arrowfanman

Ok, so I'm way behind on replying! Let's hit this!... SFMM has a volunteer program as well. If you ever see an "employee" in a food building wearing a red apron and visor, then they are actually a volunteer. And if the games barker isn't in a designated SFMM uniform, they are also a volunteer. SFMM has this to allow schools and organizations trying to raise money, a chance to work positions for a day, and the money that they would have normally made for themselves, instead gets donated to their organization. So high school clubs, teams, so on and so forth frequently take advantage of this. I am also personally convinced that SFMM works with the county and allows criminals to work their community service hours in the park. Just kidding... ...I hope. I'm not an engineer, so I wouldn't know for sure. But yes, while the footers do extend far into the ground (I watched them spin the rebar together for the footers), I dont believe they were intended to undergo the lateral forces provoked when the terrain has eaten away like that, unless specifically filled to do so (like with the 'eggturn megafooter'). While I wasn't in your "target" kind of person to respond, I will say that I heard the responsiblity does in fact fall upon the shoulders of the surveying company, as joedonuts said. And in response to joedonuts, I do not know for sure who contracted the surveyors, but I did hear they were local to this area. I know this was answered, but I thought I'd be serious for a moment. The forecast that X would open in mid-January was a conservative one and chances are fair that it will in fact open then. But the truth is, there is pretty much zero chance that the ride will open BEFORE that time. And when the ride is ready to reopen--it will just reopen! SFMM doesn't have "soft openings" like Disney. Hope that answered your questions! I plan on making another update next week! We made an interesting find at the mountain--more interesting than closing their gas-powered go-carts for electrical reasons! -Jahan

Was there at least a strobe light on the real yeti? I had heard that when the Yeti goes down, they shine a strobe lite on the inanimate creature, like what they do with Harold on the Matterhorn, to compensate. -Jahan

I don't take any offense to that but only because you haven't met me yet Jahan, however, might beg to differ. Laura "He threw out his back after just one night" Huls ... -Jahan

^^Episodes of the Bachelor are already horrible, so this one isn't quite as bad! Excellent addition! Made my day! (and my day just began, so thank!) -Jahan

Hey everybody! I am aware there is already another thread on the shipment of "Coaster Expedition: Volume 8", but I have received permission to begin a thread to share reviews! So feel free to post your thoughts and opinions of the new DVD! Here's mine!... Theme Park Review Coaster Expedition Volume 8 Theme Park Review has done it again! When I recently received my own copy of their “Coaster Expedition: Volume 8”, I was eager to pop in the three discs and revalidate the fact that Theme Park Review is the best source of theme park DVDs!—a true standard. The three discs contain the following— The first disc, a “season” disc, is the jolly documentation of the first Theme Park Review Group Trip to the U.K. Now, I myself did not attend this trip and so I was a little curious to see not only how the trip played out, but if the tried and true “season disc” was any different after bumping the group size to over 50. Despite following the many trip reports of the tour and speaking with participants first hand, this DVD was able to bring to life the adventure and crazy antics that is the U.K. Tour like none other! The disc provides a unique insight to the many parks and stops along the tour, showcasing the attractions, entertainment, atmosphere, and of course FOOD! With this Volume, Theme Park Review continues to perfect their “signature” formula of combining a uniquely-informative look at these attractions with the entertaining stories and experiences of the “characters” whom have accompanied them—all in a well-paced “music video” format that really anybody, park-enthusiast or not, can enjoy. So whether you went on the U.K. Tour is irrelevant, as my experience has found this disc to be quiet enjoyable! The second disc, a “footage” disc, is catered more to the “coaster-enthusiast” in you! As it has in the past seven volumes, the “footage disc” again utilizes the “music video” format to convey specific ride experiences. Combining on-ride and off-ride footage, this disc showcases the many different roller coasters the group encountered on their Tour, from the thrilling, to the classic, to the flat-out weird! From the celebrated ‘Nemesis’ at Alton Towers, to the uncontrollable ‘Dragons Fury’ at Chessington, to the new and thrilling ‘Speed Monster’ at TusenFryd, to the lustrous, “airtime”-inducing ‘Balder’ at Liseberg—the disc contains such coasters that make me, an individual confined to America, drool. The third and final disc of Volume 8 contains samples of Theme Park Review’s 2006 Coaster Video Contest entries. For those who do not know, Theme Park Review hosts an annual video contest, to allow fellow coaster enthusiasts to shine and share their own park experiences and video skills—and it never fails to amaze me how talented folks are or how unique these parks are, so disc three is definitely a welcomed addition to the Volume. To those who are already familiar with Theme Park Review, this Volume allows you to enjoy the craziness of the U.K. Tour, without actually having to step on a plane! And it will take you a mere few segments before you will be looking into Theme Park Review’s 2007 park trips, I guarantee you that! Now, to those who may be unfamiliar with Theme Park Review, it may be tempting to begin with the first Coaster Expedition Volume and work your way up from there. But I personally favor starting with this one, Volume 8, and working one’s way back. It is a DVD featuring their most recent travels via a style that has been most refined and perfected at this point; your safest bet would be to sample the series by picking up a copy of this DVD, Volume 8. With plenty of humor, none of which more drastic than a mere-“suggestive” rating, I am confident that a whole family or party audience would enjoy the crazy antics and amusing parks found in “Coaster Expedition: Volume 8”. -Jahan

