ahecht

I have, both for many many years as Superman, and again in the back row of the yellow train. I still feel it's better without the audio. However, I am sure that with a better soundtrack (e.g. a synchronized musical score) the audio would enhance the ride.

They looked to me like the standard Vekoma restraints with leather covers over them to cover up the worn away original surface. I forgot to mention that in my trip report from weekend #2. On the one train that was running, the first-row right-side seat had the audio cut off on the bottoms of all the hills (where there are high positive Gs), and the last row of the train had no audio at all. Honestly though, as much as I love the audio on rides such as Rock'n'Roller Coaster, California Screamin', and both the Dick Dale and Michael Giacchino versions of Space Mountain, the random people screaming audio on Bizarro detracts from the ride in a major way. By the way, I know that both Bizarros and Terminator have been having intermittent audio problems, but does anyone know if Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit has had the same problems? I know that the same company (http://www.showsys.us/projects/onboard.html) did the audio for all of them.

So today was the Canobie Lake opening day sale, where admission is only $22 and you can buy as many tickets as you want at that price to use later in 2010. For a variety of reasons, we didn't get there until after noon, and the ticket lines stretched back into the parking lot a couple of rows. I asked someone near the front of the ticket line, and they had been waiting for 50 minutes so far. Given that the park was only open until 6pm and looked very crowded, we decided to skip going into the park, and instead just purchased a bunch of discounted tickets at Group Sales for future dates (there is no line at group sales, but the tickets they sell there cannot be used on opening day). From what I could see from the outside the park looked nice and clean, and all the rides near the front were up and running. Hopefully someone else will have a trip report from inside the park. The long ticket lines in the afternoon on opening day 2010

I just wanted to give a quick update from this past weekend: Due to the inclement weather, the park was empty. Superman was a walk-on (and a 2 train wait for the front row), as were all the other rides in the park. They did close at 2:30pm because heave rain was on the way, but they were giving out rain checks to anyone who asked. As for changes from last year, they reconfigured the station for Superman so that the front row now has its own line. Previously, the front CAR had its own line, which meant that row 2 would often go empty because no one wanted to wait an extra 30 minutes for it, and people had trouble squeezing through from the regular line. Also new are the boarding announcements which all say "We hope you have a Six Flags ride" or "We hope you have a Six Flags day". I get that they are trying to tie into their "More Flags, More Fun" campaign, but it was very annoying.

Direct link to the video of Bizarro valleying:

The only Apexbus that goes to King's Dominion leaves from New York (and it's part of a three day Kings Dominion, Busch Gardens, Virginia Beach tour). They can get you as far as Richmond, but it's about a 20 mile taxi ride from there ($75-$100 each way).

That part was a joke (referring to the absurdity of keeping guests for the late show sequestered in the sun plaza so they don't see the first show from a bad angle, when anyone in paradise pier will be seeing the show from worse angles). Read the whole thing.

Space shot and combo modes require brakes at the top of the tower and brake fins on the cars. I'm not saying that those can't be installed on a currently existing ride, but it's not as simple as uploading new firmware to the PLC. If anything, I would think it would be the other way around -- Supreme Scream opened in 1998, Maliboomer opened in 2001.

Number of times "Islands of Adventure" was listed in the press release: 0 Number of times "Islands of Adventure" was listed in the video: 0 Number of times "Islands of Adventure" was listed at http://www.universalorlando.com/harrypotter/ : 1 (halfway through a hard-to-find video) Number of times "Harry Potter Theme Park" was mentioned at http://www.universalorlando.com/harrypotter/ : 2

Those trams are for the new Toy Story lot: Since the trams will have to travel down Harbor Blvd, they need doors to be street legal. It has nothing to do with idiot-proofing, and everything to do with federal NHTSA regulations.

I would skip the dining plan altogether. On my last 10-day trip to WDW we ate breakfast in our hotel room most days (bagels, cream cheese, and lox that we brought with us), had 7 "Table Service" meals, 16 Fast-Food meals, and about 6 snacks. We never purchased sodas (water is free and caffeine leads to dehydration in the Florida heat), although we did buy alcoholic drinks on 3 occasions. Including the price of the breakfast food and granola bars we purchased in advance, we spent about $30/person each day including tips. The Regular Dining Plan would be $42-$47+tips/person each day (probably around $50+/person each day total). The "Quick-Service" (fast-food only) dining plan would've been the same $30/person each day but we would've had to skip the Table Service meals or pay for them out of pocket. For us, the dining plans were not a good deal. Here are my tips for eating cheap at WDW. The first two are really the most important -- so many people don't know that they can save money by leaving off the sides and end up just throwing them out anyway, and sodas are a huge waste of money. * Skip the sides. Many of the sandwiches and entrees from the Counter Service places are enough for a meal if you don't want to share. If you ask them to leave off the apples, carrots, grapes, or fries it will usually knock $2 or so off the price. All Counter Service places in Disney World will do this even though it isn't on the menu. * Skip the sodas -- they add up quickly and every food service location will give you water for free. You can also order a case of bottled water from Costco for $7 shipped ( http://bit.ly/4xYny8 ) even if you aren't a member and have it sent directly to your hotel. Caffeine can also lead to dehydration and isn't the best idea in the parks, but if you really need it to get you through the day bring Excedrin. * Skip the snacks and desserts. Portions are large enough at meals to get you through the day, and if you'll really need a boost you can bring granola bars with you from home. * Bring your own breakfast, and don't skip it. Eating a good breakfast will make you less hungry for expensive park meals. If your room will have a fridge you can bring cereal and milk, yogurt, cream cheese, and other breakfast foods (freeze it before leaving home and pack it with ice in a soft cooler in your luggage). Otherwise, you can buy bagels or english muffins, peanut butter, jelly, granola bars, etc from a grocery store at home and bring it with you. This also has the advantage of giving you more time in the parks in the morning when crowds are still low. * Scout out the menues in advance at http://allears.net/menu/menus.htm so that you don't have to settle for something expensive because it's all that you can find. Think outside the box -- Downtown Disney and resort hotel food service can be cheaper than those in the parks. * Don't be ashamed to order a kid's meal if nothing on the adult menu appeals to you. Unless you're a heavy eater most kids meals have enough food for an adult. I wouldn't make a habit out of it (I only did it once on my recent trip), but it can help occasionally. * If you want to eat a sit-down meal, do so at lunch. Reservations are easier to get and the food can be 2/3 the price it is at dinner.

