Corkscrewed

Not sure around the park, but I gather it'd be relatively expensive. If you don't mind stopping for gas in Orange County, you can try that and probably find cheaper gas. And if you're going up the 5, there's an ARCO at the 5 and Carmenita Rd (a little after the 91 if you're going north) that's consistently been one of the cheaper stations I've seen around LA. Gimme a call if you need anything.

Answer's prolly no, but does anyone have any idea which news channels will be covering the event, and if they're reporting through the night into the next day, or only for the next day? If so, which ones? Just a matter of curiosity, really.

That's pretty awesome! I love these old time videos that provide a glimpse into what used to be. Videos from the 1950s, with their happy, carefree sense of nostalgia, are particularly fun to watch.

I didn't know the movie would be replayed later as episodes. Good thing I didn't have to buy it myself when I watched it.

Well, unfortunately, it looks like you won't be able to go, unless your friend's mom takes you and NOT your friend. No exceptions. At the very least, you could still go and ride it this weekend, if that's any solace.

Sounds kinky. We might have also inadvertantly stumbled upon the plot to Guy's coaster video contest entry this year (or next year if he didn't submit one this year).

In terms of the cell phone dispute, I am going to go with the spirit of the rule. As Robb mentioned, the main things are safety and control of footage. My phone has a camera, but it's a still camera, not a video camera. I am not idiotic enough to take a cell out of my pocket and hold onto it just for the sake of holding onto it, let alone film. So unless they say no cell phones period, my cell phone will be stowed away in my secured pocket, along with my keys and my wallet. I highly doubt they'll pat me down to find a cell phone, and even if they do, it doesn't take video, and it's beyond even Six Flags to make a fuss about such a technicality. In other words, I'm exercising common sense and assuming all of this is a balance of safety, media control, and guest satisfaction. So... who's gonna be official TPR Camcorder rack? Even if your friend's mom went with you but not him, it still might be problematic. Sorta. I decided to download that form to see what it says in the middle of this. I had thought that Legal Guardian meant permanent one, which in case your friend's mom wouldn't count because she's not your legal guardian--your parents are. However, I also noticed a place for a notary to affirm the authenticity of the preceding statements. This seems to imply that you need to have the form notarized for it to be legally binding (the notary will authenticate your parents' decision to temporarily allow another adult to be your legal guardian for that day). If that's the case... get it notarized. This can be done at a bank, I believe, rather than only a law office. Although I should probably ask Robb (on behalf of those under 18 who are going): Robb, do those legal guardian forms need to be notarized? If so, they'd better do it fast. If you're skipping that part, then nevermind. The only reason that stuck out to me is because I just had to get a Lease Guarantee form notarized this weekend, so issues of legal matters are pretty sensitive to me right now.

Hasn't it been "booming" for about two years now?

Yeah, guys, don't even joke about trying to sneak POV's (more of a preventative statement at this point), since we don't want the park to get any ideas. On the other hand, I definitely plan on filming the people in line, just because the circumstances might be entertaining (assumiing I'm awake... 5:00 am isn't a good time for me. ).

Oh, so they repealed that stupid "can't re-enter park after leaving it, even with a handstamp" rule that they introduced a couple of months ago? That's a relief!

Good question. I assume the llama, but you never really know, since it's Guy. You'll have to ask him to straighten this mystery out!!

Well get over your pet peeve about this and get used to it. This thread has a problem that always adds and extra page after the last post of the previous page and if you click on the page it says page does not exist. So therefore us peeps here at tpr put up a "BUMP" post to bump it so the next person can post properly and help out the threads problem. It was requested by Robb Alvey himself for us to do this. Although you dont really need to post a "Bump" thread, you can easily make it a regular picture post but most peeps like to make it a "Bump" post. As you will notice at the top of every new page for the last many several pages you will notice peeps puting up a "Bump" post. I hope you understood that. If not then I am sorry and just deal with the pet peeve problem. As a matter of fact this is a "Bump" post! I see. Basically it's to fix a glitch. Well then, I stand corrected! I didn't browse the TPR boards often enough initially to catch that, so I wasn't aware this was needed. Carry on then!

