bert425

The Vegas Cirque shows all have extremely high production costs. They wouldn't see a return on investment for at least 5 years, since the theaters are all custom built to the show. Hence why Broadway shows and residencies are easier...they're just touring acts easy to move in and out. This is a HUGE reason that "Absinthe" has been so mega-successful in their tent. Production costs are low while still being extremely impressive, and they can rotate out acts per show if they want. In fact, they already do, almost! Not changing acts between the two nightly shows, but they rotate acts daily. If you go to Absinthe on a Saturday night and again on Tuesday night there's going to be about 50% new acts you didn't see. I live here and I've seen the show 10+ times and each time is as good as the last! doesn't hurt that "Absinthe" is a fantastic show. . seen it a few times at this point, and loved it every time (and like you said, only about a 3rd of the acts were the same each time. . tho the Host/puppet schtick NEVER gets old).

^ those are the BEST reactions, aren't they?

yeah.. should have been themed to phone booths!

They actually are doing that way, sort of. remember, it's a big tapestry type artwork showing a long, continuous scene. As you can see in the picture, she's working only midway in the open "viewing area" (there's still a LOT of unrestored mural on the roll to the right) but a nice section in the center of the two rolls is viewable. Everything to the right of her is unrestored, and the restored portions are to the left. They "roll" it a little every time, to reveal a little more of the unrestored artwork, and roll the restored portions little by little onto the roll at the left. make sense? yeah, if a hotel offers them, they typically are an upcharge choice. I always go for a corner room, if we're staying in a downtown area hotel that offers them. more often than not, we stay at a Courtyard Marriott, and in those, every room is the same (those tend to be rectangular buildings, as opposed to square buildings that have the corner rooms). we spent about 30 minutes or so in the Courthouse (the artifact gallery on the first floor is rather small, but if we did the tour, that would have been about an hour on it's own). it's more of a whispering spot, from what I observed: The ranger stood in the center of the rotunda, and whispered to someone who was standing on the 2nd floor balcony (he had sent her up there). Was still pretty neat, even without hearing the reasoning behind it -- which we would have gotten if we'd taken the free tour. But as noted, that was about an hour, and we just didn't have the time to join it. . especially since Nick really couldn't make it to the 2nd floor - where the Courtrooms were. yeah. . . marriage, right? but hey, got my steps in! was hoping to get arch up this weekend.. but life got in the way still working on it tho!

I would guess the GL ZacSpin is going in the trash

if I had to place a bet? y'all are getting a coaster of some type. either a raptor (possible, the space back there by the closed water ride and beyond certainly has space for a raptor coaster), or S&S Free Spin (way more likely).

me too. . I THINK they will continue the art work down onto the "base" of the ride too (at least the one at SFOG does. see pic below). I DO prefer the design at SFFT more tho. . . as the villain logos instead of the names is way nicer in my view. Gotham City Crime Wave at SFOG

looks amazing!