Kitten Cannon: http://www.addictinggames.com/kittencannon.html ...I cant seem to beat my top score of 1,300 ft! Grrr! -Jahan

First, I would even climb to the highest reaches of Samuri Summit for you, Laura! Even the SkyTower, if the elevators were working! Second, no muching or Persian floor tiles!? I take personal offense to that! -Jahan "C'mon Laura. We need to clean that pie off your face." Makanvand

These are getting funnier and funnier! Great work sir! Keep it up! BTW....How come Laura, Robb, and Ryan climbed the "Moutain", but Elissa, Robb, and Ryan escaped via the Vekoma Death-Box. You didn't leave Laura up there, did you? -Jahan

^ I once found a plaque hidden behind some bushes at SFMM, announcing that they in fact do donate the change, but I forget where. Hi Joey! -Jahan

I have heard numerous reasons for cancelling Luminara, but don't know how valid any of them are. One reason was that the smoke from the show carried to the lobbies of the nearby hotels (most prominently in the Paradise Pier Hotel). Another obvious reason, is that the show forced the closure of all of the Paradise Pier rides--laaaame. Some people just don't think the show was good enough. I often hear it being said that "it wasn't a Fantasmic". Lastly is the idea that the show simply wasn't economical--wasn't worth the monetary cost, manpower cost, and cost of shutting down all of the rides to help the attendance as little as it did. I don't know any specifics on new shows for the Pier but from what I have heard, there is in fact a show in development right now. Some rumors suggest it will be sort of an abstract interpretation of "Walt Disney's World of Color", but I have nothing to back that up, so who knows. Hope you're able to weed through my post of uncertainty and find some certainty. -Jahan

^^ Penguin? *shudders* If it wasn't coming out next year, perhaps--but there is just too many movies I want to see coming out next year, that Transformers isn't amazing enough to make it into "next years budget". Maybe on DVD, if the reviews are decent. -Jahan

Wow...I havn't been in NL for quite awhile! Anyway, nice little ride here! I think it would be either a nice family coaster or a kickass kiddie, but either way, nice job...just a few bumps here and there, nothing major. I also got a face-full of leaves. -Jahan

^^ Get over it Bill O'Reilly...this isn't about the war on Christmas! This is simply about trying not to confuse kids with TWO Santa's! So no need to 'victimize' Christmas-celebrators any further. *sigh* -Jahan

I don't think Disney was being too unreasonable to ask him to stop impersonating Santa. Perhaps asking him to change his attire was a wee bit much but still, somewhat understandable. And nowhere does Disney say that they own Santa. But they do have their own "Santa Claus" character, for both the parade and according to this article, in Epcot. Disney's concerns were for that of the children and not for themselves--as they aren't making any money off Santa*. Their motive was the children. No shame in that. -Jahan *well, directly.

