Big Mike

OK, please follow these steps with the above code and see if it works lol. 1. Hit profile on top of the screen under FAQ. 2. Then hit profile again, but not the same profile button you hit the last time, this one is midscreen. 3. Then hit signature. 4. Use above quoted code. Please be patient when it comes to computer stuff and Big Mike

^ Darn! Shhhhh, don't tell anyone or I may get fired from my new assignment Peace, Big Mike

I am even having a hard time trying to explain it to you lol 1. Hit profile on top of the screen under FAQ. 2. Then hit profile again, but not the same profile button you hit the last time, this one is midscreen. 3. Then hit signature. 4. add the code I gave everyone in the original post to the empty field. (I cant put the code here now or it just shows the banner) That should be it, any problems, let me know! Peace, Big Mike

Hello Friends!!! What a whole bunch of important info we have for you today here at The Big Mike Road Show! First off, this report kicks off Jeff Johnson Week here at The Road Show! For those not in the know, I credit Jeff as the inspiration for riding all these kiddie coasters and becoming a coaster collector. I would like to thank Jeff for coming to see me in California and driving me all over to these next 4 parks that you will see Jeff and Big Mike attending. Secondly, Big Mike attended the ACE event last week called Eastcoaster, which is a well attended event with lots of speakers and lots of info. Having just recently attended the ACE NY event and exclusively reporting it here on TPR, Big Mike has been assigned a new assignment here, Theme Park Review North East in depth reporter!!!! I was proud to take the new assignemnt when it was offered to me I also am still the Public Relations Director for the Theme Park Review North East Division also, thus I infiltrated the ACE Event with Theme Park Review literature! Attending this event, I was able to accomplish 5 major things: 1. Spread and promote the awareness of Theme Park Review. 2. Bring all the Valuable Big Mike Readers all the info and insights from the event. 3. Talk to Chris Gray from Great Coasters International and find out he is a HUGE fan of The Big Mike Road Show, and he offered Big Mike an exclusive anytime you want private tour of the facility just so we can bring The Valuable Big Mike Readers a behind the scenes tour and show them things like the trains for Terminator before they ship! VERY COOL of Chris!!! 4. While at the event, Big Mike got to pose with Flat Jack and is now prominantly displayed on the Knoebels website!! Not once, but twice!! See it here: http://www.knoebels.com/flat-jack.asp Also, if you missed Big Mike on the Cedar Point website, here that is too: http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/fun/blog/index.cfm?entry=c8266f50-f68c-4e04-a941-dc3f10f3688d 5. Attending the event, I figured out a goal for The Big Mike Road Show 2009! Six Flags Great Adventure sent Major Super Hottie Angel Aristone to present once again this year! As all of you know, Big Mike admires major super hotties very much! So, it all makes sense that since she is a major super hottie, works at my home park, and I am a new reporter for Theme Park Review... it's a match made in heaven!! The goal for 2009: Interview Angel Aristone in one of my visits to SFGA for The Valuable Big Mike Readers!!! I also have a secondary goal, getting a picture of Angel Aristone giving Big Mike a kiss on the cheek!!! Of course, this all has to be approved by The Valuable Big Mike Readers constituancy, to see if this is something that you would be interested in seeing?? Let me know in the thread if you like it or not. Another proud moment from the event came up when I was talking to Colleen Whyte, the NY ACE Regional Rep, about still trying to find a way to get on the kiddie coaster at Rye Playland! Colleen was pleased to tell me that she got a phone call from the guy who gave the presentation on Rye at the ACE NY event I reported on a few weeks ago. She said he saw the review I did on his presentation right here on Theme Park Review and was very greatful and happy! I was impressed that he read it and hopefully maybe this will help in getting on that coaster FINALLY, I know, lots of great stuff in this report! This is the best news of it all though, and thats why I saved it for last! Big Mike has been hard at work coming up with an idea for a holiday present for all The Valuable Big Mike Readers!! You all deserve it for sure! Well it is a little late, but with the help of Jon (reality15), it has finally been achieved at long last. Big Mike would love to give all his Valuable Big Mike Readers a special banner to put in your signature displaying that YOU are a Valuable Big Mike Reader!!!! It is kind of like a membership card saying that you belong to the COOL club, or recognizes that YOU are part of the reason that made The Big Mike Road Show the #1 thread of 2008!! Here is