Meteornotes

^Katun is very forceful. It's one of the best B&M inverted coasters in the world. It's worth visiting the park just to ride it. I have to say, that having QBot available at Mirabiladia is a HUGE improvement. I like seeing this system show up at more parks. dt

Time for today's update...MOVIELAND PARK! Today TPR visits Movieland Park. One of the most awesomely screwed up parks in the world! Tomb Raider is one of the wettest top spins we've ever seen! (technically it's a Wakiki Wave super flip) There are TPR members in there somewhere. I love Italy!!! Everyone ready to get a very sad and pathetic kiddie credit? I have a feeling I know who's going to be first in line for that kiddie coaster!!! Sad and pathetic credit whores!!! The only two NOT sad and pathetic in the group! Ginny finally gets that all important #008 milestone! Congrats Ginny!!! The big coaster still had a bit of work left to go... Peter Pan and Batman - the perfect dynamic duo!!! Terminator 2 used to be a 3-D experience... ...but now they have add TWO EXTRA D to Terminator! The audience now gets to shoot back! Dukes of Hazzard...come do me Daisy! Piers says "Who needs Daisy when you can have Jack!" Ok fine...Piers can have Jack...I'll take Lara! The Hollywood Tower ride...somehow I feel I've seen this somewhere before! Awesome haunted walk through!!! Oh look! They have licensed Mary Poppins from Disney! It's a submarine simulator where they pretty much just dunk you under water. I'm not even kidding!!! Heh..."cooter" Magma is like the Rhino Rally of studio tours. You board one of these trucks and you swear you're ne'er going to make it back! The highlight of the Canevaworld resort is the Aqua Studios water park! There are three rides here that are in the "never in America" category. The first is Stukas. These body slides are giant and for some reason they seem a lot higher when you are at the top! Now onto Twin Peaks...also known as the ghetto master blaster. First you start by going down this simple looking drop... See...looks easy, right? But then...you appoach the hill of OMFG! ...and then OMFG AIRTIME!!! This right here was the most terrifying water park moment ever!!! Italian mayonnaise. Hi Tyler. Yummy! "Deal." Water jump sign for f**king Larry!!! See those two Fallopian tubes over there? They will kill you in the best way possible!!! OMFG!!! WTF!!! The ride is simple. Slide down the tube and fly off the cliff. Amazing! SKLOOSH! It's completely ridiculous!!! Here's the part where you bottom out right before cliff death!!!! OMFG!!!! Three girls - One tube. Blue spermy guys are still here. Movieland and Aqua Studios have grown a lot since our last visit. Amazing and totally f**cked up park!!! But in a very good way! Larry and beer. MOSQUITO COCK!!! RANDOM Piers photo!!! This one is called "Pretty Woman!" RANDOM PIERS PHOTO!!! This one is called "f**king Jager Bomb!" I'M A FAAAKING JOEY!!! TPR loves Terry!!! Everyone touch Piers!!! PENIS SMOKE!!! BEER PENIS!!! I THINK TO MUCH ABOUT IT!!!! SATAN!!!! BEER. JÄGER. IF I THINK ABOUT IT IT DOESNT WORK. ANAL!!!! CHEESE. SH1T. TOILET. BULB.

