RaptorBoyASU

The pulsing is probably best explained above, however if you're talking about the fact that Iron Dragon starts each lift hill fairly fast then slows down to a snail's crawl, it's because of the blocking. Ever notice as you're going up the first lift, that the 2nd train is going up the 2nd lift? The first lift will slow down until the other train crests the 2nd lift. The only time the 2nd lift slows down is if a train is stacked outside the station.

What do you mean by different priorities? I stated my opinion...if he doesn't like it then fine...but don't have to say that Im wrong And I said that in one of my above posts..it may be cheaper..but you're still killing an hour. Why not spend the full time in the park riding rides and only having to take 30 minutes to eat? Because some people can't afford the extra $30-$40/meal for 7 people to eat. Didn't mean to insinuate you were wrong, but you made it sound like it was stupid to leave the park.

I think they have, I think that's what started the "joining the rest of your party" convo.

It was good when it opened. Then got so rough I swore it off, until TPR dragged me on in summer 2005 (someone hadn't been on it yet, it might have been Guy). I had a great ride on it that day, even Robb was amazed by the smoothness, outside seat and all. Unfortunately, that was the last good ride I've had on it. I don't like whiplash personally.

^^I think the backlash had more "history" behind it than what was actually said in this thread.

I have no issue with them, as long as they were actually in line. Because making it through an hour long line can be painful if you feel the "urge". However, I hate the "Go ahead and get in line, and I'll join you in 10 minutes" people. No, have your group wait for you. Especially when there's more than 1 person doing it in the group.

Good space mountain? Oh, I forgot, you rode our Space Mountain with the lights on. I can't wait to ride "good thunder mountain" in September. It's my favorite MK ride.

I thought Disney's policy on line jumping was that it wasn't line jumping if some of your party was already in line. It's still not considerate, but I'm not sure if it's against park policy. So where's the rest of the TR. I want to hear about the rest of the trip, not just the negatives.

Having ridden Raptor too many times to count (and working on it for two summers), you can totally avoid the head slap. Although the one into the final brake run is the one most people comment on, there is a bit of a head snap in the cobra roll too ("loop, bang, bang, loop") But I don't think I've ever hit my head since the first or second time I rode it. Basically, you just have to brace yourself. Pushing yourself back into the seat works well, or if you don't have a super-short neck, stick your head as far forward as you can. I prefer the latter. Right after the inline twist for the cobra roll, and as you're exiting the double helix for the ending brake run. MCBR has a really smooth entry and exit (and the brake doesn't grab much if at all) And make sure to ride in the back row on the right side (seat 8-4). It delivers the most intense ride, and has the least amount of head snap coming into the brakes. (The front row is entirely overrated)

Most times customers write to a company, it's a complaint, so I'm sure it was refreshing to get a letter like this.

Don't listen to Ryan, he forgets that some people have different priorities. If cost of the food is an issue, you can cross Harbor like posted above and find a plethora of fast food restaurants. Of course I would budget 1.5 hours for exiting the park, walking over there, eating, and then walking back. If you're willing to spend an extra $5-8 per person per meal, then stay in the park. I personally like the bread bowls (either in New Orleans Square or in the wharf area of DCA) because they're less than $10 and if you eat most of the bowl, they keep you REALLY full. Most of the counter service won't run you more than $10 with a drink, unless you get a dessert too.

I didn't realize that's what this was........I was just commenting on the photos, but it looks like I should have quoted Elissa instead of Jahan to make that evident I like both resorts (though honestly, WDW a bit more), I was just stating my preference for most of the DL versions of the MK attractions. Either way. Great pictures, and I'm so jealous that KT got her first Disney experience before she will even remember it. My parents made me wait until I was in 8th grade.

For me, it didn't have massive airtime, but there are a few little pops of air. Of course there's also people that claim MF has "no airtime", so obviously people's definition of "airtime" varies.

I too love the layout and look of MK much more than Disneyland. However, I do like Disneyland's versions of most of the rides better (except BTMR).

