dandaman Posted September 14, 2009 Posted September 14, 2009 I, uh... have no preface to this, really. It was rainy, which you'd think would cut down crowds, but it was a Rock the Universe day with all the Christian rock fans invading the resort. And, um... boobs. That is all. Enjoy the show. And finally for now, what makes time travel possible. Stay tuned for IOA/HRC/BMG/OMG/WTF/BBQ. Word to your teenage mother who keeps calling you Calvin for some reason. Time-travelling steam train > regular steam train >> Gerstlauer train "Sorry. Took Delorean to 1605 A.D. to heckle Shakespeare. Be back yesterday." -- ELB "...And you will all be forced to listen to Small World while riding Rockit!" Abe entertains the youth of the park with his hilarious imitation of an old man having a heart attack. LIES Coming next year: Traumanator Salvation. I laughed really hard at this. And drew some odd looks. Whatever. NOTED! And Moleman counters in full with a highly sophisticated sock puppet. POINT MOLEMAN. Willie breaks into his finale with a crazy unintelligible Scottish rap -- something about haggis and greased Scotsmen, most likely. Whence Moleman proceeds to one-up the crazy by BEING a farm animal. Willie sings drunken tales of the Scottish Isles with farm animals... And Moleman comes right back, attempting to catch a fly, run through the Matter Transporter and become Jeff Goldblum! Ultimate Showdown: Willie vs. Moleman Willie comes out of the gate strong with an ambivalent glare and presumed thoughts about "killin' every last one o' yeh". Part IV: There was no 4th BTTF film. PSYCH. Part III: Civilized Scientific Discussion About What Went Wrong Part II: Something Goes Wrong Part I: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? And just then, The Simpsons Ride moved from awesome to pure gold. I liked how the ride film stayed true to this map in terms of placement of rides. Bad angle. Awesome poster. "NO! Don't you see? They give us money, we give them crap!" --The Jerk This was definitely the highlight of my day. Favourite cartoon + theme park ride = love. Choose your own adventure! 1) Got a little captain in ya? No? Would you like one? 2) "Y'arr, I'm lookin' fer treasure, can I see yer chest?" 3) "Why is that ship's wheel attached to your crotch?" "Y'arr, it's drivin' me nuts!" Previously on LOST... "This is how big your cowbell should be." Highlights included the awesomely clear interactive projection of Walken, and the host giving a stage direction to an old lady: "Point to the sky! You're excited!" *no emotion* "...LOOK! It's raining prescription drugs from Canada!" *ecstatic* The re-done Disaster was new to me, and thoroughly awesome. Know why? Christopher freaking Walken, that's why. Michael Bay's "The Notebook" And I'm spent. Random screwy Maurer Söhne trackwork. Shot frame fail Also, near the end, everyone gets their heads impaled on spikes. It's like Henry VIII: The Ride. I'd like to take this caption box to apologize profusely for the quality of the photos throughout the day. It was cloudy with spotty moderate rain the entire day, which my camera absolutely hates despite having on a cloudy setting. The vertical lift was a nice gimmick, but would have been improved by a near-vertical drop as well. Sitting in the 2nd row, we didn't seem to get much airtime, though I'd imagine the back seat would get some good jumps off the brake runs. Overall, I thought the ride wasn't too spectacular or worth the hype, but was a decent addition to the Studios. My secret track listing choice of #130 (The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again") made it pretty awesome, however, proving once again that a good soundtrack can make anything better. The video footage was also good, but not "whittle it down to 15 seconds with stock footage thrown in and purchase it" good. It was a 45-minute wait by 9:05 a.m., though they sort of opened the park around 8:45. The LED's on the trains were off the whole day, as was the moving load/unload platform. Gotta give credit to the crew though; they really were hauling ass to make interval. ...But hey, look! It's Hollywood Rip Ride Rhy-Rid-Re-Rame-Ris-Rith-Ro-Rany-R's Rockit! So because of all the benefits etc. I figured I can get with the Premier Pass (i.e. most expensive annual pass), I ended up buying it. So far I've saved $80 off admission/food for various establishments. Also, quite a few (not ALL of) the Christian rock fans in attendance weren't exactly as wholesome as I'd been led to believe. At least 6 of them I saw were drunk and throwing things in line, or as I called it "moved by the spirits". As usual, I cast aside things like "originality" or "proper lighting" right off the bat.
