, which I thought was odd. The ride travels over some bunny hops over a little stream. The return leg goes under Screamer, and there are good headchoppers there. We went around the course three times. It's a fun little ride. 5/10. My brother and I got on Swedish Scrambler. I'd forgotten how fun Scramblers are. The ride ran for about three minutes, which was great. After I crushed my brother on every single turn, Bryan and my brother rode. I stood to the side and took pictures. 7/10. Bryan and my brother rode Viking Ship next. I usually sit out on these because they make me sick. Bryan sat on one end, and my brother sat on the other end. The ride host sat back and propped his feet up while the ride was going. He let it run for a long time. Bryan and my brother got a little bored on it. We walked over to the go karts and got in line, but we got out of line because it was long. We were about done, but my brother and I wanted to ride Screamer again. My brother wanted to ride in the very back seat, and I wanted a front-seat ride. I sat by myself, but the ride host said single riders weren't allowed in the front, so I had to wait for a kid to sit next to me. The airtime's great there. The drops are lots of fun. There's an airport nearby, and a plane flew over us as we were on the coaster. That was cool. My brother got to see how brutal the back was. We exited the park after spending about an hour there. We took some pictures from the parking lot and left. Screamer is really layered. Scandia is a fun little park. It's good for a visit if you're in the area. 6/10.

That's what it is. Because people don't know how to get in the seats, it kills capacity. Stand-ups just can't reach a decent capacity because people can't figure out the seats. I don't think Mantis is rough. There's one part of the ride after the block brake where you may bash your head. I just keep my head back, and I'm fine. I think Mantis is horribly boring. The inclined loop is the best part of the ride, but it's not that great.

I don't get what's so funny about this. They're showing different coasters, and at the end they show the biggest coaster.

Things like this never make sense to me. Newspapers try to pride themselves on getting facts right, but they always seem to really screw up when they write features on roller coasters.

I got busy with life, so it's been a while since I wrote a trip report. I'm wrapping up my California trip now. There's only one more after this one. Click the links for pictures! We got to Adventure City about 9:30 a.m., thinking we could park, hang out for a bit, then ride the two coasters when the park opened at 10. The problem was the operating hours were different than what the Web site said, and the park actually opened at 11 a.m. We decided to find a place to get breakfast. We drove down the road a bit, and right next to Knott's Berry Farm was a McDonald's. This was the oddest McDonald's I've ever been in. It had model trains suspended from the ceiling, and they drove around on tracks up there. Near an entrance was an arcade with about 10 games. Weird. After breakfast, we headed back to the park. We had about 30 minutes to kill, so we wandered around the area. There are small stores that share the parking lot with Adventure City, and we visited The Indian Store and a store that sold reptiles. We bought our tickets about 15 minutes before the park opened. They have an American Coaster Enthusiasts discount, so our tickets cost $6 each instead of $13. The person who sold us our tickets told us Tree Top Racers, the reason you're probably here, doesn't open until an hour after the park does. So we decided that we'd go straight to the kiddy coaster and get that out of the way once the park opened. Then we'd wander around for an hour until the coaster opened. The woman taking tickets saw that we got the ACE discount. She told us to have fun. Once the gates opened, we entered the park and walked back to Freeway Coaster. We were the first people on. We got in the last three cars. The ride host sort of laughed at us. Yeah, we're tools. The ride started abruptly. It's got a quick start and a quick lift hill. What's unique about this coaster is the second hill hops over a tree branch. Very cool. Because it was the first run of the day with passengers, and we were sitting in the back, it crawled over the second hill. I thought we'd roll back for a second. The next part of the ride is a downward turn to the left next to a small waterfall. It goes under some track and turns into the station. They let you go around twice. It's a neat ride. 4/10. We still had an hour to kill, so we wandered around the park. It's themed to a city, which is pretty cool. It's also got some odd things around the park like a bear in a tree. The midway was wet, which we figured was because they cleaned it before the park opened. We saw some animals, so we walked over to pet them. We walked over toward Tree Top Racers, which was still closed. There's a Moser Spring Ride called Drop Zone right next to it, so we got on that. It's fun. They were only loading one side of the ride, so we didn't get to face Tree Top Racers. There are some little pops of airtime every time it springs up and down. It's perfect for this park. 4/10. There was still some time to kill, so we walked to the arcade. Bryan played Skee Ball. After that, we went back and rode Drop Zone again. Whee. We saw a train driving around the park, so we got in line for the train. Bryan and my brother were thrilled. It's a small train that seats two adults per car. Along the track you go through a tunnel, pass by some scenery and go through a cafeteria-like place. There were some kids in there having a birthday party, so we waved at them. It passes by Tree Top Racers, so we got a few pictures of it. After that, we went back over to Tree Top Racers and waited. There were people in the station preparing to open it. Two of the ride hosts got in cars and test rode. Then they opened the line. Woo. There's a sign at the beginning of the line that has all the safety information. We noticed that it says “it'sure to be an adventure to remember.” It'sure? Ha! The cars on this coaster are extremely padded. They need to be. Some of these turns are brutally quick and underbanked. My brother got the first ride of the day. They didn't tell him to buckle his seat belt, and he didn't notice it. They just let him ride without his restraint! Bryan got in after I did. None of the block brakes were on. It just turns around sharp corners and makes some quick dives. There are two camelbacks that give some airtime, but there's a crazy hill followed by a quick turn that I loved. You get major airtime, then you're thrown to the side. It's wild. There are great headchoppers along the return stretch. It ends with a helix and a hop into the brakes. We rode immediately after we got off. They made my brother buckle his seat belt this time. This is a great classic ride. I hope someone buys it after this park closes. 8/10. We rode Drop Zone again. This time we asked if we could sit on the side facing Tree Top Racers. The ride host let us, so that was fun. We left the park after that. The woman at the entrance asked us how our visit was and she told us to have a great visit to California after we told her we were from Arizona. Adventure City is a fun little park. Kids whose parents take them here on weekends don't know how lucky they have it. They've got an amusement park with two great coasters right in their neighborhood. It's a shame this park is closing. It's got such character and flavor to it. The owners really know what they're doing. 7/10.