the special gift for all my friends: If you would like to accept Big Mike's Holiday Gift to you, copy and paste this code into your signature: [URL=http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=41995][img=http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/files/bigmikereaderrj7_113.jpg][/URL] I hope every enjoys the debut of Jeff Johnson week at Adventure City and Big Mike's first assignment of Theme Park Review North East Reporter at Eastcoaster 2009! Peace, Big Mike Those pictures did not do Angel justice. Here is her Facebook picture, where she just made Big Mike her friend!!!! YES!!! Lastly, another picture of Angel Aristone! Lets take a vote on if you want to hear from Angel on The Big Mike Road Show and giving Big Mike a kiss on the cheek! Hope you enjoyed! Peace, Big Mike My dish! I hope everyone enjoyed the trip report and the journalism! Now that Big Mike was done with his investigative reporting for The Valuable Big Mike Readers, it was time to be rewarded with food!! Funny man Tom Rebbie was last to speak for the Philadelphia Tobbagon Company. Tom gave a slide show with Phillie championship pictures mixed in for added laughs. 7 of the top 10 wooden coasters use PTC. PTC only has one new project this year, Fireball at Happy Valley in China. PTC's winter rebuilds are Hellcat, Raven, Legend, Boardwalk Bullet, Roar, Wild One, Thunderbolt, and Comet. 116 wood coasters use PTC, thats 64%. Coastin Steve talked about Knoebels. Knoebels did purchase the track, cars, and lift mechanism of the Golden Nugget from Moreys. This wont be used for at least 2 years. The High Speed Thrill Coaster is gone. It was too beat up and welded too many times. Knoebels will replace it with a MODIFIED Miler family coaster. Knoebels turned down the first coaster Miler had because it "wasn't aggressive enough". Flying Turns will once again not be ready by opening. There are 2 MAJOR with Flying Turns, which are Bridging and Space. The bridging problem is that the wheels are coming off the trough, causing a dent, which turns into a chip, which turns into a hole. The bridging is almost worked out, now being down to the last turn on the front car only. The space problem is that there is too much speed into the helix and they need to change the track. The access road is what they are looking at for space. ACE President Mark Cole was up next. If you are an ACE member, you now can get the 1st ride of the day at Wild Adventures on Cheetah. Thier Spain trip is $1400 for 8 days. So far, 3 parks have confirmed ERT, 3 are still in negotiation, and 3 have no ERT at all. Personally, I would stick to the TPR trips Don the public relations director was now up from Kings Island. Diamondback is their new coaster at 230 feet tall and a price tag of 22 million. The general public will be very close to the track and the lift is on the midway. The track was completed right on time and the trains should be added this week. The trains are already on property and there are 3 trains. Diamondback should open April 18th. Kings Island has a goal to be the cleanest amusement park. Kings Island is auctioning the 1st ride with bidding starting at $50. 70 of the 96 seats are taken already, go to kidiamondback.com if you want to be one of the 1st riders. This is the Beasts 30th anniversary. There will be 3 new live shows. May 9th and 10th will be a Ride Warriors Event which you need a coaster club card to join. The event will have 7 coasters on ERT, with both Diamondback and Beast on BOTH morning and evening ERT. Next up, Paul Wilson the owner of Waldameer. The new ride this year is a Zamperela Mega Disk O. There will be no smoking in the park. The 1st 3 days of operation of Waldameer will be donated to a cancer fund. Waldameer just has one owner and will keep it that way. The previous owner gave ownership to Paul, and Paul will give sole ownership to his middle daughter. Paul showed a video of the Ravine Flyer made by Robb and when Robb's face popped up at the start of the video, there were some boos. What is wrong with these people???? Paul told a story of this one person who gave great opposition to the new coaster project. This persons house is now at the bottom of the drop going into the tunnel where it is VERY loud. Paul smiled. Great Adventure was next with Jenn and the Ultra Super Hottie Angel which we talked about before. The Big Wheel gets a total make over this year. The wheel will be fitted with eco friendly LED lights. There will be a Saturday night lights fireworks begining July 4th called Rock Loves. There will be a new park map and guide that will be totally redesigned. There is the new Medusa transformation which has been termed Newdusa. Clawshaw Industries is doing both Medusa and Superman Ride of Steel in New England. They say Medusa will open on Memorial Day. Two dates to keep in mind are June 6th for Coaster Celebration and September 26th for Riding of the Bulls, which will have 2 1/2 hours