Wow Soren, excellent PTR! Really looks like a great trip to NY! -Jahan

You, sir, are a good person. Excellent PTR man! Nice meeting up with you as well and kicking your ass at Wii Tennis. -Jahan

Amazing weekend, fo sho! And a big thanks to Ryan for my gifts! They're totally awesome! Yay for the GIANT universal TV Remote! Between breaking my last remote and having a freakin messy room, its nice to have a working remote that isn't hard to find! Yay for the GIANT caluclator! Um...it's GIANT! -Jahan

Hey everybody! Welcome to yet another SFMM Update! Sorry for not having many lately, but between school and play…and the fact that not much is going on in this ‘off season’, there’s very little to report on! Today was a rainy day here in Valencia and since I had the time, I thought I’d hit up the mountain and see if the rain could manage the knock Tatsu over or something. Let us begin! The Great Wall of Tatsu The sun emerged from the clouds, to help me out with a “lens flare” effect. Thanks sun! Well, in my last update, I mentioned how…well, here…let me just quote myself: This is why I was very curious to see what SFMM was able to conjure up, to fix the problem. Especially since the rain was of no help! The answer: A retaining wall. A very big one! Hello Mr. Wall! So yes, the pathway between Rapids and Ninja is once again open. Thank God for that! As for the wall, it’s simply a brick wall, anchored to a concrete base. The thing has to be about 12-15 feet tall! I can only assume that the gap between the mountain and the wall will be filled, or else it seems rather pointless. A make-shift drainage system, to help combat the rainfall. I present to you…the backside of wall! Took that one from the Jungle Cruise! The black stuff is a sealant…without it, this whole wall thing would be pointless. …so like it. …also in the “Tatsu/wall”-news bracket, is the transfer shed/station that SFMM finally built! It is now fully complete… It’s a floating wall! How do they do it!? Also, note the whiteboard on the right-hand, inside of the shed. I was able to zoom in, and grab a shot of this maintenance “to-do” list. A lot of this stuff seems as if it should have been done 7-months ago, but I’m just glad to see it getting done. Like “Paint Exposed Welds”…now I didn’t ride, to check for myself, but if they actually painted the welds (as the check-mark suggests), than props to them! And trust me, you don’t need to have a keen “attention to detail” to notice if the welds were painted or not! My personal favorite is “Mount this Board” Ok, sad to say, but that’s really all the “specific” things to report on! So now onto the obligatory “miscellaneous” stuff! Merchandise, Holidays, Breakdowns…and Random Crap! As you probably saw in the Alvey’s update, SFMM is currently trying to get rid of a crap-load of merchandise by running 50% OFF sales! Honestly, it’s bringing their prices down low enough for even me!—two shirts were only 15 bucks! Wow…they restocked a bit since the Alvey’s update. I guess Jesus isn’t much of a drinker! Now this is what I don’t know—is this just an attempt to clear out this year’s merchandise, to make way for next seasons’? Or are they really trying to get rid of all “Six Flags” merchandise, to make a potential ownership-transition less painful? I mean, they were selling crap from 1999/2000! (according to the copyright labels…that is) See what I mean…they had loads of unsold Riddler’s Revenge merchandise! …and yes, I did grab my share of Riddler’s merch! Onward! While SFMM doesn’t officially announce a “Holiday Celebration” like Disney or Knotts, they have shown small pinches of holiday-ness, here and there. Do you see it? Right there, towards the bottom, in between the head lights. There! … Now I’m not trying to take a jab at their wreath! Totally glad it’s there, to be honest. I just couldn’t help but find it a little humorous, as it just looks a little sad. Poor wreath. There you go! Guest Relations is a bit more festive! If you look closely, you can even see their pictures, wrapped as presents, on the wall. This is my picture of a speaker, to portray the random “holiday music” the park is playing everywhere. More!.... Yes, this is where the 3 sheriff cars were parked when the parking-toll booth was robbed a few weeks ago. …hey, that wasn’t a SFMM jab as much as it was a sheriff jab! I just wanted to correct an error in Robb’s update. One of the banners does in fact say “Six Flags” and “Magic Mountain”. This one. Right there, on the front of the Goliath Jr. coach. …ok, I’m done. I’ll go die or something. Well, here’s Superman, closed due to the rain. I know that the “Superman for Sale” thing ended up just being a mix up, but that’s rather disappointing, if you ask me. SFMM really needs to unload this one. Speaking of closures… Hey X! California Screamin’ removed and replaced its loop in 3 days!...how’s that lift coming along? More like 3 months, eh?! …just kidding…it’s been over 4 now. Goliath was also down for a bit today. Not all day though. …so was Orient Express. I’m so disappointed in you, Corey! …Yea, the Orient Express broke down, both funiculars loaded and stuck about 150 feet from either station. After the refurb the cars received one speaker, both of which have already been punched out by punks. I wonder how contacting these stranded passengers went. But no evacs until the supervisor arrives! …ok…that was a jab! My bad! I didn’t mean too! Disregard everything I just said after the Goliath picture up to here. And yet some more!.... SFMM’s ‘volunteer’ program. Shame they couldn’t get them at least a temporary shirt or something. Shapiro’s family plans seem to be working well. *sigh* Conclusion I thought this movie-title is a rather appropriate synopsis of SFMM as a whole! You know, I can be honest with you—I made a lot of cheap jabs at SFMM in this update. So I need to be fair here for a second. I went to the park the past two weekends, in a row, and I had a really nice time! The park was clean, operations were decent, and most, if not all of the rides were open on time (except for the select few SBNOs, X, and rain-related closures). That’s way more than I can say about my recent trips to Knotts! The truth of the matter is—SFMM simply isn’t capable of operating well under the stresses of the peak-season, from June-October. It’s during this time that more employees leave than hire in. And when you combine this steady decrease in staffing with the decrease in morale (even among the management), you get a decrease in training and supervision. That’s why I have personally seen nothing but a steady decline in “quality” from June-October. But now that the peak season is over, the park has begun its uphill climb, or so it would seem. Staffing is beginning to even out (especially with the local schools out again), the crowds have recessed, and everything is just calming down…the calm after the storm, if you will. And I’m sure my fellow locals can be fair and attest to that. Now, I don’t really want to make this call too prematurely, but I do believe that things will improve over the coming months. It will just be interesting to see if they can keep it that way, as they honestly haven’t been able to in the past years. So best of luck to them. That should do it for this update! Thanks for reading! I appreciate it! -Jahan (arrowfanman@yahoo.com)

