dougr

Now that is quite the job, sliding down a zip line hundreds of feet in the air. Sounds worse than window washing, IMHO

So far: California's Great America Six Flags Discovery Kingdom Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and drove past this on the way back: Still chilly up here in the Pacific Northwest, but not opening til Memorial Day is pretty weenie...

Day 5: My wife went to the Odin Tiger show with the camera while my daughter and I went to ride Medusa. Now they're not allowing collector cups on the big rides, you gotta stow your stuff in a locker. They are $1 apiece and in theory you are only supposed to put your gear in the lockers assigned to the coaster you will be riding, but I didn't read the fine print after we walked on to Medusa, then waited for Kong over 30 minutes, then walked back onto Medusa. Medusa is such a great, fun, efficient ride with two train operation, especially compared to Kong which is still fun, but slow loading with only one train. Then we met up, and it was on to the Walrus encounter, Shark Tube and Thomas Town. A lot of flats weren't running yet, Tava's Jungleland was pretty much shut down yet open (more rides opened in the next day or two), but Thomas Town was in full swing. Then on to the other back corner. You know, the corner with Roar, which you walk past and V2 which flies over you when you come in the main park entrance. We got some pictures of Roar, sorry about the lack of photos of V2, but you can check out the V2 videos upthread. Then we went back to our motel with some lame movie on tv-shot in San Francisco. One scene was in Golden Gate Park and featured a carousel-so we decided to drive into "Frisco and check it out... Future chopper pilot! My daughter figured out to reach over the seat and pull back the stick to go up. There's Harold's helicopter ride, like all helicopter ride except: 1) It's new, and 2) every helicopter is named Harold Still waiting for her train... Must be taking a break. Knappford Station? We must be in Thomas Town. There's a smaller tank with smaller fish. This puffer was just hanging... Here's a closer look. Cool... This is apparently a Pristiophoriformes Looks like he didn't see us. Zoom! We checked out the shark tank, some great views here... Maybe this giraffe has something else on his mind.... She's still keeping an eye on the tigers Didn't seem to bother the giraffes too much The lionesses had to check it out as well He's said what he wanted, now he's done. The lions could see the tiger show from across the wide pathway, the male decided to say something and then make his feelings known.... Cats are really just tigers in miniature, it's just that cats are so tiny they're not quite as scary. The handlers seem to be at ease with the tigers. While my daughter and I were riding Medusa and Kong, my wife took the camera to Odin's tiger show. She says the woman in the picture just kept standing there, so she took her picture along with the tiger's. Hmmm...... Then it was back to the motel. Here's a little preview of Day 7... Tower goodness for fellow bridge freaks. Then it was back the long way via the Golden Gate Bridge-free on the way out. Then it was back to the car. Giraffe and ostrich Stork Dragon There are some cool animals on this carousel. Lion. Here's when it's open, BTW. We found Golden Gate Park, which is further south than you'd think. When we got there, the carousel was closed But at least it's the top deck, so you get a much better view. Then it's back in via the Bay bridge. $4! Back seat goodness! Here's an artsy silhouette shot. Then it was on to the "back" corner of the park with Roar and V2. Didn't get too many pictures of V2, but you can check out a couple movies from upthread. My wife got some pictures of us on Roar, though. Here's a "smile". I think walruses actually enjoy interacting with visitors. Hello, Jocko jocko4.mov More Jocko action jocko1.mov He was responding to people on the other side of the 6 inch thick glass by tapping and making his own clicking sounds. If anybody has trouble viewing these videos, I will try to post some on YouTube. Here's Jocko. He was feeling more active... Then came Jocko's-the walrus experience. This girl was tired....

Haha sorry, I couldn't remember the differance between the two...and hey, isn't this a theme park site? Cut me some slack! -JZ I can't remember the difference either, so I just say "crocodiillian". That covers it.

Yeah, sometimes cameras just don't do low-light justice. I tried the "stretch contrast" setting on a photo tool program:

Could work: Daily Telegraph: Flying Penguins Discovered

Montezooma has smacked me upside the head a few times-never as bad as Boomerang, though.

