USRoadTripper

Hey Soren! Yeah, they dance probably every hour or so. It wsa funny that right after this, they did a "seductive dance" where the guys were showing off their ankles and Nacho Mama was showing her knees! And they were telling the kids "You can't watch this, look away! Mom don't let him look at my knees!" -Julie

Tuesday, August 9th, 2005 My cell phone's alarm went off at 8:30, and we both got up and ready to head out. We both showered, then took a peek in the little store in the hotel to see if we wanted to get breakfast there or out somewhere. They didn't have a big selection, so we decided to find something on the way. When we asked how to get to Great America from the hotel, the lady said it was directly across from a Burger King, which solved the problem of where to eat breakfast! The Burger King was very easy to find, and I got a egg and cheese croissant and hash browns and mom got the same thing but with bacon. As we went to the park, the line at the parking booth was huge! Once we got in, we parked at the very end of the very last row in the center section of the lot, so we'd easily remember where the car was parked. As we approached the turnstyles...holy cow, it was JAM PACKED! Surprisingly, it took no time at all to get through the gates and through security. There was some sort of Looney Tunes character show going on in the courtyard in front of the double decker carousel, but not many people seemed to be paying attention. At this point mom did another one of those things that makes her increasingly difficult to travel with. When I first suggested this trip, I said that we'd need to split up in the park so I could ride coasters and she could do whatever she wanted without having to wait for me all day. So she gets a map and says that we need to stop and figure out what we will go do first and when we will meet and stuff. I said that I needed to hurry and get started on the coasters before the lines exploded, so she should just call me later when she wanted to meet up. So she starts moping saying that she wants to do this and that with me, and see this and that show...then goes "Whatever, I'll just follow you all day I guess." This is classic Mom guilt trip in action. She tries to guilt me out of going on the coasters just so I can spend time with her...but it doesn't work! I tell her no, I am walking this way to go ride something, and that she needs to call me at some point in a couple of hours when she's in between rides and we will meet up for lunch. If she followed me, she would complain after every ride that she's waiting on me for too long and having no fun, and that I should be more considerate of her, and I wasn't going to have that happen. So I walked off towards Raging Bull, and I don't know where she went from there. When I got to Raging Bull, the line was posted at an hour, and the line looked every bit of an hour long. Viper was posted at the same legth, so I decided to save those two for later in the day when hopefully the lines would be smaller. I passed Chubasco along the way, which I destictly remembered riding in '96, and also loving the name. I walked up the center of the park, hoping to get on Demon instead. This next credit was #150 for me, and I figured that Demon was a fitting choice for a small landmark like #150. In 1996, I almost rode Demon, but I remember watching it from the triple ferris wheel thingy and talking myself into being scared of it, so I didn't ride it. This time it looked like nothing, so I hopped in line for it. There was about a 2 train wait...so much nicer that Raging Bull's hour wait! The ride was unexpectedly good...very smooth, and the inversions through rockwork also added excitement to the ride. There was also a light up blinky tunnel that I had no idea was there! I was glad I'd chosen this one for my #150, as I really enjoyed it. I walked on and came up on American Eagle next. Again in 1996, my mom videotaped American Eagle's train going down one of the drops, and all of us were like "I'd have to be crazy to ride that!" haha. To my surprise, this coaster has two tracks...a forwards and a backwards...bonus credit!!! It has a really long line, and some very ambitious extended queue that I bet hasn't been used in decades. Once I got in line for the forward side, it broke down for about 5 minutes while I was standing behind an extremely stinky redneck man. Once the ride was going again, don't you know that I ended up sitting directly behind him, so I was downwind of him the whole time! hahaha As soon as I went down the first drop, I knew American Eagle was something special. It felt just the way a classic woodie should feel, and had fantastic floater air on every hill. This was definitley a coaster that I could ride all day, and that I wish was within an easy drive of me. It was just a perfect blend of everything that a good woodie should be. As soon as I left the forward side, I went around and did the backward side, which was just as great. This coaster is definitely in my top ten woodie list, since it shares so many great qualities with Great American Scream Machine at SFoG. Iron Wolf was next door, so I hopped in line for it next. I waited probably about 20-30 minutes for it, which wasn't terrible considering how crowded the park seemed. This was the only of the coasters at the park that I wouldn't ride frequently. It wasn't bad, but it was definitely the roughest coaster they have (that I rode), and stand ups aren't my favorite genre of coasters anyway. When I left the line, I was feeling a little overheated, so I got an orange Icee and sat down in the shade. I tried to call mom to see if she wanted to meet up for a few rides, but I couldn't get a hold of her. Abot 10 minutes later she called me, and we were actually right across the same area from each other. I met up with her in an air conditioned gift shop, and she said she wanted to get some lunch since she was hungry. I wasn't hungry since I was still in the process of downing my large Icee, but decided to go ahead and eat anyway. We stopped at Wascals and both got chicken strips and fries baskets. I ate all of the chicken but not many of the fries since I was pretty stuffed because of the Icee. When we left, I rode Spacely's Sprocket Rockets since it was on the way, then rode the chairswings (whirligig...what a great name haha). After the chairswings, my stomach wasn't feeling so good, so I said I needed to go inside and cool off and let my meal digest a bit more before going back out in the heat. We went in an arcade and I sat down in a driving game until I felt a bit better. When we left, we got as far as a covered walkway at the entrace to the