azza29

Today's Penny Arcade is all too familiar...

There is a funzo running around my town for the same reason.

Uh-oh. The card I bought my Book of Mormon tickets with disappeared when my wallet was stolen so I don't have it anymore. Hopefully ID and confirmation e-mail will be enough to get them to hand my ticket over. I might turn up at the box office a bit early just in case there are any dramas. My upcoming week in New York is quickly becoming a 'see as many Broadway shows as possible with a bit of sightseeing in-between' affair. Looking forward to seeing some variety - after a few flops the Australian producers are playing it pretty safe at the moment, plenty of crowd-pleasing return seasons playing but not a lot of the newer stuff.

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^Completely agree with this. For example, I imagine the 'favourite Vekoma SLC' is probably going to rank quite low on many lists. I've been lucky enough to ride one with new trains that make for a less traumatic ride, which changes my ranking. I can only rank coasters based on my experience, not on the "ideal" or "average" ride - whatever that might be. The best part of this poll is that it has so many data points and comparisons that one person's bad ride is unlikely to affect the final ranking of a coaster which most people ranked highly, and vice versa. Can't wait to see the results!

^^It's not too pricey if you ask them to split a meal between two. There's a small 'split plate' charge but the servings are big to begin with. Best theme park food I've had was on the VIP tour at Universal Hollywood - buffet with amazing pork ribs and lamb shanks, plus plenty of great sides. Best 'regular' park food I've tried was the skewers at DCA's Paradise Garden Grill - they were a little heavy on the sauce but delicious all the same.

It might be a bit short and gimmicky, but I'm optimistic that this will give a good ride (however brief that might be). Given the height of the loop and top hat, I imagine the launches will be fairly intense. Have any pics of the trains appeared yet? Would be awesome if they have lapbar-only restraints.

Luna Park Melbourne is closer, but I'd consider Movie World my nearest "theme" park, just a short 2 hour flight away!

I got another update today (as well as yesterday's one). Can't pick what's changed though.

I found Finding Nemo to be unrealistic. FIsh and turtles have American accents but birds, crabs and sharks talk like Aussies? Pfft. Makes no sense!

I don't get why parks don't build more flume/rapids rides - for the most part they are capacity monsters and always seem quite popular. And surely SFMM is at the point of diminishing returns from just adding more coasters.

Is it easiest to just rent a car the whole time, even if you're staying on-property?

I didn't mean to imply Brave was a bad film, it just didn't deserve the Oscar. Pixar's worst is still better than a lot of the crap out there. For me Brave was about the same as last year's Ice Age and Madagascar sequels - stock-standard kiddie fare, OK but not great. Pixar's early work - Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Monsters Inc - remains their best. They did alright with the Toy Story sequels but lately their films have seemed... lacking. Monsters University might turn this around, or it could be another Cars 2. And I thought the original Cars was awesome - still don't get why people hate on it so much!

Oscars venting: how did Brave, arguably Pixar's worst film ever, win best animated film? Did the voters even watch it?Frankenweenie and Paranorman deserved to win, not freaking Brave!

I don't often get sick on rides, but the swinging gondolas on Mickey's Fun Wheel made me want to hurl. Next time I'll choose non-swinging ones!

