dougr

Gone: Dragon at PNE Dragon at Oaks Moved: Scream Machine at Expo Redesigned: Space Mountain at Disneyland

Windstorm at Fun Forest in Seattle, WA March 11, 2006. My trip report is Here

Someone's GOT to take him to Costco. Make sure you have a family to share the mega-sizes with...

True But in my defence, my first looping coaster was Scream Machine at Expo (now Ninja at SFStL) started by Arrow and finished by Vekoma.

Here we pass right by Wild Thing, with a loop and two corkscrews, which won't be open for almost TWO AND A HALF MONTHS. Seeing this picture makes me sad. I don't know whether it's seeing this coaster closed most of the year, or anticipating Vekoma pain/goodness

This past week, we decided to do the local thing and check out the tourist things in Seattle, WA, about 2 and a half hours south of us. Included in the first day-actual live coaster goodness in the Pacific Northwest! We got our fix until Oaks opens March 25 or Playland April 14 or Enchanted Village Memorial Day(?) The day started out kind of cold and wet-no big surprise here in Lewis and Clark country. 'S up, BIAATCH! Heheheh huhuhuh A carousel to keep child happy...Then a walk to lunch-down along the pier-past pier 70 and on down... Coaster goodness done. That should do for a month or two. OMFG! I'm not ordinarily a fan of helixes, but this coaster has two sweet sets, the second tighter than the first... Not much of a lifthill, none of the drops are too huge, but... Now the highlight, a coaster called Windstorm, a clone of the steelie at Santa Cruz. And the real beauty of being a parent...when you've got your own 11 year old, you don't have to borrow someone else's 6 year old! This is the Rainbow Chaser, an appropriate name now that the weather was improving. Here's downtown Seattle, with the world's shortest 76 story building... Here they are at the top of said needle. The child knows there's a couple of coasters down there... My wife and child in the city that invented grunge, looking up at the world's tallest hypodermic.... The day's first stop at a rest area-check out the new sign-that little man is in for SERIOUS pain

Bad idea all around. Perhaps a semi-authentic depiction of early times would work in Vegas-wait, there's Ceaser's Palace and Bellagio and Luxor... From John 2:

Slightly OT, but make sure you use your security settings when you go wireless, or anyone in range could hijack your connection-not nice!

You do look like someone else I've seen before.... Another guy sporting the "disney look"

Get a Costco membership! I bet you never realized that you needed toilet paper 36 rolls at a time....

Well, I went to MapQuest and tried "Avoid Highways" I guess if you're walking, you can ignore that U turn It looks like it's possible to take transit as well-you could walk along the bus route and hop on board if you change your mind partway...

Mindbender at West Edmonton Mall. The way the track curves around and drops...you can't see it...

These food companies have been making food with WAAAAY too much fat and salt and carbs because it's cheaper to produce, transport and plus they don't get sued as much for it going bad and killing people. Instead of their customers dropping dead from food poisoning, they die later from a stroke or heart attack or complications from diabetes. Sure everybody has a choice, sorta, but until they were publically squeezed, the food companies kept putting out the same old crap. Have you seen how much sodium is in pretty much all processed food? At least a lot of potato chips are made with 0% transfats.... I think if people have more healthy tasty choices, they'll choose better food. I blame fast food companies for having crap choices. I blame good times (peaceful time between famines) for everyone eating too much.

You can buy at any of the parks something called a southern california citypass. It has admission to 3 days DIsney/DCA (parkhopper) + 1 day USH + 1 day Seaworld +1 day San Diego Zoo OR Wild Animal Park. If you buy it onsite, it's $199, but if you have a Costco membership, it's $174.99. On weekends, Sunday tends to have shorter lines-except, apparently for DCA. I guess everyone gets freaked out by the Disneyland lines on Saturday and heads to DCA?

We had a Samsung VCR....I understand

Yes, it's those fast food companies who are FORCE FEEDING people their food. It's statements like these that make me realize that people just don't believe in personal responsibility anymore. It's never "their fault" so it MUST be someone else's. The fast food companies, the coaster manufacturers, etc. I lost nearly 100 pounds eating nothing but carbs and fast food. It's all about moderation, exercise and your eating habits. Having said that, if you're too fat to ride a coaster, especially if you're a coaster enthusiast, lose weight. It's that simple. It's really not that hard. I lost 100 pounds in about 4 months, and every once in a while when I put on 20 pounds here or there, it's gone in about 2 weeks. --Robb Ahem... BBC news January 30, 2003 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2707143.stm

Because of the below freezing temperatures and the large amounts of snow we get? Plus we're americans, and we like to complain a lot. At least I'll start my coaster season this weekend. Yes, but why does Enchanted Village in SEATTLE open Memorial Day weekend, 6 WEEKS after Playland in VANCOUVER?

A few details to consider...on BTM the front "engine" separated from the rest of the train, then rolled back into the first car. CALOSHA did a thorough review of the ride-it should be safer than before, you may want to stay out of the first row on your first ride. My wife and I rode Mindbender at West Edmonton Mall years after it killed somebody-they had completely redesigned the wheel mechanisms and restraints.

This website may have some helpful stats on wait times: http://www.whentoride.com/graph_selectpark.asp Also there is a series of books out-The Unofficial Guide To:"*" which have strategies and tips on how to tackle parks. I haven't been to Florida, but I do know from experience that their guide to Disneyland has some GREAT advice.

Hmm-no one has mentioned the classic coaster at the PNE or the pair of awesome woodies at Silverwood. But the east coast has had more people for longer, so of course you'd have a greater number of coasters...

how cold are they predicting? Because if it's like 40's, I'll probably still be in shorts. Look where I'm coming from, last night our temperature got down to 8. And when it hits 40, we consider that a warm spell and it makes me want to wear a T-Shirt. *I got the thick New England Winter blood yo* Sounds like when I lived in Calgary. Any time it got about 50 between September and April, you'd for sure see some dude shirtless!

That would be nice! Let me know the date as soon as possible! I also want to post some pictures and updates as often as possible! --Sören You may want to keep your cat inside....

Especially from the gift shop POV... I swear the handrail shakes about a foot!

You know, Knott's has a special $22 price for admission after 4 pm on those days it's open past 6 pm.