ERT on El Toro, Kingda Ka, and Medusa. See all the info we got from Angel Aristone from this meeting! Imagine all the info we could get in an exclusive one on one interview!!! Talking about Moreys Pier, Norris gave the talk while Lindsey (not pictured but very hot) handed out prizes. The Golden Nugget was talked about, 1960-2009. They gave away a piece of the track in a prize pack . The contract for the new coaster has not been signed, as they decide who should build it. The new coaster will not be done until 2011, 12, or 13. Moreys was overwhelmed by the attendance to see goodbye to the Golden Nugget. They made 400 gift bags and thought that was way too much, and they had over 1000 people attend. Chris Gray (the cool dude) from Great Coasters International. GCI is working on 3 projects: Prowler at Worlds of fun should have all structure standing by this week. Prowler is very low to the ground with low bents which makes it very fast. Terminator at Six Flags Magic Mountain. Chris brought some photos of Terminator but said to check Theme Park Review for more up to date photos and the crowd hissed lol. I still appreciated the shout out! Freizeitpark Plohn in Germany is the last project and the coaster is unnamed at this time. Expect a press conference next month. The project is 6 weeks behind due to a shipment of nails that derailed from the train. This coaster will be the first to have 4 bunny hops in a row. Chris also built the roller coaster model that you saw in the Morey's Pier updates of the new coaster. The first presentators were Chuck and Carrie from Dorney Park also representing Cedar Fair. Cedar Fair is opening 3 new coasters this year, Prowler at Worlds of Fun, Diamondback at Kings Island, and Carolina Cobra at Carowinds wwhich is the old Head Spin from Geauga Lake. This is Dorney Parks 125th anniversary. New this season is swimming lessons at Wildwater Kingdom. Dorney now has the Gate Central Ticketing System, which connects them to the other Cedar Fair parks, which means no more going to Guest Services to get in. Dorney will now have a live entertainment indoor venue called the Good Time Theater, consisting of a 60X35 ice stage seating 603 people at a cost of 5 million dollars. Haunt at Dorney is expanding to 13 attractions with 4 new mazes, 2 new scare zones, and 2 new shows. Cinnabon is now located at Dorney. Breakfast with the Peanuts gang will be available. Voo Doo is now called Possessed. The shops will now have new 3-D shot glasses. There was a drawing for this special Golden Nugget Prize Pack which included a piece of the track. TPR member Pam took it home for a Theme Park Review victory! Big Mike also came away with two passes to Holiday World! Woo hoo! TPR dominance. This is Flat Jack, along with Sue and Big Mike! We came to a mutual agreement that if he puts me on the Knoebels website, I would fulfill his dream of debuting on The Big Mike Road Show! Also making his debut is Chris (gcichris). Chris is the tremendously awesome friend that will give the Big Mike Road Show a behind the scenes tour of his facility! Making her debut on The Big Mike Road Show is Shannon (shannonsomerville). Brian. I am not sure if Brian has a screen name. If you do Brian, let me know! Brian is like my new friend Mike that I sat next to at the event. Mike did not have a screen name either but knew me as soon as I sat down. Pam (yeti726) If you have every coaster dvd from Theme Park Review, you can check out Sue's dvd's at www.coasterdvdsonline.com If you don't have all the TPR dvd's, you should Dainan (cycloneman) Fearlessly sporting my brand new Theme Park Review Hoodie in enemy territory, I was made welcomed by a slew of great TPR friends!!! Here they are starting with Sue (Sue). HEY! How did those Theme Park Review flyers wind up on the table?? hehehe The annual table of flyers and literature. There were lots of merchandise stands to peruse. Eastcoaster was attended by 255 people this year. ACE Eastcoaster 2009 coverage brought to you by Big Mike Betzler, Theme Park Review North East Division Top Reporter! Continue to watch all week for Jeff Johnson Week exclusively here on The Big Mike Road Show 2008! Jeff showing that he helped Big Mike get two new credits. Credit #739 for Big Mike! Bunny hills. Tunnel! Lots of track! Overview. The not quite so straight lift. The car. Tree Top Racers! Other rides at Adventure City: Credit #738 for Big Mike! Watch out for the branches! Can't you see the thrill in Big Mike's Eyes riding with his idol! The lift. I had to follow in Jeff's foot steps. I am sure you can see the similarities between Jeff and I There goes my buddy Jeff, my mentor and role model. Jeff Johnson week has now begun!! Here is Jeff riding in his US Post Office car. There was even a police car for Rich to ride in. I love how this coaster went right through the trees. Freeway Racers! Here are the prices. Adventure City in California! Stop #94 on The Big Mike Road Show 2008!

