PeoplemoverMatt

I'm not really familiar with my own home's bus system, but that route from the Via Princessa train station sounds really wonky all around. If you're taking the Metrolink from Burbank, see if the bus can pick you up from the Metrolink station on Commuter Way and bring you over to Westfield Valencia Town Center (our mall), or the SFMM area, or the a stop on Tourney Rd. somewhere (this would be 5 minutes walk away from your hotel). That would be a much more direct route to your hotel than the one you described.

So last weekend I took my first ever trip to Texas for the 32nd Annual O. Henry Pun Off in Austin. While that was on a Saturday, I took the day before and the day after to check out 2 parks I'd never seen before - Six Flags Over Texas & Six Flags Fiesta Texas. 2 days of fun & frivolity - Texas style! Overall, each park was very enjoyable to visit. Crowds were mostly light, and employees were great. Below is a visual record of two parks that I'll most certainly visit again; likely next year when the Pun-Off is on again. I'll put up the Six Flags Over Texas pictures first. Tomorrow I'll put up the Six Flags Fiesta Texas pics. Enjoy! And my night ended with my own private ride on the Texas Giant. Thanks to the Giant crew for that, and thanks to SFOT as a whole for a very enjoyable first time visit. I'll be sure to make the trek again next year if I return for next year's Pun-Off. That will do it for SFOT. Later today (Wed) I'll be posting my pics from Six Flags Fiesta Texas, which was also a first time visit. See ya until then! Oil Derrick has a familiar look that I think I've seen in another park somewhere. Rode this in the back row, and it did throw me out of the seat a few times. Pretty fun little ride. And the final credit of the evening, Shock Wave! Yaaaaaaaaay. Never actually thought that I'd get a chance to ride this thing, but I did. Ah yes...Sarajevo Bo-- err, La Vibora! But I can't stop at Titan! There's still two more credits left! One of which can be found here in... Spain?? Texas Giant's lift hill also is quite illuminated in the dark. The lift hill lighting at night looks awesome! I was surprised at how much of a difference the extra uphill helix actually made compared to SFMM's Goliath. It's a lot more noticeable than I thought it would be. But with the park closing soon and more credits to be had, I needed to keep moving. Admittedly, this is not the marquee I had envisioned for Titan, but whatcha gonna do? Tons more twisty wooden goodness over here. I finally know what I've been missing in the form of a wooden coaster in SoCal! Texas Giant was all around a tremendous ride. Haven't had that much fun on a coaster in some time. WHEEEE! Works for me! Hmmm...this is a giant wooden coaster...in Texas...what should we call it? Since I hadn't eaten anything in 26 hours, it was turkey leg time! The fact that this had horns on it amused me. Yes please! I wish I could see one of these parades someday. I'm not ready to say I wish this would come to SFMM because I've never seen one, but this still looks like some good nighttime entertainment is headed SFOT's way. Oh right, I'm in Texas. Eh, still serves the same purpose as an observation deck. Too bad it was closed on this day. =( So what does this park call this? Sky Tower? Eiffel Tower? Hey, can anyone tell me what state I'm currently in? I seem to have forgotten... Occasionally I have to stop myself from believing that a giant fart controls these tower rides. The ride came across to me as a cross between Gold Rusher and Big Thunder Mountain. However, I believe the reality is that both those coasters were inspired from this one. This I found interesting. One of the factoids usually floated about Disneyland's Matterhorn is that it was the first coaster to use tubular steel track. However, Runaway Mine Train here makes the very same claim. The claim isn't made in the pictured ACE plaque, but made over the PA in the station. Both can't be correct at the same time creating an interesting case of mutual exclusivity. It's a credit. That's what matters. Mr. Freeze was a fun coaster, but there's more credits to be had. Here are two conveniently located right next to each other. Woot. OMG again again! That's a coaster with inversions but no OSTR's! I must be on drugs. This is a trifecta of impossibility here! OMG again! Is Six Flags operating both sides of a loading area when the park attendance is light and there isn't much "demand"??? OMG! Is that themeing I see inside a Six Flags attraction??? Be there in a sec! Time for some Freeze and yet another credit! Batman: The Exit Queue gives a nice look at a Texas sunset. Yellow Batman is just so... yellow. Is it good to be yellow in Texas? I'm not quite sure... This way to your Batman colonic exam! Freeze & Batman are all like, "Sup?" Yellow Batman looks quite yellowish in person... Hey there Batmobile! Long time, no see! It's not Gotham City Backlot, but it works! Hmmm...I'm noticing a general theme in this direction... It also rode fairly on the smooth side of things, believe it or not. I was pleasantly surprised. Name notwithstanding, this is a pretty standard issue boomerang coaster. It's certainly been a while since I've heard the word "exciting" in a description of a coaster named Flashback! Okay so it's only a Vekoma boomerang, but, any coaster that calls itself "Flashback" merits some trepidation.... What?! Oh dear. This is not a good sign... *THE* Six Flags fluttering proudly in the breeze. In case you've never known this, "Six Flags" refers to the six flags that have flown over Texas in its history, shown here. Also, there be a lake with a pretty view, and a state flag reminding me where I was. At the other end of this tunnel...a woody. As fun as it would have been to relive a fond memory, this wasn't open. But, the name "Texas Chute Out" would have made the Pun-Off folks proud! Hey there all you KBF fans. Oh right, I'm in Texas... Swashbuckler? Eat, ride, puke, crap...in whatever order you wish. Undercarriage nerdy shot! Big Spin goodness... Noted! In the queue is where everyone learns about Tony Hawk... First up, something that might be coming to SFMM someday - Big Spin! Ah finally, time for some coasters! Holy crap, Z-Force?! Hmmm...same name, but not quite the same look... Bugs, Taz, and their paparazzi Inside the park, this was the first land that I wandered into. Only two more years before Six Flags turns 50. All our little theme parks are growing up... I has arrived! Yay! And a hello there to Goliath's twin + extra helix - Titan! Why hello there former Sarajevo Bobsleds! Six Flags Magic Mountain has always been my home park, but this took off before I was old enough to be able to ride this. Problem solved today! Arriving at about 6:15pm means no waiting at parking toll gate! (Why so late? Landed at Austin around noon, then drove to Texas Motor Speedway for a quick tour, and then drove over here. Only about 250 miles of driving!) After 200+ miles of driving from Austin, I've finally arrived at SFOT! Looks a lot like Knott's Berry Farm's entrance off Beach...

