USRoadTripper

Crispy that church sign is hilarious! I think I'm gonna use that, but say it really nonchalantly, and claim it as my own -Julie

Since Elissa posted her day at work report, I'd been thinking about posting a day where I work...just to show how utterly boring my job is most of the time. I watch the front desk of my hotel and do some paperwork from 11:00pm to 7:00am. Enjoy! Yay! 7:00am and morning shift is here! That means I get to go home and go to bed. This is Gary...he strives for excellence. Is it 7:00am yet? Here's the inside of the fridge at work. there used to be some beer in there. I wonder where it went. *Julie hears all of TPR going "The inside of refridgerators was SO last week!* ...and putting it into this stack. It's so exciting that I have to stop every now and then just to calm myself down. I had to do this 185 times this night. Next came one of the more interesting parts of the night. I start by picking up a sheet of paper out of this stack... I fixed a sandwich with turkey, pepperoni, swiss cheese, tomatoes and, what else, PICKLES! It was very nummy. At around 3:00am, I went to grab a bite to eat. When I arrived in the kitchen, I was excited to find that someone had accidentally left the nozzles on the Coke machine, so I could drink as much Coke as I wanted! After catching up on TPR, I decide to actually get some work done. I printed some stuff, copied some stuff, filled out a few things, and 45 minutes later, I was done with the majority of the work for the night. Julie says forget about work, it's time for TPR. Here I am, as everyone else leaves for the night. Jeremy brought me a Coke...nummy. Here is a caught off guard, "Hey Jeremy, I've got a question." "What is it...d'oh!!!" picture. He looks even hotter than this when he smiles. This is the backside of my boss Jeremy, "The hot guy who doesn't realize that he's hot." He wouldn't look at me for the picture, so I took a picture of this equally attractive side. The evening shift folks are happy to see me arrive so they can go home. This is Michaela, working hard. Here I am arriving at work at 11:00pm and clocking in. Let the fun begin!

No fair! Superman: Ultimate Flight SFoG and Superman: Ride of Steel SFNE are tied for first place for me! Ultimate Flight nosed out the win though. -Julie

PCW pretty much sucks in my opinion. You can read my TR from earlier in the month at: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17804 Italian Job is definitely the best ride in the park...and if you've already ridden it, well, that's as good as it gets there! In my opinion, the only coasters even worth repeating were Italian Job, Thunder Run, Fly, Silver Streak, and Sky Rider (which are a powered mine train, a wild mouse, a kiddie inverted and a Togo!!!). And none of those were even anything special or out of the ordinary. Definitely not worth a 7 hour drive by itself, even if it does have a Swiss Chalet at the same exit -Julie

I didn't realize that I took so many gift shop photos until you brought it to my attention. I guess I do though...axe murdering rubber duck, Seahorse on a Stick, Fan-tasmic...yep. I knew I took a lot of pickle pictures, but I guess I take gift shop ones too hehehe -Julie

I rode the PCW and PKI versions within two days of each other earlier this month, and they are exactly the same except for the configuration of the queue. I didn't see any differences in the theming at all (except that the "splash down" splash is bigger at PKI for whatever reason) -Julie

OMG I'd almost forgotten...I worked at Body Wars too, and I had literally dozens of guests ask me "Is this a stimulator?" Wanted to reply, if it is, make sure to come back and let me know! -Julie

Awww...I have one of me and my mom on the antique carousel at Opryland...I couldn't have been more than 2 months old since I was born in the summer! I will have to get it from her and scan it. -Julie

I count powered coasters (because they are still coasters!), would count water coasters if I ever rode one, and count anything with more than one track as two. I figure that if a park had to tear down one track of a coaster for whatever reason, and the other track would still be able to stand and function as a coaster, it's two coasters to me. Primeval Whirl is 2, Gwazi is 2, PKI Racer is 2, Gemini is 2. Kennywood's Racer is just 1. I also don't count impulse coasters. The general rule I have is that is must move in 3 axises (axes?) to be a coaster. Those only move forward and up, but not to the side at all, so they aren't coasters to me. Same rule would tell you that you can't have a flat coaster (moving forward and to the side, but not up). Like Superman: The Escape is not a coaster, Wicked Twister is not a coaster and X-Scream is not a coaster. The only exception would be when it completes a circuit (like Ultra Twister). I think my 3 axis rule is a great one! -Julie

12. Able to talk about being catapulted 420 feet into the air and have everyone here like the idea and not think I'm nuts! -Julie

I lost my grandpa on that side of the family in February, so the weekly dinner seems a little more important now. We've been doing that once a week since my mom was dating my dad...over 31 years!! Since then the family went from 5 people to 11, and now we're back to 10. Usually grandma's desserts are much better than the Funky Puddin' Pie! She brought it out and we were all like "Aww...yuck..." It made for more humor in the trip report thought! -Julie

I can play simple stuff on a bagpipe chanter. Anyone play anything more obscure?