Mardi Gras area, and I had to sit down again. I waited another 5 minutes or so, then I was fine, and we went on about business. Mom said she'd ridden the Jesters Wild Ride and liked it, which I found so funny since she swore she didn't like the Rockin' Tug at Beech Bend, and it's the same ride system! As we passed Condor, I decided to jump on for a ride. Mom was hesitant at first and had to watch it through a cycle, but finally decided to go. She seemed to have the exact same reaction as she did to the Rockin' Tug. She seemed to be struggling through the ride, but later she asked if I wanted to ride it again! I distinctly remember riding this in '96 when the condors on it were black, and thinking that it was just about as big a thrill as I wanted to experience! As we got to the front of the park, we hopped on the carousel, where I rode a pig. Feel free to insert your own fat joke here. After that we went to the simulator. I don't get why it still has Space Shuttle America theming all over it, yet it's the same crappy Stargate SG300 film I've seen at three different parks already this season! The theater and queue for this one are much nicer than the others, and it was also nice that I didn't have to wait through the mind numbing preshow this time. We went on Sky Trek Tower next, and I always enjoy this kind of ride. This one was air conditioned thank heavens, unlike the one at Cedar Point! After the tower we decided to meet up for the 4:15 Circo Magico show, which was 45 minutes away. I'm not sure what she did, but I figured that I could sneak in another coaster in the meantime, so I went to ride Viper. The line was posted at half an hour, which was just about exactly what I waited. This was another excellent woodie...one I would be proud to have in my home park. As I left, I had 5 minutes to get to the theater before showtime, so I grabbed a glass of ice water and booked it over there. Of course mom was mad that I hadn't shown up early, but I pretty much just told her to get over it because we still got good seats and didn't miss anything. The show was good...Cirque Light. They had ribbon flyers, and a girl who spun cloth on her feet while standing on her head, and two guys who did some strength moves that were almost homoerotic! One of the lady ribbon flyers fell as she was running along the edge of the stage to take off. It looked like the box that holds the ribbons in place wasn't up high enough, so the ribbons weren't tight enough, which caused her to fall. I bet she was pretty pissed after the show! When the show ended I was completely cooled off and refreshed and ready to tackle the Superman line. It was posted at an hour wait, but it ended up being 50 minutes. I even found a type on a sign in the queue! I text messaged my friend Peter while I waited, then my phone started to go dead. I quickly text messaged my mom saying to meet me at the carousel at 9:00pm because I figured that I wouldn't have enough battery to call her. Ultimate Flight in Georgia is in a three way tie for my favorite coaster, so obviously I loved this ride. This one lacked just a little bit though since Georgia's is terrain based, and swoops you close to the ground and through ravines and stuff. Still it was an excellent coaster. And just to show how pack minded people are...as soon as we pulled into the brake run, you could tell that people had been spitting while they waited there, so of course everyone in my train was like "Dude, lets spit!" They did the same thing when we passed a canopy over the queue while on the lifthill and it was covered in gum. So of course, everyone spit out their gum trying to hit it. Why is the GP so disgusting? I headed off for Ragin' Cajun next, which is a clone of the mouse at Beech Bend and a bunch of other parks. It's a great design of mouse though, so I don't blame parks for buying them up. I rode with a dad and his daughter, and the daughter had never ridden a wild mouse before. She seemed to hate it during the ride, but afterwards said it was fun. I sat on my hat during the ride, and I popped out of my seat at one point, so I leaned over to get my hat and hold it so it wouldn't fly out from under me. Just as I leaned over, the mouse started spinning out of control and I couldn't sit up to save my life! Too much fun. I figured the line for Batman would be pretty long, so I decided to go ahead and get it out of the way. I noticed the ACE plaque at the entrance, and I guess I don't get it, but didn't Vekoma SLCs come before B&M inverteds? I guess I'm wrong, but I wouldn't have guessed that Batman was the oldest of it's kind. The ride was fantastic, and extremely powerful! There were so many Gs that my legs were itching and I left the blood pooling in my feet. And it was still smooth as glass...a great inverted coaster. Vertical Velocity was closed, but I wouldn't have ridden it anyway. Deja Vu seemed to stay running all day once it opened up around noon, but I didn't want to ride it either. I don't like vertical drops at all, and to add insult to injury, after the drop, it's a boomerang! No way...doesn't look fun at all to me. The last one I hadn't done was Raging Bull, so I headed off in that direction, figuring that if I had to wait an hour, oh well, I'd just wait the hour. I was getting hungry at that point, so I stopped near American Eagle and got two cheesy breadsticks to tide me over. As I continued on, I stopped to take pictures of Demon's corkscrew, and they all turned out really well. I got in line for Raging Bull, and ended up waiting about a half hour for it too. I wasn't sure what to expect of this ride. It looked great, but I didn't want to hype it up in my mind to be all that, then be disappointed. Once I was on it, it was an incredible ride! It was smooth, had tons of great drops and airtime, and I loved the "not so restraining" restraints. You could just see the airtime coming, which was fantastic! Definitely my favorite coaster in the park, with American Eagle being a close second. As I finished with Raging Bull, it was about 8:00, and I still had an hour before I needed to meet mom. I was still just praying that she got my text message before my battery died else I had no idea how I'd meet up with her. I wandered back to the front of the park and got in line for Whizzer. It was the only coaster I hadn't done today, and also the only one I'd ridden before. The people operating the ride were being really goofy! They had a stuffed chicken that played Chicken Dance when you squeezed it, and would burp and gag if you squeezed it more. So they played it over the PA system and made us do the chicken dance, then would make it burp and gag repeatedly into