imbordisux

No pics, but I will post videos soon. Well, it’s a little late (our trip came right in the middle of moving, with the cleaning and painting happening the week before, and the actual move currently taking place), but I wanted to check in with a trip-report for everyone here. First off, thanks to everyone on the boards for all the help they gave us planning this trip – we’d never done a trip this big, especially at this pace, and it would have been a LOT harder without the input of so many great cyber people. Also, a shout-out to fellow TPR-members 307 and shesaidboom, who we caught-up with at “Holiday World” while The Raven was being repaired. Really nice meeting you two, and sorry I missed you at “SFKK”, but I was busy getting my testicles reconstructed on Chang; Monica told me you said “hi”, though. Now, I know I generally don’t write trip-reports, especially detailed ones, but I’m going to include some non-park stuff in here, as the different cultures that were all around us through-out our journey were every bit as memorable as the parks and coasters. As for the parks themselves, we’re really not credit-whores, we really only hit the big coasters and rides, hence why there’s no coverage of small flat-rides; we’d rather savor the things we came for over and over than try to get a park done quickly by hitting everything once. Our trip looked like this: 6/3 – Long Island to Pittsburgh (8 hours) 6/4 – KENNYWOOD 6/5 – Pittsburgh to Santa Claus (8 hours) 6/6 – HOLIDAY WORLD 6/7 – Santa Claus to KENTUCKY KINGDOM to Cincinnati (1+2 hours) 6/8 – KINGS DOMINION 6/9 – Cincinnati to Philly (8 hours) 6/10 – KNOEBEL’S {and Centralia} 6/11 – Philly to Long Island (4 hours)

Well, we're pretty much all set for our vacation, except for the driving directions. Neither of us have ever done a lot of travelling, or are handy with reading maps, and we're a bit nervous about getting lost. I've already printed-out directions from Mapquest, Yahoo, Google, and Maps On Us, but I still don't feel secure in them - from personal experience, I know Mapquest occasionally screws-up directions (I've had left and right reversed), and the other three aren't very accurate, often not finding the exact location I'm searching for (for instance, two couldn't find "Holiday World", and instead just directed me to the town of Santa Claus, IN). I will begin printing-out directions from the Rand-McNally site tomorrow, as well. So, what do all you coaster-enthusiasts use to find your way? Thanks in advance for all the help.

Just curious how much the parking-fees are for the following: - Kennywood - SFKK - PKI - Knoebel's Thanks in advance, - Stu

Well, in my own opinion, the episode wasn't so much about JUST a dislike of "Family Guy", or censorship, or religious extremists, but ALL of those things - Trey and Matt generally like to try to incorporate several ideas into their real "high concept" scripts, such as making "Team America" both a political-commentary AND a send-up of big-budget action movies. I can see where people would view Trey and Matt annointing Cartman the official "Anti-FG" character as indicating that they don't agree with what the character is saying, but I see it quite the opposite way: yes, Cartman is often the "villain" of SP, but he's also generally written to be the SMARTEST person on the show, as he's usually the one who says "X is true" or "so-and-so will happen", and is usually proven right at the end of the episode, such as when he predicted the chaos that a hippie-gathering would cause. Same here: him saying that FG is poorly written, and then finding out that the show is written by a group of manatees putting random words together only vindicates his assessment. My view of Kyle and others liking FG was just their way of saying "yes, people like it, but that doesn't negate the points we are making about how jokes are derived". I saw it as Cartman being Trey and Matt's dislike of the show, but Kyle being their understanding that just because Trey and Matt don't like it, that doesn't mean others have to agree. It was basically saying "Yeah, it's popular, but we ourselves don't like it." The dig about how some shows get so preachy that they aren't funny was clearly a jab at themselves, however, and clearly shows that they are not above self-criticism; they realize they've gotten very heavy-handed in their messages (and I don't think there's any disputing that), and that the ratio of "message" episodes to "basic conflict" episodes is becoming more and more unbalanced with each season. As for everything else: yes, the plot itself was derived from a combination of real-world events surrounding the comic featuring Muhammad, as well as a jab at Comedy Central for pulling the "Virgin Mary" episode, but the reason FG was used as the big metaphor for themselves, instead of using "Terrence + Phillip" or some other made-up show, was so that they could poke fun at it, too.

Cuz it sounds like "I Want Candy", the song used in both Robb's Hersheypark vid and the official Hersheypark commercials.

This is the theme music for a new wrestler named "Umaga", whose gimmick is that he's a primal savage; the song is supposed to invoke images and feelings of ancient tribes and dangerous jungles, but all it makes me think of is how much I want candy: http://www.wwe.com/content/media/video/superstars/2541792/2541798/041406umagaentvid

Ok, I am completely clueless when it comes to cameras, so please be gentle with me when explaining the difference aspects to me. I am interested in, obviously, recording on-ride footage, and was wondering what some of the best cameras for such a purpose would be; which ones have the best image stabilization and produce the least choppy video? I don't want to bother with one unless I can get "Alvey-esque" crystal-clear footage. Also, what do you recommend as a recording medium? Tape, disc, memory-stick? Lastly, will the "helmet-camera" give that same crystal-clear picture with a crappy camcorder, or does it depend on the quality of the camera? Robb? Elissa? Others? Thanks in advance, everyone. - Stu [To R&E, I know you've gotten this question before, you might want to pin this to the top of the forum.]

Who are most of the people that travel with you? Friends, family, co-workers? Some of each? And how do they travel with you so much? I'm sure you don't treat them, do they all have as much time and money to travel as you two do? Edit: I just re-read that last part, and it sounds a little tacky; didn't mean to ask about money and financing, especially in such a possibly off-putting way, but I'm not sure how else to word it. My apologies, no offense was meant.

