USRoadTripper

Why does the Tennessee State Fair look so, so ghetto compared to other fairs? -Julie

^ Yes, it *was* supposed to be closed over Labor Day...I just found out that the date was pushed back a few days ago. I'll be there the day before it closes, so I get to get my Matterhorn credits!! Woo! I didn't think Grizzly River Run was all that spectacular for a rapids ride, though it did have a great drop. I wouldn't wait very long and bypass other rides for it. I'd also recommend Mr. Toad like someone else said, and the Alice in Wonderland dark ride. Also, if you're a big Disney fan, you might want to try and squeeze in the tiki room too. -Julie

My first suggestion would be to go to http://www.allearsnet.com and read as much as you possibly can. This is an absolutely exhaustive site detailing almost everything you'd need to know about planning and enjoying a Disney vacation. It includes descriptions of virtually every attraction, menus for virtually every restaurant, almost any info you could possibly want about every resort, as well as info about park hours and ride rehabs, where to meet characters, how to spend an adult evening out, where to find romantic spots, where to find the best shopping, and TONS TONS TONS more info. There is not a better Disney World planning site out there. Period. Second I'd say to come back here and check out WDW TRs from the last year or so, so you can get a real feel for what people liked and what people chose to skip. You'll get a much more opinionated view of the parks from the TRs here than you will find on allearsnet. If you have any specific questions, you will find many people here who are willing to help you out, give recommendations, and answer any questions you have. -Julie

It doesn't appear to have any loops...could it be a booster bike with a lift hill instead of a launch? -Julie

Another awesome report Erik!! THat House on the Rock looks like just my kinda place. I *heart* funky tourist attractions! All these TRs really make me wanna go to the Dells -Julie

^ I would like to see Ryan being tackled at the very highest point of Superman. If you can pull that off, it just might make me a Casey fangirl. -Julie

"Wow! This picture is even lamer than the ones Barry picks!" -Julie

I think the whole premise is pretty weak, but I've watched at least three episodes of it. I think the four Asian guys that sing acapella will win. They truly seem talented to me...unlike the professional finger snapper guy!!! -Julie

^ Completely agreed! Alton Brown is my favorite host on that whole network! If you guys ever need someone to play a kooky character on an episode of Good Eats, please consider me! I can be contacted with the convenient "PM" button at the bottom of this post. -Julie (completely serious!!!)

My form room wasn't actually that bad. They were the largest on campus excepting the family housing apartments. It wasn't terrible, which is the only part about my college which wasn't! During my last semester on campus, I had a roommate who screamed in her sleep. Yeah, *that* was fun -Julie

Just when I thought I'd already spent too much money on my rubber duck collection, Ted goes and posts a Dr. Frankenfurter duck!! Gah, they are so expensive, but you know I'll buy them any time I get the extra money!! Frankenfurter will obviously be the first. I think my duck is Jeff Burton?? I didn't really know any of them, so I picked the one that wasn't wearing sunglasses. And no, we didn't go into the water park. Since we only had a few hours, we just bought admission to the theme park side. Had we been spending a whole day, we'd have done the water park too. So maybe the question is...what makes people dislike this park so much? Really, I saw nothing to complain about! Did I just miss the bad stuff since it wasn't crowded? EDIT: ^ I didn't notice anything messed up about the back seat. I did notice that half the lap bars are orange and half are black, but other than that, nothing stood out. -Julie

