YoshiFan

After wanting to get to Dorney all season I finally had a chance today. We got to the park at about 12:30 to see the regular lot about 1/3 full. I thought that was a great sign since it looked like hardly anyone was there but the waterpark is closed for the season so everyone there was in the amusement side. Still, the crowds were not even an issue today. First stop of the day was Talon. Other than the front row, the ride was a walk on. It was my first time on the ride and after going on Great Bear last month, I was looking forward to trying another B&M invert. I liked the signs going up the lift hill but the drop was really great. I was surprised with the loop, it barely even felt like I was upside down. The rest of the inversions were great as well. I decided to get another ride since I figured with no line, I might as well. Next up was the train ride. They already started decorating for Halloween and along the sides of the train in the fields, there were plenty of skeletons, grave stones and other themeing. I walked by the Wild Mouse but the line looked to be 25 minutes or more so I skipped it. I was right at Hydra so I figured I would try it. Another walk on. This was my first floorless coaster and after hearing mixed opinions about the ride, I wasn't sure what to expect. The Jojo roll really felt strange. I was surprised at first to be falling out my seat and into the restraint. At first I didn't like it but it started to grow on me after a few rides. Overall, I thought the ride was good. It wasn't that forceful but I still enjoyed going through all the inversions and the cobra roll was so much smoother compared to the Vekoma boomerang cobra roll (which is the only other ride with a cobra roll I have been on). Like Talon, I decided to take a 2nd ride. I saw the Log Flume didn't have a long ride so I went to that next. I thought I was going to get soaked but luckily, the waterfall that you go under turned off right as the log when under it so I didn't get horribly soaked. I saw the Whip was right near the log flume so I went there next. The wait was about 10 minutes but well worth it. It also seemed more intense than the one at Hershey but I think that was because there were no neck/head supports on the cars like Hershey's whip has. The whip is one of my favorite flats and I really like the whip at Dorney. I then went to Lazer. There was only 1 train running which lead to a 2 train wait. Even with only a 2 train wait, I was in line for almost 10 minutes due to there only being 1 person checking restraints (yet there were 2 people at the control panel for some reason). The slow lift hill also didn't help. After hearing about how so many people gray or black out due to the g-forces, I tensed up my leg muscles (something I read on some coaster site but I can't remember which one) which supposedly will help you not black out. Either it worked, or I wouldn't have blacked out regardless because I was fine with the loops. I did get off the ride feeling a little dizzy though, I think due to the helix. I was a little dissapointed with Lazer since SooperDooperLooper is one of my favorite coasters at Hershey, I thought Lazer would be just as good but I guess I just like the layout of the SooperDooperLooper better since it's more than just a drop, loop(s) and 2 helixes. Since I was near Steel Force, I headed there next. I had never been on a hyper coaster before so I wasn't sure how a 200+ foot drop and 75 mph would feel. After a 2 train wait I borded the car. The lift hill seemed fast but maybe that was just because I got off Lazer a few minutes before Steel Force. The drop was great and I really liked the speed of the ride. What I didn't like was the brake run before the hills towards the end of the ride as the brakes slowed the car down to almost a stop which seemed to ruin the momentum. I still enjoyed the ride though. Next was Scrambler, a ride I don't usaually go on in parks due to the low capacity and long wait times but I only had a 1 cycle wait today. Still forceful and fun. Right next to the Scrambler was Thunderhawk, the only coaster I went on today that I had been on before. They were only running 1 train but the wait was only 2 trains. All the rows had the same wait so I decided to take the front row. One thing I don't remember about the Thunderhawk was the amount of airtime it gave. Throughout the ride, I was being lifted out of my seat. I wasn't expecting that at all but it was great. Like Steel Force, the brakes towards the last bunny hill killed the momentum as well. I wish they would turn that brake off. I decided to go on the Log Flume again. Right before the waterfall you go under where there is a small drop, there was a huge splash of water that somehow got on me and I was soaked more than I have ever been on any log flume ever. It looked like I went on the river rapids, that's how soaked I was. Then after we went down the drop I got even more water on me. Next time, I think I'll bring a jacket since I don't mind getting a little water on me but not so much water that I actually had to squeeze my shirt to get some of the water out. Heading back towards Hydra, I saw they were running trains that weren't even 20% full so I went back for 2 more rides. And on the way out, I stopped at Talon for 2 more rides, again walk ons. Overall, I had a great day at Dorney thanks to the almost non existant lines. It was very nice going through a line, going into the station and getting on a coater almost instantly.