the microphone! It was hilarious. You could tell that it had been a long day for them! As for the ride, it was more thrilling than I remembered, and in hind sight, I'm surprised that I liked it at 16! It's a great starter coaster, and one that should definitely be kept around for a while longer. I was really sad when I heard that the park wanted to take it out and was glad when they decided to keep it, and now I'm even more glad since I got to ride it again. With about half an hour left, the lights on all the rides had come on, so I decided to get a night shot of the Condor. As I waited on a bench and played with my camera, a lady on an ECV came up and parked right in front of me. I was the only person on any of the three benches in the area, and there was no one else standing or waiting anywhere else near me...and she stopped 2 feet in front of me? Not only that but she carried on a very loud cell phone conversation, and I could hear every word. I thought it was very strange...no one else is around, so you need to stop directly in front of me? You couldn't go 5 feet to my right and have your own little space for your conversation? Had I wanted to get up, I couldn't have because she was blocking me. Then her family appears, and they all stand around her...again, I am still the only person in the area and now everyone is huddling around me! Finally when the Condor started I said that I'd been waiting to take a picture of the ride, and would she mind backing up a couple of feet...and it was like none of them had even realized I was there! They were like "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm blocking your view!" then quickly parted so I could get my picture. Very strange! Once that was done I still had about 20 minutes left, so I wandered back into the Mardi Gras section and decided to ride the Top Spin since it had been ages since I'd ridden one. Just about the only thing the ride did was flip us backwards four times in a row then dangle us upside down for a second then stop. It made me extremely dizzy, but in a good way. It could have stood to be twice as long though. At that point I went back and sat down by the carousel and waited, hoping mom would show up. She did, and she told me about how I'd made her have to learn how to read text messages on her phone since she'd never received one before! She hadn't eaten dinner, so we found a place across from the bumper cars that was open and she got a cheesesteak sandwich. The lady asked her if she'd also like a couple of chicken strips since they were closing and were going to throw them out. We said sure, so I ate the chicken strips while mom ate the sandwich. It also came with a pickle! No trip is complete without a good pickle. After I finished my pickle, we headed out for the night since we'd done everything we wanted. Once back at the hotel, I got a call from my friend Peter so we chatted for almost a half hour. It's always great to hear from him! I fixed a bag of popcorn (because it came free with my room, and I had a microwave, so why not? hehe) and went to the little store to buy a soda. I think I was in bed at around midnight, with a 9:00am alarm set. Wednesday, August 10th, 2005 We got up at 9:00am, and I got showered. We packed everything up and we checked out by about 10:30. There was a Dennys not far away so we stopped for breakfast. I didn't really want breakfast food, so I got an italian chicken sandwich with spaghetti sauce and cheese. It was great but it was really messy! When we were done, we drove into Chicago with the intention of going to Navy Pier for a few hours. Mom swore that she'd seen online that they offered free parking and a free shuttle to the pier, which seemed a little fishy to me. She said the only catch was that we had to park a few blocks away...whatever. So we finally find it after she yelled at me so much to tell her where to go like I'd lived in Chicago all my life. And of course the parking was $18, and she acted confused about why they would charge so much for parking (uh, hello, it's downtown Chicago!). She also seemed to get mad at me that I couldn't find the free parking, which obviously never existed in the first place. Note to self...always do trip planning myself. Never leave it up to my mom. Finally we turned around and left without going to Navy Pier. She was upset with me first over my inability to find free parking at noon on a weekday in downtown Chicago, and second because I didn't know exactly where the highway was from where we were. At this point, I was glad we were on the way back home so I didn't have to be the navigator anymore and get yelled at! She'd say "Just tell me where to go!" and when I'd say "I don't know where to go" well, that answer just wasn't good enough for her. She acted like I was intentionally not teling her the right way to go! Once we finally found the highway it was a straight shot back home. We stopped for dinner at the same exit as the Max and Erma's on the way up, but had a chinese buffet instead. It was right next to Rapers Rent to own...certainly not a store I was endeared to at first glance! hahaha Dinner was good, and we were back home at around 10:00pm. Despite mom's attitude while driving, I had a great time at both parks on this little weekend and both are parks I'd love to go back to. The waits at Great America were honestly the worst I'd experienced all season, and even they weren't too terrible. I was able to do everything I wanted with time to spare, and mom also had fun filling her day with flat rides and shows. -Julie That's all folks! Thanks for reading! I am Superman. Please oogle my bulging codpiece. Look! We actually spotted our car from the sky tower! But this is how the first one turned out. Looks like I took it in the middle of the day! Eventhough it didn't turn out like it was supposed to, I still like it. When I took my Condor photo, I actually took two. This is how it was supposed to look... Raging Bull at sunset Y'know, I'm straight, but even I noticed all the hot chicks in the park that day. Just to remind them who's boss, I e-stopped the sky tower as I left. *snicker* It's a typo! Four years of college finally pay off when I find a typo in a Six Flags queue! And here is a lovely shot of Superman : Ultimate...hey wait a second...what's that say?... Homoerotic strenth performances in Circo Magico. Looks like the guy has an extra set of legs growing out of his neck, huh? Feel free to insert your own fat joke here. Demon goes through a corkscrew...how can someone *not* take a good picture of a corkscrew? Demon goes through a head chopping vertical loop. Woah...NOT a good sign when approaching a theme park!