1. What are your initial thoughts? If you offered it for $25 and left off the $15 store credit I would be much more likely to sign up. 2. Can you think of anything else we could be offering? Since this is mostly a donation/sponsorship of the site, it would be nice to have a little rotating banner on each forum page that says something like "This page brought to you by [random_premium_member_username]" on a random rotating basis (of course, this could be a variety of more witty phrases as well). I've seen a number of other forums do this for premium members. 3. Is this something that interests you? The concept interests me, but not at that price. 4. Why would you NOT be interested in this? I only spend at most $10 a year in the store, I'm not planning on going on TPR trips, an exclusive pay-only forum doesn't interest me, I already have a coaster count banner, and there are several other clubs that have access to most park events that only charge $10 for membership (including one that gives you $5 off TPR DVDs and $5 off TPR shirts when you sign up). That means that the only benefit I would get from the extra $30 I'd pay for a TPR membership is getting a membership card and welcome packet, and the warm fuzzies I'd get from supporting the site. 5. Any additional feedback you can give us based on the information you see here. Frankly, I think a much better option would be to add small, unobtrusive ads to the forums pages (gasp!) to subsidize part of the cost of the site, and cover the rest with a less expensive $10-$20 a year membership that would hide ads on the site for members.

It was exactly four years ago tonight that Knoebels announced Flying Turns at PPP '05. I just wanted to wish Flying Turns a happy 4th pre-birthday. Here's hoping there isn't a 5th!

Paying medical expenses would imply that Cedar Fair is admitting liability, which could hurt them in a lawsuit or settlement. In any case, as long as the family has health insurance, it would be up to the insurance company to sue Cedar Fair for reimbursement.

Actually, I did trips to SFNE, SFGAdv, and WDW last summer, and I did SFNE, SFGAdv, and Disneyland this summer, and I can say that the food and parking prices at the two Six Flags parks were about 50% HIGHER than at Disney World. At the beginning of the seasons I might agree about how well they are run, but by the end of the summer the Six Flags employees were completely burned out and some of the most apathetic and surly service employees I'd ever seen, unlike at Disney. I was there Sunday too. The no re-ride policy really is stupid -- espcially on a ride like Catwoman's Whip where we were the first riders they had had in 30 minutes and they wouldn't let us stay on for a second ride (at least they finally put a cut in the queue railings this year so you don't have to walk as far). At least for Bizarro I figured out by noon that they weren't checking for Flash Passes, so I could just go in through the Flash Pass queue. The highlight of the day was when at the end, despite them saying that there would be absolutely no rainchecks, when I went to buy my 2010 pass (I purchased a $15 companion ticket and then upgraded to a pass for $30) they gave me a comp ticket for the person I had brought in for free that day.

Just look at the front of the train. This could've been MUCH MUCH worse.

It's called punitive damages. This accident could've been much much worse if debris had hit their eyes or the cable took a slightly different path. By punishing the park and manufacturer monetarily, you provide a financial incentive for them to make sure accidents like this don't happen again.

This video was posted on Screamscape which clearly shows that some of the trains are definitely running better than others. Just turn up your speakers and listen to the difference between the first and second trains:

That's awesome!

10/20, which wasn't bad considering taht I choose Rob as the answer each time he came up, and that I've never seen the movie "Rollercoaster"

My biggest missed credits (in the sense that I will never be able to ride them) would be: * Flashback at SFMM (never bothered while it was open) * XLR-8 at Astroworld (waited 2 hours for Ultratwister instead) * Batman and Robin's Batman side at SFGAdv (chose Robin instead, didn't want to wait in line again)

Where is it $5 or less? Six Flags parks charge $35-$40.

Looks like a Schwarzkopf Double-Looping, but I'm not sure which one. Was Laser at Dorney ever all green like that?

^Yes, it's called Canyon Blaster, and it's been mentioned several times here. Funny story: Back in 2002 I was on a school trip to Vegas, and we were staying at Circus Circus. I had been told that the only coasters worth riding were Speed and Canyon Blaster, so I made it my goal for the trip to ride both. Speed was easy, as it was visible from out in front of the hotel, but I didn't know where Canyon Blaster was. I went down to the hotel's concierge (under a big "Ask me about Las Vegas!" sign) and asked him which hotel Canyon Blaster was at, and he said he had heard of the ride but had no idea where it was. I asked again at the desk later when another person was working there, but they also didn't know. Imagine how stupid I felt when I discovered that it was right in our hotel.

QFT