OK, time for the next update...MIRABILANDIA! Good morning TPR! Ready to start your day on one of the best B&M inverts in the world? Katun at Mirabilandia is right up there with Montu, Pyrenees, and Raptor for intense, big "Old School" B&M's Goodbye TPR members! Have an awesome ride!!! (you will!) Katun has a VERY sexy floor! Elissa and all the Q-Bots! Yummy!!! Mirabilandia features the V-Pass system powered by Lo-q. The Lo-q system is seriously the best "virtual queue" device in the world. Known as "Flash Pass" or Q-Bot in other parks we HIGHLY recommend this system!!! Here are the 2010 V-Pass prices. As you can see, V-Pass is good on a LOT of rides! Can we talk about iSpeed for a moment? iSpeed is seriously one of the best steel coasters in the world and probably the best Intamin rocket / launched coaster ever!!! iSpeed is like Xcelerator and Maverick had a kinky Intamin love child. iSpeed is cake. Wonderful cake. iSpeed is a hit with TPR! There is a very long line for Family Adventure... Thanks to our V-Pass we don't need to worry about that line! KidTums gives thumbs up to Family Adventure! And what is Family Adventure? It's a Vekoma roller skater!!! Happy fun TPR people!!! Time for some kiddie coaster credit whoring... V-Pass is awesome at Mirabilandia. It's on almost every ride! Even the kiddie balloons and the carousel! TPR's favorite non-coaster riding activity...LUNCH! Mmmm....pasta! Yup! We're in Italy. We are now entering this post-apocalyptic New York City area for the shooting dark ride Reset. Reset was kind of an odd ride. The sets were nice but the shooting part seemed kind of pointless. Oh look! Mirabilandia also have a sprinkler show like World of Color! Part of Katun's awesomeness is it's first drop. Seems very steep for an invert. The loop kicks lots of ass too. And here we have a mouse made in the homeland. Piers makes powered coasters FANCY!!! And one more credit...well sort of...for KidTums! Only the real whores ride the powered coasters! The space shot is themed to the space shuttle Columbia...hmm... The "tat pack" freaking loves the V-Pass. Yup...Still in Italy. Grazie Mirabilandia! We had an awesome day!!!

I have deleted some posts from this thread. In the future, if you have an issue with TPR, you should contact Robb. Be advised that he and many other people are currently on the TPR Europe trip, so it may take awhile for your question/concern to be answered. Thank you. dt

Time for the final UK Trip Update - THORPE PARK! Thorpe Park welcomes Robb, Elissa, KidTums and Theme Park Review. Today's group is a bit larger! (we've eaten a lot on this trip!) The park walked us back to Saw: The Ride about 15 minutes before park opening. ERT on Saw: The Ride!!! Everyone got in two or three rides before the park opened! Look out for the reverse bear trap!!! Let the games begin! Seriously though, Saw: The Ride was GREAT!!! in comparison, it was *MUCH* better than Thirteen. The two rides are marketed very similarly and both are good rides, but Saw absolutely delivers on the promises where Thirteen fails. Well done Thorpe Park! Saw Alive has BOOBS!!! Saw Alive is going to turn us all into little dead girls. Do we all look frightened? Mmmm...intamin sexyness. LOVE the Intamin hotness. Time for KidTums to get a credit! Flying Fish was put into storage when Stealth was built and now it's back for Kristen to ride! Non-credit whores! Is Craig man enough? To answer...EMAIL DAN!!! mrt0ad13@aol.com On TPR trips we provide queue skipping coupons for all parks that provide them. Stealth is a very short ride but it's full of Intamin awesomeness. NOTED! OMG! The queue for Nemesis: Inferno looks VERY full! Yup...it's about 45-60 minute queue. "Our fancy coupons will get us right past the queue and directly on the ride!" We waited zero minutes for Nemesis: Inferno! LOOP - DE - LOOP! This is what a British Mexican looks like. Ooooh! Exciting!!! "Um...hi mommy...can I go on an exciting ride now?" That's more like it! KidTums has picked up some boyfriends. It's funny because balls means testicles. Today is the big England versus Germany soccer match. About 3,000 people are expected to crowd into the dome to watch. Not sure why people would pay admission to a theme park just to watch a game...but at least they aren't in the ride queues! Another 1,000 or so will be in this restaurant watching...shorter queues for the rest of us! TPDave at TPark! Let's end our day at Thorpe Park with an hour of ERT on Nemesis: Inferno. And an hour on Saw: The Ride! TPR had a KICK ASS day at Thorpe Park! The back of the bus also had a KICK ASS time! The front of the bus had a KICK ASS time on the UK Trip!!! The back of the bus had an even KICKIER ASS time on the UK Trip!!! Our final stop of the UK Tour was a culture credit...Windsor Castle!!! Just kidding!!! We have ended the tour with our farewell dinner at Wagamama...TPR's favourite restaurant in England! Piers, the napkin slayer will kill everyone on the UK Trip who is not going on to Europe. See everyone in Italy!!!

