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Nice to see you back...and thanks for letting me know that you enjoyed the photos. Today's photo set features the last shot of the Lion Country Safari in this series. In my opinion the 1974 shot is not that special...but I did enjoy finding out where that island would have been....and speaking of that.... Ty, THIS is the shot that I PM'd you for your help...and I thank you for helping me out! 1974 2011 And here is the photo from my first post just in case you need a little better idea of where I was standing: While I was taking this shot, out of the possible/probable embarrassment I purposely did not make eye contact with any of the ride ops...I did NOT want to have to explain what I was doing and then watch them roll their eyes at me. Where would I rather be standing today? I love turtles...but if you have been following this thread you know that since Congo Falls is in the 2011 shot that is where I want to be! Thanks for all of the continued support...and as always thanks to Hendrick for making this thread come to life!

In today's photo set you get to see one of the nicest shots in the series...and the worst. 1974 Is this not impressive?! 2011 Is this not depressing?! Out of all the shots in my series this is the ONLY one that screams "What went wrong?!" How could an area that looked so nice turn into something so bad? The park should make some kind of lift-on/off decorative covering to disguise that ugly thing. (They could even sell advertising space on it! 1974 or 2011....I need not answer...it's way too obvious.

Only because they figure that under Mr. Ouimet, the company has a steady, brighter future AND it has done so well under Q pressure that the value has caused Q to rebalance its portfolio over the next year. I, for one, figure that absent the Q pressure. FUN would either now be an Apollo subsidiary and/of the next CEO would be Bart Kinzel. Q saved Cedad Fair from its once Chairman and CEO. Now, a finance person AND an operations person will be CEO. And I doubt he will hire his son as a park president and/or GM. And, by the way, FUN closed at quite a bit more than $11.50 a unit today. Thank Q for that, at least in part.

I do it more than just in the front seat, thats just my favorite. lol

1974 merged with today would be seasonal bush gardens type ride. Should have nevver left the park them animals!!!!! Oh well progress is not always good. But I'd pick 1974......and thanks for the great shots!!!

I knew someone so amazingly wise must be insane and now I have proof Those trees took away from KD for me. Honestly my friend, I am so sorry I had to type that. I didn't realize we lost those lights, it hurts. I was a major part of getting historic looking signs and poles added to my historic neighborhood but (lock-n-load JD), some of the landscaping in those 74 shots would be so gaudy today. Times change. I love reminiscing though and do agree that things have been lost that SHOULDN'T have been! Imagine this, 1977 KI in today's world compared to 2011 KI in 1977. Which do you honestly think would draw more people? Technology and engineering are cool, they give us great toys!

I could kick myself for merging the 2 layers together on the above "working" photo...I would have liked to show everyone how tricky this one was. Basically to figure this shot out I found an aerial of the same area in 1974. Like I have mentioned in the past, it's amazing how many people take almost the exact same shots year after year...even I had a FEW almost identical shots that I have taken over the years every time I go up in the tower! Anyway, I resized both of the 1974 & 2010 aerial shots to match...which was actually pretty easy. The "constant" in both photos is the Kafe Kilimanjaro Restaurant building which is currently Stunt Crew Grill...it is such a distinctive building it was easy to overlay both photos to match perfectly. From there it became a matter of looking at what was in "my" 1974 photo and where the person had to have been standing...in this case I used the car as a clue...and then TombraiderTy pointed out that the angle of the monorail helped pin it down even more. After that it simply became a matter of making the 2010 layer invisible...then while looking at the 1974 aerial, mark where the person was standing and the line of site and then make the 2010 aerial visible again and I had my spot and which way to aim my camera! While I was figuring out shots like this it was always fun to see where I should be standing once I made the 2010 shot visible again...and if the shot would be possible. Once again, check out Ty's Lion Country Safari thread and you can see an aerial of this area with the islands.

Seeing how invariably similar Singapore's Transformers is to the original Spiderman attraction, I really can't see Hollywood's version being #2 on this list. I'd rather Verbolten be second; the concept is much better and looks to be a lot better than Thir13en @ Alton Towers. I find Buena Vista Street to be much more enticing than Fantasy Forest, and I'm not just saying that simply because FF is primarily geared towards the Disney Princesses. BVS is a complete overhaul of the entrance of California Adventure, and, trust me, it is LOOOONG overdue. Minus the WDW version of The Little Mermaid ride and the Seven Dwarfs coaster, there isn't anything about FF that catches my attention. Therefore, the two need to be flip-flopped. Even though quite a number of people aren't too thrilled about Leviathan, I'm pretty sure there are some who are mad that it's not up higher on the list for whatever reason. Honestly speaking, even though it's B&M's first 300-foot coaster, their Wing Riders are far more interesting. I'm shocked at the fact that Levi is higher up than Skyrush. Manta....eh. Fine where it is. X-Flight vs Wild Eagle. Nods to both for different takes on the same idea. I like X-Flight because it's essentially America's take on Gardaland's Raptor, the very first Wing Rider from B&M, and has awesome set pieces and cutout scenery. But I also like Wild Eagle because it's something I was NOT expecting from Dollywood, and it's built on the side of a mountain. Which leaves Radiator Springs Racers as #1. And I'm glad it took top honors. Granted, Cars is my least favorite Pixar flick, and I absolutely refuse to see Cars 2, but you cannot look at the most recent construction photos of the iconic Cadillac Range: ...and NOT get excited for it. Not to mention RSR is Test Track in the American Southwest and with a second car to race with. Cars Land might not be the answer to Universal's Wizarding World, but it's the closest Disney has to crafting a pretty realized world based off an existing property. At least until Animal Kingdom opens up AVATAR Land in 2015 to combat with Uni Florida's 2014 Harry Potter expansion.

At least they painted it green

What went wrong? The park has been acquired by companies that have cared far more about upcharge attractions, 3-point challenges, and price increases than about the overall guest experience.

I hope you know that it was in no way my intention to "prove you wrong". (I am the first to admit that I am not "Mr. Observant") I did not even know myself if it was or wasn't still there...you made me have to search through my photos to see if I missed that this year! Believe me...when I type ANYTHING that I think I know about the park I just sit back and wonder if the experts are going to shoot down my observation. I like the 1974 shot in today's set...when I was going through these shots after I purchased them this one caught my eye because I am used to only seeing faraway shots of the slide. 1974 I wonder why these type of slides fell by the wayside? I remember them being quite a bit of fun...and just this summer my nephews rode a small one at a local carnival and seemed to have a blast. 2011 Not much to look at in this shot...but as we all know, if this shot were pulled back Zephyr is quite the nice looking ride. Where would I rather be today? Well, at the risk of proving 74Gibson correct...I lean towards 1974 for a second day in a row. Zephyr is a nice looking ride but it seems to be the kind of a ride that is hit and miss with a lot of my family...when one is in the mood to ride it another one isn't...I can't remember when everyone wanted to ride it at the same time. That would probably be true with the slides too...but at least the non-riders would have a good time watching the riders...unlike on Zephyr where everyone is a quick blur as they go by...it's not even a nice photo op. Have a nice weekend...which is tough for me to say since I am looking out the window at snow!

I am seriously having some KI withdrawal. I get so excited during the off season when I think of my first visit to the park, even after all these years.

I would like to make this improvement, I think it's the best option.