WillMontu

1999 was a big year for new rides. Six Flags was in the middle of a buying frenzy, Ghostrider was at the top of the rankings, and Islands of Adventure was opening its gates for the first time. SeaWorld did not have any new attractions that year, having just opened Journey to Atlantis the year before and starting construction on both Kraken and Discovery Cove. At the time, I had a Kodak DC210 digital camera. At one megapixel, it was a fairly high-end for the time, when everyone else was still using film.The downside to it at the time was that it was somewhat bulky (compared to today's compact digital cameras) and had poor battery life, as it chewed through AA batteries. The old Dolphin show, prior to the acrobatic makeover "So long, and thanks for all the fish!" The Sea Lion viewing area Can I have a bucket? The walrus took mine Sea Lion on the rocks More sea lions Going up the Sky Tower, with Discovery Cove in the background. The colored lights and the cables supporting them have since been removed. Here we see Journey to Atlantis, construction of Kraken, and the future site of Aquatica The lake behind what is now Kraken. In the foreground is the Clyde and Seamore stadium. The Pirate Island show was new at the time and has remained mostly unchanged since The Shamu stadium with the old video screen The underwater viewing area near the Shamu stadium. I believe that this whale was in fact Tilikum, the whale involved in the recent incident. Two days after this visit, a body was found in his tank "Does the Shamu attraction go upside down?" The old Shamu show Never underestimate the Splash Zone Back then, I didn't know how to use a camera properly and left the flash on Since it was July 4, we had to watch the fireworks I also have photos from Kraken's opening that I may post

Although I'm not a lawyer (nor do I have any intention of becoming one), from what I know about copyright, you might have some trouble. Being in France creates a huge problem for copyright, as there is no Freedom of Panorama (see Wikipedia article. This means that pictures (and likely video) of buildings (interior and exterior) and any kind of artwork displayed is owned by the architect/artist who created the original work. Even if you mute the music, video of the interior of the ride building and the ride theming would probably be a derivative work and Disney (or whoever designed the ride) would still own the copyright. On the other hand, there are provisions like De minimis. Do have a link to the video?

This is the first time I've attempted to post a PTR since the software upgrade, so bear with me if attachments are missing or mislabeled. I finally got a car of my own, which means that I can start visiting the local parks more often. While a bicycle is great for many things, it proves to be impractical for visiting anything further than the Alachua County Fair. Last weekend I drove down to Orlando with Erik to hit a few parks, notably giving the Dragons a final ride before they undergo the transformation into Dragon Challenge. Adventuredome.SV6 Some fun with the telephoto lens Broken_[R]_(Real).nlpack One of the newest attraction at EPCOT is Sum of All Thrills in Innoventions. If you have ridden CyberSpace Mountain at DisneyQuest, this is a very similar concept. Unlike CSM, however, which uses a simple pitch and roll simulator, Sum of All Thrills uses a robotic arm to simulate motion. For a look at the Design Station, I have posted a video [coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=SumOfAllThrillsDesign_qcpp[/coastertube] Mini-Rocket.nltrack Flying Penguin.nltrack

I've used this username on multiple sites since around 1998 or so when I just started becoming interested in coasters and parks. It comes from my first name (William) and Montu, the closest major coaster to where I lived at the time.

Happy fifth birthday! Are there any plans to celebrate this milestone...besides setting the clubhouse on fire? I first came to TPR because of the videos (somebody posted a link to the infamous Manhattan Express video on another forum), although I had visited some of the early Geocities incarnations previously, and created my account a few days after the forums came online. I can't imagine what things could have been like otherwise. The thought of joining ACE scares me.

I saw this today and immediately thought of this thread Looks like a Ferris wheel. Looks fun, and dangerous Source: http://thereifixedit.com/2010/02/08/epic-kludge-photo-eating-all-those-popsicles-paid-off/

You're all probably fed up with me finding bugs and glitches by now, but I've found a couple more. I had a few issues when I tried login to the new site for the first time, as when I tried to log in using the login page (though posting.php or ucp.php) it would take me to a blank page (nothing in the page source either). I finally got in when I used the login fields at the bottom of the main forum page (index.php). I'm suspecting a few bad cookies left over from the old site, as I couldn't recreate the problem in Chrome/MSIE, which I don't use as often. Also, I can't seem to get the Save Draft feature to work, as it simply reloads the "Post a Reply" page with a text field blank instead of saving it. User agent info: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.2) Gecko/20100115 Firefox/3.6 GTBDFff GTB7.0

Suppose he got into the food service business. I did this entirely in GIMP. Did Somebody Say "More trashcans?"

