rcdude

Looks like there is already a winter sports thread. Good thing I checked before I started one. Anyway, I ski, but not frequently enough to get a season pass to anywhere, especially since I like to visit several different areas once or twice instead of the same area many times. I usually ski about 10 days a year, consisting of day trips to local Southern California ski areas and one or two longer ski trips. However, I haven't visited anywhere outside of California or Nevada yet. As far as ability level goes, I can ski most single black diamonds and some double black diamonds, but haven't ever attempted anything more challenging than Cornice Bowl at Mammoth Mountain. I generally like to ski upper-level blue/lower level single black runs best. So far, I have skied at: So Cal: Bear Mountain Resort Mountain High Resort Mt. Baldy Mt. Waterman Ski Area Snow Summit Mountain Resort Snow Valley Ski Resort Central California: Bear Valley Mountain Resort June Mountain Mammoth Mountain Sierra Summit Mountain Resort Lake Tahoe: Alpine Meadows Ski Resort Heavenly Ski Resort Kirkwood Northstar-At-Tahoe Squaw Valley USA This year, I will be visiting three or four new resorts when I go to Lake Tahoe in March (Homewood Mountain Resort, Sierra-At-Tahoe, Sugar Bowl Resort, and maybe Diamond Peak or Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe).

As you said, some of the characters fit in with the ride pretty well. However, in my opinion, some of them are just there because of their popularity. The problem I have is witht he characters that are either too obvious or are overly cartoony. Specifically, I disliked Alice & the White Rabbit, Pinocchio, Marlin & Dory, Lilo & Stitch, and Jessie & Woody. Most of the others I really didn't mind, as they fit in well with the existing characters in the ride. Maybe it is also partly because of how many times I've gone on that ride before and now it just feels different. I'm sure I'll probably get used to it in time if I ride the ride enough. The other thing I had a problem with was the new North America room. It just didn't seem to have the quality level of the rest of the rooms in the ride, and, as my brother said, looked kind of tacky. I think the rainforest was a much more interesting scene for that room, and I liked the holiday version with the transition section. I guess I'll just have to either stop riding the ride or get used to the changes. Hope you have a good day despite the crowds. I wish Fantasmic had been playing the day I was there but unfortunately it wasn't. My friend said that Murphy is awesome so I'll have to make sure it is playing next time I visit.