Flying Turns? As in the old-fashioned bobsled? Are they going to just build a Mack or Intamin bobsled instead?

^ It's true. Trains are freaking heavy. Millennium Force's trains weigh 19 tons. Nineteen! It has nine cars.

Why even post a POV if it's not in the front seat?

I didn't know Page, Ariz. had a Sonic, but I haven't been there in about five years. Methinks Flagstaff, Ariz., but where would you be going from the worst city in Arizona?

Patriot looks like it has a second set of magnetic brakes. B&M's starting to pick up on that idea.

This is the largest trip report from my recent trip to California. There are more than 70 photos, so be patient if a photo takes a while to load. You guys and the other forum I posted them on may be eating my bandwidth. Click the links for pictures! I hadn't been to Six Flags Magic Mountain since April 2003. We got up bright and early and arrived at the park about 9:15 a.m. The gates leading to the parking lot were closed, so we walked around and took some pictures outside the park. They opened the parking gates a little after 9:30, and we parked. We walked to the park gates, and Bryan and I bought season passes. My brother bought a ticket. The season pass office told us we had to go inside the park to get our passes processed. We thought this was a bad idea because they don't let you in until the park opens at 10. Today was going to be a good day at the park. It was absolutely dead. When the gates opened, we walked to Flashback and got our passes processed. The park was pretty dead, but he walked quickly over to X anyway. Bryan had never ridden X, and he was really excited for it. We walked over the bridge and got in the queue. We walked straight under the station and into the back row. There were six people in front of us and a loaded train in the station. Two people let us go ahead of them. My brother ended up riding a couple of trains before us with a single rider in row six. They were only running one train because, as I was later told, the other train rolled back earlier in the week. Fifteen minutes later, Bryan and I were on my favorite roller coaster. He had no idea what to expect. I'd nearly forgotten what the ride felt like. Oh. My. Gosh. X is still my favorite roller coaster ever, and the drop can't be topped. It's insanely intense, pulls great G-forces and is so wild. It was a little bumpier than the last time I rode it, but it wasn't bad. I still love this coaster. It's going to take a lot to beat this thing. 10/10. We took pictures of Tatsu's track when we exited. Up next was Viper. My brother went to the bathroom, so Bryan and I hopped on. Two trains were running, so we waited one train to get in the back seat. I love this ride, too. The forces are great, and the drop's intense. Bryan really liked the first loop. I like that it's really high up instead of being a huge loop, like what B&M does. It's a bit rough, but it is an Arrow. 9/10. After we got off, we got on again with my brother. The entrance queue took us to the line for the back, and we noticed there were no people standing in line for the front or the middle. We hopped in the first car with no wait. There's good airtime entering the block brakes in the front. It's good in the front, but I like the back. It was time for us to meet up with my friend Tom. He just got to the park and got his season pass processed, so we met him near Log Jammer. He was with his girlfriend, his friend Karl and Karl's wife. We decided to go to Goliath because it was nearby. I love the entrance to this ride. We walked straight into the station and headed for the back. The front row of the back car was roped off, so we had to stagger our seating. It took about 10 minutes to get on because they were only running one train. Tom, Karl and their significant others rode together. I rode with Bryan and my brother. Goliath is an excellent ride. I really like the first drop because it's straight for a long time. I don't like how much the top of the lift slows down or how much the block brakes slows you, but it doesn't take much away. The forces at the bottom of the drop are powerful, and the tunnel is really cool. The second drop took me by surprise. I'd forgotten how much is was banked. There's some good airtime in the camelback. Of course, the highlight of this ride is the helix at the end. It's extremely powerful. This is a really smooth coaster, too. 9/10. We went to MooseBurger Lodge next. I'd never eaten here before, and I'd heard that it's the best place to eat in the park. We were seated, and Tom, Bryan, my brother and I ordered what was called antler ale. It said it was lemonade and lots of berries. Tom told us to get it because it's good and comes with a crazy straw that you have to put together. It was delicious! Look at the following pictures Tom took of us trying to put the straws together: looking at them, Bryan figuring it out, I have no idea how it works, my brother might have it, Bryan has no idea. We called our host over, and he showed us how to do it. There we go. Tom holds up the complete version. Bryan and my brother using them. I've got it, but my brother has to hold it on my head. Oh, the food was excellent. Inside this place there is a moose and two moose heads that sing. Someone had a birthday, and the moose sang a birthday song. It was hilarious. After eating, Bryan and I went to Log Jammer. I really like this ride. It uses the terrain really well. The ending is good, too. It ends with a drop, some turns and a large final drop. I got misted because I sat in the front. Tom and posse were watching us come down the drop. They pushed a button for a water cannon, but it only seemed to bubble. 8/10. Colossus was next. It took this ride an hour or so to open after the park opened, and only one side was running, but we walked on it anyway. They were running two trains, but when we got there, one train was still testing. We rode in the back seat. This is a fun coaster. They slow the top of the lift hill down just like Goliath, but it's fun. There was good airtime in the back seat on many of the drops. The block brake is pretty useless. They slowed us down but not by much. Lots of people say this ride is rough, but I had no problem with is. The bottoms of the drops were pretty smooth. 