Uh oh! Only 15 more chances for one of my vids to make the cut! Hope one does! And now, onto the reviews: Tom Mueller's Port Aventura Video The first thing I have to say is: WOW! What beautiful video quality! The color and crispness of the video was extremely impressive, and I love the various professional-looking views and angles you took. The smooth panning, excellent steady zooming, and fortunate lighting you had made this video extremely enjoyable! Add to that the nice use of the widescreen format and you have a wonderful video that looks extremely cinematic! Port Aventura is a wonderful park that I definitely want to visit someday, and you've captured it brilliantly! The editing is top notch and the fun is certainly obvious, altho the whole "STAMPEDA" screaming was pretty over the top. Definitely one of the top videos so far, though, IMO. Out of curiosity, was that clip at the end sort of a swerve to trick us into thinking the guy was gonna utter the now-infamous "High speed coaster from Vekoma" line? If so, mission accomplished. Jim Williams' Six Flags Magic Mountain December 2005 Pretty neat vid. Compared to a lot of the others, the editing was not as crisp here, but that doesn't detract from the general fun that's projected. Interesting shennanigans are this video's strength, from wolf nut biting to rapids hitting to carousel spanking. I'd say that the poorer lighting conditions and the technical flaws dragged this one down for me, but it's by no means a bad video! And it's always great to see people including background noise in their vids and doing it relatively well! Lars & Cornelia Theissen's "Coaster Season 2005" I'm not sure this was supposed to happen, but the audio completely cuts out on the last 30 seconds. Which was a bummer. This video falls into the middle of the pack for me. Now, that might sound disappointing, but we've already had such a great showing so far that "middle of the pack" here really means "pretty effing awesome everywhere else! My only major complaint here was the flashing of the park names and quick video shots of each park at the beginning. I thought the way that was done was contradictory to the tone of the music and detracted from the vid a little bit. I would have gone with a more simpler slow fade to introduce each park. However, the rest of the video is a great journey to various parks all around the world! The editing is pretty good, though not perfectly consistent (that's only an "issue" here because we've got about three or four that are just absolutely stunning in this regard already), and the shots are all great. The soundtrack is very uplifting, which I greatly enjoyed, and overally, this is a very sold, very enjoyable video! I hope the audio gets fixed though. I'm guessing that was an encoding issue. Jonathan Hawkins' "Midwest Conquest" ROFLMAO at the bumper car line clip! That had me laughing for a while! Alternate intro statement: WHOA that's a lot of parks! And what a dizzying finale! This one was another strong "general theme park(s) tour vid with some shennanigans." It wasn't utterly amazing, but it was thoroughly enjoyable. A whole lot of parks, a whole lot of people, and a whole lot of coasters. I mean, seriously. That was a lot of content covered in there! I commend you for that. And those bumper car clips were definitely hilarious. Nicolas Chavance's Efteling This definitely had one of the best opening shots of any of the entries so far. Gorgeous, gorgeous sunrise! In fact, I really like the cinematic quality of the opening minute. It was as though I was watching an actual short movie, rather than "just" a theme park video. I would definitely recommend fading into the next shot rather than using a raw cut, especially since the scenery is so lush, tranquil, and pristine. The thing that sticks out for me here is the great, uplifting, whimsical, "have a fun time" feel this video exudes. The mixture of the beautiful setting of the park and the charm that Efteling has is captured wonderfully with the soundtrack and the clips. It's a carefree atmosphere where you can frollick around and just have fun! And I love that. And the line of ducks (and consequently, people) was totally cool. Ducks rule! MY CURRENT RANKINGS: 1. Paul Ruiz De Miquel - "Parque de Attactiones" 2. Julian Johnson - "Don't Look Down 2005" 3. Tom Mueller - "Port Aventura Video" 4. Justin Saxe - "Silverwood" 5. Nicolas Chavance - "Efteling" 6. Lars & Cornelia Theissen - "Coaster Season 2005" 7. Jonathan Hawkins - "Midwest Conquest" 8. Dennis 'Park Junkie' Kolodzeizik - "Slagharen" 9. Jim Williams - "Six Flags Magic Mountain December 2005" 10. Connor Thompson - "Magic Springs" Please, no one take this as a jab, because it isn't meant to be negative, but IMO, right now, there's a pretty clear gap between the first three and the rest of the videos in terms of overall production and quality. The next three are all pretty even, and then there's another small but noticeable gap between six and seven, and finally, another separation between eight and nine. But that isn't to say that none of them are bad, because it's quite the opposite!

