Coaster Palooza

That looked like a lot of fun Ted and Catrina! I wish we could have gone. Hopefully next year we will get to go. I am looking forward to going to Dollywood, SFOG and possibly heading up to Paramount Carowinds.

Nice report. Don't get hurt down there. There is a wedding in a week.

Final day in Virginia and a flight home. I didn't have any seat in front of me. No first class, but we had exit rows. AmWest and USAirways merged, but apparently this group didn't get the message. There is no waiting for USAirways, but a long wait for AmWest. They are the same friggin' airline! 5 employees weren't doing anything! Another pic from the house. That is their sailboat under the cover. The lake from the house at 7:30am

^^I agree about coming back next year for Griffon. ^The wolf show is neat just because of how they interact with them. The "show" part of it has them doing some neat acts. Here are some more pics from BGE and last night. We are still celebrating our 5th year anniversary and the waitress brought us some icecream dipped in white chocolate on some strawberries. It is finished and then we decided to take a pic....OOPS! All of us at our table. Gyendolynne and Sue outside the front door. They have won some awards. This is one of our favorite places to go when we visit. It is in Stafford county. Busch Gardens in the morning. Dave and Sue on the Log Ride.

^^Matt, it was definitely sweet justice. ^Thanks for the information about Friday! I am always looking for no crowds. Just testing out the new camera. I just picked this up about 2 hours ago.

Went to the Battlefield today with Dave. I have been here a couple of times before, but I wanted to see it again. I also have a passport for National Parks that I wanted to get stamped. The Spotsylvania Courthouse Battlefield map. I can't believe they could wear this in this heat! I don't consider myself a history buff, but this is so interesting. More of the history here.

^? Ted, the thought did cross my mind. I can't believe they beat Cleveland yesterday. Better yet, I can't believe Pittsburgh lost! ^? Gregg, I agree, how can 2 parks be closed on a Saturday in the same general area? They're only open on the weekends at this point! How stupid. ^? Nicole, Fredericksburg is a great place. I wouldn't want to live here though. I can't stand humidity!

Continued Nothing like a couple of country people! Cracker Barrel for dinner. The drive home. These guys were playing on our way out. Is there beer in there?

More pics from our day at BGE. Hey Duke! I don't know... Here's our photo. The guy on the cell phone swallowed a bug. In the picture he is holding his mouth because of it. Gyendolynne saw it and said the bug was huge! This guy was talking on his cell phone all the way up the lift hill and through the beginning of the ride. There is some sweet justice for this in a minute. Here's Apollo's Chariot's wait. It was only around 15-20 minutes. Gotta stop to smash some grapes. Nothing like a good loop. Hey Nessie. There's the hammer Dave won. Let's get going to the front Ooooh, the Big Bad Wolf. Been there, done that. Swing rides are so much fun! Weeee Sue and Gyendolynne took a ride on the swing while Dave did his feat of strength. Well.... Good luck Dave! Who dare hath the feat of strength? The Anheuser Busch chocolate Here's to us! Beer school time. Time for beer. It has been long enough. I believe Dave had trouble with the same hill that Rick had a problem with earlier. Now we need to rescue Gyendolynne. It was still good fun. Hmmmm not so wet. Here we come!!!! No, see it's dry. Ummm, this looks wet. Good Luck! Just get on it, you won't get wet! Dave and Sue waiting for Le Scoot. Weeeeeeeee Yep, it's Alpengeist. Hey, how's it going? I'll leave the construction area with this last pic. I guess I am not authorized for this. I am blocked by a chain for this shot. More construction! I wonder why no one has posted about this....if you think I am serious.... If you lift the camera over the fence, this is what you get. More construction. Here's another area. This is what you can see if you put your camera through the crack in the fence. Uh-oh, I think I might have stumbled onto something. Not so much a signature move. Signature move? This is not my dentist. You can buy it in every country, you just can't take it from country to country. Ask me about this if you would like! This is my cousin. Hello There's Dave and Sue, and Gyendolynne's arm. I really love Halloween. Corkscrew Hill in 4D. Where to now? This is almost Seussish. Even my head can't cover it. I betcha this would dwarf the castle at Disneyland! Man that's a big pumpkin I think it is time for lunch. This is the auction. No more pics! There's Aaron O'Sullivan We're early enough for the 12:15 show. Let's go see the O'Sullivan auction. They're having the Halloween events today. Where to now?