I really like it. . it's so weird, it fits the Joker. . LOL

had a great day at Fiesta yesterday, and will get a TR up in my thread "soon-ish" (I have to finish St. Louis first). but a few brief things and some pics: -- Joker is looking fantastic. (no other signage other than "the Joker". . so wonder if they are just going with THAT name instead of "Carnival of Chaos" ?) *They were testing lighting package yesterday afternoon. . some really nice red,yellow,green lights. *It changes the skyline of the park and is visible from Loop 1604 (now I understand why they put the logo on both sides of the top - it's gonna be visible at night from the freeway/loop). *the funhouse queue? the front is along the lines of what SFA did for Joker's Jinx. . really well done thus far, can't wait to see what's inside (and tho hard to see in the pic? the traditional version of "Joker" is on the wall just inside the mouth). *water dummies were on the ride pad (if not on the ride itself), so they are close to starting testing. *looks like other than testing, the only other things still needed is concrete pours in the queue. Was told they are targeting "early July" opening. . . I'll bet they are trying for in 2 weeks - 4th of July weekend. -- Whirlygig re-theme is about 2/3rds done, and they even have the new ride sign up (DC Supervillain Swing). *not GREAT name, I do wish they had just gone with "Crime Wave" as SFOG did. . . but it looks great thus far -- Several Rides having issues * Wave Runner (Scrambler) is still down. no movement, still just a sign in front of it * Spinsanity (next gen tilt a whirl) down. Someone was standing by the ride when I walked by both times, so might just be a mechanical issue that was just for yesterda *Pandemonium is back to only running 4 cars (or maybe they just had 4 on yesterday) *Wonder Woman is running one train. Ride Techs were working on a 2nd train in the storage area, but the 3rd train appeared to be in pieces and in the middle of major refurb. (wonder if that's the train that had 3 seats roped off on my last visit). They have a sign out front noting, but 8 seats / 1 train? made for longest line in the park. . skipped it this trip. *Bug's Whitewater Rapids queue is hot (A/C is out?) and most all of the show scenes now don't even have the lights on anymore! The only two scenes even lit were the Bugs jack in the box in the opening room (near a posted sign noting "pardon our dust, improvements are happening"), and the sleeping dragon - which was lit *and* still had the audio of it snoring. The TVs in the queue (the ones that were on) are no longer showing the "Singing Sword" cartoon and were just showing DC Superhero trivia. The "Spitting Dragon" on the ride itself? no longer working, tho it was running just the other day. (Course, if it's connected to whatever electrical issues are going on with the A/C in the queue?. . maybe that's why?) Wonder if there's a retheme about to happen here? Did Six Flags decide to stop using the Looney Tunes characters? (figures nowhere to be seen on Roadrunner anymore. . and 2nd visit where I didn't see any costumed characters out). *Pirates of Deep Sea many of the fantastic "guns" on the ride, are already gone - and replaced with the old Scooby Doo Ghostblasters guns. I asked about it, as it totally ruins what they were trying to do with the theme. and was told that guests keep breaking the guns, and they needed guns that works, so that's what they had to put in *Poltergeist was only running 1 train (again). Tho to be honest, the restraints on this one are so weird, that if they were running 2, they'd be stacking and leaving folks sitting out in the sun on the brake run. so maybe that's why only 1 train? but, really not complaining - just informing. Still had a great day. Superman & Goliath were hauling butt. Iron Rattler is running fantastic - tho I did notice the back car has developed a slight "rattle". . .it was weird riding an RMC that's not completely smooth - but in this case? it's really slight, and didn't bother me at all. and it works with the theme of the ride. They've started the nightly fireworks / canyon projection show, and it looks great! the heat kept most people in the waterpark - and made for short waits on the dry areas of the park. Gully Washer refurb was great, and they had the waterfall on - made for a soaking good ride. got my favorite picture so far this year, on Bugs'. I noticed when downloading, that if I take the frame off, the camera actually caught Screaming Eagle Zipline in the background of the picture. Love it. will have my full pics/reports up. . . in the next week or so. framed pic unframed pic hello Screaming Eagle Zipline

from Six Flags Fiesta Texas today: there doesn't seem to be any actual "Signage" up at the Joker - the "Joker" logo is up at the top - on both sides, but the posters around the park seem to be referring to it as simply "the Joker" now. wonder if they have dropped the Carnival of Chaos naming? the funhouse queue looks amazing tho, and other than pouring some concrete, it does look almost ready to go (was told when asking a Tech Operator - who I asked because he was wearing a Joker themed uniform -- they are hoping to have it open in early July (so I think that translates as July 4th weekend - 2 weeks from now). They were testing the LED package while I was there, and tho it was so bright out today? looked great with lots of reds, yellows, and greens. they DO have the sign up for DC Supervillain Swing (the Whirlygig retheme) tho, and that's coming along well too, but still has some work needed to finish sprucing up the ride. anyways.. here are some pics:

amazingly, Six Flags found my missing photos from American Thunder (from our ride ~2 weeks ago), and uploaded them to my photocard account. Without telling me, of course, but they were there after I downloaded my pics today from Fiesta Texas. wish they emailed me, so I could thank them via response! Kim, I'll email you the ones of us, but this one just cracks me the hell up, and I had to share. No, I have NO idea what the lady is doing in front of me - they were on their first ever ride too, using a "Front of line" pass, and asked me if they could take the front row (I was using Flash Pass). I didn't mind, 2nd row was fine. . so she wasn't posing for the camera.

^ thanks. They were actually playing game Six in town on Sunday the 9th - that's why all the media was there in our Hotel So there were TONS of people downtown. Not that we were "happy" they lost the game, but it did make for a quiet evening and let us get some sleep! (and the Blues ended up winning game 7, and the Cup, on the following Wed in Boston)! re: the whispering spot in the Courthouse. Yep, we saw the ranger demonstrating that with someone on the 2nd floor from the center of the Rotunda. It was kinda neat to see, even if we didn't hear the full story behind it. Only that the person on the 2nd floor could hear him when he was talking quietly. yeah,t he guard rails are super low. . LOL. . . thanks for reading and glad you're enjoying!

thanks! I really appreciate the feedback, and glad that you're enjoying. soon! It likely will be Saturday before I'm able to get to the next segment (the Arch). . but will try to get it up before weekend is over! Goal is to get to City Museum by Tuesday. . then have a few days to work on Six Flags. it's shocking how many pics I took at Grant's Farm. . .LOL. . . guess I love animals

well, I hope his treatment goes well.

^ yeah. . you mentioned that (a lot) in your video. but as part of your membership, you still are paying for it. . . so that's why I said you might as well use it.