Update time, with Lightwater Valley, Flamingo Land, and surprise bonus park! Theme Park Review's UK Tour next stop - Lightwatet Valley! TPR is ready to have their internal organs re-adjusted on The Ultimate! The Ultimate is still one of the longest roller coasters in the world! "My spleen and bladder have swapped places!" "My brain hurts!!!" Next up was The Rat now re-themed to Raptor Attack! n all seriousness, they did a really good job re-theming the ride. The mine shaft area was great and the new animatronics were cool. Well done Lightwater Valley! Ready for the gasoline powered kiddie coaster? Dirty Whores! KidTums gets yet another Wacky Worm credit! Lightwater Valley has many park-like areas great for a family day out. Who doesn't love a good carousel? KidTums is taking her Carousel riding very seriously! There is something very cool and retro about this. There is a joke in here somewhere! Next up...Flamingoland! And the absolutely crazy Mumbo Jumbo! And yes they do have flamingos at Flamingoland...they are stuffed! The sign of quality...no really! The Vekoma motor bike is really good! Just like Power Park...a Frisbee that goes through a house! Kumali - Still smoother than a baby's bottom! "It's only a Vekoma!" "It really IS baby bottom smooth!" Meet the emo emu! Real flamingos...yup! You can't do this at Alton Towers! No park visit would be complete without a little bit of credit whoring! New for 2010... PENGUINS!!! TPR makes a bonus surprise stop at Pleasure Island in Cleethorpes! Absolutely no one at all knew about this stop! The park closed three hours ago, but has opened rides just for TPR! Have you ever seen a group so happy to ride a Boomerang? "BONUS CREDIT!!! And it's a smooth Boomerang!!!" Next up, the park opened the Frisbee for us! Bonus frisbee credit!!! Did I mention they ran an insane program for us? Next bonus credit was the Roller Skater! Even KidTums gets the bonus credit!!! Clench and squish!!! THANK YOU PLEASURE ISLAND for and awesome surprise bonus!!!

Today's update is from...BLACKPOOL PLEASURE BEACH!!! TPR is about to take over Blackpool Pleasure Beach! The view from our hotel room is awesome! Wristbanded and ready to ride!!! First up...some ERT on Pepsi Max Big One!!! You guys ready for some hot Arrow goodness? Pepsi Max was running pretty fast today! TAKE THE TUNNEL!!! The real star of morning ERT is Steeplechase! TPR approves of the Steeplechase! Even Elissa's parents love Steeplechase! Craig! What are you doing to Matt??? Blackpool has the only Steeplechase coaster in the world! Go dorks! Go!!! Knotts Berry Farm used to have a ride like this years ago! Our hotel room view...from the other side! NERD SHOT!!! Blackpool Managing Director David Cam came and spoke to the group about the history of the park. Now this is what ERT should be like! Some of the rides had a very short operating schedule. "I love beaver!" KidTums gets her second woodie credit!!! 100% politically correct! Are Rollercoaster's days numbered? It's just like World of Color! No, really! It IS just like World of Color!!! You can't do this at World of Color! One of only three Derby Racers left in the world. Do you know where the other two are? EMAIL DAN!! mrt0ad13@aol.com Best wild mouse in the world!!! Duck your head!!! Robin Ross is the "voice of Blackpool" (you hear him opening the Blackpool segment on CE 8). Check out his work at www.robinross.co.uk KidTums, the Frog Hopper enthusiast rates this one very highly! Fran loved the Pleasure Beach so much he got a job here! "Look world! I have NOT skinned my hot dog!" I'm CRAAAAAZY giant hamburger! Gimme some cow!!! KidTums has decided that torturing popop on the kiddie train is the best ride in the park! Water and vekoma and pain! Oh my!!! Infusion has to be one of the rougher Vekoma SLCs I've ridden. I mean...wow. Time for a backstage photo tour of Grand National. All set for Valhalla? Valhalla - the bestest, wetest water ride in the world! With the poncho you still get "log flume" wet! Time for a quick break to stock up on Foamburst! Noah's Ark...awesome lawn ornament! Grand National ERT!!! For some of our members, this is the most human interaction they ever had! Elissa fanboys...jealous? ...And they're off! Grand National is an airtime filled, butt slammin' good time!!! The winning team!!! Grand National ERT is the perfect end to a day at Blackpool Pleasure Beach! In Europe..would you believe that Pizza Hut is more like a real restaurant ??? Holy Gourmet Pizza Batman! Craig! Cheesy Bites! ATTACK!!!

