arrowfanman

Congrats to all who made it this far! I think this contest really lent itself to a lot of GREAT ideas. Not all, but several of my favorites made it into the top 10! Best of luck to all of the contestants! -Jahan

Hey guys. Just drove by SFMM today to check out any progress on the X-train. None whatsoever. Although I did see a mechanic looking at the components at the top of the lift--perhaps the breakdown was at the top this time? I don't know! Just throwing that out there in the realm of possibility. Just because repetition is fun, I'll add two more pictures of what we've already seen! -Jahan p.s. Thanks for the info wrs!

You know, now-not-so-coincidentially I had a trip to the park planned for that very day! Perhaps if my plans carry through, I'll stop by. Very cool to see your dream come true. Proud to have voted and helped. -Jahan

Nice entries everyone! It was really hard to narrow them down to even five! Some of these are absolutely amazing photoshops, but with confusing, dull, or poorly executed concepts. Others are some of the funniest ideas when you think about it, but a horrible, horrible photoshop. No excuses you MSPaint punks! Ultimately, I chose 5 that I thought both fit the "point" of the contest in a clever way, and in a way that I can tell some effort was put into the photoshop. -Jahan

LOL! Great PTR Ryan! I loved the format. That crazy chick you describe really reminds me of the "velociraptor kid" we came across at my last trip to Disneyland. Very creepy experience! They're like, a match made in heaven! Damn you for the penguin photo! I liked V2 when I went. I can agree with you in that it doesn't fit in! But it created a nice kinetic feel to that front entrance and was certainly an "interesting" experiece. I think that the kiddie Cobra ride should have 2 ops. One "grouping" and checking heights while the other is checking restraints and cycling. That would make for non-stop operation, like with Dumbo at Disney or something along the sorts. Anyway, great PTR. I'm really glad to see that the park is so beautiful and clean. In a way, parks like this and Fiesta Texas are sort of like the new-age "flagship parks" for the chain, so it would be nice to see the others follow suit. -Jahan

^^ I believe Scream's station music is a loop of Darude's album "Before the Storm". The Disneyland commercial music is titled "Flying", from the '03 Peter Pan flick, scored by James Howard Newton. -Jahan

Why all the hate, y'all?!?! First of all, in that first picture I'm staring at Elissa's butt, which would explain the "mmmm...that looks tasty" face. Second of all....*sigh* Ok, so I thought I'd be nice and offer to take the "family picture". We get up to the costumed characters and we're next in line. And what happens? We get cut in front of. And we get cut in front of again. And again. All of these dumb-craps kept waltzing in front of us for a picture and the character "escort" wasn't doing anything to stop them! Just made some crack about punching KT! Literally about 5-minutes went by before we could take the picture. By the time they finally get up to take the picture--truth be told--I had forgotten exactly what I was supposed to do! I didn't see her in the viewfinder, she's so small! Maybe if she was flailing about violently, but asleep? Give me a break! -Jahan

...unleashed Penguin to save YetiBall and...

^ If I'm not mistaken, the ride will be unlike a wild mouse in that it will have actual "trains", rather than simply "cars", if you will. Thanks for the update Top Thrill! I loved that Xcelerator picture! I also agree that the concrete wall thing suggests there will be some water beneath the ride. Some, at least. That top lift piece, that looks unaligned, looks very weird to me. -Jahan

^ Good luck with that. You're wrong, I've studied buddy, you have no idea because you listened to Disney lie to you and they were a much better known company back then than SF and they stole Mine Train's title; also you don't know very much about SFoT like I do because it is an obsession to me, and it is a very underrated park because people think Texas is just hicksville and it's not at all anymore in Dallas, so shut up you friggin know it alls The Matterhorn opened in 1959. Mine Train opened in 1966. By definition, the Matterhorn was "first". -Jahan

Good advice it may be, but that doesn't mean that we should make Law out of mere "advice". I think what Wes might be saying, is historically, the text in the Bible has been manipulated to create unjust laws. It isn't very hard for a racist to read the Bible and use it to "prove" other races are "ungodly". Just as it isn't hard to read the Bible and use it to "prove" that Christianity is about equality between races. The truth is, it's a very malleable book! But I feel the strongest argument, simply put, is sexual orientation and marriage is a very personal thing. The government trying to dictate these elements of individual's lives is wrong. Though anyone may personally disagree, society is not being harmed and therefore there really isn't any impressive justification for "banning" gay marriage. -Jahan

I got a "The Story of Jesus" DVD. Comes complete with 9 hours of Bonus Features--including 3 alternate endings! -Jahan

VERY cool pictures Chuck! I'd imagine it's rather unique to find these coasters running in the snow. ...well...at least the awesome, Arrow coasters! Now I feel like such a wuss for complaining about 40-degree weather. Thanks for posting! -Jahan

