PTR: Bay Area Bash & Party Bus

[Jakizle]

Well, to make a long story short, my flight home from California last night had a 3 hour delay in Las Vegas, so I didn't get home until about 3:30 this morning. I was supposed to get up at school at 7am, but there was just no way that was going to happen! Instead I have used today to organize all of my pictures from the amazing weekend that was the Bay Area Bash Party Bus! Thanks sooo much to Robb, Elissa, and anyone else who helped put together such an awesome, awesome time! Being bored with nothing today, I decided to start a PTR about the event since I took like 1500 pictures this weekend. The first update will be short, but I think I will be able to put together many awesome segments from SFDK, Oakland Zoo, CGA, and more! Anyways, I'll just get it started!

 

-Jake "Can my screen name be changed to Texas" Garbelotti

Welcome to the TPR party bus! Allison decided to steal my camera and try to take picture of me. The bus ride started off with a hilarious game of "ask Robb a question" to receive our bags of crap! The questions and answers were so awesome they can't not be shared on this board!

For some reason this is the only picture I got out the window...I think it was around Gilroy? Anyways the drive consisted of mountains, nothingness, and nor cal country side!

After "ask Robb a question" there was nothing more appropriate than to play "Road Trip" for us! This really helped time fly by and I'm sure you will love the ass shot. Anyways, TPR buses are like magic, time just seems to fly by on them!

As suspicion grew with where we were headed Friday Night....Robb told us we were going to Santa Cruz Boardwalk! These were our exclusive wristbands

And it looks like we are here!

The view stepping of the bus! As awesome as TPR bus rides are it felt great to finally arrive.

We were escorted to our private "party" area to hang out until our big surprise of the night was ready to go...

A few Party busers decided to pick up a game of volleyball!

Despite what pictures might lead you to believe...we were horrible at volley ball

Jamar was the class of the field as you can see here!

I promise this is the last picture of TPR volley ball...but it really was fun!

At 6pm (we got to the park early thanks to the AWESOME bus drive) the park walked us back into the park for some exclusive time!

First we passed by construction on the soon to open dark ride attraction...looks good!

But we were here for Giant Dipper! The park graciously opened the ride for TWO HOURS for us after the park closed for the day earlier!

The entrance!

The station! You have to love the old school set up these parks still utilize.

I really liked this picure of Hanno, myself, Allison, and Renee enjoying the dipper! The ride really is the perfect "fun" coaster.

After getting a lot of rides, I walked around to the other side to take a bunch of pictures of the ride ( I will leave them without captions)

Back over at the coaster area, everyone was hanging out and sneaking in rides here and there! What's up Team 38?!?!

I figured I needed a picture with the Pacific Ocean!

How about more rides on Giant Dipper? sure!

This shows how awesome TPR events are: All the rides you want in ANY row you want!

As ERT came to a close we walked back to our private area for dinner. Hurricane was teasing us giving rides for a High School grad night, but it was all good!

TPR exclusiveness signage!

Everyone enjoyed a delicious dinner with dessert and unlimited alcohol...lets just say some people enjoyed it (maybe too much )

As the night was starting to close (and get freezing outside!) I grabbed a few night pictures before heading out.

So long Santa Cruz! Thanks for providing us with a nice dinner and awesome ERT session!

After the park we drove to the AWESOME Avatar hotel in Santa Clara. There were rolly coasters above our beds .

 

Thanks for reading, SFDK part ONE next!

Edited May 26, 2010 by Jakizle

[TPDave]

Awesome TR Jake, it brought back amazing memories of the West Coast trip!

 

Looking forward to meeting up over the summer

 

Dave

[Jakizle]

Thanks Dave, it should be a jolly time!

[nyanko]

Looks like SCBB was a blast! Sadly cat emergencies prevented me from heading out there...

 

Great pics!

 

Natalie (who did her second bachelors at UCF...nice hoodie!)

[ILoveRides]

It was a blast meeting and hanging out with you all weekend! Great Santa Cruz Boardwalk TR... I can't wait to see the rest!

[Jakizle]

^^Hopefully you can make it next year, it is an amazing weekend for sure! Worth every penny. Also go UCF...I start in the fall

 

^Same to you man!!

[PKI Jizzman]

MORE TEXAS

[nyanko]

^^Hopefully you can make it next year, it is an amazing weekend for sure! Worth every penny. Also go UCF...I start in the fall

 

UCF is pretty cool! There are lots of opportunities there now in a lot of different fields, since it's getting so big!