Disneyland is the happiest place on Earth. It is one of my home parks. It is my favorite park in California. However, it is also a park a rarely visit. Due to the ticket price, I can only afford to go once a year at most. For the past several years, my visits have been with the Aliso Niguel High School Orchestra when they performed as part of the Community Arts Showcase program Disneyland does, as I was a member of it for all four years of high school. Now that I am in college, I decided to visit on the day the orchestra was performing and finally spend a regular day at Disneyland. My mom, brother, and sister decided to come along as well. We left home at 8:45 and, due to a surprising lack of traffic, arrived at the parking garage at 9:20. By the time we got to the ticket plaza, it was 9:45. While my mom bought tickets, one of my friends showed up. He has an annual pass and decided to accompany me for part of the day, but didn't know exactly how long he would be staying. We entered the park and got a locker on Main Street USA. After stashing our jackets, we got in position for the rope drop. At 10:00, the rope dropped and we headed to Fantasyland. After walking through the castle, we headed to the first planned ride, Alice in Wonderland. Alice in Wonderland-This is my favorite Fantasyland dark ride, mainly because it is the only two-level dark ride in the park and I like Alice in Wonderland. I haven't ridden the ride for several years, but since the line was only 20 minutes we decided to ride. It was pretty good, but I think that a couple of the effects were turned off. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed the ride and really hope they don't change it after the new movie is released in March. Matterhorn Bobsleds-The world's first tubular steel coaster is fifty years old this year. We decided to ride the Tomorrowland side, as it is the more thrilling of the two. I personally prefer the Fantasyland side, but it was a good ride regardless. This is actually third out of four Disneyland coasters for me, but it is still definitely worth a ride. Also, it is probably the only Disneyland coaster that would still be exciting without the mountain. It's A Small World Holiday-It's a Small World has been one of my favorite Disney rides for years. Even though the song really gets stuck in your head, I still enjoy the ride. However, I was very disappointed by the ride this time around. I hadn't been on it since the Disney characters were added, and I have to say that they ruined the ride for me. Whoever decided to do it, please answer the following question: Why? It used to be a must ride for me, but now it is an "only ride if you can get on the next boat" ride. Even the holiday version, which I like better than the regular one, probably won't be experienced by me unless the line is under 15 minutes. Everyone in my group decided that the only way to make this ride worse would be to add Mickey at the end of the ride. Oh, by the way, the North America room also looked pretty tacky and is nowhere near the quality of the other rooms in the ride. Roger Rabbit's Car-Toon Spin-I like this ride a lot, simply because you can spin the cars. This adds an unusual element to the ride, and makes a normally storyless dark ride interesting. However, it also helps that the ride rarely has a wait longer than 10 minutes, because the line crawls when the ride has one. Gadget's Go Coaster-This is my least favorite roller coaster at Disneyland, but since we were in the area and there was only a three train wait we decided to ride it anyway. It is a really good ride for pretty much everybody, since it isn't totally boring for adults yet isn't large enough to scare kids either. If Six Flags Magic Mountain gets one of these next year, it should be a perfect fit for the park. However, one thing SFMM won't see (other than the theming) is the dispatch interval. The ride is only 44 seconds long yet the train was only in the station for a little over 30 seconds on most dispatches. I will be surprised if SFMM can get an average dispatch interval of below 75 seconds. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride-I'm not sure if this is or not, but to me it feels like the longest Fantasyland dark ride after Alice in Wonderland. It also seems to go a little faster than the others. Either way, this is a fun ride and was worth the ten minutes I waited for it. I try to ride this ride every time I visit because it is the only ride I have ever been evacuated from (so far, at least that I can remember). This is probably the only ride where it is a good thing if the ride "went to hell." Peter Pan's Flight-This is my brother's favorite Fantasyland dark ride, so we made sure to get on it. The sign out front said 30 minutes, but it really only took about 20. At least we were entertained for a brief period as the Disneyland Marching Band passed by. Anyway, I like this ride, but I think it is a bit too short. It also spends way too much time flying over London and then Neverland, and not enough time in the room with the animatronics. However, I'm not opposed to riding as long as the line isn't too long. Since it's usually longer than I like to wait, I rarely ride this ride. When we got off Peter Pan's Flight, we found that the Disneyland Marching Band was on the King Arthur Carrousel. We watched as they rode around while playing the William Tell Overture. I'd never seen anything like this and it has to be one of the coolest musical performances I've seen. It was interesting how they would fade in and out as they went around, and watching the conductor stand there and conduct as if nothing unusual was happening was also interesting. Once the ride stopped, we headed over to Pinocchio's Daring Journey. Pinocchio's Daring Journey-Even though this is one of the lower quality Fantasyland dark rides, it is still a classic ride and is worth riding. I've tried to ride it on my past few visits because I've heard rumors that it may be leaving the park soon. I really hope they aren't true as I 'd rather see Snow White's Scary Adventures leave than this. Oh well, at least I rode it one more time before it disappears, if it indeed does. After Pinocchio's Daring Journey, we headed over to the Plaza Garden stage just as the Aliso Niguel High School Orchestra was tuning. Their performance was scheduled for 12:30, and it began right on time. This is the first time I've actually listened to the orchestra perform, and they really sounded great. I recognized