Double0Kevin

A major factor before the park makes it's rules is the state law. Some states allow 16 year olds, some require you to be 18. I believe the law in Ohio is 16, but Cedar Point requires you to be 18. The big factor is that minors have restricted hours per labor laws where as 18 and over can pretty much be worked at any and all hours of the day. Cedar Point uses that to their advantage since they require so much staff to operate their rides at full capacity. King RCT3, As far as what department you are going for. It is possible to get into Rides with a limited period of availability in the summer. I applied and was offered a position in ride back in 2005 when I was only able to commit to 2 months. Sadly, I was talked into working at Johnny Rockets by my friend who knew the manager. I absolutely hated it and left the park after only a month and a week. I had a great time in the area and with the friends I made, but the actual job was dreadful. Had I taken the spot in Rides, I'm sure I would have stayed longer and likely would have returned for additional seasons.

^ I just pictured that whole post over a picture of Grumpy Cat, I think it would have won the meme competition.

This makes me sad for humanity.

Saw Jack the Giant Slayer today. It was actually fairly entertaining. I think that the giants were pretty poorly animated compared to what else we're seeing these days. I also that Stanley Tucci's role was too underplayed and would have liked to see more. All in all, it's worth checking out. The 3D was pretty impressive on this one.

Good stuff guys. It was a fun event today. Really looking forward to all the changes happening around the park.

I'm also really looking forward to the results of this one. There have been so many big steel coasters to debut since the last one. Will be interesting to see how they fit in there.

^ I doubt that it's because it's too hard to paint. I'm sure it has to do more with the required downtime of the ride more than anything. Do you have link to these health inspection reports?

I stand corrected. When I first got there the year I worked at the park, I had the option of Commons or Cedars and everyone I knew told me to go for Commons. I had heard horror stories about Cedars being run down, having mice, the hot water going out and so on. I never actually knew anyone while I was out there that lived in them so I never went in. The stories could have been greatly exaggerated. As far as the bus goes, it was never and issue for me; but I was always up early so I had no problem catching it.

Has anyone ever liked any of the dorms that are actually out on the point? I've always heard horror stories. Not that the other dorms were that much better.

To clarify, they ALL use the same system developed for Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye. Though I hear Test Track uses it the best (I sadly missed it last year). Awesome updates! I love the walk between Studios and Epcot. Those resorts are beautiful.

^ Agreed, A lot of rides doesn't really make the lines shorter. CP gets INSANE lines on some of their rides, Raptor being one that comes to mind, but they move shockingly quick because they are staffed properly, the crew is efficient, and they run the max trains (except Mantis that runs 2 of 3 because they found out a 3rd train doesn't increase capacity on that ride). If SFMM made the effort/investment to get all their rides running at full capacity, it would be huge step (quite possibly one of the biggest they could make) towards improving the negative image that surrounds the park.

Yeah I really hope this is a joke. Up at SFDK, Medusa will average 800pph but could easily get as high 1000+pph (I can't remember for sure, but I wanna say we got close to 1200 pph when running 3 trains). Hell, Kong could easily pull off 800pph. Assuming Full Throttle is operated as well as Superman at SFDK, I could see the throughput being higher. Remember when people were expecting 250 to 300pph on that thing and it ended up being almost double. With Full Throttle running multiple trains (which are larger) I could see them doing a higher capacity. Then again this is SFMM so it could also end up being about 300pph.

^ Agreed, At first I hated it, but now seeing the finished product, I think it looks pretty damn good. Better than the Purple. Not sure I love the sign though, but that hardly matters.

^ Yes! I thought of the same thing the moment I saw their little catch phrase the first time. I love how Family Guy intended for it to be a totally douchey thing to say. Naturally SF marketing would think it's perfect.

^Simpsons gets me when I sit on the sides. I don't get to throw up level, but I feel nauseous for a while afterwards. I mentioned this to the attendant last week when queuing and she was really cool and gave us the center car which was no problem on my stomach.

I'm also liking the Figaro animatronic. He was always a personal favorite as a kid, so much that I now have a tuxedo cat named Figaro. Oddly enough his personality is very similar to the cartoon character.

I see what you did there.

IT DIDN'T!? Was around 2000, after Stealth was put in and the train was removed. When DCA announced their street cars I was thinking how it would be nice if they brought back the trolleys, definitely added charm. Backstage you can still see remnants of the track... It was that recent? I literally have zero memory of the trolleys ever operating and I went to the park at least once a year leading up to 2000. I guess I was just not very attentive. It's too bad they aren't still around, they add great atmosphere.