7/10. We headed to Scream! because it was right next to Colossus. I rode this when it opened in 2003. It was decent then, and it's still decent. Bryan and I walked right on to get in the back row. Two trains were running. My brother didn't ride because he was thirsty or something. Tom and the others rode in the front. Our ride host was an older man with white hair. You don't see too many older people working at Magic Mountain. The drop is OK. The loop is OK. The zero-G roll is easily the best element on the ride. I was lifted out of my seat in that. The block brakes aren't on much at all, and the helix right after is good. The interlocking corkscrews are fun but not really noteworthy. This ride is really mediocre at best. I've ridden three floorless coasters, and this is my least favorite. 6/10. Bryan and I hopped on Bench: The Ride next. That's become an SFMM tradition for me. My brother got in line for Scream! He liked it. We walked to Batman The Ride. We walked right on to the back seat. They were running two trains. I'd forgotten how intense this coaster is. It's just element after element, loop after loop. My legs were tingling at the end of it. The turn after the second loop is really intense. I really felt pressed in my seat during that part. The corkscrews are also good. They snap in the middle, and I really like that. After the ride, Tom stood to the side and recorded the sounds Batman made. On to Riddler's Revenge. They were running two trains. We ended up waiting one train for the back seat. We rode in the second train, Jerry, which is the fast train. I love this ride. It's tall, fast, intense and all-around the best stand-up coaster I've ever ridden. The loop has good G-forces, the two dive loops are excellent, the inclined loop feels crazy, and the two corkscrews are great. My favorite thing about this ride, though, is the last inversion. That corkscrew is taken with such force, you're plastered in your seat through the whole thing. I love that part. It's my favorite corkscrew. The drop off the block brakes gives airtime in the back seat, which was a bit unexpected. This ride is loud, too. I really like it. The exit is even cool. 10/10. We stopped at a cart and got some snacks. I got a soft frozen lemonade, which I've gotten at least once every time I've visited this park. Then we climbed the crazy hill to Samurai Summit. Sheesh, this is one steep hill. I can't wait for Orient Express to open after they open Tatsu. Climbing that hill is a workout.Superman The Escape was our next stop. My brother didn't ride because he's just not impressed with it at all. This was the first time I've not ridden in the front seat on this coaster. I didn't really want to wait, even though we only waited two cycles for the third row. Tom and his friends got on before us, and they said the ride host screwed up and actually gave them two rides! How cool. When Bryan and I got on, one ride host was adamant about keeping our heads against the headrest. She seemed very concerned. The launch is weak, and the wind didn't make my eyelids flap, but it's sort of fun. Because the track is so long, it doesn't even seem like it goes too fast. The car was going as high as it should go, though. This ride just doesn't do it for me. The airtime heading back was neat, but that's really all this ride has. 5/10. On our way to Ninja, we took some photos of the progress of Tatsu. Footers, lift hill and construction. We also saw a sign that claimed that a Pentax camera is the official camera of the Internet, whatever the heck that means. At the entrance of the park, they had a list of closed rides. Ninja was on the list, so we were happy to see it open. As usual, the station was empty so we hopped right on. Bryan, my brother and I went to the back, Tom and his gang went to the front. Ninja has a really short lift hill. It uses the terrain really well. The entire ride just goes down the side of the hill in the park. It's a pretty good ride. It's not too rough, and it has some spots with good forces. Too bad it ends with a lift hill and a turn to the station. 7/10. At the exit, we saw a soda machine. There were Six Flags ride logos at the bottom. One doesn't exist anymore! We went to my favorite mine train coaster, Gold Rusher. This is a fun ride. There are two great headchoppers down the first drop. The second drop is fun, and the ride winds around the terrain. The ending is great, too. It's a double helix carved into the hillside. I like it. 8/10. Arrowhead Splashdown was next. Bryan rode ahead of my brother and me. I like this water ride. You don't get wet on it, and it's fun. It winds around the hill. It's going to be really cool with Tatsu there. Arrowhead Splashdown picks up a bit of speed before stopping before the drop. The drop is fun and fairly steep. You don't get wet, and that was good because it was starting to get a little chilly. 7/10. We went to Deja Vu next. My brother skipped it because the first and only time he rode it, he rode in the back seat and it scared him. The women sat out, too. We waited about 15 minutes to get in the station. Tom asked the ride host at the entrance to the station if we could sit in the back. He let us! Nice. Bryan and I got the outside seats. I'd only ridden this in the 10th row. This was wild. Sitting in the back, you get to see how tall the lift hill is. It was pretty crazy. The drop was insane. We sped through the station and into the cobra roll. The loop had some good forces. We headed up the second lift and dropped before I could regain my senses. Going backward through this ride is insane. It's not as fast as going forward though the cobra roll, but it's cool enough. The catch on the lift hill after the backward pass can be painful, but I remembered it from the first time I rode. This is one wild coaster! 8/10. Bryan wanted credits, and I hate my life, so we got in line for Psyclone. Actually, it was only Bryan, my brother and me. Everyone else wanted to live. Tom took my camera and got pictures of us before, during and after the ride. Not good. Not good at all. I was actually glad it really slowed down at the top of the lift hill. The drop was decent, but the first turn slammed us to the side. I was holding on for dear life, and I still got beaten up. The next hill is brutal, too. Every single turn on this ride slams the train around. It's painful and my second-least favorite wooden coaster. I won't be riding this again unless they get different trains. These B&M trains do not track well at all. 0/10. It was about 5:30. The parked closed in half an hour, so we decided to call it a night. We bought some things in a gift shop, and Tom's group left. After exiting, we got on a tram to the parking lot. Six Flags Magic Mountain is one of my favorite amusement parks. This park did not disappoint at all, and this was probably one of my best visits. It wasn't crowded at all, and the park was running two trains on a few of their coasters. Excellent!

