Magenta Lizard

It was still down this morning, and there were maintenance guys around it discussing it. Seeing it in person, it's clear that the bend at the top is part of the design, not damage.

Wow, they've really got it cleaned up!

Don't have one, but I'll probably wear Christmas t-shirts the two days I visit that week. I talked to Don Helbig on Thursday at the park, and I don't think any of this is privileged info. The breakfast with Santa will be held in the Festhaus between (IIRC) 8 and 10. There is no discount for meal plan holders, because they want to somewhat limit the number of people taking part in the event so all the kids will have a chance to give their lists to Santa. I didn't ask about the movies because I assumed they would be late at Soak City, like the Dive-In Movies, but I realize I may have been mistaken there.

And of course, they still have the recording that proves the existence of ghosts and we've all heard it. Oh, wait...

Yeah, the Hallmark TV channel is having Christmas in July too

I'm hoping I can buy a t-shirt with the awesome logo on it. Preferably the year too, in case this becomes a repeating thing.

Fun little report. Surprisingly, Paradise Island has been open more often than not during my visits the last couple of months.

When I went to WDW with my high school band, we performed in one of the parks. It was made /very/ clear that we were not to take any photos of backstage areas. And we were only there for an hour or so. I agree she should not have been rehired. That showed a real lack of respect for the company and poor judgment.

They've been stacking them as they remove them, all this time. I don't think it implies an imminent announcement.

I wasn't at the park as long as I usually am, so I only got a couple pics yesterday. Presumably unrelated, but they're doing something beside the restrooms across from Hank's These were in the destruction area beside new WWC queue. Some sort of shipping pallets for equipment maybe? I don't know. It was dark already. Merits a better look later, if they're still there.

Simple solution: keep cups exactly as they are now except for one small change. Rather than a barcode on the cup, a barcode on a small plastic card that fits in a wallet, which is scanned to fill the cup. Stealing the cup just gets you a cup, not season-long discounted or free drinks. I doubt anyone would steal cups anymore.

Sometimes they just get a tiny despot working as a separator. A couple seasons ago, the separator at Adventure Express was trying to get me to join the third of a group of three other women, on a nearly empty train when there was no line. I actually had to go back and forth with him for a little bit before he finally acquiesced to letting me ride in back. I was going to just skip it if he held his ground any longer. In my experience, the line micromanagers who won't accommodate requests tend to be the worst about letting half empty trains leave because something like a borderline child needing to be measured interrupts them. The best separators can balance between flow, choice, and limitation of the number of people piling into the station.

I miss Fascination so much! Good find, I haven't noticed that!

Maybe it's just that I'm taller and more intimidating now (don't laugh! ) but I find the general public at KI much more mild than I found the crowds when I was a kid 25-30 years ago. In fact, I find people, in general, much better behaved in public than ever. Especially teenagers.

Oh, they only submitted it for trademark this year. I didn't realize it was around for awhile. First I'd heard of the park, even.

I apologize if this has been found and posted and I missed it, but this is kind of hilarious. A park called Enchanted Village and Wild Waves may have stolen KI's preferred coaster name out from under them http://www.trademarkia.com/timberhawk-ride-of-prey-86912121.html Never fear, Lumberhawk is still available

I believe you are correct after reviewing my pics. I first saw the HOLE signs after they already had been moved off the actual holes, but I assumed they were covering holes. They were pretty consistent about the distance and direction they moved the sheets so it added to the illusion of a second row. One of the pics I took on a later day appeared to have a hole back there so it confirmed that idea in my mind, but reviewing it, it is a trick of the light and terrain. It's hard to see it in this pic, but there is some sort of strange semi-circular structure made from silver tubular metal. Anyone who has seen this in person that can say what that is? Is it some sort of guard for some of the machinery? I've been seeing it in various places since around the time the drill showed up. It's laying on its side in the background there.

I thought this was as good a place as any to bring up something I overheard in a queue awhile ago. Some people older than me were discussing what sounded like they were saying they used to have free beer in Oktoberfest, I'm assuming sometime in the 80s. One of the women was saying that if you hit them up just before and after shift change, you could get more than one. This was the first I've ever heard of it. Could anyone who remembers this tell me more? I have to assume that if it happened, it stopped after the Flight Commander incident. I do remember alcohol seeming much more available around the park before that.

I haven't seen much activity near Picnic Grove, even marking, I don't think. Other than the main clearing I described, the only other work is the clearing and construction on the edge of the reservoir along the tracks and a few trees down or slated for removal along the tracks just before the unused station. I'm not sure exactly where that station is on the map, it seems like it is around the train house. Edit: I really need to get a good map and mark all I've seen for those of you who can't visit at all or as often as I do.

Presto, that big clearing is behind the train station, over toward the old Crypt building along the tracks in one direction and to the reservoir in the other direction. The pic was taken from the new WWC queue it looks like, which cuts across the train tracks near the old Crypt queue. Edit: I take it back, both pics were from the train, looks like the first one was along the train station area and the second after the crossing of WWC queue.

It looks like a pretty interesting layout. Definitely would change the train experience, because that would require a lot of the structure to be built over/around the track. The only work I've seen by DB so far is the big clearing near the new WWC queue (which coincides with your top of the lift hill, more or less), and a couple trees down by where the DB on-ride photos are taken.

They most definitely were using it for that, as evidenced by a pic someone else posted (I'm not going back through four pages of Winterfest discussion to find out who). I also had pics that show the concrete at the base of the beams but figured there was no point in repeating it. I guess I just thought it was more interesting than most. I don't know enough about this kind of construction to speculate about what this method of building indicates as far as what the finished product may be. There seem to be two rows involved, a few feet apart, so I don't think it is a retaining wall. Meaning, there is the line of holes where they have sunken the beams and filled with concrete, and a second parallel row of holes covered by the particle board signs, which will presumably be undergoing the same treatment soon. So, to me, it suggests some sort of a bridge/trestle/track support.

Can't believe I posted pictures of an actual concrete mixer truck on location yesterday and nearly the whole thread since then has been Winterfest discussion...

Honestly, I'm not sure that's wrong. It would give them some room to work with in front of it, without needing to cross train tracks to get to whatever they put there. However, it seems like an awful lot of work for not a whole lot of expanded Rivertown path. Makes a coaster seem less likely than midway improvements, tho.

I caught them on lunch break, they were all very sweet and waved back.