PeoplemoverMatt

So far outside of SoCal, just have the annual FL trip planned: Magic Kingdom Epcot Disney's Hollywood Studios Disney's Animal Kingdom Universal Studios Florida Universal's Islands of Adventure Busch Gardens Tampa Fun Spots Orlando/Kissimmee Sea World Orlando (maybe) Would also really like to hit the Cape and go back to Kennedy Space Center for the first time since the early 90's. Last time I was there, during the tour the guide pointed to a building a remarked how the International Space Station was being built in there. It's been that long!

Man I've wanted to see Hersheypark ever since the days of 3D Ultra Pinball Thrillride. Gotta find a reason and means to travel to PA soon!

Yeah that whole ground liquefaction thing didn't end well. Even today people don't realize that this area received the most violent shaking of anywhere besides the epicenter. The fault snapped like a rubber band straight in our direction, accounting for the freeway collapses at the 5/14 and another bridge about a mile further north up 5. Also keep in mind that there wasn't just one earthquake. There were more aftershocks than I could ever hope to count. They weren't your garden variety 2.3's either. These were big, serious earthquakes in the 4 and 5 range. They may not have caused the damage the main quake did, but for a good six months or more, aftershocks struck almost every night. It tapered off after a while but we were still having aftershocks here & there through 2000. Those rides took that pounding, including Psyclone built in the dry lake bed whose soil was subject to ground liquefaction. People talk about Psyclone, but I don't think any of those rides were quite the same after the quake. Viper, Revolution, Colossus, Ninja, Jet Stream were all there for it. Psyclone did get It worst of any of them, though. That ride was built to jostle riders around, but the extra give created by the quake's impact on the structure really messed with that.

Pretzel sticks, boneless chicken bites and spicy jambalaya? Might have to give Margaritaville a try next year on my annual Orlando trip. Never been!

Who remembers the movie "Free Willy"? Wasn't one of the goals of that movie to draw awareness to Keiko the killer whale, who was actually in that movie, and actually held in what's now Six Flags Mexico's dolphin tank? I seem to remember that movie doing wonders for the cause of whale conservation back in the 90s. A lot of it had to do with how its message was primarily positive, while also being slightly cornball. It's too bad Blackfish's writers didn't try to succeed in a similar way, but their rigid ideology could not have allowed them to. If they didn't like trainers in the water with killer whales, they'd probably have a stroke over a kid swimming around with a killer whale. It's too bad. I remember Free Willy's honey winning a lot more flies then than Blackfish's vinegar is now. For that same reason, I believe, people are going to have completely forgotten Blackfish while Free Willy will still stick with them.

Let's see... Universal Studios Hollywood Knott's Berry Farm Disneyland Disney California Adventure Sea World San Diego Busch Gardens Tampa Sea World Orlando Universal Studios Florida Universal's Islands of Adventure Disney's Animal Kingdom Disney's Hollywood Studios Epcot Magic Kingdom Not the biggest list, but a lot of great parks in there.

Amen Dylan. I agree totally. Folks. I have been going to magic mountain since I was little. Not for the scenery, but totally for the rides. Magic mountain has never disappointed me. Even with x2 down (I've never ridden it. Always down) doesn't discourage me from going. I have a hell of a good time every time I go!!! Besides. It's not like they are doing anything unexpected. Yeah? I've lived 5 miles south of SFMM for my entire life. I know how the park used to be better than most. I'm glad you have a good time, but if you've been going since you were little and you say the park hasn't disappointed you by now, you're just flat out not being honest. That park has disappointed everybody at one point or another, including many of the top brass who have worked there over the years. I'm sure the same goes for every other theme park in the world. No park ever goes mistake-free its entire life, but SFMM very rarely seems to realize when it does make mistakes. Subsequently, it rarely, if ever, learns from its mistakes or seems to want to learn from its mistakes. Is it possible to still have fun there? Sure it is. Does Disneyland close rides for refurbs from time to time? Of course it does. But let's not pretend that SFMM and Disneyland close rides for the same reasons, or have anywhere close to the same refurb schedules. SFMM closes rides, or often times has them barely operating on shoestring budgets when they are open. It's better than nothing, sure, but it's a far cry from the level of operations seen at other parks.

Bingo. And, compared to the forces felt during space flight, a 300 something foot drop is quite minor.

See...script writers for that show shouldn't have to worry about offending people, especially if a show like Book of Mormon still goes on free & clear. All people need to learn how to take an effing joke.

Taxi Driver @ California's Great America. Asked some random kid if he wanted to go again as long I rode with him. Not a very proud moment...

