Sir Clinksalot

Is anybody else watching this season of Survivor??? The show was getting a little tired last year, but this years show, so far has been totally awesome. They keep throwing curves at the tribes, and the supposed "Stronger" tribe has been getting their asses kicked. Last nights episod was, IMHO the best of this season so far. SPOILERS: So the tribes are going for a "Reward" challenge. At the Challenge they are told that both teams would be going to Tribal Council. The team that won the award would have to vote somebody out, then move to the "Jury" side where they would enjoy stew, root beer, etc. But, they also got to eat it in front of the other tribe who was doing Tribal Council. If that wasn't enough, they also got to vote to give 1 person on the other tribe immunity. They gave it to the person who was going to get voted out, so that made it even more interesting. I hope they keep making cool twists.

If I'm back from Chicago you know I'm there for ya!!! Of course, if I have a chance to go to any parks, your screwed!!!

Here is the schedule we did from our trip last year: Day 1: Arrived at DFW (Dallas Fort-Worth Airport) at 5:30am. Rented our car and headed straight for Houston. Got to SFAW at 10:00 for opening, spent about 5 hours at the park. Drove to San Antonio. Made it to SFFT for the last hour of park opening then checked into our hotel. Day 2: SFFT for about 4 hours (The 1 hour the night before made this possible) Lunch at Carabba's Drove to New Braunfels, checked into our Hotel and headed for Schlitterbahn. Spent about 3 hours at Schlitterbahn to do the Blasters. Day 3: Schlitterbahn for about 5 hours, both sides of the park. If we hadn't gone the night before we wouldn't have gotten on the Blasters. It was busy. Left at about 4pm headed for Dallas. Made it to SFOT for the last hour of park opening (see a trend here?) Day 4: SFOT until about 6pm. Fly Home. Now, you have 5 days. You could EASILY fit SFFT and SWSA in on the same day. They are within a few miles of each other. I don't know if you need 2 FULL days at Schlitterbahn. My suggestion is if you are going to spend 2 days anywhere, it should be SFOT. Don't discount SFAW so quickly, it's not a bad park IMO. Robb and Elissa are the true experts, so I'm sure they will have more tips for you.

Nice Pics Evan I think Josh was certainly the most photogenic person of the weekend.

Thanks Robb ... I tried to read that post earlier, I just didn't have the brain capacity to do so.

I have to go with Intamin. I probably have ridden more B&M's than Intamin, but the Intamin coasters I have ridden are really good. My #1 and #2 coasters are Intamin rides. B&M just has too many clones. I think a really under-rated company is Premier. I mean, they have Speed: The Ride in Vegas, Mr. Freeze at SFOT and Poltergeist at SFFT. Three REALLY good coasters, especially without the OTSR's. Throw in the Mummy rides and soon the Italian Job coasters and I think they are a solid #3.

I'm interested to hear some reviews of Silver Bullet from people who rode it for the first time this past weekend. I've heard everything from bad to great to amazing! I know people have differing opinions, but has there been another coaster that seems to have such an array? For example: DaveTh on Westcoaster writes: "We get to the top of the lift, and start to drop down, and immediately it seems like there’s not a great feeling of speed like on most other inverts. Sadly this continued throughout the ride, as it just never really generates a real sense of excitement. The ride moves through its course, and it feels like more of a graceful steel ballet than a kick ass ride experience. It’s very smooth, very quiet and not horrible, but at the same time it doesn’t deliver the sort of ride I look for in an inverted coaster. I’m sure that Knott’s got exactly the sort of ride they wanted, but to me this was the weakest B&M inverted coaster I’ve ever experienced. It’s a shame it doesn’t have a 48 inch height limit, as this would really make a good family coaster." to: Robb Alvey on Theme Park Review writes: "Silver Bullet reminded me more of Air or Silver Star than any other B&M. It certainly was the most tame, forceless B&M Invert I've been on. It seemed more like a family ride than a "thrill machine." The ride was "fun", it just didn't seem very "thrilling." It was fun in the same way Big Thunder Mountain is "fun." It wasn't the worst B&M I've been on, but FAR from the best. to: writes on rec.roller-coaster: "I'll tell you this -- people who claim that SB is forceless weren't there on Friday. EVERYBODY dropped off after a few rides. Xcelerator and to a lesser extent Ghostider are really the only two marathon coasters in the park. SB is too intense." to: Tiki Steve (From Solace report on Westcoaster): "I ended up riding Bullet about 15-20 times without getting off." So which is it? Is Silver Bullet really too instense? Not many people have stated that in thier reviews. I've been on Talon, Dark Knight, Batman, Great Bear, Dominator, Raptor, Medusa and a few others, and it sounds like this ride is more like Talon or Dark Knight, both which I like, but not as intense as Batman, Raptor or Dominator. I like a ride that have a kick to them. I grew up with the CI Cyclone, so I prefer rides with personality. Is Silver Bullet worth making a trip out to California for?

^ I agree. They are playing the game really well. They are so manipulative. The Mom/Son team and the Lesbo's were so retarded. I just hope they get into more "Stunt" stuff soon. It's always great when people have reservations about things.

Great Trip Report, and very nice pics. Hopefully we will get out there some year.

I vote for Good Eats, but there's another show that they air occasionally that fascinates me with Anthony Bordain called "A Cook's Tour." Basically it's him wandering around a city just eating wherever (and sometimes whatever) he comes across. It sounds odd, and believe me when I say it is extremely odd. I've read portions of his book, and it shows that he ate a LOT of very disgusting things (described in massive detail) that would never be shown. Still, fascinating stuff.