I first went to Six Flags Great America in 1996, before I liked riding coasters. I remember spending the whole day riding the scrambler, the motion simulator, the Condor, the sky tower, and the only coaster I rode was Whizzer. I remember watching American Eagle and thinking "What crazy fool would ride that?" and seeing Iron Wolf and vowing never to ride a coaster where you had to stand up! But for the last couple of years, I'd really been wanting to go back so I could do all the stuff I missed out on last time. When I figured out that I was going to have the 8th and 9th of August off, my mom and I decided to make a weekend out of it and head up there for a couple of days. I secured a room at Candlewood Suites in Waukegan for both nights, and we decided to also head for Navy Pier the night we got there since we'd wanted to go there in '96 but hadn't gotten to. A couple of days before we left, I realized that Indiana Beach was only about 20 miles off the highway we would be taking, so I asked mom if she'd like to go there too. She said yes since the admission price was only $2, since she probably wouldn't want to ride anything there. It was a nice surprise being able to add in Indiana Beach since everyone talks so highly about it, and it was 5 bonus coaster credits I wasn't expecting! Monday, August 8th, 2005 It seems like all my trip reports of late have begun with "I worked overnight at my hotel" and this one is no exception. I was supposed to leave work at 7:00am, but due to some rude and selfish coworkers who decided that they didn't need to be on time for work, I ended up leaving at around 8:00, an hour late. Mom had been waiting at home for the last hour ready to go, so not only were the coworkers rude to me, they were rude to her too (this was later addressed with management since it happens nearly every day). I grabbed an egg and cheese biscuit and hash browns from McDonalds and ate as I drove to my parents house. Once I got there, we hit the road immediately, and I started out the drive. I was able to get to Bowling Green before I was too tired to drive any more, so Mom took over while I slept. I actually got two hours of very sound sleep, which is unusual for sleeping in a car! Once we were a good ways into Indiana, we decided to stop for lunch at a Max and Erma's, which neither of us had had before. The choices looked great, and I ended up with a burger with mozzarella, sundried tomato pesto, bazil and guacamole with seasoned fries. I think it was one of the better burgers I've ever eaten! It was so incredibly yummy! Mom got some sort of burger with bacon on it, thought I'm not sure exactly what it was. We found Indiana Beach easily by following my Mapquest directions (what's up with Mapquest giving me the right directions recently? hehe) and we parked at the South Entrance. Mom got all upset when I told her she had to walk across a suspension bridge to get to the park, but she got over it when she saw how big it was. We both paid our admission, then I stopped for my POP armband. The total was $21 for both, which I didn't think was that bad considering that the park was fairly big, had a lot of rides, and included five coasters. My first stop was Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain, and I was more than a bit worried that this ride would shake me to pieces considering all it's reviews. I waited probably 15 minutes for it since they were only running one train. I didn't think the ride was terribly rough, though it was a little...and it was definitely wierd! It definitely feels like it used to be a dark ride, and in some places, it didn't even feel gravity powered because of the way the track bends. There were little cubby holes in the walls with stuff in them, and you almost get hit by a train...it was just very weird (though not the wierdest I've ridden...that honor still goes to Blazing Fury!). I walked on, and stopped at Tigg'r Coaster next. I got my own train since no one was in line, and it was a decent coaster. It gave me a couple of good slams into the right side of the train, but it wasn't too bad. The Cornball Express entrance was right across from Tigg'r Coaster, so I did that one next. There was almost no line, so I got in the next to last seat in the train. I thought it was a great ride, but didn't think it lived up to the hype some people have given it. It had airtime, but not nearly as much as I was thinking it would have. Being in the same area, I rode Hoosier Hurricane next, and it was definitely my favorite of the two big woodies. My comparison felt a lot like when I rode Raven and Legend...everyone went on about how fantastic Raven was, barely ever mentioning Legend, which I thought was a lot better. Same with these two coasters. Cornball gets all the fame, yet Hoosier Hurricane was better in my opinion. It's longer, has a more scenic layout, has a LOT more airtime, and has better drops. I tend to like out and backs more than twisters, so that may be a lot of it. When I finished up with that, mom and I popped our heads into a gift shop or two in that area, but didn't find anything we liked. Then we ran across the Fascination parlor and decided to try our luck. It was only fifty cents per game, so we each played $3 worth. It smelled like a bowling alley since you could smoke in there, and it looked like a place right out of the early 80s. Out of six games, we each won once, which gave us two tickets each to spend on prizes. They had a lot of cool stuff for 3-5 tickets, but neither of us wanted to spend more money playing to get better prizes. So I got a sour gummy lizard and some Lemonheads, and mom got two Toosie Pops and some Lemonheads. They had a lot of old looking electronic prizes as well as a cast iron skillet for 17 points. Just what everyone wants...to win a cast iron skillet in an amusement park and have to lug it around all day. I headed for the Galaxi next to get my last credit in