astroworldfan

R&E- Quick Update... Ok, it looks like I am going to be in LA area 12/22 & 12/23 by myself and then Allison and I both are coming back to LA 12/27 & 12/28. Let me know what your plans are on those days... Jerry

^ What about left side of Colossus and right side of Superman?

Are Deja Vu, and Psyclone running again?

Look again.. It looks like he is fighting an imminent bowel movement.

Cool! We don't have anything hammered down yet except for the flights. Is there anything that is a "Dont Miss" during holidays?

R&E, We are visiting some family in So Cal for the holidays. We would love to catch up you at one of the parks in the area.... Are you guys going to be in town Dec 20-31? Jerry

We are planning on Hitting all the big parks the long weekend of MLK Day? Any advice? Any little parks that are A MUST?

' I noticed that too

How are the 17 people doing? Any updates?

SLEEPING PILLS.. OR BETTER YET... Ativan..

Hey great pics and sounds like you had an awesome time. I wish I was there. Glad you saw Beer again. Elissa, I remember him from when we we on Canyon Blaster... unless SFMM has 2 ride ops named Beer.

Vegas has a proper theme park. In Fact, I was there two weeks ago. Adventuredome at Circus Circus. Dont forget about random coasters at Sahara and NY NY. And rides on Stratosphere. The whole town is kind of a giant theme park too.

Houston and NOT just cuz I live here. Its the 4th largest Metro area in USA. Never snows. AND we should still have one anyway... Thanks Mr. Burke.

And people said Astroworld was dirty? You are a brave man. Has anyone ever been to a worse park?

I think Silver Bullet at KBF and Great White at SWSA deserves some recognition...

Elissa taught me to ride this one "defensively" 2 big ouches on this ride. Almost lost my lower jaw..

Since they are not building new coasters... they wont have to steal any more parking space.... thats probably way down the line.... if ever.

Penny Pinching on Theme park article on MSN. Page 1~ http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Savinganddebt/Travelforless/P90675.asp Page 2~ http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Savinganddebt/Travelforless/P149455.asp ~~~ Things that you may not know.. 1 Airline deals update every wednesday (at least for USA) Your super deals are more likely to be available that day. Just notice what days you get "airline sale emails" 2 Hotels are very negotiable... if its empty. Places like Sandusky are always expensive when park is open.

Quite often I run acoss ways to save money on just about everything. I thought it would be great to have a place to share some of the deals that I find. Especially if its about theme parks or Traveling to theme parks. So If Robb and Elissa are ok with it, I will keep this as an ongoing post. When I find something new, I will let you know. ~~~~ If you find the info useful ... let me know..post here Also if you find something Post a link or "how to" here. ~~~~ Do you wanna know how to rent a car... cheap..? or negotiate a hotel room?? Go to lots of parks on low budget? Ask here too. Tons of other things too..

Astroworld's Togo Death Spinner Ultra Twister.... -RIP Astroworld -Jerry

If you are into rides--SFOT without question. If you want shows and a couple of rides... then SFFT. SFOT Titan is worth it all by itself Superman Tower of power ( I think) is still the tallest S&S tower. (excluding stratosphere) Texas Giant is actually better than the Rattler. The Rattler has become more like a "wee garter snake." Its VERY tame. BTR and MR. Freeze Totally rock. Judge Roy scream is good for airtime . AND they still have first gen Intamin Drop. Better/Faster/Nicer Ride ops at SFOT Hotel rooms are cheaper near sfot than near sfft SFFT Superan Krypton Coaster.... Great Ride... then youve got a decent arrow mine train. standard boomerang (a good boomerang.. if that is possible. ) Used to be much better woodie, Also poltergeist is very fun. (load/Reload time SUCKS) and a medium sized s&s tower. Lots of shows, and water rides. Great theming Free Water park. For me .... SFOT cuz I am coaster freak. -Jerry

Ok I can help here a bit... Go with the CARD that is cheapest for YOU. This typically depends on issuing company...Not whether its VISA or AMEX or MC. Find out what fees they charge for doing foreign currency conversion. I believe MBNA (who issues MC/Visa and AMEX now) does not charge a conversion fee at all. DOUBLE check this. You can do some Google searches on this topic. Some companies are less than others. The moral of that... Call the credit card company of each of the cards (take at least 2) that you are planning on using, and find out what the fees are going to be for YOU. You may need to be country specific too. Also find out how long it would take you to get a replacement if it were lost while in foreign land. ~~ Getting cash. HANDS DOWN BEST WAY TO DO THIS. Use your ATM Card. Be sure your bank card can be used internationally.. all the big banks like BOA and Wells are not an issue. This will be the cheapest fee you pay anywhere. The local bank will charge a fee and your bank will charge a non network fee. This should probably be less than $5. When you starting looking at cash currency exchanges.. the $5 is a bargain. The more $$ you get at once the lower % in fees you actually pay. The ATM fees are usually set by transaction. Currency is usually a % of the total transaction. That gets way costly. When you leave... Currency exchanges rarely, if ever, take coins. ~~ When I was in the Netherlands, and more so in UK. I got Id so I could use my credit card. And the waiter would give it back to me until after I had signed the slip. ~~ Suggestion, leave 1 credit card, some cash, Drivers license[if not driving], and Passport locked in safe at hotel. Take photo copy of passport for ID. ~~ I should note that when it comes to credit cards... that I think [hands down] than Amex is the best for service. However the above was looking at cost to you ~~ Hope that was helpful. Sorry if that was a review. Jerry EDIT: One more thing.. If you want to know what to do and not to do.. especially for morocco, buy a travel guide. I highly recommend Frommers if it is available.. Can be found at any bookstore. ok the second one other thing that i found to be helpful. Buy a map that of the place you are going that is in English (or your preferred language). In the netherlands, most speak english... so communicating is fine. However ALMOST EVERYTHING is writtien in Dutch. Worthless if you dont speak dutch. (The freebies in the hotel rooms are good, but small, and some times translations dont make since. )

European Money pre "Euro-Zone" like marks, francs, etc.

I am certain that they are counting on this being the case. Most people cannot tell te difference between and Arrow, B&M, or Vekoma. Same goes for Intamin Drop/S&S Tower. We just happen to be geeks. sixflagshouston.com has footage of Batman: The Escape. It was actually shockwave from SFMM.

Ultra Twister at SFAW. This is somewhat of a nostalgia thing for me... seeing as how it was the ONLY Togo at SFAW. Jerry