Double0Kevin

Dear god... don't even joke like that. Talk about a boring, cheesy, all around awful show that rarely filled a 10th of that stadium. I'd love for the park to really invest in a good show... maybe some type of high quality cirque style show? Or tear the damn thing down and build a multi-launched inverting wooden aquatrax wing rider. Either is good with me.

Don't let that get you down. I had to have surgery to remove my gallbladder in May. Caused me to miss over a month of training. Not to mention I have a form of rheumatoid arthritis that causes my training to be spotty when it's acting up. Sounds like you know your stuff when it comes to preparing so I'm sure a week won't get ya down. Have either of you done the 5K before? I keep reading conflicting stories. Some say that you get to stay in DCA after and they open some things early, others say they make everyone leave and come back at opening. Anyone know which is it.

Agreed. It's an excellent ride. I see no need to remove it at all or modify it in any way. Personally I think removal of any Schwarzkopf should be made illegal . Superman is actually very wide from it's support structure. I don't think it would fit at all in that spot.

^ That pretty much hits it dead on. I think the only park operators that don't do much in terms of borrowing would be parks linked to larger companies that have income coming elsewhere. Good example is Disney Parks, they can draw on the parent company that makes most of it's money from Television. Another is Universal that makes money again from TV through it's parent company Comcast. Straight park operators like Six Flags and Cedar Fair really have to survive off of investors and taking on debt. Then park profits go to cover costs, payroll, and debt payments.

Wild One - SFA

Went and saw The Campaign the other day. Loved it! It was really refreshing to watch a political satire that didn't chose sides. It ripped on democrats as much as it did on republicans. Also the characters were not what I expected, but was thoroughly entertained and laughed my ass off.

Well, if this thread has proven anything... it's that there are not very many female enthusiasts.

^Has a scary, but accurate insight into my finances < Sore from running so much in preparation for the Disneyland Half-Marathon next week. v Is a mystery to me

I'm all the way back in F. Which I am absolutely OK with. This is my first Half and I could honestly care less about my time... I just want to finish. I'm averaging a 11.5 min mile right now... but who knows what will happen on race day. Anyone doing the 5K the day before?

"Madness" - Muse

Finally going to have a chance to eat at Carthay next week when I go to run the Half-Marathon. This update made me even more excited! What are the rules about watching Play Parade form the balcony? Do you just have to be lucky and in the restaurant when it goes by?

Yeah, that's how the water dummies come from B&M a lot of the time. Honestly, I would love to see an LSM Impulse (just in general, not necessarily at Knott's) The LSMs now use much less electricity and have a lot more thrust. I bet they could make taller Impulse coasters that don't require 3 swings to get to full speed. Might also make for a more reliable holding brake too.

^ They did say that Hurricane would be replaced with a roller coaster. I hadn't heard about the expansion of the deck though.

Why is everyone clinging to this rumor about Leviathan going to Knott's? Where has there ever been proof of that? I don't buy it for the fact that it wouldn't have fit with that layout. And it's not like a massive coaster like that is suddenly just re-designed and moved at the drop of a hat.

I agree. And to me Verbolten was a big additions. When I said big earlier I intentionally did the quotes on it to indicate that to me a big coaster isn't literally a huge ride, it's just a major attraction. Big Thunder and Space Mountain are relatively small coasters, but because of what they are, they are big to me. Make sense?

You're not. I'll be looking forward to beIng able to watch an NFL game in a stadium that isn't ready to crumble to the ground. Wait, Candlestick didn't already crumble to the ground?

I'm not rooting for any one specific ride, but I would love to see it get something major. They really haven't gotten anything "big" since Silver Bullet. As much as I love parks that keep up and atmosphere, you eventually have to add an E-Ticket.

^ Haha, nice. They flew her from Oakland to San Diego and then transported her in a flat bed. The link I posted a page or 2 back shows her in the contraption that held her during the whole thing.

^ Speculation is totally cool. I'm talking about the people that get upset and start complaining about the rumors as if they were true. Just take a breather and wait till they announce before you get mad about it.

Here is the official press release sent to me from the park: Based on that last line it looks like that area may be the focus of 2013 (I'm guessing new show). So it doesn't look like Sea Lion Stadium is going anywhere. Also Sea Lions aren't always in the water. Pacific Stadium is all tanks, it's not designed to accommodate an animal like a Sea Lion that spends most it's time on land.

I love how people get so worked up over rumors. Watch them get a Mack Splash battle and everyone crying about a Giga ruining the park will have shed those tears for nothing. Why don't we just let the theme parks run their parks how they think is best and just enjoy what we get. If you think a ride ruins the park, go look at a picture of the park before it was there. Or go to a different park.

The park has a huge food court with Pizza, Mexican, BBQ, Panda, and most importantly BEER. And previously mentioned Johnny Rockets and that new chicken wing place across from Wave Swinger. The park has some decent food options. I think the only thing I would like to see when it comes to food is a full service restaurant. I know it was tossed around in the past to have along the lake where the picnic areas are, I think it could do well at the park and if placed well, could be a year around operation. If it had some type of animal exhibit (fish tanks, maybe a dolphin viewing window) it could attract people even when the park is closed.

^ It was rumored, but never confirmed.

They tried basically since they got Shouka to find another whale so she had a companion with no luck. It's next to impossible to get a Killer Whale due to all the restrictions. I disagree with the idea that park is getting away from animals. They have made significant investments over the last 10 years alone with Ocean Discovery, Odin's Temple of the Tiger and Tava's Jungleland not to mention upgrades to Dolphin Harbor, Sea Lion Stadium and Pacific Stadium(which is easily ready to be used for something else with Shouka gone). Also, they make a good amount of money from Dolphin Discovery (the swimming with dolphins program), Sharks in the Dark (Sleepover in Shark Experience) and other animal up-charges (feeding sea lions, elephant rides, etc.). Plus, the animals are a huge draw for the park and create the "family friendly" environment that many other Six Flags parks can't seem to figure out. I'm honestly not worried that the Animals are going anywhere. Shouka was just an unfortunate but necessary move I think.

Confirmed It's bitter sweet. Working at the park I got to be fairly familiar with the animals, even getting to go in to the backstage areas with Shouka. She was always very social. I remember coming in and cleaning the stadium on a day the park was closed and she would follow us around the pool and try to splash us. If you talked to her she would often make noises back. That said, those of us at the park knew all too well the difficulties of Shouka. It's hard on a whale to be alone and it showed when we had to cancel shows (once for an entire season) because she didn't want to perform. The staff was always great with her, and sure there were a lot of sad people at the park, but I'm very happy Six Flags chose to lose out on the revenue she created in favor of her well being.