Diet Dr. Pepper Diet Vanilla Cherry Dr. Pepper Diet Sprite Diet A&W Root Beer (Gotta be A&W) Diet Coke Diet Sunkist Diet Mtn. Dew Diet Code Red Mtn. Dew We just kind of rotate among those soda's in our house although lately our house has not been without the Diet Vanilla Cherry Dr. Pepper in quite awhile. Do they make a Diet Cream Soda??? I love me some Cream Soda!!!

Another vote for Illuminations, though I have yet to see Wishes with my own two eyes yet (though I have to say I hate hate hate hate HATE the music. Fantasy in the Sky had a far more majestic feel to it). And I will be making a special trip just for Holiday Illuminations. It violates my "no Orlando during busy season" policy, but from what I read, it's clearly worth the effort. Of course, I'll have to nab my table in Mexico three hours before it starts instead of the standard two, but those are the sacrifices that must be made... oh, wait, the margarita stand is like thirty feet away? I'll deal with it.

Well, first the bad news. You're going to miss Star Wars Weekends at MGM (it starts up on the 20th), and you're way too early for Gay Day. Okay, from a crowd standpoint, that's a pretty good thing. First off, where are you staying? This can have an impact on a few things (arrive at 6pm and your days over? I'm sure we can find something much better to do than that). Plus, if you're on Disney property you can take advantage of all that "magic hours" stuff where the parks open/close earlier. If you're on Universal property, you spent too much BUT the unlimited Express line is pretty dang nifty. Another equally relevant question is this: what are the ages of your group. If there's youngins' you'll have to modify stuff to fit their needs, just as old folks are less prone to jump on stuff like Mission Space (which can be advantageous, 'cause they're the ones you sent to Test Track to get your Fastpasses while YOU ride Mission Space). I don't know squat about what kind of crowds you're looking at. A lot of kids are out of school at that point, and that will have an impact. I'm generally an off-season visitor, but nevertheless I think I've got some tips I can pass on (but it'll be easier once you answer the above questions).

I've actually always felt that "Top Thrill Dragster" was a horrible name. But Kinda Ka and Mr. Six's Pandemonium (can we start placing bets on when the "Mr. Six" part is gonna get dropped) are clearly much, much worse. And Screw Coaster...y'know, I think I like it.

This is what they should build in the 20K lagoon at WDW. The ride mechanism of Men in Black, but with a Bambi theme. Decide for yourself whether Bambi's mother scores positive or negative... Oh, and hand out softballs on "its a small world. "

I have to half-heartedly defend Flashback, just because it was one of my first adult coasters back when it was Z-Force at SFOG. Can I just hope that that's because they jacked it up when they put it back together again at SFMM? As far as the most painful, I was not a huge fan of Flight of Fear at PKD. It's probably not the coaster's fault, but those cars are too damn small! I'm just a hair over six feet, and I could barely get my legs in (I saw a taller guy have to give up trying to ride it). I don't know if the discomfort made the ride better or worse - making the turn back into the station, I thought sure we were coming in sideways. Very discombobulating (but that's a GOOD thing, right). Oh, and flame me if necessary, but I have yet to encounter what I'd consider to be an "enjoyable" wooden coaster. I'm still looking, though.

Glad to hear that Motel 6 is decent - we booked a room there for this weekend (since most of the town seems to be friggin' sold out or WAY overpriced). We just needed to get down there to shoot some pick-up shots for our video submission (after that, we need to get our hands on some editing software, learn how to use it, and get the thing edited together - sure we can't push the submission deadline back to 2006?). Oh, and MIB rules. Not best ride in the parks, but always great fun.

After yesterday's ride, I have to go with X.

That damn monkey level on The Lion King was a pain in the ass!!! DAMN YOU MONKEY'S!!!!

Happy Birthday Woman!!! Enjoy your McDonalds!!!

Stick with blaming Knott's ... It's more fun that way ... You got the Montezooma's Revenge ... maybe from Knott's ... Maybe from Carlos ... Carlos, this is our way of saying we have excepted you and we love you!!

I find it funny that Dan was mentioned ... is he even registered on these boards??? Anyway ... Monte Carlo is nice, although I have never actually stayed there it's one of my favorite casinos on the strip. People bash Circus Circus, but I have never had a bad experience here. Even when they threw us in the Bungalo's across the street we still had an awesome time. Excalibur is cool. Pretty much anywhere on the strip is good since you can pretty much get anywhere you want. So just find someplace on the strip, that's in your budget and you should be fine. Remember, you don't spend that much time in your room, other than sleeping so as long as it's clean, you shouldn't have any problems. The only hotel I have stayed at on the strip that I didn't like was the Stratosphere. Then again, we were with people we didn't really want to be with, so that may be it. Out of the coasters in Vegas I have ridden, Speed is the best, followed by Canyon Blaster and Desperado. I have yet to go up the Statosphere, maybe next time. Now that I know there are some kiddie credits I'm sure I will hit them sometime. Gregg "It's been more than a year since we had a "Real" Vegas trip, I'm having withdrawals" C.

Maybe X will be smooth now ... Who the hell am I kidding ... :shock:

Rattler at Six Flags Fiesta Texas I know, I know, I caught it at a good time. But I don't care. It rocked last year!!

Carlos, it was a pleasure meeting you. Too bad you guys had to run away so early on Sunday. Make sure you post some of your pics from the weekend!!!