D I E. This is why I cut myself. -Jahan p.s. Credit due where deserved...thanks to Homer for the smilie.

-Jahan

Update!... By time the park closed last night, the loop had been fully rebuilt and around noon today, California Screamin reopened! Just to put this into perspective for you-- On Sunday, my local Walmart's photo-printer broke. On Sunday, California Screamin' closed down due to Mania's construction. ...on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Disney removed a good chunk of the ride's loop, rebuilt it, and retested the ride. On Thursday, California Screamin' reopened to the public. On Thursday, Fujifilm is still scratching their heads over the Walmart machine. I know Disney maintenance gets a lot of heat for, you know...killing someone on BTMRR, but you gotta hand it to them sometimes!--they do a damn good job! ...and yes, X is still closed. -Jahan

You know, I gotta hand it to Cedar Point...I think the really have a winner on their hands with this one! -Jahan "Thanks for the video and pics!" Makanvand

Quoted for truthiness. Great TR Tom! Glad you enjoyed yourself! -Jahan

"Love Stinks"--Adam Sandler, The Wedding Singer. -Jahan "Never thought he'd be wallowing away to a Sandler song" Makanvand

Yessss! A food PTR! Joe has returned! I think instead of Rachel Ray, it should be Joe with his face on all of the cracker-boxes! -Jahan