I use FlashBlock (a plug-in that prevents Flash applets from automatically playing until I click on them), and didn't see any indication of Flash being used, which probably explains the problem. If I disable it, the sounds work Also, if you look at http://www.themeparkreview.com/ilikefish/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=53794&start=10 the footer has the gray background, when it probably shouldn't in Firefox and Chrome. I'm suspecting that the embedded videos might be causing it.

If you've ever been to Cypress Gardens and ridden the infamous Bootleg Flyers, this is definitely an improvement. Official entry for the time being

Some observations in the new chat room -The image function is nice and works well, but it looks easy to abuse -If I go into Settings, there is an option for sounds. I try to preview them, but none of them appear to be working. I am using Firefox 3.5.7

I found another minor cosmetic glitch in the calendar. In addition, for video attachments, the video comment does not show, while it does for images and other attachments. Is this intentional? For a day with no events, the message appears as yellow text on light background Calendar day view - white text on light background. I have highlighted the text in the third cell in order to read it

A few observations (using Firefox 3.5.7) -Under the Usergroups section of my profile, I see all the groups, even test groups and those I am not a member of. It even gives me the option of joining the Behemoth and East Coast trip usergroups. I'm not sure if this is intentional. -When using the Search function, images etc. show up in the results set (in the old version they did not). The thread and forum title are in blue text that is not easily legible. See image -If I go into a forum and use the search box at the top, I don't seem to get any hits regardless of what I enter. See image Many of the small icons are missing alpha channel information ( has a black background). See image Nice to have: In addition to AIM/ICQ/MSN/etc. add or modify the option for Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. profiles Broken search box. In the Midwest trip forum, I try common terms like "Cedar Point", "Midwest", "Raptor", etc. and get no results A lot of attachments are missing, but I'm guessing that you're aware of this. The paperclip icon and "post" icon are missing alpha channel information Faint blue text in search results

I didn't take any of the ride itself (I wasn't aware that you need pictures of the ride at the time), but I'll keep it in mind for future trips

Some ride signs from BGT today I remember seeing Sandstorm in the requests list, but I didn't remember if it was for the sign or the ride. Sign for Stanley Falls flume

^^^^ The Luxo animatronic appear opposite the entrance to the Toy Story attraction to the right of the meet and greet area ^^ I shoot mostly on P or Av using my EOS 40D, but will underexpose by a stop or two for some of the indoor shots. I also have a f/1.8 50mm lens that I used for some of the Movie Ride shots. ^ No problem. Indoor shots tend to be more challenging.

Over the last week, many of us in Florida have been experiencing colder than usual weather. Some areas even received a small amount of snow. Erik, Andrew, and myself took this past Saturday to don magic hoodies, coats, and ponchos, and hit Magic Kingdom and Disney Hollywood Studios in near freezing weather. A few observations: -Space Mountain remains most of the classic features from before the rahab, including the original music in the queue and track. The stations have been modified with the addition of air-gates and closing off the space between the loading area and the rest of the ride. The first tunnel has been changed with new effects and an on-ride camera In addition, the glowing stripes on the cars are no longer in use, so the ride is darker than before. The PeopleMover track still goes by the track, but there's a lot less to see now. The ride itself remains the same. Hopefully the new control system will make for a more efficient and reliable ride -The PeopleMover has new narration and and some other new effects, but still retains the awesomeness that it is known for. The new LED lighting system is in place, but during the day it is barely noticeable. -I beat Erik on Buzz Lightyear, which is first for me -Hall of Presidents is, um, in a heated building. Clinton's sax appears to have been removed. -Splash Mountain is down for rehab. -Rock'n'Roller Coaster has a new sponsor. Neither it nor Tower were using Fastpasses (or the single rider line) that day -Toy Story Mania had an insanely lone line, but that's nothing new. -According to the parking lot tram announcer at DHS, like the monorails, the parking lot trams do have air conditioning, but on the trams it only works when the tram is moving and cannot be adjusted. I finish this off with this animatronic of Luxo Jr. (the Pixar mascot) near Toy Story Mania. Every so often, he emerges from the set of doors behind him and dances, I do have a video and it should be up when CT comes back up. The Wizard of Oz room, the last scene before the post show "Don't push it" "I've got a gun. I can do whatever I want" "You may not pass, unless you gimme some candy" This is not This is an actor And now for some scenes from the Great Movie Ride (as it's too cold to do anything outdoors) "Love in your underwear - living it up when you pull them down" I'm sure others can make much better underwear jokes than I can Tower was running great, as usual Over at the MGM/Hollywood Studios, Christmas decorations are still abundant. Thunder was practically a walk-on We had to miss out on the fun and excitement of getting hypothermia on Splash Mountain They even have lighting effects Those animatronics in the Pecos Bill dining area are really lifelike Now we don't need do that again for another 4-8 years Seriously, they need to make this show more "Rocky Horror"-like by including audience participation such as throwing shoes at Bush, cheering for Nixon, yelling "You lie!" to Obama, etc. Over at the refurbished Hall of Presidents, Lincoln retains his central role A rare shot of the Haunted Mansion loading platform. When this picture taken, the cars (and line) had stopped moving, to allow for a longer exposure The ride itself is a whole lot darker, so there is nothing to see when riding through on the PeopleMover (which still retains its awesomeness). In addition, the glow strips on the sides of the cars are no longer used. The camera and TV screens in the exit tunnel have been removed to make way for a new system using green-screen. Some of the new sign graphics in the station What was originally a mirror has been replaced by a new LED system. After the turn, the train passes the (new) on-ride photo camera and ascends the lift The "launch" tube has changed significantly with new sound and visual effects The track itself is mostly unchanged The trains are mostly unchanged The loading platform on the Omega side The queuing area on the Alpha side. This portion of the queue is entered by going around the queue through the old "Chicken Gate" hallway A look at the new loading area Naturally we start out at Space Mountain, as none of us have ridden the "new and improved" version Isn't there an old saying that if you leave your Christmas decorations up after 12 days, you face bad luck for the rest of the year, or something like that? Lovely weather to take part in the marathon Monorail Red did not like the cold weather, resulting in a longer wait than usual For whatever reason, everybody wanted to take the monorail instead of enjoying the fresh 30° sea air on the ferryboat.

