XGatorHead 8904

I'm glad I was able to get some closure with DT. When hearing it was being replaced I was upset because I wasn't going to get to go until September, and it turned out that would be after it's final day of operation. But on Saturday July 21st, the Gator-ettes and I were sitting at home when I got a text from Stalkerchick asking about cheap hotels in Sandusky. I replied back that I was jealous, but we didn't want to pay so much to go to CP. She texted back that the next day was a season pass BAF for $20 day, her aunt's family had passes, and there were still two $20 tickets up for grabs. An hour later, we were on our way! How could we pass up $20 tickets? Plus, Stalkerchick appreciates DT about as much as I do, so it was good to go with another fan of the ride. We managed to get two rides in on DT that day, and one on Space Spiral (which I'm not particularly attached to). The park was surprisingly not crowded, and GatorGirl got her first rides on Iron Dragon, Magnum ("Let's ride that again!" she said on the break run), Cedar Creek Mine Ride, Gemini ("It's so smooth!") and Blue Streak. I'm more accepting of the change having ridden DT knowing that it was my last time. Unlike Chaos, Demon Drop, WildCat (all "non-obvious" must-rides for me at CP), Jaws & King Cobra (I'd add SoB to that list, but I'm not so torn up about that one leaving). DT was my first bobsled coaster, and it was an experience that I enjoyed even if the theming was, in the words of Stalkerchick, "craptastic". There unfortunately are not many bobsled coasters left, just like there are not many Arrow suspendeds left. I'd finish this post by saying "Ride every ride like it's your last time," but that's a little too pessimistic for me.

This is the same company that operates the Magic Mountain Fun Centers in Columbus, if any of you are famiiar with them. I only know about them because there's one that sits right along 71 that I drive by when ever I'm heading up to NE Ohio. http://www.adventure...er-fun-centers/ Good luck to them!

^Yes, I would imagine quite a few someones have.

Why not both? Dispatch Master Transport has flights from Maple Grove to Alaska, at least for nine more days...

Yup. It was down when I was there on Sunday, and when I was there on Tuesday. I know it's not a Huss, but Drop Tower was down those two days too.

Well, since my last post in this topic back in February, Mrs. Gator surprised me a few months ago and said "Let's go to Kennywood this year." So I hadn't originally planned on any new (to me) parks, but now we'll be getting a few new credits there next month. And GatorGirl has gotten 13 new coasters this year, bringing her count up to 29 (so far). Ask her what her favorite ride is, and she'll tell you "The Beast at night!" Yeah, I'm a proud papa!

Sorry, I disagree with you on that.

Oh no! But it being Screamscape, I'll take it with a grain of salt. One less TOGO stand up. I did think of one I'd remove... Woodstock Gliders at Carowinds. And I would move it back to Kings Island for purely selfish reasons!

^And you never invited me to go on any of those trimless rides?!?

I was going to say the exact same thing. What's my favorite may not be someone else's. Unless the ride is unsafe, keep it. Taking a ride out just because it's in the way of something else doesn't sit well with me. What's so bad about cloned rides and areas? The thing you have to realize is that most park visitors are not like us. They don't care if there's another ride hundreds or thousands of miles away that's exactly like the one at their local park. More people in different regions get to experience similar things, I see nothing wrong with that. Same idea as my response above. How many different CF haunted events do you make it to a year? I go to CP's every year, and I work KI's. A vast majority of visitors only go to one. They don't care that there's Club Bloods at both CP & KI (which are vastly different... ours being the better of the two IMO). Even with the Overlords and Club Bloods, there's enough different attractions at each to warrant a trip to each event.

My first was Scooby Doo. No, not Scooby Zoom, but Scooby Doo. Or as you young'uns might know it better, Beastie/Fairly Odd Coaster/Woodstock Express. Yeah, I'm old. Unless you count the time that my mom rode Racer when she was pregnant with me in 1972. Then that's my first. Times were different then. And I blame that incident for my love of coasters.

Just got a new Disney Insider email today, which this week had as the main story "Fun Family Jaunts to Beat the Heat". As I do every week, I clicked on the link to read the story, which included fun things to do in a number of cities across the country. The entry for Las Vegas caught my eye: http://disney.go.com/disneyinsider/insider/article/20120710?cmp=dcom_EMC_ins_disney_insider_120710_MA-ReadMore__Extl My first thought was, did they reopen it as there had been talk of doing a few years ago? A quick Google search confirmed that no, that fell through, and the attraction has in fact been closed since 2008. Really Disney? You couldn't take the time to do a little research before you send out an article recommending an attraction that's been closed for nearly four years? I wonder how many of the other attractions in the article are still open... although I don't really care enough, or have the time, to do the research myself. But then I'm also not the one writing an article for an email that goes out to, and website accessible to, millions of people.

