USRoadTripper

Why why why do people staying in hotels dial for their wake up call THEN talk to the others in the room to decide what time to get up. Should this not logically be decided upon beforehand?!?! Here is a typical conversation that happens at least 10 times a night... Me: "Front desk, this is Julie" GP: "Hi, can I get a wake up call?" Me: "Sure, what time?" GP: "(to someone else) Jessie! What time? Six? Is that early enough? What do you have to do in the morning? Should we set it for 5:30? Well, I can shower tonight...so six? You wanna wake up at six? Jessie, pay attention...six?" Me: "So six o'clock sir?" GP: "Uh, yeah, six I guess." Five minutes later... Me: "Front desk, this is Julie" GP: "Uh, I need to change my wake up call" And the process starts over again! I have more important things to do that listen to you decide if you should shower now or in the morning! Gah! -Julie

Mrs. Richardson...rememeber in 3rd grade when you sent me to the bathroom with my friend Christy to rinse the plaster of paris off those giant checkers? Well, I was the one who accidentally knocked that roll of toilet paper out the window, which ended up tangled up in the tree and took days to get out. It was me. Sorry. -Julie

I think at least part of your trip has taken place at the Idlewild Bar in Manhattan. It has a replica airplane inside, and the phone number is 212-477-5005, which utilizes the 212 in the fortune as the area code. So my guess is that you are in New York City. If I'm not right, damn you are giving the wrong clues! -Julie

Here are three quotes I quickly picked out of Google Groups from rec.arts.disney.parks where people are talking about Six Flags. "I consider going to Six Flags Great Adventure "slumming." "Anyhow on most visits whenever we see something at SF that is "unDisney" We say " That's why they're #2"" "...before the shows begin & people are entering the theatre, they sell drinks & food! At Disney, there is no food allowed." And this one was my favorite! Someone talking about going to SFoG and thinking it sucked, then saying why they liked Disney better... "I mentioned to my husband that I would feel great about riding a Disney coaster, like the Rock & Roller Coaster being built at the Studios, because a) I feel safe on Disney attractions and b) it would have a theme / story to it. The coasters at Six Flags didn't interest me in the least." At least someone had the sense enough to respond... " Believe it or not but Disney really has NOTHING to do with the design of the Rock 'N Roller Coaster at the Disney Studios. A little company called VEKOMA can claim 100% ownership. You said you just visited Six Flags over Georgia and of course one of that parks own coasters, which didn't interest you in the least, by the name of "NINJA" was also built by Vekoma. So you "Poo-poo" the Six Flags one, but the Disney one is great, huh?" After years upon years of reading RADP, I've have never seen people react so adversely to Six Flags as some of those people did. These are the same people who think that Universal is horrible because they just have this big green coaster going everywhere all over one of their "unmagical" parks. Yes, they do complain extensively about Disney, but the complaints are much more caustic and insulting in regards to any non-Disney park. It got very old to tell people that you were going to go to a Six Flags park and to be told to get a tetanus shot before hand! None of the complaining here even comes close to there. -Julie

My guess is Holiday World because they have the Boston Tea Party basketball game there. -Julie

Exactly my thought. I've never had a bad ride on Thuder Run. It's my #1 woodie, and has always been as smooth as any good steel coaster. This year it was a tad rougher than last year, which means that it feels like a normal woodie now! -Julie

If you think people complain about Six Flags here, try reading a Disney board when someone posts a TR from Six Flags! You'd think the park was drowning babies and burning crosses everywhere! I have NEVER heard people complain about Six Flags the way some Disney fans do. I really don't think Six Flags as a chain is bad. Each park handles their own staffing, so if ride ops are rude, it's the parks fault. If the individual parks held their employees to a higher standard, the reputation of the chain would improve. Six Flags has some great parks in their chain, and I've never been to one that I thought was terrible (eventhough Darien Lake was on down there, but that was because of rough coasters, not employee attitudes or bad ops). I get a season pass every year and will continue to get one because I think they provide a great service for a reasonable price. -Julie

I went on July 10th this year, a Sunday. The crowds were very reasonable...the only things that had lines were Millenium Force, TTD and Raptor. Everything else was less than a 15 minute wait, with a lot of things being only a few trains worth of wait. The next day (Monday) was considerably more crowded with significant lines at every ride. Obviously I can't speak for June, but it looks like Sundays are a great day to try and hit the Point. -Julie (the following Sunday, PKI was empty too!)

Dueling Dragons just after a heavy rain is insane. WAY faster than it is normally. It feels like it's going to fly off the track at certain points it goes so fast. Once I was in line for it and got to the station, then it started downpouring. So I sat down in the station and ended up falling asleep. By the time the ride was open again, it was soaked and gave me one of the best rides ever! -Julie

Looks ok, but i think it would be nice if it were more of a water area than it seems. Those draw a lot of little kids during the hot times of the year. I jsut wonder if those slide and things will get too hot if in the sun. -Julie

I was extremely scared when I rode Top Thrill Dragster. I kept watching it almost roll back and just got more and more nervous as I waited. Then being nervous turned to being scared as I sat on the launch! I was shaking, could barely breathe and just about in tears right before the launch. But within two or three seconds I loved it! Undoubtably the fastest I've ever gone from terrified to extactic. After that, I don't think I will ever be scared of a coaster again. -Julie

#4 looks way too happy to have just been arrested for prostitution!! -Julie

Aww, I'm so sorry guys. I know that losing a pet is really tough, I've been there. Keep your chins up! -Julie