Well, that settles that. If I want to ride, then I gotta stow my camera away first... unless I can trust someone enough to leave it with them. I propose we campers get free use of SFMM lockers for that day. BE LIKE DISNEY!!! J/P... sorta... Thanks again for setting all of this up! This is going to be a hectic week for me, but Tatsu will be worth it! Albert "No really... free lockers = pwnage" Lam

I don't really see how an overbank would be much more difficult than a 90 degree bank like on Voyage or Hades. I was thinking more of an elevated one, as opposed to one in a tunnel or low to the ground. If you put it in the same situation as the 90 degree turns on Hades or Voyage, than yeah, it'd be easier, but I'm not so sure you'd like the forces on something like that.

A coaster type is defined by its track only, so it can have steel everything, but as long as the track is made of wood, it's a wooden coaster. Same goes for the opposite (hence why Gemini is a steel coaster technically). As far as the methods go, technically is is POSSIBLE, however, I don't see it being feasible, because you'll have to constantly be replacing the wood as the vibrations from such a strong lateral force loosen the nails and wood members over time. You'd probably have to have wood track on braced steel, essentially like in SoB. I suppose if you bolt it really well, that might work too, but then the wood members themselves become the weaker parts, and they might soften or distort over time, which would hurt the track.

Pffft. Reading's overrated anyway. Who needs to read? Now back to our discussion about how Guy could totally beat a llamma to death using his Kim Possible doll after riding it through the Serengetti for six days.

Hahah, pretty cool! And all for a good cause! Hilarious update, guys!

Just a question to those who reply with "BUMP" Are you aware that bumping a stickied topic really doesn't do anything? I mean, it's already stickied. So it's now first in the order of stickied post... so what? I'll sink down later. It's not like it'll disappear from the first page. There's no reason to bump, and it comes off (to me anyway) as though you're just trying to up the post count. Just a little pet peeve rant. We now return you to your regular side boobs. I mean loops. And other people.

Yeah... future Imagineer. Geez, how can I even dream of competing with THIS?! Awesome stuff, man! Just astounding.

Nicole, I just wanted to take this time to tell you that everytime I look at your avatar, I misread it and think about the Peter Griffen Side Boob Hour. Yeah. I know you totally wanted to know that.

yesterday at SFMM.... ... Canyon Blaster. New Credit!

^^ Wow... impressive. I *might* have spent somewhere close to that much on one of the vids I submitted, but definitely nowhere close to that on any of the other vids I've ever done before. It definitely paid off though!

Geez, has it been that long already? I used to LOVE the PeopleMover. Rode it everytime I was at the park because it was a really nice, relaxing ride that I could enjoy with my family. I think the main issue with the ride is simply reinforcing the structure, which theoretically might require the blocking out of major traffic areas and basically create a very big hastle. They'd have to do it in numerous segments, I suppose, working on a third of the straightaway at a time, then on one bend, and then the mirroring bend. My dream for a while has been to build a true E-ticket over by Thunder Mountain Ranch. It'd be a perfect place to build that long-fabled Fire Mountain or Geyser Mountain ride, or something similar.

A question to Paul and/or Julien... if you could estimate how many days/hours it took for you to edit those videos, what would it be? Basically, that was a really complicated way of asking how long did it take to make your vids.