a couple of the pieces, and even remembered playing one of them. After the twenty minute performance, we headed to the Refreshment Corner to get lunch (hot dogs). It was pretty good, and wasn't too expensive. After lunch, we stopped by the locker to retrieve my friend's jacket since he said he would probably be leaving within the next couple of hours, then went over to Disney's California Adventure. Once inside, we stopped at the restroom then headed for Paradise Pier and got in line for Toy Story Midway Mania at about 1:30. Toy Story Midway Mania-Since I hadn't been to Disney's California Adventure since 2005, I'd never been on this before. However, I had heard reviews saying it was really good, despite it looking very average from the videos I'd seen. I was slightly skeptical as to whether the 25 minute wait would be worth it. It definitely was. This is the best shooting dark ride I've been on, and it is definitely a must ride for everyone visiting Disney's California Adventure. I ended up coming in third place out of our party of five, but that was partly because my brother's shooter was broken. My sister and friend had never been on the ride before either, and they both enjoyed it. I would have liked to have gone again, but unfortunately time didn't permit it. California Screamin'-This is my favorite ride at Disney's California Adventure, and is one of my top ten coasters overall. The ride is great, and really has everything you could want in a roller coaster. It is long, has a launch, a couple big drops, a loop, and even some mild airtime. Luckily, we only had to wait ten minutes for this ride, and it was definitely worth it. After California Screamin', it was about 2:30 so my friend decided he better get going. He had a bit of schoolwork to do, and his shift started at 5:30, so he wanted to beat the traffic. We all said goodbye to him, then headed to Mickey's Fun Wheel. Mickey's Fun Wheel-I've never been a fan of the Sun Wheel, and I like it even less now. The color scheme isn't bad, but the giant Mickey head looks completely ugly and the safety recording really gets on your nerves. We only decided to ride this because it was unique and had a 5 minute wait, a rare case for this ride. Maliboomer-This is my least favorite S&S ride for two reasons: 1. I don't find Space Shots to be that thrilling, and this is the shortest one I've been on, and 2. The scream shields are very, very annoying. It is worth a ten minute wait, especially since it may be leaving in the near future, but it isn't worth more than that. After we rode Maliboomer, my mom decided to go back to Disneyland and get my jacket, as well as hers (my brother and sister had retrieved theirs earlier). We decided to meet her at Soarin' Over California in a half hour. While she was gone, we did two more rides. Mulholland Madness-This is my least favorite wild mouse, but is still a fun ride when the wait is only 10 minutes. The restraints in the cars are much better now that there are individual lapbars versus a shared lapbar. The ride was okay, but nothing special. However, it was kind of fun riding next to a single rider who was obviously not a roller coaster person. I'm glad she ended up enjoying the ride. Grizzly River Run-This is my favorite river rapids ride, but since it was only 60 degrees out almost nobody was riding it. We were the only people in line without ponchos. It probably would have helped if we had them, since my sister and I got soaked after going down the first drop backwards. Nevertheless, it was a fun ride and one I'll be looking forward to next time I visit the park. We met my mom at the entrance to Soarin' Over California a few minutes later. She wasn't very happy that my brother and sister hadn't removed their jackets before riding Grizzly River Run, as my sister was shivering from the cold. We got into the Soarin' Over California building as quickly as possible. Soarin' Over California-This is the best motion simulator ride I have been on. It really feels like you are flying over California's landscape, and the music and smells sync up perfectly with the video projection. The only thing I don't like about the ride is the inclusion of Tinkerbell, but that can be overlooked since it is such a small part of the ride. Unfortunately, this was the longest wait of the day since they were only running one side. At least it was only a half hour. After Soarin' Over California, my mom decided to buy a jacket for my sister since she was freezing cold. Sixty dollars later, my sister had a new jacket that said "Grumpy" on it. Ironically, that fits my sister's personality pretty well. We headed over to Hollywood Pictures Backlot next to do the two rides in that area of the park. Monsters, Inc. Mike and Sulley to the Rescue-It is slightly irritating when there is nobody in line for a ride except for the large group directly in front of you, and they are moving slowly through a line due to their size. This was the case with Monsters, Inc. I'd never been on the ride before, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. While the ride wasn't great, it wasn't terrible either. However, this ride probably did the best job of telling the story of the movie out of all the Disneyland Resort dark rides. Still, I wouldn't wait more than 10 or 15 minutes for it on a future visit. Twilight Zone Tower of Terror-This may be the "bad tower," but it is still my favorite drop ride. The preshow is really well done, and the entire ride is just so much more than a normal drop tower. Even though the drops are controlled, you still fall farther total than on any other drop ride I've experienced, just not all at once. The portion where it moves up about three-quarters of the way, then freefalls back down is also better than any part of Maliboomer. In addition, this ride seems to have the best operators. Ours seemed to play the part perfectly, upon dispatch asking "questions? Comments? Concerns?" just as the doors closed and asking upon return "Is anything wrong? I thought I heard some screaming." After the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, my mom headed back over to Disneyland. My brother, sister, and I decided to ride California Screamin' one more time before heading back. Since we waited for the front row, the line took about twice as long as it did earlier. After riding, we headed back to Disneyland and entered at 5:40, just as the parade was ending. We were forced to follow the crowd up Main Street USA behind the final