arby

No worries at all. I don't easily get offended. I only asked because right before that I posted some not-so-great pictures from a night trip to IOA. I almost put a disclaimer on them but didn't... then I saw your rant.

^&^^ To be specific, here.

^I hope it wasn't my recent IOA TechEd pics I took at night. I know they weren't the greatest but I didn't take my good camera with me. Any editing I'd do to them would make them look worse.

At the end of July, the Carowinds Windseeker stranded people for more than an hour. You are correct, though, that it wasn't 'hours'. Source.

That is correct. Smoking marijuana in Colorado is allowed as long as it isn't done 'openly or publicly'. Based on that alone I wouldn't see it being allowed in most parks and even if it was, they would have to setup a 'non open or non public' area to comply with state laws.

I was there also. Did you happen to write a TR? I'd love to read it. The good thing was that everything was open and they were letting anybody ride Pteranodon Flyers so I was able to pick up that credit. The bad news was that it was really busy so instead of riding many things, I ate and drank my way around the park a few times. Here's some pictures that I took from that night: I guess Microsoft sold these stilts to SFMM after the party. They had a live band that was playing good music on the waterfront at the Port of Entry. There were tables let up where you could set your food/drink to enjoy the entertainment. All the restaurants had these lit signs setup so you knew what they were offering inside. Most restaurants weren't serving their full menu and they had other things as well. For example, the Diner had a huge sub setup inside as well as some of the normal items you can get there. All over the park there were tables setup with drinks or food like Prime Rib, fresh pasta, etc. How would you like to swim out to the middle of the lagoon to place these big balls? There were some obnoxious idiots there. This is inside the Hulk queue. I liked the projected image on the side of Jurrasic Park River Adventure. They had a dessert table inside of Mythos. I had one of ea.... OK. I had two of each. You'll never guess who is hosting this party... Another live band inside Circus McGurkus Cafe. One of the few times you'll probably see a bar setup in Seuss Landing. These drummers were good and this wraps up a quick look inside TechEd 2012 closing party at IOA.

It was great to get a look inside of Sally Corp! I almost love dark rides as much as I love coasters.

LOL! I had no idea what you meant by sea lion brakes. There's truth in that comment if you watch the whole video. I also couldn't tell if that was pain, pleasure, or a combination of the two coming from the lady sitting in the front seat.

Not to sound like a douche, but have you any idea how much a B&M coaster costs in maintenance? Believe me it ain't cheap! The big advantage with a B&M coaster is their reliability. Truth. The GM of Carowinds mentioned in a Q&A session that a year's supply of new wheels for the three Intimidator trains is around $40k.

Finally got new wiper blades for the RV. You won't believe how difficult that was. If I hadn't driven up there to pick them up, they still would have shipped me the wrong ones. I guess the fifth time is the charm. Now I finally have a vendor/part number to reference in the future.

I completely agree with this. We're all fortunate right now that there is a major boom in the amusement industry so there are major improvements going on at parks across the country (and probably around the world but I don't follow that much). Unfortunately most parks don't have a big backer like Comcast that can pump billions into their parks like Universal is getting so they are obviously near the top for improvements. Most of the other parks are making smaller, steady improvements.

Yeah, this area was a bottleneck the last time we were there. This looks like a great improvement and it should help crowds flow through the area better.

I would love to see this project quietly go away. While I am a fan of Jesus, I am not a fan of Answers in Genesis.

It was smart of SW to wait to bring this up until after things settled down. Actually SW has handled this whole situation brilliantly by pacing their reactions to get this behind them once and for all.

I've looked at Amusement Today but it was always too much for my budget as a mere enthusiast. While I was looking at their subscriptions a couple of years ago, I found the 'Extra! Extra! Your Desktop Edition' in the right column. It is a daily email (M-F) with some news articles compiled about the amusement industry. They are usually a day behind but it is free. Just another idea so share.

So we have started watching Under the Gunn thanks to your recommendations. I'll have to admit that I like it and can now be added to my list of guilty pleasures.

I noticed that it started recording on our DVR last night. Unfortunately we were catching up on another series but we'll be watching it this weekend. Hopefully we can stay on top of it this season and not get 4 weeks behind like we did with blood vs. water.

People complain because they feel entitled. If you look at the new pricing, though, and compare Universal to Disney, it makes for an interesting topic. We like to take long weekends and go places, Universal being one of them. Primarily because the 2 day 2-park passes were reasonable at $167. Disney 2 day 2-park passes are $210. That 25% difference or so was the bulk of the rest of our trip budget so Universal would get our money. Jumping to $195 for that 2-day pass seems steep to me and I'm curious to see how it will pan out for Universal. When we have a long weekend and go to Orlando, we're more inclined to head over to Disney now that pricing is less of the deciding factor. My family and I both love Universal and Disney so either way is a win for us.

^I usually play on my Droid 7" tablet so I can see better. I just upgraded my iOS from 7.0.4 to 7.0.6 and I'm not having any issues running the game.

Wow, that's quite a jump on the 2-day park tickets! That's what we usually buy so I guess they're trying to convince us we should stay 3 or 4 days.

If that happened, then CNN would do a documentary about it (Blackmammal) and we'd have to listen to all the protests about it for 3-6 months. Maybe we can stick to steel and wood?

I'm blown away! (I couldn't resist) I really love the restoration work you did. Like Larry, I don't do any myself but enjoy watching the process.

People not smoking in designated areas as well as parks not enforcing it is a pet peeve of mine. I am fine with designated smoking areas although I'm not always thrilled with their placement. As a former smoker, I absolutely hate the smell of cigarette smoke so I would prefer if they went away but I also understand with theme parks being primarily outdoor activities it's not as big of a deal. Thankfully most places don't allow indoor smoking anymore. Even when I smoked, we chose non-smoking areas and I'd go outside if I wanted a smoke.

Just because I can't resist... lmgtfy.com/?q=dole+whip Back to the real topic - this is coming along nicely! It seems like a great addition to Vegas.

Thanks for the TR. We skipped Universal during our last trip to SoCal but hope to hit it up next time. There should be more that interests us by then.