Jew

^Perhaps because they are all in the same market and competing with each other? Perhaps it is because I recall at WCB and/or the DVD release party Jay mentioned striving to be better than Disneyland?

This is really a huge problem that I hope gets fixed. I'm all for the pre-show being awesome and everything, and I'm sure people do not mind watching the pre-show as "something to do while they wait in line" but if a pre-show a keeping them from riding the coaster and they have to wait in line a second longer due to watching the pre-show, that is unaccetpable. On a positive note, when I was there on Saturday the crew was dispatching a train as soon as one his the brakes, which is awesome, but I too did notice a few empty rows during my visit. --Robb 100% agreed. The experience is by far the best thing Magic Mountain has ever done, but I still wonder how many guests actually care about the "experience" part (getting involved with the story) vs. "oh, this is cool...now bring on the ride!" I hope they will continue to tweak until they find the perfect balance, since I personally believe the majority of SFMM's clientele care much more about the ride than the experience.

Disney only owns 40% of the of Euro Disney S.C.A. (which is the publically traded company that actually owns DLP) stock. They are also only 43% owners of the company that controls Hong Kong Disneyland (The Hong Kong government owns the rest)

I don't believe this is the case. Right before the DCA overhaul was announced, Disney sold $1 billion in bonds. Coincidence? I think not.

They take the trains offsite to perform work on them? I always thought that they were refurbished onsite. They have their own shop for refurbishing trains...but they don't have the resources to do that many rehabs on their own.

I have never noticed it. Am I blind, or does it just blend in really well? It's behind House of Blues. You see it on the Monorail. Universal also has a Sheriff substation on Citywalk. Knott's doesn't have a substation, but I believe they always have Buena Park PD on-site. It's just smart to have immediate response when you are dealing with so many people a year.

Except for the first rides of the day and when there is absolutely no wait, the idea of the preshow is that it takes up time you'd be spending waiting in line anyway. Whether or not this is exactly the case is up to the park to figure out and, from what Robb and others have said, this is what they're tweaking. If there wasn't a preshow, you'd still have the same amount of people in front of you in line. It just wouldn't be as entertaining. I disagree slightly with that. The way the preshow is currently configured, I doubt they will be able to maintain an efficient operation. I heard they had a solid first weekend, but I'm more interested to see if they are able to maintain that for the entire summer. I personally believe that configuration will ultimately hamper capacity, since it seemed like things are too heavily dependent on every preshow having 22 people and everything being "in sync." Not only that, I wonder if the park is willing to make the commitment to keep it fully staffed. That's 3 extra positions for a park where I've yet to see any operations staff at "greeter" and always hear stories of people having to push breaks/lunches to maximum time allowed by the law due to staffing issues. You might be able to answer this: are the preshows timed to match up with the dispatch intervals? So there's never too much waiting for guests between trains? By that I mean, once one group boards, do they have it in sync to where the 3rd preshow guests are heading up the stairs very soon after? Is it possible for the 3rd preshow to actually be slowing boarding down if they don't go up the stairs in time? If they are able to work on tweaking that (I hear they are tossing around a bunch of ideas), the preshow won't bother me nearly as much. But as someone who was mainly there to ride the coaster, a 10-minute preshow that is "haunt quality" (which, again, is a giant step forward for the park) and not "OMFG wow" quality (like Dueling Dragons castle) just isn't my thing. How inefficiently I think its set up is only adds to that.

^^Entitled? For thinking that the park should grant a guests simple request? I don't agree with the whole design of the preshows, where what is IMO a poor design has led to a situation where they have no choice but to deny seat requests to keep every train full. I'm not arguing with the intent of the "experience." I think it's great they are trying to create experiences. But do you honestly believe guests care THAT much about the 'experience' vs. just the actual roller coaster? Is the 'experience' worth the big hit in capacity and labor budgets? I'm not suggesting they skip it. I just think they could get the same "value" in a shorter preshow on a loop. Ideally it would be designed so that if the crew is hauling ass, the preshow won't have to be repeated. Did that stay for the whole weekend? They've done T-shirts/hats for the crew on past media days too. I hope the park goes back to uniforms too...the B:TR butler shirts, ninja costumes, riddlers jumpsuits, superman flight suits, etc. were awesome touches.