Sort of like a Sarlacc pit for annoying TPR members, I'd imagine. This is like the best explanation ever. dt

It's Credit Whore Day, with visits to Camelot, Pleasureland Southport, and Gullivers! Our credit whore day starts with ERT on Knightmare! (Elissa and I already had the credit from when it was in Japan!) It's a bit rougher than it was in Japan minus the mountain theming. Coaster #2 for credit whore day is Whirlwind - Maurer Sohne spinner. Coaster #3 for the sad and pathetic credit whores! "Clench and squish!!!" Credit #4 is this "gasoline powered" dragon coaster! It's got a lawn mower type engine and a driver! Our final credit at Camelot! The WACKY WORM!!! KidTums got three credits today!!! TPR bumper car take over!!! "Camelot... 'tis a silly place!" There is a story in here somewhere... Elissa is making something... Elissa is making BODY PARTS! If you know what body part this is... EMAIL DAN! mrt0ad13@aol.com. (first 10 to guess correctly get a bag of crap!) If you start feeling woozy, exit this gate. We did! Thank you Camelot!!! The Wildcat at the New Pleasureland Southport will be credit #6 for us today! Ok credit whores! Are you ready to ride? The park has opened up the Wildcat just for TPR! TPR take over of the ski jump! Hands up credit whores!!! KidTums gets the kiddie plane credit! The credit whores + shirtless guy take over the Trabant! BUMPER CAR TAKE OVER!!! "Hey! I know Elissa and KidTums...but who's the shirtless guy?" Gulliver says "Welcome to my world TPR!" Credit #7 for today - Runaway Mine Train! Credit #8 for the day is Wild Mine at Gulliver's World! KidTums gets a ball pit credit!!! KidTums ranks Gulliver's frog hopper one of the best in the world! This is what happens when grown adults take over a kiddie park! The "pancake girls" were the highlight of the day! The Ghost House was the hidden gem of the park. A great little walk through with bizarre sets. This guy is dead sexy! Our final coaster of credit whore day - The Antelope!!! Do not be fooled by the small size of this woodie! The Antelope stole our manhood, re-adjusted our spine and turned grown men into little girls. It was that insane!

The audio on the Bizarro coasters and on Terminator was just awful. Loud, random noise. And considering the music I listen to, I'm an expert on whether the loud, random noise works or not. And in these cases, it does not. The X2 audio is well done, and it is CLEAR. I'm not sure what the differences with that sound system and the other SF installations are, but the X2 one is the only one at a SF park that I thought added to the experience. I really hope the new Texas Giant does not have onboard audio. It doesn't need it. dt