SFFT tomorrow afternoon. then SFOG on Labor Day (I know. . but in Atlanta for Dragon*con, and on Labor Day everyone is in "recovery" mode and doesn't do much "con" stuff anyways, so I suggested going to SFOG, and a few friends want to go). Expect it to be packed.

^ yeah.. the brown water (even as high as it was) wasn't super interesting to look at the Courthouse was interesting to go into, tho not sure if it would be worth a trip back to the Gateway Arch National Park just for that. even though the tour intrigues me as a history buff. the "artifacts" on display on the 1st floor, were not as interesting as the Historical Native American stuff I had seen the day before at the Art Museum. . was a bit disappointed at what they had on display - tho not as disappointed as I was in the museum they had across the street at the Arch (more on that in next installment) I think if we make it back, it would be for Zoo/Six Flags only, but maybe with a stop at City Museum - and if so, might be worth the $2 trolley ride back to the courthouse to do the tour. . .

as I'm sure you know, I love zoos, and zoos with carousel (even small,unimpressive looking ones?). . SOLD! tho I really wanna go to ride that skyride. what was admission to the zoo? you noted the 'rides' were extra ($2-3, which seems reasonable), do you recall how much it was overall to visit?

on a day like yesterday? I wouldn't have used Flash Pass at all, simply because in several rides you miss all of the theming in the queue. (in particular JLA you miss Cyborg, and you missed all the theming in Freeze & the Batman queue). but hey, you paid for it, so might as well enjoy it.