float of the parade. Due to a shortcut, we were still able to beat the crowds to Space Mountain. Space Mountain-Only Disney can take what would be a mediocre roller coaster and turn it into a top five ride. I really like this roller coaster, and it is my favorite ride at the Disneyland Resort. Unlike the other dark coasters I've been on, this one isn't ultra-short or very pointless. When we got in line, the sign said 15 minutes but the line didn't actually start until we reached the balcony in the loading room, which is more like a 5 minute wait. It's a good thing we got here so quickly since the line was visible on the outside deck from the ground when we got off. As usual, the ride was outstanding. After Space Mountain, we met my mom who wanted to get dinner. We were going to go to Redd Rocket's Pizza Port, but it was closed for some reason. Instead, we decided to go to Tomorrowland Terrace. Due to the parade crowds, there was a line, so my brother and I rode Star Tours while my mom ordered dinner. Star Tours-I like this ride a lot, but I believe it is definitely time for an upgrade. Even after the parade crowd reached Tomorrowland, this ride still only had a five minute wait. This ride was the last time I will ever let Captain Rex attempt to take me to Endor, since next time I visit the park this ride will either be closed or will be Star Tours II. After Star Tours, my brother and I returned to the Tomorrowland Terrace just as my mom was ordering food. We found a table and within a couple minutes my mom showed up. We had dinner, which consisted or mediocre burgers and subpar chicken. After dinner, we went to Adventureland and got Dole Whips, which were much better than the dinner. Unfortunately, I had to toss about a third of mine in line for the Indiana Jones Adventure. Indiana Jones Adventure-This is one of my favorite dark rides, and is usually a very popular ride, so I was surprised to find a 10 minute wait. Unfortunately, this meant I had to toss about a third of my Dole Whip. Oh, well. The ride was great as usual, and I think they put in a new Indy at the Gates of Doom since the last time I rode. He was in a different position than I remember him being in before. Maybe my memory's just bad, but I really don't know. The only problem was that the smokescreen wasn't working, but other than that everything was working great. Pirates of the Caribbean-This is my favorite water dark ride. It is a fun ride, and rarely has much of a wait. Unlike It's A Small World, I actually like the changes that have been made to this ride. The Davy Jones effect in particular is one of the best effects on any of Disney's dark rides. Unfortunately, they removed the hairy leg pirate. Hopefully he's just being refurbished, but if he's gone for good it's no major loss. Haunted Mansion Holiday-Haunted Mansion Holiday is my all time favorite dark ride. It is, in my opinion, significantly better than the regular Haunted Mansion, and draws much larger crowds. However, when we arrived, we went straight into the stretch room, and then straight into a doom buggy. As usual, with most of Disney's rides, this one was a really great ride. This is probably the only ride where I actually know every single line the narrator speaks during the ride. Splash Mountain-There was nobody in line for this ride. We walked up to the loading station and got our own boat. This meant my brother was in front, followed by two empty seats and then me, my sister, and my mom. Naturally, my brother got soaked while the rest of us remained relatively dry. The ride was excellent except for one minor issue which scared my mother. On the final lift hill, the log stopped about half way up for about 1 second. My mom thought we were going to slip backward, but I'm pretty sure this is normally what happens if two logs are too close together. Also, I don't think she realized there are anti-rollbacks on log flumes too. After Splash Mountain, my mom and sister decided to go shopping, watch the fireworks, and empty the locker while my brother and I did a couple more rides. They headed off to Main Street USA while my brother and I headed to Frontierland. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad-This is my second favorite roller coaster at the park. I was surprised to find a 20 minute wait for the ride when we got there at 8:25. However, the wait must have been slightly shorter since the fireworks began just as we crested the second lift hill (the show was scheduled to begin at 8:40). This made the second third of the ride a little different because you would come around a corner and have a firework explode in your face. The ride was worth the wait, as this is definitely a better night ride than day ride. After Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, we ran (via Fantasyland) to Space Mountain. It had a little longer wait than it did earlier, so we just barely missed Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters, which was the only other ride I really wanted to ride that day. We met my mom and sister at the end of Main Street USA. After using the restroom, we left the park. Due to a wait for the tram, we got back to the parking lot at about 9:45 and returned home at 10:20. Overall, this was one of the best days I've had at the Disneyland Resort in the past few years. I haven't been able to visit Disney's California Adventure since we last had annual passes in 2005, and when I've gone with the ANHS Orchestra my friends would usually just want to do thrill rides. That is no what Disney is about, and with the exception of the mountains and Indiana Jones, there isn't really anything in the park that could be considered a thrill ride. On the other hand, I like to ride everything I can at the park, including the dark rides and other classic Disney attractions in addition to the thrill rides. Sadly, I do not know how long it will be before I will return to the park. It is just too expensive to go for one day, and I can't afford to get an annual pass when I've got a TPR trip to pay for and am currently unemployed. Even if I could afford a pass, my school schedule next semester will be five days a week, so I doubt I would get full use out of my pass, and I would have to pay for parking every time I visited as well. Currently, I do not plan to visit the park again until 2011 at least, and will probably wait until Cars Land opens in 2012. I am glad, at least, that my final visit to Disneyland this decade was a very good and uncrowded day.

