georgeriley15

Was the date typo on the "Bash" event badge necklace intentional?

Glad it worked out for you! If you ever do it again, expect the unexpected. Allow 2 hours of buffer before any appointments or airport arrival times. Many internet sites, (G**gle E*rth, not to promote any specifically), have provided me with an invaluable amount of info on traffic and alternate routes to get around any anticipated hot spots... Also, for anyone else browsing this thread, before you visit LA, plan out your anticipated driving times and then 1 or 2 weeks (or both) prior to your visit, on the same day of the week as you will be driving, at the same time as you will be driving, log into http://www.sigalert.com and study the traffic speeds on the various freeways. I have found this to be an indispensible part of my trip planning when selecting hotel locations and commute routes. You can save hours upon hours if you plan ahead and gain insight into the traffic patterns for the specific time and day you are planning to visit sunny Southern California.

Great Scot!!! I hope they also replace the one in Hollywood. The thing has totally inadequate capacity. Each vehicle should have had its own screen, but then that would get expensive for them, wouldn't it...)

Oh, I forgot to take a jab... "X" is by Arrow. Their rides get exponentially rougher with time. Perhaps the one in Japan will fare better. (it not being Arrow...)

Thank you Robb! Just got back (& unpacked) to Sac-tomato. Had to leave at 3:00 but got to hit all the important coasters. (All except Invertigo.) Awesome ERT on X and Tatsu (Family wouldn't ride Viper with me, but no great loss.) All in all a very cool little mini-vacation... Plus, we have a new dining spot for the area. We'll definitely be going back there. Great job! Great weather! Great time of year to visit So Cal. Keep it up! PS: just checked out the "Un-Solace" pages and videos. Why'd they (DL Resort) have to pick that band... @$%-$$$ They shoulda called it "Rappin' Space Mountain". Seems the tunes don't fit the dips and curves of the rides as well as the oldest original soundtracks. Think I'll bring a walkman next time I visit. You guys are Hilarious! Best regards! Best wishes of all for SharkTums and especially KidTums!

Allright, you got my vote ...

Busch Tampa is generally about 1/5 as crowded as WDW on any given day (local feel free to correct me). I have had tremendous waits at WDW and then gone to BGT and had zero wait for Kumba on many many occasions. I wouldn't personally consider paying more for a special tour. Spend the extra money on a hotel room and stay at BGT for 2 days... That will allow you to see all of it. It is a very very large park. (Plus, you have to ride the Rhino Rally if you haven't done so already... It is constantly breaking down, and 2 days will increase your odds of successfully riding the whole ride. If you haven't already heard about it, you should seriously limit the info that you read about the experience. It WILL spoil it. (It's not like Mission:Space or anything of that caliber, but it's nice to get a surprise on a ride once in awhile...)) All that said, I have never seen a wait for Montu more than 25 minutes nor a wait for Kumba of more than 10 minutes... I suppose perhaps I am just good at picking the right day, but I went during ACE convention and it was the same old no-wait scenario... If anyone has ever seen a wait there, please let me know what time of year it was so I can avoid it...

I've been there (Lotte World) a couple of times back in 2001. I can't speak for the current lineup, but they had very cool infrastructure when I was there. They built an early model spinning coaster completely underground, like "cut and cover" so when you're walking around outside, you're walking on the roof of the coaster enclosure. That was the most impressive engineering feat I saw. It's fairly common nowadays though. The indoor looping arrow-like coaster is okay, a little smoother than arrow, plus it loops around a walkway w/o fences or nets (Asians have a lot better self control when it comes to loose objects.) They also had a raft ride (you know, the type that rotates and soaks people at random) except this one was entirely indoors and was about as wet as Pirates of the Caribbean - not at all) that was a significant departure from Western versions. I kinda like the place. Not much graffitti, no pickpockets, lasers shooting you in the eyes without lawyers around to chase you down... an early S&S type space-shot powered by chain drive instead of pulleys... all very interesting and pleasantly disorienting.) Want pictures? let me know...

