Gabe

don't forget about the biggest area of undeveloped land that would be the easiest to tear out and put rides in--the parking lot. When Disneyland ran out of expansion room, they basically built Cali Adventure in its fomer parking lot and built large parking garages at the edge of property..perhaps in the next 10-15 years KI will eventually go this route..of course, they wouldn't be able to take advantage of the nice terrain as it exists back by DB/Beast, but I guess that's a concession that will be discussed when and if the time comes.

I'll get him on Drop Tower before the end of the season, don't worry Or so she thinks..hahaha! No really, we'll see...I'm sure I can be persuaded to ride it at some point this summer.

The rules are pretty specific--the main registrant must have a gold pass AND be a member of KIC before Feb. 1, 2009. A guest (doesn't matter if they have a gold pass or whether they belong to KIC) can be brought for $47.99.

Yeah the park was as empty as I've ever seen it..I met up with Kat, her husband and Angie (giga) and later Ryan (Boddah). DB was basically a walk on most of the night. I personally got 7 rides in and never waited m than 10 min I think. Beast was a 1 cycle wait and the rest of the park were walk-ons. We stayed from about 4:45-10 and got tons of rides in...I was also at the park from 9:-2 today and got 5 more rides on DB in..again, the line was never more than about 15-20 min the whole time and the single rider line was about 5-10 minutes....of course the park got more crowded as the day wore on, as is normal for a Saturday. Looking forward to seeing some of you on 5/9 at Ride Warriors..

Much as I love HB, I beleieve it has been mentioned in various other places on these forums that the park has a contract to carry Nick through 2011 i think. SDATHC was a seperate licensing deal and only gave the park the rights to use the scooby doo characters. Kids these days are more in tune with Nick than HB..Spongebob is 10 yrs old and still going strong (the cartoon not the ride, which I think has run its course).

I would like to see digital wait board signs, instead of the current ones that look like they can be manipulated quite easily by just about anyone.

Parks auction off things that are no longer needed or wanted by anyone. Case in point--Disney often puts old stuff up for auction--banners that hung in the park from past events, sometimes costumes that are outdated, or, every once in a great while, something huge like when DL auctioned off the old Disneyland sign letter by letter..I beleieve John Stamos won it. I imagine one day KI will raid its storage areas and find things that may have some value to a mass of people, but these days I imagine a lot of material gets recycled for new stuff in order to save costs. I recall the 07 KIC summer behind the scness tour when, in the sign shop, the only old signs still up were on the wall for sentimental value--everything else had been reused.

1. WDW Magic Kingdom 2. Universal Islands of Adventure (Hulk, Jurasic Park, Spider Man, Dueling Dragons oh my!) 3. WDW Studios 4. Epcot 5. Kings Island (close to home and always worth the gold pass investment!) disclaimer--i've never been to CP so we'll have to see if that changes things when I get there hopefully this summer.

They still do check for metal grommets on your swimsuits, which isn't an issue so much for the ladies as it is for the guys. You can find suits with no grommets just about everyehere. Failing that, just put a small piece of duct tale over your grommets before entering the water park and that will suffice.

Indeed, when I worked at Disney, I often picked up my fair share of trash when I otherwise didn't need to. It's a habit that has stuck with me to this day, so no matter where I am (including KI) if I see a piece of trash lying in front of me, I'ma pt to pick it up and deposit it in the nearest trash can. There is graffitti at Disney on some of the rides, but the park usually does a good job in cleaning it up promptly. Perhaps KI could one day take the lead of large cities and invite local graffiti artists to the park for a competition in order to give them a sanctioned forum for their work.

where I bowl in a regular league, they have hand dryers in the restrooms called 'Xcelerators' (brand name). Needless to say they operate much like the ones you'd find at a car wash like Mike's Express..they dry your hands in about 10 seconds flat. i'm sure this is because thealley doesn't want people with wet, slippery hands walking or running with bowling balls all over the alley, since it tends to lead to lawsuits! I really wish in the future that KI would build another set or two of restrooms, esp in the coney mall area..it could really use another set!

The best rumor I heard was when I worked at Disney on the College Program. Durinf orientation a not-so-bright girl asked what happens to the castle during a hurricane? she said she'd heard it was not made to withstand heavy winds. The orientation director said to her "If we get a hurricane while you're here, meet me at the castle so we can gein dismantling it piece by piece!" everyone in the group got a good laugh and needless to say the girl was more than a little embarassed!

I'm like Angie too when I'm at the park.. if I eat lunch, i scarf it down in like 20 mins so I can ride some more..lol..a friend of mine once dreamed up a park in RCT called 'Ride World' where there would be nothing but 500 ft tall coasters, no benches and limited food..just rides..oh and only 1 set of restrooms..lol..he was on the Disney CP with me, so we got many good laughs out of his plans. Needless to say it was for enthusiasts only!

As a lawyer, I can tell you that the park probably takes such matters very seriously. If caught, you could be ejected from the park (your ticket is a license to enter, not a right) and the park could decide to prosecute you. While they might not want to go to that expense, they could certainly revoke your season pass if you have one and ban you from getting one in the future, not to mention banning you from visiing the park again. I liken it to professional sports teams--if you run onto the court, field, etc. exepct to be ejected and if you are a season ticket holder, you can probably kiss those goodbye as well.

agreed, except that CF would then have to disassemble the shed too, at an additional cost....I don't think they'd dissasemble the shed it's in and reassemble it elsewhere. perhaps with DB it will draw more people to the ride. if they would use the TR effects with the Crypt ride program, I'd be happy.

