shepp

Thanks for the feedback, guys. Q-Bot (if needed) it is.

^ OK. Elissa (or whomever), I'll be at GAdv Wednesday and Thursday, June 1 and 2, with a possible 3rd day on Friday, if necessary. I hate to blow a lot of money on FastPass type thingies (especially since the nice parks give them out for free). But in light of Kingda Ka (maybe? probably?) opening, and because the handstamps at CP were so useful, I was thinking of going Wednesday, seeing how things went without the Q-Bot, then Q-Botting on Thursday. I know the "run across the park" problem, but are there any other big reasons I should scrap or change my plan? Any helpful Q-Bot hints? And should this be moved to "Ask Alvey?"

You're talking about Q-Bot, I presume? I was thinking of using it when I go. Why's it a disaster? Anyone?

When ST opened, it was really amazing...but that was a long, long time ago, and now small-screen simulators are common as dirt. The least they could do is churn out a new film in 3-D, bring back a little of the Wow factor.

Well, seriously... There's a huge debate about the causes of sexual orientation. Some (highly questionable) research has found differences in brain strcture. Other research has found that if one of a set of identical twins - even if separated very early and growing up in different environments - is queer, the other one is more likely to be queer, too, than would be the case in non-twin siblings. Some studies show that orientation is usually set early, before the age of six. (Though I'm not sure what the markers for that would be.) On the other hand, many peoples' orientation changes over time. And then there are those who theorize that everyone is born bisexual... My opinion: that orientation is due to a spectrum of causes, both biological and environmental. I know that in my case, Satan appeared and offered to let me ride Millennium Force if I'd go queer, and I took the bait. As far as behavioral traits go...I think many gender-linked behaviors are socially created, and perhaps queers pick up "archetypal" behaviors early on. (Of course, there are effeminate straight men, too. And few straight women actually behave like femmy men...except Paris Hilton.) Perhaps straight boys pick up butch behavior, and act more "masculine" than they naturally would? There may also be hormonal factors. I know a number of female-to-male transsexuals who've told me their behavior patterns changed when they started taking testosterone. And orientation and gender aren't necessarily linked. There are transsexual men who are straight, others who are gay or bi. One person I know was a lesbian, transitioned and had a straight affair with a woman, then came out as a gay man. Complicated, huh? As Dolly Parton says, "If I'd been born a man, I would have been a drag queen."

^ Seems highly unlikely. That info goes into the database when you buy pass or ticket, regardless, and the scanning machines at the gate don't register the color of your pass, just the barcode. Dont know if it's happened to you, but SF parks occasionally send around employees with PDAs to the queues before the park opens, randomly asking some patrons what their home ZIP codes are, how many times they've been to that park, etc. Since the selection process seems totally slapdash, I've wondered how statistically valid that info actually is... Welcome to the board!

I was on Spiderman when the lights came up, we were facing a big blank screen, and we had to be led out by an employee. But not so interesting, really. I bet most of the people here could say the same.

Not all that shocking, really. How you identify and what you do are two different things (within reason, of course.) There are plenty of self-identified straight men who've had sex with other men, as we all know. But you'll note I said that the hypotheitical "lesbos" would be participating merely for a straight man's amusement. That, I find rather unlikely...a result of too many Larry Flynt-bred fantasies...

As I live in San Francisco, which is sort of the Cedar Point of eating out, there's plenty to choose from, including incredible special occasion restaurants like Shanghai 1930 that are above my usual budget. For frequent eating, I love Chutney, an inexpensive Indian place that reminds me of the food I ate when I was in India, only without the threat of dysentery. For Mission burritos (yeah, those big-as-your-head babies were born in SF), Taqueria San Jose. Single fave food in the City just now: the Thai pumpkin curry at Bang San.

Actually, I'd already long renewed my SFMW pass when I got the blue thingy in the mail. It came with a handful of special freebies available only to those who'd waited to renew. The price had gone up by 5 bucks, but I still felt a bit burned, as SF had had my money for months, but rewarded the procrastinators with extra perks.

^ Hmmm, ever wonder if your girlfriend wishes she were a "lesbo," too? And, of course, precious few real lesbians (unlike the porn vid variety) would want to have sex with a straight man around merely for his amusement. You and your penis would be - how shall we say? - thoroughly extraneous.