the park. I wasn't expecting much from this coaster, but the first two drops really snatched me up out of me seat! No one told me it was such a powerful little coaster! Den of Lost Thieves was right across the midway from the Galaxi, so I hopped on it after about a 10 minute wait. It was ok...my score was 360 or so...but it was nothing to write home about, and definitely not worth the $5 to ride if you don't have an armband!!! If we'd had more time I'd have liked to ride the Chaos and the DOuble Shot, but we still needed to get to Chicago fairly early that night, so we headed back towards the gate. On the way, we passed a tower out in the lake that had a flaming man standing on it. Uh, random! He did a little dance, then jumped into the lake to extinguish himself...and that seemed to be it! It didn't seem to be a part of a show, or even a preshow...he just jumped into the lake and that was that. Had to be one of the more random things I've seen in a park. I wanted to ride the chairswings, but again, Chicago was calling. I did manage to ride the Ferris Wheel though, which afforded me a great view of the park. When that was done, we headed out, bidding a fond farewell to Indiana Beach. Hopefully I will get to come back another day and spend more time. We headed straight in to Chicago once we left, and were in the city around 9:00. We'd planned on going to Navy Pier but since work had delayed me by an hour, we were stuck with only an hour left to go there. NOt to mention parking and riding the trolley would take a good 20 minutes at least. At this point, I was just stewing in my frustration over work, and how I've been late one time in 9 months, and how my coworkers can repeatedly stroll in an hour late on days when I need to leave on time and never have a word said to them. So I decided to just call in to work on Wednesday and go to Navy Pier that morning. We decided to stop for dinner at our favorite place from our '96 trip...Ed Debevics. Our last trip there had be *so* fun, so we figured that it would be a nice thing to do instead of Navy Pier. Mom was insisting that I navigate from the front seat, knowing good and well that I get very motion sick if I have to read in the car. So by the time I got to the restaurant I was woozy and my head was hurting. I still had a good time though. Our waitress was Nacho Mama, and she was a lot of fun. She gave us a hard time about getting water to drink since it wasn't on the menu. Mom got quesadillas, which looked great, and I got nachos. It was my own stupid fault for not reading the menu correctly because when they got to me, they were covered in an onion mixture that I hadn't seen on the menu. It was called "atomic sauce" which I assumed was like a picate sauce or salsa, not just raw tomatoes and onions. So sheepishly I asked her if I could have them remade without the oniony stuff on it, and she said ok. The next set wasn't nearly as good as the first set, but they were still ok. She brought me my Oreo milkshake before I had barely made a dent in the nachos, so I ended up eating that in the middle of my meal so it wouldn't be melted. That didn't work either as I didn't eat probably a 3rd of it because it melted too quickly. When it was time to go, I made sure to tip Nacho Mama extra well for having a second set of nachos made eventhough it was my fault that I didn't like what I got. We found our way back to highway 94, and were off to Waukegan. Mom made me mad on the way because the only instruction I gave her was to stay on I-94, no matter which way it went, and she couldn't follow my instructions. It goes north for a bit, then west, then back to north...so I didn't want to say "Follow it north" then have her come upon a "west" sign and not follow it. First she insisted that an even numbered highway would not run north/south, so obviously I was reading it wrong. Then there was a sign for highway 41 that said Waukegan under it, and she decided that I had no idea what I was talking about, and followed 41. Of course we got completely lost, which she them blamed on me also. Finally, seemingly just to spite me she said "FINE! I'll turn around and take 94, and you'll see that we don't end up anywhere near where we need to be!" And wouldn't you know, about half an hour later, we pulled up at our hotel, having not had another issue once she decided to follow 94. Things like this have made her increasingly more difficult to travel with recently. She tells me to navigate, then tells me everything I'm saying is wrong, eventhough she hasn't looked at the map at all. Anyway, once we found our hotel, it was very nice! I'm going to start favoring the minisuite hotels from now on if I have the option. We had the full kitchen with stove, dish wahser, full fridge and lots of dishes and cookware. We had a recliner also, which I learned while I was staying in Cincinnati was a wonderful thing to have in a hotel! We didn't stay up very late since we wanted to get to the park kind of early the next day. -Julie I found this so funny...we had salt and pepper shakers that were full of individual packets of salt and pepper! Our kitchen at the Candlewood Suites in Waukegan. The wait staff routinely dances on the counters at Eds. Nacho Mama, in the middle, was our waitress. Ed Debevics! Me smokin' on the Den of Lost Thieves And here is the random burning man mid-air, leaping into the lake. Here is the random burning man on a platform above the lake. Just what everyone wants...to win a cast iron skillet in an amusement park and have to lug it around the rest of the day. The Fascination parlor. Looked and smelled like it was straight out of 1982. Julie gets a solo ride on the Tigg'r coaster Lost Coaster rattles through a tunnel. Me at Indiana Beach. It's a great picture, but would have been a fantastic picture had a coaster train almost been hitting me in the head. The Hoosier Hurricane greets us as we enter Indiana Beach.