It was our anniversary on Friday and we decided a while ago to fly to Fredericksburg to visit Gyendolynne’s parents. We thought that we could also hit SFA, PKD and BGE, only to find out that SFA and PKD had private parties for 9/23. After the flight we didn’t want to drive to Williamsburg on Saturday, so we just stayed in Fredericksburg. It was for the best because we were really tired. Busch Gardens on Sunday was great! There wasn’t a crowd at all. Maybe it was because of the weather report. They were talking about severe thunderstorms for Sunday. BGE was great because of the lack of crowds. There wasn’t a wait for anything except Apollo’s Chariot near the end of the day! Alpengeist was a walk-on all day and Dark Castle’s wait was only 10-15 minutes. We also saw most of the shows and did the beer master school. They don’t have a certificate though, which was disappointing. We did some flat rides too. I think it is about time for some pics. I can't believe they can play with them like this. The next 2 wolves are babies that they have come out and run through the stage. Here is the host. Now it's time for the wolf show! More wolf pics Dave decided to pose with it. This is the tree that no one has seen before... There's a lot more Halloween theming throughout the park Hey engineer, where ya going? This train! Here's Sue, waiting for.... Here's Dave... Gyendolynne and her dad, Dave. Here we are at Pet Shenanigans The bird could do math! Showing some strength We always like these shows. The pet show. I think I surprised her with the picture. OOHHHH, must be in 3D. See.... No lines, no waiting. DARK CASTLE!!! It looks like.... DOH!!! Great theming with the skis. Front row and away we go. I am glad to see the conditions haven't changed since the last time I was here. Made it back to Alpengeist. Here's another. The grey wolves. Each one was injured and couldn't fly. They had some bald eagles there too. Gotta get a pick of the Clydesdales. This was the only one there. Yo-ho, yo-ho, a pirates life....or death for me... Don't be scared Sue. I love Halloween. Let's get going! Gotta love this. More.... Getting ready for Halloween. Killer Premium Pass parking. Who cares? We're here and it is sunny out! Nope, doesn't look too promising! The following day on the weather channel. Where else would you go for breakfast? Final pay-out voucher, $54. I hit a 900, then a couple hundred, then this 520 coin pay-out. It was only a nickel machine though. What else are you going to do with a one hour lay-over in Vegas? I picked this machine because our cat's name is Cleopatra, just like the machine. Nothing like a free first class upgrade to start off your trip. This is also our wedding anniversary.

Cool TR Soren. I am glad to see you are really enjoying yourself out there! Halloween is my favorite time of the year.

Just out of curiosity, I don't see a date that you MUST first use the ticket by. Does anyone know if you have to use the ticket by a specific date? What I am wondering is: if you buy the ticket now, but don't use it until next year (maybe September '07, or even later), is the ticket still good? It is a really good deal and if you can pick it up at the park, you won't loose it! I remember Disneyland's tickets had a "first use" by a specific date.

^That is Orleans Orbit. They took it out and it is now a "smoking" section! ^^Ryan, sorry we missed you. Maybe next time.

We took my nieces to PGA on Saturday because it was the last day for "bring a friend free" with the VIP pass. They haven't seen the Nickelodeon Parade and we wanted them to see it. It was extremely crowded and the wait times were long, but we rode other rides instead. That's it! Onto the pics Final picture. Thanks for reading! It is a really good one. Yay! The parade Time for the parade The wait is over! and waiting. Getting bored. Taylor decided to sit this one out. Gyendolynne and Tori waiting for the swing ride. Typical shot Tori is trying out the final Survivor immunity challenge She is having fun YAY!! How does this work? But Tori is way up there. Invertigo is stuck! Taylor is ready for her turn now. WOW! Tori is getting pretty far up there. Taylor waits patiently. After that, it was time for some bungee jumping. Back row Jungle man Runaway Reptar isn't bad either. A good on ride photo How about a Taxi Jam ride? Boomerang Bay is closed for the season. Where to next? Delirium's line is a little long. WEEEEEE and they're off getting a little bored.. Waiting patiently... After a ride on the bumper cars, they wanted to ride the Flying Eagles All 4 of us just inside the gate. Gyendolynne and I on Delirium before Tori and Taylor show up

Great report Ted! Gyendolynne and I liked the trip we took for July 4th weekend. We didn't drive between San Antonio and Dallas though. The Rattler really beat us up when we were at SFFT, so nothing other than a credit missed there. It rained on us also at SFOT. There was "threatening" weather in the area too which shut rides down. Glad to see you had fun!

^^Ryan, thanks for suggesting that we stay for the parade. All we have been talking about is that we couldn't believe we actually stayed at PGA for a full day. Haven't done that in a long time! ^The Demon at PGA has their song going too and the lights are on through the lifthill tunnel. It is really great when they restore the rides like that!

I was surprised by Demon's operations today. They were dispatching trains very fast! There wasn't any stacking going on. The ride itself is still as bumpy as ever. The parade was just totally awesome though.

Great TR Jeff! Gyendolynne and I will be visiting her parents in Virginia at the end of the month. We're going to PKD and Busch Gardens while we're there. Thanks for the info on the CF MAXX Pass too. I haven't seen anything at PGA yet.

