Jew

^I never travel that far. Us people in the greater L.A. area have California Paintball Park (lots of fields, but if you rent, you have to buy their overpriced field paint), Warped Paintball Park (my personal favorite), and Field of Fire (closest one--the one you see driving to SFMM). Opening soon is Conquest and Action Paintball Park, both off the 14. I'm excited for those. They're both run by good people.

Inspired by Scott's awesome thread, which can be found HERE, here is the next installment: So...even though I consider myself to a Laker fan (the NBA isn't really my thing...though I do try to catch every game I can on TV and do keep up with all the latest news), I realized very quickly that Clippers tickets are WAY less expensive. How much cheaper? For the price of sitting courtside, the best seat you could get at a Lakers game is the corner of the Premier section (top of the lower bowl). Again, craigslist is your friend! Anyways...I have to say that the experience is AWESOME! If you enjoy watching basketball at all, you'll enjoy sitting courtside (duh). Hearing Chris Kaman try to talk sh*t was amazing. Also sitting right behind the Hornets bench was interesting, as you could really tell CP3 wasn't really on the same page as Byron Scott. On to the photos.... That's how I roll. The only decent picture I took inside of the really small, over priced lounge ($12 draft beer!). This is where celebrities come to hide....at Lakers games. The biggest "celebrity" that bothers to show their face at Clippers games now is Bill Simmons. Ouch. The view if you don't have a bunch of really tall people in front of you (this one is from a different game and the other side of the court) GRRR, I'M AN ANGRY CP3!!! STAY AWAY FROM ME BYRON SCOTT!! This is the view if you sit behind a teams bench...Hope you enjoyed it, because if you were really there it would be interrupted every few minutes by really tall dudes supporting their team. How dare they. I get the impression the Lakers are pretty good. And your seats really suck if you are stuck on the 300 level. As part of your at least $450 face value ticket, you get to feel important and enter the arena through the same tunnels players use. Too bad security doesn't let you wait anywhere near the locker room (I saw a bunch of disappointed kids) to even try and get a high 5.

We took the Subway in Seoul to visit a few parks on the return visit in 2008, and from the looks of the map of the system...it looked like you could get pretty much anywhere using the subway. Here's a link I found that looks like it would help you out: http://www.asia-pacific-connections.com/transportation.html

Bumping this thread... If anyone in So Cal around SFMM is looking for a game on Sunday (April 5), shoot me a PM. Might be putting something together.

Great report! You've inspired me to post the first of my NBA reports instead of paying attention in class tonight. Without having been to the arena, I have say that I like the concept of loading up the luxury suites on one side. The 300 level @ Staples Center is horrible past the first few rows because of how high up it is due to three levels of luxury boxes separating it from the lower bowl.

Regarding California state law... DOSH only requires that the manufacturer approve it, SOP's get updated, and it is proven to be safe. For example, if they were to lower the height requirement at Gold Rusher, all that would be required is a new SOP from Arrow, new SOP's written for the ride ops, and test cycling for DOSH to approve it.

The rides are currently for sale...I think it is safe to say that this park is dead.

I don't think it will be that much busier. It's only a state holiday, so not everyone gets the day off.

^^It's not his job to tell GR! I can understand going to GR about the employee discount situation, but I really hope the park isn't counting on TPR members (and other guests) to police the park for stuff like cell phones. Regarding all the talk about how family friendly SFMM is.. People aren't bringing their kids to SFMM to eat lunch at Mooseburger, play in the arcade, play the midway games or have a kids meal at one of the quick serve locations. To a lesser extent, you can even argue that the shows are also not a draw. I believe that SFMM's entertainment department does a great job with the more limited resources they have (compared to USH and Disney), but I would hardly call the shows a draw. Shows are supplemental, not the main draw. The reality is that in southern california, SFMM is known as a rides park. The only way they are going to shake the stigma of not being family friendly is to build more family friendly rides. Not only that, they need to actually market them as family friendly. The shows, characters, and the "new and improved" atmosphere around the park all supplement that. But before you can get families to realize there is more to do than they thought at SFMM, you have to give them a reason to return first. And the main way to do that is rides. I personally consider family friendly to be 42" and under (I know that Mummy has to turn away tons of kids under 48" inch day, most who want to ride and are just a few inches too short). SFMM seems to agree with me, as clicking "family" on the rides portion of their website yields a list of rides with height requirements of 42" and under. They are still lacking anything remotely close to a signature attraction in this area.

I love it when airlines do cool things like the tail cam. The only thing I enjoy about flying United is channel 7, where you can listen to the radio communications of the plane.

You can already find information on TONS of parks simply by using the TPR index! The forums are already a database: if someone posts a photo trip report, it can be added to the park index.

^How exactly is this company the "wrong" one?

Whatever your thoughts are on the game, I actually give Six Flags credit for continuing to find new sources of revenue ("partners")!

Tim also said that about Thomas Town @ the 2008 WCB. It seems to me that with Six Flags, the ambition always surpasses what the actual budget will allow (exp the X2 tunnels). But I have a good feeling about Terminator. I refuse to get my expectations as high as some other people though. I just think it will be fun. I mean let's just be real here. It's a theme park coaster, not a new Disney E-ticket. Couldn't have said it better myself. I made the comment to try and temper the excitement about the themeing. I'm just thrilled there will be a decent wooden roller coaster so close to my house! I also actually hope the themeing does match B:TR...where the queue sort of tells the story of how you ended up in the batcave (at least there's the natural progression of park under construction...to sewer...to "holy crap we found the batcave!"). That's a nice change from just switchbacks!

Tim also said that about Thomas Town @ the 2008 WCB.

^^^Mark Shapiro also famously said Metro was returning as a Thomas attraction, only to now have SFMM management saying at the Q&A that the ride is dead.

^^Major attraction is quite open for interpretation.

Senior Supervisors are not nearly as high up on the food chain as you think they are. They hear the same rumors as you and I. Regarding the 2010 coaster: my money is on one of the smaller coasters that have been cloned across other SF parks: either the dark knight mouse or the Tony Hawk spinner. I can't claim to know anything about how coasters are paid for, but I do know this: Six Flags sure as hell isn't getting any new loans, so it is fair to question how the hell they plan on paying for everything. Especially if all the money is due up front. Can anyone provide more insight into contracts for roller coasters?

LAX Story

^That wasn't a denial!

That's awesome. I haven't sen anyone famous, sadly. But I have to say, I do respect the celebs who don't ask for special treatment from the park, but would rather spend the day like any other guest by waiting in line. To be fair to some celebrities, when you get big enough it really becomes impossible to enjoy a "normal" day at a park without some sort of escort. But there are also those that demand special treatment that don't really need it too.

^^I'm also pretty sure we don't need you "backseat moderating" either. He was just trying to share a video that is theme park related with the rest of us. No need to crucify him. Thank you for finding this video!

Awesome to hear everyone had such a great time! Kudos Robb and Elissa for organizing an awesome event!

My school (for which I have no pride) almost upset Memphis! No wonder Memphis didn't get a #1 seed...

^^100% agreed. Unfortunately, Frank McCourt only cares about one thing: money. Tradition doesn't mean anything to him. I totally understand that Baseball is a business, but there is also a reason it is referred to as "America's past time." Part of what makes baseball so great is tradition. It's a real shame that's being thrown out. Between the ownership of Fox and Frank McCourt, everything the O'Malley family did to build a quality organization has been destroyed. Tradition doesn't matter, employees are treated like crap, prices are sky high, and the product on the field sucks.