Elissa's Random Thought of the Day!

[AllenA07]

I'm a bit surprised to learn about that hour cutoff. For a long time my family had season passes and often we would go an hour or two before closing just as something to do. It wasn't that uncommon for people living around the park to do that.

 

Just wonder but does the park still offer free parking at night? I think it was three hours prior to close you could park for free. So many countless times I would get there 2-3 hours before closing for just a few rides, since it was free fun.

[Coasterlvr_nc]

Wow.... That is a pretty stupid policy. I know for a fact that Carowinds has their gates open until the last minute. In fact, just a couple days ago there was a family that came in with 5 minutes til closing and ran to top gun, so i dont see why SFM has to close the park early like that. All they are doing is loosing potential guests, even if it is just for an hour or so.

[rbpia]

^During those 90 minutes, I bet R&E did some *wink wink*.

 

Reinstate the Barry rules!!!!!

[thefitness]

Dude! I was obsessed wit Thomas the Tank Engine when I was a little kid! I'm sure if I went to Thomas Town at SFMM it would ruin what I remember as a great show for kids.

 

Besides that, I didn't really expect much at all from any expansions at SFMM at the moment. Who knows maybe we will all be surprised and Thomas Town will be awesome!

 

 

...

[BarryH]

I'm just hoping Thomas Town at SFMM has a meet and greet with Sir Topem Hat. If not, it isn't Thomas Town at all.

[TheRapidsNerd]

The kid in me thinks TT will be pretty fun, and the adult in me is also bewildered by Sir Topham Hat. What's with the frosted mini wheat craving all of a sudden? Wierd...

 

BTW, one of my coworkers recently became a dad and he and his wife named the boy Griffin. Sent him a pic of the BGE coaster from my trip, and he got a kick out of it. Word is, BGE fixing the sign's spelling.

[TheRapidsNerd]

No more random thought of the day? Bummer.

 

I seem to have a knack for killing off topic threads.

[larrygator]

The only reason I can think of the one hour policy is to cut staff hours. Every dollar counts with a company losing millions.

 

I guess SF is looking at the short term view that people in the park for one hour aren't bringing in much revenue during that visit.

 

Since there are so few families that are looking for an hour in the park at closing they probably don't realize the harm this could cause in the future by alienating good guests.

[ParkTrips]

OMG I forgot about this discussion! I stopped by my Six Flags on the way downtown a few weeks ago, and sure enough they had closed the gates already! It was at least an hour before closing, maybe even more, whereas it used to be 30 minutes.

[SharkTums]

^Interesting!

 

So I guess this is a new company wide thing. I really don't like it. Neither does KidTums, although now I guess there's less chance of her being crushed by Orient Express!

 

I'll have another random thought in a bit! Trying to get some stuff caught up on while KT is napping!

[Godwyn]

^^ When my wife and I went to SFGAm last Saturday, when we were checking in to the hotel, the lady at the desk said if we were going that day that we should get there before 6 cause they start closing the gates. We ended up not going then and just went on Sunday instead.

 

But when we were there on Sunday, we ran out to the car to get our jackets and the wristbands they put on us for re-entry say "no re-entry after 7:00 p.m.". And that was with the park closing at 9.

[KaliGirl]

So really, what's the point of Thomas Town? When they built the one at Discovery Kingdom (still referred to as Marine World!) I was all excited to take my god sons since they love Thomas. All that's there is Bertie the Bus, Harold the Helicopter and Thomas. That's it. And with Harold the Helicopter, there's a height restriction for the adults. You have to be under 5'7", to accompany your child, so if the parents don't meet that, then the smaller kids can't ride! That's ridiculous.

 

We do have Sir Topham Hat, but the kids avoid him like the plague. It's a total disappointment. And it's madness that when you get off of Thomas, you have to walk through the store. It just creates a pile up and kids are screaming because their parents aren't buying them something.

 

I see no point of having Thomas Town at Discovery Kingdom.

[DenDen]

 

LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I cannot stop looking at this and laugh histerically. And I don't even smoke 4:20!

 

LMAOPMP!

[SharkTums]

It is time to resurrect this thread!

 

The problem is I think that Facebook and the other social media sites have taken over posting my random thoughts, but then I remember that I have my Facebook REALLY small (only very close friends and family) so a lot of you are missing out on my random musings!

 

So here we go!!!

 

12/8/09

 

Why is it that cold weather makes people go slower or be late? Does this happen in other parts of the country or is it just places that are normally 'warm'. Today when I dropped KT off at preschool at the normal time, she was the ONLY one there. As I was getting ready to leave one other child showed up...everyone else was very late! Ok so it was 35 degrees this morning, but why does this make you go slower or be late?

 

I can almost understand when the SoCal people are late due to rain because people drive slower, maybe they don't want their kids getting wet, etc. But this morning was beautiful and sunny, just cold. You go from your warm house, to warm car, to warm school...again, how did you all manage to be late?!?

