shepp

I guess the cremations will be taken care of by all those pyro guys at Universal...

I've only ridden S: UF once, but I couldn't see what all the pretzel loop fuss was about. On Goliath, in contrast, I experience serious Gs, but I find the experience positive because the release from the helix is...I don't know, elating? On other helices, I just end up wondering "Who, exactly, finds this element pleasurable, and why?" though I think my body's learned not to fight positive Gs, which makes them easier to take. But for sheer sustained G weirdness, I'd have to nominate Mission: Space.

Theming? That was a waste of money. I mean, how much do checkered flags cost?

But that moment when you flip forward and head straight to the ground facedown is the whole reason to ride it....

SFMW is my home park, Julie, and I've gotta tell you that I ride Kong maybe once a season, tops, and have no desire to ride it a second time, so it's touching to imagine it being somebody's lost Shangri La. I guess it's like first loves. I sometimes wax sentimental over my first boyfriend, but I suspect if I ever met him again, I'd think, "Christ! Whatever did I see in him?"

What is it with all the length queens here? I seem to be in a distinct minority on TPR, but I can think of few kinetic rushes I've gotten that can beat my rides on KK and TTD. They only last 25 seconds? So how long is an orgasm?

It's been four or five years since I rode it, and though I'm no fan of roughness, I have to confess I quite enjoyed it. Maybe I was in a good mood, maybe it was the visuals, maybe it was the discount I'd gotten from Deperado. Whatever. Only rode it once, though, and dunno what I'd think if I rode it now. And as far as it costing whatever: People lose a hell of a lot more than that at New York, New York in the 2 minutes 40 seconds ME takes to complete its run. The last blackjack hand I played at NY, NY cost me 10 bucks and lasted about 20 seconds: the dealer had 21. Yes, it's a ridiculous amount of money for one coaster, but folks have paid 50 bucks and stood on line 6 hours to ride Kingda Ka, or paid loads more to Fastlane their way past the line.

Look at it this way: The acceleration's only half what it would be on Kingda Ka.

PKD's Drop Zone. Amazing air.

SFDL's and SFA's are mirror images of each other. SFNE's has a different layout and tunnels.

Stitch, I do agree with you that AE and the Studios would probably have been a more natural fit, especially with Star Tours and the scene from Alien already there. But hey, they already had the building at MK, and it was a cost-effective way to add what they must have figured would be a major new attraction. At least nobody ever died on it...that we know of.

I don't know...I suppose that an argument could be made that any ride at WDW should be so innocuous that it won't upset anyone at all. (Bye-bye TOT, RnRC, and forget Expedition Everest.) But after all, AE had TERROR written in big caps right in its name. Since it officially opened in June of '05, you would have had to be at least 9 years old when you experienced it, and, not to seem unsympathetic, but by nine, most kids (and their parents) know what "TERROR" means. As I recall, there were also posted warnings. I found AE to be one of the more amusing attractions at the MK, one of the half-dozen reasons for me to go to there. But then, I'm not a Lilo and Stich fan, and as neither of us has actually been to the new attraction, any discussion of its merits should wait for someone who's actually seen it.

I have a T-shirt that reads: "KINGDA KA: The Tallest, Fastest Rollercoaster in the World." But surely there's a coaster that goes faster than 0 mph.

Okay, then...let's say that I should get a resident's rake-off at all the tourist crap at Fisherman's Wharf. Better? As to HHN: I'm afraid that I'll be travelling during October, and won't be going. But I will simply say, to wind up my rants in this thread, that based on my previous experience, they don't check for Florida IDs at the gate.

Yes, I understand that most HHN attendees are "locals," which in this case apparently encompasses everything from the Panhandle to the Keys. The question is whether simply averaging out prices - $50 for everyone, say, instead of 60/35 or whatever, would cause a drop in attendance or revenues. When I go to developing countries, I'm used to two-tier pricing, which allows poor locals to go to attractions at a fraction of what I pay. That seems just. But like I said, why poor Donald Trump would pay less to HHN than I do baffles my sense of justice. And as far as your "piece of the pie" goes...Florida doesn't even have a personal income tax; virtually all its taxation is regressive. What tourists pay in hotel tax, sales tax, outrageous airport fees, etc., keeps your economy afloat and your pie in berries. I live in San Francisco, whole swaths of which are given over to tourist tat, and the only admission breaks locals get are to a couple of tax-supported institutions - the zoo and an art museum. By your lights, visitors should be paying nearly twice as much as I do to ride the cable cars...not that the cable cars are anything more than a theme-park ride at this point.

Word is, of course, that AE scared the crap out of too many folks for the Disney suits to tolerate. I thought it was excellent, but I can see it totally freaking out the claustrophobic, the young, and those on really good drugs. Just part of WDW's catering to the wimpiest common denominator. If AE had opened at Universal instead, it would be alive and thriving.

Gee, every day would be Gay Day at the park, huh?

So I understand why parks might offer local-resident discounts during the off season, but why TF should I pay more than Donald Trump to go to HHN, an event which pretty much always sells out way in advance? It's not like Universal is a taxpayer-supported organization, and odds are they lose potential income on Florida discounts. Is it a public relations effort aimed at the next time they'll need a favor from Orlando voters? Or is it true that someone who drops a few hundred dollars flying from California deserves to pay more than someone who drives a few miles to the park?

Actually, I didn't have any particular groin pain after multiple rides. I did find it weird how very much weaker the efects are when you're riding the back side, though.

"Hell" being the operative word...

Indeed, I should have said "roughness," not "banging." (Not having meant, nor said, "head banging," though I'd argue that even some rides with lapbars can ram you up against a seatback pretty nicely.) Agreed, Jinx and FOF are a lot of fun. Hardly B&M-smooth, though.

It's not just a matter of being a pus**, oh butch one. I can enjoy Joker's Jinx or GASM, despite some banging. But I find the thrill-to-discomfort ratio on SLCs to be pathetically low. Just Not Worth It.

Yep, just ask all the thousands of people who haven't ridden Kingda Ka in the last month.

Yep, but not a rocket. Different configuration, different technology. Similar reliability problems, though. But I should have been more explicit.

Hey, I vote for a Togo stand-up. SF can call it "Batman: The Neutering."