mr bad example Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 Actually, since last year we had custom audio, this year Robb should shoot his own custom preshow. Elissa could run around in a black tank top with guns, cause that's what happens in the apocalypse, women put on black tank tops and grab guns. TANK TOPS!!?!! During the few days I worked as a ride op on Colossus, we used to watch for cute girls wearing them...this was pre-rebuild, and as many times as we could get away with it, we'd be gathering around the monitor station as those lovely ladies went over the negative g hilltops, which had pretty good cameras for the time! One of the perks of working Colossus, along with doing the nightly track walk under the tracks after it had closed-at least a dozen bic lighters, $10 to $15 each in change, and sometimes even better stuff...but anything that was valued at more than $5 you had to report and MM held it for 30 days...still got a couple of nice necklaces to give to girlfriends from that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WFChris Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 lovely ladies went over the negative g hilltops, which had pretty good cameras for the time! One of the perks of working Colossus, Did anyone else giggle at 'perks' after reading the last part? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebl Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 One thing I remember about the Galaxy---it was an original park attraction, but I don't think I ever got to ride it until about 1973 or 1974 because every time I went, it was down for some reason. (Now I know it probably snapped a gear! ) Another ride I miss is the Chevron Grand Prix. To me, that's almost a theme park requirement. But these days with the cost of fuel and maintenance, I can see why some parks are replacing them with electric vehicles or taking them out altogether. It still amazes me that Disneyland's Autopia (the same type of ride) is still going strong. How many of you know what the Tumble Drum was or remember Teen Tank and what it was? Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ejectorbater Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 TANK TOPS!!?!! During the few days I worked as a ride op on Colossus, we used to watch for cute girls wearing them...this was pre-rebuild, and as many times as we could get away with it, we'd be gathering around the monitor station as those lovely ladies went over the negative g hilltops, which had pretty good cameras for the time! One of the perks of working Colossus, along with doing the nightly track walk under the tracks after it had closed-at least a dozen bic lighters, $10 to $15 each in change, and sometimes even better stuff...but anything that was valued at more than $5 you had to report and MM held it for 30 days...still got a couple of nice necklaces to give to girlfriends from that... This definitely gets my vote for best post ever! I also think this guy might be the coolest TPR'er ever I think we need to hear a few more stories about his days at the park Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatdaddy Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 TPRer, can I just say that I hate that we gotta be "er's", I mean it's obviously because people call ace acers, but TPR "er" sounds totally lame. Ok, I know, off topic, but had to get that out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gmaster562 Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 ^ I'd vote for TPRtians Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ejectorbater Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 ^^Pretty defensive aren't you? You must get angry at a lot of things, if that bothered you. I was only attempting to give the man some credit for a story that I found to be pretty darn amusing. Sorry, just had to get that out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatdaddy Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 (edited) ^Ok, Mr. 19 posts, anyways I've heard people saying that there were issues with S:EFK, did anyone get a ride today? How bout TPRizzles. Edited March 14, 2011 by fatdaddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted March 14, 2011 Author Share Posted March 14, 2011 (edited) ^^ Give it a rest pal. Only warning. fatdaddy wins. Deal with it. --Robb "Doing my best to stamp out the flames as soon as they happen!" Alvey Edited March 14, 2011 by robbalvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy 24 Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 So who else got the invite for Wednesday? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrisrad Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 So who else got the invite for Wednesday? Me, or at least I'm assuming so. I got an email that just gave me the time and directions - I just got it yesterday so I'm quite surprised I was invited since they only had 100 openings/ What do you think - will it be pretty awesome? Is it worth the 2 hour drive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrisrad Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 there were 5 or 6 of us who used to get to stay in the tower during the nightly fireworks show so we could spot for fires with binoculars...that was pretty trippy, especially if you'd "partaken" earlier...which was another good use for the longer branch of Eagle's Flight...you could pretty much inhale an entire joint while in mid-air. (And no, I never partook when I was responsible for customers safety-but after work-whew!-it was the 70's in SoCal!). So I'm guessing you were spotting for fires caused by the fireworks, right? Just out of curiosity, were there any fires within the park that resulted from the fireworks? Seriously - sounds like an awesome job! I wonder if it's the same today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebl Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 I got an e-mail today from a friend who is attending S:EFK media day this Wednesday. He encouraged me to contact our rep to see if I could get in, and to my surprise there was a slot open! There may be others from this site up there; hopefully we'll hook up. Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasternut Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 ^Ok, Mr. 19 posts, anyways I've heard people saying that there were issues with S:EFK, did anyone get a ride today? How bout TPRizzles. I was at the Mountain again today all day, and I'm sad to report Superman did NOT run at all. They only tried the left side. They were able to launch successfully empty cars, (I heard it launch at least 8 times but not consistently) so that'll do us a lot of good. I heard from the rid-ops that when you add people, it wouldn't launch. That makes no sense to be because the human weight total is minor compared to the weight of the trains. Maybe there were too many fatties trying to ride today. The mechanics were working near one of the huts at 6:30 tonight. They've got their work cut out for themselves to get this running before the G.P. hit's it Saturday. Maybe they're praying for the forcasted rain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatdaddy Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 ^I figure they gotta have it ready for the media day on Wednesday, I hope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebl Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 ^ Are you going to be there Wednesday, Caesar? If so, I'll see you there. From what I got in the e-mail, we're supposed to be there at 9:30, but the event doesn't kick off till 11. That's only about 60 hours from now...they have their work cut out for them to get it going. I wish 'em the best. Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr bad example Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Another ride I miss is the Chevron Grand Prix. To me, that's almost a theme park requirement. But these days with the cost of fuel and maintenance, I can see why some parks are replacing them with electric vehicles or taking them out altogether. It still amazes me that Disneyland's Autopia (the same type of ride) is still going strong. How many of you know what the Tumble Drum was or remember Teen Tank and what it was? Eric Funny thing was, they took the Chevron Grand Prix out long before gas prices went very high...more to do with losing corporate backing from Chevron, I think...and I seem to remember that some little kid got hurt when the little car her daddy was driving her in (slowly) got rear-ended by the car behind it. Hard to fathom, since those things only went 12 mph on the track. They were capable of a lot more, though. One spring day when the park was closed to guests, and pretty much all the high ranking management was in downtown LA being told the park was being bought by Six Flags, a buddy who was a mechanic on CGP filled the gas tanks on a couple of cars, fired them up, disconnected the governor on the engine, and let us race them a couple of laps around the park...they could barely get up the back hill by Gold Rush, and since the park was closed, the gates on the front side were open, so we were doing probably 50 or 60 at the bottom of the hill...it was pretty fun. And the Tumble Drum...wasn't that the little kiddie ride that was just a rotating tube? We used to walk in there and brace ourselves and do a couple of 360 degree spins-it would really freak out the rookie ride ops (that was one of the first rides all ride ops trained on, along with the bounce house and those other little things that were back there by the Enterprise spin 'n' Puke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr bad example Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 there were 5 or 6 of us who used to get to stay in the tower during the nightly fireworks show so we could spot for fires with binoculars...that was pretty trippy, especially if you'd "partaken" earlier...which was another good use for the longer branch of Eagle's Flight...you could pretty much inhale an entire joint while in mid-air. (And no, I never partook when I was responsible for customers safety-but after work-whew!-it was the 70's in SoCal!). So I'm guessing you were spotting for fires caused by the fireworks, right? Just out of curiosity, were there any fires within the park that resulted from the fireworks? Seriously - sounds like an awesome job! I wonder if it's the same today. Every two or three weeks, a chunk of burning firework would fall far enough to hit, but the ground was either well watered (the Japanese Tea Gardens) or kept pretty clear. I remember that one spring, to clear all the weeds, MM took the hillside past the Revolution and buried (according to them) 50 gold nuggets and a diamond about 6 to 8 inches deep in little plastic tubes, then "encouraged" guests to roam the hillside trying to find them...got rid of about 90 % of the weeds in the process I'd say that most of us that did the spotting were already off the clock for the day-we did it for the thrill more than anything-and most of us were young-the older security guys and supervisors tended to get a little nervous that close to explosions-a good percentage of them had been to Vietnam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenbowl Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 ^That sounds amazing. You were a deviant young employee! haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrisrad Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 I'd say that most of us that did the spotting were already off the clock for the day-we did it for the thrill more than anything-and most of us were young-the older security guys and supervisors tended to get a little nervous that close to explosions-a good percentage of them had been to Vietnam. That's right - I didn't take into the consideration the fact that you were way up in the sky near the fireworks. Since you guys were talking about Chevron, I got to thinking - I've always wondered what's up with the former gas station in the parking lot - when was it open, what kind of gas was sold, and was it owned by MM? I couldn't find anything about it on google. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebl Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 For some reason, I seem to remember the gas station selling Union 76, but could be wrong. That was a '70s idea, inspired by the energy crunch of the day. Gas prices then were heading toward the then unheard price of...drum roll, please...ONE...DOLLAR...PER...GALLON!!! I don't remember the gas station being open very long, and I'm not sure why it's even still there unless they plan to reactivate it. But tearing it out would require removing the old tanks along with the building, which would cost some money. Sort of like Metro's track---it ain't hurting anything being there unused, so leave it be. They were capable of a lot more, though. One spring day when the park was closed to guests, and pretty much all the high ranking management was in downtown LA being told the park was being bought by Six Flags, a buddy who was a mechanic on CGP filled the gas tanks on a couple of cars, fired them up, disconnected the governor on the engine, and let us race them a couple of laps around the park...they could barely get up the back hill by Gold Rush, and since the park was closed, the gates on the front side were open, so we were doing probably 50 or 60 at the bottom of the hill...it was pretty fun. I wish I could have watched that! Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrisrad Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 For some reason, I seem to remember the gas station selling Union 76, but could be wrong. That was a '70s idea, inspired by the energy crunch of the day. Gas prices then were heading toward the then unheard price of...drum roll, please...ONE...DOLLAR...PER...GALLON!!! I don't remember the gas station being open very long, and I'm not sure why it's even still there unless they plan to reactivate it. But tearing it out would require removing the old tanks along with the building, which would cost some money. Sort of like Metro's track---it ain't hurting anything being there unused, so leave it be. Eric I think it's neat just sitting as-is - provides some nice shaded spots when it's not filled with motorhomes. $1? I remember when my parents bought diesels (F-250s and 240d/300d Mercedes) because of the cheap cost of diesel - gosh, I want to say it was $.30/gal. or less. Now.. It is sort of random to see a gas station within a theme park, but I'm assuming there weren't as many stations back then outside of the park? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebl Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 I think Magic Mountain was just trying to provide a convenience for their guests. Personally, I never got gas there, but I remember seeing it open with people lined up at the pumps. It doesn't seem like it was open for very long, though. Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WFChris Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 I personally do not remember what kind of gas it was, but another 'odd' gas station that used to exist was the one at Dodger Stadium. That one was also a 76 station and if my memory serves me correctly, it was somewhat discounted so it always had a huge line. Maybe the one out at the park was also a 76 station. I am not surprised though, when the park opened, park goers from Los Angeles had a long drive through a whole lot of nothing to get there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted March 14, 2011 Author Share Posted March 14, 2011 More WCB tickets have been released! Get them now! http://www.themeparkreview.com/store/index.php?categoryID=22 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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