Part Three...Alabama Adventures! So I heard a lot of people say lots of not-so-nice things about this park before I visited there, so I pretty much went into it expecting a really ghetto dump. But honestly I was very surprised at how nice and pretty this park was! We arrived right at 4:00pm, and after a five minute wait while a man in front of us redeemed his 2005 season pass voucher for a 2006 season pass, we entered for the after 4:00pm price of $13. It had been raining and lightly storming for the last hour or so, so it was no surprise to find Rampage down temporarily when we arrived. An employee told us that they can't run it when some of its sensors are wet, but that it should reopen before park closing. In the meantime, we got the kiddie coaster credit (no kid required) then headed for the boomerang. Once again, I really braced for a horrible, head banging ride...but the ride was actually a lot more pleasant than it could have been! I got ear boxed once, which wasn't so bad, especially compared to all the other boomerangs I've ridden! What's up with Vekoma coasters recently?? I find an awesome SLC in Spain, I find a very rerideable boomerang in Alabama...I wish Vekoma wasn't so hit and miss. Some of their coasters are great, and some beat you within an inch of your life. *shrug* Definitely not complaining though! After the Boomerang, we got some cold drinks and sat down for a bit since the park felt like a steamy rice cooker. As we finished up, I noticed that Rampage was running again, so we quickly heded that way. We had no wait for any of the three rides we took (did I mention how empty the park was?) so we got back row, front row, back row rides. I REALLY enjoyed this woodie! It was surprisingly long, and surprisingly fun!! Not the most extreme airtime machine ever, but there was a decent amount of airtime, and tons of fast twists and turns. It was just rough enough to feel like it was manhandling you, but not so much that it felt like you were getting beaten up! We were both surprised at how good it was! While in line for our third Rampage ride, they made an announcement that the park was gonna close at 6:00 instead of 8:00 as was posted. That wasn't a terribly big deal since we didn't really wanna do much else anyway. After Rampage, I got in three solo rides on their shot tower before everything closed. On the way out, we both wanted a little souvenir, so we stopped in the gift shop. And lo and behold, I found the greatest souvenir ever! I thought that the axe murdering duck was it...oh no. I found a Manduck! It's a rubber duck...with a man's head!!! They were TWELVE DOLLARS each, so we each only got one, but they are so awesome!!! After we left, we stopped at a Whataburger just north of Birmingham for dinner, then drove straight back home to Nashville. -Julie Finally, we ended off the night like every red-blooded American should...we ate at a Whataburger! "They're so weird...but really awesome...but kinda distrubing...but the coolest thing ever..." Hands down, the best souvenir ever!!! It's a Manduck...it's a duck, but it looks like a man...and the best part is that they are holding their boobs! And it comes complete with lounge pool! One last shot of the entry plaza, with the jumping fountains. Right after I took this, and emlpoyee wlaked straight through the fountains! Mmmm...Rampage... Rampage's brakes are weird. The brake run is quite far from the station. Then after the brakes, there is this bobble in the track that makes you pick up a lot of speed, and finally you hit these "downhill brakes." It was kinda strange! Emily and her sandbag friends are excited to ride Rampage again. No caption needed. Everyone knows what the default caption for a photo of this nature would be. Now it's time for Zoomerang, the pleasant Boomerang. Cha-ching. Nuff said. I did find it a bit strange that the entrance to their rides area was covered in the same blue concrete that you'd use to create a zero-entry swimming pool area. The entrance to the theme park side. I found this park to be well kept, clean, friendly, colorful and cute. I also found the clientelle to be quite average for theme park goers, not the neandrethals some people made them out to be! Ok, time for the real reason for this road trip!

Part 2...Ave Maria Grotto! Ok, no coasters in this segment, but we did stop at a famous roadside attraction. The Ave Maria Grotto is this huge collection of miniature cathedrals, basillicas and other important buildings. It's in this sort of winding garden path, and has flowers, fountains, stained glass, and loads and loads of catholic symbolism. Since neither of us are catholic, I'm sure a lot of the importance was lost on us, but we found it very interesting nonetheless! This was some place I'd wanted to go since I visited the Crystal Shrine Grotto in Memphis (this grotto was a million times nicer, and much less creepy!!) At the end of the tour, we perused the gift shop, but didn't buy anything, then kept on moving. Thus concluded our visit to the Ave Maria Grotto. Hey, have you ever seen a black guy monk surfing the internet? Well, now you have! ...then proceed to cross the pathway between the two yellow lines, as is demonstrated here. Almost at the end, we encounted this chipmunk crossing. Here's how it works...chipmunks approach the area, notice the thoughtfully placed chipmunk ramp... The theming towards the end of the tour seemed to fizzle out a bit, as can be seen by the placement of this "Lizard Condo." I'd say we both enjoyed our visit very much! If you're in the Cullman, AL area, it's worth a look! I'm not sure what it has to do with Catholicism, but here's a shot of the mini-Alamo, just cuz I'm random like that. And another hillside. This section is all different kinds of buildings and churches in Europe. Here is one of the hillsides that is covered from top to bottom with these miniature buildings. It really is insane how much work went into this, and just how detailed everything is. Emily enjoyed the grotto also! Religious symbolism on top of religious symbolism. This was just about the only thing I recognised since I'm not catholic! Just inside my favorite monastery slash summer camp, you will find the Ave Maria Grotto.

