luff

Great photos crazypkikid. I love the entryway and theming. SFOG is one of those parks I just missed visiting in 2007, and hopefully can visit in the next 5 years.

Hopefully they just went on the cheap for the spring break time frame. I think with their current debt, they don't want to pay for a brand new marketing scheme.

You forgot the Ellen time warp effect on the Universe of Energy. However, it is a good way to get your kids to take a nap!

I had a planned trip near Europa Park last October. Unfortunately it got canceled. I still want to visit BGE.

TI 99 with the cassette backup anyone?

Unfortunately most of Terminator was blocked by the construction walls. All I could see were two large banked turns right next to the wall. Tweety's was scary. The poor kids were too tall to stand up straight, and the cages are too skinny for them to sit down. And KI Man, Revolution used to only have lap bars. The OTSR and hard back to the seat were very uncomfortable.

Avatar - The themeing was pretty good in the park. Especially in the Gotham city section which we did not get any pictures of. Since we were in Vegas for most of the week, the kids were back with Grandma. Vegas is not very kid friendly. As for my wife, her coaster enthusiasm is so great that we will be spending our 10th anniversary at Cedar Point this summer! P.S. I think Mr 6 was being played by a young woman Saturday.

Last week my wife had a "Business" trip to Las Vegas. I, being the good husband, had to keep her company, and take advantage of the free hotel room. When I was booking flights, I found out it was actually cheaper to fly back out of LAX, so we drove to LA on Thursday. We didn't ride any coasters in Nevada. Speed the ride was closed for the season. The NY NY coaster just sucks, and I didn't feel like trekking all the way back to the circus circus Canyon Blaster. On the way over the Mohave desert, we stopped at Primm NV to look at Desperado. Looks like it was only open on the weekends. So to get our roller coaster fix, Saturday we drove up to magic mountain. First ride we hit was X2. For those of you who don't know, in this ride, your seats can tip forwards or backwards up to 360 degrees total. The wait was 1.5 hours but well worth it. The Queue has Break.Com videos playing with lots of good music pumped in. The flip in the first drop was amazing. The seats have a soundtrack tuned to the ride with several sound bites like "Look how high we are!" and "Who's Idea was this? thrown in as well. The flames were also a nice touch. We skipped Viper which looked like a clone of the Great America Shockwave. Think Vortex. Next we hiked up the hill towards Tatsu. 1.25 hour wait for this. Another amazing ride. This flier is perched on the hill so you can't get a good view of how high or low you are on the ride since depending on which direction you are facing you either see the top of the hill or the ground falling away. Next we attempted to ride Deja Vu since we have never been on one before. Unfortunately it was walled off with the New Terminator coaster construction fence. Now we climbed back up the hill and rode Ninja. Think Flight Deck that matches the terrain. They were only running one of four trains so the wait was 1/2 hour for a relatively short line. This coaster has two lift hills with the 2nd one going straight into the loading station like AE. We looked at superman, but with a long line, only running one side, and the extremely loud noise that it makes, we skipped it. Now our only non coaster ride of the day was the "Orient Express" train ride down the hill. After grabbing a snack, I spied someone we haven't seen in a while. MR 6 was posing for some photo ops. He even danced when we like to party came on over the speakers. On our way to the coasters on the other side of the park we came upon how park security deals with misbehaving kids Next ride was Goliath. Best entryway ever. 255ft first drop and plenty of speed for the rest of the ride. Goliath intertwines with the Colossus which was next. One side only running with very little wait. Not very fun. 2 big drops and then lots of slow small ones. I just kept thinking of the Step by Step opening credits. Back side. We went back around Batman, but decided not to ride since it looked like a clone of the original one here in chicago. Snack #2 and then back to the Stand up Riddler's Revenge. It had the same feel as mantis. Pretty Fun and got us back in the mood for more rides. Since we had more energy again, back towards the parking lot to ride Scream. As six flags likes to do, this coaster was built on the parking lot. They didn't even pull up the asphault This is a smooth B&M Looper with lots of extreme orientation changes. Also the cars are floor - less. I liked the mechanism to bring a floor up to the riders in the station. For the last ride of the day, we went back to the front, by MR 6 and saw only in california.... Theme park Sushi. So anyways we rode revolution. According to the placard outside this was the first modern looping coaster It only has one loop, but lots of other elements. I kept thinking of how John Candy and Chevy Chase rode this ride without Over the Shoulder restraints. No one was riding this at all so we got the front seat. We even asked the operator to snap a picture of us. On the way out, we got a picture of the three coasters next to the parking lot all lit up. Foreground is Colossus, The tall one is Goliath, and scream is on the far right. A few final thoughts on the park. This was our first trip there, and the layout is a little confusing. The amount of hills and trees made finding the rides we want difficult. What didnt' help was that we couldn't find a paper map until we visited guest relations. The rides were awesome. The food mediocre and the prices high just like at KI. $3.50 for a bottled water, $8 for a bag of cheese popcorn. The park was relatively clean, and the coasters looked well maintained with the exception of Colossus. Unfortunately you can really see where rides or attractions were removed. They didn't seem to want to re-landscape of fully remove things. Also the bathrooms were in horrible shape. Not dirty, just broken and worn out. Also how many Panda Expresses, Johnny rockets, and Papa Johns do you need in one park? Special thanks to the Wife-ey for the pictures. With the terrain and trees it is difficult to get any good pics.

