Double0Kevin

Good luck next weekend everyone! Unfortunately I have an autoimmune disease known as Ankylosing Spondylitis (similar to Rheumatoid Arthritis), and my doctor says it would not be wise for me to do more than a Half. To be honest he doesn't want me to me doing Halfs, but admits it likely won't do any permanent damage like a full could potentially do. So, I'm stuck with the Halfs, but just have made it a goal to continually improve my ability to run those.

^Honestly, I didn't think and still don't think it was going to be a clear choice. Thank goodness for the reasonable ruling. But in the world we live in now-a-days, especially California and their sometimes overboard restrictions, this could have been the straw that broke the camel's back and allowed the death of the bumper car. Great news though! Happy for CGA to have come out of this OK.

^ It's tough for me to think of how to twist into amusement attractions. I can totally see them building shops and what not to serves elvish and hobbit foods, but rides are tough. They spend 90% of the books traveling on foot or horse. You don't have the magic aspect that can make a bench fly and all that. They do have giant eagles flying around, so that could be a theme for a coaster or dark ride, but that would mix somewhat mundane aspects of the story with the more exciting stuff that the eagles where never around in. I could see a water ride made, there are trips down rivers (In the Hobbit they float down a river in barrels to escape from someone holding them captive). It would be interesting to see. Many of the elements are mirrored in HP (Dragon, giant spiders, goblins/monsters, and trolls) so it's going to be tough to not seem repetitive.

^ I couldn't help but start laughing when the word filter changed it to Lord of the Rings. Could be interesting. Universal has made good on their commitment to quality reproductions of source material. And given their already close relationship with Peter Jackson from King Kong, I could see this happening. I just have to wonder where they expect to fit it?

^ Yeah, cause contracts and laws in China are so sacred, and they don't wipe their asses with copyright laws or the like from other countries or anything. I'm sure Disney is very concerned.

That's awesome news. With the "waterpark" and roller coaster, are we looking at a revitalization of Circus Circus? Would be nice to see some life brought back down to that end of the strip. I had a feeling this would mean Rim Runner was finally getting the ax. It's been a long time coming for that thing, not a bad ride but not a great one either. Took a ton of space too.

I first rode TMLR in 2002. I was totally blown away with how cool it was. I'm really excited to see the outcome of this renovation. With this and the new credit, Knott's is going to be a must visit park this summer. Really happy with the work CF has been putting into their parks lately. Not only are they adding new stuff, they are updating and refreshing tired stuff as well. Great to see.

Good eye! I fixed it now, added in the Bungee attraction where Skyhawk used to be (REALLY miss that ride).

^ Yeah, that is pretty awesome. Yeah, The Knott's race goes through both Knott's and Soak City so it seems like a pretty good set up. I'm looking forward as it will be my first race of the year. Doing 2 1/2 Marathons this year, but not till the end of the year (Doing DL Half and Food and Wine at WDW).

Looks like they are painting it there. I see a faded red piece near the white tent on the left, plus the red track near the bottom that looks like the lift. I like the green track though. It was a fun little ride, hope it does well in Mexico.

Tatsu, without question. And Stealth had many operational modifications done to it when it was moved to Carowinds that allowed for more reliable operation, things that had to be done while the ride was disassembled. I hear the capacity is still pretty low though.

^ I miss GL, but the loss of Stealth and Invertigo doesn't really destroy California. Stealth had a lot of issues, it was just great for the type of ride it inspired. Invertigo, as much as I loved it, had horrible capacity and a lot of mechanical issues too. The biggest negative of their removals was the loss of coasters in the park, as they were not replaced. But now we got Gold Striker coming so things are starting to look up for the park. Also, CGA has a lot of charm. It succeeds with that old american theme park feel more than a lot of parks, especially in CA. With some quality rides added here and there, it could become a great park again.

Since the 10 Years Ago trip down memory lane was a hit on the SFDK Thread, thought I'd do one for CGA (or PGA when these photos were taken). These photos were taken in 2002 on the last operating year of Greased Lightnin (also it's 25th anniversary year where it received an all new entrance and sign). This one is a little more interesting than SFDK's because it feature 3 rides that have since been removed. I also did the math, the park has operated for 36 years, going into it's 37th. It hasn't added a new coaster since Psycho Mouse in 2001, 12 years ago. So that means the park has spent 1/3 of it's existence not receiving a new coaster. Is Gold Striker ready yet? P.S. CGA and SFDK are all I got, so don't worry about me posting 10 year old pics of every park. ENJOY! First, Aerial shot of the park with 5 now defunct attractions. Stealth, Greased Lightnin, Invertigo, Triple Play, and the Bungee Pay Attraction (probably more too). Here is Psycho Mouse which was only in it's second season at the time. Greased Lightnin's new entrance sign, part of the 25th anniversary celebration. Greased Lightnin and Invertigo. Demon doing it's thing in the back. Sadly this is as high as the train went on the back tower due to a lot of trimming. The view from Vortex's queue. Loop Stealth. Flyers aren't so uncommon now, but this guy was a big deal when it opened. The most recent removal, Invertigo. Drop Zone with it's old paint job. Drop Zone with it's current paint job (I think this was taken in 2003 or 2004).