Wow, your camera phone looks a LOT nicer than mine! But my picture is from a Simon and Garfunkel concert last year. -Julie

I absolutely love the picture of Big Thunder going around the curve! What kind of camera are you using, and what were the settings for that? Is it digital or film? Also, LOVE the one of the teacups! They are beautiful. -Julie

At a restraurant in Chicago in 1996, they had one of those towels to dry your hands on that you pull, find a dry spot and dry your hands (which I personally think are disgusting, but anyway...) But anyway, the box the towel was in said "Do not hang from towel or insert head into towel loop." Good thing I was in the bathroom or I'd have peed on myself from laughing so much. I was actually laughing so hard that I didn't want to go back out into the quiet restaurant, and my mom came in to find me and see what was taking so long! -Julie

One major thing I noticed that the park needs to improve is lack of places to go indoors an cool off. I didn't think the park was that bad, but once I started feeling overheated, there was nowhere to go in and cool off. I think there was one gift shop that was air conditioned, then the Robots from Mars show...and that was it. I didn't see any place to get a bite and sit in the AC and eat. Everything was either open air or walk up windows. This made me very uncomfortable for most of the day, and made me want to leave just so I could cool off. I think, given time, this park will be just fine. They need some more updated rides, make the rides they have better, and do something about that little half of a water park over on the rides side. -Julie

