bert425

if the seats remove that easily?. . um. . yeah, I don't think I'd get on this. you are crazy, man. . . but glad you had a good time, and you have an experience now to talk about!

your monster bathroom comment has me cracking up.

I know you didn't doctor it, but I knew it couldn't be true having been at the park a week ago when the park had the same size crowds and Anaconda was 60-90 minutes it just didn't make sense. Anaconda still draws a line, people love their loop de loops. and the bang-da-bangs tho to be fair, when we were there in late July, while still rough it was not terrible, and only got a minor head-bang coming out of the corkscrew over the water.

absolutely adore the Mummy themed midway games. what a brilliant idea, and well executed at that. (the brain into Mummy Head looks like the hardest one).

Thanks Phil! (and you too, Paul). it was wonderful to meet ya, Phil, and spend so much time hanging out. you're a great guy and I too hope to see you, and many others, again in the future. Theme Park Review - making friends till the end and since I've been asked if I "missed" anything at CP due to my leg issues, I have to say: no. There are things I likely would have tried to get on (and it would have been a bad idea! looking at you Magnum!) if I hadn't been to the park the prior year for CoasterMania! (with Bill). . but since I had gone I've gotten to ride everything I wanted to at CP. it was an incredible trip, and I met some fantastic people. Several of whom I still interact with frequently, and many I consider friends now!

Thanks, Andy. I really did have a wonderful time, and really enjoyed meeting so many TPR folks, yourself included.

I actually mentioned it in my brief trip report. Gully Washer (renamed Blood Bayou, and the river dyed Red) ALSO closes early, since they also use that queue for Haunt. there is a haunt by Roadrunner Express too. . but we didn't go by there after 5, so not sure if they closed off RoadRunner or not. . but the haunt is right there off of the main queue, so it wouldn't surprise me if they did shut it down too.

^ HAHAHA. . that's an awesome report (especially your comment on Vapor Trail's trains). glad he had such a fun trip, and I see you smiling in the pics too.. you loved it also. seems the weather kept the crowds away. . . best times to go.

these are some fantastic pictures! I know what i'm gonna be doing tomorrow instead of paying attention in work meetings. glad you had a great time, and will be back to comment more once I go thru all your pics!' EDIT: tho of COURSE this one caught my eye right away (beautiful, thank you for taking pics of it!). . and tho I'm tempted to say that is, indeed, a goat in the front. . . the Knott's write up of this classic Dentzel Carousel -- *which they call a Merry-Go-Round* mentions lots of other animals on it. . . doesn't mention goats. But it's gotta be a goat, right? Fun fact! this Carousel was originally located in Hershey Park, in Hershey Pennsylvania! In 1936, it moved to a park in Ohio, and moved to California by Walter Knott in 1955. (from a sign at the front of the Carousel when we were there 8 or so years ago )

EXACTLY. I had already bought my pass anyways, and the "coffins" appear to have been made by the Six Flags special effects crew. . so they aren't like an expensive one you'd get from a funeral home. nice to hear they got $300 each. . .but that's what? $10 an hour? not worth it to me. glad they got more than I thought they did tho, even though an easy taslk. Still think the "open top" coffins are idiotic and not hard to do at all.

those are stickers from a local (San Antonio) radio station. no idea why those two have them. .maybe they were sponsored by the station? or won their spot thru the station? EDIT: I noticed the one with the most stickers also has stickers inside for "the Billy Madison Show". . and a quick google, shows the guy in that coffin is one of the show members. so there ya go. . they got one of the open spots for a show bit. .which I guess is why he appears to have wiring going into the coffin so he could report. (based on the pic on the coffin, it's the guy on the left) wonder if the one next to him also with stickers is someone from the show too

