Cameron

Looks like I missed a fun little event last night! How'd it all go? What were the crowds like? Cameron.

Brilliant! (That and Fiddlers On The Roof made this an extremely memorable report!) Great photos - and man the tongue stairs creep the hell out of me. Other notes: It really was a terrifically fun day. I didn't really know any of you guys well, and I was a little worried that there would be many moments with nothing to say and everyone looking awkwardly at each other, but in the end we talked and laughed so much it could have powered a small city. This was also the first time I'd ever used a QBot, and I was just floored by how well it worked - both in terms of letting us have a carefree and relaxed day, and the extremely cool tech and UI. Cameron (Everyone must exit all the way out the exit) Silver. PS: Best of luck getting those teeth pulled today..

I don't know what happened to Viper, but it feels like it's dragging a boat anchor behind it. It's not rough at all, just dog-slow; actually felt like it might stall in the second-to-last turn. Cameron.

^ And it barely scratched the surface

Mean Streak on its best day is still worse than jumping off the Sears Tower onto a bicycle with no seat.. Viper is better than that. Cameron.

So if anyone will be joining Dan and I on July 6th, please send me a PM before Saturday (7/4). Also let me know if you want in on our Gold Flash Pass ($34 - pay me back on the day), naturally you have to be a definite "yes" for the Flash Pass. Hope to see some of you guys then! Cameron.

Oh man, I remember eating at Schnitzelbank on my first visit to Holiday world for Stark Raven Mad in 1998 .. great place Cameron.

^ You, Matt and I should take a trip down there one day this summer. I love the park and am always looking for an excuse to go. Cameron.

According to the website: The regular Flash Passes will have you wait however long the line already is (but obviously you don't actually have to stand in line). The Gold FlashPasses will reduce the wait by up to 75% - which is exactly what you want on a crowded day. As JoJo said it's a holiday weekend, so expect a lot of people. Cameron.

Since the park will likely be ******packed****** on July 6th, I will be getting a gold Flashpass for Dan and I which I'll order online the week before. The pass supports up to 6 people, so anyone who plans to join us for the day should PM me and I'll be sure to add them to our pass (but will expect the $34 on the day). No rush though, we're still 3 weeks away.. Dan, you'll do great on the Giant Drop. They irk me quite a bit, but I actually kind-of like it. Just remember to look out, and not down, and you'll be fine. Cameron.

It's an important and popular fact that the only time you get a trimless ride on Bull is when the train is going slow enough that the trims don't need to slow it down. So any trimless ride is therefore, by definition, no better than any "normal" ride. The trims are there, have always been there, will always be there and are not under park control. Everyone needs to accept that, and move on. Cameron.

One should never need to ask that question, since the answer is built right in to their theme song: "There's more than corn in Indiana, it's a great part of Americana, and it's right within your reach, it's Indiana Beach!" Great photos, and well done scoring that free pass since you'll need to return to hit the Double Shot! (It was closed on Sunday when we were there, too - which is odd, I've never seen that thing down). Cameron.

Indiana Beach is actually more fun when it's busy. I was there yesterday and it was borderline ghost-town, which is a little unfortunate. Even on the busy days you're not going to be waiting more than 15-25 minutes for stuff .. and the crowds give the park a lot more atmosphere. This is immaterial now since you're already there .. Hope you guys have fun! Cameron.

Great photos! The games were only on free-play while they installed the card-swipe system. Now that it's all working, you have to pay for the games. Still, didn't stop me wasting several hours in there on opening day Not sure of the condition of Den Of Lost Thieves when you went .. on opening day a lot of the targets weren't working, they have since been (mostly) fixed (I was there yesterday). With the working targets, and better guns, the ride is vastly better than it has been in previous years. In fact the whole park is looking great this season (aside from over-doing the pastel paint ). Cameron.

As tempting as it is to meet a Jizz man at my favorite park, it's just impossible to do so on a Monday ... Now if you were going tomorrow (5/31), I'd see you there. Cameron.

Pretty much every food/drink counter at every Six Flags park I've been to will you give free cups of iced water whenever you want. Totally free .. in a cheap, plastic, throw-away cup. I can typically spend 6 hours in a park and not spend a cent .. I eat on my way there (or on my way home), and then drink water all day. As an added benefit water is much better at hydrating you, and is also significantly more healthy. Like Larry said, if 5th graders can figure this out... Cameron.

Awesome weekend with you Mike! Indiana Beach is of course, always an amazing day .. and SFGAm yesterday was also tremendous fun. It was great to meet Jo, Griffin, Patrick too Hope you enjoy your travels today, Mike .. and of course your Kuma's lunch (of which I am *extremely* envious!). Cameron.

Great photos, Erik .. and awesome video. The whole setup looks exceptionally well done, from the queue to the Wing Dip (great name). It takes so much work to put together an attraction as complete and immersive as this, but it seems to have really paid off. Can't wait to check it out next time I'm in Florida. Cameron.

The good news is that the area really needs another walmart, starbucks and (empty) condos... cbs2chicago.com/topstories/kiddieland.amusement.closing.2.1013956.html Cameron.

^ I'm surprised that you don't consider Fiddler's Fling to be a high-thrill flat ride .. in fact it's the only ride I've ever been on that frequently requires a nice long sit-down after I ride..! Cameron.

