Double0Kevin

I find it humorous that everyone assumes the park will be in full operation in the winter. I'm sure it won't be as scaled back as SCBB, but I'm willing to bet that it's similar to how they run HIP with many attractions closed. As far as the weather, Vallejo doesn't usually get hit too terribly until March. Having spent many a seasons there, I can remember getting ready for park opening in sunny weather all February and then having it pour everyday once the park opened. If they run the park on limited operation like with HIP, even with rainy days they should be able to turn a profit. I also find that quote humorous about the "first of it's kind in the park" because they do repeat rides a lot. This is a park that has 4 different versions of a swing ride, 2 crazy bus rides (Daffy's Deep Sea Diver and the one in old Thomas Town), 2 tea cup rides, 2 spinning "balloon" rides, 2 trains (one replaced a third), 4 "dumbo" style rides, and 2 LIM coasters. They kinda like to repeat.

I've worked at parks where flats were run on tamer programs because the more intense ones were more expensive to insure. On one specific ride it was a constant back and forth until we were finally able to switch to a longer, more exciting program. I doubt this would be an issue in any country other than the US as we do love our lawsuits here, and also was likely more of an issue with the cheapness of the chain I worked for. Otherwise, yes, the longevity is a big factor. Parks are always looking for way to increase reliability while minimizing cost.

Saw We're The Millers tonight. It was much funnier than I expected. I found myself laughing quite a bit, even sitting next to a really obnoxious Vegas stripper (who got really offended at some of the stripper stuff in it). All in all it was a solid comedy. Also watched Olympus Has Fallen the other day. It was actually a really solid action flick. It had it's very silly moments, but a fun movie none the less.

I definitely prefer doing the Park Hopper. Like Joey said, it basically makes it one big park and it makes checking out the entertainment a lot easier.

I dunno about you, but I'm not just going to wear it, I'm also going to be sure to tell everyone I see in detail about how I finished the race as if I was the only one who has ever done it! In all honesty I have not trained at all all summer, so I'm just going to power walk this bad boy.

To be fair, Harmon Tower didn't open due to not even coming CLOSE to passing inspection. The foundation rebar is all screwed up and it would have needed to be rebuilt, basically, if it ever was going to pass an inspection. Speaking of Harmon Tower, though, just today a judge gave the OK to dismantle it. I wonder how long MGM is planning on keeping it as a giant billboard. I believe he was remarking on the fact that even when something here is under construction it still doesn't guarantee it's going to be finished and/or opened. Nothing is for sure in this town, even when it's for sure.

^ It's actually at about 3/4 way done now. They've done a lot in a week, which is impressive with the kind of weather we've had this last week. Lots of lightning and rain. Luckily monsoon season is over in about a week, unluckily we have big one coming in sunday that is expected to last at least 3 days.

Speed was a good coaster and had it ever been converted to lap bars only it would have been a GREAT coaster. But now living in this town and working on the strip, I see zero chance of this thing finding new life in Vegas. Hell, I was surprised to find out how many people considered it up and down the strip and even drew up plans, but all of them ultimately passed for other options when they weighed the pros and cons. Oh well, maybe Kentucky Kingdom will buy it.

Good lord, The World's End was so awesome. There were moments I couldn't breathe I was laughing so hard. I have a hard time ranking it over Hot Fuzz as that is one of my all time favorite films, but this one seriously did not disappoint. Speaking of not disappointing, how great is Edgar Wright's track record? His films have struggled at the box office, but they are always so well done and entertaining. Hot Fuzz and Scott Pilgrim are films I could watch repeatedly and never tire of. I cannot wait to see what he does with Ant Man.

Hyper - Been on Apollo's Chariot and Raging Bull, both awesome Dive Machine - Been on the 2 US Dive Machines and loved them both, especially SheiKra. Flying - Been on Tatsu, Superman (SFGAm), and Manta; Manta being my favorite but all 3 are great. Invert - Montu, Raptor, Alpengeist, Batman (SFMM and SFGAm), Flight Deck (CGA), and Silver Bullet are all great but I've had some rough rides on a few (and boring ones on Silver Bullet). Floorless - Medusa (SFDK), Scream!, Dominator, Kraken. Medusa is by far the best, Dominator was intense but a little rough, Kraken was a huge let down and Scream! has always sucked. Sit Down - Kumba and Hulk both beat me up, not fun. Stand Up - No big surprise here, Vortex (CGA), Riddler's Revenge, Mantis were all pretty terrible.

^ You realize the blue lattice arms are only temporary. They are there to hold the wheel in place while the cables are attached. Eventually they will be removed and the entire wheel will be supported by cables just like the London Eye.

I think they were shooting for Fall this year, but they also announced the whole project is behind schedule. I can believe The Linq will open by the holiday season, but the wheel will likely be early next year. They still have to complete the wheel, finish all the support cables, remove the temporary support structure (all the blue lattice structure), attach the pods, and then test everything. I'm no expert on Ferris Wheels, I just don't see it being done this year.

