ytterbiumanalyst

^ My kids love that song/video. I must admit it's pretty catchy.

Pub

I can't really be late. My office doesn't have specific start and end times, just work your 40 hours sometime when the office is open. I guess that makes me a wizard. When was the last time you ate a jelly bean?

Why close a decently popular coaster before summer for anything less? Any flat would take a month at most as we saw with Sol Spin. A planter a week. If they were planning anything smaller I'm sure they would have waited until September like they did with Plunge. Hurler disproves this entire post. I agree with WestCoasterKing here. Hurler (in my opinion) was a total budget move but I don't think this is. I'm sure Hurler was more expensive to operate and required more maintenance than Boomerang does. It's a wood coaster running PTC trains which means they need to send the trains to PTC in the winter for maintenance and do a bunch of offseason and mid-season track work. It's also a bit different because it's a regional, seasonal park. If they wanted to close Boomerang for budget they wouldn't have run it in January, February, March and April and then shut it down just in time for the busy season. If you've already paid to staff it and maintain it during the months where the park is mostly dead you might as well run it through June, July and August. If they had closed it after Scary Farm I would be inclined to agree with you but they've wasted no time dismantling it and prepping that area. I think it's very reasonable to assume that a major addition is coming and that's what makes this so exciting. They closed it because they needed to close it. They closed Hurler for budget well in advance of when they actually started working on it. Fair points. I haven't gotten on board the hype train yet, and I think this could be any number of things that are not a roller coaster. I'll be watching the construction for sure.

Why close a decently popular coaster before summer for anything less? Any flat would take a month at most as we saw with Sol Spin. A planter a week. If they were planning anything smaller I'm sure they would have waited until September like they did with Plunge. Hurler disproves this entire post.

Been a while. I don't care for it. When was the last time you listened to public radio?

That's the real reason this email went out. " 'Cause they pay me every time I do."

okay so I used to bitch about people being late that had kids before I had kids and they would get mad at me for it and say something along the lines of "you don't have kids you don't understand" well here I am now with a nearly 4 year old and a year and half old and i am still never late to anything. sure the random blowout of a diaper can slow you down but that's not an everyday thing. Those people are just piss poor at planning ahead and respecting others whom they have made plans with. I hear you. Before kids, i used to be an on time person. Now when I go somewhere without kids, I'm very early due to chronically overestimating how much time it takes to get ready to leave.

How about this boat?

When was the last time you forgot to write a question in this thread?

The biggest difficulty with children is that it's an hour of walking near lakes, rivers, waterfalls, dripping rocks...and no bathrooms.The hike itself is not bad; I have many memories of doing it with my dad when I was very small. Fastest way to Outlaw Run at opening: Between the ice cream parlor on the square and Grandfather's Mansion is a set of stairs. Go straight down those and you'll get to a waterfall of sorts. The path winds around and goes under itself. Keep following it until it ends next to Crossroads Pizza and the railroad bridge. And yes, absolutely get the after 3 if you can. There's a reason they close at 7 most days; the park absolutely clears out starting around 5. The last couple of hours of the day is great time for riding, especially for the water rides and Thunderation. I absolutely concur woth SFOG1991 in that summer weekends are atrociously busy and should be avoided, but that's true of every theme park. All my suggestions have been based on the assumption that you're going on a weekday.

Perfectly said.

It's stairs. Lots and lots of stairs. 500 feet down on stairs, then 200 feet back up on stairs before you get a tram to take you the rest of the way back. Some of the passages are low, but many are roomy enough to allow you to carry a kid on your shoulders. The closest restaurants to the two you mentioned are the Mill and the Mine. Both are in the same building on the square. The Mine serves BBQ, and thr Mill serves fried chicken. Sides are similar in both places. Beyond buffets, the skillets are great. I like the sausage skillet at Lumberjack Camp, near Wildfire, and the Harvest Skillet (squash) at Buckshot Annie's, near Thunderation. Crossroads Pizza is very good and can easily feed a family. This year the park is placing an emphasis on foods, so just about every location has new and higher quality fare. It's all pretty cheap, too--entrees are typically under $10 and kids' meals under $5 in most locations.

