Magenta Lizard

On Saturday, I ended up getting lunch at Planet Snoopy Grill for the simple reason there was absolutely no line. I got the bacon cheeseburger on a whim, and was pleasantly surprised to see the side for all their meals are tater tots. I don't know if this is new, if I just hadn't eaten from that location before, or if I did and forgot about the tots. It was all tasty. I'm going to have to try some of their other selections now.

Teal is a blue-green color and these were a more yellow to slightly lime-green color. But they were awesome, no doubt. Appeared to be ostrich-leather. I asked Mr. Speigel about them as I took the pic, which unfortunately didn't focus, and he mentioned he had them custom made when he was in an Asian country (I'm blanking on which one he mentioned) I think he chose them to go with the Wyoming shirt he had on under his suit jacket. But then again, his pocket square has a lime green hue as well, so it may have been an intentional nod to speculation he may have caught wind of.

Nobody probably remembers because it was like a week ago, which is forever for this thread, but.... I mentioned that I was leaning away from this being anything, because all the work so far could be attributed to WWC, and the clearing alongside the train could be part of an extended queue for that ride. They have begun pouring the concrete for that queue, appearing to have finished up to the edge of the woods next to DB (around where all that gravel and wood had been piled). The forms have been laid out for the rest, so it is clear where it is going. It has a fairly significant curb to either side so it wouldn't be easy to tie side paths in without it showing now. As I rode DB, I looked down on what has been poured so far, and it is clearly crossing the bridge there (which was part of the old queue) and heading back toward WWC without any diversion toward the old entrance. So the clearing parallel to the train station is NOT associated with WWC as far as I can tell. Here you can see the concrete forms, and the path in the background is the opposite end of the one heading toward the old funnel cake stand. So I'm leaning back toward coaster, even though the park managed to go through an entire coaster-themed enthusiast event without making any particular teases.

I was coming to mention it too. There's no basket of chalk out today, so presumably an employee added "project 2017".

Towering Don

I do wish they would have some consistency on checking. I came in the other morning, got out the things that have metal (cellphone wallet and coin purse) because that is typically all they care about. It's a pain to take out all the various other things I have in my cargo pockets then repack them. I sat my things in the basket, and the guard said "put everything from your pockets in the basket." I told him that was all the metal things, is that enough? He just coldly said "put everything in the basket." Like Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs. So I did. After I was wanded I turned and he was actually unzipping my tiny coin purse to check for weapons. Later the same day when it was busier, I had my wallet and coin purse in my hand, and was encouraged to keep it while I was wanded. He passed it down my front. The wand beeped when it got to the metal buttons/snap on my cargo pocket. I started to explain it was the buttons, and turn around like usual, and he just cut me off with "you can go." The third time I went through that day, it was like I'm used to. Metal stuff in my hand, wand front and back, interested in the metal snap/buttons.

I think it was just the obvious. If that tree falls, it's going to take out the fence. Probably hit a guest. That kind of thing.

Funny, I found the silky shirt last year less breathable than a normal t-shirt. I usually only wear mine to sleep in, because I feel like the sweat builds up and drips under it when I wear it to the park. So, I'm happy about that part. A little less happy about its color, not a big fan of white t-shirts. I do like the logo, even if it's not as fancy as last year. I would like if they started putting years on them.

While it obviously isn't helping much, I don't think the blame for the lines can be placed exclusively on meal plans. Last Friday, I started looking into getting food at around 3:00. Everywhere had long lines. I kept circling the park until about 8:00, mostly riding rides etc, but keeping my eyes open at the food stalls, periodically getting into a food line for about 5-10 minutes before giving up because it wasn't moving. Anyway, what I noticed in that time was that ice cream had lines completely blocking the walkway. Cinnabon. Auntie Anne's. Sweet Spot (at least in the fudge/a la carte area). Everywhere you could get food and/or drink, regardless of meal plan acceptance, there was a long line. So I started thinking about when I used to go to the park, before the last few years that I've had a pass or meal plan. What has changed, other than meal plans and souvenir bottles? Mobile food or drink carts. Remember the little plastic juice bottles shaped like fruit or characters sitting in ice on carts all over the park? Remember people walking around selling soft pretzels off poles? Bags of cotton candy you could buy off someone walking around, and you didn't need to wait behind people wanting to buy drinks? I guess that since people don't carry cash and/or because the park doesn't want their employees to handle cash w/out a register, these have been phased out. I think it is at least somewhat to blame for the lines. There are some vending machines, which I guess serve a similar purpose, but the options are the same things you can get anywhere. Buying a $5 20-oz Coke doesn't have the allure of drinking sugar water out of a plastic vessel shaped like Scooby Doo. An overpriced movie theater package of M&Ms isn't as interesting as freshly made soft pretzels or cotton candy. It really focuses one on how much the mark-up is, and there are no "deals" to soften the blow, so hardly anyone uses them.

