PeoplemoverMatt
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Posts posted by PeoplemoverMatt
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"What do you think the temperature is?" "One."
Nice Steve Martin to John Candy Planes, Trains & Automobiles reference there Robb.
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No FastPass at DCA's Midway Mania. DHS' has FP for a very good reason, but at DCA it isn't needed. Once all the newness wears off, the queue likely won't be of any sort of length outside of peak time hours.
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In case anyone's wondering out there - this is not spam. This is a wholly legit get the word out campaign about a little-known service that's doing wonders for those legally blind who know about that's going away.
2 main goals here:
1) KEEP THE SERVICE ALIVE! We need Sprint to change their mind about taking this site down. It's easy for corporate bigwigs to look around at stuff lying around from before a merger/takeover, see something like this site, and think they have an easy kill. Trouble is, some legally blind people are dependent on this service for cell phone use! They won't be able to use their cell phones if this site gets taken down. With all the burdens already placed upon the legally blind in just everyday living, they don't need this too!
2) The more the word gets out - the more people will want to sign up for this service! This is not a freebie handout to the visually-impaired, this is a PAID service. Yes that's right - some legally blind are paying more than everyone else just because they're legally blind. But the real issue is, IF this site is being taken down because of lack of subscribers, then more subscribers might do some good in saving it. So talk to everyone who's legally blind that you know, especially if they've resigned themselves to never using a cell phone again, and see what they think about this. The more the word gets out about this, the more the Sprint top brass will know people care about it, and the less attractive a kill this site might be.
Yes we know this is not likely to end up how we want it to end. But if we do nothing, it surely won't end how we want it. It's not asking much of people to send an email to tell Sprint that you support the legally blind, and ask them to consider the legally blind before they take this site down, so that's all we're asking. Help us won't you?
-- Peoplemover "I'm PMM and I approve this message" Matt
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I want to see this sign all the time!
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This came in an email from my 80+ year old legally blind grandmother who lives in Delray Beach, FL. She lives alone and still works as one of the best real estate agents in the state. If Sprint ends this service, she and tons of other legally blind cell phone users will no longer be able to use their cell phones. What's more, no legally blind person may EVER be able to use a cell phone again. Help us stop Sprint from taking away cell phone use from the legally blind forever!!!
I have a great need for your help. Please read the following:Sprint has offered a little known service: talk.sprintpcs.com. With a large monitor and a zoomtext program enlarging to 12x, the legally blind could enter and store their address book with all home, work, and cell numbers into their cell phone via the internet. This provided cell phone use via the use of voice commands and made the cell phone a valuable companion. (Basically it allowed them to use their cell phone without being able to see any buttons or its screen because being legally blind, they can't.)
In late April, Sprint notified the subscribers to download their numbers and print their address book (to save the info stored in them). The website will come down on 7/1/08.
If the numbers are not already in the phone come 7/1/08, the legally blind will not be able to use the voice command (and thus, their cell phone at all). The info will be gone and the address book will not be able to be updated.
Calling and e-mailing Sprint has done no good because we can not get past the menus and the publication reply letters to explain the seriousness of the problem to the higher executives and ask them to reconsider.
U.S. Congressman Robert Wexler has an assisstant working with me, but we need all of you to forward an email to everyone you know and ask them to write to Dan@Sprint.com and say: "PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THE WEBSITE: TALK.SPRINTPCS.COM DOWN ON JULY 1ST PLEASE! RECONSIDER HOW THIS WILL AFFECT THE LEGALLY BLIND, WHO HAVE SUBSCRIBED TO THE SITE AND THE LEGALLY BLIND WHO WOULD HAVE IF THEY HAD KNOWN ABOUT THE SITE AND THE SERVICE. READ SEC. 223 OF THE FCC 1999 ACTION."
Can you imagine going through life not being able to see your kids, grandkids, or even pictures of them? Not being able to drive yourself anywhere? Can you imagine trying to be a professional anything, at 80+, under those conditions? My grandmother and many like her have an amazing drive to do just that, but the world is increasingly turning its back on the legally blind with new technology not being accessible for them. This address book via the internet is a paid service whose legally blind subscribers are perfectly willing to pay anything Sprint asks for for it! NO ONE is asking for ANYTHING free here!
