ahecht

Is this sound there in person, or only on the videos? I can easily imagine that the LIMs might interact with the magnets in the microphone on the camera and cause such a sound if the camera were mounted low enough.

I always go for super crappy or kiddie coasters for milestones: 25:Psyclone (SFMM) 50: Wildcat (some sketchy fair in South Central LA) 75: Shockwave (King's Dominion) 100: Flying Coaster (Elich Gardens) 125: Shamu Express (Sea World Florida, rode it opening day!) 150: Howler (Holiday World)

Wooden: Wild One, Six Flags America, 1917 (actually from 1986, when it was moved and rebuilt, or 1997 when it was reprofiled). Thunderhawk, Dorney Park, 1923 (oldest coaster i've ridden in its original location, although it's actually from 1930 when it was changed from an oval to a figure-8 and made 40% longer). Wildcat, Lake Compounce, 1927 (oldest unmodified coaster I've ridden). Steel: Wild Chipmunk, Lakeside, 1955 (oldest steel of any type). Matterhorn Bobsleds, Disneyland, 1959 (oldest tubular steel). EDIT: Crap, I replied to this thread four years ago. Oh well.

I didn't mean any offense. I was just pointing out that stating that the ride is only designed for people that are 5'10" and 150lbs is a bit of an exaggeration.

32-34" I'm assuming that that's your pant inseam (and not your true inseam). Even so, if that's the case it sounds like your problem isn't your overall height but your torso length. Your inseam is average, but your overall height is in the top 0.4% (meaning you are taller than 99.6% of adult men). This means that you must have a VERY tall torso to make up for your average leg height.

That is the test track they've built to test out the ride vehicles (and presumably the dynamics of the more unique features of this track). The track at the beginning with the white sides that isn't set into a concrete channel is temporary.

They finally corrected the article, but it took 10 emails back and forth for him to understand that there was no separate admission charge for WWoHP.

The Consumerist, a website run by Consumer Reports magazine, just did a story on how rediculous it is that Universal is charging $79 just to see their new Harry Potter theme park. I had a back-and-forth email conversation with one of their editors who insisted that The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was a separate theme park, required its own admission ticket, and wasn't included with admission to any other park. If the media gets it this wrong, how are average families that don't follow this stuff obsessively supposed to know that their money gets them into much more than just one little Harry Potter themed land?

You might have better luck paying $15 for the box lunch for the second show. From what I've heard, there have usually been box lunches remaining after the fastpasses are gone, and you are guarenteed not to get a seat way on the end.

If the park closes you could always head over to the Basketball Hall of Fame in nearby Springfield, or check out one of the many museums in the area (the Springfield Museum of Fine Arts currently has an exhibit on Lego art that I've heard great things about).

I've never seen the park actually close if it isn't actually raining. Typically if there is constant light rain they will stay open until 2-3 in the afternoon, and they will give out rain checks if you ask (despite the signs that say "no rain-checks").

I had the chance to meet Will at Holiwood Nights, and I was immediately impressed with how genuine and warm he was. He was a true theme park enthusiast, and it was clear from the way he ran the park that he cared so much about giving the guests the best possible experience and making Holiday World one of the best parks in the country. When other parks were charging more and more for drinks, Will gave them away for free. While other parks have starting charging $15+ for parking, Will kept that free. While other parks were focusing on smaller and cheaper rides, Will made sure that Holiday world always had the longest, the tallest, and the best. He was a true icon in the industry and a great man, and he will be sorely missed. It's sad to see someone who was so full of life taken away from us so soon, but Holiday World will always be his legacy. My thoughts and prayers go out to the Koch family, as well as to the entire Holiday World team. Will's death should also be a reminder that being in water with no one around is dangerous no matter how old or how good of a swimmer you are. I had a friend who drowned and have others who have had close calls, and all of them were strong swimmers. Hopefully the publicity surrounding Will Koch can help people remember that pool safety isn't just for children.

I know the original intent of the park, and I know that they still spell out that it's themed to California on their website and in promotional material, but I really wouldn't be surprised if this gets downplayed more and more as the overhaul nears completion. It may not even be their intent now, but at some point they will have to realize how limiting the California theme is to what they are trying to achieve.

In defense of the weak California Theme, the entire Cars movie was the story of Lightning McQueen trying to get to Los Angeles. Of course, that said, Radiator Springs was supposed to be either Peach Springs or Seligman, Arizona, depending on which interview you listen to. Also, there are many references to California in Toy Story, including Al's Toy Barn having the same address as Pixar's California Headquarters and the Airport looking like the one in Oakland, CA, but. that's a stretch. Oh, and California has oceans, right? Right? Bueller? The whole thing is a stretch, you're right. I think Disney must have long ago internally realized that it would be better to define California Adventure as meaning that it is a Disney Adventure IN California, not Themed to California. Similar to how Busch Gardens tried calling their parks by their themed location (Busch Gardens Europe and Busch Gardens Africa), but quickly reverted to calling them by their physical locations (Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Busch Gardens Tampa Bay). There is no attempt to claim that the parks are Virginia or Florida themed.

