CoasterFanatic Posted March 16, 2006 Posted March 16, 2006 Catrina and I hit the road ... well the air last Friday and headed to California for what was to be a weekend in the sun. The only kink in our plan was that the weather was actually better back in good ole West Virginia. Oh well, we made the best of it anyway. Here are the photos! Friday Night - Arrival The Knotts Hotel bar was a good place to start the trip. Hefeweizen in these rediculous mugs ensured me that my fiber intake was taken care of for the weekend. The Amber Waves mugs get Wally's approval. Justin opted for the more foo-foo Margarita. Saturday - Solace Justin and Sandi opted for a morning wake-up call on Jaguar. As you can see, Knotts was pretty warm at 7am! The usual suspects. Some of the CoasterFanatics and RideWorld faithful standing outside of Xcelerator. (Justin, Myself, Dave and Martin) Chris and Natalee grab a back seat ride during morning ERT. In true Solace fashion, the group photo took about 30 minutes to complete. Fortunately, we were watching from the sidelines. Dave used the extra time to work some magic on one of the locals. Catrina and I pose for a picture in front of the kick-ass log flume ride. After the group lunch, a small group of us headed over to Adventure City. Ready for some Freeway Coaster ERT! The ACEr in all of us rises to the surface as we do our best to break this classic Miler. The Freeway Coaster in action. Next we turned to our WV roots and played with the barnyard animals. At this point of the day, the rain started to come down and Treetop Racers was closed. But not before Dave managed to get an unintentional brake-free ride on it. Turns out that rain and those old skid brakes make for very little braking power at all. The look on his face coming out of the helix was classic. The look on his face after he blew past the first set of brakes was even better! The rain allowed us to check out some of other rides inside the park. After forcing "Ted the train operator" to take us out in the rain, we rode the Carousel. Of course, Catrina managed to stick me with the pink horse. Back at Knotts where a group of us met up for dinner at TGIFridays. Catrina won the foo-foo drink award with this fancy Strawberry concoction. Craig and Monica also joined us. I don't know what they are thinking, but my guess is that they are up to no good Raven Simone was so interested in our geeky conversation subject matter that she was glued to the railing for the entire meet. Sandi took second place in the Foo-Foo drink award. Disappointed that the first drink was mostly ice, she ordered up this impressive margarita. Sunday - Six Flags Magic Mountain Upon entering the RideWorld event, Catrina embraces an old friend. One of her favorite coasters ... Goliath. Riddler was not part of the morning ERT this year, but we thought it would be best to get it out of the way early. Six Flags is making a lot of changes around the park. More costumed characters can be found everywhere, but Viper was the only coaster that I could find that was running multiple trains. Speaking of Viper, I grabbed three rides during the morning ERT. Why? I have no idea. Superman was giving repeat rides in the morning due to the small crowds. This was a great opportunity to demonstrate my mad Paul Ruben floating object skills. At least until I punched the lady sitting in front of me while trying to grab my hat. With the morning ERt behind us, it was time for lunch at the Mooseburger Lodge. Wally was right at home and ordered an Antler Ale because it promised a "Wally Surprise" Turns out the surprise was an Antler straw that our waitress had to assemble for him. Rock On! A big thank you goes out to Chris and Natalee at RideWorld for organizing another great SFMM Event! After lunch, Catrina and I headed out and did a little light Valencia sight-seeing before heading to Robb Alvey's house for some post-SFMM party goodness. We played a little game of "Who am I?". Here is a picture of Chris and I putting our heads together. I had Python Pit and had Jeepers. Together we were just helpless. Wally was in Beer Manna after I brought along a couple of his personal favorites to the party. Time to go, but not before we killed everyone at the party and took their candy and door prizes. A big thank you to Robb and Elissa for opening their home to all us coaster psychos. Monday - Universal and Tourist Stuff Catrina and I started off the morning at Universal Studios Hollywood. A new park for both of us. Just some random guy standing on the red carpet outside the gates. Universal was very up-to-date with all the latest movies and offered up this giant figure from the new King Kong movie. The view from Universal was breathtaking. Basically the park is built on a hillside and has to have the largest elevation change of any US Park. Another shot from the Escalator to the lower lot. One of the first attractions of the day was Backdraft. Being a big fan of fire, this one was pretty impressive for me. Riding the escalator back to the upper lot. From up above, you can get a real good look at the Mummy building. After hearing all the Florida vs. Hollywood Mummy comments, I wasn't expecting much. But, truth be told, I think that both Catrina and I both liked the Hollywood version better. Go figure. The entrance to the Universal Studio Tour. This ride was pretty interesting and kind of the signature attraction at the park. I like to think of it as a condensed version of most of Universal Florida's attractions nicely packaged together with a tram that takes you to each one. Only difference is that they throw some sets in the mix. Movie trailors of the stars. From here, you can see the escalator in the background that divides the park. Along the tour was the town square that has been featured in many of the classic Universal monster movies. Desperate Housewives was taping during our visit. But, to my disappointment, no Eva sightings were to be had. Along the tour route, we also passed by the Bates residence. The War of the Worlds set was pretty cool, but a wrecked 747 is about the last thing that I want to see the day before we flew back across the country. Craig T Nelson is my hero! On our way out, we posed for a picture by the fake Hollywood sign and say goodbye to Universal Studios. The rest of Monday consisted of some various Touristy places. The first was the Chinese Theater in Hollywood. Catrina poses for a shot with some of the local street freaks in Hollywood. Thank you very much for taking the time to read this photo TR. CoasterFanatic has left the building.
Bubba Z Posted March 16, 2006 Posted March 16, 2006 Awesome trip report Ted , looks like you had a great time out west. I'm Glad you're plane made it back home in one piece.
Nrthwnd Posted March 16, 2006 Posted March 16, 2006 Uhhh. Thankyew. Thankyewvery muuuch. I tried. Excellent TR, Ted. And thanks for including some of the old Universal Tram Tour shots. Haven't seen any of those 'sites' for ages. Miss the closed down (now?) collapsing bridge. Bates Hotel - I still have the "Do Not Disturb" doorhanger thingie. (o: And yeah, seeing the WoTW plane wreck wouldn't make me feel any less nervous 'bout flying back home, lol. Thanks for sharing it all.
Carnage Posted March 16, 2006 Posted March 16, 2006 Nice TR Ted. I wish I could have been there. Maybe next year.
ImAPrincess Posted March 16, 2006 Posted March 16, 2006 Since Dave broke the other kiddie coaster before I got to ride on it, am I only half a whore?
Carnage Posted March 16, 2006 Posted March 16, 2006 ^^ Again?? Wait was Dave were you part of our group that rolled back the kiddy coaster at Quassy? I can't remember if he was on the train of death or not. And to think like 4-5 of us had cameras, and not one of us caught the rollback on tape.
Coaster Palooza Posted March 16, 2006 Posted March 16, 2006 Great report Ted. I didn't realize you rode Viper 3 times. When I rode it with you, that was my only time, thank god! It just isn't as fun as it used to be.
Meteornotes Posted March 16, 2006 Posted March 16, 2006 Viper three times?!? You are a brave, brave man. Good to meet both of you. See you in June... dt
Rider117 Posted March 16, 2006 Posted March 16, 2006 I was at the same places you were at the three days. Nice photo TR!!
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