I'm a die hard Coke fan. Can't stand the taste of Pepsi! I actually always drank Sprite until I made a trip to the World of Coke in Atlanta. By the time I was done with the museum, I was wanting a Coke worse than I ever have before, and haven't stopped drinking it since. -Julie

Another random photo report for everyone! No thanks, I'll have cookies instead! Jacqui, an exchange student friend from Mexico says "Me gusta Funky Puddin' Pie!" Aww! That's not chocolate pie! It turns out to be Funky Puddin' Pie. We all hate Funky Puddin' Pie. She seems to have created another equally bad dessert...Runny Funky Coconut Puddin' Pie! My cousin Emily is really stoked to be having chocolate pie for dessert! Oops! Not so Elissa friendly anymore! Time for dinner. Look! Elissa friendly food! Grandma stirs the spaghetti, as my mom and aunt laugh about how short she will look in the picture from that angle! There it is...I can smell the love from here! Whew! Made it just in time! Here's her exit...she lives just behind the Harley Davidson dealership! Julie sits in traffic as she makes the weekly 20 minutes drive to her Grandma's house for dinner with the family.

Since I know everyone cares *SO* much...here are two "after grocery shopping" updated pics of my fridge and freezer. Considerably more packed than before. Don't worry, the moldy leftovers and melted gummy worms are still in there somewhere!

I have a love/hate relationship with dark rides. I love a lot of them, but hate riding them for the first time! I have a horrible fear of being scared and fear of the unknown. Riding Haunted Mansion for the first time, I was petrified...then it was over and I felt so stupid for being so scared! And the first time I rode Snow White's Adventure's at Magic Kingdom...there's a place where the wicked queen is looking in the mirror, then she suddenly turns around and she's the hag...I just about wet myself!!! But after the first time, I knew it was coming and have been fine every time since. On my last trip, I think I did four new-to-me dark rides...At Kennywood, I did Noah's Ark (hated it), Gold Rusher (was ok, with just a couple of scares) and Garfield's Nightmare (loved it...my kind of dark ride!) and the Whacky Shack at Waldameer (scared out of my mind as I rode, but decided it wasn't so bad once I was done). -Julie

At some point, it seems like you would have to ask yourself "Is this park worth saving?" In it's current incarnation and state, I would say no! A park does not get like that overnight. You don't walk in one day and realize that you have rides on street corners, toilets rusted beyond repair, and that your whole park has a strange odor. As it is, the park is no nicer than any travelling carnival I have been to, with the exception of having the Blue Streak. If the new owners want to spruce it up and add to it, that's great and I'm all for it. I'd like to go back one day and be wowed by how much nicer it is. But that is major *major* work considering the state it's in. Getting the rides working and toilets clean is only one part of it. The park does not feel inviting. It does not feel happy. It did not even feel safe in my opinion. Getting that happy, fun vibe going will take much more work than getting a Tumble Bug working. I halfway felt bad for giving such a bad review to a park that I knew ahead of time had had problems...but it is just so far gone that I couldn't see much positive to the experience. -Julie

Grocery shopping was actually on the agenda for tonight since the fridge and freezer are both pretty well empty! I think the lables are explanation enough. -Julie

Yeah! Go Castle Luffa! (Luffa, Loofa, Loufa? There seemed to be dissention about the spelling on the web). Soften those feet! *bolsters support for her pink, obnoxious avatar!* -Julie

The first one that cames to my mind was from when I was a CM at Universe of Energy. Standing inside Epcot this guy says..."We just came from Disney World...how do I get to the MGM Grand?" hahaha The CM in me had to say "Well, to get to the MGM Studios you need to..." but the smart ass in me really wanted to say "Go out here and take a right, then another right and exit the park. Then get in a cab and go to the airport. Then buy a ticket on the airline of your choice to Las Vegas. Once you're there, I'm sure someone else can help you." -Julie

I didn't see anyone working on the Tumble Bug. It just appeared to be track, with no vehicles (not sure about a central drive mechanism...I didn't inspect that closely since I couldn't ride it anyway!). They *were* working on the Tilt-a-Whirl while I was there. Maybe 3 or 4 men were feverishly working on it...at least that should be up and running soon. The train, Yo-yo, Roundup, Tumble Bug, Tilt-a-Whirl and Little Dipper were all closed while I was there...which also didn't make me take fondly to the park. And like I said, a lot of what was supposed to be open didn't appear to have ride ops. *hangs head...wishing she'd saved the $13 and spent more time at Waldameer* -Julie

I agree with Kate about Raging Wolf Bobs. For the most part it was quite comfortable...second best in the park to me, right after Dominator. It felt like a woodie should...jostles you around a bit, but wasn't uncomfortably rough. I'd definitely ride it again, which is more than I can say for many of the rides there! And as for Villain...the second half did appear to have had some track work done. A lot of the wood looked new...so maybe they did half this year and will do half next year? The second half was *much* smoother than the first. I can see how it could be a really good coaster...but until it's fully retracked, or *something* is done about the jackhammering on the first half, I wouldn't ride it again. -Julie

Robb, here is a frontal shot of that drum game, including a close up of the URL on the front of it. I can't make out the URL, but maybe it will be familiar to someone. As for TTD, once it was up, it appeared to stay up all day both days we were there. Right as we got to the station, they didn't launch any trains for a few minutes, and we were both worried that the ride was breaking down after we waited an hour for it!! It got going again after just a few minutes thank heavens! -Julie

Nope, I've been home for a week, but I did make a stop by PKI on the way home. That report is in Vacation on a Stick - Day 8. Thanks for reading! -Julie

Looks a bit like Intamin track! Make it a real, working coaster, and I bet no one would complain for a second! Make it random artwork, and some will complain, and some won't, and people like me won't care either way. -Julie