Either front car or back car. If the line is long for the very front (duh, it always is) then second to front and lean over to see if not too bumpy. If line is long for very back, then go 2nd to back. If cars are only 2 rows, then 2nd to back has a better view anyway and the view plus forces equals a much better ride than very back looking at the back of a headrest.

Weather web sites indicate a brisk 50 degree F start to the morning... Wear rayon... and bring a cotton shirt for later. (No, It's not what you think... I'm married, and so have picked up a few tidbits about fabrics from my wife... sorry to disappoint anyone... )

Psyclone? Good riddance... I suppose it would have been a good ride at a much smaller park. As far as a replacement, please, oh please, not another Reverchon clone! This park really needs a launched coaster, especially with the "for sale" sign on Superman. (*groan*, I hope it's not an Intamin reversing impulse coaster...) Given the land area, I'd put money on a dinky little Intamin clone. Perhaps they'll at least "super-size" it. You know, another "Hulk" style B&M would be a really awesome thing for them to build there. (although it would probably require a 180^ loop after the launch, which would ruin the air time) Perhaps if they could make one a little more compact, and work the bugs out of the launch, it would bring in patrons by the hundreds of thousands!! (Sorry, I forgot, it's 6-Flags we're talking about...) So much for the pipe dream.

Oh yeah, and it really thins out as soon as you pass downtown LA (you should really be safe after the 134)

Normally, I would say 1-1/2 hours, but it being a Friday afternoon, I would say that you should allow at least 2-1/2 hours unless it's for catching a flight or something... maybe even 3-1/2 hrs in that case... It's all pretty random and depends on accidents (if you have a full moon, statistics are even worse). I've never had it take more than 1-1/2 hours, but I wouldn't bet my airfare on it... Whatever you do, don't try the 605 nor the 405... Bad experiences there... Maybe the locals can elaborate on this (I don't think the locals run that particular route too much though... Most I've met Downtown take public transportation.)

I have three (four if you count clones) coaster that I won't ride anymore.. Outer Limits Flight of Fear (x2 @ both Kings parks) - brutal, especially with shoulder harnesses before they were removed. Mulholland Madness (mostly because it's a very rough ride at a DISNEY park which is a bit of a conflict) Kong at Six Flags in Vallejo, CA (go Vekoma clones!). (Viper and the late Psyclone at SFMM get honorable mentions) (Come to think of it, the late Stealth at Great America in CA, too, since it kept breaking down on the holding brake whilst the passengers (aka I and my wife) got to stare directly at the sun until it was fixed...) (Tatsu had a pretty bad moment for us as well, when they were only running one platform, we got to stare straight down for a good 5 minutes at a puddle of blood on the concrete below us while waiting to be allowed into the unloading platform. It was pretty humorous at the time... must've been a nosebleed.) Sorry... rambling... better go,,,

IS 90 % of everybody else here under 20??!

You'd love Bonaire (Netherland Antilles). They have lots of Donkeys. PS note my logo - I don't even like the game.

Hi I'm "George" and I'm a coasterholic. I've been coaster free for 18 days. My last ride was on BTMRR in Florida. I haven't assembled a list or count of how many I've been on, but I've been to a lot of parks... mostly the well known ones. I live near the capital city of our little nation-state of CA and so have to do a good piece of traveling to get to most of them. I used to love SFMM but got bored with all the turn-drops that have no air-time. (a visit on 9/13/01 drove the boredom home - got sick of the ERT on everything in a record time of 2-1/2 hours, which included eating lunch there) (Tatsu's cool but too intense for more than 2 in-a-row rides - getting too old for funky gees, I guess, and I've only been on 'X' 4 times - a deficiency that I hope to remedy in the near future) Grew up with MARRIOTT's Great America before they took out Willard's Whizzer and stopped serving 5 cent root beer. Anything with air-time (negative gees, not just zero) is cool to me. There are only a handful of these in CA (Ghostrider, T of T, a little on CA Screamin', Medusa, a little on Roar, a little on Maliboomer, Xlerator, perhaps somewhere on X, and the little hump between beatings on Viper just before the block brake). I like to get out of Dodge and ride things that the lawyers aren't hovering over (i.e. Tremors, Gwazi, & other "out there" rides) Other interests include spotting/collecting photos of hidden mickeys, and providing "new" people with touring tips to places they haven't been. Occupation: project engineering and designing various odd things (I refuse to design anything that can support a Starbucks) which are mostly made of concrete. Pet peeves: over-hype, painful rides, overpriced awful food, expensive parking 2 miles from main gate, poor parking tram coordination, understaffing, people displaying their "fancy" underwear in public, people marking what they think is their territory, and parks that allow way too many people through the gate in the summer, to name a few...

