speedracer

Biggest one since the 1989 I believe, thank goodness it was a short one: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/Quakes/nc40204628.php

Sure did, was bigger than usual. Have broken glass everywhere, knocked alot off the shelves, luckily nothing more. Now we get to wait for the aftershocks

^ In my years, I've noticed the ones that scream faggot the loudest (read: I'm not gay!) are the biggest of closet cases (Sen. Craig anyone?). I've got plenty of straight friends that are completely ok with me being gay because they are in turn secure enough with their own sexuality not to feel threatened by me or any other gay person whatsoever. And have no reason nor any need to put down others to validate their own hetrosexuality. For whatever reason, whether it be religious or insecurity with his own sexuality, best to just avoid him and don't allow him to get under your skin. If there is indeed a large GBLT presense at your school, try joining or even forming a gay/straight student group yourself. Always try to surround yourself with people who are a positive and supportive influence, and avoid the ones that go out of their way to bring you down. Being gay here in the U.S. means growing a thick skin, there will always be ignorant aholes that will hate you for just being gay. People are ignorant stupid paranoid animals, nothing you can do will change that, but don't let it change you. Cause they are indeed the ones with the serious issues, not you. So unless you're a big strapping stud like Terrance, I'd personally avoid any physical confrontations. This ahole is obviously doing it to get a response from you, and it's working. Whereas if you grow that thick skin and don't allow him (and all future aholes just like him you'll be meeting in your lifetime) to have that control over you, they lose. Bringing it to the attention of your school though is a good idea, let the adults sort out this prick, you should be focussing on being a kid and getting good grades. Not dealing with crap like this.

BGA?

Hungry Bear seems to be a popular place with the 4-legged furries of DL: http://www.micechat.com/forums/showthread.php/elusive_felis_disneylanis-37338p24.html Legend has it that they were indeed introduced to the park as a natural pest control, probably the same for other parks too.

^ yeah, very cool to finally see AA's hidden top hat! Had no idea it was that big.

^ just rumors at this point, nothing confirmed. There's this whole backstory theory for the timing of these announcements, and for Disney's reasons for only revealing pieces at a time: http://www.miceage.com/allutz/al101807b.htm And guess what, it's working! http://www.ocregister.com/news/group-council-initiative-1899868-suncal-ballot

^ Didn't miss much, except for the nice view.

I also recall hearing a main reason why SFMM went with Scream is because of the serious reliability, capacity and guest complaint issues they were having with their most recent additions, X and DV. A reliable crowd pleasing people eater like a large B&M is exactly what they needed to counter-address the much hyped PR nightmare X and DV ended up being for the park. I also agree Boom Bay at the land-locked coaster starved CGA was a poor consolation prize for removing 2 major coasters. The Bay Area has more than enough water parks already, Boom Bay brought nothing unique to the area that hadn't been done already on a much better and bigger scale. But I can see Paramounts logic behind it. The meager additions to it year after year were inexpensive additions for them (it still only offers 1/3 of a real waterpark), and with it only capable of operating for only a few hours a day, for only a few months of the season, great cost cutting addtion to hype with little operational cost involved. Thank goodness the dark days of penny-pinching negligent Paramount are now behind us!

^ Thing is, the original DCA concept was so flawed, unless they just bulldozed the whole thing and start from scratch, no amount of fixes will ever be enough to make DCA your typical Disney park experience. Since razing the place would be financially unfeasible, throwing as much Disney into it where they can is all they can really do at this point. The Disney parks were built on the concept of "Here you leave today, and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow and fantasy" concept. They transport you to exotic places and away from the world of today. Except for DCA, which should have read " Here you leave today and enter the world of today, today and um, today". Since Eisner was going for more of a SF park approach, he should have just gone ahead with theming DCA to the history of CA under the flags of Spain, Mexico, US, etc. At least it would have been easier to now convert to a more Disney-like park. But Eisners approach was to theme it like a hip trendy NorCal-themed LA shopping district with rides, nothing more. The new additions are definitely more Disney-like, but don't hold your breath for DCA to ever be a total Disney park experience because of the flawed foundation and short-sightedness of the parks creator. Best we can hope for is a Disney Seas level third gate sometime in the future.

On the flipside, it could also be the company showing how serious they are about committing to operating the park. No company that is intending to unload a property in the near future is going to drop $14 million in improvements on it. If you can show me just one example of CF ever in their history announcing a major new coaster 2 seasons in advance, I'll buy that. There's a good reason parks don't announce their major additions so far in advance, especially in a competitive market like NorCal with SF just down the road. Just like fixing up a junked house or business before selling, any improvements add value and justification for jacking up the asking price. They have to add something to keep attendance up while they still own the park, the contract and planning for this coaster was obviously drawn up long before this recent sell off issue came up. The unusual timing of this announcement for an 09' addition smells very fishy to me, I wouldn't necessarily count this good news as proof of their intentions not to sell off. Sounds more like they're laying it all out on the table to get the best asking price possible. Renegade clone is a good addition for CGA, but still won't get me back to the park. Can't justify what they charge for what little quality they offer, but can guarantee SFDK will now be stepping up and adding something big for 09'!

Saw this in the LA Times, very surreal: Hope everyone down South stays ok, take good care guys!

SFDK is almost twice the size of DL, so in a way, technically it will be CA's biggest event if you look at it that way. Obviously it won't be anywhere near as immersive and amazing as DL's, but acreage wise, they can probably get away with the claim. Gotta give SF props for bringing the holiday celebration back to the park in a BIG way! Gilroy Gardens Holiday Lights has been a HUGE hit out here ever since they started a few years back, no doubt SFDK's trying to cash in on the popularity too. Can't wait to see this and play in the snow!

