Monorail Man

First, a massive thanks to Robb And Elissa for getting these events and setup. Had a wonderful time at SFMM and KBF this weekend. Overall, both events were great, but the Knott's event really stood out. As someone who's been coming to WCB since 2009, it's clear that Jay Thomas had lots to do with why the event was excellent. It was always great to see the park president and hear first hand about the changes coming to the parks. When Bonnie came in, she has never attended WCB, and I think that they were very dismissive of the event this year. While their were some pluses (like the coupon sheet), there was no attempt to wow us like last year. However, I think that SFMM doesn't feel that they need to wow the fanatics anymore, because they are doing well - they've come out of their down period - the park looks great, makes tons of money, and maybe they feel that they don't need the word of mouth, because we'll come for the thrills. The truth is, we were spoiled. They were operating a whole park of coasters for about 800 people the last few years, and it was over the top. So I feel disappointed this year? I still had a wonderful time, but yes, I did. Knowing this, I will set my WCB expectations lapbar a few clicks lower for next year. As always, thanks to Tim and Neil for the presentation and insight into the new Drop of Doom. Knott's knocked it out of the park again though. In addition to a free T-shirt, we also had an amazing lunch, some fun morning ERT (Log Ride ERT!) and a great day. Tours were outstanding! I got some personal time with the Montezuma's launch cable, saw some boiling tires, got to sit in the B&M suspended maintenance ball, and got to ask some nerdy train questions in the Roundhouse. The group photo was fun with Snoopy (and his WCB shirt!), and the Stuntsman. Lunch was wonderful (Mrs. Knotts Fried Chicken!) and solving the night ERT problem was classy. In addition, they gave us a FULL VALUE ticket, enabling us to upgrade to Season Passes for only $2! Again, amazing day. The Q&A with Jeff was a blast (MiceChat shoutouts, woo! ), and I enjoyed the insight from Raffi (sad he didn't get the reference), the Haunt presentation, and some ride ops insights. Overall, it's clear that Jennifer and her team at Knott's did an AMAZING job! It's clear that Knott's was the best, and beat the rest this WCB, but both events were enjoyable. Thanks again to everyone involved, as I know how difficult this can be!

Bought my ticket! Can't wait for another day of WCB fun!

Yes, the questions are super-simple to find the answers for. It's just to confirm that you rode. Many of our winners did just that - they didn't expect to place at all (just wanted to play 'for the fun of it'). They just got into the groove, and their timing was perfect to place. Also, it's fun to see when a popular attraction goes down in the morning, and the super-planned teams get thrown for a loop when their weeks long plans are ruined.

Parking open in 8 hours... are you ready?! I can't WAIT!

Also, Chester and Hester's has lots of detail on the backstory inside their former gas-station. You'll find a series of Newspaper Articles (framed on the walls) that explain the origin of Dinoland, including when the bones were first found, when the Dino Institute moved in, and other stuff. I still think the "look, it's suppose to be tacky!" is just a cop-out excuse to theming. They can blend both the tacky-look with actual theming. Great TR by the way!

And while I would get flamed on my own forums for this, but I totally agree. How I tell the attractions that don't suffer from this, are attractions that we always seem to hit every week when we're at the park. It generally boils down to Haunted Mansion, Pirates, and the Mountains (with Splash being the exception), they need to have depth (lots of scenes) or be more fun (such as the coasters) - experiences that fall in the middle are not constant-ride material. While I try to experience as much as I can at WDW, the older film based attractions (Ellens, Older 3D shows, etc.) get boring really fast. I also think that too many of Disney's modern attraction involve videos. When you hear the exact same thing, and see the exact same thing - the experience can get tiring. For me, the top one is still Mission: Space. It impressed me so much the first time, and then it just becomes a centrifuge every other time (see the film problem above).

I've seen worse, and the bad part was that sir clinksalot was STILL involved.

I'm going to one up you on that... My first coaster of 2009 was California Screamin': 12:05AM January 1st, 2009.

I finally got my ticket Ordered. Can't wait for my first WCB next week (and my first trip to SFMM in a couple of years)!

Hey All! I'm Monorail Man! I'm Hastin, a 22 year old park freak from Apple Valley, CA (90 miles to SFMM or Disneyland - and like 92 to Knott's). I'm the Technical Admin. over at MiceChat, and Rob posted the info on WCB 2009, so I've been lurking over here, and decided to register (and go to WCB)! This seems like a really fun community, I can't wait to meet everyone! -Hastin