Age: 18 Middle Name: James Pet Peeve: People who complain about something because of one minor detail Colour of Bathroom: White Best Movie of ALL time: Lord of the Rings trilogy Best Song of ALL time: There are too many good songs in completely different genres to pick one Best TV Shows: I don't watch much TV but...educational: Mythbusters; entertainment: Survivor Favourite Band/Artist: Green Day Favourite Ride at a Disney Park: Disneyland: Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Indiana Jones Adventure, Pirates of the Caribbean; Disney's California Adventure: California Screamin' Yummiest Ice Cream Flavour: Chocolate Mint If You Could Eat Lunch with just 1 Person: George Lucas Morning Person/Night Person: Night Person Pets: A dog and a few fish Where would you go for fun (Not an Amusement Park): Winter: Ski Resort; Summer: Movies Coke or Pepsi: Coca-Cola Opinion about Peanut Butter and Jelly: I'm not a fan Best Vacation Spot: National Park in the mountains Cook or Go Out: Go out Beach, Desert, or Mountains: See above

I've still got one more park of 2009 left (SFMM on December 20th). Next year, I'll probably visit Knott's Berry Farm and Six Flags Magic Mountain at some point. The Disneyland Resort is also a possibility, but I really don't know what I'll end up doing. The only non-local parks I'll be visiting (currently planned, at least) are the parks on the IntimidaTour, none of which I've been to before.