 

I was at the SFDK event Saturday, it's all I could really get away to do and even then I had to go in to the clinic at 6 am and set up a bunch of things for the next day and check on some cats before leaving for Vallejo. Totally worth it though, like I knew it would be!

[fatdaddy]

Great report, i was so excited about riding the dipper i forgot to take pictures. Awesome pictures, except, shouldn't team 38 be wearing ponchos. Anyway thanks for bringing back some fond memories that the beer may have wiped out.

[Jakizle]

^Haha, nice to meet you dude.

 

I have finally got around to sorting my SFDK photos and will do the PTR in 2 parts with the Oakland Zoo in the middle (some things will be out of order time wise).

 

Part One will be...the animals of SFDK!! I should have the report up late tonight

[Jakizle]

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom Part 1!

5/15/2010

 

The alarm went off at 5:45 in the morning...but I have never been happier to wake up so early! After a shower, at 6:30 the Alveys had set up a catered IHOP breakfast for us complete with pancakes, amazing french toast, bacon, sausage, eggs, potatoes, orange juice...it was awesome! At 7:15 we departed for Discovery Kingdom and arrived at the park sometime between 8 and 9. Everyone got checked in and the event started off with awesome "Animal ERT" which this part will focus on...so let the PTR begin!

On the bus Robb passed out wristbands and our tickets to the day...the excitement begins!

What is that I see out of the window? SFDK has an awesome skyline from the highway!

Being the first ones at the park = front row parking close to the tram. Here is what you see of the park from the parking lot!

The welcome sign to the park...very nice Six Flags . This also happens to be a Party Bus Photo Bingo square!

As all of the non-party busers got checked in everyone talked in the entry plaza getting excited for the days events!

Cobra teased us by testing the entire time and even rolling back from the lift. And hello world's longest coaster train!

Around 9 o' clock it was time to enter the park! The GP watched us with jealousy as we were escorted in

We started off in the Land area of the park and were greeted with this elephant...coincidence?!?!

The first event was exclusive time in the Shouka stadium with Captain Lee!

We were seated at the lowest location possible right by the edge of the pool to learn about some of the parks giant fish!

Captain Lee told us how the trainers teach the Dolphins all sorts of neat tricks, sounds, and other flippy stuff

Here is an example of some of those tricks in action. Thanks Captain Lee!!!!

A lucky Bay Area Basher (dont remember your name, post if you see this!) got to act as a dolphin and trainer, as you can see here he got to pet the giant fish! Jealous!

After the dolphins there was a slightly large blob swimming around the pool...

Shouka says HELLO!

Shouka was nice enough to get out of the water for us to take pictures of her. Thanks Shouka!

Captain Lee and the whale trainers also let Shouka do some tricks for us! Awesome!

Shouka stuck her tongue out at us! What an awesome Whale!!

Shouka says screw these people, GIMME SOME FISH! So we moved on...

Next up for the animals was exclusive elephant time...but we passed the Tiger on the way so I took a picture of him/her!

Finally it was time for the private elephant show. Awesome! Today was all about the elephants (you will see why later)

Out came the star of our show, _______! I honestly can't remember her name...I am ashamed

I think the elephant is hungry???

So the trainer gave her a banana...only if she would demonstrate the use of that nice big trunk!

Next up she began to run in circles around the arena...they let the elephant get SUPER close to where you are sitting...AWESOME!

Elephant all up in yo grillz!

The elephant poses and says "thank you every much, I am awesome!"

...and now I am going to sleep

Just kidding! If you have ever wanted to see the underside of an elephant...this is your chance!

Elephants can also use their trunks to play catch...how useful!

After the show we rewarded the elephant with more bananas. Seriously though this show was SO badass. Thanks SFDK and Captain Lee!

Next up we switched to the other "elephant stadium" for more fun...this time with an Asian!

It carefully delivered this log neatly into a pile of logs in the arena...how skillful! Elephants are awesome!

Next up was the game of Elephant Tug-o-War! Do they let the public usually do this???

TPR tried hard, but the Elephant prevailed . Beast > Man.

Last but not least we got to feed the elephant biscuits by dropping them in it's drunk...cool experience!

After the elephants we went and saw the tiger cubs...HOW CUTE!!!

The lions were lazy...just sleeping!

Another theme of the day would be pissed off Giraffes! What do they have against humanity???

I spy baby giraffe! I thought it looked funny for some reason.

Camels!

the other side of the park was made up of all the sea animals!

They had all kinds of exhibits like the sharks...sadly I didn't go inside any of them! I will have to go back to SFDK though...it is an amazing park.