You are surfing TPR. You are most likely bored. You are curious about the happenings at SFMM. You are about to read another SFMM-Update. You are getting more action than me. You are here. 4/8/07 SFMM Update! By me! Hey everyone! Welcome to yet another SFMM Update! I hope you all enjoyed, are enjoying, or are looking forward to enjoying your spring break, if you have one! If you don’t, you have my most sincere condolences! Anyway, the off-season crowds are finally beginning to swell as the park is bracing itself for another summer-season. Despite falling painfully short of its 2006, 3 million guest-attendance goal, the park supposedly had a great year in terms of guest-spending. As it charges into the heat of the summer, it will be very interesting to see which direction the park takes. While I cant pretend to know that ultimate direction, I can tell you about what’s going on right now! So if I haven’t already bored you to death, you’re welcome to join me for another SFMM Update! Déjàvu All Over Again! This view wasn’t necessarily available at the beginning of the year. Well, unless you have been living under a rock these past few months (no offense to those who actually do live under rocks), you most likely know that Psyclone, Magic Mountain’s sad-story of a wooden roller, was demolished earlier this year. Ever since, Déjàvu has remained closed, supposedly undergoing a refurbishment while crews knocked down, cleared, and built a wall in front of where Psyclone once stood. Well earlier this week, the ride finally reopened and with a new queue entrance! The area around the ride looks really nice, with some fresh landscaping, a brand new wall, and no Psyclone! As you can see, the new queue cuts back beneath the boomerang, rather than across the wash. Why they moved the entrance, I just don’t know. Perhaps with Psyclone gone, they wanted to treat that area as more of a “plaza” for Dejavu, rather than merely a GIANT exit-path. Either way, I like it! A “waiting in the new queue POV” shot! Here, you can better see how the new-entrance cuts back into the pre-existing queue. Landscaping looks really nice back here. May I suggest more benches and perhaps an ODV cart, for the guests who aren’t riding? …I sure hope Magic reads this….when they’re home….and they’re bored. Are those freakin FLOWERS?! I’m amazed! (Ignore the bottle) The “new” Déjàvu exit, with more really nice plants. Sorry! I just cant get over that sight! WTF?! I find this sign really weird. What exactly is it saying? So there you have it! Some pictures from the new “Déjàvu Plaza” area. Like I said, it would be nicer with some amenities back there, but that’s just me. As for what’s going on with Psyclone’s parking spot? Honestly, I havn’t heard anything other than enthusiast speculation. It came down as quickly as it did, most likely, to check it off before summer, but I don’t know of anything actually planned for its spot yet. But now that you can get up close with it gone, let me tell you—that is a LARGE plot of land. So I doubt we’ll see a “Wiggle’s World” pop up over night. But I am interested to see what will. Year of a Million Refurbishments (Part Two) Well, as has been covered all year long, 2007 would appear to be the year that the park is finally investing to clean some things up! Paint has gone up everywhere, including Ninja! Truth be told, the refurbishments are finally beginning to slow down as the park prepares for summer. As one supervisor explained to me, it’s sort of being handled in two phases—spring and fall, allowing the park to supposedly focus most clearly on operations for the summer. But after summer, the park is expected to swing back into this act of refurbishing just as many things, including a paint job for Superman. I’m actually impressed. Why did Jahan take a picture of the ground? Other than that he has no shame anymore. Of all the projects the park has going on this spring, the most interesting to me, believe it or not, has been the midway refurbishment. This is probably because it’s a big change in attitude, for the better—that will most likely go unnoticed. Have you guys ever been to Magic Mountain on a hot, hot day in summer, and noticed that the ground was soft or “squishy” beneath your feet? It also isn’t uncommon to notice “bubbles” forming in the midway. Seriously. This is because for the past several years, SFMM has been using a rubber-based compound to seal up the midways. And sure enough what happens?—the summer comes, the rubber expands, and cools quickly in the evening. Repeat over an entire summer and the midway ends up getting several cracks! Water gets in the cracks, damages the asphalt beneath the sealant, and Magic ends up having to refurbish the midway AGAIN, each year! But they kept on putting up with this particular rubber-based compound for their own reasons (most likely because it’s cheaper). Well finally this year, they changed that. This year when the annual midway refurbishment came, they switched to an epoxy-based sealing compound, rather than the rubber-based. This new midway is supposed to have less temperature/cracking problems and is therefore supposed to mean less midway refurbishments as well as a less-squishy ground. It is also more expensive. It would appear that Magic has finally made more of an effort into investing for the future, rather than saving a quick buck in the present—at least as far as midways are concerned …but one can only hope that it’s as a result of a change in attitude in how they do things. Anyway, onto some actual pictures of actual things you might actually be more interested in! Sticking with the ground for just a bit longer, the parking lot is “finished”. They even more clearly designated and better organized the handicapped parking section of the parkinglot. Log Jammer has finally reopened, and we can all thank God that it isn’t pink! (I guess what we were seeing was just a primer or something.) The whole station-area looks really nice. Continuing with the water-rides, Jet Stream now has a new station tarp. Not a different one, but a new one. This photo was SO unnecessary! Sorry I don’t have a better picture (as you can tell, it was sort of a last minute realization ) but as reported, it would appear that Colossus’s handrails are getting a repaint. Thank GOD! Hmmm….something’s not quite