Just giving this topic a bump because I'd really like an answer to the "where are the scary people?" question. -Julie

The fire that crawls across the ceiling of Mummy at USF. -Julie

Here are some more pics I thought I'd share. I took most of them about a month or so ago in what remains of the Grizzly River Rampage area. I go out there about once a year or so...I wander around the area near the Opry House and the Acuff Theater, and back to the Grizzly River, and it still *feels* like Opryland. They still have the same trash cans the park had, some of the same drink carts, and the little guitar logos are still in the iron work on the fences and all. It's bittersweet...I like going because it reminds me of Opryland, but I don't like going because it makes me bitter about not having Opryland anymore! A couple of years back, I got brave and went into the employee area behind GRR. I stuck my camera through some walls, and this is the picture I got. I think this used to be part of the loading station. Disregard the date. This is the entrance to the tunnel on the ride. Chaos would still have been directly behind us. Another shot, where I have walked further along the path and am now looking back. Directly behnd where I am standing, Chaos used to be (now, it's just partialy an empty grassy area, and partially some new hotel rooms). Here's a rock with cuts outs in it that used to hold part of the ride mechanism. This held the wheels that would spin your raft. Here is more of the trough that used to hold the rapids. You go around the corner where the rock is, and there is a bench. Climb behind the bench and you see this. This is the only thing visible from the Opry Mills parking lot that would indicate that something besides a parking lot used to be there.

Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet High School for the Health Sciences and Engineering - Class of 1997. Yep, that's it's full name, but we generally called it MLK -Julie

Chaos always has been and always will be my favorite coaster. I've ridden faster, higher, more airtime filled coasters, but none will just be as "great" as Chaos. My favorite seat was the very last car on the train. There was a light on as you went up the first part of the lift, and the purpose of it was to wash out your eyes with the bright light, then once you could see well again, you were in the main spiral lift hill room. But in the last car, that light went off as you passed it, so you still had your night vision and could see all the track above you. Once they had the nuclear reactor theming, the last few cars were the only ones that got to see the meltdown. I always tried to get the back seat if I could No coaster will ever top it, especially now that it's gone. I have WAV files of some of the sounds from the queue and station if anyone would like them. Just PM me. -Julie

I just think it's very convenient for all these things to be making news after the first little boy/girl died on Mission: Space. It's a fact that people die at Disney all the time. At least two have died at Universe of Energy, at least two at Body Wars, one that I know of at Great Movie Ride...people die. And like someone else said, just because you're at Disney doesn't mean you're immune to death. I'd bet money that the numbers haven't gone up at all, but the media is looking for any way to make Disney look bad (one more reason I'd never work in journalism). It sucks that these things happen while on vacation, and especially while at Disney World. But she could have just as easily died after swimming at her local pool, or walking around a mall. It's just the heartless media being sensationalistic. -Julie

BALD-erdash!

Are you talking about me? I didn't even think about that when I thought about rides I'd ridden over and over! At some point it wasn't even a ride anymore...it was just a couch on a track with my best friends! You just can't beat the expression on the CMs face when the train came back in and Peter and I were watching The Simpsons on a tiny black and white TV! Truly one of my favorite days I've ever spent at Disney. Photos from this escapade can be seen on my website at http://www.fyabulous.com/tta A what?!?! -Julie

Something tonight made me think about Opryland. I thought about what great times I had there as a kid, and how if the park was around now, my days off would be so much more interesting, and first dates would be so much better. I thought about riding the Little Rockin' Roller coaster when I was probably 5 or 6, and making the ride op let me off after one circuit because I hated it so badly. I thought about eating cheese pizza in Do Wah Diddy City while sitting next to the Rockin' Roller Coaster brake run. I thought about the time I rode Grizzly River Rampage over and over with a friend and sharing a seat with the friend's little sister, then getting off and having the little sister tell me she'd peed her pants a few rides back! I thought about riding the log ride with my dad, and seeing my mom waiting for us after the splashdown. Then I thought about Hangman. I thought about going to the park on my 18th birthday, the last time I'd ever be there, and looking at it and thinking "I'm too scared, I'll ride it next time" then there not being a next time. It was the only ride at Opryland I never rode, and I've always regretted not just bucking up and riding it, and overcoming my fear at 18 and not 20. But what was really sad was when I went to find pictures of Hangman, and I discovered that it's just a plain old Vekoma SLC. I'd always built it up in my mind to be this huge, unconquerable beast that scared me to death then, but that I would love now...for years, never even thinking to go find pictures of it to see what it really was. This discovery has just made me very sad tonight. Even just a few days ago, I had pondered the thought of a southern California coaster tour and got so excited about the thought of going to Marine World so I could finally ride Hangman after so many years of my being scared of it. I hate to think that I'd ride it and hate it. Or worse, I'd hate to think that I'd get to Marine World then not want to ride it, even if it was for a completely different reason. I figured that on some level we can all relate to this in one way or another. Being young and scared, and now thinking "If I knew then what I know now!" I'm sure some day I'll get to Marine World, and everyone will be looking at me like "Why is she so excited about that stupid ole rough SLC?" But I'm allowed to have a soft spot in my heart for it, right? Thanks for musing with me. -Julie