For the record, and I'm not saying that 79.5 is right or wrong, when I emailed Duane on this issue he replied back: "You've kind of answered your own question here -- I wouldn't have posted that statistic if I didn't believe it was from a reliable source or if I felt it was not accurate."

Just in case people following this thread missed the separate topic: Holiday World loses beloved owner, Will Koch

Robb says he didn't see anyone getting wet. Keep in mind these were mostly Californians that will pull an umbrella out and go on storm watch if a cloud rolls in, so they may have been overreacting. Teri (or whoever the celebrity in the dress was that Mickey talked to at the beginning) had soaked looking hair after the show in the video, and the top of her dress was also definitely wet (it looked like the rest had been wrapped in a towel).

Finding Nemo and the first Pirates movie were both Disney movies about the ocean projected on perforated metal screens that were about a 30 second walk across the multiplex from each other back in the summer of 2003. However, I wouldn't call Pirates a Nemo killer or vice versa. It's an apples to oranges comparison.

As I said before, Voyage was brutally rough from the spaghetti bowl in the woods until the station with both PTC trains. Much rougher than the Beast, which I rode this past Sunday less than 12 hours after my last ride on the Voyage. I liked the ride on the Voyage, and really really wanted to love it, but it is just too rough to be enjoyable for me in its current state (and this is coming from someone that found the untrimmed i305 re-ridable). I hadn't ridden it before this weekend, and it seemed like the layout has so much potential, but there was simply too much pain for it to be #1 in my book. Will Koch did mention that they found several places where the track has been deformed by the current trains, so I imagine most of the roughness has appeared as the ride has aged. Hopefully the new trains will be easier on the track and allow the park to gradually re-track the rough spots (not to mention the suspension in the seats smoothing out the jolts).

I was sitting so close to Will I could hear him without the use of the microphone. He didn't say that will be buying the Timberliners if they work out. He said they would consider purchasing Timberliners if all goes well with Voyage. Two completely different statements. Sorry, I was posting from the tiny screen on my phone and did leave out a word from what I tried to write. I intended to say that "...they will be considering buying them..." In any case, the waterpark ERT on Wildebeast and Zinga was also lots of fun. My best rides on Wildebeast beat out any other water slide I've been on, but some other rides on Wildebeast with different weight distribution were merely good, and didn't have nearly as much airtime. I was really impressed with the rest of the waterpark, but there were a couple of rides such as ZOOMbabwe where they really could've used an extra ride op to help with loading. I'm looking forward to tonight's ERT.

Reporting here from the first ERT. Everyone seems to be having a great time despite the lack of timberliners. I hate to say it, but the Voyage really does need something done to fix its roughness. I liked the ride, and really really wanted to love it, but as it is it is just too rough in either of the PTC trains (although the Raven train is smoother than the old train). It seems like Gravity Group is following their CCI heritage and building amazing world-class rides that tear themselves apart and quickly become rough. Hopefully the Timberliners can solve that. On that note, they did announce at the Q&A that if the Timberliners work out, they will be [considering] buying them for their other coasters since the smoother tracking can reduce maintenance costs. They also had the repaired front car out for us to inspect and sit in. Anyway, to wrap up this post, the staff here has been great (I've seen the Kochs running around emptying trash cans and refilling drink stations), the food is wonderful (Loaded Baked Potato Salad Pizza), and the rides have been amazing.

I was going to stay at the Best Western Lincoln Land in Dale, but I managed to snag a great deal on a room with a jacuzzi in Huntingburg, IN. It's about a half hour away, but should be worth it.

HN attendance list- 1. Nick (angryemobeaver {actually DropZone99 on every other site}) 2. Adam (spaceace12) 3. Nathan (kumba830) 4. Joel(10ryansmith) 5. Justin (RedB) 6. Brandon (saginawhxc) 7. Stefan (VGplay) 8. Dimitri (VoltageCaek) 9. Alex (WildStangAlex) 10. Joe (JEAPUgrad on TPR, Great_Ump on URC) 11. Josh (CoasterBoyJosh) 12. Griffin (GriffyTiffy) 13. Andrew (AndCamSS) 14. Kyle (britishdebutante) 15. AHecht (ahecht) Just 24 hours to go! Everone remember to set your watches to Central Daylight Time when you arrive. Your airport and your hotel are likely to be in a different time zone than the park since Kentucky and most of the rest of Indiana are in the Eastern time zone.

According to the rumors on the other disney blogs, the plan is to run a third show (and extend the park closing to 11pm) for as long as necessary. The third should would always be first-come-first-served (again, according to the rumors).