Today's update features Day Two at Alton Towers, and then the tour moved on to Drayton Manor! Day Two at Alton Towers has begun! Our morning starts with ERT on Thirteen! "Hey TPR! How's that ERT on Thirteen going?" Not quite enough riders to fill three trains...that means...plenty of rides for TPR members!!! Yup...Thirteen's lift hill. That's about all of the ride you can see from the park. Now that I've ridden several times - front, back, and middle - my thoughts on the ride haven't changed. It's not a bad ride, but it's neither a great thrill ride nor a great family ride. I feel Thirteen could have been so much better had they focused on one or the other. But given that thought, we all had fun riding! Next stop on the TPR UK Tour... Drayton Manor! Drayton Manor has significantly improved since our last visit. They have added an amazing looking Thomas Town and the entire park looks like it has been re-painted! KidTums looks a bit unsure with what is about to happen next... KidTums loved Bertie the Bus! KidTums gets a credit! Drayton Manor's Shock Wave is still the only stand up coaster with a heart line roll. Boo to no topless rides on Shock Wave! Drayton Manor is also home to this totally messed up coaster - G Force. At Drayton Manor you can choose crotch pain or no crotch pain on the stand up drop tower. The real men do the floorless side!

Time for more photos, this time from ALTON TOWERS & SPLASH LANDINGS! "Thirteen is like the "Italian Job" of Alton Towers. It's not a bad ride, but it fails at being either a great thrill ride or a great family ride." --Robb Alvey To follow the UK Tour LIVE on Facebook - check out Robb's profile: http://www.facebook.com/robbalvey TPR has arrived at Alton Towers! A little warm up ERT on Air to start our day... Ivan is ready to fly! "Fly fatass fly!!!" TPR is about to take over Thirteen! Nerd!!! Thirteen is basically a "Roller Skater" through the woods with a small "Tower of Terror" like drop at the end. The ride is really tame and unless you've never been on Tower of Terror isn't not terribly exciting. Would have been better marketed as a runaway mine train for families, not the most psychologically challenging ride in the world. The only psycological challenge you may have is "How long did I just queue for that?" It's not a bad ride, but it fails at being either a great family ride or a great thrill ride. What a disappointment. One hour of ERT on Nemesis with only 75 people running two trains equals a LOT of awesome riding!!! Nemesis is still one of the best steel coasters on the planet!!! And now for exclusive park time as TPR has rented out the water park for the next two hours! Splash Landings water park has one of the best Master Blaster slides in the world! And you can even ride in a single tube!!! Wet, single tube Elissa... Hot!!! Water Park and alcohol... PERFECT COMBO!!! Half naked TPR members...just what the Internet needed! Seriously, this Master Blaster is one of the best in the world! Blue WKD + Water Park...Is this REALLY a good idea? To answer...EMAIL DAN! mrt0ad13@aol.co Yummy...just look at those half naked TPR members...don't you want to take one home with you? Dan totally approves of Nemesis...back row! Nemesis is so good, it gave Criag 16 orgasms! This is a MUCH better use of the Corkscrew. Yes we are sad and pathetic. Not sad and pathetic! Spin KidTums! Spin!!! Good thing we had FastTrak tickets...even the Sky Ride had a huge line! Most major rides had lines of about 30-60 minutes... But with our FastTrak tickets, TPR members waited ZERO minutes for these 17 rides! "Nobody ever wins a giant ass panda..." They re-themed a 7 year old coaster after a 16 year old video game...hmmm. He may be an old man now, but Sonic is still cool! Here are the towers of Alton Towers. After an awesome day at Alton Towers and Splash Landings water park it was time to head back to our Alton Towers Hotel and crash out for the night!