Not even! I still have three to write from this trip!

Click the links for pictures! Knott's has really changed since the last time we visited. First off, they have a big B&M inverted coaster now that dominates the entrance. Secondly, this park was not nearly as impressive as it was the last time. The park was dead, but rides were running at Six Flags efficiency. One train, closed rides. Jaguar was closed. Blah. At least the park opened on time. We headed right to Silver Bullet. We figured it would get a bit of a line, and it was right next to the entrance. Walking to it is simple: Just walk under the cobra roll. We rode in the back row. They made me take my camera off, even though it was securely attached to my belt. I'd forgotten about this park's odd loose article rules. At least the cubbies in the station were free. Silver Bullet is really just an OK ride. It was a credit for all of us, but not much of an experience. The first drop is not steep at all, the ride is too smooth and it's mostly forceless. The overbanked turn was decent in the back. The back really didn't give us much of a pull. We sort of lagged through the elements. The cobra roll was boring. I'm used to Raptor's, which snaps around quickly. This one is just too fluid. The zero-G roll was odd. The entrance and exit of it are different shapes. The exit turned quickly to the left, which was an odd feeling. The turn after it is quick and forceless. The corkscrews are extremely smooth. The turn between the corkscrews was pretty cool. The beginning of the helix has some good forces, and the jet of water spraying toward our feet was a neat touch. I really liked the magnetic brakes. They slowed the ride down quickly and smoothly before the air brakes kicked in. 6/10. Did I mention that this park was running inefficiently? Silver Bullet was running one train of two. They ran that one train all day. We saw that the line picked up a little, so we got in line again. We decided to go toward the front to compare the two ends. We got in row two. They were running so terribly, though. They weren't checking heights, so they just eyeballed kids as they got in the train. They'd load all the seats then unload a seat to check the height of a kid. One kid was told earlier that he was too short to ride, but his group got in line with him again and tried to make him get on. They need to figure out a system so it takes less than five minutes to launch a train. Good thing they didn't have that second train on, or people would have been sitting in the brakes forever. I just didn't get it. With this sort of terrible loading time, why would they keep that second train off? Bad idea, Knott's. The front was actually better than the back, which is odd for B&M inverteds. The overbanked turn was pretty cool up front. We got thrown into it and dove back down quickly. It's really banked! The transition between the overbank and the cobra roll was good. The G-forces were pretty high in that area. The exit of the zero-G roll is really crazy in the front. I was flung around a bit because the exit is so oddly shaped. 6/10. We went to Montezooma's Revenge next. This is my favorite shuttle coaster. The launch is powerful and sort of unexpected. It's got great G-forces. The loop is awesome! And going backward through the loop is really fun. The back spike is great. We rode in the back car, so we got the best part of the backward climb. There's even a slight bit of airtime on the back spike. This is a great coaster. 8/10. We hadn't eaten breakfast, so we decided to try out the famous Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant. The three of us got the famous fried chicken. It was really good, but we were tired from traveling and doing two parks in two days, so our appetites were down. I had a headache, but we visited first aid after eating. That helped. Having food in my stomach helped, too. It's hard to ride coasters on a empty stomach. My brother sat down on a bench in Ghost Town and picked someone's nose. Bryan got in line for Boomerang. My brother and I didn't ride because we already had the credit. It's a Boomerang. It's not good. After Boomerang, we headed to Xcelerator. The park was empty, so there wasn't much of a wait for this coaster. We hopped in the line for the back car. They were only running one train. The second was down for rehab. There was some grass next to the brake run that really needed trimming. The launch on Xcelerator is extremely powerful. It throws you out of the station, and you immediately climb the top hat. The drop is fun, and the top hat has a lot of airtime. The overbanked turns afterward are OK, but the train shuffles like crazy. It really shakes around after that top hat. Darn Intamin shuffle. 8/10. We headed right next door to Supreme Scream. My brother hates drop rides, so he sat this one out and took pictures of Bryan and me in our seats before and after the ride. It's fun. I like tall drop rides. 8/10. Ghostrider was next. I was excited. The last time I rode this, it was amazing. It was my second favorite wooden coaster. Was. It had everything: airtime, laterals and a fairly smooth ride. There was a bit of a wait because they were only running one train, the copper train. We hopped in the back car after about a 50-minute wait. The seats are really comfortable, and the restraints were new. It looked like this train just got out of rehab. I never noticed it before, but there are kicker wheels that help get the train out of the station. Oh boy, how this ride has changed. It's rough right off the bat. Straight down the first drop, we're tossed around. When I rode this last time, that was the only slightly rough spot. Now the entire ride jars you around. Ouch. At least the turn after the third drop was still good. That's my favorite turn on a wooden coaster. It's got great laterals. The rest of the ride consisted of airtime and shaking around. The airtime was good, but this ride's just not the same. Good thing those seats are padded. Ouch, Ghostrider. What happened? 7/10. We wandered around for a while and saw a shooting gallery. Bryan took a picture of it and set off all the gadgets inside with the flash. Hilarious! Bryan and I wanted to ride Screamin' Swing, and we paid the $5 each to ride it. My brother didn't want to pay because he's probably going to Cedar Point, so he'll get to ride the large version for free. Bryan and I hopped on. The restraints are really comfortable. It's just a lap bar that comes down and adjusts to fit after it locks down. This was a pretty fun ride. Because it's so small, it pulls pretty good G's as it hits the bottom of the swing. We only got two full swings, which was pretty lame. I wish the ride was longer than 40 seconds. Then maybe it'd be worth $5. 7/10. We went to Mystery Lodge next and watched the show. It was a fun show. The illusion of the smoke coming out of the fireplace is cool. We got on Calico Mine Ride next. This ride's OK. It's sort of hard to hear the driver of the train sometimes. The robotic figures inside are pretty funny. This is a nice relaxing ride. At the end of the ride, we saw a cat sitting near the track. I wonder why there was a cat there. Yes, it's real. 5/10. We walked by Timber Mountain Log Ride, my second favorite log flume. It was down so they could take the Christmas decorations off. What a shame. We wanted to show Bryan "sit down!" We went to Sky Cabin so we could get a good view of the park and take pictures. You get good views of Ghostrider, Xcelerator and Silver Bullet. What's really cool is they let you walk around and stand up to take better pictures. I like it. We headed to Xcelerator again. My brother sat out because he wasn't feeling too well. We stood in the queue for a while and took pictures. We got a better view of the condition of the red train. We waited a couple trains for the very back seat. That launch is such a rush! I really like it. It was almost 6 p.m., closing time so we decided to call it a night. This park was pretty disappointing. It wasn't run as well as we'd wished. They weren't running coasters at capacity. Ghostrider was probably the disappointment of the trip. It's such a shame that a great coaster had to be maintained so poorly. I wish Cedar Fair would take better care of this park.

