coasterlvr

looks like it. if you purchase now, the expiration date is 12/31/21 pretty awesome deal.

yeah, i'm curious if they will. i can understand if they don't because of the shorter operating seasons, but we'll see. first time i'm glad i'm a knott's platinum passholder.

i just deleted my post i was writing when i saw the email notification someone had commented. LOL yeah, i was going to just accept 2020 as a lost value season. but to get 2021 in it's entirety is pretty awesome.

here's an old knott's park map i have. seems to be from 1983. camp snoopy is being advertised and it opened in 1983. also, there's a sea world coupon good until may 31, 1983

Disneyland is adding the amount of days closed to annual passes too. but i'm not sure how it will all work out with the different passes and blackout dates. with knott's, personally i won't gain anything since they are on the calendar year passes. only if i didn't renew. but with a 200 dollar platinum pass, i don't really care.

no shocker here. since no one really knows what the future brings.

Theme Park Review was invited to a press preview for the exhibition Inside the Walt Disney Archives: 50 Years of Preserving the Magic It’s opening March 7th at the Bowers Museum, 2002 North Main Street, Santa Ana, California. 

Here are some of the numbers…

 3/7 The date the exhibition opens to the public 465 Items from the Archives on display in Inside the Walt Disney Archives
100 Age of the Archives’ oldest item, now on display at the Bowers: a megaphone Walt Disney used while making films in the 1920s
3 Cars on display in the exhibition 1,500 The number of dollars it cost in 1959 to create the “jewel”-encrusted Sleeping Beauty (1959) storybook cover (on view) 15 The number of feet tall the Baloo Puppet on view would be if stood straight up (on view) 2018 The year Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs was released (dog puppets Duke, Rex, Boss on view) 5 The number of production art pieces on view from Edward Scissorhands (1990) 12,000 The number of cels (like the Donald Duck cel on display in the exhibit) it used to take to make an eight-minute short 15 Original screen-worn costumes in the exhibit
1957The year the first commercially- released motion picture soundtrack, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, was released (on view) 
50 Pieces of original artwork in the exhibition 8/30 The date the exhibition closes 
There’s a lot of stuff, and I got to check it all out, and you should too. The day started off with a short ceremony and words by Bowers President & CEO, Peter Keller, then Michael Vargo, VP, Corporate Communications for The Walt Disney Company (and also head of D23) and finally, Becky Cline, Director of the Walt Disney Archives. A short song and dance by Mickey and Minnie Mouse, then, a ribbon cutting and the show opened! Throughout the stay of the exhibit, they will have lectures from various people related to the archives. There will also be some dining experiences you can do. ‘Eat Like Walk’ Dinner Celebration, Walt Disney Archives Tour& Tea Party, and Tea on the Terrace.

Also film screenings on special days, along with activities for the kids even including a summer camp.

 On to some pictures. There's a lot of stuff at the exhibit, here's just some pictures. I recommend checking it out in person. Ribbon Cutting Recreation of Walt Disney's desk. Captain REX Star Tours Dharma Initiative Computer from LOST Wilson

no, this is the error message i received when trying to get a second boarding group yesterday. i believe only the first week or something like that people were able to do that at Hollywood Studios, but never in California.

also, be aware that even though like 3/4 of the gates will be magic morning, they are still long lines to get in. you won't be able to stroll over at 7:30 and walk in. by 7:30, they flip the signs and magic morning entrance is over. so i'd get there early to benefit the most from it.

imo, sundays are better than mondays. Significantly? often noticeably, but it's still very crowded both days.

imo, sundays are better than mondays. but it's mostly packed every day. even this week, tues-thur didn't have the low of the previous two weeks. once 5pm comes around, locals pour into the parks. so do as much as you can early. if you can rope drop, even better. but i think you'll be in the middle of a lot of school's spring break. so expect massive crowds any of those days.