adeuce02 Posted September 15, 2009 Posted September 15, 2009 yeah they may have christian stuff on but wow. It was miserable working those 2days at hulk. But anyway nice pics
dandaman Posted September 15, 2009 Author Posted September 15, 2009 ^I don't envy you, but damn do I respect you for working on days like that. Took me 'till now to realize that I forgot to take a picture of us together! ('Course you were working, so maybe not a good idea anyway.)
dandaman Posted September 15, 2009 Author Posted September 15, 2009 Part II: More Photos, Zero Witty Titles And that's all he wrote. Thanks for traipsing through another patented Dan Smith trip report of 50% understandable references and 80% chance of over/underexposure. Purty 'n blinding Purty Well, OK, here's one. But nothing else. HRRRRRRRRRRR looks really cool at night with the LED... well, I'll do it myself in lieu of the filter, ringy-dingy-ding-a-lings... but I would have gotten more night shots if the train LED's were on. So Carlos and I decided to try out BMG for his 4th time and my 1st. It was very impressive (especially the toilet paper rave party) but IMO not $85 impressive. Which was good, 'cause I likely wouldn't have gone anyway if tickets weren't $30 with my Premier Pass discount. So far that day my $300 investment had saved me about $80, not even including general admission, which was pretty darn cool. Damned impressive design, though. I didn't and still don't think that Hulk was worth all the hype. It's a great ride, sure, but not what I'd call world-class. (Excuse me while I duck from various flying fruits.) "Practical" "Plausible" I LOL'd. "I'M JONAH JAMESON, BITCH." Well, I attempted to curl an invisible stache and clench my fist menacingly, but it sorta came off as "invisible sammich-eating / hold something big and round". (Yeah, yeah, I know. I keep mental track of all these innuendos. Photoshop if you must.) ...Because "Get back here ya damned fleabag!" wasn't family-friendly enough. "Yeah, well, you know when you're not supposed to 'do rights'? NASCAR. Yeah, that might be important information there, Dud. Idiot." While I haven't ridden in over 2 years, the drop still seemed noticeably toned down after its reshape, but still awesome. Choose your own adventure! 1) Well, the beaver IS Canada's national animal... 2) "Love Shack" 3) [placeholder for wit] It is also customary to tip your hat in politeness, and also for Mounties to more easily check for drugs hidden under your chapeau, toque or other such headgear. (I'm doing wonders for international stereotypes.) In Canada, it is customary to use dynamite instead of toothpicks for proper and more thorough teeth cleaning. 10 home 20 sweet 30 go to 10 Presenting a more accurate representation of Canada than the original Circlevision film! 20 minute wait, but they didn't let us ride. No whoring today. Hi Tyler! "I got a big head, 'n little arms..." Still love this ride. Didn't get too wet either, and due to an odd human error in loading we were 3rd row back with the first two rows empty, making the Dan-friendliness even odder. Zoom testing on "adeuce02: The Ride". The weather cleared up just a bit, and only briefly. 2 launches 1 train Only Fire was running, which also became 101 within 10 minutes of standing in a line extending just outside the castle. No thanks. Dragon Challenge = re-name fail The side of the crane actually says the spell which Universal incanted to speed up construction. The main structures are starting to take shape. This was the first time I'd been here since 2007, and Pottersville seems to be coming along very nicely. By 2 o'clock, we'd done HRRR, Jaws, Mummy, Simpsons Ride, waited in line for a half-hour for a broken-down and never-reopened MIB, sought out my magical Delorean to no avail and ate at HRC. Not bad considering the Christian rock crowds. "Standard" Nice little piece of the Berlin Wall around the Studios side that I imagine not very many people see. I was upstairs taking this in a room with no other people around when the same song came on the TV's downstairs. Cool. Fact: This was Freddie's formal attire. Hell yes. "Turn that hippie music down!" "Respect the classics, man! It's Hendrix!" I see Universal has taken advantage of their patented hovercar technology. Freestyle Music Cafe was cool. Quite a good burger, though the 10% discount with the Premier Pass might have helped the taste.
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