I stand (sit) corrected. Since I've never been to a Solace event, I cannot comment on how well they match capacity and demand. Last time I was there, Ghostrider was closed, it was a weekday afternoon, and I don't remember how many trains were on SB. There was zero line for it except for the front since nobody was in the park. Everybody was on 'XLR8R' (I know the this refers to a ride in another park, but it's easier than looking up Knotts' particular spelling).

I assume this is referring to coaster solace??? I've heard it's crowded. Stay on Ghostrider 'til the event is over. Silver Bullet has B&M capacity so don't waste "ERT" time on that, ride it during GP hours. Supreme Scream is another typical S&S Power Tower, go to the Stratosphere in Vegas and ride the best one, then forget all the others. They are very slow loaders. Since XLerator is closed, all that leaves is the best 'woodie' in CA... Ghostrider. (Which, BTW, is almost never open when I visit the friggin' place)

Wow, that was fast... Good Night , and best regards... {-| zzzzz

Thanks! That's not a lot of people. Sounds awesome. Is there a deadline for RSVP-ing?

perhaps you ought to change the title of the thread and eliminate the "getting away with" from it. It sounds very subversive.

Saw your post just surfin around... I'm an engineer who graduated HS in 1986 and wanted badly to design coasters. Ron Toomer (former god-like Arrow president) personally replied to my letter (pre e-mail) stating that a mechanical engineering degree would be a good start. (I started as mechanical engr, but after taking Thermodynamics, I realized that if I didn't make it as a coaster designer, I'd get stuck manufacturing either automobile engines or carboard boxes... Thus, I now design bridges and RIDE rollercoasters.) (Another word of warning to would-be coaster designers... Once you start a career designing a product, say for instance, bridges or rollercoasters, the product stops being so interesting or enjoyable. I am SO GLAD I decided not to take a career designing coasters, especially since Arrow, my former icon, went bankrupt (I found out how badly their coasters aged after graduating college). Now, since I design bridges for a living, every time I drive on any freeway anywhere in the world, I find myself thinking critical thoughts about the details of the abutments, embankments, bents (columns), and so forth EVERY time I pass beneath one. My advice is, if you value the "magical" quality of something, Do NOT make a career of designing it. (I have also entertained the thought of becoming an Imagineer, but I know that it would more or less spoil the illusions that I so value when visiting any Disney park. (Maybe when I retire, I'll try that, but I still need to be able to get away from my work and WDW is my Nirvana.) Best Regards, George, (obviously an alias), Riley

I'm a little new to this group but have been enjoying your informative videos and such for quite some time. Q: For the West Cost Bash,how many people (ballpark) are you anticipating will be in attendance at the ERT? The club I'm in now had about 150 at their last Tatsu event and that was really cool, except for the PM rain. Can you give me some indication of expected crowd size relative to that? Also, I noticed that it appears like Rideworld wants people to pay them to join their club. Do I need to pay somebody a membership fee if I want to attend this particular event? (PS I just returned from WDW (all 4), BGT, and IOA and can answer any Qs about current operational status of those parks if anyone's interested)