azza29

Looks awesome. Very tempted to sort out a quick trip to LA for this if I can get a good deal on flights. Already heading stateside in May so will see where I'm at after that. Is it likely to sell out before June?

Beautiful summer weather in Melbourne this week, sitting around the 25-degree mark (or 77 if you prefer F to C) and clear skies. The news tells me the rest of the country is sweating it out with temperatures in the high 30s. Sucks to be them.

This seems like a great deal, I'm surprised they offer it because I imagine that the park makes a lot of money from the extras that passholders buy on each visit. I guess if you were poor you could feed yourself every day that SFMM is open for just the cost of a season pass + dining pass though!

I'm wondering if the premium content pricing is consistent across regions - for example 60 donuts would cost me $5.49, is that the same everywhere?

Luna Park's Scenic Railway has gone from 107th to 129th. It might be 101 years old, but just goes to show that age doesn't earn you any respect in this industry.

Has any park built a dueling wild mouse? I reckon that would be a winner. And since they only need 2-4 people to dispatch each car, parks could keep both sides running all the time.

^Agree about Russell Crowe. Still, I'd prefer to see an actor who can't sing than a singer who can't act. Paranorman has just made it's way into cinemas here, definitely a case of better late than never. I was really impressed with this one, went in expecting a stock-standard kiddie flick and instead got a fantastically animated with great storytelling. It might be old school but stop-motion once again shows that it can kick CGI's butt any day of the week. Definitely aiming for a narrower audience than, say, Madagascar 3 or Brave, but it works! And the zombies are hilarious.

For those who've had the chance to ride Dauling Dragon, do you agree that the left-hand side track is (ever-so-slightly) better?

Just started out, town is a bit minimalist at the moment but I have grand plans. Sent through a few random friend requests to TPR folk - my username is aaronm29 if you want to add/approve.

The Friday night movie has become a routine of late - tonight's was Gangster Squad. I really enjoyed this one, it was gritty enough without taking itself too seriously. Not quite LA Confidential but definitely more accessible (in a good way). Witty, clever dialogue and some great action setpieces to boot. Definitely recommend.

Is this the first time we've heard a date? With the rate of progress they're making May 11 seems very believable.

I saw it in Vegas last year but Jersey Boys returned to Melbourne last night and once again an excellent, really fun production. Even for a fast-paced show the Vegas version seemed rushed (I guess because they're doing two performances each night) so it was nice to see the cast being able to take a breath between lines this time! Four months until I get to hit up Broadway, my current list is: Avenue Q, Wicked, Book of Mormon, Peter & The Starcatcher, and Newsies. Then maybe Spiderman or Nice Work if we can get cheap tickets. Any other suggestions?

I found that once I'd adjusted my spending habits to save for my first big trip, it became much easier to keep doing the same thing when I got back. I probably save $1000 a month more than I used to simply because I had to cut out a lot of unnecessary expenses the first time around.

I wonder how long it'll be before one of the ECV-people comes along who can't fit the band around their wrist, then their complaint becomes news.

My two cents: online forums are still much better at fostering community and discussion, especially when they're well managed and moderated. I find this makes them more rewarding to contribute to than other types of social media. Facebook/Twitter/Youtube seem to be more of a 'release and respond' model - heavily reliant on the creator to push out a piece of content, and comments tend to be feedback on the content rather than discussion. For example, a Facebook update along the lines of 'what's your favourite coaster?' will just get a stack of answers with people listing coasters in response to the original question. A TPR thread along the same lines usually results in people not only contributing their own response, but commenting on the responses of others also. I think these other forms of social media are still useful - Youtube is a great medium for TPR vids, and I enjoy Robb's twitter updates. However for a good, meaty discussion nothing beats the forum.

YOU GOT TO DO WHAT? I've never been more jealous of someone in my life! Were they filming? They weren't filming at the time, which is kind of fortunate because I probably wouldn't have been allowed in if they were! Paramount run a studio tour, the day I went I was lucky enough that they let us see Troy & Abed's apartment, the study room and the Greendale cafeteria.

Singapore gets lots of visitors from the region as it's the major airport hub in southeast Asia, and it's fairly common for tourists flying to Europe (and vice versa) to have a day or two stopover in Singapore. On top of this there is a fairly sizeable population in the immediate area to begin with (around 6-7 million) so should be plenty of customers for all parks. Anyway I'm excited for this. Soon it will be only 8 hours flight to my nearest Six Flags, instead of 14!

^Is the business case strong enough? How much are people realistically going to pay to ride this thing? 30,000 visitors per day seems very optimistic. The London Eye worked because it is unique, I don't understand why every other city decides it needs a giant ferris wheel too. The (smaller) one in Melbourne cost $100m, opened for two weeks in 2008 before breaking (poor design = structural cracks), five years later they're still rebuilding. Will probably open in December and file for bankruptcy by February.

Rumour has it that for annual passholders they will just implant a microchip. Problem solved.

Surely they could do this with some sort of self-service kiosk. If I can go through immigration via a self-service terminal how hard can it be to have a machine that scans your voucher, takes a photo and prints out a card?

I watch a variety of shows but COMMUNITY is my current favourite. Got to visit the set last time I was in LA and spent the rest of the week grinning like an idiot.

Most of the banks in Australia (including the one I work for) have rolled out RFID-enabled credit cards over the past few years (no PIN required for anything under $100). Probably 80% of stores now have the terminals in place to process 'contactless' payments, and the rate of fraud is significantly lower than that of the old magnetic stripe cards (those could be 'skimmed' and copied, whereas RFID-enabled cards cannot). Due to various security protocols they are pretty much impossible to duplicate and even if someone was able to 'copy' the RFID signal they wouldn't be able to do anything with it. TL,DR: unless someone steals your wristband (something you'd definitely notice happening) then the risk of fraud is almost nonexistent. I think the Disney system is great - as a foreigner I hope there is an option to load up your wristband using cash, as the transaction fees can add up quickly!

Sounds like the park should have been better organised, but season passes have been on sale for what, four months now? That's plenty of time to go get one processed - if you wait until the very last day then long lines are almost a given. That said, this is only a problem because SFMM said 'process by XX date to get the gold upgrade for free'. If they'd told people they had to purchase their season pass (i.e. give them the money) before the 6th everyone could have just done that online and processed the pass whenever. Problem solved, right?

There used to be a woodie (the "Mad Mouse") at the Melbourne Showgrounds, only open for the two weeks of the Melbourne Show each year. Had two-person cars and from memory was quite a wild ride. It was removed in 2003, but the Wild Mouse at Sydney's Luna Park is the same layout (not sure about the cars).

GCI Pie or cake?