7pm is not limited hours for SDC. July will be very busy, even on weekdays. I'd budget for the Trailblazer Pass, but don't buy it until you get to the park. A lot of people come to SDC for the shows, and while that's less true in peak summer, it still holds that the park can be packed and yet the lines for rides are not too bad. There are 2 levels of Trailblazer Pass: One allows you to skip the line 8 times on their 8 most popular rides, and the other allows unlimited skips. On the lower tier, keep in mind that it is NOT one skip per ride, just 8 skips total. It's been a long time since I've seen a wait longer than half an hoir on Fire in the Hole and Thunderation, so if you wait for those, you can skip the line again on rides that really need it, like Powder Keg and Wildfire. Oddly enough, Outlaw Run's line tends to be manageable these days. I'd say a combination of intensity too high for some, fast ride cycle, and being tucked in a back corner contribute. If you go on a weekday, OR will likely be under 30 minutes most of the day. Budget about 90 minutes for the cave tour. It takes 45-60 minutes to walk it, depending on the speed of the group, and you'll want to arrive a few minutes before you wish to tour. All except the lantern tour are first come, first served, and they can fill up. Also, eat cinnamon bread. It's at Sullivan's Mill in Midtown, near Grandfather's Mansion.

To be honest, I probably wouldn't buy it, basically because the videos are already on Youtube. I can't really think of a situation in which I would want to watch the videos and not have access to Youtube.

Elephants

Last summer, after a couple of years on its last leg, we decided that was the final time and bought a new A/C unit.

Fascist misogynist homophobic imbecile so inept that he needed Vladimir Putin to cheat for him so he could get what his entitled orange ass desired

Yes, and a van too. Did you eat a sandwich today?

Just doing my duty as required by the English Major Contract. Do you own more than one religious text (Qu'ran, Tao Te Ching, Book of Mormon, etc.)?

Yeah, I'll drive a ways too. I wouldn't drive to California, but I've gone to Winnepeg, Denver, San Antonio, Sandusky, and Florida, all of which are a whole day's drive from me. In general, if I can drive there in one day, I do. Getting ready to go to Dollywood (10 hours for us) next month. We save a lot of money that way, thanks in no small part to being able to take a cooler and fill with good things. No stopping the van because kids are hungry or thirsty, and no relying on fast food. It really does help.

Yes, Brave New World has been banned many times for sexually explicit content, drug use, and explicit atheism, ever since 1932. It's also one of the most important books in the age of the Internet for its warning about how the truth can be drowned out in a sea of conflicting voices. I have seen the dolphin show at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago and enjoyed it. Haven't seen a whale show, or even an actual whale in person. Do you own any Velcro shoes?

Ireland

We might be able too. Although it just be my brother and I. We are Australian so I do not know how we'd go driving in the states You can drive and rent a car in California with a valid and current Australian driver's licence. I would suggest renting the car at one of the LAX locations, as they'll be most familiar with Australian documents. Now, if you feel driving on the right would pose difficulties for you, I could understand not wanting to, especially since L.A. traffic can be quite heavy. But legally, California treats foreign driver's licences just like out of state licences. You'll have no more trouble than I did coming from Missouri.

^ Souvlaki... It really was a good day. There is so much good food there, it's hard to choose. They're offering a sampler dinner each Saturday during the festival to taste all the things--really wish we could go, but all our Saturdays in April are booked. Still, what we had was excellent. SDC has always done well on the model of offer cheap food that tastes really good, and people will choose to buy in the park instead of going to fast food outside. You won't find any $15 hamburgers here--most things are under $10, and entrees often include one or two sides. We fed 5 people for $29--try doing that at any other theme park.