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The only problem is that your emotional argument is really against the limited capacity of Paradise Park, not FASTPASS. If they let people line up or camp out, I would very easily see the shows filling up in the early afternoon. is it any more fair to make people sacrifice half their day at the park to see a show? How would you feel if you didn't get to ride several major rides because you spent all your time sitting in the hot sun waiting for a 25 minute show (or similarly didn't get to see the show because you didn't line up in time)?

Oh god, that looks horrid.

Well, it sounds like they're basically doing a World-of-Color-with-Fantasmic-Music for Tokyo Disney Sea.

King's Dominion calls themselves a "Themed Amusement Park":

Just a little nugget from the Facebook page: No new trains for this weekend, but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for Holiwood Nights.

I've had them accept a dasani water bottle (since dasani is made by coke). I actually didn't know about the promotion and happened to be drinking Dasani when I went to purchase my tickets, and the person in the ticket booth said I could give her the bottle for a discount.

The first version of Steps in Time closed before the official opening day, and the second "hipper" version opened with the park. As I remember it, there were reports in the newspaper of Blast moving from Epcot to DCA even before the second Steps in Time was officially cancelled.

Well, KD seems to really love chaser lights these days

Yes, Disneyland annouced an Indiana Jones and a Muppet stage show (both copies from Disney-MGM Studios) that were supposed to debut in 1991, and press releases were released in 1990, but neither show made it. While the Indiana Jones show would've gone where the Hunchback Theater is now and not have replaced anything, the Muppet stage show would've replaced the Videopolis (which was eventually replaced in 1995 by the Fantasyland Theater). Disneyland has even had whole rides (Dick Tracy Crimestoppers) and lands (Hollywoodland) that were announced but never built. I don't know if specific closing dates were released (maybe someone who was older than 6 in 1990 can chime in), but they did announce which year. I can't find an online copy of the 1990 press releases, but there are articles written on the subject at http://www.laughingplace.com/News-ID111370.asp and http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hill/archive/2004/11/04/490.aspx

So I saw on Screamscape that they have themed Ninja to the new Karate Kid movie. I guess it makes just as much sense as a movie called "The Karate Kid" being about Kung Fu (actually more sense, since ninjas and karate are both Japanese, while Kung Fu is Chinese).

You couldn't find three new coasters to ride first?

So I think we can safely say that something, which may or may not be some sort of bracket, has been installed and that something else (which may or may not be trims) may or may not be installed on it in the future. Also that the lift hill, for a short time, may or may not have been temporarily running slower which may or may not have been intentional. Scratch that, the only thing we've now know for sure is that the power of suggestion can be a very very powerful thing. Something, but not a trim, was on the first drop, and several people suddenly start calling one of the most intense rides in the country boring and forceless.

Wow, reading the responses at KDFansite really makes me appreciate TPR.

Wow, that's the most convoluted "on hold" announcement I've seen in a while. However, given the lackluster reviews that "Toy Story -- The Musical" got when it played on DCL, I'm taking this as good news.

I remember seeing ads for both the Nemo Subs and Toy Story Mania that only advertized that they were coming to the "Disneyland Resort". When I was in California the ads were more specific, but here in New England you almost never hear "California Adventure" named on TV.

Robb, I have not said anything that contradicts you other than my initial post which claimed, in a not entirely serious manner, that California had the first operating version of a Disney high-speed ride system. Beyond that I was responding to and arguing against a post by testtrack321 which claimed that Rocket Rods used the “same EMV vehicle base and system” as Indiana Jones and other rides. Nowhere in this thread have you made a comment in support of that notion. If you are arguing that, based on your experience crawling under Test Track, that the ride vehicles can independently steer their rear wheels, or if you are arguing that , based on your experience with Indy (and contrary to the patent), that those vehicles cannot independently steer their rear wheels, I will defer to your expertise. In fact, I would love to hear your experiences from working with those rides. However, given that all you have contributed on that subject are sarcastic comments, the “television show” is the best source of information I have.

I'm not trying to say that under the panels Cars/Test Track/Journey has a Rocket-Rods-style large rail (it may or may not, I honestly don't know). I was simply saying that the drive system is mechanically simpler than just the EMV driveline with the motion base removed. I was basing this on an imagineer interview I remember seeing from the late 90s (probably on one of the WDW documentaries) who described Test Track as the next generation of the Indy ride system that traded high speeds for the ability to vary the path from ride to ride. Given that Rocket Rods used a similar track-driven direct steering system, it seemed like a good example (since I couldn't find any pictures of the Test Track drive system).