Eventually it was time for lunch, where some furry fellas made an appearance

First up was a super shy otter!

Sadly I didnt get any photos of the sloth or penguin that they brought out...just this cute little guy! And that was it for animals. Next up some of us Party Busers headed off on a little side trip...which is up next

[Calicoasters]

Awesome Update! I know Bay Area Bash ended just a few days ago, but it's already feeling like a long time has passed.

[Mechanic]

The African elephant's name was Valerie. I honestly don't remember the Asian elephants name, but she was awesome as well. Yes, the elephant tug-o-war is actually a regular part of the elephant shows. Having seen both the "public" versions and "TPR animal ERT" versions of the shows, I can definitely say that TPR animal ERT was more detailed than the regular shows. It was certainly a very nice treat for the park to go out of their way for us like that. For whatever reason, the elephant shows don't seem as popular as the other animal shows (as evidenced by the much smaller size of the show arenas) but I really feel they're not to be missed. Where else are you going to get that close to such awesome beasts with no fence in between you?

 

One thing I really like about SFDK is that it's very obvious that the animals are exceptionally well cared for. Each of the trainers, and of course Captain Lee, are always friendly and eager to educate guests about the animals and the conservation efforts being made on their behalf. You can tell the staff really cares about the animals and their welfare.

 

Thanks for the PTR. I'm looking forward to the next installments.

[Jakizle]

^Thanks! I totally agree...all of the animals looked so happy. The giraffes were an only exception (you will see why later).

 

I was really, really impressed by SFDK on all levels...and you never really hear that much about it! Kudos to Six Flags there...what an amazing park! It was on Busch level if you ask me...

[XII]

I think the Asian Elephant's name was Liz. Anyways, Great Photo TR.

[Jakizle]

Oakland Zoo 5/15/2010

 

Robb surprised us on the Party Bus with an additional credit opportunity during the day on Saturday! SFDK was starting to get pretty crowded so after lunch 20-something of us credit whores jumped on the bus to go down to Oakland. Traffic was heavy on the way to the Zoo but it was a great side trip...definitely worth it. The Zoo was extremely nice to extend their hours for us a little bit so we could visit and didn't charge us anything. Awesome! Anyways, on with the photos...

On the way to Oakland Zoo! Crossing over the water from the Vallejo area to Oakland

While we were moving slow in traffic we could see San Francisco off to the right...atleast I think this is San Francisco!

Here we are at the Oakland Zoo!

The Zoo entrance

Nature led all of us to walk over to the coaster first...

And we found it! I have no idea what the hell Tyler is doing.

The coaster.

TPR created a little bit of a line for the ride...sorry kiddos. Everyone double up!

TPR invades its first train!

Yay for Kristen getting a new credit! Everyone else seems to be enjoying their whoring experience too

Time for us to ride. How many full sized adults can you squeeze into the Tiger Coaster??

Tiger Coaster honestly felt like it was going to fall over on the banked helix lift hill! Seriously it made me nervous!

I loved the simplicity of the operator's panel...how convenient!

One last shot of the ride. It was actually kind of fun! Anyways, on to the rest of the "park"

They had a bunch of childrens rides and a cool looking train to ride, but we decided that we wanted to see some animals

This monkey was just chilling up in the tree

We also saw snakes and reptiles...

..and some large nasty, fighting, pissing all over the place bats :/ . They were pretty entertaining though!

What better in the middle of a pretty hot day than an Icee? However we weren't allowed to mix our own...they had to do it for us

Last but not least there was a super pissed off giraffe! When we walked up it turned around and just started at us for like 5 minutes!

Close up of this angry Giraffe! Even funnier was when John walked away...the giraffe followed him before turning back around to his eating

The Zoo did have an AWESOME looking sky ride, but we didn't have enough time to ride it

The train also looked very cool, but same story as above!

Anyways, it was time to leave the zoo and head back to SFDK.

So long Oakland Zoo, thanks for being so awesome to us! Like I said earlier, today was all about the elephants, so on the bus ride back we all donated some cash to the zoo to benefit the elephants! It was a great way to say thanks for the day.

The bus ride back was much quicker...back to SFDK! All of my park pictures are next

[PKI Jizzman]

Awesome stuff, looks like the Nikon is treating you well! I'm thinking about meeting up with Mid America trip at Indiana Beach. Might see you there!

[Jakizle]

^Haha thanks. I think my best pics will be in the next installment when the weather was super nice in the afternoon at SFDK.

 

Hope to meet up with you again man!

[nay]

Ha! That giraffe hated us!

 

Great TR, Texas!