I just did the steel poll. This will probably be the last year I rank them all individually because my steel count will be over a hundred after the IntimidaTour (it's currently at 80-something). Top 10: 1. Maverick 2. Tatsu 3. Space Mountain 4. Top Thrill Dragster 5. Xcelerator 6. X2 7. California Screamin' 8. Millennium Force 9. Goliath 10. Riddler's Revenge Bottom 5 (1 is worst): 1. Favorite Windstorm (Windstorm at Fun Forest Amusement Park) 2. Canyon Blaster (Adventuredome) 3. Desperado 4. Screamer 5. Santa Monica West Coaster

I've still got a couple more parks for this year, so I really have no clue. However, it will most likely be either Six Flags Magic Mountain (if I go to West Coast Bash) or Knott's Berry Farm (if Xcelerator opens). Therefore, my first coaster will be one of the following: Terminator Salvation: The Ride, Tatsu, X2, Xcelerator, or GhostRider.

Most Vekoma coasters in my experience are cool the first time around, but after that are either uninteresting or painful. Space Mountain seems to be the only exception to this rule. I have yet to find a small coaster (less than 30 ft tall and 1000 ft long) that is fun for more than one circuit. Most aren't that great to start with, but none of them are fun to ride more than once. For a specific coaster, I would say Pony Express. The first time I rode, I thought it was cool because it was different. However, every other time I've gone on it I thought it was tame, short, and slightly uncomfortable.

Just sent in my ballot. Since I've only been on 9 wooden coasters I voted: 1. Terminator Salvation: The Ride 2. Ghostrider 3. Roar 4. Colossus 5. Blue Streak 6. Mean Streak 7. Grizzly 8. Giant Dipper (SCBB) 9. Giant Dipper (BP)

Every time I see more pictures of this ride, I just want to ride it more and more. I've never been on a B&M mega coaster, but this looks like one of the best. Only ten months until the IntimidaTour.

I don't remember any lower milestones but I do know that #100 was Speed-The Ride at the Nascar Cafe in Las Vegas.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disneyland. That is a great ride, especially for families, and is probably the highest capacity roller coaster at Disneyland since it never seems like it has much of a wait. As far as thrill coasters go, based on what I've been on I would have to say Montezooma's Revenge, although Gemini comes in as a very close second.