Please post a report on the wait time throughout the day if you can! The middle day of a three day weekend is typically the busiest, so I'm interested to see how things are going. As far as what I thought of the ride on KROQ night, it's pretty much all been said here already. Just in case anything hasn't, here's a recap: -The ride is a typical GCI. Which means it's simply good fun. It's not going to crack my top-10, but it is still easily my favorite wooden coaster on West Coast and new favorite ride at SFMM. The ride really hauls ass, and the only bad thing I could possibly think of is that the layout sort of fizzles out at the end. But the first half of the ride and the speed it carries all the way through are awesome! -The themeing was also very impressive for SFMM. I say "for SFMM" because it's still below what you would get at Universal or Disney, but the effort is much appreciated. Robb said it best when he described it as a "well done haunt maze." However, there are some issues...which, to be fair, might be the result of the KROQ night not being the finished product: -Audio. Holy crap it's loud. In the 3rd preshow and on the ride. I literally could not hear Elissa next to me as we were stuck on the lift while the whole track played through. Sounds like they might have corrected that, but I think they should also look for a way to shut the audio off when the ride stops. In the 3rd preshow, it was just as bad. I bet that exceeds OSHA guidelines for the poor employees who have to be in there. The funny part was when I asked a supervisor about that, the response was "No one has complained yet. I think the employees are into it." -The preshow. It's too long and drawn out. Not only that, there is no way they will be able keep operating things how they currently have it where you HAVE to watch all three preshows before going into the station. It's staffing intensive and kills capacity. I suspect Terminator can't be doing more than 600pph right now (if that). Hopefully they can re-design things to where the preshows are on a loop and part of the queue. -Operations. It was obvious the crew that night wasn't prepared. You could tell they were training people, I didn't really appreciate being stapled, nor did I appreciate not having a choice of seats. If a guest requests a row, you would think that a park that is trying to turn itself around would be all about granting the request to keep the guest happy. Guess not! Again, my complaints could all be solved by the end of summer. I look forward to coming back in a few months to see how things may or may not have changed.

I just told my dad tonight that the Lakers have ADD. They have the fire...when they want to. I get the feeling they are playing down to Denver to try and give themselves more of a challenge than it has to be.

Another awesome chapter in your thread. You have inspired me to go to the driving range tonight.

Yes. We actually talked to the former owner turned creative director for the Ice House when we were there. It sounded like his theater was failing, as were owners of the other attractions (I think the Malibu Beach show was already there too) and the mall...so they came together to findinvestors to save their asses for HRP. I know the guy is either part of the new management team or one of the guys in control of HRP Creative. Can't remember which.

^Two things: 1. I have to lob this pass a little more than I'd like to because I got Lamar Odom guarding the pass. 2. I didn't realize Ariza was so quick.

I think we need Jeff Johnson's expert opinion.