Yeah, I think it was a horrible decision to get rid of the sea cabs. I know it technically wasn't a dark ride but it used dark ride vehicles and Epcot has lost enough of those rides recently (World of Motion and Horizons). I haven't been to Turtle Talk yet either but I also agree that the Living Seas seems nothing more than an aquarium. I sort of feel the same way about the Living Seas as I do with Animal Kingdom, that it's just a big zoo with a few rides and shows thrown in.

Yeah, I remember hearing about that on the radio talk station (since it was a local story). I think it had to do with Cookie Monster having to go on break (since it gets so hot in those costumes) and some parent was angry Cookie Monster was leaving without taking a picture with his kid.

To add to this, I was at Sam's Club again today. I was going to get a hot dog and soda combo. The line didn't move at all and there were people waiting for hot dogs after they ordered and paid that were complaining they were waiting for 30 minutes! Needless to say, I got out of line.

I was going to try to get the whole set but our local McDonald's decided to be a huge ripoff and charge over $3 for a happy meal. When I see they have the Pluto figure at the local McDonald's I'll probably just get that one.

Undecided right now. XBox 360 doesn't look that great to me. I'm worried Revolution is going to be another Nintendo only system (some great 1st party games but no 3rd party support) and the rumored price of PS3 is making me hesitant to get that as well (if it's over $299, forget it!). I'm happy with the current generation of systems right now. Plus, games for PS2, XBox and Gamecube are cheaper than ever (older games can be as low as $5 new) so I'm content playing games now. Plus I have the DS which looks to have a great fall lineup so that will keep me busy as well. Once all 3 systems are out and have a wide variety of games, I'll make a selection.

I seem to have a lot of bad experiences at restaurants. One I remember was the Rain Forest Cafe. They have some VIP club where you can pay $10 and get priority seating. I didn't have a problem with that, just the way it was handled. We were taken back ready to be seated and just as we were about to be seated, they told us we had to go back and wait for another table because that was for someone in the Safari Club (VIP). In other words, after we were taken back to the table, they gave the table to someone else who was in the club and still outside in the waiting area. Once the hostess took us to the table, they shouldn't have made us go back and wait even longer. The service was overall just horrible. Besides the service being slow and our orders being wrong (ordered a well done hamburger and got a burger that was pink inside), we had some issues with the staff. A kids meal comes with a soda. A soda was ordered and it was brought out in a regular sized glass. We got the check and saw we were charged for the soda. The waitress called over the manager and he said something along the lines of, "That was not the kids meal sized soda, and since it was consumed, you have to pay for it." How are we supposed to know that they brought out the wrong sized soda. After some arguing, they took off the charge for the soda. Another issue I had, though not with the actual experience but the restaurant in general is that they charge more for fries. Every meal such as a burger comes with chips including the kids meals. If you want fries instead, it's $1 extra for the kids meal and $2 extra for an adult meal. When they are charging $9 for a burger, I think they can give you fries with it. With the kids meals it's worse because it's almost restaurant standard to offer fries with the kids meal and on top of $6 or so for a kids meal, another $1 even seems more of a ripoff. They actually closed up in our area, I guess we weren't the only ones didn't like the place

Yeah, that's the flip top. Both modding and installing a flip top looked to complicated for me considering I'm really not good with that type of stuff. It took me almost 15 minutes just to replace the spindle hub on my Playstation 1, so I took the easy (though expensive) route and got a Japanese PS2.

I think the one at XS Orlando was Percussion freaks, the Korean version of Drummania. Unfortunately, there is some stupid copyright with the MTV Drumscape "game" which is probably why it was removed. The Amercain version of the game does have a wide mix of music. Besides modern songs, it has some classical songs, some Namco original songs (like the Katamari Damacy song) but a lot of the songlist is mainstream US music including some oldies and 80's songs like Walking on Sunshine. In order to play imports on a US PS2, you need a mod chip or a flip top. A flip top is much easier to install from what I have heard. I don't know if I can link to the sites since they talk about how to play burned games on the site but do a search for flip top to find out the specifics. Modded or flip top systems can play both import and US games usually (always with the case of the Fliptop). There are sites that sell the Fliptop cover and mod chip sites that sell mod chips and pre-modded systems. You can get import games from Import sites such as Play-asia.com, NCSX.com, Japanvideogames.com etc. There is also EBay of course which is where I buy most imports because they are cheaper.