They also didn't have gaps in the towers in the animation, those aren't 100% accurate. I sure hope this isn't the new thing to complain about.

I'm in the odd position where I love all the franchises. I think the Simpsons additions are really exciting as well as the Potter expansion and Transformers. What I like most about the Simpsons stuff is that Universal seems to be taking the course of no longer just building stand alone rides, but making them work with the area they are in and creating a whole land around it. Obviously Transformers is an exception to this... But a Simpsons land and HP land I think is great because it gives fans of the franchises more than just a great 3-5 minute ride. With Potter, obviously if you're not into it, you aren't going to care much for it. But like Joey said about growing up with Simpsons, a lot of today's youth and young adults grew/are growing up with HP, so it has a similar attraction. I would love to see the Simpsons land idea come west. I could see USH re-theme some of the food spots like Doc Browns and Cinnebon to Simpsons themed eateries and even potentially add a small flat ride in the middle of that plaza or off to the right of The Simpsons Ride behind Kwik-E-Mart (though an outdoor ride is tough with the noise issues at that park). Maybe it will become a consideration based on the success of USF's land.

Wow... It's like the birth of your child, you just can't imagine what it's like until you finally see it. I can't wait to ride this when it opens next year.

This one has kind of become the Official USH Thread, maybe a Mod will rename it soon. http://themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=61215 I typically head straight to the lower lot. The rides down there tend to be the most popular (aside from The Simpsons Ride). Head straight to Transformers as it gets the longest line all day. If she is there at opening she could likely get a few rides in on each of the 3 down there before the crowds get bad. After that it's pretty easy to plan your day off of what you want to do. Shows happen often and there are some pretty good ones, like Water World and Special Effects Stage. Another thing to always keep in mind is to try to do the Tram early. They are ending the tours at 5:15pm right now, so as you get closer to that everyone heads over there to make it before it closes. The line can get crazy long starting around 3. I typically do the Tram right after lunch and it has a fairly quick line.

^ That's outdated. Ellen was confirmed about 6 months ago. They just signed on Albert Brooks and are ready to go. http://collider.com/finding-nemo-2-albert-brooks-andrew-stanton-live-action/

It also pales in comparison to recent Disney Princess efforts like Tangled and The Princess and the Frog. Tangled, in my opinion, was an especially strong step in the right direction for Disney Animation.

I went to USH over the weekend with RAWKIN_coaster38 and rolercstrluvr. First, I couldn't believe how open the upper lot feels now with the wild west arena demolished. The work walls are still all around it, but the whole area is much less claustrophobic. T2's demolition is well on it's way. By demolition I mean they have stripped a lot of the outer walls down to the framing and look to be preparing to redo the attractions facade. Other than that it felt like business as usual. The 3 rides on the lower lot all seemed to be having problems. Our first ride on Transformers (their first one ever) we stopped about midway through the attraction at the scene where Megatron fires a rocket at you. We sat for about 5 minutes before the ride started back up, but then it took a full scene before the sound turned back on and one of the scenes had all the projectors out. When we got off the staff was super cool and gave us an exit pass for any other ride in the park and gave us the "Gate A Password" so that we could skip the line for Transformers later that day. The line was decent however and we got 4 rides in total only skipping the line once. I still have to say this is one of if not the best dark ride I've been on. Everyone in Orlando is going to love it. Mummy had some issues too. The first time we rode the finale effects weren't really working (no fog and the door was open letting the station light in). Later we rode and the first skeleton never moved nor did the hands reach down. Eventually we got a couple rides in where everything worked. JP had the funniest issue, as we approached the drop the waterfall was off and the T-Rex was illuminated; but it was just kind of hanging there and spasming like it wanted to work but it wouldn't. Did we witness a T-Rex stroke? All of our later rides worked totally fine though. Tram tour was good though our Tour Guide wasn't great. Have they significantly reduced the Jimmy Fallon videos? The tour guide talked over the black and white bell hop one, and they didn't play the western one. The guide talked over the song at the end too. I think I'm one of the only people on TPR that actually liked those videos, so it was a bummer that they weren't really there. The tram tour is still easily one of the coolest attractions at any theme park, especially if you love movies like me.