Do you think it random chance that the SoCal parks that keep their rides up & running best of any have over 1,000,000 Annual Passholders while SFMM struggles to pull in more than 10,000 total on a non-summer day, yet those parks are much more expensive than SFMM? People know where to expect quality and where not to. Those who don't yet quickly learn.

Reads just like a tabloid news article whose headline would be "BOB IGER'S SHOCKING SHUT DOWN OF WALT DISNEY IMAGINEERING!!!" Weekly World News of theme park sites indeed...

Yeah, I'm not buying this. The author got the result that was desired and now wants everyone to think it's all Universal's "massive overreaction" that got the show cancelled. That only tells me the author has learned exactly zero lessons about being "irresponsible" with your voice, and does not believe at all that any mistake was made on the author's part. It's pretty clear when the author dismissed any reaction that called the article PC or overly sensitive, or claimed that the gay Superman character was satire as "idiots," there's an enormous amount of satisfaction being felt over the show's cancellation. By that logic, anyone who has actually watched the show (unlike the author) and knows B&T is a comedy show and nothing in it is a realistic portrayal of anything are "idiots". As much as we'd all like to think the author was irresponsible here, it's clear the author feels the exact opposite, and would have no qualms about writing a similar article anytime anything else similarly perceived as "homophobic, racist, terrible" the author runs across. Author will just dismiss any criticism as from "idiots" again like was done with this one. I know Universal was in a tough place, but I wish they hadn't chosen to empower terrible people, like this author, who go around LOOKING for things to be offended by, by choosing to cancel the B&T show. Is Universal really to blame for the show's cancellation? No. The author is solely to blame, as is HuffPo and all the other media outlets who empowered the author by picking up the article and blindly running with it like they did. But again, the censorship/removal of content/outright cancellation was exactly what they all wanted. Everyone can be made fun of *except* them. Their sensitivities matter more than mine, yours, or anyone else's. Until someone does not cave to their wishes because they fear bad PR, it will only happen again and again. They need be told what everyone else gets told - it's a comedy show and comedians make fun of everybody.

It has to be WDW here. 47 square miles, 4 parks, 2 water parks, huge shopping/dining area, 20+ hotels with world-renown impeccable service. Put that against one park with a small cluster of hotels? No contest.

^ Why in the world would Sea World agree to be interviewed by someone obviously out to diminish their product and destroy their business? The way I see it, Sea World already has their side of the story out there. The parks are still open. The shows are still on. The professionals stay professional.

How many DVDs or Blu-Rays do you purchase each year? Since 2011 I have acquired over 275 Blu-ray's, none of which I paid more than $15 for. That is not to say I own the bargain bin. The opposite is true. I have all the Pixar movies on Blu-ray, including the Pixar Shorts compliations. The vast majority of my Blu's are award-winning top-billing movies. I've simply become a very good at finding and jumping on various Blu-ray deals. On the day Iron Man 3 was released, I got it from Toys R Us for $12 thanks to a manufacturer's coupon and a TRU sale offer. There are all sorts of deals out there. It just takes research, patience, and timing. I have not purchased one DVD in that time since DVDs are an inferior product compared to Blu-ray. How many digital downloads do you purchase each year? None. As with DVD, digital downloads are usually SD quality. The ones that claim to be HD...I've never once seen/heard even an HD digital download with the same PQ/AQ as a Blu-ray. I know you can't view a Blu-ray on a mobile device, but I do have a laptop with a Blu-ray player. That's what I primarily will use when traveling. My mobile device is not used to watch video files at all. How do you purchase digital downloads? (iTunes, Stream, etc) None. I've never done a paid streaming service of any sort, including Netflix. Do you download directly from iTunes to your device, or iTunes to your computer, and then transfer to your device? I've never installed iTunes. Is a 1.5gb - 2 gb file "too big" for you to download to your device? While I can't say I've downloaded movies from iTunes, I have downloaded files that large from different places. For example, back when Coaster Expeditions were put up as free downloads on Black Friday, I downloaded them no problem simply using my web browser. Never had a problem or interruption. On a general comment, I would have loved to purchase Roller Coasters in the RAW Blu-ray for the family. Unfortunately the whole "porn-esque" angle to it just wouldn't have gone over well as the family has no idea how something like that can be part of anyone's sense of humor, to say nothing of trying to explain it to young children. I don't hold that choice against TPR at all. Personally I thought it was a hilarious theme for a coaster video compilation. But the joke would have fallen very flat with a heavy thud with the rest of the family. Just throwing it out there in case it's useful feedback at all.

