RBOrrell

Great trip report - was in in Cleveland 2 year ago, went to R&RHoF too. Also ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. To answer your question, the original Hard Rock Cafe opened in London, England. The first one in North America was the one here in Toronto (corner of Yonge and Dundas). Toronto also has another one at the dome stadium where the Blue Jays play.

Avoid July 1st. Against my better judgement, I was dragged there last year on July 1st. I had 6 hours of painful waiting with a few rides thrown in. It is not a day to go. I agree on the counter clockwise route though. Except, head straight for IJtR and when you come out, hop onto Minebuster. A word of warning. Maybe I'm getting old but, I was there a couple of Friday nights ago and both MineBuster and Wild Beast were the most painful experience I've had since I rode Phyclone at SFMM last year. I was not the only one to comment either. It was very rough.

For those of you in Southern California, here's a link to a restaurant that is owned by a couple of Canadians. http://www.canadiancafe.net/ One of them is from my hometown of St. Thomas, Ontario. They are about to celebrate their 1st anniversary on the Canadian Cafe.

Nice Avatar!

Never been there but driven past it a few times. I remember the TV ads from the '80's "Fun....... WOW"

My hometown (where I was born) is St. Thomas, Ontario. http://www.city.st-thomas.on.ca/ My family still lives there. There is not much in St. Thomas but there are a few things that have put it on the map. 1. In 1884, Barnum & Baily Circus was in town. Their prized Jumbo the elephant was killed on the railroad tracks. There are two "monuments" to it. The first is an Ontario Ministry of Tourism plaque near where it happend (the CN RR still runs there) and the second is a life-size statue that was erected on the 100th anniversary of the event. 2. St. Thomas is the home town to some famous or near-famous Hollywood folk. Helen Shaver http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001726/ was born there and the latest is Rachal McAdams. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1046097/ Also, Hap Day, the famous Toronto Maple Leaf player and later coach was from there and current NHL player Joe Thornton (Boston Bruins) lives there. I currently live in Aurora, Ontario http://www.town.aurora.on.ca/ which is 20 miles north of downtown Toronto. Of course, when travelling and someone asks where we are from..... We are from Toronto. http://www.city.toronto.on.ca No one would know where Aurora is. Downtown Toronto from the island. Jumbo elephant monument Victorian designed City Hall

1. Toronto Maple Leafs (if they ever get back to work) 2. London Knights (new OHL Champions) 3. Orrell Anvil RUFC 4. Wigan Warriors RUFC 5. Manchester United FC 6. Randy Ferby Curling Rink

"This town needs an enima!" The Right Stuff

PCW's "Job Fairs" were run in February. Their basic requirements are fairly simple. 1. At least 15 years old (16 by the end of the current year). 1b. You must be at least 17 to work on any rides. 2. You must possess a working knowledge of the English language. 3. You have to appear presentable (no gang-related stuff, no visible tatoos, etc). I spoke to someone at the security gate that we had to wait at during the job fair. He said that anyone can get a job if they answered the questions intellegently, presented themselves well and looked presentable. At the end of the season, they are given a review and if they are satisfactorly reviewed, they can return next year without an interview unless they want to go to a different department. If a ride-op is what you want to do, it seems that the path is to get in during the first year you can (15 or 16) and work in an area to get expereince with the company. Some of those jobs are not glamourous (sweeping or cleaning) but then you can get into the ride-op the next year (as an assistant) and then a full-fledged ride-op.

Our little town of Aurora, Ontario has few unique local places but if you want BBQ ribs, the place to go is The Purple Pig. They have won competitions for their ribs. Now, when I travel to Richmond, Va on business I always try to go to Extra Billy's BBQ on Broad St. Their pulled pork is to die for....

My son begins work there tomorrow morning in the admissions department (his first job ever). Tomorrow is media day and season pass preview night is next Friday (29th).

I'm not from Italy but Toronto, Ontario boasts that it has the largest Italian population outside of Italy. Every Italian restaurant and pizza place sells Brio. (It's awful stuff too).

As you can guess in the avatar, I curl in the winter. Season runs from mid-October to early April. From late March to November (weather permitting), I golf - almost every weekend. I also race go karts when I can (60 mph+) karts, not the ones at parks. I used to cross-country ski but that is a lot of work.

Holy Grail was very good - it was done on a shoestring budget. However, being the devil's advocate that I am, I voted for Life of Brian. It was very controversial and even a year ago when Mel Gibson's epic was coming out, it resurfaced. Meaning of Life was okay but sort of reminded me of their "Contractual Obligation Album" - I don't think their hearts were really into it. A couple of movies missed in this poll are "... And Now For Something Completely Different" and "Live at the Hollywood Bowl". I also consider Jaberwocky, Time Bandits and The Rutles as semi-Python movies. "From now on, I want you to call me Lorretta."

This is scary. Myself - May 23, 1961 US: Travelin’ Man - Ricky Nelson UK: You’re Driving Me Crazy - Temperance Seven My wife - November 26, 1955 US: Sixteen Tons - Tennessee Ernie Ford UK: Rock Around The Clock - Bill Haley and His Comets My son - February 13, 1989 US: Straight Up - Paula Abdul UK: Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart - Marc Almond with Gene Pitney My daughter - October 28, 1995 US: Fantasy - Mariah Carey UK: Gangsta's Paradise - Coolio featuring L.V. Just for fun, my wedding day - June 28, 1986 US: On My Own - Patti Labelle and Michael McDonald UK: Edge Of Heaven - Wham! Too bad they don't have the Canadian chart. You would see a lot of Paul Anka or Anne Murray or Gordon Lightfoot.

Well, I live about 15 minutes from Paramount Canada's Wonderland, which is good as my 16 year old son starts working there this year and he is not a full driver yet. In the Toronto area, we have PCW and then just over an hour away the Marineland park in Niagara Falls (if you need to kill a couple of hours) and Six Flags Darien Lake is over the border another hour. Growing up, I lived about 2 hours west of Toronto and before there was Canada's Wonderland. We had a place called Boblo Island in the Detroit River south of Detroit (2 hours away) and of course Cedar Point which was another 2 hours past the Motor City.

How does Beverley compare to Brio?

First car was a 1971 Plymouth Duster - 225cid slant six, 3 speed auto. Painted it bright yellow with black pinstripes. (this was in 1979) Currently we have 3 vehicles in the garage but the baby is my 1993 Dodge Stealth R/T TwinTurbo. 300+hp, all wheel drive, all wheel steering.

This weather is brutal. My 16 year old son is working at PCW this year. He has training in two weeks. I hope the 12" of snow we got over the last 24 hours is gone by then. Nice to see someone from close to home. I grew up in St. Thomas and remember travelling to Woodstock in highschool for the Oxford-Elgin football games.

You should try playing it!

Here in Ontario it is $0.835 cents per litre for 87 octane. Now, given there are 3.78 litres in a US gallon that is $3.1563 CDN$ per US Gallon, which is $2.56 US$ given today's exchange rate. This in a country that technically exports more oil than it imports.

Hi everyone - I just registered to the site. I have lurked for a while and now I feel ready to join. So, here I am. I'm in the Great White North so good day, eh.