went to the park yesterday to exchange our Season Pass renewals (+ the upgrades) I had bought during the Labor Day flash sale. gorgeous day, but the park was absolutely packed (they were also doing some membership special event too. . tho it wasn't BAFF or BAF cheaper. . so I can only imagine what Friday or Sunday looked like crowd wise). park was slammed with families with younger kids - which is a good thing in the long run, even if it made the lines for Roadrunner and Bugs Bunny rapids extend out past queue entrances (so we bypassed both, as we'll ride them when there isn't an hour wait). very strange in that Roadrunner had an Hour wait? next door Iron Rattler was a walk on. (yeah.. I rode it a couple of times). odd that several attractions near the haunts close down lines at 5pm (including Pandemonium, and Gully Washer). .but I suppose they have to flush the queue lines so those spaces can be used for exit lines from the haunts. Although everything was operating, we saw a couple of cases where almost 1/2 a rides capacity was down - Spinsanity had only 4 of the 7 cars operating, the other 3 were locked off. Hustler had multiple pool balls locked off, and Fireball was running with a few seats blocked off. Even Wonder Woman, which was running all 3 trains - as opposed to only 1 train a couple of weeks ago. . . even tho 2 of the trains had several seats blocked off. . still, it was nice they were trying to increase capacity). Iron Rattler was running two trains, but the camera wasn't working, so no photo for me (I was hoping to use my new Photo pass. . but we used it for Wonder Woman, and for entrance pics. . so still got some pics I'll post later) I'll likely have a small TR report up in the next few weeks, although we didn't actually go thru any of the haunts as the lines were simply too prohibitive for Nick to stand that long in line (we stayed until ~8pm). the park only got more packed as it got later, and the fog effects thruout the park once it hit 6pm, made it look eerily spooky, so good on them for that. Anyways. . the point of posting now was to talk about the "coffin challenge". . .oh my. I thought it was silly, but dumb, when they announced it. . but seeing it in person at Fiesta? The most idiotic thing I think I've seen, purely based on the execution of it. It was set up in front of the stepts to train station in Crackaxle - so the train could only be boarded in the German section for a full circuit of the park. ok, I GET that we're in Texas, and it's hot. . . but really? the coffins are open at the top. and Fiesta brought out tents to shade the participants from the sun. (which wouldn't be an issue if the lids were closed, would it?). I mean. . they were laying there with sunglasses on, and water/food available on top of the coffin lids (we saw one contestant reach up and take a drink of water and grab some chips. . guess the rule is they can't sit up? ) but they all also had earphones in, and several were playing on phones -- which to be fair, the Emcee took away from them 20 minutes later as we were walking by. but really? open lids, you can have your phone, and shaded by a tent? easy to do. it sounded like they had a LOT of applicants, but I can think of way better use of my time than this easy challenge, especially since i'd expect all 8 are gonna succeed, and the 300 will have to be split. whoop de do, they get to keep the coffin. . . oh well, maybe they are super Halloween fans and wanted a coffin decoration. anyways. . I thought it was idiotic. . but lots of folks did gather around to look at them. here's a picture of it.

some pics from Friday night's fantastic Microchip League (MCL)/Robitiko Rejecto/Moskwa TV w/ Special guest UK Vision . . And shame on Austin for not turning up. those that did show had a great time. UK Vision performed a very short (3 song) set, but it was the first time he's played live in 35 years - and he sounded incredible (and I made sure to tell him that). The new singer is a dead ringer vocals wise for the original singer, and I hope they continue to work together, it was so good. It really was their 1st performance - the singer had an IPad taped to the mike stand for lyric reminders. But Houston is gonna *love* them tonight they were so good. And MCL was also great, 1st time ever playing live in USA - opening with the well known version of New York (and closing the set with a different mixed version of the same song - which sounded good, but I prefer the original version). As expected with a "band" like Microchip League, it was mainly them behind a table toggling switches and mixing, rather than actually "playing" instruments. . but live vocals for most songs. and I giggled like hell (and loved it) when they played Moskwa TV's hit "Generator 7/8" using the vocal track of the singer from that band as an extra switch to toggle -- so they basically were "DJ ing" for that song. was still great tho. and since I see mainly industrial/alternative/Darkwave/Dance bands from the 80's that y'all aren't familiar with, I always like to link to some of the big "hits" here's UK Vision's club hit: [youtu_be] [/youtu_be] MCLs biggest his (as Razormaid remix) [youtu_be] [/youtu_be] Same guy, different band: Robitiko Rejecto [youtu_be] [/youtu_be] and again, same guy, different band, Moskwa TV was a little less industrial and more melodic and dancey: [youtu_be] [/youtu_be] UK Vision (you can see the ipad taped to the mic stand if you look close) me and UK Vision. . they really sounded great MicroChip League on stage me and the guys in MCL/Robitiko Rejecto