The tower looks pretty great, I love that style of architecture. Really looking forward to the future of USH and SoCal having another major destination for me. Right now Disney and USH are the only reasons for me to visit, I don't care much for the other parks.

I attended a seminar for work today at The Westin and this was my view. They were out prepping about 5 mor sections of the wheel to go up. It seems like they do enough to fill the whole station area at a time and then work on attaching a few cables and the temporary blue arms and then repeat. You can see the pieces they were prepping along the bottom there. The little blue umbrellas were give the workers shade, looks like they were focusing on the connection spots of the cables.

Only downfall is I would think the dispatch times are going to be slow now, but hey, if it gets the ride open who cares?

It's much harder to sell a struggling park than it is with one that makes money.

The old nightclub will be retail space. That is what is behind the big black wall/tarp inside. If you are outside looking at the hotel, that area is to the right of Nine Fine Irishmen and Hershey's will be just to the left between NFI and the MGM bridge.

Some High Roller photos for you guys. Half the wheel is done. From the parking lot at The Quad. The station The new marquee for The Linq. Last one, from the Monorail station.

I decided to go play tourist this morning and snapped some photos of NYNY and Monte Carlo's construction. Enjoy! Love this marketing. They provided some peak holes in the O's of the NYNY logos. Construction around the Bridge will fill in most the water area with paths to allow access to the shops that will line the front of the hotel. Inside the front of the hotel looks like this. Up on the MGM foot bridge, you can see they have really torn up the front. The future location of Hershey's Chocolate World They have also taken out the water area around the Statue of Liberty, including the Sept. 11 Memorial. They will be adding a street level entrance for the casino here. Over at Monte where it's harder to get good views, they have added a large structure near the marquee. The new structure.

Went and saw Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters the other day. I'm a fan of the book series but was pretty let down, scratch that, extremely let down with the first movie. This one doesn't try so hard to be the next Harry Potter series and is just a lot of fun. Nathan Fillion's cameo as Hermes was a huge highlight. He has a hilarious little joke that any Firefly fan would love. Fun movie all around, check it out if you're at all into the Fantasy book adaptations. Oh! And it was awesome to see SFNO in the big finale of the film.

Fun topic! Here are mine, Arrow: Matterhorn Bobsleds - DL B&M: Top Gun (Flight Deck) - CGA Intamin: Blue Streak (Woodstock's Express) - CGA Vekoma: Gadget's Go Coaster - DL Schwarzkopf: Tidal Wave - CGA Premier: Speed: The Ride - Sahara Hotel and Casino Zierer: Cobra - SFDK Togo: Manhattan Express - New York New York Hotel and Casino Zamperla: Roadrunner Express - SFDK Mack: Goofy's Sky School - DCA Maurer Söhne: Hollywood Rip, Ride, and Rockit - USF Morgan: Santa Monica West Coaster - Pacific Park Dinn: Psyclone - SFMM Gerstlauer: Tony Hawk - SFDK Gravity Group: The Voyage - HW GCI: Roar - SFDK CCI: GhostRider - KBF Miler: Harvest Express Coaster - Nut Tree Prior and Church: Giant Dipper - SCBB S.D.C.: Hurricane - SCBB International Amusement Devices, Inc.: Colossus - SFMM Giovanola: Goliath - SFMM PTC: Blue Streak - CP RCCA: Son of Beast - KI Dynamic Structures: Space Mountain - DL S&MC: High Roller - Stratosphere Tower Reverchon: Primeval Whirl - Disney's Animal Kingdom

^ Cookie Cutter really only goes back to the initial design phase, it's still its own singular ride that gets manufactured from scratch and can run into the same manufacturing mishaps as any other coaster. SCBB might just have not been lucky on this one.

Great news! I'm admittedly very curious what could have caused the delay, but glad to hear it's being taking care of. I think I miss the boardwalk most of all from the parks I left behind in Northern California. Can't wait to make a trip back to ride Undertow when it eventually opens. Maybe next summer.

The park once stood for mediocre ski shows? Personally, I think Dolphin Theater should be returned to a stage theater for traditional style stage productions like it was back in the 90s when it was Showcase Theater; and Pacific Stadium should be the dolphin show location as it's a much better venue for marine animal shows.

^^^ Springfield looks amazing! I wish USH had the room to do something even similar (well maybe it does and it's on its way). I can't wait to make it back out to Florida next year when all these expansions are done. ^ I have a hard time believing that that would really be an issue, the brakes are still grabbing both cars just the same, the difference in weight shouldn't cause too much of an issue unless it was a really significant difference. Then again I'm not an engineer, and not personally familiar with Maurer rides, so I'm just speculating. I'm wondering if the ride itself has a bigger issue than what we are hearing and something broke fairly seriously, resulting in an injury (luckily only minor). It would make sense that the ride is shut down then for a mechanical issue rather than for the injury itself.