Find me a vest that stores my neon yellow SFDK collector cup, and there you go. Or I could just spend a whole dollar and put all my valuables somewhere secure for a while.

There's always the Hockey Night in Canada theme. Anything by Nickelback should work.

Small world! (Not the ride at Disney) We were at CGA 3/16 (bummed at Flight Deck closure as well, at least it was open Friday 3/21) and our fourth day at SFDK was 3/23. Got some pictures of Invertigo on 3/16, and also got lots of pictures of Medusa all four days.(3/23 update coming later). Ride from Invertigo 3/16: Did a little tweaking on your lizard Our on-ride from Medusa 3/23. We waited to ride the front row, then found out we had to wait for the other photo tech to get back to print up our onride!

Than those two parks shouldn't act like destination parks because that's what they were and are doing. Magic Mountain has hotels around it, but they aren't Magic Mountain's. Cedar Point is limited to an island, but look at it's huge attendance. It's no all year round park, but that's pretty big for being an isolated park. I think someone said that Busch Gardens Williamsburg isn't by much of anything, and they are getting 4 million +. Magic Mountain could have invested in hotels in front of the park if they could have bought that land. Maybe, they never could buy that land. That sign at Magic Mountain is really bad, and old. They need a new one. SFMM has seriously got to get in with the SoCal promotions. I mean, buying a Coke can when you're in the area? Lame. A lot of people who go to SoCal aren't in an area that gets Six Flags ads. Disney has all that spliff down, though. There are ads for Disneyland that run on Vancouver, BC stations. Six Flags needs to poach off those tourists that head down to . Look at Knott's, and Universal and the San Diego Zoo and Seaworld. Almost EVERY tour has those 4 parks in their packages. 3 of those parks are bundled with Disney in the Southern California citypass. What's wrong with adding to the Citypass? Or they could join USH in a less lame competing Hollywood Citypass. I for one would LOVE a Hollywood Citypass with one or a couple of days of USH AND SFMM.

How much of these G forces are sustained and how much are basically noise from the bumping?

Day 4" We head out of San Francisco on the Bay Bridge. Out is free, but it's on the lower deck; besides, you gotta pay outbound for either of the bridges that go towards Vallejo-Fairfield. We got to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom around 12:30 pm. They were open every day April 15-30 this year. The season pass office would open at 2:30 pm-this year they have "free" parking for an extra $40-only for SFDK, of course. SFDK was wonderful. Medusa always teases us as we arrive-I have learned to take care of this by always riding it first. There was NEVER more than a 3 car wait for the front row, most rows were a walk-on most of the time. Medusa is my favorite coaster in the Bay area, and one of my top overall. V2, not to be outdone, likes to say "hi" as well just before you come in the gate... (Yeah, I know it's posted it upthread, but I filmed it.) There were lots of animals to see as well, real as well as mascots... Tiger video here: We had a great time, coincidently Boomerang was closed, but so was Hammerhead. After a few hours, we headed out for food, there's a brand new Carl's Jr across the street from the park with a fantastic view. ...3... ...2... Vertical loop goodness....1... More parking lot goodness. Afterwards, we ate at Carl's Jr. I love those "six dollar" burgers. This is their view from the parking lot. There were camels as well. That sign is true. Meow! for meat! swimming... Tigers.... We're all in on it now. Foghorn joins in on the action... Hello, dolphins. "Where is the earth-shattering KABOOM!" Hello Marvin! Why-HELLO Medusa. I will ride you soon.

I remember those "boosters" when I was a kid. Similar idea to the drive system on PeopleMover. Any chance of PeopleMover coming back as transportation, maybe between Tomorrowland and Paradise Pier?