(Setting: The end of the line at Vortex, at the bottom of the stairs, below the sign. Girl 1, approximately 14-16 years old, runs up and gets in line behind Gator & GatorGirl.) GIRL 1: (to friend) "Come on, get in line!" GIRL 2: "I'm not waiting in that line. It's too long!" (Wait time ended up being < 10 minutes). (Girl 1 & Girl 2 continue to argue for a minute about the wait time.) GIRL 1: (to Gator and the group of 4 guys in front of him) "Can I cut you guys? I think my friends are up there." Gator turns around and gives Girl 1 a death stare, thinking to himself "Really? I just stood here and listened to you argue with your friend justifying the wait time to her, and NOW you're playing the 'my friends are already in line' card?" Before Gator has the chance to express his thoughts to Girl 1, she sees the look on his face, as well as the disapproving looks on the faces of the group in front of him, and immediately follows Girl 2 , who by that point is already on her way out of the line. Girl 1 and Girl 2 walk towards The Vortex exit, but are soon distracted by two boys around their age, with whom they immediately stop to talk and flirt. END SCENE

Congratulations to Gary! Very nice guy with whom Mrs. Gator and I have ridden a few times. I never would have guessed him to be 70.

I remember the alien puppet singing "I'll Be Home for Christmas", but I don't remember the storyline about a boy running away from home. I know it was one of the scenes from the Santa's Workshop show, which also had the huge blacklight reindeer puppets singing "Up On the Roof", the penguin puppets singing "The Twelve Days of Christmas" with a Cincinnati twist. I loved that show! http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php?/topic/23189-imagine-winterfest/#entry411718 They reprised the show when they brought back Winterfest in '05. It was so nice to see it again!

Unfortunately that's nothing new, at least around here, I'm not sure how long BG has done them. KI gets a few complaints from locals every year about the fireworks. To that I say, helloooo.... You live near an amusement park that's been there since 1972, which has had fireworks since then, and more than likely your house/apartment/condo is a lot newer than the park. Chances are you knew about Kings Island when you moved into your residence, and your complaining about something that goes along with living that close to it? Wait five minutes... the big scary booms will be over. We can hear KI's fireworks from our house, and my family and I love hearing them at 10:00 every night. It's a nice reminder that yes, it's summertime!

Thanks, thanks a lot...now I know the picture I have with "Scooby" is not Scooby...just another childhood memory shot to... Sorry. Just don't ask me about the Easter Bunny & Santa Claus. It broke my heart the day that GatorGirl told me that Dora, Diego and Spongebob weren't real, and that they were just people inside costumes. I asked her about Mickey Mouse, Pinocchio and all of them down at WDW, and she said the same thing. And she had just turned 4 at the time. A little bit of childhood lost, but today she still hugs the characters whenever she sees them. Thanks to my work, she still believes in Santa (for now). Last December she saw Santa twice, and she told our friends that the second one wasn't the real Santa. When asked how she knew, she said "Because the second Santa had to ask my name, but the Santa at Daddy's work already knows my name when I go in the room."

On the Rider Height Guide on the park map, Monster has no minimum height listed.

Gosh, now you're just making me blush...

^If he's tall enough for Scrambler, then over that way he can ride Monster and Grand Carousel too. We went through that a few years ago, but now that GatorGirl's hit 48", we've hardly stepped foot in Planet Snoopy this year.

Wow... two Haunt slams in one day! You're on a roll, Gordon! And it's not even October!

You actually have that backwards. The slide was originally in Coney (as can be seen in the Partridge Family & Brady Bunch episodes), then was shortened and moved to HB. Being born in '72, I grew up with HB Land. I loved all the things previously mentioned, but one my favorites hasn't been brought up yet. I absolutely loved the snail that sat outside the original Enchanted Voyage. It would blink, move it's head & neck, and I always used to say along with it, "Have a happy day!" My uncle did characters at the park back in the early days, and my mom has a picture of me with Scooby, and inside the costume is my uncle. He also played a few of the Banana Splits characters. I loved all the characters, but Scooby, Captain Caveman and Hong Kong Phooey had a slight edge over all the others.

Overhead in Splash River this past Sunday: "Ain't this s'posd ta be a lazy river, not a get soaked river?" -Abbreviations not done to save time in typing, but used to capture the dialect of the speaker...

Hey, Album Reviews is over in another thread! LOL that they crammed into the dryer, though. I guess the photo booths don't have that added element of "danger." They just couldn't find a phone booth like we had to back in the day...

It was great to finally participate in this event. I had been wanting to do it since it's first year but it always fell when we were taking our vacation, and now that this year we're not taking a big week-long one, I could do it! Hearing from the families that were directly impacted by GKTW really brought home the true meaning for doing it, and a big thank you goes out to everyone involved in making Coasting for Kids such a great experience. It was nice to see everyone that I already knew from here, and great to meet everyone else for the first time too. I wasn't as sore as I thought I would be after my 96 laps. The tops of my thighs hurt from the lapbar if you put pressure on just the right spot, but that's it. I didn't even have to take any of the Advil that I brought. I guess that's mainly due to the fact that I rode mostly in the 2nd rows of the cars. And TombRaiderFTW, sorry about the "I woke up too early... at 6:15!" comment. I just had to say it!