Click the links for pictures! We used our park hopper passes to get into California Adventure. This park closed a few hours before Disneyland, so we figured we could spend the day here and the evening at Disneyland. We headed straight to the Tower of Terror. This ride is great! The entire preshow is outstanding. We entered the hotel and walked through the lobby. We walked through a door and into the preshow area where a video screen told us the story of the Hollywood Tower Hotel and how we were taking a tour of the place. We entered the boiler room and walked to the elevator shaft. Unlike its Florida cousin, which is one story, I'm told, this ride has two levels of loading. We climbed some stairs and made our way to the maintenance elevator. A bellhop told us to have a seat. Every single one of these seats only has a seat belt. Oh joy. We're on a drop ride with nothing but seat belts. As the doors closed, our bellhop's smile changed to a gloom look. That was hilarious. The vehicle moved backward and began a short climb. The doors opened and we saw a ghostly family standing in a hallway. We dropped one floor. What a rush. We climbed up again. Higher this time. We dropped again. Then we climbed to the top. Doors opened and gave us a great view of the park. We dropped again. We climbed again. We stopped at the top and waited for a while before dropping the entire way down. This is one amazing ride. We decided that we had to ride it again later in the day. 10/10. We headed over to California Screamin', but it was down. We decided to hop on Sun Wheel because it looked neat and was near Screamin'. Of course we chose to ride in the gondola that swings around on rails. That was going to be great. This ride is partially underneath the lake in the park. The walls surrounding it have reflective metal on them, which looks cool. One of the metal boards was loose and rocking with the waves. I took a picture of my brother and myself reflected in the broken one. In line, some creepy guy was checking out young girls waiting in line in front of us. The line splits near the station so more gondolas can be loaded at once. We split to the left, and creepy guy split to the right. A few seconds later we found out that he was right next to us! Great. Hopefully he won't get on the same gondola as us. They load one gondola and stop him before he boards. Great. He's riding with us. We sat on the other side of the gondola as the creepy guy. Aside from him, this ride was really crazy fun. The swinging was insanely scary, and there was nothing to grab on to. There are motion sickness bags in the gondolas, too. Ha! We noticed that there were people standing on every block on Screamin'. That looked promising because they were trying to open the ride. While we were yelling and talking, the only thing creepy guy did was widen his eyes and let out a quiet noise every so often. Creepy! When the ride ended, we got the heck out of there. Creepy guy walked in another direction. We went to Mulholland Madness, the park's wild mouse. We got in line, but the ride broke down and they kicked everyone out of line. By that time, Screamin' was testing, so we went over to it. They opened it, and we walked right into the station. We got in the back car. The over- the- shoulder restraints are comfortable, though they're the old style Intamin restraints. The music wasn't on in the cars, so we didn't get to experience that. I'm sure it adds a lot to the ride. The launch was fun, and the drop off the first hill had some airtime. This is just a long, twisting coaster. The drop off the second lift hill (which is powered with LSMs) was cool and had some airtime. The next turn is highly banked. The loop that follows was fun and had good G-forces. The rest of the ride was three bunny hops and some ground-level turns. The bunny hops at the end were big teases. They had no airtime, though they seemed to be trying to give us airtime. DCA just added new brakes right before the bunny hops, so the airtime was taken away. What a shame. Screamin' is a great ride, none the less. 8/10. We were hungry, so we stopped at Strips, Dips 'n' Chips for lunch. I got chicken fingers with honey mustard. It was a pretty good meal. The french fries were really good. It was time for another ride: Maliboomer, the S&S Space Shot. With scream shields so riders' screams are muffled. The ride's OK. I've been on better. It's short, the scream shields are really odd, and the airtime at the top isn't very intense. It has a neat theme, though. It looks like a Hi Striker, and a bell rings when you reach the top. 5/10. We headed over to Tower of Terror to get Fastpasses. We knew we had to ride it again. On our way there, we took some pictures of Grizzly River Run. We didn't ride because it was a bit chilly out, and we weren't in the mood to get wet. Near Tower of Terror, people were pouring out of the Hyperion Theater