^ Nice. looks like a big production set up!

both the original Six Flags parks have "boat" dark rides. they are totally different experiences, but both still exist, which is awesome! SFOG has Monster Mansion, and SFOT has Yosemite Sam (a retheme of "the Cave" which was the version with the spelunkers and I loved. . but the cave has been gone for over 25 years at this point). and jarmor -- looks like you had a great time, even with the overcast skies. what happened with La Vibora? you said it looked promising, then no update? did you like it? did you make use of the single rider line?

it's so weird that some Six Flags Parks charge for the haunts, and some dont. at Six Flags Fiesta Texas, the houses are all free. oh sure, you can purchase a "skip the lines" / "Express Pass". . .but one can wait in the standby lines and the haunts are all free.

^ that's cool, and yeah, I remember you! forgot to post my purchases from CP. . so adding here shirt for the Spouse absolutely loved this one, and grabbed it for me. Wish they had the Haunted Carousel one that Jon saw recently, but we were there in Aug. . so not yet night-time equator shirt for me Gatekeeper "mother of pearl" magnet

the trick is try to get a seat on the outer edge (4 avail. each ride) When it's moving, if you're in the outermost seat, there is a feeling of multiple leg-choppers/near misses. I rode Harley multiple times at SFOT, and the rides in the last seat of the row were hands down the best. oh, and Boldy -- good report. some day, some day. . I'll get to check out El Toro and Kingda-Ka

^ that's a great pic of you three!

nice update from Beech Bend. . .very impressed they have an Air Race, I don't see them that often, and certainly not in Texas parks for the most part.

I just played it in August too. but the truth is most of the classic pinball games along the back were broken when I was just there. who knows? maybe the back end of the arcade could be made into a walkthru or dark ride of some sort (something CP really needs)

thanks Bill. oh yeah, I'm back to 100%, it took about 6 weeks but fully healed! That was my own fault, really..I'm who decided to get on things with ejector air back to back already knowing I was hurting. Should have taken a more relaxing day, riding stuff that wouldn't impact me and save the heavy lifting for the end of the day. I also took a tumble towards the very end of the day at Knoebels the night before. It didn't hurt (tho I know Alex saw it, and it must have looked bad based on his reaction, as he was concerned if I was OK). Now that also could have caused some damage that I just didn't feel at the time and helped exacerbate the bruised quad the next day. . but again,that was ME being clumsy regardless, I had a wonderful time, and hope I get the chance to do another TPR trip again in the future!

I wouldn't go that far. but it was a fun woodie, and WAY less horrific in the front than it was a year ago mid train. I still would ride anything in the park over it, if given a choice (yes, even Corkscrew)

Someone mentioned the Euclid Beach Carousel to me while on the trip, it might have been Laura, or it could have been my Friend Don who was going to meet me at the airport since I had so many hours to kill. but I was tired and hurting, and crabby, so we decided it wasn't fair to him to make a trip to meet me if I was just gonna be a pain in the butt. . .LOL. . but I think we may have talked about doing lunch and then going to that Carousel. next time I get up that way!

ain't it great? How were the crowds? did you need to get FlashPass?