^I love Consumerist and read it regularly, and find it odd that they got this wrong. They're usually pretty good about printing corrections if they screw up, too. Odd. dt

Time for another photo update, this time from OAKWOOD! Theme Park Review has arrived at Oakwood! Speed: No Limits is still the best Euro Fighter in the world! Thumbs up for Megafobia! Running the best I've seen it in ten years! Aww...Robb & Elissa ride Megafobia together! For the first time in Oakwood history, TPR was given a backstage tour of Spooky 3-D! We have a pretty awesome itinerary at Oakwood today. OMG! What is Eeyore doing to Piglet??? Hey look! I found Michael Jackson! KidTums gets another credit! I'm going to kick you daddy! Yes we are all sad and pathetic. Even Elissa's mom is sad and pathetic! Backstage photo tour of Megafobia! Can you spot the coaster geek in this photo? At Oakwood we got roller coaster ERT, dark ride walk thru, back stage photo tour and now a Q&A session with the maintenance crew! Intamin box > Vekoma box You guys ready for one of the wettest rides in the world? OMG!! Super skloosh!!! Time for a break from the park to experience the awesome Crystal Maze! Crystal Maze is part puzzle video game and part Survivor challenges...here Elissa has to swing to the wall, jump off, hit both lit buttons at the same time, grab the rope and head back. This is one of the puzzle games where you need to create a little dude in a short amount of time. This was all based on a late 90s TV game show! "Pick one team member to navigate the maze without touching the metal bars. Press the button and come on back!" In this live action Mario Party-like puzzle, you have to roll all three balls to the exit without rolling them over the skulls. After playing about 15 mini-games, you end in the giant crystal dome. Hit as many lit buttons as you can! You have about 90 seconds to hit as many buttons when they light up as possible. Nigel says "Your day of fun is over...time to get back on the bus!" Looks like TPR had an awesome time at Oakwood! Thank you to everyone who put our day together!

I am amazed that Coney Beach is still open! It was looking exceptionally sad in 2006, though I have to say it was awesome in its own way. Glad more people got to experience the place! dt

And now for the first park of the trip: ADVENTURE ISLAND! TPR's UK trip has begun!!! Once again Nigel is driving TPR around telling stories of peanuts and other awesome British humour! Our first park of the trip! Adventure Island! ERT on Rage = Awesomeness! One of these men is a real super hero. Three are not! Elissa's mom gets a credit! Rage was awesome! NOTED!!! Hooray! First 99 of the trip! Do you know what a 99 is? I'd you do...EMAIL DAN! mrt0ad13@aol.com The many expressions of Rage! SIGNATURE SHOT!!! Why do all these Eurofighters seem to have some really funky track work? "Thumbs up for that ass behind me!" Hey...This guy looks familiar. If you know what park this ride is originally from... EMAIL DAN! mrt0ad13@aol.com SIGNATURE MOVE!!! Rage was one VERY compact coaster which was also very intense. Highly recommended! Nathan and Bethany crashed our visit to Adventure Island! OMG! The trani is longer than the lift hill!!! This park is awesome...but they have some really creeptacular characters! WHORES!!! The "Mighty Mini-Mega" wins the award for "Coaster with most contradictory name using the most amount of letter M's." The pirates 2 1/2 D movie (Yes, 2 and a half D) is awesome in the most bizarre ways. It needs to be seen! Our lunch at the Sands restaurant (ajacent to the park) was AMAZING! TPR lunch including their house beer Old Speckled Hen! Hooray! Beer and chicken!!! And while we're on the subject of food...dinner was curry...very Indian...very British... And this place was totally amazing! They even gave all the girls (and the gays) some pretty flowers! See if you can spot the girls (and the gays!)