Gordon, oops..i meant to say 'The Last Temptation of Christ'... that movie dates to the late 80s. The music used is from that movie not the Passion..thanks for the catch!

Kat, Your comment about the size reminds me of the great scene from 'Spinal Tap' where Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) is explaining to his set designer how tall he wants the stonehenge model to be..and he writes "2" x 4" on a napkin..then looks shocked when the model comes back 2 inches by 4 inches instead of 2 feet by 4 feet..lol..classic!

I can't remember if they had the ambient music on last year or not, since it was 'closed' so much, but the music used while it was TR:TR was Peter Gabriel's score from the movie "The Passion of the Christ".

To my knowledge, those other stores are franchised, so if they are profitable, they remain open. I like frozen custard myself, so I was sorry to see Ritters go. Culvers isnt quite as good IMO.

Ang, If your bid holds and you're an auction winner, I'm sure the park will provide further details on where to go once inside the park after the auction wraps on Wednesday and the bids are all confirmed. Look forward to seeing you there on Sat!

At least here in the Indpls. area, the whole frozen custard fad has kind of run its course. We had a local chain here--Ritters--which was better than Culver's, but they have closed all but a small handful of locations in the past couple of years (I think they were in Cincy too--westchester area). As for coming to the park, I would think that Graeter's has some sort of non compete in their contract with the park that would prohibit a Culver's from coming in (of course KI still has the soft serve in various locations, so I'm guessing the non compete has to do with full ice cream stores). Now, who knows what will happen in 3 years..Culver's could take over Graeter's spot. The last time I went to a Ritters I asked for a hot fudge sunday and was given a cup of vanila custard instead. When I told the clerk that a sunday has whipped cream and hot fudge and sometimes peanuts/other condiments on top of the ice cream he looked at me like I had 3 heads!

Angie, If I recall, I think it was mentioned that the auction winners would ride at or soon after 9 AM, after which there will be ERT until park opening. So, if you either want in on the ert or are an auction winner, I'd say get there about 8:30ish and be waiting by the ropes at 9 AM.

Same goes for me--I'm probably not going to have time before Saturday to make one up. Besides Kat knows what I look like as well, having been diving with me and with me at Krazy City back in March!

Definitely have to disagree with you there. Other than the fact that they both have to do with America, the HOP and The American Adventure are totally different shows. The HOP is a collaboration of our nations presidents with a short movie, and a speech from Abe Lincoln and our current president. The American Adventure on the other hand is a very intense walk through the history of the United States, with Disneys most advanced Animatronics figures, that is hosted by Ben Franklin and Mark Twain. It's considered the most elaborate Animatronics Stage show at any Disney Park Worldwide. I also think you underestimate the World Showcase pavilions. Every pavilion has things to do and things to see. Literally off the top of my head is: The British Invasion, The English Hat Lady, MoRockin, Off Kilter, French Waiters, Italian Mime, World Showcase Players, Masquerade (Italy), Morrocan Belly Dancers, Dragon Legend Acrobats, Matsuriza (Japanese Drummers), Voices of Liberty, Shows at the American Gardens Theater, Spirit of America Fife and Drum Corps, Si Xian, Mariachi Cobre (Mexican Band), Miyuki, the show at the African Outpost, and I know I'm missing a few. In addition there are the more subtle details, such as the Mexican animal sculptors, the Japanese tin toy museum, the Twinning’s Tea Tour, the French Perfume Seminar, the Viking Museum in Norway, the model city in Germany, and more. Honestly the Pavilion with the least to do is probably Germany because 60% of the Pavilion is taken up by the Restaurant and Dinner show, which is fantastic by the way. Also I assume you have not been there since the release of Kim Possible's World Showcase Adventure. I don’t care how much anyone wants to judge it, it is very cool. Though I know people do, it's definitely something that you should not put down until you try it. One thing I learned from working in Disney (and I'm not saying that you did) was to never say something sucks unless you can really back it up because there is a good chance whoever you're talking to will love it. My roomate told me that the Comedy Warehouse at Pleasure Island was terrible so I didn't go for the first 2 months I was there. Then I went with a different friend and found out it was AMAZING. Unfortunately by then, Pleasure Island only had a little more than a month left before it was to be shut down forever. Boy was I ****ed at that roomate. Lesson learned, think for yourself because you may have an idiot for a roomate. Sorry if I come of harsh. Epcot will always be special to me. Especially considering the EPCOT was the original focus of the Disney "Florida Project." Well, I didn't say anything sucked. I just said that if you are more of a ride person, then there are things at epcot worth skipping. The American Adventure is a larger show than the HOP. However, unless they've updated the animatronic figures, I don't think they're the latest and greatest. I think that honor belongs to Obama in the HOP and the Wicked Witch in the Great Movie Ride at the Studios. As for Epcot, I too like the park, but I can tell you that Walt's version of Epcot and what eventually became the park were two completly different ideas. Walt wanted Epcot to be more like what Celebration is today--a stand alone self-contained community, albeit dedicated to science-type endeavors. After Walt's death, company execs soon realized that this idea would never earn the company as much money as a theme park could. I worked at Disney on the College Program, so I do know of what I speak here. For years, the park was seemingly never updated like the other parks. Indeed, well into the 90s, Epcot had a feel of a park that was still stuck in the 80s (heck the last scene on spaceship earth showed a kid at a computer with the voice of walter cronkite saying that in 50 years saying we'd all be using them..) In the end, it all comes down to preference. If its just rides, then my recommendations would be good to follow. If you're into more than just rides and want to stop and look at details, your version is the way to go. That said, I agree that the resturants for the most part are good in the world showcase, esp. France Morocco and Japan (IMO).