Yes, it was a great day. I knew about the GhostRider rehab but not how much they had done to the ride. It certainly felt like most of the rough sections were retracked. I'm sorry it was difficult to read and that you had to take the time to fix it, but thank you for doing so. I didn't know how to make bold or underlined text, and since I haven't had anyone complain about my other text-based trip reports I figured the way I was doing it was fine. I hope to get a digital camera this Christmas so I can start posting photo trip reports instead of a ton of text very few people read. Yep, that's him. Rollerman87 rings a bell, as I remember him telling me that when I ran into him in March. He is a great ride operator and is so far the only person I've met at a park to start a conversation with me because I was wearing my old ACE shirt (other than a couple random ACE members I ditched after a few minutes).

Every November, Knott's Berry Farm has a promotion for veterans. Usually, the veteran plus one other person get in for free, and up to six additional tickets can be purchased for only $15 each. Since my grandfather and stepfather are both veterans, this means that nine of us (grandmother, grandfather, mother, stepfather, aunt, uncle, brother, sister, and I) can all get in for only $75, just over what it costs one person to go to Disneyland for a day. We have gone every year for the past nine years (possibly more) because it is the best deal for any amusement park around. We got to the park at 9:45 to find three ticket booths open and only a few people in line at each one. Since it was the last night of Halloween Haunt, the park closed at 5:30, meaning it was empty all day. I don't think we waited more than ten minutes for anything. Once we had tickets we went inside and headed for GhostRider. GhostRider-Despite its roughness, Ghostrider is still my second favorite wooden roller coaster after Terminator. The ride is long, exciting, and has several spots of airtime. I rode this ride twice, once in car five and once in the front seat. Both times, the ride seemed smoother than it has in previous years. I wonder if Cedar Fair has decided to take care of the ride and is working on a retracking project. Except for the turn following the drop off the mid-course brakes, the roughness was completely tolerable. Not nearly as smooth as the ride was in 2002, but probably the best rides I've had on it since 2004-2005 or so. However, both my uncle and my stepfather said they won't be riding it again. Sierra Sidewinder-I think this is a good family roller coaster, but it is just too short. The ride isn't worth much more than a ten or fifteen minute wait, but it is a unique ride that should be experienced at least once. I rode in the front car and it spun quite a bit, but not enough to make me or my grandmother dizzy. I always enjoy watching the videos my brother and sister make on this ride, because they are usually goofy (this time around, they pretended to be involved in a fistfight with the camera). Silver Bullet-Since Xcelerator was closed, this was the best operating roller coaster. I think it is a good inverted coaster, but not one of the best. Out of the four B&M inverted coasters I've been on, this comes in third. In my opinion, the only things it is lacking are a good first drop and more forceful inversions. My favorite inverted coaster, Raptor, is very similar to what I imagine Silver Bullet would be like with these two things added. Nevertheless, I rode twice since there was no wait anywhere but the front row. Log Ride-This is the best log flume I have been on (Splash Mountain excluded). The ride is one of the few classic Knott's attractions that Cedar Fair hasn't yet removed or altered negatively. I rode the ride twice, and on the second ride the wait was slightly longer but still only about five minutes. Definitely a must ride for any Knott's visitor. Bigfoot Rapids-While the Log Ride is one of my favorite log flumes, this is one of my least favorite river rapids rides. It seems to be a little on the short side and doesn't tend to get riders very wet. Of course, after telling everyone that I got fairly wet, but not completely soaked. The layout also is uninteresting, consisting of a couple switchbacks with rapids placed at random intervals. Worth a ride if there isn't much of a wait, but otherwise it can be skipped. Pony Express-I have never been very impressed with this ride. It is incredibly short, moderately uncomfortable, and has a very boring figure-eight layout. Despite this, we still rode, and it ended up having a ten minute wait (longest of the day). Fun to do once, but not something to bother with if there is a significant wait. Boomerang-This is my least favorite roller coaster in California and I still ride it every time I visit the park if there isn't much of a wait. Today there was a two train wait and I was waiting for a different ride to open, so I decided to ride it. The ride is very rough and has a lot of headbanging, but it isn't as bad as the Windjammer Surf Racers the park used to have. I've heard this is one of the rougher boomerangs, but I haven't been on any others so I have no reference frame. That will change after the IntimidaTour next summer, but for now I'm stuck with this one. My brother thinks they should have kept the Corkscrew, even though neither him nor I got a chance to ride it. Perilous Plunge-This is a great water ride, but seemed to be having issues. It broke down early in the day, and also broke down while we were in line. If it hadn't, the wait would have only been about five minutes. However, it turned into fifteen. Either way, the ride was still fun and got me completely soaked. My aunt, uncle, and stepfather all decided to wear ponchos, and I laughed when the ride op said they had trash bags on. They certainly looked out of place (who wears a poncho on a water ride in 84 degree weather?) but they all enjoyed it as well. Supreme Scream-My favorite S&S tower, although the Power Tower comes very close. I only wish this ride still held you at the top like it used to, but now it can't wait more than three seconds before the drop. I'm pretty sure it used to wait at least twice as long. Oh well, it's still a great ride. Jaguar-This is an okay family coaster. It would be better if it was a little more exciting, but I know that's not what it was designed for. Always a fun ride, and can always be counted on to have no line. The cars are a little small, so adults should probably ride by themselves (especially ones on the larger side). Montezooma's Revenge-Despite being the oldest coaster in the park, this is one of the better ones. The launch is good, and the ride doesn't brake at all when going backward. A little outdated, but a lot of fun. Definitely a must ride, even if you've been on shuttle loops at other parks. Calico Mine Ride-This is another classic Knott's ride. It's fun when there isn't much of a wait, but not worth more than a ten minute wait when you've been on it a number of times. The ride is better without all the Halloween decorations, but it's still good if you need a break. Even though it isn't a roller coaster, many of my family members thought it came pretty close to being one. By the way, I talked briefly to another TPR member while in line. He was a ride operator named Will or William (had both name tags on), but I don't remember his username (if he even said what it was). Heard he got into some trouble on here, but he seemed like a pretty nice guy. Seemed familiar too, reminded me of someone operating Pony Express on a previous visit (back in March, I believe) who was using a funny voice over the microphone and made my group then crack up. Just wondering if anyone knows his username, and back on topic. Screamin' Swing-When this ride opened, I said I would never pay $5 to ride it. However, I decided to do so because it will be leaving very soon and I wanted to see how it compared to Skyhawk. Major letdown! Definitely not worth the price if you have been on a larger Screamin' Swing, and even if you haven't it is barely worth it to try once. Demon Drop will be a much better ride for the park than this, and I'd probably consider paying $5 for that if it was an upcharge (for some strange reason). Anyway, I heard this ride is closing in two weeks so it might get around a hundred more riders (at most) before it closes. Nobody seems to ride this thing, and the operator only had three tickets when we rode (around 4), so very few people like this apparently. For lunch, we went to Johnny Rocket's like we usually do. It is better than the food at Knott's other restaurants and only slightly more expensive (if at all), so it is worth it. Xcelerator and the rides containing a haunt maze were closed, but everything else was open and actually running two trains if possible (one boat on Perilous Plunge). Overall, it was a pretty good day at the park. We stayed until almost closing time, and got everything done we wanted to do. Unlike I've heard recently, mostly from West Coast Tour participants, I do not think Knott's is the worst park in California. It definitely isn't the best, but it isn't the worst either. However, the park is overpriced (without a discount) for what it has and is not the park the Knott's Family created. Cedar Fair has attempted to turn the park from a theme park into a coaster park, and Knott's really doesn't fit well into either category. It has nine roller coasters, but only a couple of which are great rides. It also has some theming, but not enough to create a complete environment. It is almost as if Knott's is attempting to compete with both Six Flags Magic Mountain and Disneyland, which is nearly impossible to do. At this point, I really think Cedar Fair should just give up on competing with Disneyland and turn the park into Orange County's Magic Mountain. It may not be what most people want, but if the park got a couple good coasters it will do better than if they add the world's best dark ride. It will destroy the park as the Knott's Family built it, but Cedar Fair has already done enough damage that it is irreversible and today's amusement park crowd just doesn't care for a themed attraction as long as it is a good and thrilling ride.

GhostRider in the front seat about three hours ago.

18/20. I think I qualify as a nerd.