UPDATE! FULL UPDATES BEING POSTED! Click Below: Adventure Island Chessington World of Adventures Coney Beach Oakwood Alton Towers Drayton Manor Camelot Theme Park New Pleasureland Southport Gulliver's World feature the "Voyage of Kiddie Woodies" - The Antelope! Blackpool Pleaure Beach! I love BEAVER!!! Lightwater Vlaley, Flamingo Land, Pleasure Island TRIPLE UPDATE!!! Hey everyone! The TPR 2010 UK Trip has started, and here are photos! First up, arrival in the UK and CULTURE! If you want to follow us live on the trip, check out my Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/robbalvey I'm posting photos all through out the day! Day Zero - Sightseeing (Scroll Down) Day One - Adventure Island (Scroll Down) Day Two - Chessington World of Adventure & Bonus Credit! Day Three - Oakwood Day Four - Alton Towers Day One & Splash Landings Day Five - Alton Towers Day Two & Drayton Manor Day Six - Camelot, Pleasureland Southport, and Gullivers Day Seven - Blackpool Pleasure Beach Day Eight - Lightwater Valley, Flamingo Land, and SURPRISE BONUS PARK! Day Nine - Fantasy Island and Botton's Pleasure Beach Day Ten - Thorpe Park This is the most bags we have ever checked for a TPR trip! See you in England! Une petite visite to Paris and then on to London! TPR's Travel Tip! Stick with one airline and use your miles to travel in style! Yup, cashing in those air miles for an upgrade was totally worth it!!! KidTums had a Brad Bird double feature of The Incredibles then Ratattouie! Mmm....appetizer! KidTums eats some swanky cake! Wow...you sure we're on a plane? According to this elephant, we have landed in Paris. How is it that almost EVERY other airport in the world is nicer than LAX? TPR culture tip! All British people look like this guy...even the women. Showing KidTums some real British culture...bowling. "Are you SURE Jeff Johnson doesn't count this thing as a credit?" "Bombs Away!!!" There is a slide in the hotel for kids...I mean...TPR members... Mind the gap! Hey TPR! Mind the gap! Giant ass wheel. TPR takes over the giant bubbles! "I'm crushing your clock! I'm crushing your clock!!!" Culture credit!!! Changing of the guard! So much culture for a TPR trip! Ahh, now for a REAL culture credit! The drop ride in here is totally f**ked up!!! "Jolly! Jolly! Jolly!" We saved the best for last...Wagamama! If you've ever eaten at a Wagamama...LIKE THIS NOW!!!

^I would guess that IOA (like most parks) has a rule that does not allow people to wear "costumes" while in the park. If I am ever near a crowd of people speaking like that I will just go home. Same. Actually, hearing a conversation like this would just make it time for a Jaws ride. Or Moe's! I'm thinking if an attraction at any park has to be "explained" or you have to have other guests explain it to you or you have to hand out some sort of guide to tell you what's going on unless you've memorized the books or whatever is a massive failure. Attractions should be inclusive, not exclusive. dt

WHAT?!? OK, this is seriously dumb. And yeah, merchandise is OK, but something to drink is not? You'd think they'd be all over making cups with Potter stuff on them and charging an extra $5 or whatever. Hopefully they'll rethink this idea as time goes on. dt

I like sports, and ESPN is usually on my TV, but these places were, um, not good. Half assed food and even worse service. It's like Chili's with more TVs and slightly better food. I'd honestly like to see the ones at the parks replaced with something better. dt