[fatdaddy]

Thanks for the most embarrassing credit whoring picture of me ever. Oh the shame of it. My daughter saw the pictures of us on the tiger coaster and said we were, and I quote "fat humongous whales". Isn't she cute.

 

Can't wait to see the rest.

[dino]

Could have done without the picture of the under side of an elephant, but other than that cool TR. Never been to SFDK myself, but it seems to be a pretty quality park.

[Jakizle]

Sorry for the delay guys, I was half way through this update on Sunday when FireFox crashed on me and I lost all of my progress...I got frustrated and got off the computer. Anyways, here is the rest of my photos from SFDK (the rides). Not much to comment on here, but hopefully some people enjoy just the photos!

 

Thanks a lot for looking!

 

Oh and by the way, SFDK is an amazing park that should get more attention. Everyone go there now!

After animal ERT we headed over to Medusa for some early riding action!

Don't you love this sight? Im willing to bet this queue was filled later in the day!

Mess of steel out there...makes up for one awesome ride! (I put it right up there around Kraken)

Even with the large amount of attendees the lines were short. I got myself a back seat and front row ride before heading on to...

Kong! Once the park opened we started to get out credits and Kong is conveniently located at the end of Medusa's exit.

By this point you are already wishing the ride was over...it was rough. Definitely not the worst SLC though! (Elitch Gardens says HI)

Next up was Cobra, or COBRAAAAAAAAAAA according to the ride ops. High five!

Longest train ever = high capacity???

Around the corner (sort of) was Boomerang...and a pretty good one at that! Short line here

After those 4 coasters and the animal shows we had lunch including a quite comedic Q&A session with Charles from operations and Captain Lee himself!

V2 was looking pretty from the lunch area...maybe it's because the weather was vastly improved from the morning!

After lunch we headed towards the front of the park to go to the Oakland Zoo...

Hi Roar, will have to ride you later (not until dark it turns out)

Just playing around outside the entrance as we left the park..

LOVED the diagonal spike over the entrance plaza...thanks city of Vallejo!

Steel everywhere! Love the vibrant colors of this park

Roar's first drop in relation to the pathway is just awesome...is SFA jealous?

Medusa

Medusa dominates the park skyline...and rightfully so

Sea Serpent > Cobra Roll

Leaving the park while tons of people make their way in

Leaving SFDK or coming back from the Zoo? It is up to you to decide.

Regardless, we came back to SFDK after getting our credit at the zoo

The park's skyline from the parking lot

I should have totally waited for a Roar train and edited this...darn

Best part of the ride...I think this applies for almost every B&M looper in my opinion

Last picture of Medusa, I promise!

Waiting in line to go back through security

Gotta love this time of the day for super cool lighting

First train I saw run on V2 all day I believe

What park are we visiting again?

Back inside the park

At this point David and Brittany still needed their Boomerang credit so I went with them for another ride. Like I said, it is a really good Boomerang!

Can't get enough of these types of shots

We also did some shopping! I couldn't find ANY SFDK t-shirts I liked though

As time for ERT was getting closer and closer we hung out on this side of the park

V2 love

Roar had a really short line towards park closing so we got to ride it before ERT!

THBS was where all the people were! Good move on SFDKs part on this ride.

We need our credit though, so David, Brittany, and I shamefully borrowed some kids in line to ride it. I never thought I would go that low!!

Group photo time???

I don't know why the sky looks blue, but night time was quickly arriving...as anticipation built for ERT!

And here we are at ERT? Notice the lack of lines

Darkness! I still needed my v2 credit at this point.

I almost completely forgot this was a launching coaster...awesome!

Choose any row you want! I went for a front row and back row ride before heading over too...

Tony Hawk! If no one was at Roar or V2, where are all of the people?

Of course, they were all in the station soaking each other! No Thanks

This is what you get for wearing ponchos Team 38!!!!

This fight ended up in 5 soaking wet people and 1 broken down ride

However they got it back up and running (and even extended ERT) so I safely got my final credit at SFDK.

Where is the car?

Darkness! Instead of getting wet at THBS (I kinda regret this) I opted to go for a few more rides on...

Roar! And talk about exclusive ride time!

Is there a better way to end the night than with a SOLO ride on Roar? It was freaky! Anyways that's it, thanks for looking . Huge CGA update next

[fatdaddy]

So, your saying you didn't give Robb a chance to pour an ice cold cup of water down your back and strait into your underwear, so you could walk around feeling like you wet yourself the rest of the night.

[FeelTheFORCE]

Awesome pictures! Solo rides FTW, I love being the only one on a train!