^ I love Boom's color scheme now. It matches the train now and the white was so boring. As for Kong, I like the current paint job but I still think the best was the original paint job. No, not the Orange and Brown. The colors it was as Hangman at Opryland and was assembled in at SFDK before it was painted.

^ I don't find them too thrilling, but they are a lot of fun! SFoT's might be a lot more thrilling though, because of it's crazy height. Personally I am stoked to ride it this summer.

Steel 1. Intimidator 305 2. Maverick 3. SheiKra 4. Millennium Force 5. Xcelerator Wood 1. The Voyage (Based on my rides in 2006) 2. The Beast 3. Giant Dipper (SCBB) 4. Viper (SFGAm) 5. Wild One

^ That's fine, Medusa looks Yellow to me but people always say it's green. But I'm also mildly colorblind. I know the V2 one for sure because I was there when they presented all the changes to the park to the staff and talked about the whole sunset thing. To this day I have only seen a sunset look like the V2 colors once. But by god they were right for that one day.

It's Orange and Purple. They are the official colors the park chose for "Sky". Just like the Sky sign near Wave Swinger. It supposed to look like the colors of the sky during a sunset.

They modified V2 in 2002, It was repainted to the orange and purple in 2007 when they re-branded the park to Discovery Kingdom. I've been on the 3 styles of impluse coasters in the US and honestly prefer the angled spiral. The hang upside down is pretty fun. The downfall is the short back tower and no hold brake which I like a lot on the traditional impulses.

It was the red loop. There were issues with it's movement while the train went through it that made it rough. If you knew this and braced for it then the ride wasn't bad at all. Also sitting in a non-wheel seat helped a lot too. But it was really that one bad spot that made everyone say it was terrible all over. I must have rode that think 200+ times over the 2 years operating it. I never got off thinking "no more," I always was down for another ride.

Here is a little Grumpy Cat to brighten your day. But seriously, Happy New Year everyone.

I agree on V2, but I love me my Zonga. Not sure I can agree anything is better. Though Superman is pretty amazing.

Signed up for the Coaster Run at Knott's in March. Doing the 10K. Anyone else running?

I haven't been out of the country yet, that said I really want to see: London Sydney Tokyo Hong Kong Rome Paris The Real Matterhorn Also I want to see a baseball game in every MLB Stadium (So far I have 2) New York Grand Canyon Niagra Falls Mount Rushmore I have a ton more, but I won't list it all.

Part 4 - Universal Studios Florida Here we go with another update from Orlando! Universal Studios was a park I didn't have much expectations of. It seems like it's gotten overshadowed by it's little brother next door. It was definitely a park that felt like it needed more, the good thing is that Universal seems to have noticed too since they are going balls to the walls on expansion. Simpsons seems to be getting it's own land, Transformers is coming to the east coast, and of course there's Wizarding World Part Deux. What the park did have, however, did not disappoint. For the most part the attractions they had were a lot of fun. Some were even surprisingly better than I ever expected. The nighttime show was a pretty fun, though not up to par with the Disney nighttime shows. Unfortunately Universal just doesn't have the movie catalog that Disney has to tap into. But it was still a great way to end the day at the park, and allowed Morgan Freeman to earn yet another freckle. Rides: Revenge of the Mummy - Indeed, overall this ride was better than the one at USH. That said, USH's has a much better dark ride at the beginning and finale was better than USF's awkward Brendan Frasier video. If USF's had treated the ride as if you were part of the story like USH's, and not like it was a behind the scenes of a movie, and then part of the story, and then behind the scenes again... It would have been the perfect ride. Still loved it though. Hollywood Rip Ride and Rockit - Good god, no! This was such a disappointment. It was overall pretty boreing and just beat the crap out of me. I wish this had turned out better because it looks like a lot of fun and the music concept is a cool add-on (though the song catalog could use an update). Men in Black - This was way better than I expected. I pretty much just loved it. E.T. Adventure - I never got on the one at USH, but this was a lot of fun. It was weird, and I feel like I maybe needed to be on drugs to fully enjoy it. But it was cool none the less. Despicable Me - Love the Minions... love the ride! Can't wait to get it out on the west coast. The Globe The Archway Can't wait for T2 to close and this to come to California. No... No Shrek 4D! Go away! Macy's Parade stuff was out. Really wish this were better. The Park's Tree NOOOO!!! GO AWAY! Lagoon full of Nighttime stuff. Stoked that you guys are getting this in Florida. Great ride. Hey look! I'm home! The only ride that ever had a line my whole visit. Simpsons doing it's DCA impression. More construction walls. MIB was a really fun ride. What an odd ride. Still fun though! Garfield is like, "Ride the Mummy, they have Lasagna!" Never did find the Lasagna.