PLEASE support the legally blind, email Sprint and stop them from taking the site down and cell phones away from those who're perfectly willing to pay as much as you do and more because they can barely use what you take for granted - your eyes!
Email Dan@Sprint.com and please forward this news to any Congress person or media outlet that would be interested in getting this story further out to the public's ear.
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Weeee I made it in a TPR update! Thanks Robb, Elissa, KT & Chris, much fun was had!
Great coverage of the ride, especially on the POV video. Robb once again demonstrating epic multi-tasking skills. Takes talent to film POV and send all those LGM's off to nuclear heaven.
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Working on the average of some of the prices here.......
If we were paying our prices in the US, it would equate to $10.45 per gallon
so at the moment, we are paying twice as much as you guys, you are all paying the same as we were about 7-8 years ago......!!
Extortion
Um, Europeans have always paid insane TAXES on gasoline the likes of which the USA has never seen.
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Is this news for any reason other than people today just totally freak out whenever they heard the word 'outsourcing'?
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^ It has the size & seating it does because Shakes n' Fries is about the millionth different restaurant that's utilized that building. I've always thought it would be a nice idea to get rid of that unused seating and create a nice photo-op backdrop with the lake, trees & Log Jammer lift hill background.
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Is the wait for Johnny Rockets really one hour? It could be a stupid question, I just don't know.
Oh it certainly could be. Keep in mind that Jay opened a second, smaller Johnny Rockets serving shakes & fries over towards the entrance to the park. So if that's what you're after, that place is likely a great alternative from big lines at the big Johnny Rockets down by the Midway.
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So all someone needs to do is lie about an effects malfunction and they get a free re-ride?
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Beetlejuice was awesome! Spiderman Rocks and Fear Factor Live? Not so much.
I'll reserve judgement for now, but I will gladly settle for an improvement over Fear Factor. Even if it is just a slight improvement.
Fear Factor wasn't the greatest show of all time, but it was fun to be a contestant on.
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Well that's why I posted it here, because if someone did see it on their news, they'd say something about it! Nice to see it did get some mention...
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There's a difference between being cheap and being efficient. Back in the 80's the capacity/attendance trends/economy were different. Times have changed since then. A park has to find that balance between efficiency and fiscal responsibility. If the park is only predicting 10,000 guests, it doesn't make sense to run more than 3 trains (or whatever the number might be).
I'm OK with a park doing what you call "being cheap" as long as they react accordingly to any crowds/lines that do build up. It's being smart with their money.
This is another topic for another thread, so I'll leave it with this:
It's just amazing to me that any park would take the 10,000 guests they managed to get for granted like that, when operations would suddenly be different if those 10,000 all brought a friend with them. Joey I know you're a manager, and I'm not, but it seems to me like being smart with your money is giving those 10,000 people the time of their lives so they'll come back AND bring a friend with them. Might cost a little more initially, but that money will come back if done right. Making them wait 45mins when they don't need to doesn't accomplish that goal. That's all I'm going to say in principle about that.
Fortunately, it looks like Magic Mountain is at least trying to show that in some places, they're taking more of the 'give the 10,000 we have a great time' route. They're not perfect at it. There are some gaping holes still. But I hope the kind of 'invest in WOW' thinking they've been using eventually finds its way into all facets & all nooks & crannies of the park. That will be nice to see.
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Apparently this didn't make the news at all over on the East Coast, including the Orlando, FL area. Guess they just don't care about the real movie studios, and just like to pretend their way through the mostly-fake ones at Universal Orlando & WDW?
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I agree 100%, just thought I would explain that Disney, like every other theme park, has a budget to adhere to and therefore you're not going to see them running at full capacity all the time.
You call it running on a budget, I call it being cheap. As Robb said, operations aren't what they used to be. The top brass actively choose where not to spend money, knowing full well what the consequences will be, and it comes down to you as running on a budget. I get it, but I still don't like it, especially when Disney did just fine not doing that in the past.
