Chroniq

For anyone that enjoys looking behind the curtain.. Here are a few photos of how the Transformers meet and greet characters were created and how they are operated.. source- http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/07/making-wireds-comic-con-robot/?viewall=true Edited to say that Legacy Effects/Stan Winston school are not the confirmed creators of the Transformers walk around characters, but Conde Nest publishing decided to have them construct this VERY similar robot a month after Transformers opened. I'll let you decide. Either way, kind of cool to get a backstage look at something like this. Check out the link if you haven't seen this mech in action yet.

Thanks TPR for an awesome Gaeuga Lake themed Bag of Crap! Pretty sure we have every single Gaeuga Lake theme park souvenir ever made now.. Thanks again. SAVE TEH BIG DIPER! -chris "plans on wearing the hat tomorrow" con

Thanks for all the updates and posts on twitter/facebook. Really enjoyed seeing all of the fun everyone had on this trip. Thanks for all of the hard work Robb, Elissa, and everyone else puts into these things.. -chris "is incredibly jealous he hasn't been to Japan yet" con

Heads up for everyone heading out to one of America's treasures... The "best" parts of Coney Island will be closed tomorrow on July 4th... All of Luna Park, the Cyclone, Deno's Amusement Park and the Wonder Wheel will be closed. Scream Zone, the Carousel and a portion of the boardwalk (to host the hot dog eating contest) are expected to open though. Due to safety concerns they've decided to dismantle the tower. Sad stuff, Chris

Thunderbolt?

Thus is good enough for me as usual I'm late to the party... Just happy to help a great cause

I do what I can ... According to my rudimentary calculations ( I used an abacus) , tha' puts TPR as the highest fundraiser at Carowinds as well (where , of course , everyday is Saturday) ... - Chris "hat tip to all the people involved in this and the alveys and Kara for making it happen" con

Anyone know if the top team will change on the list if you donate at this point ? We are the top team in all but 3 parks. I'd like to make it all but 2 parks.

^Thanks for the fact check... During his latest trial (not the infamous murder trial) he was given 250,000 bail. He violated parole and later was found quilty and sentenced for 9 to 33 years. Sorry for taking this way off topic, but yeah.. They are certainly sending a statement with that bail amount.

1,000,000 bail... Wow To put that in perspective Casey Anthony bail 500,000 OJ Simpson 250,000

You have to wonder how many potential cruisers will avoid booking their first one after this string of events this year.. This is the coverage CNN is running http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/27/world/americas/bahamas-cruise-line-fire/index.html?hpt=hp_c2 (the video starts with a recap of the incidents) If I was on the fence about cruising and an uninformed person, this kind of news coverage might convince me to just take a land based vacation. Also.. Loved this quote via cruise critic-" Kevin Korman I am on the grandeur right now. my flight is scheduled at 8 pm tonight into Baltimore. We were also offered a hotel in Baltimore tonight. The cruiseline was awesome. Besides how well they conducted the emergency itself, they went above and beyond for all passengers. Adam Goldstein and the Captian walked around comforting passengers most of the afternoon. They offered free starbucks and specialty coffees, soda, internet, phoneline from cabins and reinburst passengers for drink packages, soda packages, along with giving away all the photos you had taken. 100% refund on your cruise ( 50% for people sailing on next weeks cruise). Flight to baltimore or your final destination, air refund if you booked choice air, and all airline change fees for those who did not purchase air through RCI. The air conditioning was fine throughout the cruise. The cruise was allowed to eat lunch and dinner in the windjammer with the passengers. Sure looks like a great company to be employed. I just have to commend everyone involved, espicially the group of firefighters who they honored in the centrum this morning. It was very moving. Looking forward to my next royal caribbean cruise."

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^Awesome generosity. In the spirit of Robb's giving, I've got $50.00 burning a hole in my pocket for the first person that posts here.

Sorry it's come to this, but.......... MILK CHALLENGE.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_chugging ... I have $123.45 for the first person that is willing to videotape this and successfully completes the challenge. Drink one gallon of milk in one hour and enjoy the delicious gallon of milk for one hour without having an upset stomach. A few rules - 1- Whole Milk 2- Follow all other milk challenge rules as listed on the above wikipedia article. 3- Record everything and post it on YouTube/coastertube/vimeo and share a link here. 4. If you fail spectacularly and post the video here, I'll donate something to you 5. Mention TPR in the video so I know it's "legit" Chris "It's for a great cause!" Con

Not much to see here, but it looks like all the surveyors and markers recently spotted in the Jurassic Park section of Islands of Adventure are for "carnival style" games... Chris "kind of disappointing given the recent rumors" Con

Fixed

I feel the same way. This probably will sound strange to most of you, but I want to be scared or feel like the ride is pushing it to the absolute limit of safety.. I want to feel like there is a chance I might die. Ejector air all day. -chris "darlin' I don't know why, I go to extremes" con

^LOL

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And that's all that PETA is really interested in. ^This.. PETA purchased about $2000.00 dollars worth of shares, which allows them to propose "shareholder resolutions"... Think of a shareholder resolution as a non-binding poll, that is usually used by activist groups to make headlines. The board and the company are not required to even follow the vote of a shareholder resolution even if it receives the majority of votes by all voting shareholders... It's a pure headlines grab. -chris "PETA likely spent twice as much in issuing press releases to announce this" con

best.cruise.ship.evar.

Thanks for the awesome trip report and photos. I love seeing these reports of parks I've never been to. For people that have been there, how does Universal Japan compare to the stateside parks? I know Tokyo Disneyland is famous for it's quality, cleanliness, and upkeep of the attractions.. Is Universal the same way? Most of the rides are clones and the theming seems very simular to the state side parks, but is there anything that makes this park stand out in your minds?

So Disney is on a tear filing patent applications for new versions of their "tried and true" attractions as well as completely new ones. For perspective, we've seen more patent filings for rides between April 2012 to April 2013 than we've seen in the past 6 years COMBINED. Previously, I've posted a new version of splash, pirates, dumbo, astro orbiter, the carousel, and monsters inc. So today, I've got teacups. While not an e-ticket attraction, they certainly have an interesting idea. I'll let Ed Nemeth, head of Disney Shanghai R&D explain it.. pix or it didn't happen.

^New York Television news is all over this and Disneyland is thousands of miles away. Must be a slow news night as you don't usually see these type of stories on the news up here.