They are staying gold, a color of rich and famous! Keep asking questions, you are racking up my ratings Peace, Big Mike

Just to set things straight... The Official Big Mike Road Show T-Shirts are GOLD! The 2009 T-Shirts are on the way Ricky! Peace, Big Mike

That was a GREAT day as I spent the whole day with my best bud Beeja Peace, Big Mike

Hello Friends!!!! The Big Mike Road Show is proud to announce that we will have a special guest for the next 4 episodes of The Big Mike Road Show 2008!!! Ladies and gentleman, get ready for "Jeff Johnson Week" Big Mike was honored to travel around with his mentor for four visits! Also, tomorrows trip report will also contain Big Mike's visit to ACE's Eastcoaster event, with lots of news and info to report! Tune it tomorrow all you Jeff Johnson lovers!!! Peace, Big Mike

^ Your right about that! Damn hurricane. Good thing I did not send the new Big Mike Road Show 2009 T-Shirt design in yet, will have to add South Carolina to it once again! Peace, Big Mike

I'm in Parsippany too!!! Can I tag along with you, oh wonderful Big Mike, on your quest to visit Zamperla??? But wait....according to MacRaes Bluebook...the Zamperla in Parsippany is a vending machine company? Of course you can come with me Peace, Big Mike

Zamperla is in Parsippany NJ??? I am in Parsippany right now coming to you live from UPS on my Blackberry! Maybe Bruno will come visit here! Anyway, I should find out if this is true and see if Zamperla wants to give The Big Mike Road Show a tour! Peace, Big Mike

Great job Divv! It is refreshing to see our trip one more time since time has passed! Can't wait to see the whole gang again in a few months! Peace, Big (doesn't count carnival or fair coasters) Mike

Hello Great Friends!!! Big Mike is proud to present Knott's Berry Farm and also Knott's Scary Farm in California! This was the 93rd stop on The Big Mike Road Show 2008! First though, I would like to thank everyone for the OVERWHELMING response to my new Facebook profile! I was really surprised at how many friend requests I got I will post non theme park photos there for a little extra entertainment. I am also linking my Facebook to here, so there may be some new visitors to The Big Mike Road Show 2008 thread now and I welcome you to my thread! Just to recap for my friends outside of TPR: This website is called Theme Park Review and is run by my two awesome friends Robb and Elissa and it is the BEST theme park website in the world. I am honored to run my own thread here detailing my traveling adventures to various theme parks around the world. Going to page #1 will detail everywhere I went and give you quick easy access to whatever park you are interested in. I try to show all the coasters, fun, and important info about the parks, in my own different style. I have my own Official shirt with all the places that I am going to visit that my friends that meet me at the parks check off once I complete them. If theme parks interest you in the least, join up, it is free and there is great content throughout the website. OK all my friends from here and on the outside, I present to you Knott's Berry Farm. Peace, Big Mike Of course we can't forget about our talking monster! Beatle Ben checks off California on The Official Big Mike Road Show T-Shirt! I hope everyone enjoyed the report! Peace, Big Mike Thanks Miles for hanging out! Since I had Miles here and no one had checked off Arkansas on my previous trip there, Miles took the honors to check off Arkansas on The Official Big Mike Road Show T-Shirt!. STORY TIME - We are walking through a haunted house and this monster comes up to scare me. Instead of scaring me, I hear "Hey Big Mike!" I laugh and say hello. "It's me, Beatle Ben" the monster says. That was a great way to end the night The whole atmosphere and event at Knott's was very good and I liked it a lot. Knott's turned some rides into Haunt attractions too. This monster was 10 feet tall and had huge claws and was trying to make Big Mike his dinner. The monsters seemed to be attracted to the color gold. My awesome friend Miles (rllrcster) would protect me from the monsters tonight! HAUNT time!!! 13 mazes, 3 scare zones, and lots of monsters! Closed. This one I would have rode again. Thank goodness I already had the credit or some heads would have rolled at Knotts! Xcelerator! Using The Big Mike Boomerang philosophy: It is a Boomerang, already have the credit, no need to ride again. It also did not help that I caught this picture earlier in the day. No thanks! Boomerang! The answer: Ouch! An empty queve. Does this mean I just got lucky or is it a tell tale sign that people are avoiding it for some reason? The seats. Ghost Rider! The ending has two statues that you can slap high fives to. The lift. To get to the coaster, you had to go through some ruins. I tried to blend in and see if the general public would notice me, nobody did! I must have done a great job! Jaquar! Then you come back down the incline and do it all again. You shoot out into a loop and then up the incline. Montezooma's Revenge! Believe me ladies, it is a rarity that Big Mike loses a longest tongue competition. Credit #737 for Big Mike! Big Mike stratigically sat in the front car with the extra leg room so the lap bar would click in place. Experience shows. The lift. YES! Not only did The Big Mike Charm work so well on the female ride attendant, she also was swooned into taking a picture of Big Mike too! NOTE TO SELF: Stay on the diet throughout the WHOLE coaster season! A quick look at the overview of the track while Big Mike takes a look at who is operating the ride. It is a female!!! Time to break out the Big Mike Charm and see if it comes through again. TROUBLE! You must be under 69 inches to ride and Big Mike is not. Timberline Twister! The last new credit for Big Mike to get today. The course. The lift. The cars. Sierra Sidewinder! Credit #736 for Big Mike! It is not even Haunt time and I am getting the heebie geebies. The course. I just love ERT. The train. Silver Bullet! Credit #735 for Big Mike! A tunnel too. You then come back over the station. It shoots you into this long turn. The launch. The train. Pony Express seat. The new for 2008 Pony Express, credit #734 for Big Mike! The park map. The prices. Knott's Berry Farm in California, which is also running Haunt tonight!