X2 is definitely a must ride at Six Flags Magic Mountain. Although it isn't the best ride in the park (mainly due to roughness), it is unique and gives a good ride. The first two cars usually give the smoothest ride, especially in an inside seat, but be warned that when the park is crowded they sometimes assign seats. No matter where you sit, you will have an awesome ride. However, it can get long waits so you should go there first or save it for last. By the way, the park is about a four and a half hour drive from Las Vegas with no traffic. This is rarely the case, so if you plan to drive plan for six hours each way. It's up to you as to whether it is worth doing, but personally I would wait and visit the park when you're in Southern California for something. I've heard they are going to be getting a couple new coasters over the next few years, so that might be worth waiting for.

I gave it a try a couple months ago. After about two weeks, I abandoned the game because I didn't have enough time to manage four games (this, FarmVille, YoVille, and Restaurant City) along with schoolwork. Since I had made the most progress on FarmVille, I chose to stick with that one only. It is only fun for a maximum of about three weeks until you get bored of it. In comparison, I've been playing the RCT games since the year the first game came out and have never gotten bored of them.

The last planned park for me this year is Six Flags Magic Mountain on December 20th. Most likely it will be either Tatsu or Terminator Salvation, though X2 is always a possibility if the line isn't bad (never ridden it at night before).

My IntimidaTour deposit will be in the mail tomorrow morning. Hopefully it will be there by early next week. Only ten more months until my first Theme Park Review Trip.

^It also used to hold at the top for a longer period of time. The first time I rode, it waited for 7 seconds at the top of the tower. On my most recent ride, it was only one or two. I think the ride today has about three bounces before it just slowly lowers back down (will drop about five feet, bounce a foot, then drop another five feet, etc.). If I remember correctly (never rode with the original program, just watched other family members), it had about twice as many bounces before.

Demon Drop coming to Knott's? You sure? I thought they were done with thrill rides. No, really, I think it would be great if Knott's got Demon Drop. Anything is better than the Screamin' Swing assuming they don't make it an upcharge. Luckily, I can't imagine a ride like Demon Drop being an upcharge attraction. I rode the ride at Cedar Point last year and thought it was okay, but not worth more than a fifteen minute wait when compared to Cedar Point's other rides. However, at Knott's it would be better than most of the stuff there. Even though the park has Supreme Scream, Cedar Point had the Power Tower and both rides are completely different. Demon Drop is a complete freefall while an S&S tower is controlled and, in my opinion, not as good as any Intamin drop ride. Besides, Knott's is a little lacking in the "good thrill rides" department (I count five, maybe, not including the Screamin' Swing). Next, how about a new thrill coaster, such as an El Loco in Boomerang's spot? I guess I better pay the $5 to ride the Screamin' Swing when I go to Knott's on November 1st just so I can say I've rode it since I've never been on it before. I don't think I'll get another chance to ride it after that. It probably won't be worth it but you never know.

Best: Getting on all the coasters at Cedar Point (except Woodstock Express and Jr. Gemini) and a number of additional rides in one day. Worst: Waiting three hours in line for X2 at Magic Mountain then having it break down while in the station. I didn't even end up riding it but it was 1:30 by the time the rest of my group got off and we had been in line ten minutes after opening. Close second: Waiting two hours for Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point due to four rollbacks and a fifteen minute closure to transfer a fifth train onto the track. Not all bad however because listening to people betting if the next train would make it over was fun and the ride ended up being my second favorite coaster at Cedar Point (after Maverick).

When I went to California's Great America last year, on a weekday in July, the longest line all day (in the amusement park) was for Barney Oldfield Motor Speedway at about 20 minutes. Logger's Run and Invertigo had 10 minute waits and nothing else was more than 2-3 trains/cycles. However, everything in the water park had at least a 15 minute wait, so I guess everyone goes over there. I did a similar trip to this last year when visiting my cousins in the San Francisco area, so it's nice to see pictures of all the parks. I actually thought CGA was better than SFDK in everything but roller coasters, but I guess everyone has their own opinion. Maybe I'm just biased toward CGA since I got on nearly three times as many rides in one day (32 at CGA, 12 at SFDK, both parks open to close).

I can't remember if I've posted or not, but I would say (in no particular order): Best: California Screamin' Flight Deck Goliath Invertigo Riddler's Revenge Tatsu Terminator Salvation: The Ride Space Mountain X2 Xcelerator Worst: Boomerang (Knott's) Kong Pony Express