i didn't even realize gps had anything to do with it until i watched a video where the guy failed to get a boarding group because his location services was off. also, for anyone interested in my technique to getting a boarding group, here's what i've been doing. i've never done rope drop at disneyland until last friday. now i've done it every day since. i have locked on to this technique. the last 4 days i've gotten group 6, 6, 14 and today, 11. i start with the app open on the home page. i don't think it's super important, but i've been counting down the seconds on my watch. right at park opening, which has been either 8am or 9am, click "find out more". the next page will have "join boarding group". if it's already red, touch to join. or, touch, "my status". by this time on the next page, "join boarding group" should be highlighted and you can touch the button. it will then scan tickets, then allow you to hit the final button at the bottom of the page to join a boarding group. another second or so and you'll find out what your group is. i have opened up the app fresh at park opening and was able to snag group 47. imo, it takes too long and people around you will already be cheering. lol also, there's been many times that the app doesn't log you in immediately, which will just kill your chances at any decent boarding group. a few other things to note. make sure you only have who's in your group that day linked to your account. if you have others, you'll have to uncheck them after the app scans for tickets. this takes valuable time and you'll end up being pushed back. it's good to check by trying to make a fastpass before park opening. i've had friends who were in the park, but the app wasn't seeing them. see if you can find an area where you know your data works great. i have a spot where i have full bars and the connection works great doing anything. not easy to say around the disneyland resort. so, i haven't moved from this spot since i found it. anyway, just thought i'd post my personal tips that have worked excellent for me. obviously i'm not the only one in the early groups so there are other ways to get there, but this is mine. hope it helps someone.

one thing i wish they did was make sidewalks in front of the stores and food places. i think that would have sold the street look a lot more. some of the exit landscaping stuff would look great under the launches and high five.

cool, i had no idea where it was. did you enter through the back, or do you have to walk around then into the store?

also to add. i have no idea where the photo booth is going to be. it's not in the gift shop. i thought the exit was going to go into the store and it would be there, but there's no space for it. the exit also doesn't look like it's going to go thru it either. i don't think there's anymore to the building we can't see. i'm pretty sure the cameras are up by the 2nd and 4th launches. i also have no idea how the line will move. during rehearsals, like that's been said, it went down often. during the media event, they only unloaded/loaded the train occasionally for the new on camera people. some riders rode for hours without getting off. haha my guess is, overall capacity will be a little better than YOLO coaster.

I went to the West Coast Racers media day. We've finally made it! I got up way too early to make the commute to SFMM. Media day for use started just after sunrise. There was a lot of waiting around for all the TV stations' broadcasts. I'm in Las Vegas now and need to get home to check them all out since I recorded most all of them. haha. Anyway, after some time it was my turn to ride. I rode a few more times in different seats and I think at least for now, my favorite is the front row. It's too bad they cut out the reverse POV going into the "high five". That's probably the most violent part of the ride as your thrown into the comfort collars. The ride is loads of fun, and I'm sure to be a huge hit. Finally the 9th is upon us, and everyone will have their chance to experience West Coast Racers. Here's some pictures of the more refined "The Underground", and station. Front of the station all detailed up now. some West Coast Customs history. some West Coast Customs history. some West Coast Customs history. exit walkway area has some nice landscaping now. the store was closed but looks about done. some posters have been, well, posted! more posters Chicken Coop sign. not finished yet. inside muti-screen displays were on and working. theming

I don't think I posted these pictures before. I tried looking through my posts, but if i have, sorry. here's some random scans i have from when Superman was being built. plus a few other random shots from the sky tower.

so last time i went to Sea World was when Wild Arctic was new. that's sad. LOL i'll for sure head down when the dive coaster opens.

i also noticed the lack of interaction between the trains. it's weird because you are often side by side, but your focus isn't aimed at the other train. i think some fly by elements would have been really cool. i assume the on ride camera booth will be inside the gift shop which when i was there saturday, was empty besides one counter. i don't mind dumping out my sports bottle, i just wish there was a freestyle machine nearby like there is by justice league. when i was there early saturday, no one had a bottle, but i did see the sink and just thought it was theming. LOL what i do recommend is making sure your bottle has some clear identification. i saw in someone's video showing a bin with about 5-6 of the same bottles in a tub. i have no idea how you can make sure you have the correct bottle. i'd expect some taste testing when you may not even know. gross.

