I arrived about 9:30 and walked right through security into the park with no wait. I rented a locker and put my camera and iPad away and after I walked through the Gold Pass entrance I realized I didn't have my locker key. I hurried back and found it still hanging in the locker. Close call, that was.

My walk back to The Beast was lonely; there didn't seem to be anyone else around at all short of the occassional security guard and employee walking towards their station. I hung out around the rope drop by The Beast so I could get on BLSC without any wait.

I think Friday the 13th might be an unlucky day for KI as it seemed like they were having some technical difficulties with the national anthem. Usually someone sings it and around the time I expected that to happen the park speakers switched to a radio station playing an ad for Meijer. Abrputly we switched back to the music feed that was playing earlier. Then a voice said, "Our national anthem" an a canned orchestral/choral version played.

I rode BLSC in the front seat and it was great as always. I then walked around through the back of Coney Mall and headed towards the Eiffel Tower. It is so hot. The young lady working the Tower told me it was closed and that maintenance was working on it. Better to be on the ground when its broke than in the elevator or up on top. I then walked to Action Zone for a ride on Congo Falls. I rode in the 3rd row, middle of the seat - and was in the boat alone. The park feels empty, which seems strange for a Friday. Most schools haven't started yet, but maybe people are out school shopping instead.

After Congo Falls (and not getting very wet at all, I suspect because the weight of the boat was less with only me in it), I went for a ride on Flight Deck. This is a pretty intense experience for me, I guess because of the swaying and the sharp changes in direction. I am usually light headed and woozy coming off of it and this was no different. I grabbed a Coke out of the vending machine as I was sweating pretty good. Then I walked to guest relations and wrote a compliment for Area Supervisor Ronny who has been delightful upon every encounter I've had with him all season in a variety of roles at the park. The ladies in Guest Relations knew him and agreed he was awesome and said they'd take care of calling that in for him.

I grabbed my stuff from my locker and headed into the Festhaus; its just too hot to do anything. I'm going to wait in here until Way Too Much TV starts. I got a new camera last week and I've been testing it out by taking pictures of the shows as the moving targets are a good challenge and a great way to learn some of the settings on the camera. I'll post some of the best shots later. I brought my new tripod today and am going to try some different things today. The tech crew seems to be having trouble with the lighting for the stage. Its Friday the 13th I'm telling you.

More later . . .

It's HOT out today! I'm going to Holiday World tomorrow, so we're going to have to take advantage of the free soft drinks.

I'm guessing that a lot of people are probably over at Boomerang Bay with how ridiculously hot it is today.

Hope the rest of your day goes well!

After two showings of Way Too Much TV, I walked over to the Rivertown Buffet and got a bite to eat. On the way there, I saw two first aid vehicles driving through the park with people that I assume were afflicted by the heat. It was so hot.

I've eaten at the buffet 3x and so far I've had turkey, roast beef, and ham as the carved meat option of the buffet. The roast beef was by far the best. The ham was too fatty and not hot enough for my taste. The fried chicken was great today. After eating, I walked back to the Festhaus for one more showing of Way Too Much TV. I was experimenting with various creative shots with my new camera. Like this one:

And this one:

More are available here: My Facebook Album - Visible to all (http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4672673&l=056e24087a&id=665656877) and soon on my web site at KirkSheppard.com.

After this, I headed over to Signed, Sealed, Delivered and watched the 3:30 performance. I'll have those pictures available soon, too. Then I decided it was too hot to do much else and I was beat so I headed back, turned my locker key in, and walked to my car for the hot hot hot ride home. Actually, it was only hot in the car until I got out of the parking lot; my A/C works great! I might go back up on Sunday or I might wait till next week; have to see how the weather is on Sunday and what else is going on.

Good TR kirk

I really liked this TR And although it was short, it was very detailed. I'm looking forward to reading more and more of your TRs in the future.

Thanks for sharing!

I was gonna go today, but decided not to due to the heat.