Six Flags Magic Mountain..... I had grown up wanting to go to this park ever since I saw it in Vacation and in a coaster video I had rented from the library. From the videos, Colossus and viper were like the "end all" coasters. And then as I got older, and their coaster count got higher and higher, it hyped it up so much more for me. I remember being amazed at the building of Superman and Goliath. Then I took my first trip in college. I realized quickly that only a handful of their coasters were very good. A huge list of rides were closed (including X and Deja Vu on my first visit). There were very few flat rides (or shows), and the food was crap. Not that I dislike the park. I still enjoy going to the park. It was just such a let down of what it could have been. Totally overrated. My other big overrated park = Hersheypark. Worse than CP in it's landscaping in the back half of the park, and none of the coasters wowed me at all.

Now I know why I don't do message boards, it's too tough and incoherent to quote older posts. Anyway, I totally agree. I've been mobbed many times on RRC for this, but Holiday World got it's enthusiast popularity from holding the largest gay event in the Midwest every year. And, by blaming enthusiasts for thier own operational issues, they ended up pissing off plenty of us, gay or straight. Growing up only an hour from there, I still am amazed at their crowds now. Nobody went there when I was in High School, especially with Blitzen as their only coaster. Yes, Raven is phenomenal, but they can only rest on its laurels for so many years. And Legend is about as over-rated as they come. I'll ride a scrambler if I want those kinds of laterals for a minute or so, which I don't. They need a good steel and a dark ride BAD. Rastus LOL, as predictable as ever.......

I would throw Knoebel's in there at some point. Either on the drive between Hershey and Dorney, or even better on the drive back. And really, I think 1 day at Great Adventure is enough, especially if you get a Q-bot. If I were doing it, hitting the parks you mentioned (which is very similar to the trip I took before) Day 1 - Drive to Pittsburgh Day 2 - Kennywood, Drive to Hershey Day 3 - Hershey until you're bored with it, head to Allentown, hit Dorney if you have time (we rode all the coasters multiple times in less than 2 hours) Day 4 - Dorney in the morning (if you didn't already knock it off), Great Adventure in the afternoon and evening Day 5 - Great ADventure, start drive back towards Elysburg Day 6 - Knoebel's at opening for at least 3 hours, drive home Again, I don't think you'd need 2 days at Great Adventure, but it depends on when you're going I guess. Crowds are awful there.