so there's some inside, and outside under a tarp on some lighting truss. i'm not sure if that's permanent or not. it was being held down by some straps and block weights and not bolted down. then, after the line filled that, it spilled out into portable sections of the queue. the overflow was definitely needed during the day. i saw it cleared out pretty good at night. yesterday and today it was pretty dead from what i've seen on social media. the coaster nerds were out in full force saturday. it doesn't seem like the inside and outside areas of the queue are that big. but now thinking about it, it's probably as big or bigger than Tatsu's queue line. the actual inside queue is still being worked on. i saw some visual upgrades today that cleaned up some parts that had me thinking what the plan was before. i'm excited to see the full finished product when it's complete.

at times, it's possible. a lot depends on your height and body shape as well. they aren't ever tight. you'd have to be really, really big for them to be tight. since they are a certain length without any adjustment, the can just flop around. i'd say little kids could have the worst problem with them. i've seen smaller kids with the sides of them right next to their head. can't be fun. since they are thin, and pretty hard, when getting hit with them, it can feel like someone karate chopped you to the neck. all that being said, it's not bad on this ride really. they are just more annoyingly in the way. getting in and out of them quickly takes some technique without hitting yourself too. lol from what i witnessed, it does seem like a faster alternative to checking seatbelts and lap bars on yolo coaster.

more or less. there's currently one monitor on the left side. Ryan from WCC greets you, and then walks away to check on progress of something and says he'll return, which i never saw him do. the screen is playing a brady bunch video of squares from some of the old west coast customs tv shows, pimp my ride, inside west coast customs, west coast customs, etc. the front row can't see the monitor at all unfortunately. there's sounds playing you'd here in a tire shop. also, some motor reving sound effects. i'm following #westcoastracers on instagram. i saw a post from someone who said they had just finished doing all the voice over for the ride. well, the only person talking yesterday, was that short clip from ryan. so i assume there's more to come that just isn't finished yet.

I had an early morning, and really cold, appointment with The Underground and the new for 2019/2020 West Coast Racers! Theme Park Review was invited for a special sneak peak to ride West Coast Racers before the Membership previews kicked off today. A number of coaster nerds congregated at the front gate early at 9am sharp. Any later, and you'd be left outside! Once inside, the great public relations person, Connie Lujan, escorted us back to The Underground. We made our way into the WCR queue, and waited for some test runs to finish then it was our turn to ride. Some of the West Coast Customs guys rode first, so when I got on, they would be our train's first race. We smoked them. lol So the ride is A LOT of FUN! Don't go expecting a crazy intense roller coaster. This ride is all about fun, imo. It's made to race 100% of the time. Sure, there's some extended waiting from time to time, but for the most part, it didn't seem too long. From what I could time, the waiting varied from about a minute to two minutes. I'm no fan of the comfort collars. But, they do seem faster to deal with than a seatbelt. I believe that was one of the reasons they are there and not seatbelts like YOLO coaster. There are also only 12 seats to check, helping out with quicker time to get the next race going. I got thrown around a bit in the seat in some of the elements, but i'd say the coaster is pretty smooth. The launch out of the station is very gradual. The 2nd and 4th launches feel a bit stronger. I slammed my head back into the seat on both of my rides. The interaction with the other train is very good in a few spots. Height requirement is 54". That's too bad because I think it would be a great coaster for those just joining the 48" height. Overall, I think this is going to be a big hit at the park, and have a solid queue line when it finally opens on January 9th. The whole area is looking great. New asphalt, lines mimicking a street. The newly painted buildings look excellent. Twin Charged Tacos had a good line coming out of the door all day selling tacos and some Holiday in the Park food. The candy store is all new. They completely gutted it and started out fresh, and it came out great. Nice and bright inside and fully stocked to satisfy your sweet tooth. The candy making side is still under construction and will open "soon". Now on to some pictures! The side of the station and where you enter through the door. Outside queue area Train returning from it's two races. Front of the station. More details and signage to come. The line got really long. Really like this picture frame. I have one of Outlaw Run that's similar in construction. The Underground! Technical Rehearsal aka don't bitch if it goes down now and then. Park President Neal not paying attention and texting. Dueling! Or is it racing? Can't fake that expression. Well, you probably can, but doubt they knew i was taking their picture. Ready to race!

whenever it's been a weekday, and forecast to rain consistently, even light, throughout the day, it seems they close. but on a weekend, it seems unless it's just raining cats and dogs, it stays open since it's busier. my guess is, unless it's really coming down, they may stay open next week because of the holiday break.