after the Aladdin show. There were thousands of people on the midway, so it was a little difficult to navigate. We decided to go to Soarin' Over California after getting our Fastpasses to Tower of Terror. We waited about 50 minutes to ride Soarin'. We sat in the middle row. It's really fun. The wind blowing in our faces was great, and the smells were the perfect touch. Smelling pines while flying over a river was cool, but the smell of oranges over the orange trees was the best. That smell lingered, though. I smelled oranges when jets flew in front of us. This attraction is really great. It's one of the best simulator rides I've been on, if it can be called that. The visuals are great, and the extras (wind, smells) are outstanding. The three of us agreed that there needed to be some sort of transition between scenes. One moment you're soaring over the mountains, then you're flying over a sped-up downtown Los Angeles. No transition. It just jumps to the next scene. 9/10. My brother licked what we called a tube of urine outside the ride. Bryan and I got on Golden Zephyr next. It's like a larger version of the Traver Circle Swing. There's not much to this ride. It spins around in a circle over the water. Whee. 4/10. Bryan and I then went to Orange Stinger. It's just a Wave Swinger inside an orange, which I thought was sort of weird. Weirder still is that the inside of the orange is supposed to be a bee hive. I think. It only gives you two full rotations at full speed. The entire time the sound of buzzing bees is going on. Weird, weird, weird. 5/10. We went to Tower of Terror to use our Fastpasses. We got on the second level again. Once again, this ride is amazing. Our bellhop didn't make a face as the doors closed this time. Bah. When we got off, we glanced at the new Monsters, Inc. ride, which was giving sneak previews. We walked by because we got Fastpasses earlier to Mulholland Madness and it was time to use them. We hopped in the Fastpass line for Mulholland Madness. This ride's themed to driving around Mulholland Drive. Some of the theme is pretty clever. Get it? It's the lift hill. This wild mouse is pretty fun. The turns are sharp, and the brakes are only on where they really need to be on so you don't take a corner too fast and get too many laterals. There's a sign with a corner broken off near one of the hairpin turns, as if a car crashed through it. That was a cool touch. 6/10. Then we went to the Monsters, Inc. ride: Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! The queue line tells all about the company Monsters, Inc. and what they do if a human gets loose. There's a funny vending machine in the queue, too. The ride is pretty much like going through the movie. My brother hadn't seen the movie, so he was a little confused. The ride is pretty fun. 7/10. We left DCA and went to Disneyland so we could ride Splash Mountain, the ride we missed yesterday. It wasn't nearly as cold this night, so we figured it was good to give it a shot. It's a great ride, too. Bryan also wanted the credit. He'd ridden the one in Florida and was really impressed. The line was about 75 minutes, so we got Fastpasses. What a great system. We were hungry, so we got food at the River Belle Terrace. I got ribs, which were really good. While waiting for our time to come up to ride Splash Mountain, my brother and I rode the Jungle Cruise. This is a Disneyland original ride, which was really cool. The ride was pretty cool because it was at night. The boat had lights on the sides so we could see the robotic animals. The driver of the boat told lots of corny jokes as we passed each little part of the ride. The best part of the ride was easily when the piranha attacked. The water bubbled, and the fish spun around in circles in the water. It looked like they were jumping out of the water. That made my brother jump. 6/10. We got on Splash Mountain with our Fastpasses. The queue is just a long, winding line through the ride building. It's really long. I'm glad we got to walk by everyone. We got right on to the Fastpass loading station and got on a boat. Sweet. Bryan sat in the front, I sat behind him and my brother was behind me. This ride is amazing. It has lots of good drops, good speed and fun theming. We saw a hidden Mickey, too. One of the coolest parts of this ride is an airtime hill after a drop in the middle of it. Amazing! We had a tiny pop of airtime on this water ride. The drop at the end was spectacular, too. It was night, so we couldn't see anything. The drop's big and steep. What a blast. 9/10. We went inside a shop on Main Street and bought some things for relatives. My brother played a game that makes Pinocchio dance. Disney's California Adventure is a great park, but it doesn't exactly have the feel of a Disney park. I liked it a lot, especially the Hollywood Pictures Backlot midway. That's one of my favorite midways. DCA gets an 8/10.