What's really great about this ride is that it is, finally, an actual "family friendly" ride. The Wiggles, Thomas, and the Cartoon Network stuff is great for toddlers and 4 year olds, but parents who ride that do so only because they are looking after their kids. A ride like Buccaneer Battler (and Whizzer, mine trains and most flat rides) is that they can actually be *enjoyed* by the whole family .. young kids (5+ years old and even teenagers), as well as the parents. Personally I'd love to see more rides like this, it's a gap that really needs to be filled. It looks like they tried to do this with The Dark Knight, but BB seems to succeed at it so much more. Cameron.

My second batch of photos highlights some of the action. I can't state enough how much fun people were having, lots of laughing, and shrieking (especially from the kids - which I guess is the point!). When Matt and I left we had to go through the horrid ordeal of trying to find our cars in the *gigantic* car-park. I always hate that, I wish there was just some way I could remember where I parked... I said to move on! Some other pirate turned up too .. wearing incredibly cheap party-store pirate gear (that really stinks when it gets wet!). Probably best to move on... I guess he doesn't get much of a chance to shower at the Old Folks home, he took advantage of this opportunity today Even Mr. Six took a spin! Here you can see the relationship between the boats and the spectator guns. From off ride you can easily squirt people sitting on both sides of the boat, which is good. Anyone wearing a poncho was bound to get totally slammed - the trick is to aim for their face Some boat-to-boat action right there, I imagine this will be insane when the ride is running to capacity (as you can see, there weren't many people there today so they were mostly empty boats). Some of the pirates on the ride. The red-head chick on the far left was hysterical. The pirate characters were having a lot of fun. I don't know if they were all Six Flags employees, or hired for the event, but they really got into it. They also all rode many times, and had fun heckling the spectators (causing them to get drenched many times over!). There weren't many kids present today, any who rode were bound to get soaked - as Nathan demonstrates here. We had to take this photo really quickly: an ass as hot as Matt's doesn't stay wet for very long! I got bucken' wet on Buccaneer Battle! The boats sit lower than the walkway, so it's actually slightly more difficult for the riders to wet the spectators than it is for the spectators to wet the riders. This works well though, because there are four riders per one spectator. One trick is to aim for their face, they will instinctively look away and then find it hard to aim. There are guns everywhere, so you're really never safe. Here you can see Matt and I getting targeted from one of the guns on the exit platform. Matt and I take a spin, and here we are drenching as many people as we could. I was very glad that it was sunny and warm today (however I did bring a complete change of clothes - that I ended up not needing). There is also a "people dryer" near the exit, and I was told there's now one over by Roaring Rapids too.

I will piggy-back on top of Matt (cough) here, and add some more photos. The ride is really great, and I will admit that I went in there not expecting much. The only other Splash Battle I've been on is the one at Indiana Beach, and while I love that park, the ride is pretty dull. Plus there's the fact that I just don't really like water rides that much. However, I was really impressed! I can't imagine anyone not having fun on this (provided they don't mind a soaking). There are loads of guns around the ride for people to use (and yes, they're free). The course has the boats passing each other several times, so you can have fun firing on other riders. The theming is very well done, and it's all just very well setup. The staff running the event were really cool, very friendly and chatty; and obviously really happy with their new ride. The general feeling there was extremely positive, which was great to see given the economy. With a capacity at over 1000 people per hour, this thing is going to rock in the busy summer days. I'll post two batch of pictures, the first will be some of the theming.. This is what one of the guns looks like (they're the same on the boats). You can really get the riders very wet from these guns, and the crank turns quite easily (the ones at Indiana Beach are hard to turn - these are much better). Amazingly there's a hanging shark in the new boat racing game that my company will soon be selling. There's actually a hidden secret if you jump through this shark When the bucket tips, there is a lot of water! Don't worry though, this is extremely well done - people on the ride (or walking through) will only get "rained" on, the bulk of the torrent is deflected to the sides. It's very well done as getting completely drenched here would be just too much. At the end of the ride you pass through this structure, that looks very innocent at the moment. Riders also walk through here after they ride. (Note the shark hanging on the left....) Pickles!! These have like shower-heads at the end, and after firing they alternate position (the on in front tilts back, and the one in back tilts forward). These are also on a trigger, but fire randomly from time to time. While not animated, they do frequently squirt water at riders (although for some reason they decided never to do it while I had my camera ready!). The course is full of little bits of theming like this, and it really adds to it. Some of it is motorized, and all of it squirts water (often triggered from a target, but they will go off randomly anyway). Upon exiting the station, riders are treated to this scene. Note the black and red target there which you're supposed to aim at. There are several of these around the track, however I found it far more fun to just drench other people. Note that the guns on the boats start working and can squirt people in line And then we lost the title of "Cleanest Park"! Seriously though, who doesn't love confetti cannons! (And to their credit, it was all cleaned up by the time we left..). And then Mr. Six christened the ride (note the remains of the bottle in his hand). It's tradition to smash a bottle of alcohol on a boat just before it enters service, I thought this was a nice touch today. The pirates put on a nice (quick) show to christen the ride. This got several laughs out of the crowd. The Mr Six Dance Party showed up to get everyone into the dancing spirit! (No, I didn't dance - I'm a programmer!) One boat was sitting outside the ride, this served as a platform for the festivities. I must say that walking into Six Flags on a Tuesday morning when it's 70 degrees out, is pretty freaking awesome!

Chuck, you're awesome! Cameron. PS: Great day with everyone, it was extremely difficult to get back to work on Monday after such a rockin' weekend!

Giant Spiders Invade Australian Outback Town! I particularly like this quote "Audy Geiszler, who runs Amalgamated Pest Control in Bowen, said that the spider was a large male with powerful long fangs and was so big that when he placed it – dead – in the palm of his hand its legs hung over his fingers." Article (and pictures) here... Cameron.