That we're "evil" and "disordered." Gotta love an ex-Nazi in a dress...

^ Depends on where in the state. Colorado Springs is Convert a Queer for Christ central. South Park, on the other hand...

To me, it's like the difference between PBS and HBO. Uni is just more adult, edgier, less pompous, more thrilling. Less self-important, more postmodern. E.g., Uni stages HHN, while WDW turned the alien into Stitch. Nothing at WDW is as in-your-face cheeky as Shrek 4-D. And the ecological messages at DAK, while well-intentioned, are plodding. (And ignore the fact that Disneyfication has pretty well overwhelmed Florida.) There's plenty I love about WDW: TOT, RnRC, the India and Africa theming at DAK, and the Haunted Mansion is still fun after all these years. But plenty of WDW falls, for me, flat: I think Test Track's weak, parts of DAK's theming is sub-Six Flags, and World Showcase is positively creaky. What's new at WDW? Well, I like M:S, though it seems I'm in a minority, while the Great New Mountain is, let's face it, just a massively updated Matterhorn, yeti and all. On a case-by-case comparison - Kali vs. Bluto, Dudley vs. Splash, RnRC vs. ROTM, JPRA vs. Dinosaur, Jungle Cruise vs. Jaws, T23D and Shrek vs. HISTA and the Muppets, BTTF vs. Star Tours, MIB vs. Buzz, Catastrophe Canyon vs. Earthquake and Twister, Indy vs. Sindbad, Port of Entry vs. Main Street, Spidey vs. any WDW dark you care to name, even the theming of Fantasyland vs. Seuss Island - I think Uni wins most times, though not all. What Disney does have in spades, especially the MK, is charm and childhood resonance. And the four WDW parks are better than just about any parks on the planet. But IMO, for sheer, audacious imagination, IOA beats them hands down. If I were a kid or a parent, I'd probably prefer WDW. But, hey, I'm neither.

Cool! Friday was my 3rd, "just in case" day. Now if they just have the damn thing up and running at least semi-reliably by June...

Dunno, but based on my experience with TTD downtime, I've scheduled two days at GAdv, with the possibility of a third, just in case. Factor in heat, queues, and the possibility of rain, and I'm erring on the side of caution. And I've never been there, so there'll be a lot of stuff to do. I know I was glad to have had a second day at CP. (Same with SFMM when I was trying to ride X.) But your mileage may vary. So the ERT thing ^. Is that mentioned on the official Website? Can't find it... And is that for all SF passholders, or just SFGAdv? Anyway, I'm keeping in mind staying on property at CP so I could ride TTD before the GP opening time, getting to two trains from riding the front row, and having TTD go down for 4 hours. (I quit after 2 hours and came back later.)

^ Ratzinger is indeed the ultimate "Obey my authoritay!" kind of guy... Hey, you think he has an alien radio dish up his butt?

Thanks for clarifying - I think I initially misunderstood where you were coming from. And I agree that just being gay is nothing in particular to be proud of. It should also, of course, not be a reason to be beaten, fired, thrown out of your home, or damned to hell. But we (still) live in a homophobic society, and standing up to all that IS a reason to be proud. I'm proud of students, queer and straight, who participate in the Day of Silence. More than that, though, I'm proud of guys like you who choose to be out in high school. That's awesome. Because there is the gay equivalent of hair dye: being in the closet. You're out, I'm sure it's cost you something, and I salute you. There are long, boring academic arguments over whether there's such a thing as a transhistorical or cross-cultural "gay" identity. Perhaps it's because of my generation, or living in San Francisco, or my life experience, or my reading, or all of the above, but I do feel a commonality with other queers. (Like my parents felt about being Jewish, some of which lingers in me as well.) I feel a bond with the Egyptian gays swept up in a mass arrest, or the men in an Amsterdam gay bar - even if I have absolutely nothing at else (including coasters) in common with them. When I've run into other gay men at theme parks, I feel the same - it's like we're starting in the middle of conversation. Once again - you may not feel I should, but I feel proud of you. And though, as queers gain equal rights, our sense of being a "community" may vanish, I'm glad that it's easier for you in your high school than it was for me in mine. And I wish you even better days ahead. Shepp