Well Robb generally includes Gold Flash Pass when visiting parks in their busy season that offer such a product. With that, crowds shouldn't be a problem.

Sounds like Terminator will be a wonderful education to this area of the country on how GOOD a wooden coaster really can be.

No pictures to show of this but... ...Colossus Cookery, between Gotham City and Scream!/Colossus area, has re-opened as SFMM's 2nd Ben & Jerry's. The first being a small outpost inside Food Etc. This one is in a much larger building that is all its own. Very nice to see this particular food service installation open again with a renewed purpose.

^ May 23rd is the announced opening date for Terminator.

When Disney builds a new monorail that can't run in temperatures higher than 80 degrees due to huge design flaw leading to a lack of proper ventilation, some people don't feel like they can assume anything anymore. To question is understandable, but I don't have problems assuming that the plans for Terminator include proper entrance/exit/queue space.

Well at least there's Disneyland to look at while you're in those queues. There's views available that are somewhat more pleasant to the eyes than bare concrete...

^ I hear ya, but I would challenge the premise of "most visible" on the basis of the wait time spent in that exposed Sun Wheel queue. Have you ever waited 30mins or more in that queue? The exposure to the sun, combined with heat radiating off the concrete, combined the complete lack of anything to see or do besides stare at bare concrete becomes almost unbearable. Since I have yet to see anything to indicate that the loading procedures will be any different than how it used to be, I'm going to assume when Fun Wheel opens, people will once again experience the joy of being roasted alive while waiting for the Wheel, only this time it'll be moreso since Fun Wheel will see the "Ooooh let's ride the new thing!" crowd for a few weeks. I'm getting a bad vibe that more "low priority" costs are going to be "moved" before this is all said & done...

Why does this feel like $1 Locker Discussion: Part II?

Pretty sure the re-theming of the other side of Paradise Pier was included in the original plans, along with the Fun Wheel's now axed wooden Victorian-style queue. Check the concept art shown in the beginning of this thread.

Well, sort of. I took the renovation plans as a sign that they at least intend to make the unbearable parts of the park nicer to look at, and be around. The former Paradise Pier had a pretty view across the water, but became downright insulting once you were close enough to see all the cheap neon lights, stucco, bare concrete walls, and overall total lack of theme in Screamin' and Fun Wheel's respective queues. Other parts of DCA suffered from similar insulting appearances. Those were the parts that it looked like Disney was out to change in all these plans. But now things like a nice looking queue have been deemed a low priority as the money's been re-routed...somewhere. The budget hasn't been cut since it's too late for that, so I can't help but wonder what got the money that was going to be Fun Wheel's queue? Unfortunately for the Fun Wheel, the elaborate queue was the one part of its plan that would put the ribbon on the "We're not being cheap anymore" package, and now it's not going to be there at least for the Fun Wheel's re-opening in a couple weeks. It may be built at a later date, but for now, the queue will remain barren, concrete, and almost totally exposed to the sun. Imagine if the Games of the Boardwalk, which re-opened recently, had just put Disney characters in the games, and painted the stucco a different color, instead of totally redoing the facades like they did. This is essentially the end result of Mickey's Fun Wheel. Mickey looks nice, and I'm sure the new lights will sparkle, but the "facade" if you will won't be changing at all for now. Yay bare concrete, white posts, and cheap orange tarp. Pretty sad.