So Jeff wanted to head out to Disneyland on Saturday, and since we hadn't been in a couple weeks, I (Kyle) thought it sounded like a great plan. We ended up staying longer than we have since the first weekend we had our passes, a little over 12 hours. We tend to go on Sundays because the crowds are a bit lighter, so I was leery of heading out there on a Saturday in May, but I figured that if the lines were too crazy, we could at least spend some time checking out the Food & Wine festival at DCA. Imagine my surprise to find nearly no lines at the parking structure. We got on the first tram that pulled up as well. I still figured it was just the time we were arriving (11am), and it would be packed once we got closer to the gate, but we were greeted by this sight at the entrance plaza. Kick ass, a Saturday at Disneyland where we might actually get on some major attractions. Jeff was very pleased. Well, either that or his need to urinate meant he was doing whatever he could to get me to take the goddamn picture and let him get through to the bathroom. Ahhh.........much better 2 things I'd never seen on Main Street before....... Ugly brown tarps And the garage door on Penny Arcade closed And something I see every time on Main Street, the Dapper Dans (do they ever get a break?) We made it all the way down Main Street U.S.A. without having to push or shove past one person........amazing, now we're both happy. First order of business........getting a FastPass for Space Mountain. We were both quite excited to ride the good version again, without that craptastic Red Hot Chili Peppers overlay. When we arrived at the entrance, the FastPass times were blanked out. Bummer the ride is closed. WAIT, why is everyone running towards Space Mountain right now? Oh, because they just reopened. Kick Ass. We waited a whole 10 minutes (even though they had the sign set up to say 30 minutes). IT WAS KICK ASS! It was running well, and the ride is SO much better in the dark. Well we were getting hungry, so it was off to find food. We settled on Club Buzz in Tomorrowland. I wasn't in the mood for a burger, and I wanted chicken, and it's one of the few places in the park that offers both. The chicken was fairly good, much better than the bland burgers they serve around the park. OK, now what? Since we go to the park often, we decided we should try to hit the rides we don't normally ride. We came up with our list, and which of those neither of us like, and decided on Alice. It's probably my favorite Fantasyland dark ride, but the line has been so long each time we went that we skipped it. Today was no different. The line was long, but Jeff promised me good people watching, so we got in line anyways. Look.........pretty teacups I'm so vain, I probably think this PTR is about me..... Hey, look over there, what's with the cameras? OMG, it's Joey Fatone (or as I always say, Joey Fat One) He was there with his Dancing with the Stars partner, Kym Johnson They had a film crew following them around, and I figured it was probably some promotional tie-in with the show, since Dancing with the Stars is an ABC production. We watched them ride the teacups twice so that the film crew could the shots they needed. It was interesting watching how much of a crowd they drew around the teacups. Oooh, our turn to ride Alice, enough with celebrity circus.... Follow the white rabbit's tracks GD Jeff, would it kill you to give a real smile instead of that fake ass one all the time. It's not even a good fake smile. You can get some good shots of the Matterhorn when you come out of the ride up top. Ohhh........they're filming their dance here today. We stood around a while waiting to watch, but it was taking forever, and they had already prepped the audience that they'd have to shoot things quite a few times. A former boy band member is not enough reason for me to stay and watch. What now??? Let's hit DCA and see what they have going on for Food & Wine. The banner on the entrance. And in case you can't make it out...... So we grabbed a few fastpasses for Grizzly River Run, and headed over to Pacific Wharf to find a schedule for the food events. We walked up just in time for a beer tasting. There was a young guy from Karl Strauss explaining the brewing process. After his talk, we got to sample 4 of Karl Strauss' beers. From left to right: Endless Sumer Light, Amber Lager, WindandSea Hefeweizen, and Stargazer I.P.A. Jeff liked the Stargazer so much, he bought some more (Actually, the beer is what allowed me to check out some more of the F&W stuff later, it was an easy bribe) I decided that I needed a grilled artichoke and a Hefeweizen for myself to pass the time. The aioli on the artichoke was SO AWESOME. I also decided that we needed to go to a cooking demonstration on Saffron after seeing how engaging the wine demo we passed earlier looked. Hmmm......the guy we got was a lot less prepared and personable. And he made a rather boring dish with the saffron, a mardi gras paella. Saffron in Paella, could we get any more predictable. It wasn't really anything I couldn't have thrown together myself. It was fairly tasty at least. (w00t for free samples) Oh well, time to use our fastpasses. Jeff had never been on Grizzly River Run because of his allergy with chlorine. But he really wanted to ride it, and figured if he itched the rest of the day, it would be ok. Well luckily, he didnt' get wet enough to find out if it was an issue or not. We got a really good ride too, lots of spinning. At this point I needed to dry off, so we headed to yet another ride we tend to skip, the Orange Zinger. Wee......themed swings. We also got a ride on California Screamin at some point in there, and hit Tower of Terror on the way out of the park (20 min wait for Screamin, about 10 for ToT) We entered back into Disneyland just as the parade was making its way through. Hmmm........this would be a perfect time to grab dinner while the crowds are distracted by singing and dancing characters. So off to Plaza Inn for a roast beef dinner, complete with beans, mashed taters, and a biscuit. Oh and I also picked up a chocolate dessert for Jeff and I to split. As we were searching out a bathroom that wasn't crowded, we happened to see that The Disney Gallery was open. For those of you that haven't been, it's an art gallery (with prints for sale) located above Pirates in what would have been Walt's apartment if he had lived a bit longer. It's a really cool setting, but I was too entranced by the art, and forgot to snap a picture. Next time I guess. You can also do some great people watching from the balcony. The whole area around Pirates is torn up right now for the POTC world premiere. So we didn't stay real long. What else haven't we been on since we started coming to Disneyland together.........oh yah, Autopia. One hour wait, but the fastpasses were for 1:30 later, so we grabbed a couple, and continued walking. I decided that I wanted to ride the Matterhorn, even though the line appeared long (because only one side of the line was open for both sides of the Matterhorn). About 10-15 minutes later we were bording the right side of Matterhorn. I argued that it was a ride we hadn't been on together, since we always ride the left side (the side with Dolly's Dip). The right side is less exciting in terms of quick drops and side to side turns, but it does a lot more twists and turns in the mountain itself. When our ride was complete, they transferred us over to the transfer track area to avoid a set up. We waited there for a few minutes for them to clear out, and then they told us we could ride again if we wanted. So we agreed. Right as we were pulling up to the ready area, we got pulled onto the transfer track again. This time, they were having issues getting a seat belt buckled in the train getting ready to enter the mountain, so they had to pull us off again to avoid a set up. A few trains later, and we were back on the track. It started out as a normal ride, and then at the 2nd set of brakes after the lift, we came to a sudden stop. Then the lights came on and they made an announcement that someone would be by shortly. I figured it was a set-up (which they had twice narrowly avoided) and we'd be on our way soon. Then we heard a voice come on over the loudspeakers to tell the guests in line that it would be 45 minutes until Matterhorn reopened. Wow, I didn't know clearing a set-up was so complex on the ride. So while we waited, I snapped a few pictures. Jeff wonders how long we'll be stuck up here Me happy that I got stopped on Matterhorn The view of Space Mountain from where we were stopped. About 5 minutes after we heard the announcement, 3 cast members showed up. They told us to undo our seatbelts, as we'd have to walk down off the mountain (and I was told I couldn't take pictures.....sorry). We walked alongside the track for a ways, then stepped through the other side's track and into the mountain itself. It was very ugly with lots of blown fiberglass everywhere. Kind of like a giant warehouse in atmosphere. We walked down through the ride, through the electrical room, and finally came out where we got on. Not only did I get a walk-down on Matterhorn, but we got a re-ad to use later as well. Well, by the time this was all over, it was time to use our Autopia Fastpass. I love the offroading section and the "Car Park". My car stalled on the last little uphill section. I thought I was going to have to call for help, but letting go of the pedal and pushing it again got the car re-started. WHEW Afterwards, we headed to Main Street to watch the Fireworks, which Jeff had somehow not seen since they were changed for the 50th. It was as good as ever. I love this show. Afterwards, we used our re-ad to get on Space Mountain (which was up to a 75 minute wait, so glad we only had to wait 10). We decided to do some shopping on Main Street, and then ride the Monorail out to Downtown Disney. Of course we got sidetracked by a super short line for the teacups. UGH, Jeff, I'm so over this refusal to do a natural smile. It's ok..........I know that in a minute once we start spinning, that it will be super easy to get a natural smile pic. I love the colors on this ride at night. Hmm..........how'd I know. I knew his inner child would come pouring out once we got spinning. We didn't find anything we wanted to buy on Main Street, so we boarded the monorail, and headed back to our car. It was probably the best day at Disneyland I've had since we bought our Annual Passes.

