mwm1444

Great TR Holger, makes me wish I liked cars and 'coasters over 75mph. FW looks stunning at night (and during the day, come to think of it).

Looking forward particularly to the Damned's 35th anniversary tour in November; considering Reel Big Fish in the next few weeks, but I felt alone as the only non-metalhead there last time. Would love to maybe see Carbon/Silicon and Buzzcocks, as it's been a while since I've seen either - and I still hold out hope that Scritti Politti will tour again in some form, or that I'll at least see Green Gartside play more than two songs (and only one of them Scritti!).

Big Audio Dynamite - The Bottom Line

It was a great ride - thanks for being an awesome room-mate, and this has been a fantastic report of what I think has been my favourite TPR trip so far. So many amazing memories.

With regard to the crazy-a$$ Botton's Waltzer, and to be fair to the 'never-in-America' style of operation at most UK fairgrounds, pretty much all Waltzers are spun by hand somehow, by the operator. Most Waltzers don't have the operator jumping from car to car to spin them, risking messy spun death, and I think that's where the ride at Botton's stood out.

Ginny and Kathryn got the Jellikins credit as well, I can't remember whether Cameron got it. I really wished I'd taken a ride in the balloons inside the Fantasy Island pyramid, it looked like the best balloon ride in the world.

Brings back fond memories of the night we spent at Belmont during West Coast 2009. I didn't really rank Giant Dipper at first - it hurt a bit - but I loved watching the others make a$$es of themselves on the Flowrider, the blacklight minigolf was great - as was the following mad 'pool as many arcade tickets as possible for a fake security camera' rush that immediately followed (we didn't get the fake security camera in the end), and Giant Dipper was vastly improved by night ERT and many, many glowsticks.

That's an awesome design - I wish I was going to WCB just so I could get that shirt!

Yes, definitely - I think it's just taken a little getting used to.

I've been mildly obsessed with this over the last few days. I have to wash my glasses if I so much as glance at the site because of all the tearful laughing.

I went the same way - it may just be my funky eyesight, though.

At Drayton Manor, I think Troublesome Trucks is probably my preferred 'coaster. It's really sad that I'm not joking.

Genesis - Throwing It All Away On a slightly embarassing Phil Collins kick tonight.

^ Well, I didn't actually know at the time - but I learnt later, when I got into the Clash and Meskies in 2005, and since then my birthday's been a little bittersweet. I have been lucky enough to see Paul Simonon and Mick Jones of the Clash, though - saw Paul as part of Damon Albarn's The Good the Bad and the Queen, and in the Gorillaz live band, which also featured Mick on guitar. I've also seen Mick's own band Carbon/Silicon, who are pretty good.

Same it's nice to meet someone else who actually knows who the Mescaleroes are/were - I only wish Joe hadn't gone and died on my 12th birthday like he did.

The Clash/Joe Strummer/Mick Jones/etc are pretty much my favourite music. My top three always changes but it's generally something like the Clash, Blur and the Damned, or the Clash, Blur and Scritti Politti (look 'em up), or even the Clash, the Damned and Reel Big Fish. I would never say I'm a punk, but I've been to a festival that celebrates Joe Strummer every year for the past five, and (like I said) I always see the Damned at least once a year, especially since they've started playing in my home town recently.

Buzzcocks still perform amazing shows, seen them twice in the last four years. The Damned are probably my favourite live act around at the moment, some people think they've gone a bit cabaret, but they're always great fun, and anything involving Captain Sensible is a sure fire hit. I saw Henry Cluney (ex SLF) a couple of times last year - I've seen the UK Subs, but they didn't do a great deal for me, I like my punk melodic.

Definitely agree about the general Monorail station area in particular - when we there, it was one of the few times I had the feeling that 'this could be anywhere', rather than feeling like I was on Disney property.

Nice to see a different perspective of almost the exact same period that I was at the World (November 30th to December 6th), and amazing photos!

Pretty sure that's what it is - if you're short enough to get the Jellikins credit, you probably won't get punished too badly by any kiddie 'coaster.

Playing (and mostly enjoying) Epic Mickey - true, the camera IS a ridiculous pain in the arse at some points, and I'm not sure how much I'd enjoy it if I wasn't a Disney geek, but it's just so nerdily awesome that I have to (mostly) love it. Particularly fond of Mickeyjunk Mountain, so far, really cool details.

I think I was the only one who came off all right from that kiddie mine train - poor Nolan. I still remember the moment we realised he'd got a pretty terrific bruise on his knee, fun times.

Actually, yes, I'm pretty sure you weren't with us - it might've been John and a couple of other guys, but it was definitely quieter than it sounds like you experienced, and I don't think we even saw an attendant to ask.

With regard to the swing at the end of Impossible, I don't remember there being much of a line when we were there - to my memory, it was more weird operation, as I think we stood/sat in the holding pen for about five minutes, with literally zero suggestion that we'd be getting on anytime soon. It got to the point where it was just us (Jason, John and I think a couple of other TPR'ers) and a Japanese family, and we couldn't decide whether it was actually running or not, so we just left via the emergency/chicken exit.

I think the most amazingly odd part was when de Vere introduced Schnorbitz by singing The Mickey Mouse Club March with slightly altered lyrics - and the theme to the early '90s Chipmunks movie spoof cartoon also featured at some point.