Click the links for pictures! After leaving Arizona about 5 a.m., my friend Bryan, my brother and I arrived at Disneyland just after the park opened at 10 a.m. We parked and headed to buy our tickets. The lines for the ticket windows were really long. We bought park hopper passes, which were $116 and good for two days at Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure. We entered the park and hopped in line for Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters because the line for Space Mountain was long (we got Fastpasses for Space Mountain). This ride was OK. I got a higher score than Bryan but a lower score than my brother. I didn't figure out until about halfway through the ride that there was an aimer on the gun. That made it easier amid all the other guns shooting at the same target. 6/10. We were hungry, so we got a bite to eat. Bryan and I got turkey legs, which were $5 and delicious. We wandered around for a bit and decided to hop in line for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The line wasn't long. While in line, my brother scratched a scab off his arm, which started to bleed. He cleaned it off in a water fountain in line. We got to sit in the front car. This ride is pretty fun. It has three lift hills and lots of tunnels. The tunnels are cool. Sitting in the front lags when we head down drops because the rest of the ride has to get over the hill. The water splash at the end is neat. 6/10. Afterward we headed to Haunted Mansion, which was themed to The Nightmare Before Christmas. The queue was really neat. It seemed long, but because it was split in two, it went fairly quickly. I really enjoy this ride. It's just a simple dark ride with smoke and mirrors, but I still think it's cool. The whole place had Christmas decorations up and characters from the movie all around. 7/10. We went to Indiana Jones Adventure, which is one of my favorite dark rides. The wait was about 45 minutes, but it was a good wait. The queue was great and had a lot to look at. It was covered in vegetation and had snake statues around it. The entrance to the temple looks good, too. This ride is amazing. I really like it. The trucks drive around a course, take sharp turns, tip all over the place and drive next to ledges. It's so fun. The ending is the best. I forgot about the drop after the huge boulder falls toward the vehicle. I think only Spider-Man at Islands of Adventure is better than this ride. 10/10. Pirates of the Caribbean was next. I really enjoy this ride. It's relaxing, pirates are cool and it looks good. You don't get wet, though there are a few spots where you think you're going to get splashed. We saw a hidden Mickey toward the end of the ride. That was great. 8/10. We used our Fastpasses to get on Space Mountain. My brother and Bryan ended up getting to sit in the front. I was one seat behind them. The last time I rode this ride was before they revamped it. This new version is definitely smoother, though the turns aren't heartlined. I was surprised at how this ride kept spiraling down. Every turn took us farther down than the last section of track, and we sped up with each drop. It was a lot of fun. The music in the cars kept the ride's pacing up. Look at our photo. 7/10. This is much better than the earlier one, even though the layout is the same. Next we got in line for one side of Matterhorn Bobsleds. The last time I visited Disneyland, this ride was down for rehab. The last time I rode this was when I was 5, and I only rode one side. While waiting in line, you see trains zoom by every so often. You also hear something roar inside the ride. Toward the end of the queue, you can see the primary braking on the coaster: a water splash. It slows it down before the final curve into the skid brakes. We waited about 30 minutes to get on. This ride is pretty bumpy. Every transition jolts you around. The cars are uncomfortable. Good thing it only has seat belts. They didn't even make me buckle the second seat belt. They just checked mine and sent us on our way. Most of this ride takes place inside the Matterhorn. Every so often we'll pass by an opening in the mountain. The sunset looked great from this ride. The water splash at the end takes off a lot of speed. 6/10. Bryan and I hopped into the line for the other Matterhorn track. We waited about 20 minutes for this side. It was pretty much the same as the other side. There was a part when we passed by a train going the opposite direction, which was cool. The track's bumpy, but I sat in a different position so I didn't hit my tailbone. 6/10. It started to get a bit cooler outside. We wanted to get sometime to eat, and my brother wanted to spin the big stone ball in Tomorrowland. We spun it around a few times. That water was really cold. We headed to Redd Rockett's Pizza Port in Tomorrowland for dinner. We each got a slice of pizza and a soda, which cost $9! We hopped on Star Tours after eating. This is a simulator themed to Star Wars. It was pretty lame. I'm not a big fan of simulator rides, and this one didn't do too much. The idea of it wasn't too great, either. You're on a tourist space ship that will travel from Endor to a nearby moon, but your newbie captain can't drive. Blah. 3/10. We went to Honey, I Shrunk the Audience next. This attraction is really dated. The movie was OK more than a decade ago, but it's just old now. This attraction is just a theater with a large screen. You wear 3-D glasses, and things on the screen appear to come off the screen. Eh, not really. I'm used to these things, and I'd already done this attraction the last time I visited this park. 2/10. We headed over the Splash Mountain because we thought the line would be shorter as the Main Street parade was going on. It was about 75 minutes, so we got Fastpasses that were good in about an hour. By now it was dark, and the temperature had really dropped. We were walking around in shorts and T-shirts, and it was pretty chilly. We didn't want to ride a water ride because it was cold, so we decided to stick around and watch the fireworks show. This show was excellent! The fireworks were all timed to music. I especially liked the fireworks shooting back and forth in the style of Pirates of the Caribbean. This was a pretty long show, too. It must have been about 30 minutes. 10/10. After the show, we headed out. We were cold and had pretty much ridden everything in the park. We'd come back tomorrow to ride Splash Mountain after California Adventure.