Here's the one concept art leaked showing the new PP billboard, along with an example of the new Victorian era re-theming for the area:

Nice update, like the decorations! But CGA, ugh!!! Better than KGA, but I just don't get why CF insist on tacking on something to the name. After Marriott, the park was known simply as GA for years before Paramount stepped in, no one in the Northern CA ever confused it with an Illinois park 2 thousand miles away. Other than coaster nuts, no one out here is even aware another GA even exist. Locals simply call the place GA anyways regardless, can't imagine anyone saying "let's go to California's Great America!". Better yet, should just drop the GA all together and rename the park. Thanks to Paramount, not much America left in it anyway, let alone anything great about the place.

^^ The 1983 update added all the fiber optic lighting and 3D effects, state of the art at the time. So yeah, even these old classics get refreshed every often, proably time for another one, but I'd rather they fix TL first. BTW, the LM ride won't be your typical Disney kiddie dark ride, you can see from the concept art it won't be the small low capacity version with the overhead track originally designed for Paris. With the higher capacity Omni-Mover ride system, huge show building, catchy soundtrack and rumoured $100 million budget, sounds more like it'll be on the scale of a Haunted Mansion. Can't wait for the giant animatronic Ursula finale! My feelings about DCA pretty much match what seems to be a general concensus, not that bad, but not that great either: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/orange/la-me-parsons18oct18,1,6396361.column?coll=la-editions-orange&ctrack=5&cset=true Shame to think with all the cash spent to build Eisner's Great Mis-Adventure over Anaheim, plus the hundreds of millions more in additions since to stabilize it, and now this $1.1 billion, we could have had our Westcot or Port Disney after all.

^^^ Thanks for the link, really shows alot more! Wanted to point this out since from what I read on the Disney geek sites, you are correct that TSMM, along with World of Color and Carsland were all previously approved under a completely different budget plan than this 1.1 billion just approved only this month. These 3 were part of the previous round of fixes greenlit, construction had already begun on all but Carsland long ago before this recent approval of the 1.1 billion budgeted extreme makeover. Suppose to be a replica of the Pan-Pacific Auditorium, so it actually fits into 1920's LA perfectly: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan-Pacific_Auditorium This new gate will be placed approximately where the giant CA letters are, moving the gate up and giving DCA a bigger entrance area.

Official press release with some concept art!: http://www.disneylandnews.com/graphics/fact%20sheet%20FINAL.pdf

^^ Should be alot more announced soon, at least a couple more E and a few C and D tickets are also rumoured. Here's another announcement, confirming an upcoming news conference: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-disney17oct17,0,3512509.story?coll=la-home-center

Official announcement of DCA expansion with many confirmed details!: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119257768823361264.html Yaa for Little Mermaid ride, boo to keeping MM. Cool that it'll all be done in only 5yrs vs the rumoured 10! Read Robb's Commentary HERE! New turnstiles and front area. Trolley's down the new main street. The Lagoon Show - "Disney's World of Color" Toy Story Mania New Front Entrance More Little Mermaid Ride Little Mermaid Ride Radiator Springs Racers (Test Track style ride) More Cars Land Cars Land Map of the "new" Disney's California Adventure

Been curious about exactly what this is suppose to be, found this, very well could be the software behind TSM (Disney is listed as a "User"). Scroll down under "THEME PARKS - ENTERTAINMENT", right hand video: http://www.t-immersion.com/video_gallery/main.asp?idf=a0# Here's an even more impressive demonstration of all the possibilities: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-446063140444016106 Knowing Disney, they'll do a knock out job of plussing this to make it all as totally immersive as possible.

Since leg choppers are included, gotta include the ultimate crap your pants "face chopper" shed Stealth used to nearly hit at GA.

Interesting insight here, mainly this: http://www.mercurynews.com/49ersheadlines/ci_7148445?nclick_check=1 Sounds more like CF is the one to blame if anything happens to GA by instigating a selloff as the only option for the 49'rs to get their stadium built.

Sad to report, not very well. Got some really bad rides this season, major jackhammering and way too much shuffling. Having ridden every season since it opened, this years were some of the worst rides it's given. Needs some serious trackwork and TLC, which unfortunately SF isn't known for. As for Renegade, enjoy it now while you can. If Ghostrider is any indication of how CF maintains their wood, can forget about it still being a great ride in a few years. Pretty sad when small independent parks like SCBB can take better care and pride in maintaining their woodies than the big corp. themers.

I think someone mentioned this way back when in this thread, but it merits repeating. As a general rule if you're not over 18 yet, be very careful before deciding to come out to your parents if not pretty certain they'll be ok with it. Unfortunately some conservative parents aren't able to accept and unconditionally love their very own flesh and blood for who they are. You really want to be old enough to be able to take care and support yourself incase they throw you out like a few poor guys in this thread. And even worse, you really want to be old enough to avoid having to be sent to some brainwashing religious camp to cure you of your "sickness". Breaks my heart to hear things like this still happening in 2007, but it unfortunately still happens. That is SO great to hear, congrats!!! It really is such a HUGE weight off the shoulders and relief not having to live that lie anymore. Really sad that anyone should ever feel ashamed of themselves for just being who they are though, you can thank society for that. Reason behind why gay pride events were created in the first place, when you have an entire society telling you should be ashamed of who you are, it's SO important to do the exact opposite instead and stand tall and proud of who you are, just the way you are.