right here! No, no. I’m not here to show you pictures of Flashback’s removal. But in an ironic twist, it would appear that they repainted all of the buildings over by Flashback! A picture from earlier this year, so you can really tell! Why they would do this, I don’t know! I cant complain—it looks nice! But I figured they would take down these buildings when they took down Flashback! *sigh* Maybe it’s going to be the permanent Season Pass Processing Center? A close-up, because redundancy is my specialty. So like I said, I find this all real baffling! As for Flashback’s removal—I’m hearing to not count on that until that “Fall phase”. Unlike Psyclone, which was PULLED over ( ), Flashback takes more time. But it still is on the cutting block. Should be removed after summer—but early enough for them to possibly focus some attention on that new Hurricane Harbor slide that has been thrown around for a while now. I look forward to it. Park N00bs Despite no announced new “attractions” yet for either 2007 or 2008, Magic Mountain has some new, welcomed additions to the park! For one, 1/4th the way into 2007, the park has finally ditched the ’06 park maps! *sigh* I can’t believe I actually took this photo! I like the way these new maps are organized, definitely! But what did I enjoy seeing most?! YESSSSSSSS! That’s right! A SFMM map without Psyclone! And in case you’re wondering… No Flashback either! But before I get ahead of myself, if you guys noticed, there are some other new things in those pictures! For one, in that first picture you may have noticed the “Wii Experience” advertised by Déjàvu. Well, we were a little confused when we ran into a “Wii Experience” near Dive Devil instead, but whatever. Ooooh. This looks interesting! The Wii Experience is basically an in-park promotion with Nintendo for the Wii console. They have dedicated a portion of one of their stores to just giving guests a chance to sample the Wii and play it for themselves. And it was sort of cool. Sort of. They set up some really nice TVs and about 7 Wiis, each with different games. It was actually very popular with the guests… It was also popular with me, who was able to kick some more ass at Wario Ware! I guess the only reason I said “sort of” cool, was I was expecting a bit more from it. It was a small, hut-shaped room, built within some entirely random store. I was honestly expecting it to be at least its own building, if it was going to be advertised on the map like that. The TVs were set up so closely, you couldn’t really play the Wii as effectively as you would want from fear of hitting someone! The room was absolutely cramped and didn’t really even seem to have a dedicated attendant, helping the guests. And I would have figured there would have been some of the Nintendo merchandise you find at the front of the park—hell, maybe even some of the games they were demoing. But I guess not. Moving right along, there may have been one other thing you noticed in that first map picture. (HINT: It’s by Dive Devil ) YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! Now THAT was exciting! This has officially become my favorite “attraction” at Magic! It’s actually not necessarily right by Dive Devil either, as the map depicts. But a few hundred feet down the midway, where the old Buongusto building was. A really great location for it, too! Anyway, I’m really looking forward to that! Cold Stone is expensive already, so in a theme park—I don’t even wanna know! But you can find me there anyway! Moving right along—this isn’t necessarily news to people… Yup! That’s right! As most of you know, Carousel Grill will be changing into a Johnny Rockets. Now what they will be doing? Will they knock down the building and actually create a Johnny Rockets restaurant, or will they just throw a neon “Johnny Rockets” sign above it, I don’t know! Don’t really think it looks like a Johnny Rockets, so I hope they start from scratch on this one! BTW….this is TOTALLY irrelevant, but did you know there used to be a “teacups” ride behind carousel grill?! Me neither!! WTF?! I thought I knew this park! I. Know. Nothing! Lol…anyway. Moving right along… The Stuff That Didn’t Fit In the Other Parts of the Update, So Are Going To Go Here at the End Wow…that was really one of those titles that just says it all! Onwards to the random happenings around the park! Lets start with the new entrance decorations. You are confused by this promotion. You are understanding its basis. You are wondering how it promotes the parks. You are now suffering from a headache. You are not amused. Flash Passes are now $25!!! Robb knows IM cheaper than that! After nearly a year of not working, they finally swapped out the electric lockers at Tatsu with the old fashioned key lockers. There are some “vine” like plants at the Great Wall of Tatsu. In my experience, these plants should actually grow up and cover the wall. Smart thinking! Do you think she knows it’s there?! And if so, what statement is she exactly trying to convey about Nivana?! Argh I’m not good at this symbolic speech thing! Work is very slowly progressing on that new development across from the park. My guess is they were changing plans, not knowing what would become of the park. The only work steadily progressing, is that on pushing the Old Road a few yards further up Magic Mountain parkway. They are already re-pouring the wash. For those who know what the hell I’m talking about. I got a…a… “sticky, dicky”?! Power 106 was there this Friday and with it was a crowd that, well…wasn’t exactly in line with the parks intended “family friendly” crowd. It’s a real catch-22! On one hand, they’re still catering to the unintended crowd. On the other hand, they’re making a crap-load of money with a promotion like this—money that can be used to better aim towards families. It’s a hard call… But ultimately, being more “family friendly” starts here! *sigh* Finally, I’ll leave you with some new fixtures that have sprung up throughout the park. One near Log Jammer, another in Gotham City, and another near Dive Devil. Does anybody know what they’re for? More ODV carts, maybe? Very, very curious. *strokes chin* Well folks, that should do it for today’s update! Sorry I got rushed at the end…Mike made me hurry up! Thank you so much for reading! Hope you enjoyed it! -Jahan