The online community knew about this already, but, still, "Swat"! Yay! Not digging the name, but... OMFG, "Swat"!!! Has anyone here ridden a sky-swatter? I'm looking forward to this more than just about anything, I'm curious as to how they are.

Ok, we have our basic itinerary down; we've added Holiday World and PKI: Fri, 6/2 - Leave home on LI, drive to Dorney, Do Dorney, drive to Knoebel's hotel Sat, 6/3 - Knoebel's, drive to Waldameer hotel Sun, 6/4 - Waldameer, drive to Geauga hotel Mon, 6/5 - Geauga, drive to Cedar hotel Tues, 6/6 - Cedar (stay at Cedar hotel that night) Weds, 6/7 - Cedar (stay at Cedar hotel that night) Thurs, 6/8 - Drive to HW hotel Fri, 6/9 - Holiday World (stay at HW hotel that night) Sat, 6/10 - Holiday World, drive to PKI hotel Sun, 6/11 - PKI, drive to Kennywood hotel Mon, 6/12 - Kennywood, drive to Hershey hotel Tues, 6/13 - Hershey, drive home to LI Not looking for any real advice or anything, just felt like keepin' everyone abreast of our plans.

Probably this one: http://unicoaster.com/

She's a girl... (credit whore) She's just a girl... (credit whore)

That just begs the question: HOW do you find time to actually, ya know, GO to all these places? Hell, I'm ready to call it a night after I take out the garbage.

I know there's rarely any flaming on this board, but just in case, I'll be the first to state that your idea has already been done. It's called "X", and is located at "Six Flags: Magic Mountain" in California: http://www.rcdb.com/ig750.htm Sucks when you think you have an original idea, only to find out that it already exists. Sorry.

Ahh, thanks for the info. I guess the next logical question for me to ask is: Just how much noise does it actually make?

Here's the thing to keep in mind about Intamin: Their vehicles are not designed to be able to service as many riders as those vehicles designed by other companies. Many manufacturers try to make their trains accessable for everyone, but Intamin doesn't. If you are heavy, do not make the mistake of thinking that just because you can fit into a B&M "big boy" seat, or can fit into a woodie that features a buzzbar and no seat-divider, that does NOT mean that you will be able to squeeze into Intamin's hyper-style trains, and if you have a physical handicap, such as paraplegia, and can safely ride an Arrow looper, that does NOT mean that you should attempt to balance yourself in a seat that doesn't give you much in the way of all-around support. And if you're really tall, and try to get onto a ride a OTSRs? That's a recipe for a nasty back injury right there. Pretty much every problem Intamin has had as far as their coasters go is not their fault: it is the fault of, A) people who shouldn't be riding insisting (arguing, fighting, etc.) that they be allowed to ride, and B) the ride-ops who allow them to ride, despite seeing that they should be allowed to. And don't give me any of this "well, I let them know that they're riding at their own risk", that's BS, if you think there's a chance he could *die*, then you do everything you can to GET THEM THE F OFF THE RIDE!!! You're willing to let someone be ejected from a ride cuz you don't want to get into an argument? *inhale* Sorry. Anyway, as I was saying, Intamin pushes the limits of speed, height, and force like nobody else in the industry, and many of their trains - specifically their hypers - are built to be relatively aerodynamic, what with the 2-per-row bucket seating and narrow cars; in order to do some of the things they do, they have to discriminate sometimes, but they can't be blamed for riders and operators acting like idiots.

I've never been to SFMM, so could somebody explain this whole thing about not operating "Flashback" because of noise?

Hmm... without looking at any female clothes right now, I'm gonna venture to guess that the answer is "no". At first, I was thinking it would be similar to buttons, but then I realized that, when the zipper is all "zipped-up", there's no telling which side of the garment the handle was originally on.

I really like the show a lot, though I can't comment on the new episodes, as I only have the first three DVDs. So many people, usually of college-age, try to equate "stupid" and "random" with "funny", but very very few can actually pull it off. ATHF can.

I can't believe my original reply (requoting exactly what was posted already) was deleted; I thought it was a nice allusion to the movie. But, yes, "Groundhog Day" is one of the absolute greatest movies of all time. "You say this is your first lesson?" "Yes, but my father was a piano-mover, so..."

I apologize, I have one more question: Are there any parks between Knoebels and Waldameer, preferably halfway between the two, and not too far out of the way? I'm not crazy about the five-hour drive.

I sell electronic components for a living, and was a supplier for "Triverity". For those unfamiliar with that name, they have a division called "XtremeX3", which deals with advanced digital video. One of their products/services? Individual digital cameras mounted to each row of a roller coaster (as well as one mounted on the front of the ride), which would record the entire length of the ride; you could then purchase a DVD afterwards of your reactions through the whole ride (in conjunction with synched POV footage). Last June, they signed a deal with Paramount to install on-board digital video cameras on their coasters, starting with PKD. Well, anyway, one of our industry watch-dogs sends out a weekly newsletter keeping us abreast of what's going on around the world, and in yesterday's edition, it was noted that "Triverity" has "discontinued all business operations." Too bad, it looked like a great product: http://www.triverity.com/en/partners/thril...ickTracksPage=6 http://www.xtremex3.com/en/partners/thrill...ickTracksPage=6

Dang you beat me to it. He bring on winter I dont care its been above normal here in St. Louis everyday in January. I love Punxsutawney Phil!Groundhogs rule!!!

Umm... that was anti-climactic.

Does her son run a motel?