I can understand trains breaking down affecting capacity. I can understand configuration of a system basically setting what the capacity will be. What I have a very low tolerance of is any theme park charging as much as possible for parking/admission, etc and then turning around and purposely cheaping out on those guests. This can be done by not running more than 1-2 trains on weekdays. This can be done by hiring minimum wage slackers who'll spend more time chatting with each other & on a cell phone than actually doing their job. This can be done by building two loading stations for your attraction, and then rarely, if ever, using both sides. It's very transparent when it does happen. That's why people complain about it & have complained about Six Flags doing it for years.
To see Disney taking the cheap way out is just flat depressing. Magic Mountain is at least saying they're trying to do their best with what they have, and Six Flags is pretty deep in debt. Disney is hardly having financial problems. For them, budget is no excuse IMHO.
-- PMM
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Having side-by-side loading stations (or multiple load/unload locations) only works when/if the park decides to staff every area. Even Disneyland doesn't bother doing that for Screamin' and Indy during the weekdays anymore (or at least didn't for the entire month of May). Really frustrating when a park actively chooses to make people wait longer because they can't be bothered to run their attractions at optimum capacity, yet charges the same for admission 365 days a year.
For 5 consecutive weeks I saw Screamin' loading one side running with 2 trains on Mon/Tues. On weekends, it was 5 trains loading both sides. I always thought Disney crews held themselves to a higher standard but I guess on weekdays they go back to "if it's good enough for Six Flags" mode...
-- PMM
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The road construction on The Old Road in front of Magic Mountain's entrance seems to be going well. That all is finally looking like something & should be pretty easy to move around once it's all finally done with.
I really feel sorry for the people trying to get to Magic Mountain by exiting I-5 south at Magic Mtn Pkwy and having to go through Tourney Rd w/ 2 left turns. Exiting Valencia Blvd isn't much better since you'd have to make a left off The Old Road in the middle of the construction when it funnels down to one lane. Bad bottleneck experience.
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Robb come on, are you really saying X is to X2 as BTTF is to Simpsons ride??
Floorless Shiekra I'll grant you, and I thought that was pretty overblown as well. Not that floorless vertical isn't cool, but, at least it was a change in the ride experience. Is there going to be a change in X's ride experience besides a new commitment to stuff like capacity & maintenance that should have already been done the first go-around, and maybe some fire? Because if not, the billboards should say "X2: We're finally trying to get it right, AND WE'LL HAVE FIRE! OMG^2!"
Oh wait, they've already got that last part on billboards.
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^^ You're treating X2 like it was a new coaster, expecting a Media Day & so forth when it very much is not. X2 is X w/ new paint, new trains, and maybe a fire effect or two. That's about it, plus hopefully some tweaks in procedure to increase capacity & reliability. $50 is pretty steep for something like that IMHO, but feel free to enjoy the ERT.
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But again, if you were at WCB & heard the explanations from Tim, he explained that weight actually works backwards than conventional thinking with X2's trains (meaning if anything, heavier trains will produce a smoother experience), and that a lighter weight was there so the new trains wouldn't require as much maintenance as the old ones did. He made it a point to say that X2's trains were NOT designed to run any smoother than the old trains did, and said the outer seat being rougher phenomenon will likely be the case with the new trains as well.
More people need to go to these events. They can be quite informative!
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Well when nothing's been changed in the design of the train or the track to make the ride smoother, the best you can hope for is that it's now accidentally smoother. Don't think the odds of that are too great.
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^ It was said at WCB that the new trains weren't meant to reduce any sort of roughness, so I wouldn't expect X2 to feel much different.
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X2: OMG^2
WORST COASTER BILLBOARD EVER!
Seen on CA 126 going east just coming out of Fillmore.
Six Flags Magic Mountain SFMM 2009 Coaster - Termintor?
in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Posted
Yes, there are multiple earthquake codes that all structures around here need to be built to. That's why you see woodies in places like CA & Japan looking like they have 100x the structural wood that they really need to have.
The quake that damaged Psyclone was the '94 Northridge quake which darn near liquified the ground Psyclone stood on, seeing as its an old dried up lake bed. This area took a ridiculous amount of seismic energy from that quake. Many structures collapsed or were heavily damaged, though Magic Mountain came through pretty well all things considered.