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^ I'm still on the fence about it. It's tough to try and squeeze in these things when even a small amount of money is hard to come by. Also, I tried going to the website, but it took me around and around in circles. Maybe I'll just go over to the AAA office and try there. But I'll keep you guys posted on what I end up doing. Eric

^ I didn't think so either, but that's what he told me. Eric

From the AAA website in case anyone is wondering where you can purchase tickets: AAA members are invited to enjoy a full day at Six Flags Magic Mountain and stay for a private AAA member event on Friday, May 21st from 6pm-12am. For just $25 per ticket, members will enjoy full use of the rides, shows, food, and merchandise concessions, even after the crowds have left. To purchase tickets to this special event, visit AAA.com/sixflags. I would imagine that your local AAA office would sell tickets as well, but I haven't checked into that yet. (My office is less than two miles from home.) Hope that helps any of you who might have wondered. Eric

This reminded me of a former co-worker who told me years ago about being evac-ed from Pirates of the Caribbean and ending up coming out of there somewhere over by the monorail. That seemed strange. Interestingly, he left the company we worked at and went to work for Walt Disney Imagineering. Unfortunately, I lost touch with him shortly after that. Eric

It's going to be difficult to find a happy medium regarding Terminator's audio. Being a wooden coaster, it naturally has a louder sound to it than a steel coaster does. It's hard to "shout" over the noise of the ride. As has been mentioned, the only parts of the audio on that ride I've heard is the "HERE THEY COME!" at the top of the lift, "TAKE THE TUNNEL!", and the part from the final brake to the station. Kudos to SFMM for trying something new, but this aspect seems to be a bit troublesome. Eric

Honestly, even when Terminator's audio IS working, I can barely hear it during the ride. Without the audio, it's still a great ride. Ditto for X2. Eric

Last fall I got walked off of the Autopia from way out in the middle of it (got an exit pass for any attraction for the inconvenience). I thought getting to walk along the Autopia track was cool enough, but your experience totally ruled over mine. Honestly, I'm surprised no one told you not to take pictures---and thanks for doing so. I've always wondered what it looked like in there. Eric

I don't see why they're remaking The Karate Kid anyway. The original was good and I can't imagine this one being the least bit better. What's with all these remakes anyway---has Hollywood run out of ideas for movies? Eric

^^ Be glad that you still have your Whizzer, ads and all. The one out here in CA closed a long time ago, and it was a fun ride. Eric

I'm all for eating healthy, but what we eat should be up to us. When government at any level decides what we should and shouldn't eat, you have to wonder what they'll attempt to control next. Posting the nutritional information is fine; that way, we can see what's in the food and decide for ourselves what to eat. Recently, there was an article in the Los Angeles Times about the city of San Juan Capistrano here in CA turning down In-N-Out Burger's request for a new store in that city because they were concerned about creating what they called "Cholesterol Row" on one street (a lot of fast food places). Nonsense. Eric

Speaking of X2, has anyone noticed that its audio is mixed up as well? I rode it last week and the sound clips were all over the place---as we pulled into the station, you heard the clips that are normally heard on the lift, then the guy finally said, "That was a wild, crazy insane experience," etc. I can't remember which train I was on, and only rode one time, but I don't know if the problem was confined to that one train or on both. At Terminator, the audio was just turned off. As for opening certain rides for ERT for a few bucks, it's not a bad idea at all. Whether it's for charity or simply to raise a little revenue, $10 for 30 minutes can mean getting some serious riding done provided not too many people do it. Eric

I don't know much about autism/Aspergers, but from what I've read or been told, it's more or less a matter of some "connections" in the brain that aren't right. Once scientists and doctors learn how to fix or make those connections, we may well see a cure for this. Eric

My nephew is autistic, though we don't know if it's Aspergers. One thing that a lot of people still don't understand is that autistic people are not "retarded" or stupid by any means. In fact, many autistic people are highly intelligent, but because of the way autism presents itself, it doesn't always come across that way. Eric

I just spent $618.60 to send Diana and her friend to Indiana next month to be in a wedding. Not really bad for two people, actually, and they're going to pay me back, too. Now if I only had a word 189,819 letters long to describe that! Eric

^^ Impressive. Now post all of the decimal places of pi. Eric

^ Tweety. < Pumbaa. V Dingbat!

I've always said that you can't really "theme" an outdoor coaster. But since Terminator was themed, SFMM ought to keep up the maintenance on it, even if it means a quick spraypaint job as needed. I've also noticed that the handrails on the lift hill have gotten pretty warped, but that's just the nature of wood that is outdoors and in the elements. Despite some of these issues, I'm glad that Terminator still runs quite well and is very re-ridable. Eric

There aren't many places you can go where you're a half-mile above the ground and not seated inside a big aluminum tube. Very nice report, Soren. Glad you enjoyed Dubai. Eric

^ Season passes have a bar code on them that is scanned upon entry, so there must be a record of your visits. It's too bad that somehow, some way you can't have that verified by Guest Relations. Eric

^ Sorry for picking at you. That's just the tech writer in me coming out. Today I got my second Season Pass Funatics award---two free regular sodas. This time, you take the voucher straight to the Cyber Cafe and you get two sodas at one time, so this will be good if you have a friend with you. The expiration date on this one is June 11, 2010. Eric

^ I would guess that they will still run two-car trains. Eric

I used to watch those Discovery Channel shows every year---and have even appeared on a couple of them (in non-speaking parts, of course). These days, I have no interest whatsoever in watching them. Perhaps because I can see them all over YouTube nowadays as opposed to as recent as ten years ago. Eric

"...when I visit the park in June just to keep my streak of riding every coaster they have had since I started going there alive." (austinlee) How else would you go there? I wonder when the height requirement will be resolved? There hasn't been anything about that for awhile. Hopefully, between SFMM and Vekoma, they can reach an agreement to allow the ride to have a lower height limit. Eric

For all we know, they'll be using pre-formed footers (similar to the ones you can buy at Home Depot for building patios and such). With blueprints, their locations can be laid out and placed. While that's going on, the station and queue can be built in perhaps a week (chances are they'll use the same or similar plans that other Six Flags parks with Roller Skaters use). In short, this ride can go up and be tested within a month. Even if it goes into early/mid-June, it will be up and running before we know it. I'm not worried about it. Eric

After Gregg took off, I stuck around the park for awhile longer and rode Scream!, Riddler's Revenge, and a second ride on Terminator. I tried to ride Goliath, but it was down for some reason. Hardly anyone was out there, and it started to rain just before I left. On my way out, passing Thomas Town, I got high fives from Sylvester and Wile E. Coyote. And just outside the gate I ran into Neil Thurman and said hi. It was good to get out of the house today. Eric