Make sure you get them when you first get in the park. Last time we went, they ran out of cards and we had to negotiate with each individual ride crew.

Another Kudos to all the "Blues" PTR's It almost feels like I was there. Having skipped our visit to the Island last year, and not going back until July, I am definitely going through KI withdraw.

Back in 1992 I was switching between the forwards Racer and Backwards, and forgot to turn my baseball cap around and it flew off on the first drop.

Disney cruises are definitely a higher cost than Carnival. But you have to look at what you are getting for the price, and there are deals out there for the off seasons. We went on the Disney Magic in July 1999 before our kids were born, and this (last) year with the kids on the Wonder. We did completely different things and still had a great time. Back in 99 our cruise director told us that there were 900 kids on the ship. I couldn't believe there were that many. It goes to show you how good they are at keeping separate sections of the ship. Railrider - The newer ships should be coming on line by 2010/11 so there will be even more options for itineraries!

Aw that's too bad. It was one of the nice perks to the Bush parks.

He got a Star Wars Digital Camera for Christmas so he can have plenty of practice on the Photography. Unfortunately it takes very poor pictures. I know you and GatorGirl will have a blast when you go on a cruise

Ha. I wonder if steel was more than a couple of nickle's a pound?

That loop does compliment the structure perfectly, but alas last time I looked, the loop was no longer there.

But Mean Streak is much better looking than SOB

Wow that is cool. How does it work, did the captain perform the ceremony?

Thanks, for all the great responses. AZ - There were two carnival ships docked next to us in Nasau, one was the Sensation, and the other was the Destiny. I don't remember which one the picture is of. Gordon - I completely agree on Whoopi Avatar - We plan on waiting for 4 years and do a 7 day cruise then. We go to Florida every 2 years, and the next one is already planned for visiting Universal for the first time and returning to Seaworld.

Day 8.. Vacation’s over, and random notes. In order to get the most efficient flow of people out of the ship and through us customs, you are assigned breakfast at the same room where you had dinner the night before, on a staggered schedule. Last chance to see our servers Veronica and Rolly. Another cruise note, they heavily promote tipping at the end of the cruise to the Head server, your two servers and the housekeeping staff. Since you don’t pay for the meals individually, you are given envelopes with recommended tipping amounts. Our trip through customs was easier than expected. Our checked luggage went straight to the airport, we didn’t even have to bring them through customs like you usually do. All we had to do was show the declaration form, and they didn’t even check the passports. Overall the Disney cruise is a great time for the family. The cast members are top notch, always trying to make the experience better. Everyone is friendly to you from the beginning to the end. The crew is also super neat freaks. Everywhere someone is cleaning and keeping the ship in tip top shape. Hand sanitizer is available everywhere and when you enter a dining room, they had you sanitized wipes. The ship is divided up into so many sections, that everyone can have a different cruise experience. The ship has kids only sections (divided up by age group), Adult only sections, and Teen only sections. If you want to relax, just hang out in the spa and Café Cove, and diversions. Even the pools follow this theme. One pool is for Adults, one for Kids, a third for families, and a 4th only for the crew. (A happy crew translates to happy guests) I think the best recommendation came from my 5 and 8 year old. They said they liked the cruise portion better than being at the parks. And this came from kids who can’t get enough roller coasters. Chocolate! See you Real Soon.