I seem to remember getting off of Vortex at PKI thiinking that it was the rougest steel coaster I'd ever ridden. I didn't ride it on my last trip there...and I can certainly say that a few SLCs and boomerangs have taken over the bottom few spots, but I'd still say Vortex takes it as worst Arrow. -Julie

My least favorite of all time were the Putterman commercials from Duracell. They were the creepiest, most disturbing characters I have ever seen in my life! Gave me chills to watch them, so eventually I started chaning the channel when they came on. Conversely, a freind of mine loved them and wrote to Duracell saying she loved the commericals...and they sent her coupons for like 400 free batteries!!! My mom hated the Quiznos commericals with those hamster looking creepy things. Sometimes I will say "We love the subs!" or "They got a pepper bar!" just to annoy her. -Julie

Aww, I'm with ya Wally! I don't sleep with the bear (which was a Valentines day gift from an ex!) all the time, but do use him as an extra pillow sometimes. He's soft and comfy. -Julie

Once a boyfriend and I rode Popeye's Bilge Rat Barges 12 times in a row without getting off. The park was so dead that the ride ops were actually letting the line stack until we got back around so everyone could ride in the same raft! Also one day at IOA, it was downpouring, yet they were still running Dr. Doom. I had maybe 2 rides with other people, then I had about 4 rides where I was the only person on either tower. Once people started coming back in, I had maybe another 5 or 6 rides. Dr. Doom is usually not hard to do a personal ERT on though because of the single rider line. -Julie

My friend Rob first showed me TPR right after the Japan update was posted. He pointed me to the page with the "please nuderstand this difference...plasure is boan here!" t-shirt on it. I thought that was hilarious, so I started reading the other updates. Once I was done with a lot of the older updates, I joined the forum. -Julie

Mine was magazine journalism, and I hated every second of it. So much so that I'd feel dirty working in that industry now. So choose anything other than journalism if you'd actually like to be respected for what you'll do in life Back in the day, I wanted to go into Optometry or Meteorology...should have listened to my first, second, third, fourth and fifth instincts and stayed away from journalism! -Julie

During the days when the parks are only open 6pm-midnight, are any/all of the rides open? If anyone can remember from the past what rides were open, I'd appreciate knowing. I have a friend coming to Nashville and we'd like to hit one of these parks if the coasters are open. Also, I can't stand being scared...is there scary stuff everywhere, or do you have to go in certain places before you find people there to scare you? If it's just walk throughs and mazes and stuff like that that's easily avoidable, I'll be fine. But I don't want to have people jumping at me all night as I go from ride to ride. I would be a nervous wreck! -Julie

One thing I learned the hard way is to make sure to alternate the shoes you are wearing. In Florida once, I only had one pair of sneakers and I had HORRIBLE blisters by the last day since the same places were rubbed for a solid week. On my last big trip, I had two pair of shoes and I made sure to always alternate days, and I was fine. No blisters, not even any soreness and I walked a ton. It would probably be wise to have three pair just in case one pair gets wet and takes a few days to dry. -Julie

My two main ones are the CDs of two friends of mine. Joey Figgiani (http://www.joeyfiggiani.net) plays Elvis inspired light rock, the majority of which he has written himself, with the occasional Elvis, U2 or Simon and Garfunkel cover. He's just finished recording an album at Sun Studios in Memphis with Elvis' backup singers, which should be released in a couple of weeks. He's a truly talented artist, and I'm sure he'd love it if you would check out some of his samples on his website. Also my friend John Tumminello (http://www.johntumminello.com), who is Joey's cousin, has had an album out for a year or so, and is also a talented musician. He's got more of a John Mellencamp or John Mayer sound to his music. He has samples on his website too. They're both really great...and I'm not just saying that because I work for them You should check them out! -Julie