Second design. Like my last design, this is just a mock-up and I am open to others' ideas Yes, I know the lines on the coaster don't match up, but I'll fix that if I do a revision or a final submission

I don't consider myself to be "creative" by any means, but here's something simple. I designed it so that the photo can be switched out (e.g. having a different design for each year or something like that, like with Disney or Six Flags passes). The colored stripe at the side could be changed depending on the membership type. I feel that I have room to improve on the logo, but I am open to suggestions. Also, this probably sounds like a stupid question, so I apologize if its been answered already, but are the cards going to be double-sided? Would there be anything on the back? (aside from fine print, etc.) Mockup using light image First mockup using dark image

NZ's never been big when it comes to amusement parks. I unfortunately never got to go to Rainbow's End when I lived in Auckland back in 1990. I did, however, get to go to some other (now defunct) amusement parks including Footrot Flats (in Auckland, named after the NZ cartoon series) Fantasyland (now Splash Planet, in Hastings), and the QEII fun park in Christchurch As for the accents, there are differences, and do not ever accuse a Kiwi of being an Aussie or an Aussie of being a Kiwi

1. What are your initial thoughts? It probably will give TPR more recognition as a serious "club", and it weren't for what I mentioned below, I would join without any question. On the other hand I don't eat nearly enough to join some of those other (more expensive) organizations out there. 2. Can you think of anything else we could be offering? Not that I can think of 3. Is this something that interests you? Possibly 4. Why would you NOT be interested in this? My interest parks/coasters/etc. has subsided a bit over the last year or so, and without a vehicle (or friends with vehicles) I am generally not able to get out to parks to take advantage of any perks or benefits. 5. Any additional feedback you can give us based on the information you see here. I would personally enjoy doing "Press" events, but they are just that - "Press Only", and that letting just anyone go to them (as others mentioned) could cause problems for TPR (especially with "fanboys") and the parks hosting the events.

I think the fact that there's a Publix on almost every street corner is reason enough to come to or stay in Florida. I just recently discovered that they had a British candy section. On the other hand, I did have some bad experiences on the Florida Turnpike this past weekend (besides the $20 in tolls), but I'm sure that it's nothing compared to what happens in California

I've had a couple of Canon camcorders and had all sorts of problems with them. I'm actually surprised that my current one still works (sometimes). There's the possibility that things have changed more recently and I don't tend to have much luck with video cameras anyway. I have had much better experiences with their still cameras. I would shop around and read review. Sites like Amazon and Newegg would make a good starting point. Aside from the brand, do you have a preference for format? MiniDV had been the format of choice for many people on TPR for many years, but flash is becoming more popular (no moving parts) and high-def camcorders are coming down in price.

Somebody asked for Rick Astley? Note: I don't intend for this to be an official entry since the deadline has passed

I don't think that's the only way the French are trying to appeal to TPR. I believe that this should be in the itinerary too.