I decided that, in the name of collecting up some stray credits in the southeast, I'd head into Alabama today. The main objective was to get the credits at Alabama Adventures, and hopefully the kiddie one in Huntsville. Since Joe was too busy filing papers to accompany me, my cousin Emily played the role of "Joe Substitute" today. Stop One...Southern Adventures! This is a family entertainment center located about three miles from the Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville. We got a bit turned around on the way in, but eventually found it. We had one of those "Is it closed, as in, for good?" moments that R&E talk about when we arrived! The place was deserted...only three people in sight, and those were employees! I paid my $3, and was led out to the otherwise abandonned rides area. I handed over the job of picture taking to Emily, and boarded. But as soon as the train hit the lift hill, the lap bar popped wide open! Thank heavens it wasn't too wild of a ride, else I may have been headline news at 10:00! Somehow Emily didn't manage to get any pictures of my first ride, so I had to go around again! When I told the guy that the lap bar popped open, his only response was "Well, you should probably sit in the second seat then." Once I had a few decent pictures, we went back inside and played a couple of games. I got enough tickets to get three rubber bracelets, which made me feel cool since all the hip youngsters are wearing them these days. When we were done, we got back in the car, ate our picnic lunch, then headed towards Birmingham. Thanks for filling up spot #191 in my count, Lil Renegade. But it's time to move on to bigger and better things. Whowoo! I survived! Here I go...up the lift in the second row of seats. I was praying that I was not gonna be ejected like a VHS tape! "Top news tonight at 10:00...a Nashville woman fell to her death today when she was ejected from a childrens amusement ride..." Oh, who am I kidding? This place looks completely abandonned! The inside of the FEC was reasonably nice. I guess that kids could find plenty of things to do here. Ok, first stop, Southern Adventures FEC. I believe that this coaster fits the Tommy and James standard of luxuriousness.

Considering where I love, I almost *have* to drive 3-4 hours just to ride decent coasters. Today I drove 3 hours each way to Birmingham to visit Alabama Adventures, just to ride coasters. For my birthday in July, my mom and I drove 5 hours each way to visit Carowinds, just to ride coasters. In May, I drove 3 hours each way to Holiday World, just to ride coasters. In April, I drove 4 hours each way to SFoG just to ride Goliath. And last year, I went from Nashville to Toronto and back, yes, you guessed it, just to ride coasters! But I love taking road trips, so driving 3-4 hours is nothing to me. Hence the screen name! -Julie

In trying to think about my favorite theme park food, I could not come up with a single thing not found at Walt Disney World! I can barely think of anything I've eaten in other parks that stood out as being excellent. 'Ohana (at the Polynesian) and Boma (at the Animal Kingdom Lodge) are both incredible, and unlike anything I have found in any other theme park. I have to practically hire a bellman to roll me out of either of them! The best burgers are at Beaches N Cream (at Yacht and Beach Club) The best atmosphere is most definitely 50's Prime Time Cafe (at MGM) Best breakfast is at Whispering Canyon (at Wilderness Lodge) Best chicken quesadilla (I have ever had!) is at the All Star Music food court Best salad is at Tusker House (in Animal Kingdom) I also LOVE the Teppanyaki Dining Room, but it's fairly similar to lots of other Japanese restaurants, so I'd rather recommend their more unique palces. Just about the only thing Disney *doesn't* do well is pizza. I've never had good pizza at WDW I also agree with everyone who recommended Dollywood. While I only had one meal there, it was a very good one, and they have TONS of food choices. -Julie

This picture is so disturbing that it deserves to be on every page of this thread! -Julie (anxiously awaiting the Power Park pics)

U2 - Achtung Baby Barenaked Ladies - Stunt Better than Ezra - Deluxe Madder Rose - Panic On Those are the only ones where every song on the entire albums stands out as great to me. -Julie

Michelle -Julie

Dude, I love Clifton Hill! It's so campy and cheesy. I was disappointed when I crossed into Canada last year on the other main bridge from New York, since I didn't get to visit Clifton Hill! Looks like you guys are having a blast! -Julie

My money's on a Dumbo-type ride with turkeys on it. There is a place just large enough for it next to Gobbler Getaway. -Julie

I know that Arkansas City, Kansas is pronounced ar-KAN-ses city, because I have a friend that's from there. Never heard the state pronounced that way though. -Julie

I agree with Robb...the Spanish parks I went to had some awesome merchadise, and most had merchandise for every coaster they had, plus a bunch of flats. I could have easily torn my budget to shreds in the park gift shops! Their souvenirs seemed to be of a much better quality than in US parks, and they had tons of useful stuff like messenger bags, little toiletries bags, picture frames and such. And it was all very reasonably priced. You've been warned! -Julie

Bobbejaanland, and I'd ride Revloution since it is the only clone of my favorite coaster ever. -Julie

I've become quite the Mr. Potato Head part collector since WDW installed a few of the kiosks full of Disney parts. I was wondering if the build your own Mr. Potato Head kiosk at Disneyland had Disneyland exclusive pieces or not? I know some accessories like the suitcase have both WDW and DLR logos on them. If anyone can provide info about what special potato head parts they sell (like the cameras, tickets, special hats and stuff), it would be really appreicated! -Julie