Here's a couple TR's I stumbled across..... http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=29996&highlight=budapest http://www.tommyandjames.net/phpBB-2.0.21/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=99&highlight=budapest

Canon Powershot SD800 IS Digital Elph. 7.1 MP, with awesome features It's a nice little point and click that has a variety of manual options. It also has face recognition that helps a lot in focusing group shots from a distance, and amazing image stabilization. I took this picture at night without a tripod (it's a little noisy, had it at ISO 800, which was probably a bit too much). And this is with normal settings during the early evening .

Yup, I even rode it the year it was built when they had overflow queues that went along the midway. It was about a 2 hour wait. If you have a good crew working that hits interval on a regular basis, a full queue should be 45min - 1 hour wait. Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case since 01-02, and a full queue is between 1 and 1.5 hours. I was wondering how they were going to hold the queue back in that area. I'm glad to see WWL's structures getting good use. It will be interesting to see exactly how they laid it out in there.

Can you change mine to ........ "I Eat Crayons!"

I was there when all the coasters were open and I still wasn't a Hersheypark fan. Lots and lots of mediocre coasters and rides, that are way too far apart. Food was good though.

OMG, Guy's family WOULD be perfect. Guy jump on this..........

LOL to the piggy back ride I forgot all about. Which reminds me of the "ginger" overload around lunchtime.