Not really. The IJ/Dino cars were much more complex from a driveline perspective. They were guided by rails under the "slot", similar to a coaster track, but unlike a coaster track all four wheels of the cars are not directly steered by the track. Instead, for the rear wheels, it fuctions more like the center bar on Autopia. The ride computer can independently steer the rear wheels somewhat to the left or right of the track, cause the cars to fishtail, or even have the car crab sideways. See http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=ow0pAAAAEBAJ): Indiana Jones/Dinosaur Ride System Rocket Rods trains were guided by a rail too, but that rail directly steered the front and back of the car : Rocket Rods Ride System Given that Test Track and JTCotE don't independantly steer, I would imagine they share a lot more heritage with the Rocket Rods, even if the track under the panels works differently. DISCLAIMER: All information presented here as fact has been taken from publicly available information sources such as patents and public interviews. The author claims no insider knowledge of the systems discussed, and readily admits that the design of such systems may have been implemented differently than stated in the patents or interviews. Any statements which are an opinion (including, but not limited to, those which include the words "imagine", "believe", "may", or other similar language), are based on the experience of the author working as a mechanical engineer on motorized systems, and are not based on any insider knownledge or the wish to contradict those with such knowledge to look "cool".

Don't forget that California had the FIRST version of this ride to open -- Rocket Rods opened 6 months before Test Track.

I like wearing my TPR shirts to parks, but during the summer wearing a black shirt can be very hot an uncomfortable. Have you given any thought to lighter-colored shirts? I would definitely buy one in a light grey or blue (but probably not white, white shirts would get dirty too quickly).

King Dominion's shockwave? Unfortunately, no -- it was open May 1st.

I hope they can have them running for Holiwood Nights.

My girlfriend and I were at the Intimidation 2010 event put on by the Coaster Crew and Coaster Zombies on Saturday as well, and had a blast. We got to the park at 10:00 (they opened at 10:30) and were able to park right near the front. Once we checked in and got into the park it was 10:15, and they were already running Dominator with people on it (does anyone know when they opened Dominator?). Instead of going for it, we got in line behind the rope at the Planet Snoopy entrance, and did the walkback to Intimidator. By the time we got there there was a short line from the passholders who got in 10 minutes early, but we on in row two after about a three train wait. The ride itself literally took my breath away. The first drop felt just as vertical as Kingda Ka's, and I actually think the train goes over the top faster on Intimidator. I got a bit of tunnel vision after the first drop (similar to what I get on Goliath at SFMM), but it immediately went away as I was thrust up into the restraints going over the first airtime hill. The rest of the ride was a blur of unexpected airtime and smooth twistiness, and I was unable to get the grin off my face until I made it to the photo booth. Given my recent disappointing rides on Bizarro at SFNE, Intimidator has taken the #1 steel spot for now (I haven't decided whether I'd rank it above El Toro or not as my overall favorite coaster, but it's close). After that, we were able to walk on to Flight of Fear (which I haven't seen open in years) and got in rides on Volcano (which is starting to really show its age) and Dominator (which was fun, but seemed a bit blah). The lunch put on by CC and CZ was great, and we joined the Zombie Invasion afterwards. We first headed to the drop tower, and the look on the ride ops face when we answered "56" to how many people were in our group was priceless. Unfortunately, high winds prevented us from actually riding. We did have a great time with the group taking over Rebel Yell and Grizzly before breaking El Dorado and ending the "invasion" on the carousel. After the group split up we went and took a short nap in the car and grabbed some food, and by 7:00 the park had started to empty out. We were able to ride the Americana wheel, Drop Tower, Avalanche, Ghoster Coaster, Boo Blasters, and Backlot Stunt Coaster with virtually no wait. Avalanche and Backlot Stunt Coaster both surprised me with how fun they were, despite the fire not working on the latter. At this point it was close to our evening ERT on Intimidator, but we decided not to wait and got in line for row 15. Riding in the back in the dark was a very different experience from earlier in the day. The first drop was much more intense, but the remainder of the course was a bit too rough for my tastes. We rode again right away in row 9, and since by this point the CC and CZ crowd had taken over the station, the energy was incredible. To take a quick break and let our necks recover, we went over the the Flight of Fear ERT at 10:30 and were able to ride with the worklights on, which was a real treat. We went back and rode Intimidator in rows 4 and 11, and I noticed that I grayed out MUCH more in rows 9 and 11 than the rows nearer the front or back. However, on those last two rides everyone noticed that the ride started to develop a rattle, and by my last ride it felt like the train was running on square wheels. When the train came into the station, they took the ride down and called in maintenance, who said that a wheel needed to be replaced (which ended the ERT a few minutes early). Interestingly, they said that they couldn't bring the other train online because it too needed a wheel changed. I don't know if this was bad luck, or if this ride is eating through wheels, but given the intensity I wouldn't be surprised.

Did you read http://www.holidayworld.com/clubs? and further down the page: If you download the flyer and want to order by mail instead of online, the deadline is 5/5/10.

Several blocks of buildings in downtown Calexico, California were closed off after the Easter quake due to building damage (including two buildings that partially collapsed), and several buildings are still closed according to the town's website: http://www.calexico.ca.gov/