Good to hear you finally got the drum from Toys N Joys. I have the US version. They really Americanized the songlist compared to the imports though (Good Charlotte for example). I chose the US version over the import because like you mentioned, they are in Japanese (whereas Konami's Bemani games are 95% in English) It's fun but the drum is very loud. I like the game but prefer Konami's Drummania series more. I don't think it sold well in the US though considered Best Buy has the game and drum for $19.99 (if you want a second drum, it's much cheaper than buying it standalone).

I remember that commercial as well. For some reason as much as I try, I really can't get into the series though. I have SSBM and have played it enough to get 100 trophies but for some reason I just don't enjoy it as much as everyone else.

Costco all the way. Sam's Club is dirtier and darker looker (compared to Costco's bright looking stores). Costco always has plenty of registers opened and makes sure you get checked out as quick as possible even if it means 2 employees per register. Sam's Club doesn't care how long you wait in line with them having no more than 3 - 4 registers opened at once. Costco usually has more free food samples and better samples. Last time I was at Sam's Club they had Chicken Soup and Nesquick to try. Costco had Cheesecake Factory Cheesecake, Smoothies, Bread, Chicken Sausage, Nachos, and some loaf cakes. And finally, I think the snack bar at Costco is better. The hot dogs seem better at Costco and they are better prepared to handles crowds at the snack bar. I waited less at Costco to get a hot dog and soda combo with 3 people in front of me then at Sam's Club where there was no one in front of me and only 1 person was there who had to take the money, put on gloves, get the food in the back, come back and then get the soda cup.

WDW. 4 parks so it has the most variety in rides. Plus Epcot is great.

Sandcastle Stadium in Atlantic City, NJ for the Atlantic City Surf Yes, those are casinos in the background

Why would the hurricane have anything to do with a park closing in Texas?

Wow, kind of surprising to hear. Didn't the park say they would have a no tolerance policy towards that kind of stuff?

That's not surprising. The way people play with those test seats probably causes more wear than neccessary. At Hershey, I saw kids (who had no reason to try it other than for "fun" because they were either too short to ride or could easily fit) playing around with both the ones for Great Bear and Storm Runner.

Nice photos. In the first picture I see there is a sign up about a test seat for Nitro but it looks like there isn't a test seat.

2nd choice. I buy them once in a while especially if I see them on clearance after a holiday like Easter or Halloween.

Hershey Park Morey's Piers Gillian's Wonderland Pier Playland's Castaway Cove Fantasy Island (Long Beach Island/Beach Haven, NJ) Out of those Hershey was the best.

I really liked the die cast ride vehicles as well. I think I have almost all of them and they were inexpensive (for Disney souvieners) and fun to collect. I wish they hadn't discontinued them.

Interesting, I hope it works with green head flies too. I spent most of my summer at the Jersey Shore and I got bitten by them almost every day I was outside for a long period of time. It got to the point where you couldn't even sit out on the beach because you were getting bitten so much.

I remember that episode. That was the first episode of Wild and Crazy Kids that I ever saw. It became one of my favorite shows but that was my favorite challenge out of them all the shows I saw.

Rattler must have been the wooden coaster I remember seeing then. It's weird how back when I saw the movie for the first time years ago I never even gave a second thought to what coaster or park it was at, now it seems interesting to learn what coasters and parks were used in these movies.

I think it works if you are determined but it doesn't seem like something that I would ever want to try. I don't think I could give up stuff like bread, and other high carb foods. To lose weight instead of giving up everything unhealthy, I had my own plan and tried to change what I ate without giving up everything. Like I still eat cookies and snack crackers but I eat them in the 100 calorie packs from Nabisco and Sunshine. Each bag only has 100 calories and 2 - 3 grams of fat which is a great way to still enjoy "junk" without all the fat and calories. I also started to eat flavored rice cakes and low fat granola bars which are also better alternatives to junk. It seems to be working but slowly. I have lost about 5 pounds so far which isn't much but it's a start and it's better than not losing any weight or worse, gaining weight.