Meteornotes

As someone that spends a lot of time in restaurants and travelling, I'm going to agree with Robb's opinion of Mythos. I used to think this was easily the best theme park restuarant anywhere, and also used to think that it could easily compete with just about any place in the city of Orlando. It was that good. Now, it still has the great interior, but nothing else. They've dumbed down the menu to the point where it's a SLIGHT step up from a takeaway counter at a park. And the removal of the desserts (one of the signature things about the place) is just criminal. I used to look forward to my trips to Orlando and IOA every year, knowing I could eat at Mythos. Now, considering what they've done to the place, I'm just as happy going to McDonald's... dt

Hmm, this may be a topic I can help with... Best Pizza: Knoebel's Best Fries: Kennywood (get them with gravy!) Best Tacos: Martin's Fantasy Island Best Ice Cream: Knoebel's Best Potato Salad: DelGrosso's (this is one of those "If you go here, you have to try it" things, as it is quite simply the best potato salad I have ever had). Best Pepper Steak: Liseberg (likely outside of the range the Food Network wants to cover since it's in Sweden, but I'm going to mention it anyway because it is so damn good!) The best park for overall selection of food, especially unusual for park items, is Knoebel's. Chicken fries, perogies, tri-taters, stuffed potatos, carmel apple chips, hommade ice cream and milkshakes...plus all the usual assortment of park stuff (burgers, pizza, hot dogs and so on). Favorite theme park restaurant: California Grill at the Walt Disney World resort. I'd seriously rank this place as one of the best ten restaurants I've ever eaten in. And I travel and eat at all sorts of really good places A LOT. If I have to pick a place that's actually inside a park, I'm going to go with either Mama Melroses or the Sci-Fi Diner (both at Disney MGM in Orlando). dt

^You know, it would be awesome if we could find a megaphone that plays that song... dt

I'm not good at telling people what park to do on what days, other than stay out of Magic Kingdom on a Saturday. As for food, I HIGHLY recommend California Grill. You will have to wear business casual clothes and make a reservation now, but this is one of the best restaurants I've ever eaten in anywhere. You'll have a great view of the fireworks if you're up there at the right time. Yes, it's expensive, but it is totally worth it. If you like sushi, make sure you get some here. For italian, I like both the italian place in Epcot (can't remember the name) and Mama Melroses at MGM. Other places I've enjoyed would be the japanese place in Epcot, the brew pub place on the Boardwalk, and Blue Zoo which is in the Swan or Dolphin (can't remember which one at the moment). In general, I've found the food at WDW to be pretty good quality and reasonably priced. Have fun! dt

If you went to MFI and didn't eat the tacos, you missed out! And I think my back still hurts from their shot tower. But Silver Comet is way cool. How were the wings at that place? I've heard conflicting reports... dt

While she's never posted, Mary does look at the board on occasion, and she's certainly been on enough coaster trips, with the majority of her credits being out of the US! It's her birthday today, so join me in wishing her a happy one... dt

Yeah, it seems expensive, until you look at getting the multi-day tickets. Then it actually gets a lot cheaper. My multi-day park hopper will finally run out on my next trip. I've always found WDW to be a good value, and have never felt like I've been ripped off when I've visited. Of course, I also stay far away from the place in the summer... dt

Marillion - Misplaced Childhood dt

That would be me. Most of the rest of these people have no concept of what good music is! To add to what others have said, anyone that goes on one of these trips will have a good time. I will yammer like a madman online, but tend not to talk a lot to people I don't know initailly, as not everyone gets my sense of humor (I freaked out someone on the UK trip about five minutes after I got there by making a joke about porn and explosions). I've travelled a lot with Robb & Elissa, Derek and Dan, and have been to parks with JJ a few times, but didn't know a lot of the other people on the trip. I had talked to some folks on IRC or here on the site, and got to know some folks on the UK forum (I think the trivia contest really helped with this process!). I knew that Nicole would be someone that I would get along with, and she was, even if I did have to ask her if she wanted an axe buried into her skull at one point... But I ended up meeting and hanging out with people that I had never met like Casey, Rich, Tommy & James, and others. A "stranger" will quickly find that we all have the coaster thing in common, and it's pretty easy to hang out with people when everyone is having a good time, which is what you're going to be doing on one of these trips. I've found in life that not every person you meet is going to be someone that you'll be best buddies with. It happens. I learned a long time ago to not worry about it. Not everyone is going to get the Dave Experience. Yeah, there were different groups of people on the trip, but they seemed to change a lot, and everyone got along. I think that someone could go on one of these trips and not know anyone, and pretty quickly you'll find folks to hang out with and have a good time. There were some times during the trip that Mary and I would get separated from the group(s) and we'd just be on our own for awhile, which was also fine. I think Mary is the only person on the planet that can put up with my nonsense on a daily basis anyway, which I suppose is one of the reasons why I married her. If anyone signs up for a future trip, I really encourage you to hang out on the forum that will be set up for it. You'll get to know people before you all meet at a strange hotel somewhere, which is probably a good thing. And yes, anyone that wants to hang out with the intelligent Dream Theater fan (I'm printing out that quote and hanging it next to my monitor) in Spain and/or Japan, I'll be there... dt