Do we have a confused smiley? Wait, this'll do:

Nope. You're wrong. I don't want to sound high and mighty or make you look like an idiot, but you're just wrong. Bloodflow doesn't affect G-forces, nor does holding your breath or crossing your eyes or wishing upon a star. Think about it this way: If you held your breath in space, would you fall down? No. You'd float. Gravity affects you the same way no matter what. This is simple physics, not quantum mechanics (i.e., total insanity).

I can assure it has nothing to do with your bloodflow. You just don't remember feeling negative G's. Nothing you can do can affect the G-forces you get. Even if your lap bar is down all the way, you still get the same amount of G-forces than you would if your lap bar has some room for airtime. You won't be lifted out of your seat as much, but you get the same G-forces. The same goes for holding your breath or whatever other absurdities you can think of.

This park has the craziest art design I've ever seen at any amusement park. By Desert Storm's station, there's a drawing of a guy throwing kids with the sign saying the stairs are for "shahs" only. :? http://ptreport.thrillnetwork.net/images/cnc/shah.jpg

You've lost your mind, son.

Woah, dude. http://www.tinyurl.com that sucker or just post the URL. http://www.drtcomputers.com/KingdaKa.AVI Note this is slow, slow, slow. 44.3 k/s.

Where are the LIMs on the Halfpipes? I didn't see them in the video.

Do you guys even know what an Immelmann is? This is nowhere near one. This is a loopscrew, as Bryan pointed out. I don't take pride in saying that Castles 'n' Coasters is my home park, but I can say that Sky Diver is the best drop ride I've ever been on. That's the star attraction of the park. Desert Storm's OK. It's pretty intense for its size.

That was going to be made by Arrow. I remember all the fuss about it. People didn't want it because it would be noisy, so Arrow lowered the height from about 750 feet to 400 feet. Then it just hit snag after snag and eventually was scrapped. I'm upset that I never got to Las Vegas. High Roller doesn't look like the best or the most fun, but it is an experience unlike any other. Hey, if you dig deep enough on that Web site, there were plans for a stand-up coaster to be built at the Titanic resort. That'd be cool.

If a word beginning with a vowel or vowel sound is preceded by the article "a," "a" should be changed to "an." I'm just nitpicking. That was a pretty good review. But don't leave us hanging. Tell us about the airtime. All three hills look like they've got some. Is there any entering the brakes?