Awesome!!

Is it possible that that video was created before the Terminator theme was decided upon for the coaster? At WCB, Tim Burkhardt mentioned how the park and the movie people came together after both individual projects were already green-lit. Plus I'm pretty sure the intent of the video was to give a general idea of the ride & its layout, and not be a 100% accurate display of every blade of grass that may, or may not, end up being there in the finish project. Concept art, or video in this case, is never totally accurate like that.

Just so everybody knows, in every theme park in existence, there is no magical ticket fairy that comes and collects everybody's printed at home tickets once you hand them off to the employees at the Front Gate. Someone employed by whatever park you're at has to bring all those 8.5x11 papers to a certain area where other someones, also employed by the park, deals with them. Once that's done, other someones deal with the information gathered from that process. All of this is costs incurred by the park. All parks have to spend money in terms of manpower and overhead to deal with the tickets, not to mention what money is fed to the likely 3rd party facilitating the online sale/print out. ANY ticket medium involves a cost to a park somewhere. So if attributing the $5 fee to something makes you feel better about it, attribute it there. As has been pointed out, this $5 fee brings the $20 online discount all the way down to $15. Think of it as getting free parking when you buy admission online. Doesn't that feel better? Of course, if you really, really hate the $5 fee, you could just buy the full price admission at the gate when you arrive. You'd be turning a $5 fee into a self-imposed $20 defiance fee, but at least you can sleep at night knowing you didn't let greedy Six Flags get their clutches on your $5!

Over at the Fun Wheel, Disney has decided NOT to build new Victorian-style elaborate wooden queue for Mickey's Fun Wheel and instead has returned the cheap-looking orange tarps to the same barren concrete wasteland of a queue the Sun Wheel has always had. While the Wheel itself sports new paint, new lights, and the faces of several Disney characters, most noteably a giant Mickey where the sun used to be, the ONLY change to the queue will be the handrails now being red, and whatever new marquee they decide to quickly throw up there. Mickey looks nice, but the queue has good healthy dose of FAIL.

If you're ever concerned about SFMM crowds, hedge your bets and buy Flash Pass online. No need to worry after that.

It's possible that they're stored in a place where it would violate TPR rules to show a pic of them. Not saying that's what's happening, just that it's one possibility why there aren't any train pics yet.

It's sad what happened to SFNO but suing Six Flags over it is the fastest way to accomplish absolutely nothing. How 'bout rolling up your sleeves yourself, New Orleans, and working with Six Flags to restore the park to working order? Y'know, actually solving the problem?

You're assuming these people care about rules. Mr. Six's assessment of these people is an accurate one. If don't want them in our park, then we, all of us, guests, employees, everyone, needs to do our parts in cleaning them out. Send the message loud & clear that we will not tolerate them anymore. Guests need to report these people as SFMM enforces their code of conduct policies.

Wait, wait, wait. So you're saying because SFMM is located where it is, it's at risk because just everybody who lives here are vandals? I live in this geographic location. Am I a vandal? Robb lives here too. Is he a vandal? Have you ever actually been to Valencia? We have one of the lowest crime rates in the nation. Clearly you have very little knowledge about SFMM's geographic location. You're insulting an entire population because a few bad apples drive themselves to a certain place and cause problems once in a while, and all because you want to make some point about handrails??? Wow.

Not paint their queue rails? What? SFMM isn't the only park in the universe that sometimes suffers from guests vandalizing certain areas. Possibility of vandalism doesn't mean paint/wood shouldn't be used...

^ Yep. The online voucher works the same way as any voucher obtained from the park's ticket booths.

It was made mandatory & I'm pretty sure the "enforcers" included the shirt in their list of things to enforce.

Ok, I could have worded what I previously said a little better. It wasn't an out & out cancellation. They just cancelled the initial plans and changed their program a bit, which resulted in the 10pm closing for all guests. There was still a large group of people-who-know-who-they-are's in the park Friday night. SFMM's employees by & large are not unionized. The only people I'm not sure about are the maintenance & construction workers. The vast majority of SFMM employees are seasonal, similar to DLR's CR-35, or whatever those are called these days.