As someone who has been to hundreds of shows of all sorts of musical genres, plus as someone that has worked shows, worked with promoters, worked with bands, video taped shows, and even played live shows (just some of the stuff I've done that's music related), I have to comment on some things here. Whoever said this was a huge liability issue is 100% correct. If one of those kids had gotten seriously injured in this situation, the lawsuit would have been filed the next day. And there's also performer security to think about. Anyone else remember the guy that jumped up on stage and shot Dimebag Darrell? How is security to know that there was some crazy nut in the crowd that might try to do some harm to the band or someone else? They have to take their job seriously. Now, we have no idea what Six Flags knew/did not know before the show, or what the band did/did not disclose about their performance, so there is no way to place blame there. Both sides should be in communication about what is going to happen and what can/cannot happen during the performance. But the band is a billion times wrong for their reaction. Saying "FU" to someone hosting your show is just dumb. Pissing off concert promoters is a quick way to make sure you end up playing at your local church parking lot carnival. For free. And before the Pig & Sheep Talent Show starts. Totally unprofessional on their part. And let me address the people that jumped up on the stage. When security tells you to move, YOU MOVE. I know it's all cool to be against authority or whatever, but their job is to make sure that people do not get hurt or the situation gets out of hand. Had they vacated the stage (or never run up there in the first place), likely no mace would have been used. Of course, I was not there, so I really don't know how the situation developed, but having watched many, many security staff people handle situations like this over the years, mace or some sort of force is not usually the first thing they go for. Supposedly an off-duty cop was part of security (and this is a normal thing in a lot of places), so maybe he overreacted. Or maybe his training told him that this situation was deteriorating quickly, and this was the best option to disperse the crowd before someone got seriously injured. There is no way to know this. But anyone that's ever been to a show knows that the only people that should ever be on the stage are the performers and related event staff. Our culture of social networking and American Karaoke, err, I mean Idol, have convinced many people that they are "important" and they need to be the center of attention and they're not responsible for anything they ever do. Which is just wrong. And as far as this being "normal" at shows, I have to disagree. Yes, perhaps at punk shows that are usually played in places that resemble someone's basement or some sort of storage place (and I've seen plenty of shows in these types of settings), where often there is no stage to speak of, things like this do happen. But you'd be hard pressed to find any sort of normal venue these days that would not take a very dim view of any audience member rushing the stage or similar behavior. I really doubt the insane mosh pits I saw at Slayer or Suicidal Tendencies shows many years ago would be tolerated now. Outdoor festivals seem to allow more of this behavior, likely because they're harder to police. I will admit I've never worked/played an outdoor show (other than private parties), so I'm just going off my other experiences here. But because of our legal system, and past incidents, things do seem to be a lot more controlled than they used to be. Bottom line, without actually having been present for any meetings between bands, managers and event staff, without reading the contracts, without actually having been on that stage, it's tough to assign blame. But the band mouthing off at SF can certainly be laid at their feet. I would suspect that some sort of barrier will be present to prevent this sort of thing from happening again at a concert at the park. Let's remember in the end that no one was seriously injured. This could have been a lot worse than it was. dt

While I have always been one to encourage more criticism of Theme Parks/Coasters, constructive, well thought out criticism is what is needed. The internet is already plagued with hellholes full of self-entitled enthusiasts who do nothing but display a complete lack of engineering knowledge, marketing expertise, the concept of budgeting, and tact. Of course, blind worship is just as damaging. There needs to be a balance. And a lot of people could really learn some things if they'd sit back and read what people that actually know what they're talking about from years of related experience. There's actually a good number of people here that are more than willing to share their expertise, though some are likely hesitant to do so, given that the ramblings of someone that drew a coaster in a notebook one time are taken as gospel. Well thought out posts have always been encouraged here, and thoughtful criticism is always welcome. Rabid, frothing at the mouth complaining and spewing of insane conspiracy theories is likely going to get you laughed at. As well it should. My dumb opinion only. Ice Bat had nothing to do with this... dt

^You are awesome. And if people are smart, they will make it a point to spend as much time around the "Two Evil Daves" as possible, as we are damn entertaining. And of course, Ice Bat! dt

And if that keeps up, by the end of the season it will be going so fast that it will actually open a portal to a new dimension, and alien beings will pour through and feast upon all the enthusiasts apparently gathered around the coaster constantly monitoring it's current speed and engineering flaws. Well, we can dream this, anyway... dt

The closest park to me is SFA. The last time I was there was in 2003, and it was a corporate buy out day (which obviously featured less stabbing). I can't imagine I'll ever go back there, unless they build something amazing. I don't like a lot of US parks. I'd rather spend the money to go to Europe or Japan, as I seem to have a much better time at those parks. Plus I'm not someone that MUST go to parks all the time. Outside of the Mid-America trip, I doubt I'll go to any other park besides perhaps Hersheypark this year. Going to parks constantly will burn you out on them, just like any other activity. That's how I look at it, anyway. dt