Having worked at Disney, obviously I have been backstage at all the Disney parks except for Animal Kingdom. I have photos of myself being beaten on the head by the Ellen animatronic in Universe of Energy and the Elasmasaurus biting my arm. I also have pictures of myself and some friends on the roof of Energy. I got to see the entire deconstruction of Horizons from the back, and have photos of some props and ride vehicles as they removed them. I've been under a Body Wars probe while it was in motion, and climbed behind the projectors for Buzzy's head in Cranium Command. I also got evacuated from Men in Black : Alien Attack and got to walk through a part of the ride and out through a backstage area. -Julie

This was the third year that I didn't have to go back to school at "back to school" time, and it just gets better every year! I truly hated every second of my education, and think it's a load of BS when adults say to enjoy school. No one rememebrs being picked on? No one remembers having to do homework when all you wanted to do was play with your friends or go hang out at the mall? People said that to me almost daily in college, which I regard as the worst four years of my life, and I swore I'd never say it to another human, ever. I have never, and will never miss school for one second. -Julie

I remember just a few years ago (2001 maybe) that I got $.85 per gallon gas in rural Georgia! Nice to think about the good ole' days of paying $14 to fill up my car versus the more than $30 now! I'm just glad my big coaster road trip is out of the way for this year! -Julie (Not USRoadTripping any time soon)

Wally, I'm not a beer drinker, so I wouldn't know, but a friend of mine swears by it. EDIT: D'oh! Double posted with no option to delete. Sorry! -Julie

Wally, I'm not a beer drinker, so I wouldn't know, but a friend of mine swears by it. -Julie

Since there seems to be a dearth of random TRs recently, I have taken it upon myself to post another one. On Saturday, my friend Joey Figgiani played at the French Quarter Cafe in Nashville, and I was there to fill a chair and enjoy a show. Then on Sunday, the whole gang performed at a writers night at the Sutler in Nashville. John, Joey, and Joey's "lady friend" Kristen all played, as well as Casey, John's 17 year old cousin who was in town from New York City and had never performed in public before. This was Butler and Cutler, the next group to perform. Ladies of all ages take note...this woman is a perfect example of why you must always wear a bra! Her boobs are sitting on her waist!!! And Joey again, belting out some notes on the harmonica. Here's Kristen blowing away the audience with an original song. How someone with her voice is not famous I'll never know. A closer view of John. You can't tell in this photo, but he has dimples a girl could fall into! See the family photo above to view said dimples. This is John playing an original song. This was the first time I'd heard him sing in person, and he's much more talented than he wants to let on! Fast forward to Sunday night at the Sutler. This is Casey. She looked and sounded like a pro! Now she'll go back to high school and brag that she's had her Nashville debut. Joey and Kristen. He looks pretty happy to be hugging her, no? Me and Joey. I look sickly pale compared to his naturally tanning self. The Tumminello/Figgiani family photo. Only 2/5ths of this picture came out well. This was the only good shot I got of Joey performing at French Quarter. All the rest were blurry Joey's new banner. Way to go, Joe! It looks great! John swore that these shirts were gold, yet they looked burnt orange to me because of the blacklights in the club. I took this picture to prove him wrong, and whaddaya know, he was right! They are gold!

So since you have to change the water now, is this when we get the pics of the lesbians in the hot tub? *snicker* -Julie

Top of my list would be Bobbejaanland for sentimental reasons. They have the only clone of my favorite ride ever, Opryland's Chaos. -Julie

Had to vote Kennywood, hands down. All three of their woodies are in my woodie top 10. Never been to Hershey though. And if we're talking punch to the kidneys, that would definitely be Canada's Wonderland!!! -Julie

My friend Rob pointed me to TPR a couple of times before I really gave it any notice. He first pointed me to the Dutch Wonderland update from last year with this photo: http://www.themeparkreview.com/pa2004/dw/dw18.jpg "Here is a family of Amish people, who are having their kids stand behind the cut out pretending to be AMISH PEOPLE!!!!! GAAAHHHHH!!!!! Is it just me or is there something VERY wrong with that?!?!" Then later once the Japan update was posted, he pointed me to this picture: http://www.themeparkreview.com/japan2004/whitecyclone10.jpg "BEST! SHIRT! EVER!!! Awesome Marketing tag line: "White Cyclone: It's SOMETHING!" LOL!!! "Please nuderstand this difference!" WTF?!?!?" I thought that one was just too hilarious, and I read the whole Japan update that night. I started checking back every few days and reading old stuff and new. Then once I started working overnights at work, it became daily and I started posting in the forums. I come back now, basically because the people here are fun! I get a lot of great info here, and have had some great chats in the chat room. I also like the site as a photographer because the photos are fantastic. By the way R & E, did you guys buy that White Cyclone shirt? It's hilarious! -Julie

Thanks for the pics Elissa! At least the coasters and some rides still appear to be standing, so they aren't total losses. One less thing for the park to have to replace later. I'm sure this has got to be one of the worst disasters to ever hit a park (or the entire US for that matter!) -Julie

I don't like when a park just uses the coaster's product name as the name for the ride. "Boomerang", "Roller Skater" and "Dragon Wagon" come to mind. Same goes for Enterprises named "Enterprise" and Pirate Ships named "Pirate." I also really dislike names with the word "express" in them...Cornball Express is the worst of these! As for names I like, I found one named Devil's Backbone on RCDB from Gordon State Park in Ohio. I think that's just about the best coaster name I've ever heard! -Julie