Oh, I'm going. I might have to leave a day early or something like that, but even that probably won't happen. I will know more later in the year, but I've wanted to visit Japan for many years, and I've been looking forward to this trip for a very long time, so I'll be there. Dave "sushi every day!" Thomas

Derek and Joey are 100% correct. CF sucked the soul out of what once was one of the best parks in the US. Now it's a "C" leve park, at best. Horrid operations and employees, idiotic policies, the total deterioration of Ghostrider, one of the tamest B&M inverts in history, and the destruction of anything historic in favor of more concrete and trash cans pretty much add up to a park that's not very good. I am shocked that Monty is still there, since it's like old and all, and hasn't been replaced by a cotton candy cart. KBF used to be a park I'd visit every year. I was last there two years ago, and really have no desire to get back there. dt

^You better start stocking up on the Tylenol with Morphine, just based on the comments I've already seen in this thread. Paging Dr. Derek! dt

I thought we already figured out that all TPR trips will have an add-on to Liseberg? "We're going to Japan - and then we're going to ride Balder!" Ted, Mary and I won't be going on the Italy add-on as we've already been to all of those parks, so that's two spots open. This could change if something AMAZING is built there before next year, but I haven't heard any rumors of anything. For those that have never been, Katun is almost worth the price of the trip itself. For those that have not been on one of these trips, everyone meets at one spot, gets on the bus, and are driven around for the next week or so. Everything is taken care of, and all you have to do is show up and prepare to have fun. I hope the trips are always kept to one bus, as the small group makes ERT a lot more fun (this was pretty much the only time in my life that ERT wasn't a longer wait than during regular park hours), and it makes it easier to change plans on the fly (like leaving a park early, something that would be hard to coordinate with multiple busses). If you went to Robb & Elissa bus (like someone suggested) Elissa would have to hire a number of additional bodyguards... Dave "proud protector of Elissa at Thorpe Park" Thomas

You can get Tarantula shirts?!? That's a reason to sign up for the Spain trip right there! I'm not much of a "merchandise" person. It's been years since I bought a shirt at a park. Now shirts featuring obscure metal bands? That's a different story... dt

Spain - Yeah, we're going. Midwest - Probably not. Japan - I will likely go. Mary will not. I have to see how some things are scheduled for that time of the year, though. For those that might be thinking about going on one of these trips, all I can tell you is GO! You will never, ever, find a better organized coaster trip out there. dt

Pepsi = Softdrink Of Satan dt

We saw it yesterday, and Mary and I were laughing the whole time. I still think Clerks is the funniest movie ever, but this was damn close. dt

^Post of the Weekend dt

Those handcuffs would have been very useful on the UK trip... dt

OK, that was the BEST UPDATE EVER!!! Food, beer and sex stuff = entertaiment! And this is further proof that the UK is a billion times cooler than the US. Could you imagine if someone even thought of putting a sex store in your local mall? The place would be burned to the ground inside of fifteen minutes. Good to see you're having some fun while you're over there. Not sure why I got mentioned, but this quote reminds me that I need to go to Knoebel's sometime before the end of August... dt

OK, that was all kinds of awesome, but that photo of Dan throwing the dart and somehow totally ignoring the laws of gravity and aerodynamics is amazing! I laughed for like five minutes when I was looking at that. Plus there was porn, which makes anything better... dt

BEST UPDATE EVER!!! That was a great day. Balder is indeed the best wood coaster on the planet. I think I got about 30 rides on it that day. So much fun. The Ice Bar looks kind of cool. We had to skip it because it was either visit that or go to the Pepper Steak place, and there was NO way we were missing out on that godly experience! Can't believe that trip was over a month ago already. I think it's time to go back to Liseberg... dt

That was an awesome report. Scary how busy the place was. I haven't been there since 2002, but it seems like the park isn't being run as well as it used to. One train on Grizzly on a busy day?!? Boo... dt

Wow, Midway America is going to look really different and sort of odd next year. I still think it would have been better to put all the water slides and stuff over on the old golf course, but there's no doubt that this attraction will be very popular with park guests. I still have not yet experienced the new Chocolate World. Mary's company usually has a group event at Hersheypark in September, so maybe we'll check it out then. dt

This made me laugh. You guys do an awesome job, as I've only seen a couple spam posts on here. dt