Last week I headed north and spent a week on the Gold Coast. Plenty of sun and beach time was intertwined with trips to the three Village Roadshow parks - Sea World, Wet 'n' Wild and Movie World. First up was Sea World, a park I hadn't visited before. Like other marine-themed parks it's more about animals/shows than rides, and most of the attractions were great! Of their two coasters, Sea Viper (Arrow Looping Corkscrew) was just OK, but Jet Rescue is one of the best family coasters I've ridden. These Intamin Motocoasters are great fun but I always want them to go for a bit longer, so I can't wait to try out Juvelen once it's open. Anyway, enough writing. Here goes my first TR for TPR! We are at Sea World today! Bikini Bottom is the centrepiece of Sea World's lagoon. Penguins always look like they're in the middle of an important meeting. This guy was swimming all on his own. "Guys? Has anyone seen my contact lens? Guys?" "Bro. I think I just stepped in some... ugh." Rays are the villains of the aquatic world. Pure evil. For you can feed the rays so Sea World doesn't have to. Dolphins! This show was very cool. I still can't get my head around how they can train fish. Impressive! Seal Harbour is Sea World's new hotness this summer. They are still in the process of adding all the seals, and the ones that are there are a bit shy. The seagulls, however, were quite happy to have their photos taken. This guy got out of the pool for a few glamour shots. His seagull friend was there for moral support. At lunch time there is a Spongebob parade. Fish driving boats. What will they think of next? The parade is held in their stadium area. The floats parade past, turn around and come back again. I like this system way better than having to stake out a spot on some parade route. This cannot be an easy costume to dance in. The park was fairly quiet for a Sunday. This guy spent the afternoon resting as far away from the viewing area as possible. These birds are considered an exhibit. These birds are just some birds. Viking's Revenge is pretty tame, no soaking water cannons here. The lady at the front has assumed the brace position for impact. Sploosh! OMG! Peeling paint! Oh wait... it's theming. "Hey nice lady! Check out my floaties!" Truck ride = not a credit. From the RCT3 school of theming. This building houses the Spongebob cinema and the upper portion of the flume ride. The Spongebob movie was, at five minutes' duration, mercifully short. New hotness incoming - a water coaster later this year and something with gorillas for 2014. OK, time for some construction pics. There are a LOT of footers for this new ride, so I guess it's going to be a decent length. More footers. I'm told the wrap makes them blend in. The old Bermuda Triangle building has been gutted but is still largely intact, so there might be a dark ride portion to the new coaster. Either that or they're just going to use it as the station/queue building. CONFIRMED: there are NO track pieces on site yet! Back to attractions that actually exist, like Dinosaur Island! This guy was not invited to be part of Spongebob's parade. Revenge is imminent. Animatronic dinosaurs eat less food than real animals, so theme parks love them! "Check out these teeth. I just got them whitened." "The gift shop is that way." "What do you mean dinosaurs aren't supposed to have fur?" Fish Detectives was probably my favourite show of the day. Sea Lions can make even the most tedious of plots hilarious. The story is that the sea lion is a detective investigating overfishing. Hijinks and laughter ensue. Time for some sharks! As promised, a shark. For some money you can ride this glass-bottomed boat and see the sharks that way. If you don't tip the guide they make you swim back to the dock. Well said. Evil ray in the shark pool. Two sharks! For even more money you can climb into this rusty box and see a shark up close. No thankyou! Good advice. This fish doesn't realise he's shark food. The ray is plotting revenge against the shark, who killed his twin brother. Now that you've seen plenty of fish, why not eat one? It's fresh! The train ride is gone, but some tracks remain. The last show of the day was a jet stunt thing. It opened with some dancers whipping their hair around a lot. Airtime! I want one of these. In Australia, Sea World is two words. Just sayin'. OK, let's finish up with the coasters. First up, Sea Viper. This wins the prize for most fish saliva in a ride logo. One for the lift hill enthusiasts. Loop! For a 30-year old corkscrew this thing isn't bad. The new trains bring you closer to the track for a more forceful ride. Artsy...? These people are loving the brake run. A train from the aforementioned train ride. It's not going anywhere soon. Jet Rescue is a great ride, even if the restraints did dig into my (ahem) muscular thighs a bit. My brother and sister are in this picture. They refused to give me for the on-ride photo. Cheapskates. Wheee! Apparently every time you ride this a seal is saved. We rescued seven. These people are having the time of their lives. And that's it for this update. Hope you enjoyed it! Next up - Movie World!

My town is now an (almost) roadless pedestrian paradise. Having no roads at all seems to screw up the game, however having just one bit of road makes all of the characters hang out in the same spot, which is very convenient.

^Thanks. The plan is to hit up the park on May 12, only in SF area for 4 days so just going when I can. Don't know if the fact that it'll be Mothers' Day will do anything to crowd levels, but if Gold Striker has only just opened I imagine it might be fairly busy anyway.

I wonder if Disney are tracking the number of 'absences' for Fastpass return? While I doubt they'd want to penalise guests who missed their Fastpass time, perhaps this could lead to more Fastpasses being made available overall, similar to the way airlines deliberately overbook flights to cover cancellations/no-shows. Can't wait to get a chance to try this out - as much as I enjoy being impulsive in parks, knowing that I don't need to run around collecting Fastpass tickets in order to get on the major rides will definitely make for a better experience.

Golden rule of theme parks, along with going on off-peak days. Amazing how many rides you can churn through in the hour after a park opens!

I've got my fingers crossed that it'll be open in mid-May. Not being impatient, just that that's when I'll get the chance to visit and wait in a ridiculously long line for the new ride. Are CGA doing Fast Lane again this year? Seems to have disappeared from their site.

^^Or a lifeguard!

Note to self: check dress code before planning visit to any water park in Europe. I doubt it. A lot of guys I know will wear something under their shorts anyway, just in case.