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Thanks. The YouTube video I was watching called it Eagle's Nest, but I guess that was a mistranslation.

I found an aerial picture of Eagle's Fortress on Flickr, but part of the ride was cut off. I did my best to restore the complete layout based on the POV YouTube video. My best guess at the Eagle's Fortress layout.

How did the mirror maze compare to the one at Canobie Lake in NH?

I would vote for 4D as well. Whip up a slick CGI film, add in a few fans and sprinklers, and presto: instant "one-of-a-kind" attraction.

That's not a count-down. It's counting UP from 12:00am, January 1st, 7993BC (10,000 years before 12:00am January 1st, 2008). The attraction (along with the rest of the remodeled Table Rock Visitor's Center) will open this summer.

But this law doesn't address the problem of under-trained ride operators. An untrained 18-year-old would likely act in the same way as an untrained 16-year-old. Heck, the Amish let kids MUCH younger than 16 operate heavy equipment and they have few problems with this. As I said, this law is a good start, but we still need a licensing program which would insure proper training (just like we have for operators of other modes of transportation).

Finally, some common sense. This bill is a good start, although I think that some sort of mandatory licensing is required. Bus drivers, taxi drivers, train engineers, pilots, boat captains, etc. need to be licensed, and since the courts have ruled that amusement park rides have the same "common carrier" status as buses, taxis, trains, planes, boats, etc., the licensing requirements should be similar.

I've been run into by someone going full speed on a Seqway, and had my foot run over by one, and neither hurt. I also have a scar from someone hitting me with an ECV. Plus, people on Segways (especially the P series) take up much less pathway space than an ECV or a wheelchair (or for that matter a stroller). If they had a policy to limit Segways to the "slow key" (which limits the top speed), people using them could make the park a much nicer place for pedestrians.

I'll second that. It's an easy hop from KBF and you can do everything in 30 minutes. Be forewarned that if you try to enter without kids they will give you a hard time. Last time I went, I had to lie and say I was meeting a group of young children inside.

Since the ride vehicles are basically simulators on wheels, they reprogrammed the motions to be much calmer and less thrilling (accompanied by a lowering of the height restriction from 48in to 40in). They also changed the set lighting, audio, and programming of the animatronics so that less stuff popped out at you suddenly. Most noticeably, the ending with the Carnotaurus used to have the vehicle stop in silence, and then the dinosaur would jump out suddenly accompanied by a great deal of noise, red strobes, and other effects. Now you just drive by and the dinosaur is somewhat lit while you approach, the red strobes are gone (just the camera flash remains), it doesn't jump out as suddenly, and there is a lot less noise. Also, many of the scenes that are currently dark used to have lots of meteors crashing around you, creating a real sense of chaos in what are now dull stretches.

You're forgetting the fourth: Countdown to Extinction I went to Animal Kingdom in December 1998 (back before most of Asia was open) and rode CTX before it was tamed down and renamed Dinosaur. I rode it first thing in the morning (I got to the park before sunrise) and was completely alone on my jeep. I have to say it was the most terrifying theme park ride experience I have every had. It beats the pants off of the solo rides i've had on Indiana Jones at DL. The ride was much more wild and violent than Indiana Jones, and the suspense and sets rivaled the best haunted houses. Unfortunately, the transition to Dinosaur neutered the ride beyond all recognition.

When you left ESPN to become the Six Flags CEO, you said that your position at ESPN was "one of the best jobs in America." How has working at Six Flags compared? What differences have you discovered between running a theme park chain and running a television network? Were there any lessions from your time at ESPN that you have been able to apply at Six Flags? Finally, do you have any plans for improving the professionality of the Six Flags park staff, specifically ride operators?

Note: I am a mechanical engineer, not a programmer or web designer, so the following post should be taken with a grain of salt I was thinking about this, plus Ted saying that he was going to include the ability to enter numerical ranks into future poll tools and that he had to randomize the order of rides to prevent an alphabetical bias. Over the weekend, I came up with an alternate design for a poll tool that would: 1. Allow people to rank as many coasters as they like 2. Allow people to assign coasters easily to groups 3. Eliminate the alphabetical bias without having to randomize the list of coasters Basically, there would be a two column set-up. The left column would have all the rides you selected, and the right would have 7 (or a configurable number) of boxes. The first box is a numbered list of the top rides, and these would get ranked in the order. The next 5 boxes are groups of rides that tie with each other. The last box is a numbered list of worst rides, ranked in order. Users would drag rides from the left column to the appropriate box on the right, which dynamically resizes and renumbers the list as appropriate. You could rank as many or as few rides as you wished, and group the rest. You could even have the number of groups be selectable. I created a prototype page at http://zansstuff.com/cp.shtml. You can drag and drop rides, and the boxes automatically resize to fit as you add to them. I don't have the expertise to actually code in the ability to parse the data and turn it into Mitch's format, but if Ted wanted to he could have an option in his tool to choose either the current ranking method or this one. It should be relatively easy to incorporate into his code, since I used the same javascript libraries to do the drag-and-drop that are used in the current CoasterFanatics tool. Try out this prototype at http://zansstuff.com/cp.shtml

That is why I use the modified grouping method. Don't forget that ties are okay, and that it doesn't matter how much one coaster beats another by (so coaster A being 1 and coaster B being 1.1 is the same as Coaster A being 1 and coaster B being 100, as long as there are no rides in between) 1-10: My top ten coasters (I actually have a top 12 this year since there is a 4.5 and a 6.5) 11: Coasters that are so good that I would go to the park just for that ride, but didn't make the top 10. 12: Coasters that I would definitely ride if I was at the park, regardless of the line. 13: Coasters that I would ride if there was a reasonable line. 14: Coasters that I would ride only if there was a very short line. 15: Coasters that I would only ride for the credit, and never re-ride (painful rides). 16-20: My bottom 5 coasters. Rides that you couldn't pay me to ride again. For your situation, you could easily rank 1-20, rank the meh coasters all 30 (with a few 29s and 31s thrown in), and then rank 40-60.

I assume that they just don't update it after the parks close to reflect the closing. Disney needs to get a web site like that!

I thought the scuttlebutt was that while the passenger compartment and exterior paneling are new, the chassis are the old Mark Vs.

Looks identical to SWAT (aka Catapult) restraints. Not very comfortable, nor very secure (I had the shoulder restraints loosen up two notches while hanging upside-down).

The Pirates 3 game for DS did have a feature where you could download cheat codes at certain WDW and DL locations. See http://disney.go.com/disneyinteractivestudios/pirates3/treasure/

What would be awesome is if that information was available for the public. It would help Disney with load balancing, and help everyone else plan their day. If they just had a web site you could go to with that info, anyone with a phone that gets internet could have that information. If they wanted to limit it to people in the parks (so that people don't decide not to go because it's crowded), they could just have you type in your ticket number.

That really is ironic that you have to go to Hershey, PA because of your Diabetes.

From the poster of the video about whether security caught the guy:

I guess I am a Disney freak. I got 10/10, although I guessed on the Tokyo one.

Knott's bought a lot of D&RGW and RGS narrow gauge equipment in 1951 (when D&RGW started retiring their steam locomotives in favor of diesel) and 1952 (when RGS folded), including two locomotives (RGS 41 and D&RGW #340), the goose, several coaches, and a caboose.

Do you have a youtube link?

Is it just me or does the trim not quite line up in the picture below (near the top)?