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^ And rambling, too, I hope... As others have said, maybe this was an off-season, flukey day with new management and Six Flags will kick it into gear by the time spring and their Three New Coaster Experiences open. If anyone in management can see anything wrong, I'd think that Neal Thurman would, being that he's had the experience of being a part of Jay's team. Eric

^ If you zoom waaay in on the license plate, it says "JJ." Eric

^ You might be able to gauge the crowd before you even get into the park by the number of people going in and/or how full the parking lot is. If you feel like it's pretty crowded, see if your friends are willing to go in on a Flash Pass for your group. It'll cost ya, but should save you time. Eric

I stood and waited to talk to an EDD rep today about a possible job, only to learn that there are no more spots open to interview with the company. Eric

I've often wondered if companies that produce anti-virus/anti-malware programs have ever generated any "viruses." That way, their products would never be obsolete... Just a thought. Eric

^ It probably is, only now it says "T RMI ATOR SA VATI N" because parts of the letters broke off while attaching the new sign. WIth all this stuff going on, it's time for a visit. Eric

I couldn't help but notice that Jaguar! appears to be getting some new paint on its supports. While I do like Intamin Gyro Towers, I think it's not a smart move to keep a 36-year-old ride going when it's already shown to be having some difficulties related to "old age." Eric

If you look hard enough, it appears that the former name of the ride wasn't even removed. Maybe they just screwed the new sign onto the old Terminator Salvation letters. Eric

Yep. Back in 2004 I took a trip up north to visit Bonfante (now Gilroy) Gardens. But while there I went to the Gilroy Garlic Festival and Roaring Camp. Have you ever left your clothes in the dryer long after they were done?

@ John (Mechanic): I like Mooseburger Lodge, to be honest. To date the only problem I've had there was once when they charged me $57,000 for lunch with my family (an error, obviously, and one that was corrected immediately ). About the latest map...interesting that they published a version that shows Superman in its new colors for 2011, but no location of Green Lantern or Little Flash (they had Mr. Six's Dance Coaster shown over by Deja Vu on last year's map). I noticed that the Superman tower is way taller than the Sky Tower, which is an exaggeration, of course---most likely just to promote it because of its makeover for this year. I just hope the maps don't start getting all cartoony like they were till last year. Eric

I always thought that moving the park opening time to 10:30 from 10:00 was to help allow rides to get up and running. A lot of times, you'd enter at 10 and some rides weren't ready to open yet. Obviously, that's not the case. If there was just one thing I'd improve about SFMM, it's that the people running rides would be more diligent in getting trains filled and out of the station. Eric

Where SFMM was normally been pretty clean over the last couple of years, I've noticed on my last few visits that trash hasn't been picked up as diligently as it has been. Neal Thurman is still out occasionally, but it takes more than just him to make a difference. Eric

So far, everything is going OK and I haven't noticed any issues. I run a scan once a week and that seems to be enough. Eric

Agreed...the new Apocalypse sign looks pathetic. It really looks like "Quick Fix---The Ride." Hopefully a better one is on its way. Eric

Tatsu is probably the slowest loading ride (well, and Riddler, too). I've seen X2 load faster and send out trains faster than Tatsu does. Eric

"I'm assuming it's still there because of the extra weight it adds to the train." (Robb) I've had that same thought, too. Honestly, it doesn't hurt having it there, and removing it will cost unnecessary money and not do a thing for capacity---and neither would exchanging it for a twelfth car. Not to mention the money they'd have to spend to add another airgate. "Lower the admission to $49, RAISE the SP price to $189 (or more). It will generate more money over the length over a whole season. "Another idea would be to DROP the vending machine drinks to $2.50 from $4. Sure, the profit margin is lower, but they'll make a larger profit in the long run by selling many, many more units. When questioned about this before, SF brass has always said that it needs that high of a price to make a profit." (OldJJman) ^ Every single word of that. Eric

Halfway---from LAX to Honolulu. Do you eat olive oil?

I've been using the free version of AVG for quite some time, and I've been happy with it. Also, weekly, I run Ad-Aware, Spybot Search & Destroy, Malwarebytes, and CC Cleaner. Yeah, a lot of stuff, but it keeps my computer going. Google any of those to find out how to get them. Eric

I still can't help but to wonder how much longer Tidal Wave is going to be there. Also, given the fact that Longhorn's never had a permanent sign, was it, too, meant to be temporary? As for Apocalypse, they ought to just remove that very last car with the box for holding the audio equipment. But I doubt they will. Regarding the new pre-show, how funny that Psyclone appears in it. And I've always gotten a kick out of how "well" they erased the Psyclone name off of that one wall. Eric

"I am in the new pre-show." (PeoplemoverMatt) Now I have to see that... Longhorn's is gone, huh? I never got to eat there. It'll be interesting to see what they end up putting there in its place. Eric

^^ Here's a satellite view of SFMM from Google Maps. I turned it 90 degrees clockwise to put it into the same orientation as the park map (north is to the right): In the upper right corner of the map (near Scream!) is where all of the park's administrative offices and maintenance shops are. Perhaps they could move some of that to a different location, but I wouldn't count on that. Eric

^ and ^^ You guys are right...reading is fundamental---especially the "mental" part in my case. I'll have to go check it out sometime when I get a chance. Eric

^ That reminds me...did Termpocalator reopen today under its new name and theme? January 8 was the announced date... Eric

While I mentioned previously that it was nice having coasters at your disposal all year long, I would honestly not mind if SFMM closed for a few months each year (say December through February) in order to do any maintenance, repairs, prep work, etc. I only go once or twice during this time of the year anyway, and I could live without a coaster ride for a little while. As for the season pass prices, I do think they're underpriced. They could raise the Xtreme Pass to $200 and it would still be a bargain. (I even told Jay that once and he said, "I like your thinking.") As Elissa said, a lot of parents in the Santa Clarita Valley use the park as a babysitter, and a $60 pass is cheap babysitting. The parking policy has apparently changed. At one time, yes, you could park for free at any Six Flags park if you had parking included with your pass. Not any more. For me personally, that's not a big deal because I don't go to any other Six Flags parks. But if I did, an extra $15 wouldn't kill me considering that I'd be getting in free anyway. Eric

^ One way to think about, though, is at this time of the year, how many people have such easy access to a coaster ride almost any time they want? Eric