I've been neglecting this thread long enough... I intended to end the basketball portion of this thread with pictures of the Galen Center, but I can't seem to find them at the moment, so we are moving on to football! And what a better way to start than with the grand daddy of all college football games: The Rose Bowl. The Rose Bowl is a very bitter sweet place for me... The Bitter: Vince Young. It's UCLA's home. Upset loses to Stanford/Oregon State/UCLA forced USC into the Rose Bowl instead of the national title game. It shows its age. The Sweet: four straight Rose Bowls=domination of the PAC-10 and BIG-10. It shows its age. Death Dogs. My pictures from the 2006 game are on my old laptop, so I'll upload those another time. For now here are some pictures of the 2008 and 2009 games. OK, I lied: this is how every night at the Rose Bowl should end. The perfect way to close this update. The post game celebration. Our reward for being loyal season ticket holders: endzone seats 3 rows from the top. Thankfully the Rose Bowl doesn't have luxury boxes or a club level, so the top isn't THAT bad. ...Damnit, I meant the 2010 Rose Bowl. I hope to see this again next year... They never even had a chance: they can thank the old farts on the Rose Bowl Committee who wanted "tradition" over a good football game. Jerks. ...and Erin Andrews (not sure what the infatuation is with her: there's much hotter female sports journalists out there now) ...right above the visitors tunnel... My view for 2008... This is what the Rose Bowl typically looks like when USC is playing: one end zone will be the opponents colors, and the rest of the stadium will be Cardinal. Afterall, it is USC's home away from home. UCLA just borrows it for the regular season. The 2009 flyover: a B-2. The 2008 flyover: FA-18's. Here's another downside of being such an old stadium: unless you pay a premium for the seats between the 20 yard lines (which are real seats), this is how close the bench "seats" are from eachother. Which is great fun and not really great fun at the same time. One of the downsides of being such an old Bowl: the entrance gates are VERY narrow. Get into the stadium early! Otherwise you will be fighting a giant crowd to get in, and then another giant crowd to get to your seats since they constantly have to close tunnels from being too full. Here's what you see when you finally do make it to the Bowl This was the line to take the shuttle from the alternate parking lots in Old Town Pasadena to the Bowl. Here's a tip: it's only about a mile and a half to walk to the stadium from the Metro Gold Line Memorial Park station. Highly recommend using the Gold Line unless you are hosting a tailgate...parking is AWFUL at the Rose Bowl. The 2009 game ticket The 2008 game ticket The 2007 game ticket The 2006 game ticket (screw you Vince Young!)

I just want to take this opportunity to say that Paul Pierce is a total douche. When he wins the title against an injury depleted Lakers, he's the best player in the world. But when the Celtics lose, it's all the injuries fault.

So what is it when you feel the need to insult the members of the staff you have never met over the internet? Not sure what any of the moderators could possibly be insecure about: many of us have great jobs, a great family life, and get to travel around the world riding roller coasters. Sucks to be us? While there are some who may disagree with how someone moderates: the fact of the matter is that TPR is now the largest theme park message board on the internet, so we must be doing something right! I personally believe that being more aggressive in keeping posts "valuable" (correct grammar, meaningful, etc.) is part of that, but I understand those who might disagree. That's why there are tons of other internet forums out there for you to enjoy as well.

This question has been answered a few times already, but just in case anyone missed it: There will be no media day/opening day event for Terminator.

^^I'm just going to guess and say resources: Six Flags doesn't have a dedicated division just for design/engineering with all sorts of specialists on hand like Disney does with WDI. Six Flags probably also doesn't have the extra money it would take for all the vendors to design a more integrated solution. But the end result is still the same anyways: audio on the coasters. Looks aren't the emphasis of the rides @ Six Flags with audio (they're not trying to sell them as anything other than giant roller coasters with audio/FX), whereas Disney places a higher premium on how the ride looks and the overall themed experience.

Tatsu was already featured on a show about ride construction.

When you decide to adopt the symbol of an MMA apparel company as a "tribute to your father"...you're asking for trouble. I couldn't possibly imagine why Casey Blake would mock a closer making a gesture that by his own admission is the symbol for a company named "one more round." The implication is obvious when someone points to the sky. The symbol of an MMA apparel company? Not so much. Plus, it's not fair to assume Casey Blake even knew the meaning. I'm sure a guy with no ties to the Bay Area reads the San Jose Mercury News every day...

They're not getting new restaints because the owners intend to get rid of the coaster the first chance they can. They intended to remodel the whole property before the economy tanked. http://www.vegastodayandtomorrow.com/saraha.htm

You can't rely on computer testing. That's more of a guesstimate.

There is no law in California regarding OTSR's.

There was a Jillian's.