There's pictures of them testing the subs, but the show effects are still finishing installment and testing. What I'm trying to say, is nobody knows! But I wouldn't count on anything, to be safe. -Jahan

^^ Hasn't officially been announced yet. June 11th is the most rumored date, but there are just as many rumors that it'll open late. But the most rumored date is June 11th, with a few days of soft openings before it. Going on June 6th, I honestly dont think it'll be open for you. Sorry. -Jahan

^^ Again, the numbers would only be entirely valuable if we could guarentee that each guest purchased a one-day ticket for DCA. The most popular time of the year is during the TwoFer promotion (when SoCal residents can purchase a day at DL and get a free day at DCA). And then you have one-day park hoppers and Annual Passes, which will register as a guest in the park for the day--but most likely the guest will only spend a few hours in the park, often without pumping any money into the park! So you're right--6,000,000 is a fair number for what the park is offering. But as far as Disney is concerned, there isn't necessarily money with each one of those figures. -Jahan

^ Former-op, yes. And that's the sad part, is I wouldn't even know where the most effective outlet for your complaint would be! Asking to speak to "the manager" will probably only reach the attraction's lead--which will be a dead end in more cases than not as leads can be just as bad of abusers when it comes to cell phones. And the few cases when a guest had asked to see a supervisor (above the lead), the supervisor took so long to get to the ride that the guest ended up simply leaving in a furious surrender. Guest relations would more than likely be a dead end as well. *sigh* Honestly, I hate to say it, but your best outlet almost would just be taking a picture of the act and posting it on the internet. Video is even better, if you can. Heh. I mean, look--we all hate the ASO and everything, but they're the first people that seem to really draw attention to this dilemma! Just because random people complained to them about it. So I'd almost say the internet is the best course of action. *sigh* Sorry that wasn't the response you were hoping for! -Jahan

^ Agreed. And if APs are counted, then those statistics begin to look even more bleak. -Jahan

^ Agreed. If I remember correctly, there was one fart who couldn't sing for crap last year, but kept getting voted through for looking like Chicken Little. Even if he did win, it wouldn't mean the end of the show! It's far to big a cash-vacuum to be killed by one season. -Jahan

^ For one, Mods can delete any post they see necessary. They dont need to PM people asking them to do it. For two, I dont think you quite get it. The moderators are saying that they believe everyone here is capable of acting like an adult. So they're going to treat everyone like an adult. It's not they're job to play "parent" and drop PMs saying if a post is appropriate or not. That's your job! And if someone cant act like an adult, that's honestly their problem. Not the mods. A 24-hour ban is much smarter course of action. And I too still dont get what you're saying about the "searching/deadposts". -Jahan

^ Agreed. And as much as I hate the ASO and FOX, cell phone use by ride operators really is a safety hazard. *sigh* I'm sorta glad to hear these reports. Glad to know I'm not the only one noticing or caring about this crap. -Jahan

^ Was that personal insight or a personal ad? -Jahan

I've been on both the guest and ride operator side of the agruement--and I'm sorry to hear your dissapointment, but height limits are there for a reason. The park isn't trying to damper your visit! I understand that a quarter of an inch is just the slightest bit above the limit, but honestly, where do you draw the line if you dont use the line given!? The height limits are in most cases set by the manufactuerer to ensure the body is compatible with the restraint system. Since this ride definately has a history of problems with the restraints, I cant say I really blame them for strictly enforcing the rules. I'm sorry you felt like you were being singled out, and if she was over-public with your situation than shame on her. But what they were doing wasn't otherwise out-of-line. -Jahan

^ I did. I'll just try not to impress women with the information. I've learned that lesson. *sigh* -Jahan