Day 7 Castaway Cay, Disney’s private island. Do you really want to see paradise? Dress for a day at the beach and off we are to this Island Paradise. 1st stop, photo-op with Captain Jack. My son asks, is that really Johnny Depp? The kids immediately wanted to go to the kid’s club activities at scuttle’s Cove, so we find ourselves in an adult only mode. So what do we do? Rent bicycles. You really don’t appreciate how large the island actually is until you get away from the family and teen beaches. We bike to the adult beach and see that they rent beach wheel chairs. Bike to the far end of the island and we see…. Back to the middle, Disney has placed an observation tower. I spy the ship Ummm. Plant stuff. Interesting landscape Lunch is BBQ on the island. Just average C. Besides a beach day, we also did the Lilo and Stich dance party, and rented a Hobie cat. Gorgeous picture taken by son with the disposable camera After the beach, the kids got to be in “Friendship Rocks” Each kid in the kids clubs gets a T-shirt and is involved on the main stage in a production with Mickey and the Crew. Below are the two favorite councilors in the Oceaneer’s lab. Most cast members on the ship are from other countries, not very many from the US or the Bahaman’s where the ship is flagged. The youth councilors are mostly from England, Australia, and New Zealand. Since the wife is a STTNG fan we had to go to the Forward elevators and take a picture on the 10th deck. The final show of the cruise was Disney Dreams. The premise on this show is a kid dreaming with Peter Pan about various Disney shows. Another top notch performance as expected. A Formal Dinner was at Parrot’s Cay, the Caribbean themed dining room. Mmmmm. Jerk Chicken. At the Disney cruise ships, you get the same server and assistant server for dinner even as you rotate through the dining rooms. This allows a lot more interaction and the server’s knowledge of their guests. Unfortunately we did not get to the Animator’s Palate, which is the best known and our server’s favorite dining room. For each of the dinners, there are three sections on each menu. Theme, section for the adults (Caribbean in this case), themed section for the kids, and the usual kid section (chicken nuggets, hot dogs, etc.) This allows even the picky eaters something. Of course you can always just say, I want French fries, and poof they appear. On another note, our assistant server Veronica, who cuts the kids food when needed, can make awesome paintings with catsup in a glass Heinz 57 bottle. Part of the entertainment at Parrot Cay is a Limbo with the kids. Another mention of the magical express service. If you don’t want to mess with the luggage, it has to be outside the cabin before 11:00pm, then Poof it disappears. One final towel friend. Edit fixed the flower picture!

Day 6 Nassau (‘s gone funky) Caribbean sunrise Yes he wanted to see his first sunrise at sea. Each day we get a “Personal Navigator” with information on what is happening on the ship that day. I really like the TV guide style showing the different options at a glance. Beautiful architecture of Nassau Yes there is even a Starbucks there. The only long line during the cruise was the princess gathering and photo-op. We chose a shore excursion, Blackbeard’s Cay Stingray Adventure for the day. For those of you that don’t know, a shore excursion is another money making opportunity for the cruise ships. You book the activity through the cruise line, and they contract a local company to bring you to the activity. Why didn’t we go to the famous water park at Atlantis? Try saving $70 per person. We took a 25 minute boat ride to the island and went directly to the snorkel area. The experience was wonderful. Son took to snorkeling immediately, but daughter didn’t like the forced breathing through the mouth. She was content with standing in the shallow water and petting them. We also got to feed them sardine bits. One stingray got a little fresh and tried to swim up my trunks. Not a fun feeling. Still overall Rating A After we returned to the ship, the kids went directly to the Oceaneer’s Lab and Club. Daughter got to do a Junkanoo Jam, Slide time, and So you want to be a Pirate. Son did Ratatouille Cooking School, watched Beverly Hills Chihuahua at the theatre, Kim Possible Cruise Control, and the Glow jam at the wide world of sports deck. Us adults got to relax, swim, drink, and see the next show, Toy Story the Musical. This was their best show in my opinion. The theatre has a screen in which various animations can take place, but depending on the lighting, it can be opaque, semi transparent and transparent. It is used to great effect on the transitions between the people and the toys. Surprisingly Sid gets his own song. A hard rocking “I am the Da Vinci of Destruction, the Rembrandt of wreckage.” I give it an A+ Dinner was at the adult’s only Palo. It has excellent northern Italian food bringing back lots of memories. The décor was good too. Overall I give it an A. It’s pirate themed night and up a the family pool we have the Pirates “IN” the Caribbean party. Big Hook, Smee, Peter Pan, Goofy, Stitch and Mickey show and party with buffet lines. Another cruise tip, if you don’t gain 5 lbs, you haven’t taken advantage of the food. Besides the large dinners, breakfasts, there are 24 hour room service, Pizza, hotdogs, and ice cream open until after midnight and mini buffets everywhere. Anyways enough words, more pictures. Pirate with deserts. Pirate party Carnival ship beside us at Nassau, should we board it? Arrgh! After 11 I finally got the son out of the kid’s lab. What did he want to see? Pirates of the Caribbean on the Jumbo tron which ran until late at night. Pull up a couple of beach chairs, lay back and watch Pirates. 2nd Towel animal