It's about time, if that's it. If so, I know what I'm getting for my birthday!

I much prefer the pulled pork, in part because it is harder to mess up. However, it is a bit of a shame about the ribs. I know they /could/ do them well, because I had some at the KI Kicks Cancer comedy show and dinner later last summer, and they were fantastic: tasty meat falling off the bone. Probably being able to make them for a smaller group helped. It is certainly better that they accept their limitations rather than serving a substandard product again, if they really are unable to make them at least decent in large batches.

If you're worried about missing anything, feel free to follow me on Twitter (@maglizrd) because I'll be tweeting pretty much everything that happens at Coasterstock. Or just follow the tag #Coasterstock because I'll be far from the only one. I've even got a poll going on there right now about what you think might be, or want to be, coming to Rivertown. I probably won't be posting a whole lot here except possibly early mornings, until Monday.

I am! While I don't like change, I also know this production company is who we can thank for the two wonderful years of Cirque we've had so far (and Skeleton Crew which I also liked). I don't think they're going to mess it up.

I'm certainly not expecting a full announcement this weekend. But, I do expect that they will take the opportunity of having captive enthusiasts to tease the /heck/ out of us. I expect at the very least we will have more to talk about in this thread than the state of Maverick or Mean Streak by next Monday!

Yeah, staffing does seem to be an issue so far, so hopefully the ending of the school years will help there. On Monday I saw a ride op, and I think admissions person, working as sweeps. Greg Scheid was working the tolls for at least awhile, according to my husband (but that may have been a whim rather than necessity). Last year by the end of Haunt, I saw security personnel working as ride ops, and police officers making ice cream. There is a definite scramble when the students aren't able to work.

While I'll be taking my raincoat, I'll be leaving it in the car if Dark Sky's current prediction holds. They're down into the 20-something-percent chance of rain on Friday and Saturday. Weather Underground has an even rosier picture with 20% Friday and 10% Saturday. Nobody seems to think it will rain Sunday. As the week has gone on, all the weather services I've checked have been steadily decreasing their rain predictions for this weekend. And, with weather, the closer it is, the better able meteorologists can make predictions from the models.

Funny, I took his response as making a coaster seem even less likely. Don definitely is good at his job! Nobody knows anything till we're supposed to.

Coasty McHawkFace. Coming 2017 to a park near you.

I think I rode DB with that interviewer yesterday. Like 75% it was him. I only watched the video because of the slim chance Don actually talked about 2017. But, it basically went how I expected. The only surprise was how bold the question was asked "what can you tell me about the 2017 coaster, what is it going to be named?"

You must have gotten the same server at Red's that my husband and I did the time before our last visit. It was taking so long after we were done eating for her to turn up, we ultimately asked the host for our bill, expecting him to go back and let our waitress know to bring it, which is what would be the case in most restaurants. Instead he brought it himself. We left a small tip, but nowhere near what we usually do. Yesterday, however, we got an excellent server. I was so impressed, I actually stopped by Guest Services to fill out a form praising the service we got. I will be asking for Teresa specifically, next time I choose to eat there.

From the brake-run of DB, I even saw a pair of women out in the field playing yesterday about five minutes until closing. So not only were the boards out, the beanbags too.

Sorry, I didn't mean to be doom and gloom. It probably is a problem somewhere in email, rather than a problem with your registration, I would think. On the weather front, Dark Sky is now calling for 60-some-percent chance of rain on both Friday and Saturday (nothing Sunday), specifically with light rain starting a little after 8 Friday and continuing through noon Saturday. Light rain is no problem, and that leaves most of the weekend clear. Fingers crossed!

Perhaps sometime this weekend, when the page blows up after the bombshell announcement made at Coasterstock. I hope...

Eek, that's not good. If you have your confirmation from buying your ticket, tho, I'm sure it is a problem that can be worked out at check-in, if it's really a problem at all. Also, I made a little Twitter poll for the lead up to Coasterstock, if anyone wants to vote. I'll be doing a different one on Thursday, too. https://twitter.com/maglizrd/status/732543714116145152