Gyendolynne and I went to PGA yesterday for a quick trip. We actually stayed the whole day! Ryan (Bush982) said he was flying back up from LA and would be to PGA around 4pm for the parade at 5. We ended up hanging out until the parade. Ryan drives the last float in it. We rode Top Gun 3 times, Delirium, Drop Zone, Survivor, The Grizzly, Bumper Cars, and Berzerker. It was a great time! Top Gun now has a DVD of the ride similar to Sheikra at Busch Gardens, Tampa (I won't change the name). We didn't wait any longer than 30 minutes for any ride (the longest wait was for Top Gun). It was busy, but the operations were very good. A little bit about the parade, it is awesome! This is not some ghetto Six Flags parade, this is a terrific parade. It reminded us of the one at Disney's California Adventure. I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story. One final parting shot. The end of the parade. That hammock was pretty cool too. I guess these are bad guys. There's the parade as it goes past the Carousel. Ryan is driving this Float We highly recommend staying to see this parade. The next float is just as good if not better than the previous one. Look at all the people! Just a few more floats. Getting near the end. Those bubbles are shooting out the back of SpongeBob's float. Yep, The star of the show, SpongeBob Dora, I can't believe I know some names. This is just so well done. First float Jimmy Neutron scooting around in a Segway. Yay! The parade is starting. They even had some dead President's there. It reminded us of Disney's California Adventure. Look at all the people lining up. This is where they come out for the Nickelodeon Parade. Whoa! Top Gun flying by for our second ride. We brokedown and rode Berserker. Here's the splash at Whitewater Falls. That's me on Demon in the back. mmmm, nothing left. After all that stomping, and a ride on Drop Zone and Grizzly, it is time for beer and Nachos. Yes Wally, it is a Bud Light! Maybe we can get them wet. Waiting patiently doing our stomping. At least it is running today. After we rode Top Gun and Delirium, we headed to Survivor. Luckily they opened a few more. In the middle is a Nickelodeon deal with Sponge Bob. Holy cow! This is the wait for the metal detectors.

I have to agree, Moosejaw is the place to go. Gyendolynee in the classic picture Did you see the slide show?

Here is the link to the full trip. Inside has all the events that we did and their links to other threads. http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28236

We had a great time in Pittsburgh/Washington, PA for the week. The capper was seeing my Pittsburgh Steelers play at Heinz Field. It is an aboslutely incredible stadium. Great place, great seats, great beer, and good friends. It was pouring on our way up to the game though. We had a delay also before the game started. We didn't get much sleep that night and had to jump on a plane the next morning. Simi Valley lost to Puerto Rico in the championship game and they were on the same flight that we were on going to Phoenix. The coaches sat right in front of us! Not the best way to end the trip. They scored and now we're ready for the kick-off. First play for Pittsburgh on offense after a 3 and out on defense. Here we go with the kick-off Go away clouds, we're ready to start. There's the man!! Coin flip Incredible HD video screen Here we go Steelers here we go..... Introducing the defense The place is so big that it can accomodate everyone for shelter as well as actually sitting in their seats. It was a sellout too. Just leave mine alone Dan. Have another beer... SEEK SHELTER!! They were packing up. Heavy raindrops pushed us under for some shelter, beer and a band. Can you believe it Jim? We made it! This is the view from our seats. What a great place Except for the fact that we could see the stadium. Lots of tailgaiting going on. We had no idea where to go... An incredible downpour. We actually saw people pulled over until it stopped raining! Sorry guys, nice flight home. If you don't put that camera away I'm going to break it! Rick we're tired of your picture taking! Wiping off my seat with my friend's (Will) Terrible Towel One of the earlier Super Bowl trophies Can't take it away. One of the 5 trophies! This was from the last Super Bowl XL! Lambert's Locker We went through the Coca-Cola Hall in the stadium. Dan was with me. The Steelers are challenging the ruling on the field.

Our day began with breakfast at Danny's, not Denny's. This place is famous for their huge pancakes. I had the plate for the game and after getting around 5 hours of sleep from the night before, I am ready for it! We saw Ted's band the night before. I kept looking at my watch thinking, "The game is in 12 hours, 11 hours, 10 hours...." The pics should do it all. There are other links to the rest of the trip in the beginning. It didn't end... Dan and I in a long discussion That's a catch! Jim has the camera by the way. Strike... Strike Three STRIKE!!!! National Anthem Waiting.... The princesses Here's the championship crew It actually got worse than that after we got home. This is what happened to Jim. I told you it didn't look pretty. mmmmm...Breakfast... Breakfast at Danny's. This is the whole crew. The other 4 were from Texas.

Here are a few beers I drank on the trip. The Steelers game The Blue Danube Pirates game At Hard Rock Cafe - Pittsburgh

I wish I would have taken more pictures. I was just so exhausted! The last set. We stayed for about 3 more songs and then left. It was a nice job Ted. Hopefully I will get another chance to come out and see you again. Here we are. The smoke really affected Steve. He had to go outside Jim is looking a little run-down. There's Ted on the left! We were able to catch his last two songs before the end of the set.