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Shane, thanks for providing pictures that explains what I called a "ski jump." If a boat was light enough, I guess it could have become airborne a bit. I did take several rides that were rather rough after passing over that thing. Also, in the one picture of SFGAd's Moon flume, it looks like the two yellow boats are coming down the same chute almost right after each other. I don't recall Jet Stream ever sending boats down like that. Do you have any pictures of the Sky Tower when it had its rainbow color scheme? That was...interesting. The off-white tower was in the first season, and the rainbow pattern was added in the second season and stayed a few years before becoming red. For trivia, those big plates about two-thirds of the way up on four sides of the tower used to have a Western Airlines logo on it (basically a big red W). At the time, that long defunct airline sponsored the tower. Of course, when Western went belly up, the plates were painted over and nothing else has been painted on them since. Eric

Thanks for more great stuff!!! I did go to MGM Grand Adventures one time (1995) for their "Scream Park" Halloween promotion. And I know I have that map somewhere. It's too bad that park didn't make it. I never did get to ride the Lightning Bolt when they moved it outside and extended it. From what I've heard, it was purchased and is supposed to be rebuilt somewhere (but I can't remember where!). Eric

^ I see what you're saying. It's just that I can remember the attendant at the top of the drops waiting for the boat to get all the way down and past a certain point before releasing the next boat---which would occur anyway even with a single chute. And the Loggers Run flumes at both Great Americas have the turntable, with a double drop chute, but I don't think they're considered HydroFlumes...unless they were, only using logs instead of the boats, and not having that "ski jump" thing at the bottom like Jet Stream (and their own Yankee Clipper) had. Eric

^ Yeah, but if the muffins contained green cheese (the stuff the Moon is made of), then it's a relevant comment. Eric

Strangely, no. And my daughter was a Girl Scout once, too. Do you correspond (over e-mail/MySpace/etc.) with someone you've never met in person?

For whatever reason, Arrow's Hydro Flume (of which Jet Stream was the first, I believe) used the twin down chutes. Yankee Clipper at SFGAm (and used to be at CGA) was the same way, as is the one at Hersheypark, and no doubt others. Even back in 1972 when I saw Jet Stream for the first time, I wondered about the reasoning behind it. It never made sense to have two chutes when one would have worked fine. And I never understood why the original "ski jump" at the bottom was removed later on. Eric

^ I don't know Indiana, having never been there, but you may be passing Old Indiana, a park that closed after a woman was killed and her granddaughter injured after the park's train derailed. Read about that here. Eric

Ai r in mai offis, and mai washur r doin mai lawndree. Eric

^ Mine is AVG Free Edition, but it works just fine. In fact, just a couple of hours ago I did my weekly routine. No one was home, so it worked out well. Eric

I can't stand when a motorcycle parks in a regular sized space, and another one parks two or three spaces over. Why don't they just share a space? Or whoever designs parking lots should designate a motorcycle parking area with smaller spaces. It's such a pain to park at our train station because they do this all the time. Eric

^ I always say that my Honda runs rings around a Saturn. Eric

^ As a guideline, I defrag my computer once a week after doing a Disk Cleanup on each of our accounts. Of course, I use AdAware and Spybot Search and Destroy once a week, too, along with a complete scan with my anti-virus program. All of this takes some time, but it keeps things clean and fast. XP Pro is the way to go if you're using Windows. Eric

Funny...I can't remember when my last ride on Psyclone was. Most likely 2006, but before Tatsu opened. What I do remember was that when I came out the exit, I told an older couple that they only needed two things to improve the ride: gasoline and matches. They thought that was funny! Eric

^ I went through that tunnel the one time I rode Rocket Rods. Unfortunately, I can't remember much about it. Eric

Thanks again you guys for bringing all of these memorable coasters back. With some of today's rolling stock, I often wonder whether more injuries are caused by the devices themselves than would occur without them. Overkill, in my opinion. My mom claims that I rode the old Cyclone Racer at the Long Beach Pike, but I'd have remembered that. Same goes for the old Sea Serpent out at POP in Venice. But there's one old coaster I rode back in the '70s---a junior woodie at Hart Park in Bakersfield---that I haven't seen anything about. Does anyone know about it? Stupid me---I didn't even think to take any pictures of it, and I had my camera the day I rode it. This was in 1976, as I recall. Eric

I rode in a DeLorean a couple of times at USH. Eric

Wes, you made my day! Eric

Elton John is one my all time favorite artists, so I'll say yes. Do you do any shooting?

^ Is a really happy Taiko. < Is a really middle-aged diabetic. V Is a really happy saurkraut enthusiast!

That is definitely an old map, as Psyclone and Flashback are still on there! But looking at it made me wonder: has anyone ridden Tatsu and Psyclone on the same day? I think for a brief time they did operate at the same time. Eric

^ The Sky Tower (and any other tall structure) always sways, even in a slight breeze. A little sway doesn't bother me at all, because if it didn't sway, it'd snap. Now, that would bother me... "...did they say there is any plans to use it for a ride for MM or HH?" (costa425) Nothing's been said (that I know of), but I'd be willing to bet that Hurricane Harbor will get that area. The park could use an expansion, being that 1997 was the last time that I know they added anything. Another thought: since Metro is most likely coming out, its old station area and train storage opens up a little land, too. They could always move the season pass processing place elsewhere and open up a little more as well. I suspect they may do that. I don't know what was wrong with processing the passes in the building out in the open area between security and the park entrance. That worked out fine for years. Eric

I didn't know DCA had bumper cars. And I've been there enough times to know. Anyway, nice Photo TR. I'm glad you were able to come out---now it's my turn to go back to Florida! Eric

^ Well, it does work, actually. Any park that doesn't offer Exclusive Park Time would be IN-EPT! Eric

^ Doesn't Mattel make those? Eric

^ You're not late, Barry---think of it as 364 days early! Eric