I still never got a winning response, BUT Plan B went into effect just in case I lost with my first entry, and... I am now in the winners catagory!!! Different house, different email, same Big Mike! Nobody beats the Big Man! Moral of the story - always have a back up plan Peace, Big Mike

My hoodie has arrived!!! It looks sooooooo awesome. I wore it grocery shopping and all the hot babes were checking it out!! Peace, Big Mike

I am calling Shenanigans on this contest! I am glad that I am not the only loser anymore though lol. Dad and Bro are still in limbo, so I am going to get that ticket one way or another and then just use the Big Mike Charm to get in. Peace, Big Mike

I did not get an email Time to check if dad or bro got an email! Peace, Big Mike the only loser.

I was just thinking the same thing this afternoon! No winning email for me yet Peace, Big Mike

Good Job! What North Jersey town do you live in? Peace, Big Mike from North Jersey

Count me as one of the people drooling too. Thanks everyone! Soon I will put a lot more non coaster pics up! Peace, Big Mike

Hey Great Friends!!! While I am putting together the next segment of The Big Mike Road Show 2008, which is Knott's Berry Farm, I went and joined FACEBOOK! Now, any Valuable Big Mike Readers can send a "friends request" to the Big Man!!! Send a quick note with it and say you are from my favorite website TPR so I know your just not another random girl or guy out there sending me a "friends request" just because I am super hot and they want sex! Been getting a lot of those so far! Thanks! Peace, Big Mike

Well I entered 3 times, all on my Blackberry, with 3 different people in 3 different addresses! Using the Blackberry, it just brought me right back to the entry form again, so who knows if it worked or not! If anyone wins, please post here when you find out! Peace, Big Mike

Cool! Since I am at work and on my Blackberry, can someone post here the NEXT time the commercial plays so I can enter my "brother" who lives at a different address! I also entered myself as soon as I saw the thread again figuring a lot less people will enter early! Thanks for the original post and whoever tips me off right after the next commercial plays. Peace, Big Mike

Thanks for posting this dude!! Peace, Big Mike

^^ Jon, now people like you is what makes this thread worth doing!! I would LOVE some help with this! Let me find a picture and I will get back to you! OR, if any Big Mike Readers were reading along somewhere and thought to themsleves "Boy, Big Mike looks really good in that picture", please post that picture here in the thread! (Especially if you are a Valuable Female Big Mike Reader)! Thanks Jon and everybody else Peace, Big Mike