"Blackfish" aired on CNN tonight. I only caught the last 30 minutes but, wow, absolutely capitalizing on the trainer's death to push their anti-orcas in captivity agenda. This is what they got across to me. It's wrong to pen orcas into tanks to perform in shows that make money for the company. It's not wrong to exploit the death of an employee of that company in one of those shows in order to push that message. They went so far as to call the Shamu shows "barbaric" but I wonder if any of them considered how "barbaric" it is to think that because someone died, you now have a right to scream your agenda that has absolutely zero - NOTHING - to do with the accident. You just think it's wrong that orcas are kept in those tanks, and whatever happens, mistake, accident, or otherwise is proof of your agenda. You're clearly willing to stand on the grave of that trainer to blast your message. Let's throw away human life because we'd like to tell you about how wrong it is to discount marine life. I think any normal person knows what's really "barbaric" here, and it's not the Shamu show.

Cedar Fair for one pure & simple reason. They have decent cash flow and they use it rather wisely. Meanwhile Six Flags is the absolute complete opposite. What little money they do have is spent in bizarre ways that 95% are not beneficial to the guest experience outside of a 1-3 minute possibly painful roller coaster ride. When you walk around a Cedar Fair park compared to a Six Flags park, it's obvious that Cedar Fair "gets it" in a way that Six Flags either can not or will not.

Or people could simply realize that everyone - regardless of race, creed, gender, ethnicity, heritage, whatever - gets stereotyped and made fun of, and learn to take a freaking joke. B&T is a parody show that in no way is meant as a realistic depiction of anyone. That shouldn't be hard to understand, but people are just flat out dumb.

Not only are the tickets a much better value, but there's enough divergence between the Annual Pass prices and the single/multi-day ticket prices to prevent the parks from being constantly overrun by Annual Passholders!

Local news reporting that a Buffalo Wild Wings is FINALLY coming to the Santa Clarita Valley this fall. Precise location will be at the corner of Whites Cyn & Soledad Cyn Roads in a former Blockbuster Video location. If you're planning on visiting that during a trip to SFMM, carve out a good bit of time. It will take at least 20 minutes to get over there from SFMM, and that's if you know the roads. If you don't, here's directions: Go straight out of SFMM onto Magic Mtn Pkwy. Left onto Valencia Blvd. Head straight for a long, long time until you reach Whites Cyn Rd. It'll be on your right just past the stoplight at Whites Cyn. It's not in the greatest part of town, but it's better than nothing!

^^ I'd put Rocket Rods in the category of "dark ride fail" and the nominees for that category would be pretty interesting list. Superstar Limo would rank right up there. As for coaster fails, I never rode SoB but I have ridden Gwazi and Hypersonic XLC. Gwazi is nowhere close to as painful as Hypersonic was, at least for me. There was a time while I legitimately believed Hypersonic had fractured at least one tibia of mine on those restraints. The on-ride photos for my cousin and I were sheer grimaces of pain. So of course we rode it 5 or 6 times that day. I'd give Hypersonic XLC the nod for most painful ride, but in terms of sheer size and scope of fail, especially with the whole loop fiasco, SoB wins out for sure. Top 5 Fails that I've Ridden 1) Hypersonic XLC 2) Manhattan Express 3) Windjammer 4) Gwazi 5) Flashback (SFMM)

So you're saying after almost giving me a concussion, Spin Bullet got exactly what it had coming to it.

I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry over how badly news media sources are covering the GAC removal story.

Exactly, they want to be thought of and seen as just like everybody else...except when they can gain an advantage because of their circumstances. Suddenly being separated and therefore unequal is just fine, dandy, and even necessary to the point where Disney becomes insensitive to disabled and troubled kids if they are denied or even questioned about the special treatment. The parents of those kids who really want equality for their kids should be standing up and cheering these changes because it makes them more equal to everybody else who goes to those parks. But, the resistance demonstrates that it's not equality they're upholding, it's this advantage they've been given and will now be taken away in part. That's exactly what they're angry about losing. It has nothing to do with equality or Disney's sensitivity towards special needs guests. Shoving other people is normal behavior for normal kids, especially if they're in a queue with others. Kids are trained to behave in a civil manner. To think not training them, and then citing the negative behavior that results is grounds for an entitlement that is meant for disabled people is nuts. I'm sure if the kids are really autistic, there are other symptoms and reasons why she'd need the GAC, but that's the one she pointed out. She should be told that she needs to keep her kids under control, or the kids will not be admitted into the attraction queues at all. Either that, or pick a different symptom of autism to cite.