^ Sorry if I sounded condescending. You have guts for being out in high school, and I respect that. However, your approach in your original post was pretty damn judgmental, and while queer people can have disagreements over tactics (though a roller coaster site is a pretty weird place to air them) your "SCREW THAT!" tone while lecturing activists on what is or is not the best way of furthering gay causes smacks of, well, arrogance. It's absolutely fine with me if you don't want to participate in the Day of Silence - or anything else - but who are you, at the ripe age of 16 (with, from what I can tell, minimal political experince or knowledge of the gay movement) to lecture the rest us on what is or isn't good for the gays? There are plenty of straight people who will tell you some of their best friends are gays, yet oppose giving us our legal rights. Even the damn fundamentalists tell us they "love" us...though we are, regrettably, damned to eternal torment. You may not want to approach things on the basis of gay/straight, and you may oppose group actions and protests. But when lesbians were fired from Cracker Barrel restaurants for being queer, only protesting as a group got C.B. to change its antigay policy. And if you think we're past the era of community action, think again. I repeat...in Georgia, you have NO right not to be fired or evicted merely on account of your orientation. If you think your showing your fellow students that you're a cool dude is, in and of itself, going to change that, dream on. As far as "queer" goes...first, I use it because it encompasses gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered people. And it's not like "nigger." "Fag" is. If you knew about gay history - something you disdain - you'd know that until the late 20th century, many queer people preferred to call themselves "queer," rather than "gay." And anyway, since the resurgence of "queer," plenty of homophobes are now using "gay" as an epithet. And there's the rise of academic "queer studies," and the whole "queer theory" thing. So I think of myself as "gay" AND "queer." And part of a larger queer movement.

Actually, a recent poll showed most Germans who had an opinion opposed him, 36 to 29%. He's well known as having used his position as head of, essentially, the Inquisition, for opposing intellectual freedom, ecumenicalism, modernism, doctrinal reform, Lutherans, feminism, gay rights, and just about anything that might move the Church from the Middle Ages headlong into the 14th century. Galileo better watch out. He might have his pardon revoked.

I think, dude, the problem is "Soarin'," not "Florida." I have indeed been to the Everglades. To appreciate them, you have to get out of your car and walk. From 100 feet up, they'd look like a featureless expanse of grassland. And the miles and miles of beaches are nice to lie on, but from above, they sure lack the drama of Big Sur or the San Francisco Bay. Cape Canaveral would be cool to be above during a launch; otherwise, you'd just be looking down on giant warehouses. California has rocky shorelines, the wonders of Death Valley, and the highest mountain in the lower 48. The tallest mountains in Florida were built by Disney. "Flat" from above is "far off and flat." That being said, Disney might well have invested in "Soarin' Over America." But that didn't happen.

Thanks, all, for the encouraging words...I'm really looking forward to my trip. BTW, if anybody else is heading down there, I ordered discounted tickets to BGW and PKD from http://www.vwc.edu/vrps/home/information/Tickets/discount_theme_park_tickets.htm Seemed to be the best deal I could get without waiting till I arrived and scrounging for Coke cans or haunting Burger King...and they also have tix for Hershey, SFA, and Carowinds...one-stop shopping.

Or that people will lose some weight.

I'll be at BGW on Monday, June 6, and it turns out the park is only open from 10-6, since it's so early in the summer. I have the possibility of visiting the next day, but I already (maybe stupidly) ordered single-day discount tix instead of the slightly pricier 2-day option. So the question for experienced BGW-goers (and I know that DarKastle's opening will change things a lot) is: assuming I get there early, tour efficiently, and have some luck, is it reasonable to expect to ride the 4 coasters at least once (hopfully more), Pompeii, DarKastle, and see the Haunted Lighthouse and Corkscrew Hill (and what the heck is that, exactly, anyway?) in just 8 hours? Without totally missing out on some of the nice details of the park? Itinerary suggestions? Alpengeist or AC first? Any other hints for maximizing a short day? Oh, and once you're in the park, do they have a "return for the second day" option? On discounted tickets? Thanks!

Form the Denton (TX) Record Chronicle review: "Why take an old, ugly lump of cheese and make it into a bigger, uglier, smellier lump of cheese?"