boldikus

I'm sure this has been covered here but I'm curious: Ryan - as an employee, how often do you get to go for rides? Do you take them on your break? Are you allowed to ride before park opens/after closing? Asking because its something Ive wondered for a while but @ CAD on Friday we saw one of the operators in uniform jump on El Toro for a quick spin in an empty seat. On one hand I wouldn't like to be an operator for my job because I feel like I'd get jealous of watching everyone ride all day, but on the other hand if as an employee I could jump on at some point during the day, Id probably try to ride Toro and Nitro at least once a day and that would be the life...

Morey's Pier on Mothers Day weekend for some classic beatings from their Vekoma Boomerang and SLC and very much looking forward to it. Actually planning to, for the first time in forever, ride every coaster I can there including the kiddie ones.

Not that I've ridden it without, but Id have a hard time believing the seat belts affect the airtime on El Toro. In fact I'm not sure I'd want to ride without them.

Done. haha LOL. Also I got get down with ranch on pizza but its all about hot sauce on pizza!!!!!

Well after CAD on Friday I can update this. 5 run marathon on Nitro @ SFGAdv including last train of the night.

Ryan I love your signature.

Agreed last night was the most efficient I've seen the Bizarro crew.

Yeah worked out to be a pretty great night w/ the rain holding off and really light crowds - we were riding for a little under 3 hours. Pulled into the lot about 6:10, got parked settled and hiked over to the gate (Why can't they give us preferred parking for the night? Kinda lame to have to walk through that completely empty part of the parking lot...). Little bit of a hold up at the gate (understaffed?) but we got in fairly quickly and bee-lined through the arcade over to El Toro and walked right on. First time I didn't have to wait at least 20 minutes for it so was suddenly in a state of euphoria/disbelief. Rode great in first seat of last car and then we walked around (halfway, kinda jumped over the fence near the steps to get back up, an employee caught us and laughed) and rode once more in same spot. Tried to get a re-ride in a different seat but wasn't happening so off to Bizarro where we marathoned it three times in a row until on the third ride my stomach decided after the MCBR that I'd had enough. First time in years I felt nausea from a coaster but I guess 21 inversions in 10 minutes might do that. My riding partner was begging for another but I needed a short break. We stopped for food and wandered over to Superman for my first ever ride (due to the fact that the line is always insane). Walked right on in first row. (!!!) My first flying coaster and MUCH better than I expected. Really smooth, restraint was much more comfortable than I imagined and that pretzel loop is just plain NUTS. Awesome ride. Now I want to ride the more highly ranked flyers like Tatsu! SO fun! After we headed for what is imo the parks crowd jewel - Nitro. On our walk over we felt drizzle. Bummer. No lightning though so lets do it! At this point it was completely dark and I have had yet to do Nitro in the dark. By the time we got up the steps the drizzle stopped. Walked right on and sat in middle. No wait at all. Fantastic ride. It's really dark back there! No way to stay on when we pulled back in so we walked around for ride two. Walked on front row. First time in front and was awesome! Delicious wind burn on my face! Jumped in a different seat for our third run but were kicked off due to folks walking up to our row and had to walk around, so we did. Waited 2 minutes for back row (my fave) and rode it two times without getting up. On that fourth go around I had the bizarro stomach things again on the bunny hops at the end so I said I was done. But then the operator announced it would be the last train of the night so what the hell, let's do it! Exactly at 9:15pm, just as we were walking out of the main gate, did it start to rain. PERFECT. So happy we didn't let that deter us and got a great night of riding in a short period of time! Slightly bummed we didn't get a few more runs on El Toro, but its my only small complaint about the entire evening. El Toro 2x Bizarro 3x Superman 1x Nitro 5x I didn't have camera or phone on me so no pics but but my buddy tweeted these of the queues while waiting for Superman/Nitro.

seems most places are saying chance of rain for this evening but wunderground's forecast is saying no rain til after 10pm. which (hopefully) adds up to a completely empty park for CAD.

I have thousands or records. Was a vinyl only DJ throughout most of the 90s until I switched to mp3s/software about 10 years ago.

Key West, FL (the only place I would live if not in Philly) NYC (so close, lots of friends) Jersey Shore (visit folks, very close)

love me a burrito but i'll pick a burger any day of the week

sneakers every day. happy to work somewhere where dress code is not even discussed. so its sneakers always. partial to old school looking pumas or adidas but ill rock simple nikes too.

does drinking count?

me in my element.

Deerhunter @ Union Transfer, Philly last fall

I have a few Interpol The Cure Radiohead Autolux Warpaint Deerhunter Depeche Mode

Ive been DJing for almost 20 years so there's no way I could whittle it down to 10 songs. I get overwhelmed at the thought. Just my mp3 collection is pushing 35,000 files. Thats not counting a lifetime of purchasing vinyl and CD's (and some cassettes that I have held onto believe it or not!) You can check out what I'm listening to on my last.fm profile.

I like the sound of that. I'd imagine coasters run faster on wet tracks, yeah?

Great photos! I really want to make it to Hershey this year.

That's the plan. Leaving Philly at around 4 so should be up there by 5 depending on traffic. I doubt they'll make us wait, but if they do no biggie.

Just got word from the boss that I can close early on Friday to get up there and just secured a ride so I'll be there! If you see me say hi!

Agreed. When we were there a week and half ago it started to get dark @ 7:30. Wish it would go later. BUT if the park is dead, 3 hours is plenty of time to get a lot of riding in.

you compare your girls purple sweatshirt to the bizarro paint color scheme.

realistic: (somewhat nearby, hoping to get to Hershey & KD sometime this year, maybe Busch Gardens next yr? Superman: UF (SFGA, only coaster at the park I have not ridden) I305/Volcano Skyrush/Farenheit/Storm Runner/Great Bear Bizarro (SFNE) Appollo's Chariot/Alpengeist Millenium Force/Maverick/Magnum/TTD/Gatekeeper unrealistic (too far/expensive to get to): Helix Formule X (Drievliet) Nemesis any of the RMC jawns - Iron Rattler/NTAG/Outlaw Run/Goliath Eagles Fortress Atlantis Adventure