Back in October (during the unofficial KIC month at Disney) my family and I went on the 7 day land sea package at Disneyworld and on the Disney Wonder. Since we have had a couple of excellent Disney trip reports already, I will just breeze over the Disney portion of our trip. Day 1 Travel and the Epcot Food and Wine Festival First I will have to say how much I love the magical express. Check the bags in at the airport and boom they show up in your resort. Since we splurged and got a cabin with a private verandah, our resort was upgraded to the Disney Swan. We were able to check in at 11am, drop our carry-on in the room, and hop the next boat to EPCOT which during the food and wine festival stands for Every One Comes Out Tipsy. [ wife comments!] A quick note about the Dolphin and Swan: you can take a boat or walk to EPCOT and take a boat to Hollywood Studios which is a nice change up from taking the buses. [/wife comments] Day 2 Studios and Animal Kingdom Day 3 The Long day 8:00am extra magic hours at Epcot, where I ran into the president of the last company I worked for. 10 hop the bus to Disney Studios. Then back to the resort for a 2 hour rest, then Magic Kingdom for the NSSHP till midnight. Day 4 Resort Pool time and Magic Kingdom Every day it rained. This night we got front row viewing of Spectromagic. Of course it was during a downpour. I was surprised that the only change was elimination of the street dancing people. Day 5 Last day at Disney, 1st day on the cruise ship Most guests leave from their resort between 11:00 and noon aboard a Disney cruise bus. The cruise offers another option of leaving at 12:30 directly from Animal Kingdom. Our luggage Poof disappeared from our resort room and will later show up in front of our cabin. The cruise line allows you to check your carryon (not carrion) at DAK’s front gate, and you get a VIP entrance to the Lion King show. At 12:30 two busloads of guests head out for the hour long trip to Port Canaveral. Since we were one of the last groups to arrive, there were no lines to check the kids into the kid clubs. Each kid gets their own wrist band and we get a pager. Boarding consists of showing our key to the world and going straight through security since we had already filled out all of our paperwork and handed it into the representative at the Dolphin. But before we get on board, the ship picture taking starts. In case you don’t know, photographers will take pictures of you constantly during the cruise and try to get you to buy them as an additional revenue source. Unfortunately they are not part of the Disney photopass, so you have to buy them or loose them. Entering the ship you get your family name announced and enter the beautiful multi story atrium. On the ceiling is one of the huge blown glass chandelier. Since we upgraded, our cabin had a private Verandah (balcony). Space is a premium on ships, so the kids sleeping arrangement was unique. The bottom bunk is a couch during the day. The top bunk slides up into the ceiling during the day. The staff “turns down” the beds sometime in the evening. Now it’s time to explore the ship, and check out the Oceaneer’s Club and Lab. On a cruise, the coast guard requires a mandatory boat drill. All ship activities are suspended and the alarm is sounded. We don the big orange life jackets and go to our marshal point. After the captain sounds the all clear we return the life jackets to the cabin. Next the kids wanted to go swim in the Mickey Pool. Mom slipped out to the spa for some alone time, and a 10% discount. Good choice since the pools were packed. Next on the agenda was seeing the show “The Golden Mickeys” This is a pretty typical Disney show which is based on the premise of an awards show hosted by the ships captain. Unfortunately Goofy, after running over my son in the hallway, accidentally takes out the Captain, so a “stage hand” has to take over. Overall Grade B- Last up was dinner at Tritons. This is the high end dining room onboard the wonder. The food is good but the Ambiance is just average. Overall Grade B. The kids were wiped at this point but our servers kept them entertained. The son was so tired after the meal, that when asked what dessert he wanted, he replied with nothing. That is exactly what they gave him.

Throwing bad money after bad???? Doesn't sound like a good business plan.

I agree completely. The dreamland drive-in show actually kept my 5 year old occupied for 3/4 of it. And Thunderhead is my new favorite coaster!