johnrose

I haven't laughed this hard at work since the person in the cube across from my office let one rip and, in a vain effort to cover it up, did a fake sneeze thing that actually caused him to fall backwards off of his chair and he destroyed his in-out bin in the process... Great work! The Interstate Love Avatar is great, but I'm having a hard time not voting for Six Flags Over Uranus...

In case you're wondering who spastic.bowel@staineddrawers.com was...

I hope you're right! Aside from Indy, it's the one I'm looking forward to the most...

Of interest is the calendar on the Disney California Adventure website, showing California Screamin' closed for refurbishment into December!

We're going the same week. All of the guidebooks say it is the "secret season" where you have minimal waits for rides and quick access throughout the park. The true Christmas week is another story!

Any daring souls out there get an onride of the new Space Mountain in Disneyland?

Two things I love about your post: 1. Speak thje gospel on the grinding/PDA thing... geepers, get a room! 2. The curling-related avatar!!!!!!!!!

Hmmm... maybe so, but I don't think the moderators will have a problem with it... if so, they can move it to Random...

Many hamsters only blink one eye at a time. But are we sure they're blinking? Maybe they're winking! http://c3dsp.westjet.com/guest/about/flightSimulatorTemplate.jsp Many hamsters only blink one eye at a time. But are we sure they're blinking? Maybe they're winking!

That's another item crossed off of my lifetime to-do list...

Robb may be interested in this one... Video game actors to vote on new contract that gives pay raise, no residuals LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Actors who provide voices for video game characters will vote on whether to accept a new contract with producers that increases wages but does not pay residuals on the most popular games. The Screen Actors Guild national board voted Wednesday to hold a referendum on the contract, which was previously rejected by its executive committee. Ballots will be mailed to the approximately 1,900 SAG members who work in video games. Actors currently are paid a minimum of $556 US per four-hour work session and are often required to voice more than one character per session. The new 3{-year agreement would increase the rate to $759 by 2008, with an immediate 25 per cent increase to $695. Voice actors have worked under a contract with game publishers since 1993. But now that video games generate nearly as much revenue as domestic movie ticket sales, actors say they want a piece of every game sold rather than one-time, upfront fees. Actors also want extra money when a game sells more than 400,000 units. But game producers have balked at providing residuals, arguing that people don't buy games because of the actors who appear in them. Among the actors who have contributed voices to video games are Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Fonda, Ice T and James Woods in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas; Ray Liotta, Dennis Hopper and Burt Reynolds in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City; and Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Morgan Freeman and Christian Bale in Batman Begins.

I never knew German rap/disco could be so groovy! Keep it coming!

You should write a book called Extreme Theme Parking: The Guide to the Good Stuff I would certainly read that!

Wild! What took you to Florida? P.S. - Our curling team came within one game of going to the provincials this year...

Click on this link to check out my photo gallery from our Orlando trip in early April. The focus was on fun... as you'll see by the captions in the gallery. I posted three historic on-ride photos at the bottom to ensure my humiliation. http://www.arvistatours.ca/Orlando.htm Enjoy! John

Some delicious irony there... a clam that looks like a penis... There is something genuinely horrific about those things... especially in that picture with the granny hands.... ewwwwwwwwww

Nice re-edit... I quite enjoyed the cuts, and the multiple angles of the vertical drops were a nice touch. I like when a videographer focuses on the major elements of a ride in an edit. The POV segments were very good as well. MORE!

It was a tie for me... PhishyBrewer and Coaster Fanatic... I guess I'm a sucker for trauma-related photography...

I burst a spleen reading the "my sister died" line... I ask for permission to use that in December at DL! Brilliant! I most dislike spoilers... Speaking of which, the following paragraph includes an Indiana Jones Adventure spoiler!! Coming out of Indy at DL in 1995, right after the ride opened, I hear someone behind me yell, in the general direction of those waiting in line, "Wow, it was cool how we ducked under the boulder at the end!" And, of course he did that, "I'm so f*cking smart" laugh afterwards... Where's a stungun when you need one?

That was better than anything I'll see on TV on E3... Thanks! I'm going to try not to sound like a suck-up, but the Call of Duty booth was amazing! And, undending waves of nostalgia washed over me when I saw the Intellivision photo! Man, I still remember heaving the controller against the wall when I got killed after reaching 1,000,000 in Tron Deadly Discs... those sensitive controllers did not enjoy being heaved... As a communications professional (I know, hard to tell by some of my blathering posts...) I'd be interested in knowing how one becomes a writer for a game company... either PR or in-game?

Great post! This was the first theme park in my brief history of theme parking... The Corkscrew was my first "coaster" as well... I actually rode it three consecutive times because there was no line. For me, this was a big deal as I had not been on any rides like it... I thought it was a blast back then.

I think Elissa has the idea... ride it first and give a full report to the nervous flyer... For me, as long as I know there won't be any significant backwards segments or huge drops in the dark I'm pretty much good to go...

That's a great idea! I've seen a couple of bulletin board sites that have generic ride ratings, but none get specific. Listing those categories would be a fantastic way to provide context for "nervous flyers" without hitting them with spoilers...

Would it be logistically impossible to duplicate the Intensity/Excitement/Vomit ratings from RCT in real life? Building on Elissa's quest to convince her mum to go Mummy (and me, inadvertantly) it would make things much simpler to be able to guage the level of a thrill ride... especially dark rides, where you can't see the major thrill moments from outside of the attraction... Pardon my ignorance if this topic has previously been explored... I'm not from around here...

I wish I had discovered this site BEFORE our trip to WDW/IOA in April... I pulled the chute on ROTM after hearing there was a backwards section... something goes insane in the membrane when I go backwards for extended periods... But it sounds entirely doable to me now... Doh! Going to DL/DLCA/Universal in December, so I'll have to settle for that version...