Day 2: part 1 the Old Courthouse So after a really good night’s sleep - seriously, the bed at the Marriott was so damn comfortable that I actually meant to look it up and see the mattress brand - we were up and ready to go by 9 am. no need for showers (since we had done that before going to sleep) but since our tickets to the Documentary film in the Arch Museum weren’t until 12:10, we had quite a bit of time. We had originally planned to do the Documentary, the Museum, the Ride to the top, and the Riverboat Cruise - but Nature conspired against us, and so the Riverboats were closed (they had called me to tell me they were going to credit us back, and we moved the film/ride to the top times to earlier in the day since no need to hang around for a late afternoon Riverboat now). I had been interested in going to the Old Courthouse – which is famous/infamous because that is where the Dread Scott case was first heard. And my research showed that the interior dome of the Courthouse was very impressive to see. And since it is on the Downtown Trolley route (and really, just across the street from the Gateway Arch), and I didn’t want to just hang out in the room? I suggested we head downstairs to grab breakfast and we head out to catch the trolley by 10 which would give us plenty of time to still make the film. so we headed downstairs to check out the Breakfast Buffet at “Zenia” in the lobby. We didn’t even bother looking at the menu, since the buffet had everything we wanted: cold cereals/hot oatmeal, pastries, biscuts/gravy, eggs, several types of sausage, fresh fruit, waffles, bagels (with lox, onions, and capers!) as well as an Omelet station. It was super reasonable for a downtown hotel breakfast too. I know I “helped” by choosing what to put into my omelet, but the chef working the station was very good and it made for a fantastic fresh breakfast. The coffee was really good too (wonder if they got it from the Starbucks across the lobby?) we took our time eating (and made sure we were full, since weren’t going to be eating again until much later), but were still done and headed out to the trolley stop out front by 9:45. It was Saturday now, so the Trolleys were supposed to be coming every 15-20 minutes, but I don’t think we even waited 10. We were the only riders, but the driver gave us our all day passes – giving Nick a $1 discount since he’s over 55 (so only $3 to have off/on privileges all day! What a deal) and we were on our way. We told her we were going to the Gateway Arch National Park, but had hoped to go to the Old Courthouse 1st to see the dome. She had absolutely no idea what I was talking about, which surprised me, as that’s a tourist thing. . and we were riding the downtown trolley that I’d assume many tourists ride? But regardless, she was super nice, and told us which stop we needed to get off of for both the Arch & the Courthouse. She even told us where the Trolley Stop was to get back to our Hotel (the Arch stop is in front of the Hyatt). She wished us a good day, and told us to enjoy the Natinoal park and stay away from the dock area since the water was still so high. out at the Trolley stop, looking at the Courtyard Marriott across the street. I really like how they "faked" the classic architecture on the side of the old building. We saw several buildings in downtown St. Louis that were similarly painted. a street level view of the Convention Center and Visitor Center after just leaving the Downtown Trolley at our stop. So it picked us up right in front of our hotel, and this was the stop we wanted to exit (that's the old Courthouse on the left). we're here, so have to take a selfie. the overcast skies would burn off and would be a beautiful day in an hour or so. uh oh. . "2nd floor accessible by stairs only" Nick was using the cane, so he ended up only doing the paintings and the galleries with history exhibits on the 1st floor, while I went up and looked at the 2nd floor Courtrooms, as well as the 4th floor balustrade to get a fantastic closer look at the art up in the dome. our timing was a bit off, and tho we would have enjoyed the tour from the Park Rangers on site, it would have meant not looking at the upper levels and still have time to get to the Arch (since Nick was moving slowly). coming up to the Old Courthouse entrance Perky enough to squat, since had such a good night's sleep, and a great breakfast. loved this rug. .think they sell them in the gift shop? (didn't see any in there. . and yes, the Old Courthouse *does* have a gift shop. . LOL). STUNNING. unexpected, and so damn beautiful. Standing in the Central Hall of the Old Courthouse, and looking up at the dome covered by paintings on all levels, tho visitors only have access to 1st, 2nd, and 5th floor area. there was a display of Kites ringing the dome between the 1st and 2nd floor, so that's what you're seeing in some of the pics. like this giant kite here. Beautiful (and steep) metal steps in this wing of the Courthouse, going up to the 2nd floor. other areas - including the staircase that went up to the 4th - were closer to winding spirals. .but were just as beautiful. these steps were a stunner tho, and these are also the steps that caused Nick to decide to just wait for me on the 1st floor looking at the art there, while I explored the 2nd floor. Great View out the Courthouse window looking at the Gateway Arch across the street. I'm sure I'm one of only 10s of thousands who have posed for this particular picture Now on the 2nd floor, looking into the rotunda. . can see more of the kites now. and get a closer look at the interior of the dome. one of the other staircases - that I took to go up to 4th floor in a little while. the *leather* doors to the restored East Courtroom. I was the only one here on the 2nd floor, so had the place to myself. It was very warm in here, but still was interesting to look around the room and read the information signs. here. you can read it too! Crossing over to the West side of the Courthouse, pausing in the rotunda to look up and snap another picture. Now at the opposite side, at the leather doors of the restored West Courtroom. I loved the floor in this room, and preferred it over the courtroom on the opposite side of the Courthouse info about the courtroom on this side Climbing up to the 4th floor, on the 3rd floor there's a cutout (right behind the super steep stairs that lead to the balustrade), that lets overhead light into the hallway outside the East Courtroom. makes for a cool picture. Luckily there was one other person up there on the balustrade, so I could get a nice picture in the Old Courthouse dome. I leaned over the railing to try to get Nick's attention so I could get him to take a picture of me from the ground level (and I could get a picture of him from up here), but he wasn't looking up, and he wasn't responding to texts, or phone call. it turned out he had turned his phone to silent and had it in his pocket. yes, knowing that I was going off alone, and might need to contact him to update him on something I saw or was doing. . he turned his phone off. whee. .. Marriage. so I got my steps in, because yep, I went all the way back downstairs to find out why he wasn't responding to texts, and to tell him I was annoyed i couldn't get hold of him, then climbed all the way back up so we could take the pics of each other. as I said. . . whee! the info about the paintings in the very top of the dome that was up there on the balustrade after my climb down, then back up. . there's nick (a bit to the left of the center) on the floor looking up at me. and his pic of me waving from the 4th floor down to him. This was kind of neat that we passed on our way out. Some original bricks & Plaster from the late 1800's that were exposed during a renovation of the firehose box. stepping out onto the East Entrance steps, about to head across the street to Gateway Arch National Park. was really cool to see it in person, and I recommend a trip. Even tho we didn't spend too much time at the top (it reminded me very much of the Statue of Liberty's Crown up there), it was still well worth the trip, and worth it to see in person. Statue of Dred & Harriet Scott in front of the Courthouse, positioned to be looking at the Gateway Arch across the street. Closeup of the Plaque on the statue. and one last shot of Nick, after I made him pose by the "official" sign on this side of the museum. we then took the crosswalk across the street, and entered into Gateway Arch National Park, proper, for our next stop of the day.

I'll be at Fiesta on Friday, if they have anything up and ready on Joker (or on the rethemed Whirlygig, which is in process of transforming to a Villain theme), I'll be sure to snap some pics for the index.

Until I get a chance to get up day 2 (hopefully tomorrow). . here's the swag from the zoo. would have gotten a magnet or shirt from the Museum, but didn't see anything I really liked "carved" into stone. (about the size of 2 quarters) it's a "bear hug" on a "geode" . . of course I had to get this magnet too. the shirt I loved! (and have already worn to work) the shirt that was OK, for only $6 more

Getting my pride on, Vancouver style, at Elysium 80's night here in Austin (shirt courtesy of my friend Marcella who lives in New Westminster, Vancouver. Socks courtesy of Bill (Nrthwnd) who sent me a pair of PNE pride socks last year)

of your 20 posts, at least 16 of them are on this topic, or close to it. you don't have your age or location listed, but maybe you should consider a move to Florida or California, and then you'll have lots of Theme Park options (including Disney, Cedar Fair parks, and Universal)