It's 1061, bullt in 1946 that served in Philadelphia. Wikipedia article here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Pacific_Electric_1061_in_SFO_12-28-04b.JPG

Yeah, that is a strange kind of peek-a-boo grill? fence? I understand the need to lock down a shuttle coaster's station, but even V2 station's gates were less restrictive. Gratuitous videos of V2 taken from just outside the park that don't prove my point but I include here because I took them: and

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28784

Day 3: Bright and sunny California! Redding to Santa Clara. After getting a short taste of CGA-Flight Deck was closed! We thought, why not stay the night in San Francisco? We decided to walk from our motel on Market Street to the cable car line. Market has about 2.8 bums per block, and the cable car is $5 each. We took the cable car to Fisherman's Wharf. The street car back was $1.50, 75 cents for kids 17 and under. She be pimpin' More on-ride goodness. My wife is a better photographer than me. She is teh awesome. On-ride goodness More Invertigo goodness. Invertigo! My favorite boomerang-the only one that doesn't make me feel like I'm in a Benny Hill video or a Stooge, take your pick It's Vortex! There's more pictures, but my card reader's a bit twitchy. In the meantime there's other coaster goodness... Yeah! Nothing like a reboot to get things working again. Check the bottom of this reply for more pics. Finally, after 970 miles in 48 hours...a Cedar Fair ride sign...is that a trash can as well? Bears Everywhere! More bears... We must be in California, the Golden Bear State. Our streetcar is a Red Car! This streetcar never served in Los Angeles, but it's a genuine Red Car circa 1940's. Pirates of Fisherman's Wharf * On-ride picture from Vortex.

More day 2: All of Oregon and a little California. We ended up spending the night in Redding Only 330 to go! In less than 27 hours... 640 miles down... Welcome to California. Is that snow? In March?

Since we had Cedar Fair passes from last year from Knott's that expire April 10, I thought it would be cool to use them one more time this year. California's Great America opened this March, as well as Six Flags Discovery Kingdom-and since it was "only" a 2 day drive to the Bay area, that's where we headed. However, CGA was only open weekends at our spring break time-but if we left on Friday and got some driving in, we could probably make it to Santa Clara by the afternoon. Day One: After packing earlier, we head to the high school to pick up my daughter. Then it's the run to the border, after a brief stop to pick up some US cash. Best to avoid the fees as much as possible. Then it was goodbye to Canada for 11 days, rolling through Seattle around rush hour (is that bridge ever NOT clogged?) with the stop for the night at Chehalis, exit 83. 217 miles down, about 750 to go. Day Two: We leave Chehalis and head towards Portland. We would have to pass through Sith territory first, though, see the pictures: Saw this poor guy's truck smoking for a couple of miles on Day 2 just south of Portland: We are HUGE Simpsons fans, my wife and I giggle EVERY TIME we pass this sign... Must almost be in Portland... Once again, we DIDN'T stay at the $21/27 motel for some reason.... We just love this sign. The corporate mascot for a place that sells fireworks is pirate that lost an eye! I guess it's kind of natural that Cougar would hang out in Woodland. Heh Heh I said "Woodland" I think it used to be called Skywalker Ryderwood. Looks like we picked a good time to leave Richmond, BC for warmer, drier climes.

The Grizzly was smooth, alright....ZZZZZZ It's got banking like Roar, but it just doesn't go as fast.

Maybe he was there to check out Ninja. He just wanted to see why JP2 visited Expo 86 in Vancouver. Apparently, he just wouldn't stop talking to the cardinals about it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ninja_(roller_coaster)

Some places, it's a long expensive trip to an amusement park, but then there's the annual fair-when the rides come to you. Twin Flip Inverter Grand Prix Skymaster all get you upside down

I screamed like Ned Flanders the first time I was on Xcellerator. It's not quite as scary a couple of years later with your 13 year old daughter. That's me on the far left.

Good point. However, speaking as a west coaster who admittedly has never been to Florida, I would recommend California. Orlando Florida is theme park central, but Southern California has Los Angeles and San Diego. There's more than just theme parks, I'm sure anyone who hasn't been to the US before would love to see Hollywood.