 

I remember going to preschool in New York and WALKING in SNOW to get to school.

 

Is there something I'm missing here?

[metrock]

I remember going to preschool in New York and WALKING in SNOW to get to school.

Uphill both ways, right?

 

But yeah, no idea why people are slower. Though, I must say that neither my home or the car is warm in the morning. Not till the heater kicks in. So, I know I am a little slower on colder mornings. But not enough to matter to the point where I'd be late for something.

 

The only thing that I can see making anyone late is that people tend to be sicker around this time of year, especially when it is colder.

[Vekoma Fan Boy]

35 degrees, really? LMAO! It was somewhere around 27-30 degrees this morning and everyone was moving just as fast. If not a little faster actually!

[Airtime&Gravity]

Why is it that cold weather makes people go slower or be late? Does this happen in other parts of the country or is it just places that are normally 'warm'.

 

Here in Chicago we're used to the cold, so that doesn't slow down people that much. However, throw in a little snow and complete chaos breaks out. For perspective, it took me 30-40 minutes to go just over three blocks this morning. I know people were trying to be careful, but that was ridiculous.

 

So yeah, cold doesn't make people late here, and I don't see how it can even in So. Cal. While it might be rare for it to be that cold there, it isn't something that should make everyone late. Really, just accept it, and get on with what has to be done. It isn't like it's a blizzard...which even that wouldn't shut down Chicago.

[themeparkman25]

I figured it all out. When it is cold out, people wake up generally colder than normal too, so they take longer showers. I don't get paid enough haha.

 

Jordan "Late for class this morning, but it was -5" Darrington

[Homer]

Something about Circadian rhythms. To be honest, all of us try to maintain a routine day, even down to the fact that our body practically synchronizes with nature.

 

Maybe its just me, but my body's always used to waking up right at sunrise and tire out around 10-ish or so. And I guess living in warmer places like So Cal and Florida make your body more accustomed to that sort of weather.

 

Of course, I consider anything below 55 to be "freezing."

[larrygator]

Cold weather doesn't slow me down. But as you know Elissa, nothing ever slows down in New York.

 

Great to see your random thoughts return.

[AllenA07]

I don't see why 35 would make you go slower. Yesterday it was hoovering right around 10 when I woke up, after being foggy all night. We ended up having all morning classes cancelled because of ice. However at 35, things are not going to be frozen anymore.

[printersdevil78]

^See we were discussing this, and I guess I could understand 30 minutes or 15 minutes...but a full hour I just find ridiculous! Disney doesn't cut off at all!

 

Wow, I never knew this awesome thread existed! It may be a couple years old, but the above quote reminded me of something I saw once on a TV show (wish I could remember which one). A guy was dating this woman in Los Angeles who was unhappy that her son, in college, didn't like the guy. In true sitcom fashion, she made him try to "bond" with him, his first attempt at which was to tell the son "If we leave right now, we can make it to Disneyland just before it closes!"

 

The joke was supposed to be that he was treating this 20-something son like a 10-year-old, but all I kept thinking was, "What's the point of getting to Disneyland just before it closes?"

 

Anyway, back on this year's topic, yes, cold weather sucks. Temperatures don't seems to have an impact on effeciency around here (where everything moves slow anyway), but throw a little precipitation into the mix and be prepared to move at 2/4 time.

[vuurvogel]

I get slower when it is cold. I have no problem with getting to work in spring, summer or fall. Actually I will be there half an hour early most of the time. But in the winter I always have problems getting there on time. Strangely enough it looks like I have more things to do in a shorter amount of time. Could be because the days have less daylight. But it is the same kind of thing that it looks like there are more people in cars when it rains then you see on bicycles or on foot in dry weather

[DerekRx]

Kinda creepy, but I was thinking the same thing last night on my drive home from work, Elissa. No precipitation, 39 degrees F, and yet everyone was driving 45-50mph in a 55 zone, and pulling out extremely slow. There wasn't much traffic, nor was there police or anything like that, so I was a little confused. I really do think people are slower and more sluggish when it's colder. So much for humans being warm-blooded.

[Groteslurf]

Well, I'm not living in the Usa, but still would like to give my opinion.

Elissa, when I asked you the weatherforecast for the day during breakfast at the first hotel of the WCT, you answered 'Well, you guys are a bit more hardcore than we, so you should be fine in a t-shirt'. I thought this was funny but I guess it's very true aswell. Ok, rain and snow slows everything down here aswell, but just sunny cold weather speeds things up out here.

But hot weather slows us down here. And I experienced that aswell on the WCT. During our visit at SFMM (first day in the L.A. area), and despite the q-bots and all the coasters in the parks, I simply had it with the high temperatures and although I was walking as slow as possible, I was sweathing like hell. Even the waterpark couldn't cool me off but that had more to do with the number of persons in the pools I think.